The stone paths are winding and the Zen courtyard is quiet.
The old monk Zhizai and Gu Zhengchen were sitting on the stone bench, with the old sycamore trees blocking the sun.
Mottled light spots spread gently.
The wise old monk looked at Gu Zhengchen, he was the new magistrate of Jurong, he was really young.
Gu Zhengchen glanced at Zhou Mao in the distance, tapped the stone table with his fingers, and went straight in: "Abbott must have heard the news. The imperial court plans to place a group of Tatar prisoners in Jurong."
The old monk Zhizai scratched his white beard and nodded slightly: "I heard it."
The county government was demarcating land and collecting corvee labor. News of such a big news had spread long ago. Some people were afraid of the Tatar prisoners and were panic-stricken. They even came to Chongming Temple to pray.
Although the monk is an outsider, he has never lived outside the world.
"I came here for this!"
Gu Zhengchen moved his fingers.
The old monk Zhizai stared at the copper coins that appeared in Gu Zhengchen's fingers at an unknown time. His face was a little ugly: "The county minister wants Chongming Temple to give out a sum of money."
Gu Zhengchen said calmly: "That's right."
"Why?"
The wise old monk didn't understand.
Gu Zhengchen said seriously: "I asked the elders during the sacrifice that the autumn harvest in Jurong this year has been postponed, roughly around September 20th. It is already the second day, and there is not much time left for the county government to place the prisoners. If the autumn harvest is delayed and the crops rot in the fields, the people's livelihood for the year will be over."
The wise old monk understood, but looked at the copper coins Gu Zhengchen placed on the stone table with confusion: "What does this have to do with Chongming Temple?"
"Eight hundred people, four hundred rooms, twenty days. If I don't have money, I can't do it. But the county government can't provide this money, because there is no money to give to the corvee. If I break the rules, it will be difficult to recruit people's power in the future. .so……"
Gu Zhengchen looked at Zhizai with firm eyes.
The old monk Zhizai was amused and shook his head: "I'm afraid the county minister has come to the wrong place. This is a Buddhist temple. If the county government is in trouble, he can ask the gentry and wealthy households to donate money and find Chongming Temple. Have you gone to the wrong place? place?"
Gu Zhengchen stood up, looked at the thick sycamore tree, and said softly: "The luxuriance of this tree depends entirely on the support of its root system. If the tree were Jurong, this root system would be the tens of thousands of people in Jurong. And Chongming Temple is one of these thin roots. branch."
The old monk Zhizai looked up and said coldly: "Yes, Chongming Temple is just a twig and can do nothing to the county magistrate's request."
reject.
Zhi Zai is not worried about offending the county magistrate.
The imperial court valued Buddhism, and local officials did not dare to offend Buddhist temples and monks easily.
Besides, the monks and monasteries do not rely on the county government to survive, and they do not take a bite of the county government. They have no interest relationship and are in conflict. The people should come to offer incense.
Gu Zhengchen was not surprised when he saw that the old monk did not give him face. He just continued: "If Chongming Temple is willing to pay a sum of money, the thin branches can become thick branches."
The wise old monk flatly refused: "No need."
Gu Zhengchen walked to the stone table, picked up the copper coin, flipped it twice with his fingers, put it in his sleeve, walked towards the old monk Zhi Zai, and said: "One thousand coins, not a penny less, this is my condition."
"Your Majesty, this is not wise. This is a monk's temple. In the first year of Hongwu's reign, His Majesty came here!"
Wisdom lies in the waving beard of the old monk.
The subtext is:
The emperor has to pay for sesame oil when he comes here. Who do you think you are and dare to rob openly?
You try it, believe it or not, it will cause a big fuss, and you can go to the emperor to reason with it?
Gu Zhengchen didn't know whether Lao Zhu had been here before, but he calmly took out a letter from his arms, placed it on the stone table, and said: "If you can't make a decision, you can go to the Tianjie Temple in Jinling and find the abbot. When I asked, I couldn't tell, he would be eager for me to accept the money. I'll leave it here, you only have five days, and after five days, if the money is not delivered, you won't even want to know what is written here. "
The wise old monk looked at Gu Zhengchen who was leaving with his hands behind his back, his cheeks moved slightly, he picked up the letter, with some disdain in his breath, looked down, his eyes suddenly lit up, his hands trembled slightly, he rushed out of the backyard and shouted out. Gu Zhengchen left: "Your Majesty!"
Gu Zhengchen stopped, looked back at the old monk with a flushed face, and said softly: "Abbott, walking so fast and panting violently is not wise for your body."
Old monk Zhizai looked at Gu Zhengchen excitedly: "Is this true?"
Gu Zhengchen turned around and waved his hand behind Old Monk Zhizai's back: "It's still the same condition. Whether it's true or not depends on whether you have the courage to take the gamble."
When the old monk Zhizai saw Gu Zhengchen leaving, he sent word to his disciple Dahong. He enveloped the letter and said with a majestic expression: "You should take this letter to Tianjie Temple to find the abbot Zong Lai now. You must personally deliver this letter." The faster the letter is put into his hands, the better!”
Dahong had never seen his master be so strict. He knew that the matter was not simple, so he took the letter with him, left the temple, rented a horse, and drove away from Jurong City.
Gu Zhengchen stayed at the street corner, saw the monk Dahong leaving, and walked towards the county government office with a relaxed look.
Zhou Mao didn't know what Gu Zhengchen said to Abbot Zhizai, but seeing the excitement in the old monk Zhizai's face seemed to be a big deal.
As soon as he returned to the county government office, he met Li He, the factory owner.
Gu Zhengchen asked: "How is the corvee collection going?"
Li He quickly replied: "Your Majesty, everything goes well. Tomorrow morning, eight hundred civilians recruited from various places will go to the county government office to wait for their orders."
Gu Zhengchen was very satisfied.
Serving as a corvee is something Dingkou must do. It's whose turn it is, and you can't hide if you want. At this time, you haven't paid to find someone to take your place.
In addition, Jiangnan has already implemented the Lijia system, so recruiting is quite simple. It is not difficult to recruit 800 people in two days.
"Tell the householder to prepare a thousand guan of money and put it in a big box."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Zhou Mao.
Zhou Mao was surprised, understood what was going on, and quickly persuaded: "Does the county magistrate want to pay wages to the people? No, absolutely not. The imperial court never paid money for corvee recruitment. This precedent cannot be set. !”
Thirty-six dou of grain a month was the "payment" for the corvee. In other words, it was enough as long as they could not starve to death.
Gu Zhengchen smiled: "Preparing money and giving money are two different things. Of course, even if you give money, it will not come from the county government. I have my own arrangements for this matter, let the household prepare it."
Zhou Mao saluted uneasily and left.
In the evening, the county magistrate Liu Boqin, the chief registrar Zhao Doubei, and the magistrate Chen Zhong sat together.
Chen Zhong said with a cold face: "Today the county magistrate went to Chongming Temple and had a secret conversation with Abbot Zhi Zai. Zhou Mao did not know the content of the discussion. Should we pay attention to this matter?"
"There is no need to care about a monk. But Liang Bin said that the county magistrate asked him to prepare a thousand coins for tomorrow. This matter needs attention."
Liu Boqin picked up the chopsticks and picked out a piece of meat.
Zhao Doubei rubbed his brows, feeling quite a headache: "The behavior of the county magistrate these days is quite incomprehensible. He can't possibly give the money in the county treasury to the migrant workers, right?"
Liu Boqin's Adam's apple twitched: "As long as he has some sense, he will not seek death. Once he does this kind of thing, he will never want to stay in Jurong again."
Chen Zhong hesitated for a moment and played with the wine glass in his hand: "Liu Xian Cheng, Chief Zhao, the new county magistrate is a young man. He is really too young."
Liu Boqin frowned: "What do you want to say?"
Chen Zhong drank it all in one gulp: "What I want to say is that he has no experience in being an official and doesn't know what he can and cannot do. If he doesn't have deep experience in the world, he can do anything. As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger."
Zhao Doubei burst into laughter: "If that's true, it will save us the trouble and let him do it. If he makes a mistake, he will be wronged. We still have the final say."
"master."
Qian'er shouted outside the door curtain.
Liu Boqin asked Qian'er to come in. Qian'er saluted and said softly: "Chen Zhi, the official of Chengfa House, is outside the door asking to see you."
"Let him come."
Liu Boqin frowned.
Chen Zhi hurriedly walked into the room, saluted, took out a document bag from his arms, and whispered: "Xian Cheng Liu, the court has given the approval."
"What?"
Liu Boqin's expression changed.
Zhao Doubei and Chen Zhong also felt a chill.
You must know that Gu Zhengchen just sent an official document to Jinling yesterday. Although Jurong is only more than a hundred miles from Jinling, the post station can reach Jinling that evening, but this kind of non-urgent document cannot enter Jinling City at night, and no one will handle it if it does. .
In other words, the document written by Gu Zhengchen arrived in Jinling, at least this morning.
But on the evening of the same day, the approval documents had been sent back to Jurong!
This efficiency is shocking, incredible, and beyond imagination.
Liu Boqin could even imagine that when Gu Zhengchen's official document arrived in Jinling, it was immediately delivered to the Ministry of Household Affairs or the Zhongshu Province or someone else. It was approved on the spot and then sent on to Jurong without stopping!
"What exactly is going on?"
Zhao Doubei couldn't believe it.
You must know that when writing documents to the court on weekdays, as far as Jurong, you can't expect to receive a reply in less than ten days and half a month, and sometimes even a month may not be enough to approve the document.
But Gu Zhengchen's documents were delivered yesterday and returned today!
Damn it!
At this speed, how many miles do you want to speed up?
"Is this a coincidence?"
Liu Boqin couldn't believe it.
Chen Zhong thought for a moment and pointed to the document bag: "The answer is inside. If there is something urgent in it, it can be explained. Otherwise, the person behind our Guzhi County is terrifying."
"That's right!"
Liu Boqin stood up, walked around and looked at Chen Zhi: "Send the document to the county magistrate immediately, we will be there shortly!"
Chen Zhi agreed and left the county magistrate's house.
But as soon as he went out, before he walked a few steps, he saw two shadows walking out of the darkness.
"It's so late, and it's really hard for Chen Lidian to go to the county magistrate to read with the court documents!"
Gu Zhengchen walked out, followed by Zhou Mao.
Zhou Mao finally understood why Gu Zhengchen brought him here to watch the stars. This was fishing and law enforcement.
No!
He is still forcing himself to completely break with the county magistrate and others. After all, he was the witness who saw Chen Zhi entering the county magistrate's house...
horrible!
Zhou Mao knew that he couldn't avoid it, so he had to stand up and scolded: "Official documents must be reported to the county magistrate as soon as possible, and then forwarded to the magistrate, magistrate, registrar and others for discussion according to the situation. Chen Zhi, have you forgotten the regulations of the imperial court? , forgot the rules of the house, and forgot who is the county magistrate?"
Chen Zhi's face was ugly, and he stepped forward with a smile and handed out the document bag: "The county magistrate has been vacant for too long in the county government. I didn't just forget it..."
Gu Zhengchen took the document bag and said to Chen Zhi with a smile: "Forgetting for a moment - it doesn't matter, just to avoid forgetting again. I will make your memory deeper. Zhou Mao, pass it on to the class leader!"
