Chapter 780 The Difficulty of Losing a Clan

"Your Majesty, the officials of the aristocratic families in Yuncheng are not short of money. The restaurant food that you think is very good is just ordinary to them, because they can often eat it. Compared with Gou Daojiang's expenses, they will not think that you are How sincere.”

In their eyes, Zhao Hanzhang and Gou Xi are equal figures. If they don't understand Zhao Hanzhang's daily life, they will use Gou Xi's daily life as a reference.

Zhao Hanzhang thought that he paid a lot of money to treat them to a restaurant because he valued it, but in their eyes, Zhao Hanzhang just treated them to a simple meal.

Therefore, it is better to take the path of elegance than luxury.

Ming Yu said simply and rudely: "Your Majesty, you are now the third person in the Jin Dynasty. Apart from His Majesty and Gou Xi, you are inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people. Therefore, the things you personally took out are of great value. Then it’s priceless.”

Zhao Hanzhang understood, "So the tea I brought is rare in the world and is valuable. The tea set I brought out is rare and valuable. The osmanthus cake is both vulgar and elegant, and the peach blossom is wild."

Ming Yu smiled and nodded, "Exactly."

Zhao Hanzhang was taught, "It's amazing, Mr. Ming really knows how to save money."

The two looked at each other and smiled like foxes.

Tinghe walked in quickly, bowed and said: "Girl, Tan Shen and Zheng Xiao, who I met in front of the General's Mansion this morning, came to deliver the post. They are now at the concierge."

Zhao Hanzhang smiled, nodded and said, "Invite them in. I'll meet them at Mr. Ming's place."

Tinghe left in response.

Zhao Hanzhang and Ming Yu explained: "When I went to the General's Mansion today, they happened to be asking to see the General. I saw that they looked haggard and seemed to be in trouble."

Ming Yu said: "Your Majesty, this is Yuncheng. I know that you have a good heart, but you must also be cautious. Not all people who come to seek refuge are sincere."

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, "That's why I asked Mr. Ming to tell the difference for me."

Tinghe brought two middle-aged men over. As soon as they entered the room, before Zhao Hanzhang could say anything, they knelt down, touched their foreheads to the backs of their hands, and said respectfully: "Meet the governor."

Zhao Hanzhang was stunned for a moment and said quickly: "Excuse me, please sit down and talk."

This is the Jin Dynasty, and kneeling down is a very important etiquette. Generally no one performs this ceremony except when facing the king's parents and highly respected elders.

Tan Shen and Zheng Xiao did not stand up, but raised their heads, put their legs together, pressed their bodies back, put their hands on their knees, and sat on their knees.

Zhao Hanzhang couldn't help but glance at Ming Yu, pointed to the mat opposite her and said, "Come and sit here, and we can talk closer."

Tan Shen and Zheng Xiao looked at each other, then stood up and knelt down opposite her respectfully.

Zhao Hanzhang didn't talk nonsense and said directly: "You two, please speak."

Seeing that Zhao Hanzhang directly asked them to explain without even a single question, both of them couldn't help but have red eyes at the same time. Their hearts were sour and bitter, and they were moved. Why didn't they meet Zhao Hanzhang in the first place?

Tan Shen calmed down and said: "Back to the governor, I am Tan Shen, a native of Le'an County, Le'an County. Our Tan family is a small clan in Le'an. Our ancestors are still in the shadow. The clan has sacrificed fields to support schools, so that the children of the clan can know each other." The text is broken, but that’s about it.”

His face was red, but he still said: "Our Tan family is from horse slaves. Our ancestors were horse slaves in Emperor Heng's garden. Later, we were lucky enough to be redeemed. By chance, we came to Le'an County and raised horses in the county government. Because With such a background, the younger members of the clan have never been able to become officials. When we went to the banquet, the little Zhongzheng didn’t want to see us, let alone the Zhongzhongzheng and Dazhongzheng.”

"So the most promising person in the clan is my cousin Tan Jian. He works as a clerk in the county government. He is just an unqualified clerk. Because he did well in his work, the magistrate of Le'an County promised him that he would wait for the chief clerk to retire. Next, let him take over as the chief registrar," Tan Shen said: "For this matter, their family spent a lot of money and almost emptied their money. The family felt sorry for it, so they took the initiative to take on the matter."

"We spent more than 2.6 million yuan to finally get the position of chief bookkeeper, but as soon as he took office, the higher-ups began to share taxes. Three of the taxes were newly added and were equally distributed to every citizen. Each family member pays 98 cents more than in previous years. For a family of five, it will cost 490 cents more, and most families have more than this number of people."

"This tax is too heavy and the people can't afford it. Tan Jian told the county magistrate that he would appeal to the county magistrate to reduce this part of the tax." Tan Shen's eyes turned red when he said this, and he said, "But this The three taxes were requested by the governor himself, how could the county magistrate dare to remonstrate?"

"The people in the county government asked every village to collect taxes. Tan was not talented, but he was responsible for the people. Some families sold their daughters, while others packed up their bags and left overnight, and others The two families were really desperate, and the whole family committed suicide..." Tan Shen said: "They are all fellow villagers, including many of our relatives and friends of the same clan. There is really no other way, so we will hand it over on their behalf first."

"We have passed the checkpoints in our office, but what about other places? I am just an upright person and can't control that much, but Tan Jian is the chief clerk, so he can't ignore it."

"He finally persuaded the county magistrate and went to see the county governor together. However, the county governor did not want to offend the governor, so he did not agree to reduce the reduction. It happened that the governor was hunting near Le'an County at that time, so the county magistrate took Tan Jian to find him. Governor, after leaving, neither of them will be able to come back."

Tan Shen burst into tears, "The governor heard somewhere about me paying taxes on behalf of the villagers, and said that we were showing kindness with clever words, harboring evil intentions, and wanted to steal our Tan family. In the end, we dispersed our family wealth and asked people around the governor to do it for us. We interceded and presented treasures to the governor on our behalf, which convinced the governor that we were not paying taxes on behalf of the villagers, but only lending money to the villagers to temporarily tide over their difficulties, and we also charged high interest rates, so we did not win people's hearts."

Zhao Hanzhang couldn't help grinding his teeth and asked, "What next?"

Tan Shen smiled bitterly and said: "Prince Wang and Prefect Liu attacked Qingzhou, and rebellions broke out all over Qingzhou. The governor retreated again and again, and happened to retreat to Le'an County. He was sure that our Tan family would also rebel, so he sent troops. We surrounded them and wanted to kill us as rebels."

Zhao Hanzhang was expressionless and asked: "How did you survive?"

"I gave Tan's land, house and shop to him. In addition, my Tan family has two trade routes and three caravans, which can make money all the time, so I was 'recruited'. However, the governor did not allow us to I lived in Le'an again and moved my entire clan to Yuncheng."

Tan Shen said: "Whenever we encounter enemy troops on the road and they fight, we will find a way to escape. But because there are so many people, we cannot escape together. We are scattered. About half of the people who ran away just don't know whether they are alive or dead. The rest, except Eighty-two people came to Yuncheng together with the governor because they died on the road due to fighting or illness."

"I originally wanted to beg the general to be lenient and allow us to return to our hometown in Le'an," Tan Shen said with a deep bow, "but now, I want to beg the governor of Zhao to show mercy and allow us to move to Yuzhou."