Thirteen, Qiguan Affairs

  Zhu Yuanzhang followed Qi Guanshi out of the Ma family's courtyard and walked along the edge of a field that was being plowed, his feet sinking shallowly into the earth. Many of the Ma family's long-term and short-term workers were plowing the fields, and when they saw Qi Guanshi, their eyes showed a hint of fear and disgust. But when they saw Zhu Yuanzhang behind him, they waved in greeting, genuine smiles spreading across their faces. In this period of time, Zhu Yuanzhang had done a pretty good job of establishing his image among the workers, and he was quite popular. Of course, his current reputation still couldn't compare to that of Wang Er, the White Water King. When it came to the first good man of White Water County, people still habitually put Wang Er in the top spot.

  After walking through the fields, I walked onto the wide and spacious official road made of yellow earth. There were few people on the road, and one could see the decline of Baisui County. After another half hour's walk, I finally arrived at the county seat of Baisui. The city was situated on uneven mountainous terrain, with houses rising and falling, and tiles overlapping each other. Looking into the distance, it seemed as if I were looking at a small hill, except that there were many houses built on top of it.

  The city looks very dilapidated, with wild grass growing on the roadside, houses in disrepair, few pedestrians, and beggars gathering. Zhu Yuanzhang walked while lamenting in his heart: The great Ming dynasty I founded with my own hands has been managed by later generations to become like this, it's really unreasonable.

  Before long, a small square appeared in front, this kind of square was very familiar to Zhu Yuanzhang, its name was Ya Qian Square, which was in front of every county government. On the left side of the square, there was a small pavilion called "Shenming Pavilion". This pavilion was Zhu Yuanzhang's own invention, in the fifth year of Hongwu (1372 AD), he created the "Shenming Pavilion" and designated it as a place for reading laws, clarifying principles, promoting good deeds, suppressing evil, mediating minor disputes, and assisting in criminal justice. In simple terms, it was a place where people who broke the law were denounced.

  On the right side of the square, directly opposite "Shenming Pavilion", there is another "Jiangshan Pavilion". The pavilion writes good people and good deeds, commending chastity and good behavior. In simple terms, it means to praise those who have done good things.

  These two pavilions were once the pride of Zhu Yuanzhang, and their existence greatly improved people's moral standards, playing a very good role. However, the Shenjing Pavilion in Baishui County has been neglected for many years, and the Shenming Pavilion no longer has a roof, while the Jingshan Pavilion has lost one of its wooden pillars, looking precarious. In the Shenming Pavilion, there is a stone stele with the five large characters "False accusations increase by three degrees", but due to the erosion of time, these five characters are not very clear... The dilapidated Shenjing Pavilion seems to be telling the story of the decline of morality in the Ming Dynasty.

  Walking through the empty and spacious yamen front square, I finally arrived in front of the county yamen gate. On the left side of the gate, there is a small temple about half the height of a person, this thing is called Pixian Temple, inside which a land god is enshrined. It seems to be asking for the protection of the land god, but that's not true, this is actually where people are skinned!

  Zhu Yuanzhang personally formulated a rule in the previous dynasty: if an official was found to have embezzled more than 60 taels of silver, they would be taken to the Pi Chang Temple and executed by decapitation. The specific method was to flay the corrupt official's skin, fill it with grass, and place it beside the government office as a warning to future officials.

  Although the punishment is severe, the effect is not good, and the Ming dynasty still has corrupt officials and corrupt officials.

  Zhu Yuanzhang now looks at the dusty Temple of Skin, only to feel a sense of heaviness in his heart. After several hundred years of being an onlooker in the sky, he learned a new term from later generations called "high salary to prevent corruption". Although this policy cannot completely eradicate corrupt officials, it must be said that it is better than "flaying and stuffing with grass"! Pure violence cannot solve problems, and the severity of the system must also consider the capacity of human nature.

  At this time, Qiguan Shi had already reported his intention to the yamen runners in front of the government office, and two yamen runners led the crowd into the yamen.

  Only in the great hall, a bright mirror hung high, a forty-year-old official sat behind his desk, his name was Chen Guanyu, who was the county magistrate of Baishui County. He had a square face, three long whiskers, and a serious expression. Below the hall, a peasant dressed man knelt on the ground, being pressed down by two bailiffs, with a large wooden board about to strike his buttocks, the scene was extremely comical.

  This behavior is called "sitting in the hall to compare grain", what does it mean? It means that the county magistrate sits in the hall, uses punishment on the "difficult people" who do not pay taxes, forcing them to pay their taxes. This is a traditional program that appears every year during the spring and autumn tax collection, there will always be some "difficult people" who cannot afford to pay their taxes, the county magistrate will arrest them, beat them up severely, after beating... you still have to pay your taxes, if not, they will be arrested again in two days and beaten until you pay. Therefore, every year during the spring and autumn season, there are always people being beaten with a board in the county government office.

  Qiguan Shi called out to the people behind him and knelt down on both knees in the hall. Zhu Yuanzhang also quietly followed suit, only to hear Qiguan Shi say in a soft and gentle voice: "Honorable County Magistrate, do you still remember me? I am the steward of the White Water Ma family's side house, this time I brought three villagers to change their household registration, they have already sold themselves into our Ma family..."

  "Oh?" County Magistrate Chen's eyes lit up as soon as he heard this, and he immediately understood. "Dodge" after the household registration, this is also a traditional program, every year in the spring and autumn taxes, there are always people who cannot pay their taxes, "dodging" to Ma's family, Zhang's family, Li's family, or other gentry families. As for this matter, County Magistrate Chen generally turned a blind eye, because each of the gentry families often gave him silver as a gift, and their relationship was good, so he would not block others from making money, after all, "dodging" lost taxes were those of the imperial court, not his county's taxes.

  However, this time things have changed. A few days ago, his colleague, Zhang Douyao, the county magistrate of Xicheng County in the west, sent a letter saying that the Bai Shui Ma family had lost face and wanted to take action against the Ma family, hoping he could help out.

  In official circles, it's generally about mutual help, or what's called "officials protecting each other". Today you have a problem and I'll help you out, tomorrow I have a problem and you'll return the favor. County Magistrate Chen naturally wanted to help County Magistrate Zhang, but unfortunately couldn't find an excuse to deal with the Ma family at the time. Just as things were reaching a boiling point, the Ma family themselves delivered the opportunity right into their hands.

  Magistrate Chen coughed lightly and sat up straight behind the desk, coldly saying: "Qi, you said these three people have joined the Ma family?"

  Qiguan Shi said in a low voice: "Yes!"

  "Are you going to help them change their household registration?" Chen County Magistrate started sneering.

  Qiguan Shi still didn't know what was wrong and respectfully said: "Yes!"

  "How dare you!" County Magistrate Chen slammed the shock-inducing wooden block on the table, producing a loud "crack" that truly lived up to its name, startling Qi Guangsi so much that his whole body shook.

  "It's during the spring census, and you bring three people to change their household registration. Hum! Such behavior is clearly an attempt to 'cheat the system'. County Magistrate Chen shouted: "You are simply disregarding national law, how can this be!"

  "Huh?" County Magistrate Chen's words made Qi Guangyi's whole body tremble, his face full of incredulous expressions. This County Magistrate Chen had not embezzled any of the Ma family's tribute silver, so why was he making a fuss over such a small matter as "misappropriation"?

  Liu Guanshi, although he was bossing around the long and short workers at home, looked very imposing, but when facing a seventh-rank official of the imperial court, his whole body trembled like sifting flour, and he stammered: "County Magistrate... this matter... didn't we handle it well last year and the year before? Why is it this way this year..."

  "Hmm!" County Magistrate Chen snorted and said, "This year, a colleague gave me a book called 'Regulations for the Reform of Corrupt Practices in Officialdom'. The book records Grand Secretary Hai Rui's instructions: all deceptive practices such as female households evading taxes on their land holdings are strictly prohibited and shall not be tolerated."

  When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the four words "a colleague", a flash of lightning lit up in his heart, and he secretly laughed: Qi Guan Shi, you're in trouble now. If my guess is not wrong, it must be Zhang Douyao, the county magistrate of Chengcheng County, who took action. Who told you to fight recklessly without using your brains, even daring to sweep away the face of the neighboring county's magistrate? Now let's see how you get out of this situation. If you're smart enough, don't say anything now and quickly apologize and retreat with the three villagers. If you're foolish enough, try to struggle again!

  Qiguan Shi's heart skipped a beat, and he secretly thought it was strange. Unfortunately, with his IQ, he really couldn't understand what County Magistrate was getting at. If someone had great wisdom, when they didn't understand something, they wouldn't rush to do anything, but would hurry home to think clearly. But Qiguan Shi's cleverness was only petty cleverness, and in reality, he belonged to the category of being quite foolish. He decided to try again: "County Magistrate, sir, isn't your relationship with our young master pretty good? Why make things difficult for us Ma family on this matter?"

  County Magistrate Chen sneered in his heart: No matter how good your family's young master is to me, he's just an ordinary scholar-official. Zhang County Magistrate and I are colleagues in the same dynasty. Why would I help you instead of him? Thinking deeper, it won't be Master Ma's eldest son who ordered the offense against County Magistrate Zhang, because Master Ma is a steady and astute person, how could he possibly offend the county magistrate of a neighboring county? It must be Second Young Master Ma causing trouble. How can I give face to that good-for-nothing Second Young Master Ma?

  He slapped the wooden table again and shouted: "Come on, drag out those three rascals behind Qi's family! They dared to try to escape taxation with 'witchcraft', give them thirty heavy slaps for me."

  "Yes!" Several fierce bailiffs jumped out, pinning the three honest villagers to the ground. The wooden boards came down, beating their buttocks with a loud crackling sound.

  Magistrate Chen's hand waved again, and he ordered: "This Qi fellow dared to speak ambiguously in court, his words were completely unbridled. Give him ten slaps on the mouth and throw him out of the yamen!"

  Two bailiffs rushed up, grabbed Zhi Guan Shi and started slapping him left and right. The sound of the slaps was loud and clear: "slap slap slap", ten big slaps in total. Zhi Guan Shi was dizzy and disoriented, unable to tell east from west. Even when he was carried out of the hall by someone with a stick, he still couldn't figure out what had happened.

  Zhu Yuanzhang and Yang Chao knelt beside, but were not dealt with because this matter was not directly related to the two of them, so no one paid attention to them. Yang Chao was so scared that he almost urinated, rolled a few times, and supported Qi Guan Shi as they prepared to retreat.

  Zhu Yuanzhang quietly moved to the entrance of the main hall, looking at Qi Guan Shi's bewildered face, and decided to wake up this fool to prevent him from bringing himself to be humiliated again. He suddenly raised his voice and asked Chen County Magistrate: "County Master, I want to ask you something, who is the colleague who sent you the book 'Xingge Tiaoli Gongshu'?"

  County Magistrate Chen's square and honest face suddenly became serious, his eyes fixed intently on Zhu Yuanzhang.

  "Huh? The one with the surname Qi isn't very smart, but he's brought someone who's quite capable! County Magistrate Chen's spirits lifted, and since the other side had a sensible person, he decided to make things clear. 'I'm here to help the Zhang family of Cheng City deal with you lot,' he said. 'If you have any skills, hurry up and go fetch reinforcements!' County Magistrate Chen turned his head and stared intently at Qi, chuckling: 'The colleague who sent me the "Regulations for Promoting Reform" is none other than County Magistrate Zhang Deyao of Cheng City. Did you hear that clearly, Qi?'"

  Qiguan Shi suddenly realized, and only then understood why he had to endure ten slaps in the face today. He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with gratitude, then turned around and knelt down to the ground facing Chen County Magistrate: "Thank you, Your Honor, for pointing this out."