Speaking of this Prefect Su, it's truly a complicated story.
It's not that he was a bad official, but rather that he did very strange things.
Granny Cui, unfamiliar with court affairs, saw Lin Qingfeng's ambiguous expression and pressed him for an answer: "What, could it be that Lord Su is a cruel official?"
Lin Qingfeng was speechless.
“No, Lord Su…” After thinking for a long time, he finally managed to say, “Lord Su is a good official who serves the country and its people.”
Granny Cui glared at him: "Then why are you making that face?"
Anyone who didn't know better would think Lord Su was a really bad guy.
Lin Qingfeng asked her, "Granny Cui, do you know that five years ago, Youzhou was almost captured by the Western Rong soldiers in our Great Jin Dynasty?"
“Who doesn’t know that?” Granny Cui knew, of course, but then suddenly realized, “Are you talking about the Lord Su who’s been praised throughout Youzhou, the friend of that woman?”
Lin Qingfeng twitched his lips and nodded stiffly.
"Indeed... that is Miss Su's father."
Lord Su was indeed a good official who served the country and its people, but he was implicated by this ridiculous reputation.
At that time, Youzhou was being invaded by the Western Rong tribes from the west. The imperial court was slow to provide assistance, leaving the Youzhou garrison to fight on its own.
The small force of Youzhou was no match for the iron cavalry of the Western Rong, suffering repeated defeats and heavy losses.
Seeing that Youzhou City was about to be breached by the Western Rong people, Prefect Su wrote to the court several times, urging it to send reinforcements as soon as possible, but the court did not respond for a long time.
Meanwhile, wealthy merchants and gentry in Youzhou hoarded grain. Not only were the common people suffering, but the border soldiers also endured hunger to resist the enemy.
Left with no other option, Lord Su issued an order: all families that take concubines must pay taxes in silver based on the number of concubines; those without silver can pay in grain instead, and the taxes will be levied at a higher rate.
After this order was issued, the local wealthy gentry all cursed Lord Su for being shameless. Instead of asking the imperial court for grain, he actually tried to take advantage of them, the wealthy gentry.
Some wealthy men wanted to sell their concubines overnight, but were frightened away by another order from Lord Su.
Anyone who sells his concubines shall be punished with double the severity.
The wealthy gentlemen were so angry that they almost exploded on the spot when they watched as Lord Su led his soldiers to collect grain from each of their homes.
I've never seen such a shameless official.
A concubine costs thirty taels of silver in taxes per year. Which household with a little money doesn't have five or six concubines?
However, due to Lord Su's official position, the wealthy families had no choice but to grit their teeth and offer him all the grain they had stored.
For the wives of the main wives, this was a wonderful thing.
In every household, the legal wife is in charge of managing the household affairs. They all took the lead in paying a poll tax, forcing their husbands to never dare to consider taking a concubine again.
From then on, Prefect Su became a friend to the women of Youzhou.
In those years, the young couples in Youzhou became much more harmonious, and the number of those who took concubines almost died out.
In the words of Prefect Su, if one can afford to take a concubine, then one must have too much spare money, and might as well contribute it to the soldiers to defend against foreign enemies.
Besides, once Youzhou is captured, no one will be able to escape.
When the emperor saw the memorial submitted by his officials, which stated that the governor of Youzhou was imposing various pretexts to levy exorbitant taxes, the emperor remained silent.
Everyone thought that Prefect Su was going to be dismissed from his post by the Emperor. But to everyone's surprise, the next day, the Emperor praised Prefect Su lavishly in the Golden Palace.
After that, it was useless for anyone to submit another memorial impeaching Prefect Su.
Occasionally, some fearless individuals would risk their lives to petition the emperor to dismiss Prefect Su, but the emperor would reject their petitions one by one.
It wasn't that the emperor was particularly wise, but rather that if he punished Prefect Su for resisting foreign enemies, he would leave a bad name in history.
The emperor was extremely protective of his reputation and absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen. However, he also feared that Zhao Xian, the crown prince's maternal grandfather and the Grand General stationed on the frontier, would seize control of the military. That's why he had not yet issued any grain supplies to support Youzhou.
While he hesitated, the Western Rong army had already besieged the city.
The emperor wanted to reclaim the military power of the crown prince's maternal grandfather, but he also wanted them to eliminate external threats before he could die.
In this predicament, it was Prefect Su who relieved the emperor's urgent need.
Since then, although General Zhao Xian managed to defend Youzhou in the northwest, he was severely weakened. The emperor then took back military power from Zhao Xian as a matter of course.
These matters were unknown to outsiders, but those who were close confidants of the Crown Prince were well aware of them. Some officials, however, were unaware of the Emperor's thoughts and privately cursed Prefect Su for being shameless and utterly desperate for money.
However, some impoverished prefectures and counties saw the opportunity: more people meant more tax revenue.
So those poor counties began to follow Prefect Su's example, using human heads to create various taxes. And surprisingly, it actually had some effect.
If Prefect Su hadn't died young, he would probably have been transferred to the capital and appointed as a first-rank official by now.
It's a pity he died so young...
When Granny Cui heard that it was Lord Su's daughter, she smiled so broadly that her eyes disappeared.
"That's good," she said, clasping her hands together and bowing to the heavens. "I knew that Miss Su must be a person of great wisdom, just like Prefect Su."
Lin Qingfeng: "..."
After being finally questioned by Granny Cui, he quickly slipped away after reporting his findings.
Granny Cui hurriedly ran back to the house, wanting to tell the man who had just woken up from his coma the good news.
Lying on the creaking wooden bed was an exceptionally handsome young man, his long, ink-black hair cascading down the bed, the soft moonlight casting a faint shadow on his refined, jade-like profile.
Granny Cui chattered on and on by the bedside for a long time, only stopping when her mouth was dry.
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