Li Xiao couldn't do this yet, and there was nothing he could do about it. After all, the government's decrees had to be implemented by officials. It would be impossible for the court to formulate and implement a decree that would meet the situation in all places.

Even in Liaodong, Shandong, and Hebei, government orders are often tampered with.

"But the imperial court only charged 30% of the tax, which was already very heavy. They increased it to 70%. How can the people survive?" Li Xiao gritted his teeth with hatred when he saw the people's reluctance to give up food.

"Haha! Not to mention anything else, this stick can't hit these officials' butts." Shi Kefa looked at Li Xiao with a smile. Li Xiao felt that this old bastard deserved a beating today.

"Are you going to slap me on the butt again?" Li Xiao retorted angrily.

"Commander, you are right, I just want to slap you on the ass. Do you know where all the taxes these officials added have gone?"

"Where have you gone?"

"In fact, only a small part is collected privately, and most of the rest goes into the national treasury."

"National treasury?" Li Xiao almost thought he heard wrongly. The money these corrupt officials had worked so hard to embezzle could actually go into the national treasury? Are they crazy?

If Shi Kefa hadn't been an old official and knew everything about the dirty things going on in the yamen at all levels, Li Xiao would have thought that the old guy was talking nonsense.

"Yes, it's the treasury. You remember the governor of Jiangxi who was promoted last year, right? Why was he promoted?"

"Dashu, Jiangxi Province, wants to turn over the most money and food to the court. For an official with such outstanding political achievements, Hu Dachang should be promoted to the rank of Left Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. To be honest, if the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is not Ai Husheng, he can directly become the household minister.

From the Ministry of Finance."

"That's right!

You don’t even think about it, Huguang is familiar with the world. What does Jiangxi have to do here? Su and Song’s second mansion is half the world, but there doesn’t seem to be anything about Jiangxi here.

In Guizhou, the sky is not sunny for three days and the ground is not even three feet flat. Do you think Jiangxi is just fine? The water flows down three thousand feet, and it seems like the Milky Way has fallen into the sky. This is about Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi!

In just such a place, the annual grain production exceeds that of Susong and Songfu, and that of Huguang?

What do you rely on? Are you just robbing the people?

He reported a good harvest and secretly raised the court's taxes to 70%. He was less greedy and gave all the money and food to the court. Then what happened? He was promoted to an official position and became the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs."

"Then the people of Jiangxi...!"

"Hu Dachang has already become the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, so he doesn't bother to care about the lives of the people in Jiangxi. If he allocates some grain to Jiangxi in the spring of next year, it will be considered as Hu Dachang has a conscience.

If there is a car in front of you, there will be a rut in the back. They are all veterans who have been in the officialdom for many years. They can learn this kind of thing quickly."

"Damn it! You all know this, right? Just wait to see my joke, right?" Li Xiao was so angry that the three corpses jumped.

Politics is indeed an extremely complex thing, and these people who are officials are considered to be smart people if they are picked individually. It is even harder to find a fool than to climb up to the sky.

As long as there is an opportunity, these people will take advantage of it. In order to climb up and gain greater power, they will do anything.

Li Xiao only saw the tax contributions and sent people to inspect the treasury, but he didn't think about this. These old foxes are all damn human beings, but no one reminded me, just waiting for me to fall into this trap.

Who are these people! Including the Shi Kefa in front of me, all of them are really bad guys.

"You can't blame me, nor Zhang Huangyan. Who asked you to arrange the personnel of various ministries indiscriminately, without consulting us in advance. A minister of household affairs was appointed just as you said.

This is why Zhang Huangyan is in charge of the court. What would you do if Mr. Sun was here? There are so many complaints in Zhang Huangyan’s heart that he has not yet said!"

Li Xiao then remembered that Zhang Huangyan once said not to be promoted to Hu Dachang's official position so quickly. At that time, he thought that Zhang Huangyan had committed the old habit of not being able to tolerate the Donglin Party, but he did not expect this.

But now that a big mistake has been made, it will be difficult to undo it.

"Mr. Shi, I was negligent in this matter." Faced with such a top-notch old fox, Li Xiao still admitted his mistake obediently. The reason why these old foxes did not warn was that they were dissatisfied with their arbitrary actions.

One person cannot control this country, and one pair of hands cannot suppress China. Even the emperor of the Zhu family has to share the world with the scholar-bureaucrats.

Although he has accumulated a certain amount of political experience over the years, Li Xiao is still a bit immature when facing these mature old foxes.

These old foxes don’t even have to say anything or do anything. They just watch themselves make mistakes!

Now Li Xiao is riding a tiger, and Hu Dachang has been promoted. The accounts of the Jiangxi vassal treasury must have been wiped out clearly. It is extremely difficult to catch Hu Dachang's tail now.

Now it is even more difficult to prevent officials in Jiangnan from following suit. After all, officials' strong desire to get promoted and make a fortune is unstoppable.

"Hey, you guys, what are you doing? You don't look like good people muttering! Bring out Lu Yin." Li Xiao was talking to Shi Kefa here, and a mantis-like little official in a green robe pointed at the two of them and shouted.

This guy spoke in Jiangnan dialect, which Li Xiao didn’t understand, but Shi Kefa was from the south, so he understood. He looked at this unlucky guy with a half-smile but not a smile!

"We have no road guide." Shi Kefa looked at this ninth-grade sesame official arrogantly.

"There's no way to lead?" The ninth-rank Zhima official became obviously nervous. He waved his hand and called to the surrounding officers. The officers carried iron rulers and sticks and surrounded Shi Kefa and Li Xiao.

"Humph! There is no way to lead, either a traitor or a thief. Come here! Get it for me." Although Guan is not big, his official power is very strong. At least Shi Kefa feels that this ninth-grade sesame official has much more official power than him.

.

"Haha! I'm old, but it's not easy to catch me. If you want to catch you, catch this young guy. He is younger than me and can fight better than me." Shi Kefa held up his gray beard and tried hard to prove that he was a fighter.

Five scum.

The officials believed that the old guy was right. Li Xiao and Shunzi, two great guys, were obviously more effective than Shi Kefa.

"Damn it, you two bandits, how dare you come to my uncle's place to cause trouble." A servant came over, holding an iron ruler in his hand.

Before he got three meters closer to Li Xiao, a bullet accurately penetrated his head.

The bullet was so powerful that half of his head was blown off. Red and white sprays sprayed out far away, and the body fell straight to the ground and twitched.

As soon as the gunfire rang out, the people fled in all directions. The green-robed Zhima officer also wanted to run away, but was kicked to the ground by Shunzi. The remaining officers were also caught by the security company.

"Grandpa, good man, have mercy on me! Grandpa, good man, have mercy on me! I'll give you all this money and food. Please let this little man live. He has an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old baby. Please!" The ninth-grade Zhima official knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

Li Xiao was a little crazy. These guys were really going back to life. They didn't even bother to think of words to beg for mercy. The whole Ming Dynasty was the same.

I guess I heard it all from a storyteller!

A person who is less than thirty years old actually has an eighty-year-old mother. Your mother is also a heroic mother. It is rare for a person in his fifties to give birth to a child! It is indeed rare!

"Shut up! This is our handsome handsome man, not a bandit. If you keep talking nonsense, you will have all your teeth knocked out." Shunzi kicked the ninth-grade Sesame Officer fiercely.

If Shunzi, a seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister, were converted into a civilian position, his current military rank would be higher than that of this guy in green robe.

Li Xiao didn't speak, and looked quietly at the little official in front of him who had shaken into chaff.

"Tell me the truth, how do you divide the money and food collected? If what you say is true, I will consider letting you live. If what you say is not true, I will hang you on the city gate tower to dry in the sun.

You were infested with maggots before I let you go."

Li Xiao put his hands behind his back and spoke without any murderous intent. But it made everyone present feel cold!

There are various legends about this marshal circulating in the south of the Yangtze River, of course, most of them are negative. It is said that Li Xiao can shoot down eight eagles with one arrow, and can knock down the strongest bull with one hand.

A cow can be eaten in one meal, and three lambs are required for dessert after the meal. One person can take care of ten thousand cows. When he has nothing to do in his spare time, he goes to the grassland to find the most terrifying demon, everyone.

He threw a demon into the North Sea and hid under the bottom of the sea. He put a demon on the highest mountain and beat it up when he remembered.

He will eat the hearts of two young girls in the morning, and the hearts of four strong men with blood at noon. He will not eat people at night. He needs to change his taste. After eating a whole cow, he will need six of the most beautiful girls to serve him.

When he goes to bed, whatever he doesn't like will become his morning meal.

Li Xiao was very sure that this must be a joke left by the Mongols.

In these days, most people live quite isolated lives. Many people live within ten miles of their villages all their lives. In the eyes of many southerners, the north is grassland and desert!

Li Xiao once saw someone surprised that there were trees in the capital. Hearing the man speak fluent Cantonese, Li Xiao was not surprised at all.

This ninth-grade sesame officer obviously knew Li Xiao's identity. Now he was shaking all over, his lips were trembling and he couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

There was nothing we could do, obviously this guy could suffer a cardiac arrest at any time.

"You! Come here." Shi Kefa still had an idea, pointing to the bookkeeper responsible for keeping accounts.

Others don’t know what’s going on here, but the bookkeeper must know it. Because this guy has to be responsible for keeping accounts!

This kind of account book usually has two accounts, Yin and Yang. One account book is used to fool the court, and the other is the real account book.

"Big...! Big...! Big...! Sir." The chief clerk came over tremblingly, and knelt down on the ground with a "plop".

"Tell me, how much of the income was given to the imperial court, and how much of it was pocketed by you?" Shi Kefa tried to be as gentle as possible.

If this scares people too much, things will be in trouble. Those police officers know only a limited amount, and it is unlikely that they will get the information out of their mouths.

The news will spread soon, and then the officials in the county will run away, or if they are more determined, they will immediately commit suicide in fear of crime. Then the damn clues will be cut off immediately!

Fortunately! Although the chief clerk in front of me was shaking with fear, he had no problem speaking.

"Back! Back... back to the adults, the villain... the villain doesn't know much."

"Speak as much as you know. As long as it is true, I will save you from death." Li Xiao found that his power was indeed boundless.

Because from his mouth, you can often hear words about life and death.

One word determines life and death, this is the supreme right.

"Uh...! Eighty percent of the money and food collected will go into the national treasury. This is a strict rule set by Mr. Futai. The remaining 20% ​​is the income of us people.

Mr. Futai said that this year the amount of money paid by each province has increased. We in Jiangsu have always been a large payer of food and taxes, and we cannot... we cannot fall behind other provinces.

Mr. Yang, the Governor of Liangjiang, may come to Beijing to take up his duties in the next year. The adults are all coveting the position of Governor of Liangjiang. There is news that whoever contributes more money and food to the commander-in-chief may be awarded the position.

All the Taiwanese masters in Jiangnan are all vying to pay more money and food." The chief clerk was still timid at first, but later he became more and more eloquent. Li Xiao sometimes couldn't understand the local dialect and had to rely on Shi Kefa to translate.

Li Xiao's heart trembled after what he said, and now he is forcing people to pay money and food. There will be a famine in the spring, and I don't know how many people will starve to death. This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster.

"Let's go to the county seat." Li Xiao ordered and left.
To be continued...