There is a saying in Jiangnan that September is the golden month and October is the silver month.
Yan Maoqing traveled south by boat, which took more than half a month. It was already October when he arrived in Hangzhou.
Although the scenery is not as good as that in September, it is still pretty good.
Yan Maoqing was in a good mood and composed an impromptu poem.
Although it can't compare with those masters, it is still pretty neat.
His official position was Governor of Zhejiang. Although his main job was to inspect the salt affairs, he still had to be stationed in Hangzhou because of this title.
After Zhejiang learned of the appointment, they had already cleared out the governor's office, so Yan Maoqing could go there directly as soon as he entered the city.
Logically speaking, the first thing a new official should do when taking office is to complete the handover procedures.
However, Yan Maoqing's predecessor had been promoted to Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the position of Governor of Zhejiang was vacant.
Therefore, the proud handover process turned into a visit to the superior with the tail between legs, and Yan Maoqing felt very awkward.
But no matter how awkward the process is, you still have to go through it.
After settling down, Yan Maoqing washed up and went to the governor's office to pay a visit to Zhu Wan.
The Governor's Office and the Governor's Office were very close to each other, so Yan Maoqing didn't even need to take a sedan chair and could walk there just by walking.
Governor Zhu also gave Yan Maoqing face and directly ordered someone to invite Yan Maoqing to the flower hall for tea.
Zhu Wan had no intention of leaving Yan Maoqing alone, so she went to the flower hall.
When the superiors came, Yan Maoqing should have shown great respect.
However, Yan Maoqing relied on the fact that he was Yan Song's godson and just bowed to Zhu Wan.
Zhu Wan didn't take it seriously and said with a smile, "Jingqing, did you have a smooth journey?"
Seeing Zhu Wan being so polite, Yan Maoqing felt a little embarrassed.
"Thanks to the Lord Minister, everything went smoothly. I was ordered by the Emperor to do so, and I dared not delay even a little."
Yan Maoqing's words seemed to be high-sounding, but they actually contained a deeper meaning.
He was implying that although his own rank was lower than Zhu Wan's, he was also directly responsible to the emperor under his orders.
In this situation, Zhu Wan must be restrained and not interfere too much with Yan Maoqing's freedom.
How could Zhu Wan not hear it?
He twirled his beard lightly and said, "Jing Qing, you are very thoughtful. I am your fellow official in Hangzhou. You have just arrived and if you have any questions, you can ask me."
Zhu Wan's words seemed to show concern for Yan Maoqing, but in fact, he was warning Yan Maoqing not to forget his identity. The governor is the governor, and the governor-general is the governor-general.
Things that require instructions must not be omitted, otherwise it would be a violation of the rules.
Yan Maoqing was also a sharp person. He understood the elegant meaning of the string music and responded with a smile: "Thank you for your concern, Lord Minister."
Although the two of them only met once, they had a confrontation during their conversation.
In this confrontation, Zhu Wan was obviously in the upper hand. Yan Maoqing wanted to use the emperor to suppress Zhu Wan, but he failed.
There are many old rules in the Ming Dynasty officialdom that must be followed. Zhu Wan was trying to wake Yan Maoqing up.
After the two exchanged greetings, Yan Maoqing took the initiative to say goodbye.
Zhu Wan did not try to keep Yan Maoqing and watched him leave.
As soon as Yan Maoqing left, Xu Yan came out from behind the rockery.
"Just as I expected, this Yan Maoqing is a smiling tiger."
Zhu Wan sighed.
"Now that the Minister has understood his temperament, it will be much easier to deal with him."
The most important thing for getting around in the Ming Dynasty officialdom is to be able to understand the thoughts of your superiors and subordinates.
Be tactful and don't offend anyone.
Zhu Wan is somewhat lacking in this aspect.
This requires Xu Yan to give more advice.
Yan Maoqing is Yan Song's man after all. As long as it doesn't get to the point of breaking up, Xu Yan still doesn't want Zhu Wan to conflict with him.
Of course, both Xu Yan and Zhu Wan have their bottom line in this regard.
As long as their bottom line is touched, they will never tolerate it.
"If I'm not mistaken, Yan Maoqing is here to touch Zhejiang's purse strings."
There had been rumors before that the imperial court was going to increase taxes in Zhejiang.
Although there was no official decree, as the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. It is certain that Emperor Jiajing had this intention.
Zhejiang already has extremely heavy taxes, so if it wants to increase taxes, there must be a reason.
Judging from the positioning given to Yan Maoqing by the court, the court placed the growth point of tax revenue on salt affairs.
This is also very reasonable.
After all, the salt business is a monopoly for huge profits, and they can be squeezed out no matter how hard they try.
If Yan Maoqing only focused on salt affairs and did not interfere in other matters, Xu Yan believed that there was no need to pay too much attention.
The fear is that Yan Maoqing will use the name of the court as a pretext to come up with a mess of tax names.
Emperor Jiajing loved to hold onto money, a trait that was inherited from Emperor Wanli.
As long as Yan Maoqing seizes on this point and makes a fuss about it, Zhu Wan will have a hard time saying anything.
There is actually a natural contradiction between the imperial court and local governments in terms of taxation.
According to the official statement of the Ming Dynasty court, local governments must pay taxes in full to the court according to the apportionment ratio, and only the remaining amount can be used for their own use.
But local officials are certainly unwilling to let others eat the meat while they themselves drink the soup.
So there was fire consumption.
The so-called fire loss refers to the loss of silver during the smelting process.
Under normal circumstances, there will definitely be fire consumption, but the proportion will not be too large.
Later on, this became a legitimate excuse for local corruption.
Of course Zhu Wan is not corrupt.
This means that he can use the remaining money after paying taxes to the court.
In this case, if the court gets more, Zhu Wan will get less.
It is foreseeable that once there is one, there will be a second one. Yan Maoqing's appetite will become bigger and bigger, and the contradiction with Zhu Wan will become more and more obvious.
It’s difficult!
Although Zhu Wan had established contact with Xu Jie through many connections, Xu Jie had not made a clear statement.
This is normal. A shrewd and calculating fox like Xu Jie would not act rashly.
It does take courage to confront the Yan Party under such circumstances.
But Zhu Wan really needed the money. The overall situation of the southeastern coastal defense was uncertain. Maintaining troops required money, and maintaining elite troops was even more expensive.
Nothing can be done relying solely on the military pay allocated by the court.
"Let's wait and see."
Zhu Wan was not completely sure about this and could only take one step at a time.
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As soon as Yan Maoqing returned to the governor's office, someone asked to see him.
He couldn't help but be greatly surprised.
He doesn't have any old friends in Hangzhou.
After some questioning, I found out that it was someone from the Zhao family.
Zhao Wenhua had a good relationship with him, so Yan Maoqing naturally had to meet him.
Yan Maoqing sighed and asked someone to bring the Zhao family in.
The person who came was Zhao Wenjie.
When he learned that his son had been humiliated by Zhu Wan's men again, he could no longer bear it.
You can humiliate him, but you can't humiliate his son!
When he saw Yan Maoqing, he burst into tears.
"Lord Yan, please make the decision for my Zhao family!"
I have to say that Zhao Wenjie is very good at currying favor with people.
Yan Maoqing and Zhao Wenhua were both members of the Yan Party and were both Yan Song's godsons, so they had a very good relationship.
Seeing this, Yan Maoqing quickly helped Zhao Wenjie up and said in a gentle voice, "Tell me slowly."
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