() Qin Mu was a small county magistrate, but he unceremoniously expelled a provincial governor from the county government. This was probably the only case of this kind in the Ming Dynasty.
Arrogant, indeed arrogant enough.
But in Huichang, Qin Mu had the capital to be arrogant. He did this to warn Wang Gong that if he was smart, he would be more restrained. He also wanted to tell Tian Yimu, Wu Wangcai and others who was the boss in Huichang, so that they would not change their attitude in the future.
As soon as Wang Gong left, Liu Meng entered the second hall of the county government.
"I wonder what your Excellency wants me to do?"
“Liu Meng, send someone to keep an eye on Wang Gong and everyone around him day and night. If anyone leaves Huichang, I will stop them. No word from Wang Gong is allowed to leave Huichang.” Qin Mu didn’t even raise his head, as he was bent over the table, writing furiously.
"Yes, sir."
"Send this letter to Ma Yongzhen and Huo Sheng immediately."
"yes."
Qin Mu picked up the letter he had just written, blew the ink dry, sealed it, and handed it to Liu Meng, saying casually, "Go ahead, and call Tian Yimu in for me."
Liu Meng clasped his fists and hurried out.
Tian Yimu's rat beard trembled as he walked into the second hall. Seeing that his grandmother didn't love him and his uncle wasn't close to him, Qin Mu inexplicably felt superior and felt much better.
Tian Yimu found that Qin Mu would smile amiably every time he saw him, and he felt flattered. He bowed and said with a smile, "Your Excellency the County Master summoned me. Is there anything you want me to do?"
"Yimu, thank you for your hard work these days."
"I dare not, I dare not. The county lord is running back and forth, working day and night, it is really hard."
Qin Mu couldn't help but roll his eyes after hearing Tian Yimu's compliment, thinking to himself, I really want to work hard during the day, but there's nothing to work hard at night.
It seems that my awareness of "serving the people" is not high enough. I need to reflect on myself, and reflect on myself carefully. It is such a shameful behavior to waste the evening time like this.
"How is the progress of the county's land division and tillage and planting?"
"My Lord, the work of making a list and dividing the land will be completed in four or five days. The work of plowing and planting is also going smoothly. I have already ordered that the land that has not yet been distributed to households should also be plowed and planted first. Anyway, the grain seeds are provided by the county, and it will not be a big problem to distribute the land to households after planting. This way, the farming season can be avoided."
"This is a very good idea. I was negligent about it. Fortunately, Yimu thought of it. Well, I'll give you credit for it."
"Sir, everything was going well, but these past two days..."
"If you have something to say, just say it. If you have something to say, just fart. You're wasting my time. I'll give you a serious warning."
Just after he had achieved a merit, Tian Yimu had no time to be happy when a serious crime unfortunately befell him. The saying that fortune and misfortune go hand in hand is true.
Tian Yimu's beard trembled even more, and he said quickly, "Your Excellency, this is the case. Originally, no one dared to say anything when the ownerless land was divided up, but in the past two days, some of the original rich families have stood up to make trouble, saying that we are forcibly seizing the people's land, and found the prefect to complain. The prefect ordered me to return the people's land to those gentry and rich families. I can't make the decision on this matter, and everything is up to your Excellency to decide."
"What are you deciding? We should follow the rules and the law. If we can produce the land deeds, we will return them to the original owners. If we can't produce the land deeds, then it belongs to him just because he says it's his. Whoever has this ability, let him be the county magistrate."
"Yes, yes, I know what to do now."
"You know nothing. I am giving you an order now. If anyone who does not have a land deed and tries to call a horse a zebra, the whole family will be arrested and sent to Zhoutian Town to dig salt wells for half a year as a punishment."
"I will obey your orders, sir."
"In addition, you must immediately recruit 300 strong men to go to Zhoutian to dig the salt pond. It doesn't matter if you charge a higher salary, the key is to be quick. You are also responsible for arranging food and lodging for these people."
"Don't worry, my Lord, I will make sure everything is arranged."
"Well, go ahead and report any problems in time."
After Wang Gong left the county government office, he calmed down instead. Qin Mu was just a small magistrate, but he dared to drive out a provincial governor. This was enough to show that Qin Mu was fearless and it also proved that Huichang was right to follow Qin Mu's lead.
From what he had observed over the past two days, he felt that Qin Mu's actions were very suspicious. However, except for him as the chief official, all the original assistant officials and clerks were gone from the Taotai Yamen. Wang Gong felt like a person with his hands and feet cut off, unable to do anything.
Although he placed several generals and centurions in the army, the food and wages were distributed by Qin Mu, and the land was divided by Qin Mu. The soldiers would only be grateful to Qin Mu, and the generals and centurions would end up being sidelined in the army.
In addition, Ma Yongzhen, the captain of the army, was originally recruited by Qin Mu, and the two of them might have secretly colluded with each other. If he acted rashly and forcibly took over the army, disaster might happen. Thinking of the seriousness of the problem, Wang Gong was secretly awed.
He decided to hold back for the time being, first secretly investigate in detail, sort out the context, and then act after careful planning. At the same time, he would speed up the construction of the Taotai structure to avoid being alone and powerless.
The Taotai Yamen had been burned down and was now uninhabitable. Wang Gong had no choice but to live in Huichang Posthouse. As soon as he settled down, he wrote an urgent letter to Ma Mingyuan, the imperial envoy of Jiangxi Province, and ordered his servants to deliver it to Nanchang as soon as possible.
That night the letter was placed on Qin Mu's desk. After reading the letter, Qin Mu could not help but sneer. Wang Gong, this stray dog, had not been punished by the court until now. His background was indeed not simple. He was on good terms with Ma Mingyuan, the imperial envoy of Jiangxi Province, and even mentioned Chen Yan, the chief minister in Beijing.
Chen Yan was good at colluding with eunuchs. In April of the 13th year of Chongzhen, he secretly learned from the eunuch the questions that Chongzhen was going to ask the next day. He answered them fluently the next day. Chongzhen was very happy and immediately promoted him to the position of Left Vice Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of Dongge, and entered the cabinet, where he rose to prominence from then on.
In the 15th year, he was appointed Minister of Revenue and Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion in Shandong. During this period, he resigned due to impeachment, but Chongzhen did not allow it. In the 16th year, the chief minister Zhou Yanru was dismissed and Chen Yan replaced him as the chief minister of the cabinet.
Chen Yan was a mediocre person with a mean personality. During his tenure as an official, he eliminated dissidents, took revenge on personal enemies, and deceived Chongzhen. With Chen Yan covering up for him, it is no wonder that Wang Gong, as a provincial governor, was safe and sound despite repeatedly losing land and cities.
In the letter, Wang Gong exaggerated Qin Mu's actions, pointed out that Qin Mu had the intention of treason, and asked the Jiangxi Provincial Inspector to investigate and impeach Qin Mu as soon as possible.
Qin Mu couldn't help but sneer after reading the letter. Speaking of treason, I'm really not plotting treason. It's true that I intend to build up my own power, but it will definitely not be used to rebel against the Ming Dynasty. I just don't want to crawl under the feet of the Tartars and be a slave.
Since Wang Gong is restless, then fine, starting from tomorrow, you will be restless sometimes. Qin Mu smiled and asked Liu Meng to continue to strengthen the surveillance, then went back to the back court alone.
Qiao'er sat alone at the table with her chin in her hand, waiting for him to come back for dinner. There was only one light in the hall, and the light was a little dim. Seeing Qin Mu coming back, the little girl stood up briskly to greet him. The oil lamp on the table became darker after shaking, like a ghost town.
Qin Mu raised his hand and said, "Girl, are you going to make a horror movie?"
Qiao'er had been eating his millet for a long time. Although it didn't hurt, she still rubbed her forehead habitually: "Master, what do you mean by shooting a ghost movie?"
"Can't we light more lamps? This place looks like the King of Hell. I am a seventh-rank official after all. Am I allowed to set fires but not the magistrate to light lamps?"
"Hehe, you are the magistrate, and I am not. If you don't come back, they will light so many lamps and waste lamp oil. You don't know, even lamp oil is very expensive now."
"Uh, do we have to pay for the lamp oil ourselves? This is ridiculous, this is ridiculous! Others use public funds to eat, drink, travel, and have mistresses, but I have to pay for the lamp oil myself. We are both officials, why is there such a big difference?"
Qin Mu looked disappointed. Not only did he not win the little girl's sympathy, but he heard her jokingly say, "That's a dog official. Do you want to be a dog official too, young master?"
"I'm not a dog official, but a beast in human clothing." Qin Mu spread his hands, feeling that Zhu Yuanzhang was really mean, calling an official of the Ming Dynasty a "beast in human clothing", which was quite aggrieved, "Okay, girls, let's eat."
Seeing that he did not pursue the "dog official's" words, Qiao'er stuck out her tongue in relief and ran lightly to bring the food.
"Yeah, the girl's cooking skills have improved a lot. Yes, yes, I want to eat one more bowl."
“Hehe… … ..Hehe… … … ..”
After being praised by him, Qiao'er, who was so clever, turned into a silly girl. She just kept on grinning foolishly until a kiss on her forehead again. Then she wrinkled her nose and lowered her head to eat.
Qin Mu looked at her cute appearance and sighed inwardly, thinking that it seemed to be a mistake to expose her lie that she was fourteen years old.
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