Zhu Ping'an's refusal without hesitation caught Zhang Guanku and others off guard. When they heard Zhu Ping'an smacking his lips at the 10,000 taels of silver, they thought that Zhu Ping'an was shocked by the huge sum of 10,000 taels of silver and felt that Zhu Ping'an had been bribed.
However, Zhu Ping'an's serious and unhesitating refusal caught them off guard and shocked them.
Especially Doctor Zhao, who was just feeling indignant about giving Zhu Ping'an 12,000 taels of silver. But now, he heard Zhu Ping'an say that he must not accept it. For a moment, Doctor Zhao was so surprised that his eyes almost popped out.
What a joke!
I don’t even want ten thousand taels of silver!
Doctor Zhao widened his eyes and looked at Zhu Ping'an as if he were an idiot, but then he felt happy in his heart. Zhu Ping'an was a fool and didn't want the ten thousand taels. Didn't that mean he could get another thousand taels of silver
After being surprised, Liu Siku and others became anxious. If Zhu Ping'an accepted the silver, then everything would be fine.
If Zhu Pingan accepted the money, he would be in cahoots with the others, no, they would be on the same boat, so he wouldn't have to worry about checking the accounts. How could he check the accounts after accepting the money
However, now Zhu Ping'an refused in a serious manner and put on an appearance of being "incorruptible", so Liu Siku and others naturally became anxious.
Is it because the bait is not enough? !
It seems that Zhu Ping'an has a big appetite.
"Ahem, in addition to 'four taels of silver', we have many other customs in Taicang, such as 'the ceremony of taking office'." Doctor Jia coughed, smiled slightly, and then continued to tell Zhu Ping'an about the next custom, testing Zhu Ping'an.
“Ceremony of taking office…” Zhu Ping’an’s expression remained unchanged.
"Well, this 'arrival gift' is both a gift for arriving at the office and a festival gift. Every official who has just arrived at Taicang, including inspectors like Zihou and you, and officials like me, will receive an arrival gift. The bank below will prepare 7,000 taels of silver for every official who has just arrived at Taicang. In the future, we will also give 7,000 taels of silver for each of the three festivals, namely the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival. In this way, the arrival gift alone will bring in about 28,000 taels of silver a year."
Doctor Jia said slowly with a smile on his face. He made it very clear. As long as Zhu Ping'an nodded, he didn't have to do anything. Just for the appointment gift, Zhu Ping'an could earn 80,000 taels of silver a year.
Why?!
Doctor Zhao, who was standing by, was breathing heavily again. His hands were clenched so tightly that his veins were exposed. It was 28,000 taels. He would be short of several thousand taels! As long as he didn't tell Zhu Ping'an that the money sent by the bank was fine, we could share it.
With these 28,000 taels of silver, I could find someone to kill that bastard Zhu Ping'an seven or eight times!
Twenty-eight thousand taels!
Converted into RMB, it is close to 20 million. In modern times, the amount of money involved in cases involving many provincial and ministerial-level corrupt officials is probably about this amount.
What a generous deal!
After hearing this, Zhu Ping'an narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of disgust appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he had a deeper understanding of the filth and corruption in Taicang.
The inauguration gift was given by the various banks below. Why would the banks pay so much for the inauguration gift? The banks were not stupid. On the contrary, these merchants were very smart. They generously gave such a generous inauguration gift to the Taicang officials, and naturally they would get several times the profit from Taicang.
Many local taxes, commercial taxes, deed taxes, salt taxes, and grain transport taxes were collected through silver banks and then sent to the silver treasury. The silver banks below made huge profits from this. The silver they sent was often "making more out of less, and the silver price was low", with two or three hundred taels of silver being used as four or five hundred taels or even more, or using poor quality silver as good quality, such as using silver with only 90% silver as 99% silver. In this way, the silver banks could send less 9% of silver. Over time, the income obtained by the silver banks was more than ten times more than the gift they paid.
The officials in the treasury received generous "arrival gifts" and naturally turned a blind eye to it. In the end, the only one who suffered was the national treasury.
"I am only inspecting the Taicang warehouse. What does it have to do with their bank? I cannot accept this money without merit."
Zhu Ping'an shook his head and refused again without hesitation. This kind of money was obviously not worthy of being made public. It was a secret transaction that harmed the people and the country. In the end, the country and the people would suffer. How could he accept it
Again, if this money is collected, how can I inspect the Taicang silver vault
Zhu Ping'an is not a saint, nor is he a stubborn person, but there is some money that can be accepted, and some money that cannot be accepted at all.
It's the people's hard-earned money, but I won't take a single bite of it, not even a lick of it.
A gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way.
Zhu Ping'an once again refused in a serious manner, which made the officials in Taicang very anxious. This time even the greedy Doctor Zhao became a little anxious.
Twenty-eight thousand taels of silver, plus the ten thousand taels just now, that’s almost forty thousand taels of silver.
Definitely a lot.
It’s not a small amount for anyone.
Doctor Zhao did not think that Zhu Ping'an thought the amount was too little. This amount of silver was a huge sum not only for Zhu Ping'an, a poor country boy, but also for Young Prime Minister Yan Shifan. This amount was enough to buy Young Prime Minister Yan a very lucrative position.
Zhu Ping'an's attitude of "a blacksmith must be strong himself" made Doctor Zhao feel inexplicably guilty and worried.
Doctor Jia, who had been smiling all the time, could no longer hold back his smile. He coughed and continued to seduce, "Ahem, Zihou, it's like this. We have several 'customs' in Taicang, such as 'rewards for soldiers in the warehouse', 'meal allowances', 'parental allowances'..."
"It's getting late. If I don't leave now, my wife will be worried. I will ask you about these 'customs' another day. Then, I will take my leave first. Please stay."
Without waiting for Doctor Jia to finish speaking, Zhu Ping'an stood up, bowed apologetically to Zhang Guanku and others, bowed deeply, and then turned and left.
Everyone in the room had gloomy faces and watched Zhu Ping'an leave.
“Bang!”
"Damn it! He has no shame! Damn it, I'll find someone to kill this ungrateful son of a bitch!" After Zhu Ping'an walked away, Doctor Zhao slammed the table hard and cursed with a ferocious face.
"Why are you shouting? Are you afraid that the people from the East Factory can't hear you?!" Zhang Guanku had a gloomy face and glared at Doctor Zhao.
"Zhu Ping'an is so shameless!" Doctor Zhao muttered in a low voice with hatred.
"Could it be that Zhu Ping'an really found out something?" Siku Liu became worried about this issue again.
"Don't panic. I don't believe that 'Ghost Hand Zhang', who doesn't even know how to use an abacus, can find out anything about the accounts. He is just bluffing and waiting for a good price." Doctor Zhao said calmly.
"Well, what Lord Zhao said makes sense."
"Just now I saw Zhu Ping'an's eyes light up when Lord Zhao mentioned 28,000 taels of silver."
"This Zhu guy is really greedy, he has a really big appetite..."
Other officials nodded in agreement.