Mr. Xiang teases her husband every day

As soon as Hao Xiancheng stepped in, he saw at a glance the accountant standing under Xiang Zhengtang, wiping his cold sweat with his sleeves up frequently, while hesitating and murmuring.

Seeing him coming in, Xiang Zhengtang didn't lower his eyelids, instead he leaned on the back of the marble chair as if closing his eyes and resting his mind, listening to the accountant's explanation, and when encountering any ambiguity, he pointed it out sharply, and had to ask the accountant to give him a clear explanation. .

Hao Xiancheng's heart skipped a beat, with an ominous premonition.

When they met each other with a three-point smile, Hades also made a detour.This is Hao Xiancheng's self-created banter that often hangs on his lips. He insists on not hitting smiling people with his hands, so when he saw that Xiang Yuan's expression was not right, Hao Xiancheng immediately restrained his carelessness, and came in to greet him with a tense face. Standing neatly on the side, he didn't even look out of the corner of his eyes at the accountant's bright eyes as he entered.

"In the seventh year of Jing'an, Hao Xiancheng also told us about the specific cost of rebuilding the Yuyingtang."

Hearing Xiang Yuan's understatement, whether it was the accountant or Hao Xiancheng, they couldn't help tensing their backs, and a layer of cold sweat broke out faintly.

The accountant with a goatee raised his hand again to wipe off the cold sweat on his forehead, and glanced carefully at Xiang Zhengtang above him. Seeing that his eyelids were still slightly closed, he hurriedly turned his head and glanced at Hao Xiancheng.Hao Xiancheng's face changed slightly, he frowned, and tapped his chin lightly at him.

The accountant's heart was determined, he swallowed foam, organized his words, and said: "Report to Zhengtang, because the Yuyingtang was too dilapidated before, so in the seventh year of Jing'an, Cui Zhengtang ordered funds to be rebuilt. Among them, the bricks, tiles and wood materials totaled 300 taels. Food costs total 100 taels, and other miscellaneous items are counted together, 50 taels, a total of 450 taels."

"Oh, that's right. Hao Zuotang, look, are the accounts correct?"

Hao Xiancheng was startled by Xiang Yuan's panting before, and when he saw him throwing the ledger over, he hurriedly caught it with both hands and looked through it carefully.

In a short while, Hao Xiancheng went over the words several times in his heart, and seeing that there were no loopholes, he handed back the account book and said with a smile: "These accounts, after the subordinate officials are in charge of the accountant of the yamen, have to be checked by themselves every month. Now Look again, and there is no problem."

Not too light or too heavy a soft nail, Hao Xiancheng threw it without pressure, with an innocent expression.

Xiang Yuan opened his eyes, looked at Hao Xiancheng, and said with a half-smile: "Hao Zuotang, the position of the county magistrate is quite easy."

Hao Xiancheng's expression changed. "What does Zhengtang mean by this? Hao has been working hard since he took office and never dared to slack off! Even though his ability may not be as outstanding as Xiang Zhengtang's, it has reached the best level that a low-level official can do. For seven or eight years, the affairs of the yamen have always been Everyone is safe and sound, but the lower officials don't know what they did wrong, and they are being praised and criticized by Lai Zhengtang!"

Hao Xiancheng was sure that Xiang Yuan couldn't understand the accounts. In his opinion, a champion like Xiang Yuan, who came from a poor family, was afraid that he would spend all his energy on reading and learning, and only focus on studying the theory of sages. Learn about economic affairs.I'm afraid that the previous behavior was probably trying to deceive him.

Therefore, when Hao Xiancheng said it, he looked angry and confident.It seemed that Xiang Yuan had said something insulting to his personality, his brows and eyes were raised, his back was erect, and he looked like a scholar-official in grief and indignation who could not bear to be humiliated.

Xiang Yuan laughed lowly, waved his hand to signal Hao Xiancheng not to get too excited, and then shouted outside: "Yang Dutou, come in, and let Hao Zuotang recall the reconstruction of the Yuying Hall. Our Hao Zuotang may be getting older, and this memory, It’s not as good as it used to be.”

Hao Xiancheng was startled, and immediately realized that things were going to be bad.

Yang Ye is not a newcomer to Xiang Zhengtang, he has worked in the yamen for longer than his own county magistrate, if he has the heart, he will not be able to see the tricks in the yamen.

Yang Ye strode in, saluted, and said without hesitation for a moment: "Reporting to Zhengtang, the bricks and tiles used for the reconstruction of Yuyingtang were sent by Shangwazi Village, Wazi, Li Family. , which is less than one-eighth of the market price; and the wood, the brothers from the small soap class and the strong class personally went to the mountain to chop it back. Afterwards, each person was given a subsidy of one tael of silver. Less than 50 taels."

As Yang Ye's words came out one by one, the cold sweat on Hao Xiancheng's forehead had never been heard before.The accounting room was even worse, already crumbling and unable to stand firmly.

Xiang Yuan picked up the ledger, opened it, pointed to one of the pages, and said, "About the matter of the Yuyingtang, Hao Xiancheng put it in his heart and thought about what he forgot. There is also this one, which smooths the roads. I have been to Baguaizi Village. Tsk tsk, that road is said to have not been repaired in more than ten years. And this." Xiang Yuan turned a few more pages, pointed his fingers, and said: "In the yamen, there are four seasons of rice, grain, vegetables and fruits, one load of rice is two hundred copper coins, and one load of vegetables One hundred coppers, one basket of eggs, three hundred coppers, with this price, it’s no wonder that the yamen is in short supply every year, and the emotional officials eat gold, rice and silver eggs every day!”

After closing the ledger, Xiang Yuan first said to the accountant who was pale and sweaty, and couldn't wipe it off: "I can't afford to use such a foolish accountant. Yang Dutou, take him down, and send him out after handover." Yamen."

The accountant thought that this time he would definitely be imprisoned, and maybe the meager wealth the family had accumulated by trying to please Hao Xiancheng with false accounts would be used up to pay off the debts. He was full of panic, and didn't want Xiang Zhengtang to just kick him out lightly. I don't plan to pursue it!

Regardless of Xiang Zhengtang's plan, the accountant who had escaped hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed a few times, said a few words of repentance with tears in his eyes, and was dragged down by Yang Dutou.

Hao Xiancheng steadied his pounding heart, didn't bother to wipe the cold sweat off his forehead, held his breath, and planned to throw all the blame on the accountant.Not wanting to wait for him to open his mouth to quibble, Xiang Yuan continued: "What you just said is still a trivial matter, and the money is only a few hundred taels. What makes me most angry is these commercial tax revenues."

As he said that, Xiang Yuan threw a ledger at Hao Xiancheng's feet, fixed his eyes on Hao Xiancheng with sharp eyes, and said in a cold tone: "I would like to ask Hao Zuotang to explain why Jing'an nine years to Jing'an 13 In a year, the business tax revenue of the entire Quzhou is only a thousand taels!"

He stretched out his hand to stop Hao Xiancheng from opening his mouth to refute, and said coldly: "Don't fool me with Cui Zhengtang's ban on merchants! If I hadn't been good at arithmetic and had inspected Quzhou's commerce, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to see it." It's tricky to come out with this ledger!"

Hao Xiancheng was completely flustered now, he had calculated thousands of times, but he never expected that Xiang Yuan, who was born as the number one scholar, would be able to do calculations like an old accountant!The series of numbers that came out of his mouth were superimposed again and again, and they were exactly the same, and the practice of false accounts was also explained clearly, and he won the bid every time.

The cold sweat on his forehead rolled down to the ground, Hao Xiancheng's legs were weak and his hands were shaking, and he suddenly remembered the look in the eyes of Mr. Hu looking at him. He thought it was jealousy and injustice before, but now that he thinks about it, it is clearly sympathy and pity!It's poor that he was smart and confused for a while, and he violated the taboo of not being bullied in the officialdom.

Well, Touqian and his subordinates were still eagerly guessing where Xiang Zhengtang's new official took office, and where to start the fire, and talked about it like pointing, but now they are all hit in the face.

This fire actually started from here.

The hall was silent, except for Hao Xiancheng's terrified panting.

"Upright, upright, I'm an official, I was blinded by someone for a while, I'm an official"

Xiang Yuan interrupted him impatiently, this guy still wants to throw the blame away.

"What's the matter, you know it well. I think you have been busy in the county government for many years, and you have worked hard without credit, so you have no intention of making your scandal public. It's a shame for you. Hao Zuotang, in return, you Shouldn't you say something?"

When Hao Xiancheng heard this, he privately thought that Xiang Yuan was implying that he would make a confession, and he was overjoyed, secretly thinking that Xiang Zhengtang really came from a poor family, and he couldn't get rid of the habit of stretching out his hands to make money.

So he hurriedly forced a smile on his face, and said courteously: "There are a lot of adults in the main hall, and I have a good impression of the officials. I heard that the people in the main hall are very good at management. The lower officials happen to have a shop in the county, and they are about to change hands."

Xiang Yuan raised his hand to stop it, and said calmly: "Hao Zuotang seems to be wrong. The county government has a huge deficit in expenditure, and Hao Zuotang's idea is so small that his family's property is not clear. In addition, the amount of commercial taxes that has been concealed for four or five years in a row , I’m afraid selling Hao Zuotang’s family will not be worth a fraction. Hao Zuotang should go down and think about it, whether he should bear it by himself or be the leader, after all, the underreported business tax money is not a small amount.”

Hao Xiancheng's face turned pale with shock, and his head buzzed.According to Xiang Zhengtang's intention, he was actually asked to come forward to demand the commercial taxes owed by the major families in Quzhou and County over the years!

This, this is pushing him into the fire pit!

"Main hall, lower official"

Xiang Yuan stretched out his hand again, pointing out something: "Since I took office as an official, I have been extremely anxious about the poor situation in Quzhou's jurisdiction. Among other things, the Yuyingtang and the old people's home alone have turned gray hair. It is said that these two places were previously supported by the money of the big families, but now they are gone! Isn’t this kind of charity that benefits the people’s livelihood a good thing for the famous family? I don’t understand why It’s just that no one is willing to take out money anymore. Worry!”

Hao Xiancheng went out of the yamen in a daze, and when he returned home, he immediately sent someone to invite the elders and elder brothers of the clan. After the people came, he closed the door and talked in secret, and explained in detail what happened to Xiang Yuan today. Finally, he frowned and asked, "Uncle, what do you mean by this formality?"

Mrs. Hao, with a big beard, was deep in thought.Brother Cong was short-tempered, and immediately shouted: "The Xiang Zhengtang has no evidence and no contacts. He said you were greedy for money, so you are greedy? You didn't make the account book, you were just caught by the accountant. It’s all for the deceitful poor man. Let’s promise some benefits in private, and we’re not afraid that the accountant will dare to back it. There will be no witnesses at that time, forgive him and dare not really do anything to you!”

Uncle Hao shook his head, and said slowly: "Since Xiang Zhengtang dared to speak, he must have something to rely on. Even if he has no evidence, with his Zhengtang status, it is not difficult to toss a county magistrate. The most important thing is that you are indeed greedy." Money, and it’s not a small amount, is it?”

Hao Xiancheng nodded. He didn't spend all the money he was greedy on his own family. More than half of it was contributed to the clan. The uncle said this just because he wanted to look good.

"The meaning in the last words of Xiang Zhengtang is that I want you to come forward to contact the major families, and tell them about their interests, so that they can take the initiative to contribute money to the Nursing Hall and the Elderly Home, otherwise they will have to make up for the missed business tax. And you, How much money I have been greedy, I am afraid I will spit it all out."

"It's easy to say, how can the major families be persuaded by my district and county officials?"

"Did you not pay attention to Xiang Zhengtang's words?"

Uncle Hao looked at Xiancheng Hao with a look of "Why are you so stupid", which made him feel depressed for a while.

"What?"

"No one wants to do such a good deed that is beneficial to reputation?" Mrs. Hao is an old man, and analyzed accurately: "Uncle Mrs. Guess, Xiang Zhengtang probably doesn't want to pursue those bad debts in the past, but he doesn't want to take advantage of you, so Simply ask everyone to contribute money to subsidize the Young Infant Hall and the Elderly Home, and the cost of these two places is probably less than one-fifth of the missed commercial tax. The major families will not refuse after weighing their interests. And the most important thing is According to him, the final investment amount and name should be disclosed to the public, so that the major families will be willing and will not make trouble in secret."

Hao Xiancheng was dumbfounded, is that so?

However, Xiang Zhengtang looks very tender, so how could he not understand this tricky trick?

Is this still a newcomer to the officialdom?

At this moment, Hao Xiancheng was finally startled, and really realized that he might have really underestimated this Xiang Zhengtang.