Late at night - at the second watch, most people had gone to sleep and played chess with Duke Zhou, but Qin Feng led a group of soldiers to guard the entrance of the lobby of the temporary governor's palace.
In the lobby, Yang He was sitting on the Grand Master's chair, reading a secret report by candlelight. The dense handwriting on it all recorded the true situation of Yulin Town: officer corruption, widespread embezzlement, embezzlement of military land, enslavement of military households... Collusion with profiteers, reselling military rations, lax military discipline, and empty border defenses... One after another, everyone who sees them is shocked!
Where did the secret report come from?
An undercover visit is possible!
It turned out that Yang He had already expected that he would find nothing when he came to inspect with great fanfare. What he saw was all arranged in advance by his subordinates and was just a fraud.
Therefore, on the way to inspect, Yang He secretly selected a dozen of his savvy confidants. After disguising themselves, he quietly slipped into Yulin Town and secretly investigated various places to understand the real situation.
The result of the secret investigation is that the situation in Yulin Town is very bad, and a group of officers headed by the commander-in-chief Jiang Rang are doing all kinds of evil and lawlessness.
Faced with this situation, how should he deal with it? Yang He pondered for a long time and turned his attention to the door of the lobby: "Qin Feng, come in!"
"In your humble position, what are your orders, Lord Governor?"
"Come, look at this!"
"Sir, this is a confidential official document. How dare you read it at this lowly position!"
"It's okay, I allow you to look at it, look carefully!"
"promise!"
Qin Feng took the secret report, read it carefully, and then put it back where it belonged.
"How does it feel?"
"To my lord: The corruption is so extreme that it's shocking!"
"That's right. It is indeed extremely corrupt and shocking. Yulin is the number one military town in the northwest, and it has turned into this. As the governor of the three sides, I must not sit idly by and ignore it... I am ready to take drastic measures to rectify the situation. Yulin Town, what do you think of those corrupt officers who should be arrested and killed?"
"This is a major military and state matter. How dare you say anything in this humble position!"
"Haha, what a little slippery guy, slipperier than a loach. Don't worry, there are only you and me here. Just say whatever you want. No matter what you say is right or wrong, I will never blame you!"
"real?"
"real!"
"Establish written evidence?"
"Haha, okay, I will establish a written evidence for you, and the speaker is not guilty!"
Of course, Qin Feng would not really ask for the written evidence, but he just wanted to test how sincere Governor Yang was.
Not bad, Yang He didn't have any official airs, and he didn't treat himself as a subordinate, but as a friend, and wanted to discuss military and state affairs with him, just like the time in Xiao He's temple.
People treat me with sincerity, and I should treat others with sincerity. Qin Feng decided to tell the truth.
"Sir, the situation in Yulin Town is indeed very rotten. It's not just Yulin Town, but Ningxia Town, Gansu Town, Guyuan Town... they are basically the same, and they all have various problems. But now that drastic rectification has been carried out, I think that everything is gone. No!"
"Oh, rectifying military affairs and strengthening border defense will be of great benefit to the country and the people, isn't it right?"
"Your Excellency is interested in rectifying military affairs, which is of course right, but the time has not yet come!"
"how to say?"
"There is a severe drought in the northwest, and civil uprisings are common. The situation has become a mess. If your Excellency drastically rectifies military affairs now, it will definitely touch the interests of some officers, which will cause a backlash and even inspire a mutiny. At that time, civil uprisings and mutinies will occur together. It broke out and the situation became more chaotic, but it was really out of control.
In the meantime, your Excellency, you should hold off on stabilizing the four major military towns of Yulin, Ningxia, Gansu, and Guyuan, and prevent the border troops from getting into trouble, and then concentrate on quelling the civil uprising. After the situation in the northwest has eased, you can then drastically rectify military affairs. , To deal with those corrupt military attachés, arrest those who should be arrested, kill those who should be killed, and spare no one. This is the best policy! "
…
Yang He didn't speak, just listened quietly, and finally nodded with satisfaction. Qin Feng's words spoke to his heart.
Having been an official for more than 20 years, I naturally know that things have priorities, especially military and national affairs, and they must be handled in an orderly manner. Never be impatient. This is like walking with one foot firmly planted. Only then can you step with the other foot. If you walk carelessly with two feet, you will fall seriously.
Because of this, I had been pretending to be confused and did not expose the fraud of the commander-in-chief Jiang Rang and others to his face. He was afraid of triggering a mutiny and causing greater chaos!
When I said that before, I just wanted to test how powerful Qin Feng was.
You know, if a person wants to take on a big responsibility, it is not enough to be smart. He must also have vision, endurance, and a sense of the overall situation...and Qin Feng has all of them.
Of course, Yang He was happy that such a talented person was now under his command, and he could use it with confidence and boldness.
"Qin Feng, I remember you said that in order to quell the civil uprising in the northwest, we must take a two-pronged approach, one is to recruit and the other is to train troops!"
"yes!"
"I remember you said that as long as you give you half a year, you can train a victorious army, right?"
"yes!"
"Very good. I have already made up my mind to recruit an army in Yulin. I will leave it to you to be fully responsible for the training. How about that?"
"Thank you for your cultivation, sir. I will do my best in this humble position!"
Qin Feng was naturally very willing to have the opportunity to control an army, but as the old saying goes, there is no free lunch in the world. Governor Yang must have other conditions for using him so highly, right?
As expected, Yang He continued to speak with some embarrassment: "You are responsible for training the troops, and I am responsible for recruiting. If you want to recruit the hungry people, you must let them have food to eat, clothes to wear, houses to live in, and fields to cultivate... ...This requires a lot of money. Now that the northwest is in chaos, the taxes of various prefectures, counties, and counties cannot be collected at all. The vassal treasury is already empty. Liaodong has been fighting for years, and military expenditures are huge, and the Ministry of Household Affairs cannot allocate money. .
Fortunately, when I came out of the capital, the Holy Dragon was so generous that he took out one hundred thousand taels of imperial silver from the inner treasury to help the hungry people. However, there are millions of hungry people in the northwest region, and a mere one hundred thousand taels of silver would be useless. Different from a drop in the bucket, the business of the Qin merchants in the northwest region is huge, and they are all rich. After thinking about it, I decided to borrow some money from the Qin merchants to help the hungry people. I heard that you and the leader of the Qin merchants —The Xue family has a good relationship. Can you help me facilitate this matter? "
Yang He had been planning to borrow money from the Qin merchants for a long time, and had sent people to discuss it several times, but unfortunately he failed. It was not that the Qin merchants were stingy, but that they were deceived by the government.
How did it get tricked?
Specifically, they are passing the blame on each other, borrowing money but not paying it back!
For example, if there is a disaster in the northwest region and a large amount of money is needed for disaster relief, but the government cannot collect taxes and the government cannot allocate funds, what should we do?
Governor A had an idea and borrowed 300,000 taels of silver from Qin merchants for disaster relief. He agreed to pay it back in five years with three-cent interest.
Three years later, Governor A was in poor health and retired to his hometown. Governor B took over the post.
Two more years later, the date for repaying the money came, but Governor B refused to return it because the three hundred thousand taels of silver were not borrowed by himself, but by the former Governor A. The injustice has its owner and the debtor has its owner. Who borrowed the money? Who will pay it back? This is a matter of course.
The merchants had no choice but to find Governor A, who had retired, and demanded the return of the 300,000 taels of silver without any interest.
Governor A said, I borrowed the money for the public, and the public borrowed it and paid it back, it has nothing to do with the private person. Besides, I am very poor. I don’t have even a tael of silver, but I only have a life. You see Let’s do it!
In this way, Governor A and Governor B blamed each other, and no one was willing to pay back the money.
A few years later, Governor B also resigned, and was replaced by Governor C and Governor D... The more people were changed, the more confused the account became, and in the end it had to be settled!
This kind of thing has happened several times in a row. The Qin merchants were deceived so badly that a lot of money was wasted, so they were no longer willing to lend money to the government.
While chatting in the past few days, Yang He learned that Qin Feng knew the Xue family, one of the three major Qin merchants, and had saved the lives of the Xue family's father and daughter, so he wanted him to use his personal connections to borrow money from the Qin merchants. Come out to help the hungry people and implement your own recruitment policy.
"I dare to ask, how much money are you planning to borrow this time?"
"Three hundred thousand taels... no, two hundred thousand taels is enough. I can sign a contract. After the civil unrest is calmed down, the money will be returned. If the governor's palace does not pay it back, I will pay it back personally. If I am no longer alive, the descendants of the Yang family will also pay this debt until it is repaid!"
While talking, Yang He picked up his pen and actually wrote a debt repayment contract, a contract to harm future generations.
The Yang family is a scholarly family. They are good at studying, but not good at making money. They are not too wealthy in life. With 300,000 taels of silver, if nothing happens, it will last for more than ten or even dozens of generations. Only then can it be paid off.
Such a human tragedy cannot be allowed to happen. Qin Feng took the contract and tore it into pieces: "My lord, you don't have to be like this. I have a way to get more money without having to pay it back!"
"More money, no need to pay it back?"
"Well, you don't have to pay it back!"
When tens of thousands of rogue bandits besieged Suide City, it was Qin Feng who stepped forward to help the Qin merchants defeat the rogue bandits and save their property, and later gave up the credit.
In this matter, the Qin merchants owed Qin Feng a big favor. If Qin Feng came forward, I dare not say more, and borrowing two to three hundred thousand taels of silver would definitely not be a problem!
But, borrowing money is always a bad idea, creating a win-win situation is the best idea!
Next, Qin Feng lowered his voice and recounted his plan to make money. Yang He nodded frequently, and all the wrinkles on his old face smiled.
"Okay, okay, that's a great idea. I'll do as you say. I'll give my full cooperation!"
"promise!"
Qin Feng is a man with strong mobility. He left Yulin City the next day and went straight to Shenmu Castle!
