novelAbuy Chapter 17 Watching the Joke
Chapter 17 Watching the Joke
Li Chong pretended to be troubled, and after pondering for a moment, he looked at Yang Chengde beside him.
"Registration Officer Yang, I wonder if the county treasury can be used even a little bit?"
Yang Chengde's smile faded considerably, and he immediately shook his head: "I'm afraid that won't work. The summer tax is approaching, and there's also an order to expand the land area, so it's the time when we need money. Besides, the autumn harvest is just around the corner, and the county needs to repair the irrigation canals. We can't use this money lightly."
Li Chong sneered inwardly, knowing he wouldn't agree.
At present, Yang Chengde probably already considers Yanggu County to be his own, so naturally he will not let Li Chong make the decisions.
Otherwise, even if he didn't agree, he shouldn't have directly rejected Li Chong; he should have at least let Li Chong see the county's account books before making a decision.
But now, Yang Chengde hasn't mentioned this at all, clearly indicating that he doesn't want Li Chong to interfere with the county's financial affairs.
Upon hearing that Yang Chengde had decisively rejected Li Chong, Fu Shun perked up again.
With a slight upturn of his lips, Fu Shun raised his eyebrows and looked at Li Chong: "I know that Your Excellency wants to avenge the robbery, but we are currently out of money. The county's yamen runners and archers alone cannot suppress the bandits. It is not that I am shirking my responsibility, but that even a skilled cook cannot cook without rice. I urge Your Excellency to reconsider the matter of suppressing the bandits."
Li Chong feigned a moment of vulnerability and stood up to retort, "What does County Commandant Fu mean by this? My proposal to suppress the bandits is for the sake of the people of Yanggu's peaceful life, not for my personal grudges. If the bandits are not suppressed, the people will live in constant fear, how can we talk about settling their livelihoods?"
Fu Shun was certain that Li Chong had no way out, so he sat down and replied, "Then please, Your Excellency, find another way. If you do not have the money to recruit local militia and reward the soldiers, please forgive me for not being able to suppress this bandit."
"you!"
Li Chong pointed at Fu Shun, his eyes flashing with anger: "This is for the livelihood of the people of Yanggu, yet you only spout the stench of money! What kind of behavior is this! The people are desperately in need..."
After a pause, Li Chong seemed to remember something and laughed again.
"That's right, people!" Li Chong clapped his hands and said to the crowd, "I want to suppress the bandits for the sake of the people of Yanggu. Since that's the case, the people cannot stand idly by. If we can raise funds from the people and gather the resources of the entire county, how could we not have the money to suppress the bandits?"
"Fundraising?" Fu Shun stared wide-eyed at Li Chong. Was this really an idea that someone who had passed the imperial examinations could come up with?
Yang Chengde abruptly stood up: "Your Excellency, without an imperial order, local officials arbitrarily collecting taxes is a serious crime!"
His expression was very tense; he was genuinely worried that Li Chong might cause some serious trouble in a moment of confusion.
Yang Chengde was not worried about Li Chong, but rather that Li Chong would jeopardize his own future.
Li Chong waved his hand: "Of course I understand that, which is why I said it's a fundraising campaign. Let the people who are willing to fight the bandits donate voluntarily, whether they contribute money or labor. With so many people in Yanggu County, surely we can handle a few bandits in the mountains?"
After hearing Li Chong's explanation, Yang Chengde's expression softened slightly.
"Excellent, excellent!" Fu Shun clapped his hands and laughed, standing up abruptly. "Your Excellency's plan is brilliant; I am ashamed to admit my inferiority. I guarantee that as long as Your Excellency can raise the funds, everyone in the county will be at Your Excellency's command, and I will never break my promise."
"However, if the magistrate fails to raise the money, he should not blame others."
After saying that, Fu Shun casually cupped his hands in greeting to Li Chong, turned around and left without looking back.
After Fu Shun left, Yang Chengde also stood up: "Your Excellency, there are still some miscellaneous matters in the county that have not been settled, so I will take my leave as well."
"Go ahead," Li Chong said, completely unconcerned.
With the departure of Yang Chengde and Fu Shun, the once-full hall was instantly deserted.
The group left in twos and threes, and laughter could still be heard from time to time during their conversation.
Clearly, no one was optimistic about Li Chong's fundraising efforts.
As the saying goes, it's hard to part with wealth.
It's difficult to get people to do a good deed normally, let alone for Li Chong to raise money to suppress bandits.
Given the reputation of officials in the Northern Song Dynasty, which commoner would dare to entrust their money to them?
Donating this money is no better than throwing it into the water; at least you'd hear a splash.
Therefore, when Fu Shun heard that Li Chong wanted to raise money, he immediately stopped being nervous, and Yang Chengde secretly laughed at him.
They were all waiting to see Li Chong make a fool of himself.
However, neither of them noticed that beneath Li Chong's furious expression lay an extremely calm gaze.
-----------------
"Bang!"
The door was flung open again, and Choi Si rushed in, panting heavily.
After the court session ended, Li Chong had someone take the case files back to the back office, preparing to hold court after dinner.
Just as he was reviewing the case files and eating, Cui Shi rushed back.
Seeing that Cui Shi was still behaving so crudely, Li Chong gave him a cold glance.
He's too lazy to correct Cui Shi now; once he's extracted all the information from him, he'll just deal with him directly.
Cui Shi was completely unaware of Li Chong's plans.
"Phew~~~"
After catching his breath, he walked straight up to Li Chong and asked bluntly, "How did you manage to offend County Commandant Fu again? You yourself said that Registrar Yang is trying to seize power from us. Instead of trying to win over County Commandant Fu, why did you deliberately offend him?"
"All the archers and yamen runners in this county are under his command. Without his approval, how can we silence those bandits?"
Li Chong's gaze remained fixed on the case file as he reached out and pushed the teapot over.
"Pour yourself a cup of tea to soothe your throat, and pour me one too, then I'll tell you slowly."
"You!" Choi Si pointed at Lee Chong, somewhat speechless.
He was reluctant to do it, but after thinking it over, he obediently picked up the teapot and did as Li Chong instructed.
After finishing his tea in one gulp, Choi Si patiently asked, "Can you talk now?"
Li Chong didn't answer, but instead asked, "How's the matter I asked you to investigate yesterday? What's the deal with that land-collecting magistrate? Also, who are the elders and gentry in this county?"
Meeting Li Chong's calm gaze, Cui Shi subconsciously recalled the scene of setting fire to the corpse that day.
The scene of Li Chong holding the torch and throwing it down is still vivid in my mind.
Swallowing hard, Cui Shi answered truthfully, "I didn't find out any details about the land reclamation order. I only heard that things were very bad in the prefecture, especially in Liangshan Lake. They said the government was going to increase taxes on unclaimed land, and fishermen there would be subject to heavy taxes, and quite a few people had died."
"Hmm." Li Chong put down the case file and nodded slowly.
As expected, Emperor Huizong and his ministers could only come up with ways to amass wealth; they couldn't produce anything of value.
It seems that Song Jiang's uprising is definitely related to this land grabbing campaign.
After a moment's thought, Li Chong gestured, "Continue."
Cui Shi continued, "As for the prominent figures in Yanggu County, the first one that comes to mind is the Zhu family of Zhu Family Village. They deal in medicinal herbs and I've heard they're quite wealthy."
"Oh, right, also, Old Master Zhu's eldest son took over his job and seems to be working in the yamen as well."
"The rest are the Zhang family in Fuxingli, the Xue family in Gangziji, and several wealthy families in Lijiacun and Qinghecun, but none of them can compare to the Zhu family's wealth."