Chapter 96 A Pot of Clear Water, Drips of Ink Dye Black
When Yang Zhen saw that his mother looked sure of victory, she put away her worries, said goodbye, and went straight to the Huajiu Pavilion.
All over the world, there are corrupt officials, and there are only two ways for them to obtain private wealth: collusion between officials and businessmen, doing things for convenience, accepting bribes, and plundering people's wealth.
Because these two channels are simple and crude, and do not require too much thinking. If they are too complicated, the IQ will not be enough.
In the blink of an eye, Li Xiaotian has been on tour for half a month. He has visited seven major cities and gained a lot.
Needless to say, the three cities of Pianzhou, Tongzhou and Quzhou were corrupted by Cao Qing and Cai Qiu, and Jiang Zheng was forced to evade taxes. The initiator behind the scenes was Queen Liu Sisi.
What about the other four states?
No one was spared.
The means of extorting money are basically the same, either imposing taxes or asking for bribes in disguise, which is very straightforward. Even lying about the number of people to evade taxes is something that requires a little effort. They don't want to do it, or they may be disdainful of it.
I wanted to do it, but most likely it was because I ate too much fish and meat, my brain was blocked for a long time, and it deteriorated. I didn’t expect this.
It is worth mentioning that among the seven major prefectures, except for Tongzhou, the other six prefectures seemed to have no participation from Kyoto officials, because those prefectural pastors were completely ignorant of Li Xiaotian's arrival.
Of course, this was largely due to Li Xiaotian’s clean and tidy disposal.
Every time Li Xiaotian went to a city in a state, after learning about the taxes, as long as they were higher than the legal tax, he would go straight to the state pastoral office, look at the furnishings, the decorations were extravagant, and without saying a word, he would first arrest the state pastoral officer, and then ransack the house. Basically, everything was full.
Several large boxes, Zhou Mu all confessed.
Generally speaking, those who raise taxes privately are greedy people. Gold coins plus various items are basically more than one million.
There are exceptions. Among the last four states, there is one Shengzhou. Its people pay taxes normally and reduce the goods tax for merchants. They only offer commercial bribes, which is considered a small amount of corruption. They also collected nearly 300,000 gold coins in bribes, and they took all the money from other states.
In comparison, he still has a clear conscience.
After all, even if they are both corrupt officials, people are different. Some are not courageous, some are greedy, and some can't help themselves.
"Brother Lu, can't you find honest and upright officials in your Qiu Kingdom?"
In the carriage, on the road to the eighth state, Lei Ming asked.
"It's not just the Qiu Kingdom, I'm afraid it's the same in other countries, because human nature, regardless of nationality." Li Xiaotian replied, and then asked: "Do you think Chiang Kai-shek in Tongzhou is considered a corrupt official?"
Lei Ming thought for a while and said: "It depends on who the target is. To the imperial court, it definitely counts, but to the people, it probably doesn't matter. Maybe in their eyes, he is a rare good official."
"It is said that officialdom is a battlefield where swords and guns cannot be seen. I have truly realized this after working in this field. Take Chiang Zheng as an example. He clearly had a righteous heart, but he was defeated by the threats of powerful people and was forced to join in. No matter how clear a basin of water, a drop of ink
It will turn black." Li Xiaotian sighed with emotion.
Lei Ming suddenly asked: "Brother Lu, will you be dyed black?"
"In this big dye vat of the world, for everyone, as long as the dye is dark enough, they will be dyed black, without exception, and they will even take the initiative to be dyed black." Li Xiaotian said meaningfully.
Lei Ming shook his head thoughtfully and said, "I don't know much about reading and I don't understand. Can you speak more plainly?"
"Then read more books before it's too late and slowly realize that I want to take a rest like Commander Geng." After Li Xiaotian finished speaking, he closed his eyes to rest and stopped chatting.
Since there was a handle in Li Xiaotian's hands, the key was that the handle was too embarrassing and embarrassing, so Lei Ming had no choice but to shut up his chatter and rest honestly.
Youzhou, a state city located in the southernmost part of the Qiu Kingdom, is also the state city with the largest jurisdiction. It is quite far away from Linzhou City, and it will take at least double the usual time.
In the evening, night is approaching.
Li Xiaotian found an open area, set up camp, and prepared to repair for the night before setting off again early tomorrow morning. He estimated that it would take him half a day to reach Youzhou.
The Imperial Guards were indeed well-trained. No, it didn't take long for them to set up all the accompanying tents. Several small tents surrounded the tent in the middle of Li Xiaotian, which was originally intended to accommodate Li Xiaotian and Geng Nian.
Fortunately, the tent is big enough, so thunder is not a problem.
"Commander, sir, a little boy broke into the tent camp to seek help. Please make a decision." A guard suddenly entered the main camp tent and reported.
Geng Nian said nothing, but looked at Li Xiaotian, indicating that he would make his own decision.
Li Xiaotian said: "Bring it in and have a look."
As a result, a little boy walked in through the guard's tent.
The boy was young, about seven or eight years old. He was thin and his clothes were old and patched. It was obvious that he came from a poor family.
As soon as he came in, the little boy plopped down on his knees and begged: "Please help my mother, she fainted!"
After saying this, the little boy burst into tears.
Li Xiaotian hurriedly asked: "Do you remember the way?"
The little boy nodded affirmatively.
Without saying a word, Li Xiaotian walked directly to the little boy, let him ride on his back, asked him to show the way, and ran out.
Geng Nian Lei Ming saw this and followed closely.
Because Li Xiaotian ran very fast and the little boy remembered the route, the two cooperated very well. It didn't take long for them to find the location of the little boy's mother.
I saw a woman sitting under a big tree, her face was pale, she didn't know what the situation was, and she didn't seem optimistic.
Li Xiaotian quickly checked her nose with his hand. Fortunately, she was still breathing, although it was quite weak. Then he felt for her pulse. Based on the knowledge he gained from the book, he could basically judge that the coma was caused by long-term hunger and fatigue.
, it is also quite dangerous if it is not remedied in time.
After roughly understanding the condition, Li Xiaotian quickly took a recovery pill from his storage bag. Thinking that the physiques of ordinary people and monks were different, he was afraid that they would not be able to withstand the power of the medicine. He said to Lei Ming and Geng Nian: "Do you have any water on your body?"
It’s better to have sugar in it.”
I don't have storage bags in Geng Nian, so I won't bring these with me because I am helpless.
Fortunately, Lei Ming had many storage bags and it was a grocery store. He replied: "There is no water, but I do have wine made from honey. I don't know if it is possible."
"That's best, hurry up." Li Xiaotian urged.
Lei Ming quickly took out the collector's edition of mead and handed it to Li Xiaotian.
Li Xiaotian took it, poured it on the lid of the pot, then scraped some medicine foam inside, and finally carefully fed it into his mouth.
"Don't worry, your mother should be fine. It may take a while before she wakes up. Let's go back to the camp first." Li Xiaotian comforted the anxious boy beside him who was in tears.
When the boy heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief and bowed solemnly to Li Xiaotian: "Thank you..."
However, as soon as he said thank you, the little boy's eyes went dark and he fainted.
Fortunately, Li Xiaotian had quick eyesight and quick hands, and held him. Knowing that his mother and his wife were in the same condition, he fed the boy again.
Then, the three of them carried the couple back to the tent camp.
Because they were on a long trip during this inspection, they naturally brought food. Considering that the two of them had been hungry for a long time without eating, large fish and meat were not easy to digest and would be harmful to the body, so Li Xiaotian personally cooked lean meat porridge in the tent.
, wait until the two of them wake up and eat.
"I didn't expect that you, a minister of household affairs and a monk on the seventh level of Tongmai, can actually cook porridge. It really opened my eyes." Lei Ming half-joked.
Li Xiaotian replied: "How can I, a casual cultivator, be compared with you, a rich second-generation young man? I can stretch out my hand when I am wearing clothes, I can open my mouth when eating, and I have to do everything myself. But then again, I will throw you into the mountains to practice for a few years."
, you can also do these basic common things in life.”
"So you used to practice hard in the mountains. No wonder you have the seventh level of cultivation at such a young age." Thinking about this, Lei Ming felt much more comfortable. After all, he was several years older than Li Xiaotian, and his cultivation was similar to his.
, now that I heard that he was practicing in the mountains, I suddenly felt that it was natural, and suddenly turned to Geng Nian and said: "Commander Geng, what about you, can you make porridge?"
Geng Nian still took a nap to rest his mind and did not answer this boring question.
At this time, the boy and his mother woke up from coma one after another.
"Thank you all for your life-saving grace." As soon as he woke up, the little boy looked at the familiar tent and faces and knew that he had been rescued by three people. He quickly got up from the blanket and prepared to kneel down to thank him.
The woman and her son understood something like this, and said in a weak voice: "I can't repay you for your great kindness, but please accept my respects from our mother-in-law!"