"What did he say, Lord Zhizhou?" Tian Tao returned to his public house, and Xu Wentao and Hao Guang, who were waiting in it, hurriedly asked out loud, with a somewhat anxious look on their faces.

Don't look at Tian Tao's calm performance in front of Lu Jin, in fact, the situation of these state officials is really not good, not only this year, in the first two years, they have shorted a lot of grain in Datong Prefecture, so the wording of the official document delivered this time is quite serious, bluntly saying that if they can't pay the tax and grain in full this year, then the government will send someone to check it out.

I know why this situation happened in Ulzhou, but it was not only because the land was barren and it was located on the border, but if we really wanted to track it down, none of these local officials could get rid of it. Because one by one they have put their hands on these taxes.

Speaking of which, these Ulzhou officials are indeed quite miserable, and the income of Ming officials is quite low, so if you want to live comfortably, you have to think of some ways to get some income that is not on the table, such as accepting bribes, such as cooperating with some local businesses to do some business together. But the situation in Ulzhou is so special, not to mention the poverty, and most of the people who can get the money are people from the Wang family, or people who are close to the Wang family.

So in the end, you have to take advantage of the public money. The former governor was impeached because of this practice, and finally lost his office. And those of them who are subordinates, although they have temporarily kept their positions, they also have a lot of problems, at least they are a little sad at this level.

Of course, if they are really forced to do nothing, they can still pay their own money to buy food outside, but in this way, all the money they have earned through the previous adventures will be wasted, and they are really unwilling. In the end, I had to pin my hope on Lu Jin, the new Lord Zhizhou.

As long as he agrees to this, then they can breathe a sigh of relief anyway. Of course, it is a good thing to be able to negotiate things with the Wang family, but once things cannot be discussed, since he has come forward, Lu Zhen will naturally bear the biggest part of the responsibility. This is the wishful thinking of these local petty officials, and it is also the reason why they have been respectful to Lu Jin these days, and Lu Zhen must be made to feel that he can control the entire yamen, so that he can be coaxed to take responsibility.

And today, Tian Tao came forward to ask for help, which was the most critical part of this strategy, so before he came back, these colleagues who couldn't hold their breath were already waiting in his room.

Several pairs of eyes looked at him, making Tian Tongzhi, who had received the letter, unconsciously a little funny, and after slowly sitting in his seat and taking another sip of tea, he nodded and said, "Lu Zhizhou, he has promised to go to Wang's house tomorrow." ”

"Huh......" Xu Hao and both of them breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the words, and a smile appeared in their eyes: "This is naturally the best." With him in the background, we can rest assured. ”

"However, you and I also know the relationship between Lord Lu and the Wang family, and I am afraid that this matter will not work out. So at the end of the day, the problem remains. Tian Tao is not as optimistic as they are. As subordinates, they naturally want to know more about Lu Jin, the boss, and the contradiction between him and Wang Zhen is not a secret, so they will naturally know it at a glance.

"Even so, after all, with Zhizhou in front of us, we subordinates can always have less responsibility." Xu Wentao said with a smile, looking like the sky had fallen and there was a high top.

Hao Guang said: "And our Lu Zhizhou also has a backer in the court, presumably this bit of guilt can't move him, so it's safer for us." ”

"Hmph, that's what I'm worried about." Tian Tao glanced at his two colleagues dissatisfiedly: "After this incident, Lord Lu will definitely see some clues, and when the time comes, I'm afraid we will suffer." Do you think he's going to suffer this loss? ”

As soon as he said this, the other two people also changed color, and after being silent for a while, they said, "How is this good?" "If someone has a higher official position than himself, and he has a backer in the court, if he is really determined to deal with himself, I am afraid that it will not be a difficult task, and this is probably more of a headache than the issue of food tax.

"I would have known that I wouldn't have moved this thought......" Hao Guang said with some regret.

"It's too late to mention that now. Fortunately, we still have a chance to make up for it, for example, when facing the Wang family, we have a tougher attitude, as long as we let Lord Lu feel that we can still use it, maybe this matter can be made up. Tian Tao expressed his opinion.

"Can this really work? The Wang family is not easy to deal with. Xu Wentao asked with some disbehesitation.

"I had to try. Anyway, the Wang family has never sold the face of our state government, as long as they refuse to help this time, we can make trouble. When the time comes, Lord Lu wants to fight with them, and he will have to use us. ”

"Then ...... Give it a try. There was no other way to think of it, so the two had to nod and agree.

But there are some things, when you're prepared for something, maybe it will go in a completely different direction and catch people off guard.

@@@@@

Since he agreed to Tian Tao, although he faintly felt that things were a little strange, Lu Zhen still followed what he said before, and brought Tian Tao and Lin Lie to visit Wang's house early the next morning.

This Wang family's mansion is quite eye-catching in the entire Ulju City, not only is it big and magnificent, but it also occupies most of the south of the city alone, and there are not even other houses around. However, there were a lot of carriages, horses, and slaves parked in front of the door, and these people were not Ulzhou natives, but came from Datong and even other state capitals in Shanxi for various reasons to visit and curry favor.

This kind of person who dares to go to the royal family, his identity is extraordinary, or he has a title, or he has an official position, and no matter how bad he is, he is also a wealthy businessman, and they come to the small place of Ulzhou regardless of their work, naturally in order to get in touch with the prince who is now powerful in the world.

Compared with these people, Lu Jin, a small six-rank Zhizhou, is a little unable to do it. And looking at the gate of the royal family's mansion, Lu Zhen couldn't help but think of the disaster that would shake the world not long after-

Wang Zhen is because he wants to shine on the lintel and return to his hometown in fine clothes, so he will go out regardless of the army, and he may encounter Mongolian attacks at any time, instead of inviting the Son of Heaven to his hometown. As a result, it was this selfish and stupid decision that finally buried hundreds of thousands of elites of the Ming Dynasty and countless pillars of the Ming Dynasty on this defeat.

In a sense, it is not an exaggeration to say that this royal mansion is the tomb where countless armies are buried.

With this thought in his heart, Lu Jin's feet did not stop, and he soon led people to the gate that was wider than the state government and could allow three carriages to enter and exit side by side.

Their appearance attracted the attention of many coachmen and servants in front of the door, as well as guests who were still waiting to be summoned. This is not to say that Lu Zhen himself has any dazzling aura, on the contrary, because they seem too low-key.

It's just that a few of them didn't wear official uniforms, and they even came on foot. And in front of this royal house, all the people who came were illustrious, either by sedan chair or by car, no matter how bad it was, there had to be a horse.

Under the strange gaze of everyone, Lu Zhen stepped to the concierge who was still greeting guests, and arched his hand and said: "Excuse me, go in and report it, and say that this official Lu Jin, the governor of Ulzhou, and Tian Tao, the same knowledge, have something to discuss with your master." ”

The concierge had just greeted a guest, and when he heard Lu Jin's words, he was stunned, and looked at the other party carefully, but he couldn't see what gifts he was carrying, so he frowned. Generally speaking, it is not easy to enter the Wang family, either you have an identity, or you have to take out a heavy gift to please you, and I really haven't seen it much if I come empty-handed like Lu Jin.

So this porter subconsciously wanted to send Lu Zhen away with a few words, anyway, he had done this kind of thing before. However, just as he said this, he suddenly remembered a sentence that was uploaded from the government a few days ago: "In the past two months, everyone will be safe, don't make trouble outside." The new Lord Zhizhou is not easy to mess with, our Wang family has to give him some face! ”

He said he was my Ulzhou governor? Only then did the porter who understood that he quickly changed his face, replaced it with a smiling face, nodded and said: "It turned out that Lu Zhizhou was coming, please forgive me for being clumsy, please come in and talk." "Hurry up and reach out to help him, and don't look at our Lord Lu who is younger and stronger than him.

The people around who were still planning to watch a good show were stunned for a moment. Will this Zhizhou have such a big face? How many prefects do we have here, and I don't see the people of the Wang family behaving so respectfully and politely? Could it be that the so-called county officials are not as good as the current management?

In fact, not only them, but also Lu Jin, and Tian Tao beside him were also surprised. Especially the latter, he remembered it clearly, in the past, when he or his predecessor Lord Zhizhou came to visit the Wang family, the other party turned his nostrils to the sky, and almost didn't look at himself squarely, how could he have such a humble performance?

Although there were some doubts in their hearts, since the other party said and did so, Lu Zhen and the others could only smile and enter the Wang family's mansion under the leadership of the concierge. As for the other guests, they could only be temporarily wronged and waited outside, and they didn't dare to complain anyway.

After leading Lu Zhen and them into the gate, and turning the towering wall in front of them, the porter came to a middle-aged man in a serious costume and whispered a few words to him. And this one hurriedly called a slave to whisper a few words, and then greeted him with a smile.