Chapter 050 The fallacy of bribery

The rest of the soldiers left the scene with the one who fell to the ground. Cai Jing ordered the rest to retreat, leaving only the curtain officials around, and then walked into the ancestral hall surrounded by the people. After burning incense and worshipping, he left the Xue Gong's ancestral hall with Shen Kuo next to the king.

The people behind him talked about it one after another, and the people who just said that Cai Jing and Zhang Yang also changed their mouths. If there is such a magistrate who knows the mistake and admits to the people, there is hope for the governance of the city during his term of office.

Cai Jing invited Wang Bian and Shen Kuo to his house. The soldiers of the magistrate's house were heavily guarded, and the decoration inside was also very exquisite. He took a lot of effort in the decoration of the house. Wang knew that the officials who came to the Tianfu house were arranged by the court, but the home furnishings were brought by the officials themselves. From the furniture in the house. The decoration shows that Cai Jing has made a lot of money over the years,

After the banquet was held in the hall, Cai Jing toasted the king respectfully: "Your Majesty, I don't know that the prince came here. This cup is for the prince."

The king picked up the glass and said, "Juan Chang, I'll give you this glass of wine. Today, you gave me enough face. Now you are a local official. What about me? I'm not sure if I'm the prince when I go back to the court."

Cai Jing said hurriedly and humbly, "What are you talking about? I'm not all about giving you face today, and there is indeed something wrong with me. Compared with Xue Gong's integrity, I'm ashamed. Besides, my glass of wine is not because you are the prince, but because of your kindness in those years."

This is just right. Shen Kuo smiled and said, "If we meet again after a long separation, don't say some polite words. Today, regardless of official position or grade, we just think of it as a reunion of old friends and have a good drink. Hey, can't I come down easily all the way, come and drink?"

The king also had mixed feelings in his heart. It was unpredictable that the world probably meant this. "I have been away for 14 years. If I hadn't just stayed near the city today and came to the Xuegong Temple to worship, I'm afraid I wouldn't have seen Yuanchang again. However, there is something strange to me. When can the magistrate lead the army?"

Not to mention the Song Dynasty, let's take modern times as a prefect. The magistrate is equivalent to the governor. The governor goes out at most to call the public security department to cooperate, and he has not seen anyone who will mobilize the armed police or the army. Compared with the Song Dynasty, it is not strange for the magistrate to follow the government, but it is a little novel to follow the soldiers.

Cai Jing quickly explained: "The prince didn't know that Xining had implemented a lot of new laws in the past ten years, but there were many opponents. Even the empress dowager and the empress dowager also put a lot of pressure on the emperor. Since the resignation of the prime minister, many new laws have been abolished. In recent years, the new and old laws have alternated, and the implementation in various places is very chaotic. Take the general's method of war as a saying: divide the garrison of all walks of life into several units, and each position will be one deputy general, who is responsible for training the army. My team of soldiers were escorted by the court when they were sent to Liaoning, but when I returned to the court, the establishment changed again. At this time, the recruitment law has not been cancelled, and the state and county governments paid their own money to hire people to serve. No one wants to pay more silver, but they don't meet the retirement regulations, so I have been taking it with me. Besides, I have offended a lot of people in the past few years, and I just want to pay for peace of mind.

Wang Bian listened with a big head, but at least he understood that these soldiers were hired by Cai Jing himself: "You are quite bold. Aren't you afraid of being impeached by yourself?"

"What to impeach me, these more than ten or twenty soldiers will impeach me for being self-respecting. Whoever impeachs me will let me solve the ownership of these soldiers. What am I afraid of? At most, it is to demote the officials and lose the official. Anyway, the new law is abandoned halfway. It doesn't matter whether this official does it or not."

Cai Jing said, holding up a glass and drinking it all. It seemed that he was extremely depressed with wine.

Shen Kuo said, "On the one hand, you offend people. I heard that you haven't made a lot of money over the years, and your family background is very large, and someone should protect you." Shen Kuo has always spoken directly, which is more or less sarcastic, but it seems to be very tactful because of Wang's presence,

Cai Jing is not obscure at all: "Hey, Brother Shen, you're right. In the first few years of doing those water conservancy projects, where to build ditches and canals and where to build dams to build bridges, it is all supplemented by the imperial court. Do you think this local official can not desperately sharpen his head to get approval?"

Wang quietly picked up vegetables and drank, while looking at Cai Jing with a smile: "You dare to take this money."

"This money should be collected. Of course, the principle of receiving is received. If it doesn't meet the regulations, even if it is given to me Jinshan Yinshan, I won't take it. But if it meets the regulations, it will definitely be collected. There are local government officials and contracted projects. If you don't accept it at all,

They think that you don't agree with him. It's good. If you think you think it's too little, they will give more, but the money comes from the sheep. If they give more money, they will cut corners. Therefore, if they collect it properly, let them do it steadily, they can do it well.

Wang Zong listened and scolded, "You bastard, take bribes and gifts. If the briber builds a dam to cut corners, it's a natural thing. You're not afraid of retribution, but you should think about the black gauze hat on your head and the head under it."

Cai Jing was stunned and then smiled and said, "Ha ha, only when you talk like this can you be like a prince. Come on, drink. Let me tell you that if it's really a job, I will directly return their silver and tell them that I can't afford to do this. Guess what, if everything can be passed, the money will be collected steadily, and everything can be passed. Everything can be done. I fooled myself and gave money, and sooner or later I will have to sell you. This is my experience I have summed up over the years, and I can't try.

Shen Kuo pointed to Cai Jing and said, "You are a moth, the moth of the court."

Cai Jing drank a few glasses of wine and saw the relatives next to Wang again. He was somewhat unobstructed. He replied, "Hey, Brother Shen, this is not right. Before there was no new method, the people were trapped by floods. Now there is a good way to solve it. It's better than those who do nothing with the relief money of the imperial court. All I take is what I should Take it. Besides, the law of the imperial court has changed every three days. Who knows what will happen in the future? From the Song Dynasty to now, the only thing that remains unchanged is not to kill scholars and doctors. As long as people don't die, the rest depends on the fate of God. If you don't say anything about others, you will say that the prince. How clean and sincere the family property was. So what if a person dies, everything will be given. The court, my lord, am I right?

"I'm dead, why do you ask me why?" Wang's side returned angrily,

"Well, not to mention the prince, let's talk about Brother Shen. After so many years of sacrifices, this and that, you save more than two hundred thousand taels of silver for the court every year. So what? Except for your salary, what have you fallen? Yes, a bunch of enemies, you are waiting for you to go back to the capital this time to watch those people fall into the well, so I said. Only what falls in your hand is the most real.

Shen Kuo hummed a glass of wine angrily. What Cai Jing said was not unreasonable, but he also knew that what Cai Jing said was crooked, but he didn't know where to refute it.

Wang knows that it's useless to say that Cai Jing is useless now. In the past few years, he has his way to go. It's hard to say right or wrong. Some things are indeed people in the world. "Forget it, it's useless to say this. Yuan Chang, you don't care what you do, just have to be worthy of your conscience."

Cai Jing raised a thumbs-up: "The prince is right. I think I work for the people and don't harm the people. As for the money given to me, they may not be good. I also call it for heaven."

"You are quite good at making excuses for yourself. In a word, people can take care of themselves in officialdom." Wang said lightly, "Now that you have arrived in the city, what are you going to do in the future?"

Speaking of the city, Cai Jing's look became serious: "In this place, when Mr. Xue was there, both the law and the Qingmiao law were very well implemented. Business was prosperous, agriculture was prosperous, and the people also respected these systems. There was no need to be forced to donate, and the materials were very circulating. More importantly, even if there were It is a natural and man-made disaster. The people can also live safely by relying on the help of the government. In recent years, the new laws have been abolished one after another, and the people are a little uncomfortable. There is no major disaster now. If there is any change, there will be no help that could have before. I'm afraid that the people will make trouble.

Shen Kuo looked at Cai Jing curiously: "In those years, the prince's new law was really so good. How could there be Zheng Xia's painting of the "Picture of the Distribute People"? In the picture, the exiles were either locked on their backs, or ate grass roots. At that time, the emperor questioned the new law. If it was like Yuan Chang said, the people should live and work in peace and contentment, and how could there be a saying of the exiles? "."

Speaking of Zheng Xia and Cai Jing, he was very angry: "This villain was lucky to be promoted by the prince at the beginning. At that time, the court promulgated the method of using the new method of examination to elect talents. Those who passed the examination could be promoted to Beijing officials. Wang Anshi asked Zheng Xia to be used through this way. The prince wanted to use him. This guy refused on the grounds that he was not familiar with the new law. Therefore, the prince did not use him, so he held a grudge and drew a map of the exiles to the emperor through the drought, so that the emperor thought it was caused by the new law. It was really shameful. After saying that, he put the glass heavily on the table and the wine was overflowing. The servant next to him hurried forward to help Cai Jing wipe the table in front of him and changed the glass.

Shen Kuo shook his head and didn't seem to agree very much: "Su Shi and Zheng Xia have differences with the prince, but it's better than Lv Huiqing, Shu Yu and Li Ding for their own interests."

"Does Brother Shen think that those who have differences are good people? If we support the prince, we can be a villain." Cai Jing questioned Shen Kuo with an angry face,

Seeing that the two people on the table were about to quarrel, Wang Bian coughed. Cai Jing and Shen Kuo looked at Wang at the same time and waited for him to speak.

"It's just that people are different. The purpose of the father's change of law is to enrich the country and strengthen the army, so it is to crack down on the tyrants and prevent mergers and mergers. However, because these corrupt officials take it skillfully, all the new laws have gone to their own negative side, because the enforcers of the new law always pass on disasters to the heads of hawkers and hawkers, making the people unstable. Life, for example, the implementation of the Qingmiao Law, borrowing grain and the people to cross the wasteland when Qinghuang did not receive it. This is good, but the general interest rate is as high as 20%, and the competition in some areas is as high as 50%, and even to the point where the people are not real. This is not a question of the law, nor is it a question of whether there are differences or not. This is a question of implementation. Zheng Xia went too much, but he didn't see the essence of the question without rejecting him. Think about it: he just took office when he presented the folk map, and he was only about 30 years old. He didn't know anything about the local affairs at all. The emperor was blinded, let alone him.

Shen Kuo and Cai Kyoto were silent for a long time. Shen Kuo said, "Now I know better why the people of Pocheng are so grateful to Duke Xue. This is what they look like as officials."

Wang took a look at Cai Jing. Cai Jing said, "I dare not compare with Xue Gong. I can only do not harm the people. As for the legal system of the court in the future, I can only look at it step by step."

"It's promising." Wang scolded softly,

Cai Jing smiled and seemed to be scolded by the king for being kind and honored. The curtain officer came in from the outside and whispered a few words in Cai Jing's ear. Cai Jing frowned and turned his head to Shen Kuo beside the king and asked, "Brother Shen, is there a man named Xu Xi in the army?"