When Chu and Qing left the house, the gas tank failed to resist, but it left a very bad impression on the Tao family.
After walking a long way, Fu San said in a low voice: "Master, the Li family is not easy to get along with. Why do you need to get involved in this kind of thing?"
Chu Qing smiled bitterly.
Didn't he understand what was going on? Now that the Chu family could not protect itself, logically speaking, he should not care about this matter.
But when he looked at the account, every entry and stroke in the account were not about amounts, money and food, but flesh and blood. Behind these rows of numbers, there were countless blood, tears and bones of the people of Xiao County.
Mr. Li Mu, the magistrate of Xiao County, was greedy for official taxes, but in order to make up for the shortfall, the people had to do countless more corvees.
Looking at it now, Tao Shaozhang, the eldest young master of the Tao family, has a good feeling for him, but this old guy Tao Yao will never agree to this marriage. This means that the Chu family has almost no way out. Since there is no way out, what is there to be afraid of?
Yes, break the jar and smash it.
After a while, when Chu Qing and Fu San had already left, Tao Shaozhang held a lot of paper and left the house angrily. No one knew where he was going, but he was just wearing official robes.
And when Tao Shaozhang's figure disappeared into the moonlight, a sedan dropped in the alley opened the sedan curtain.
The person in the sedan was none other than Li Lin, the second son of the Li Mansion. After leaving the Li Mansion, he had been waiting outside secretly, fearing that Tao Shaozhang, who had been staring at his eldest brother recently, would cause something wrong again.
"Go outside the mansion and find out what happened in Tao's mansion."
The steward of the Li family who was waiting aside said "yes" and quickly walked towards the gate of Tao Mansion.
After a while, the steward came back and said respectfully: "Second Young Master, regarding the eldest young master's accounts in Xiao County, I told you that Tao Shaozhang would find someone to look at the accounts."
"who?"
"The son of the left minister of the Ministry of Industry."
Li Lin had a sneer on his face: "This Chu family wants to die!"
The steward asked softly: "Are you coming openly or secretly?"
"Come on tomorrow, go and find Mr. Zhang Yuan, the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and tell him that Chu Wensheng's son is meddling in other people's business. He will not go to court tomorrow and ask Mr. Zhang Yuan to go to the Chu Mansion in person to reprimand Chu Wensheng and his son.
, The decline of the Chu family is a foregone conclusion, Fan doesn’t need to go to great lengths, just give him a warning."
"clear."
Let’s talk about the eldest young master of the Tao family who is walking quickly through Nanshi. Tao Shaozhang is the fourth rank of Jiushi Shaoqing. There is no other civil servant in Beijing who does not go out in a sedan chair. Only this guy relies on two wheels to go everywhere.
legs.
After a big quarrel with his father, Tao Shaozhang's temper got worse. He had to find out about the embezzlement of money from officials and officials in Xiao County, and the place he wanted to go to was the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Among the six bureaus and nine temples, only the officials in the Ministry of Husbandry were proficient in arithmetic. Chu Qing had almost done the math just now, but Tao Shaozhang couldn't understand it, so he went to the Ministry of Husbandry to ask someone.
It's already dark now, half past midnight, and other government offices have already gone off duty.
However, it is the tax month recently, and all the tax money from various states have been sent to the capital. The household department is the busiest, and even doctors, principals and other adults are busy in the government offices.
When Tao Shaozhang arrived, as expected, the house was brightly lit, the main door was wide open, and the government officials came in and out holding account books.
The Ministry of Household Affairs is in charge of household registration and finance, and is the most important center of the country.
The government office occupies a vast area, and Tao Shaozhang, who was wearing an official robe, was not blocked and went straight into the innermost cell.
There was a sixth-rank chief of the Household Department who had some friendship with Tao Shaozhang, named Chen Yan. It was this chief Chen that Tao Shaozhang was looking for.
A sixth-grade manager is not considered a high-ranking official in the capital, nor is he considered a high-ranking official in the Household Department, so he is naturally the one who works overtime.
After entering the class room, Chen Yan saw Tao Shaozhang and smiled bitterly.
"Brother Tao came here this time because of the affairs of the Li family in Xiao County?"
Chen Yan is thin and average-looking. He is about the same age as Tao Shaozhang, but his grade is quite different. From this, we can also see the difference between people with backgrounds and those without backgrounds who serve as officials in Beijing.
"Today I accidentally found an expert. No, I don't know if he is an expert. He always seems to know something about arithmetic, and there is something serious in his words. Come and help me take a look."
Chen Yan stood up, poured a cup of tea for Tao Shaozhang with a look of helplessness on his face, and then said: "I'm afraid I've been deceived again. There are only a handful of people in Beijing who study general arithmetic, and most of them are in the Ministry of Household Affairs. Arithmetic is a very obscure subject.
"Compared to the Four Books and Five Classics, if there is someone who is proficient in arithmetic, why have I never heard of it?"
Tao Shaozhang didn't waste any time and directly threw a pile of papers on the desk.
Chen Yan casually said it, but when he saw it, he was stunned and his expression changed drastically.
Putting down the teapot, Chen Yan quickly grabbed the paper with a solemn look on his face.
Tao Shaozhang couldn't wait to ask: "How is it, but the calculation is correct?"
"This...this..." Chen Yan turned his head: "What the hell is this random drawing!"
Tao Shaozhang was dumbfounded: "You can't understand?"
"It's like a ghost drawing a talisman, who can understand it?"
"I don't understand why I see you looking so horrified."
"I'm really shocked. Paper is so expensive in Beijing. You spend so much on fine paper. It's extravagant and extravagant."
Tao Shaozhang: "..."
Chen Yan kept chattering: "If you have paper, why don't you send it to your brother's house so that you can copy two lines of poetry to add some elegance. Oh my, what a pity, what a pity."
Tao Shaozhang looked sad and pointed at the paper: "There is no order at all?"
"I can't understand it, so I just wrote it randomly."
"Isn't it arithmetic?"
Chen Yan laughed loudly: "What kind of arithmetic is this? It's so weird. Who is it? Even you, the young minister of Dali Temple, dare to deceive you."
"Chu Qing, the son of the left minister of the Ministry of Industry."
"Chu Qing?" Chen Yan was even more happy: "You don't know the reputation of that piece of shit that everyone in the world hates. Not to mention arithmetic, you may not even know a few big characters."
"But just now in the mansion, what he said was true and true. It was a lot of money, and it was even with me in Xiao County... that's all."
Tao Shaozhang's face was full of disappointment. When he thought about how he would be ridiculed by his father when he returned home, he could only sigh deeply and cupped his hands: "You are busy with official duties, so I'll take my leave, stupid brother."
"I'll take you out of the office."
Tao Shaozhang didn't bother to take the papers, and left the Ministry of Works office in frustration.
As a result, when Chen Yan returned to the class room, a figure suddenly stopped in front of him.
"Mr. Chen, is Master Tao looking for you because of the incident in Xiao County?"
The person who spoke was also a steward. They were of the same rank, named Wu Kan. They usually didn't get along very well with Chen Yan.
"What does it have to do with you?"
"Mr. Chen, please don't cause trouble. If the Lord Shangshu finds out, I'm afraid your official position will not be guaranteed."
Chen Yan snorted coldly: "Shang Shu Wei is upright. It is precisely because he didn't know this that the Li family was so domineering. If he had known about it, he would not have let the Li family off easily."
"It's a joke." Wu Kan lowered his voice: "Do you really think that Master Wei doesn't know about this? He just doesn't bother to ask. The country's taxes are so high, and a mere Xiao County is involved with the Li family.
Why bother?"
Chen Yan was too lazy to write ink, and directly cursed: "Go away, I still have to deal with official business."
"You...you actually said dirty words!"
"Just scold you, how about that!"
The two of them were going back and forth, and their voices became louder and louder, which attracted the attention of the people around them. Seeing that they were both greeting each other's female relatives, the main hall was suddenly pushed open, and a burly old man with white beard and hair stepped out.
