The mood of the officials and gentry of the Guide Mansion to the banquet was very peaceful, of course, they were worried about the Hongmen banquet, maybe there were some, but thinking about it, they knew that it was impossible.

With the arrival of officials and gentry from all walks of life, the government office gradually became lively.

Everyone is divided into several circles by virtue of acquaintances and good friends, but they are generally not so friendly to the government.

At this time, the Peng family and the Yang family, the major shareholders of the farmer's bank, came together, their sons were Lin Yanchao's protégés, and they had made a lot of money in the past two years.

And when it came to their status, the gentry couldn't exclude them from the circle, so everywhere the two went, everyone greeted them warmly.

In addition to the Zhao family, the officials and gentry who have heads and faces in Guide are here, as well as the other four students who are now in the government prison together with Zhao Mengchang.

They are all here to listen to the rumors, and it would be great if they could encourage so many officials and gentry to intercede with Lin Yanchao.

As for Wu Tongju, he is in charge of contact, and he has a wide range of people among the local gentry, and he is a source of left and right.

It was he who came to entertain the government.

Lin Yanchao has not shown his face until now. Wu Tongju presided over the overall situation, beckoned the officials and gentry who were sitting in the courtyard drinking tea and chatting together, and then sat down in the living room together.

The atmosphere in the living room is not bad.

Wu Tong sentenced a few glasses of wine to his stomach, and after a little expression, although the officials and gentry did not see Lin Yanchao, they also let go of their hands and feet, but the atmosphere of speculation was still there.

After three rounds of drinking, Lin Yanchao was still nowhere to be seen, but Wu Tongju spoke, but when he saw him, he smiled and said, "All of you here today are old friends of Wu. ”

All the officials and gentry laughed together and said, "Don't lift it up." ”

Wu Tongju said with a smile: "When Wu Mou came to Guide as an official five years ago, he was sentenced by Shang Yutong, Siben Mansion Tax, Heze, and Mining Matters, relying on you to give Wu face in the past few years, there has been no major incident. Wu borrowed this cup to thank the fathers and villagers present. ”

Shang Yutong's sentence is second only to the grain capture sentence, and Wu Tong's judgment in Defu has great rights, but Wu Tong's judgment has not made any achievements after staying for five years.

Everyone here knows that Wu Tongju is a good official in the eyes of everyone, deferential to his superiors, and generous to the gentry in the palace.

That's not because Wu Tongju doesn't want to take care of it, but because he can't manage it, first, the background is not enough, and second, the temperament of the people is relatively soft.

So whatever he says above, he is what he is, and as soon as the official gentry below is tough, he will immediately coax him.

Wu Tong was sentenced to belong to the rat in the bellows, that is, the officials who were angry at both ends. Fortunately, Wu Tong's judgment of the above prefects of Guide is still quite strong, otherwise the Shangyu of Guide Mansion would have been chaotic a long time ago.

At this time, after everyone raised their glasses and drank together, Wu Tong judged: "But Wu has a few ugly words today, but he has to say it." ”

All the officials and gentry smiled when they heard this, the sun came out of the west, did Wu Tong judge want a man today?

But seeing Wu Tong's judgment: "Although Wu is not responsible for the transportation and summer grain, he also knows that these two are the political authority of a government official. ”

"As of today, the summer grain is not collected by more than 20%, and the grain is not collected, so if it goes on, not to mention that the summer tax is paid before August, it is afraid that the summer tax will be wrong. Therefore, Wu Tongju and several officials of this government are here, and I implore everyone to come up with a solution. ”

After Wu Tongju finished speaking, Ma Tongjuan's face was very solemn.

As a general judge of grain fishing, he was directly responsible for the uneven collection of summer taxes and the failure of the boat.

Ma Tong judged: "All the fathers and fellow villagers who have returned to Germany, this year is different from the past, this year is a good year. This official has checked, in the past, even if it was a bad year, once the summer tax was collected, it could be collected by six or seven percent, but this year is a good year, why can't even two percent be collected? ”

"How many water conservancy ditches did Futai build last year, everyone knows in their hearts. You can't be a man without a conscience, and I beg you not to do anything that hurts the people of Futai. ”

The officials and gentry below were talking one after another.

Wu Tongju immediately said: "Ladies and gentlemen, Ma Tongju didn't mean to blame everyone, our government just hopes that everyone will come up with a solution to the problem, so I invite you to come here today to talk." ”

After some discussion, the officials and gentry finally elected an official gentry to come out and said: "Wu Beijia, the Yu family is only a few acres of thin fields, and they shouldn't have spoken, but today for the promotion of the villagers, there are a few words that have to be said." ”

"Please."

The official gentleman said: "To say that a few years ago, when the imperial court adopted the old book collection, my family was exempted from a lot of taxes because of scholars or officials. ”

But then Zhang Juzheng made a whip law to tax the number of acres of land. At that time, in order to clear more fields, the local officials curried favor with the officials in charge of Qingzhang. They falsely reported a lot of acres, and some officials even cleared one acre of land out of two acres. ”

"In recent years, the government has levied according to the new register, and our official gentry have to pay dozens of times more silver than the common people, and they also eat rice with one mouth, why do our official gentry have to pay dozens of times more taxes than the common people."

As soon as the official gentleman said this, the people below echoed in unison.

Ma Tongju explained: "The rule of the whip law is that those who have more acres of land in the family should pay more taxes, and those who have less acres of land should pay less taxes, rather than paying silver by households. ”

The official gentleman sneered: "Then if that's the case, what are we going to do with the land?" Is it just to pay more taxes to the imperial court? Where is this truth. ”

Wu Tongju suddenly ran out of ideas and asked, "What about your opinion?" ”

The official gentleman said: "It's very simple, abolish the new book made in the ninth year of Wanli, and continue to tax the old book. ”

He Tongju on the side couldn't stand it, and took the case and said: "How can this be reasonable, where is the reason for the yellow book of the imperial court to be changed, the new volume of the ninth year of Wanli has been filed in the political department and the household department." If you want to change the yellow book, first ask the chief secretary, and the household department will not agree. ”

The official gentleman said: "The old book can't be changed back, so it should be fair to make a new book immediately!" ”

As soon as these words came out, Wu Tong sentenced them to an uproar.

The goal of the gentry is to re-make the book, first, they can overturn the real acres of land that were exposed when they were cleared.

In the ninth year of Wanli, it was very strict, and that time it could be regarded as a norm, and the gentry could not hide it as before.

Second, it is to use this time to recreate the book, and they really swallowed the silt fields they had occupied before on the Jialu River.

These officials and gentry are really not fuel-efficient lamps, your government thought of one step, they thought of two or three steps earlier.

The three general judges were all looking at each other at the moment, and a thought came to their hearts, why hasn't Lin Yanchao come yet, they can't stand this matter.

But Lin Yanchao didn't come for a long time, and Wu Tongju could only stubbornly say: "The government has already issued a clear order that the yellow book can only be recreated after October, and even if it is remade, the government still collects silver according to a whip law." ”

The official gentleman retorted: "Don't drive your lord, there are too many disadvantages of leviing silver per mu, is it fair that my family's ten acres of brine fields and other people's ten acres of paddy fields pay the same taxes?" ”

Another official gentleman came forward and said: "Yes, I heard that before Shandong, several governors of Huguang wrote to the cabinet and asked the imperial court to abolish a whip law. The cabinet did not object, but let the localities do their own thing, which means that the imperial court also sensed the inadequacy of a whip law. ”

"Yes, Shandong Huguang can be changed, why can't we change it in Henan? The disadvantages of a whip law are too great, if my family's acres of land are rejected, wouldn't it become the largest household in the eyes of the government, where is this truth. ”

Wu Tong saw that the officials and gentry were excited, and reassured him again and again: "Ladies and gentlemen, a whip law, although there are drawbacks in counting acres and collecting silver, it is a good law. ”

"Good law? Then I also have to recreate the yellow book, and exempt a few acres of my family's brine fields from taxation. ”

"The imperial court spent so much money, but it did a good job, is this a good law?"

"Lin Futai said that he was building water conservancy, but in the final analysis, it was not the money allocated to him by the imperial court, how did it seem that he posted money to us to repair water conservancy?"

"That's right, this year's return to the German government is a bumper harvest, but the government doesn't make it clear how many acres of land my family has, why should we pay taxes?"

Endless controversy spread, and all kinds of accusations against the government's policies made the officials present wonder what to do.

It seems that these officials and gentry were not invited by Wu Tongju, but colluded with them a long time ago today, and they came to the door to complain, and then staged this play in front of all the officials of the Guide Mansion.

In the face of the fierce momentum of the gentry, Wu Tong sentenced the three of them to retreat. In the past, when the year was bad, everyone was close together, but now that it is a good year, the contradiction between the gentry and the government has finally broken out.

Now these officials and gentry are so powerful, how can they be such officials.

"Have you fought enough?"

A sentence sounded outside the hall, and Ma Tong judged that they were all overjoyed when they heard the voice.

The officials present wiped the sweat from their foreheads, got up and saluted, "See Lord Futai." ”

When the officials and gentry saw that Lin Yanchao was coming, they all stopped their voices in their hearts, left their seats and bowed their heads.

Lin Yanchao stood at the entrance of the hall and looked at it with one hand behind him for a while, and the officials and gentry who hung their heads did not raise their eyes, and for some reason they felt hot on their backs.

Lin Yanchao stood like this for a while without speaking, but everyone present felt their hearts pounding.

After being silent for a while, Lin Yanchao strode into the hall. At this time, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Yanchao walked to the main seat and sat down, and then said, "Everyone is exempt from courtesy!" ”

At this time, the officials and gentry raised their heads, but saw an official on the throne, dressed in a scarlet robe and gold belt, and no more than twenty-five or sixteen years old, sitting there.

Although this official is young, he is not angry and arrogant, his eyes are extremely sharp, and the official gentry who dares to look at him feel that he has been scratched by something.

Some of the squires present were not the first time they had seen Lin Yanchao.

When he was a fellow intellectual, although Lin Yanchao was an official, his temperament was like a well-educated Confucian.

But when they saw it today, they felt the essence of official authority.

There has been such a big change in a short period of time, and Lin Yanchao has only been the prefect for three months. At this age, he has a lot of power in his hands, and he can be said to have a sharp weapon, even if he can't kill him, he is afraid of it.