"I gave you a month to investigate a county town. I even drew a table and selected the options. What did you write? Approximately, rumored, heard... A town with a commercial tax of only 3,000 guan a year, but you don't even know who the richest family in the town is?! How did you investigate in this month?"
Even though he knew that the emperor's anger was probably caused by Li Gang, Li Xianggong, Fan Zongyin was still flustered in the face of the emperor's wrath. He quickly bowed and said, "Let the emperor know that I asked someone after arriving in Ningguo County..."
"Of course you asked someone. Who did you ask? Why did you ask like this?"
"Of course it's the local scholars..."
Zhao Jiu was so angry that he laughed instead. However, he smiled and opened the document in his hand. He turned to a place, pinched out a piece of paper, and asked again:
"Let's not talk about the family property for now. You can't ask about it. I want to ask you why there is a note at the back of this document, saying that someone in Xuancheng is lawless and harassing the people... Did I ask you to go to Xuancheng?"
"I am ashamed. It was the scholars in Xuancheng who heard that I was in Ningguo and ran to tell them..." Fan Zongyin heaved a sigh of relief and quickly explained.
"So, I asked you to go on a private visit, but you couldn't help but reveal your identity as an internal official?" Zhao Jiu couldn't help laughing more and was obviously extremely angry.
Fan Zongyin was completely speechless.
Zhao Jiu turned his head and looked around. The smile and anger on his face disappeared for a moment, but he had no expression on his face. He asked coldly: "Who else has exposed their identity?"
The others looked at each other, and then Lu Benzhong, who had just been in the limelight, stepped forward carefully and bowed.
Zhao Jiu was not surprised at all. He just turned around and looked at Liu Yan who had chased after him: "Bring Mr. Lu's report on Gucheng Town..."
Liu Yan did not dare to delay, and hurried back, then hurried out again to present Lu Benzhong's report.
Zhao Jiu opened it and saw that the first few landlords and fields were clear, but when he turned to the other pages and saw one of the items, he felt a surge of anger rushing to his head... He held it back for a long time, and then gritted his teeth:
"Lü Benzhong!"
"I'm here." Lu Ben was terrified, and the others also shuddered.
Among them, Zong Ying was experiencing this kind of thing for the first time, and he almost lost his composure and made a gesture of apologizing, but Ren Baozhong was quick to grab him.
"Let me ask you, how many bridges and ferries are there under the jurisdiction of Gucheng Town on the shore of Gucheng Lake?" Of course, Zhao Jiu didn't pay attention to the little movements over there, but just asked Lu Benzhong in front of him seriously.
"Four ferry crossings, four bridges." Lu Benzhong blurted out. "I counted them myself."
"Then why didn't you write clearly, four ferry crossings and four bridges?" Zhao Jiu felt like he was holding back a breath, almost suffocating him to death. "Why didn't you write 'seven or eight small bridges crossing at an angle'?"
Lu Benzhong didn't dare to speak at all.
"There's more." Zhao Jiu laughed out of anger again. "Why is it written below, 'I walked out in the autumn wind on a moonlit night, and came to the small bridge by Gucheng Lake. I climbed the bridge and looked out. The light and shadows in the lake were flowing. Although it was not as good as the moonlit night under the Twenty-Four Bridges, it was also a different feeling'... You went to count the bridges, but you still thought about the moonlit night under the Twenty-Four Bridges in Yangzhou. Who do you want to play the flute for you?"
Not only Lu Benzhong, the entire side yard was quiet with only the sound of the autumn wind shaking the trees.
"Forget it!" Zhao Jiu was so angry that he didn't bother to argue. "I have thought about this situation before, but if everyone else is as romantic as these two inner guards, I will have wasted a month of my time in vain!"
After saying this, the official was about to turn back to continue looking, but when he reached the side courtyard gate, he frowned and looked back: "Lü Benzhong, since your identity has been exposed, and you have been 'going out at night with autumn wind' all day, who are these biggest landlords in front of you, how much land do they have, how much tax do they pay, and even how many shops they own and what they do, and how can you be so precise... Who are you asking?"
"I was asking about the monks." Lu Benzhong quickly explained. "There is a Mingquan Temple on the shore of Gucheng Lake... I only revealed my identity to the monks in the temple and asked them to help me investigate."
Zhao Jiu's expression eased a little... This is actually a method, and even a very good method. Monks have a great advantage in conducting local investigations. No wonder, apart from these messy words, Lu Benzhong did a good job in investigating many places.
However, just as Emperor Zhao was about to nod and turn around, he remembered something and asked seriously, "What about the Mingquan Temple itself? How much land does it have? Has it participated in local commerce? How many monks does it have? How many monk rooms are there?"
Lu Benzhong opened his mouth to speak, but had no words to say.
In such a small place like Jiangnan, Emperor Zhao just looked up and sighed when he saw the situation, but finally turned around and went back, leaving the whole courtyard in uneasiness.
Of course, their anxiety was actually unnecessary. Just as Emperor Zhao would not really let Li Gang suffer a bad end, it was impossible for the emperor to really punish these close ministers for this matter.
After all, Zhao Jiu knew very well that it was nonsense to expect these people to produce a "Xunwu Investigation" these days. As for those people in the side yard, including Yang Yizhong and Ren Baozhong, none of them could talk to the farmers in person. They could ask scholars, monks, and Taoists, and it would be good enough to do so.
Zhao Jiu himself was mentally prepared.
Besides, Zhao Jiu had no right to punish these people for this. Apart from anything else, he had spent the entire month in Yangzhou enjoying himself, eating, drinking and having fun. When had he ever done any investigation himself?
It's nothing more than showing off one's official power, assigning tasks to others, and then making a form and forcing them to fill it out...Throughout history, these are the only means that have been used by those who do not behave properly as superiors.
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