My life skills in Daming Liver

Compared with the decline of the city before, Nanjing City can be said to be extremely prosperous.

As one of the legal capitals of the empire, Nanjing City is at least the face of the Ming Dynasty. Although Japanese pirates attacked Nanjing City last year, the outside of Nanjing City is still full of traffic.

Now is the time for new recruits to enter the prison, and there is a long queue outside Nanjing.

In the Gyeonggi area like Nanjing City, even the petty officials and soldiers guarding the gate have the arrogance of the second capital's messengers. They also carefully check the customs and defense of the masters who enter the city, and strictly check the accompanying goods.

Lin Deyang nervously hugged the blunderbuss that was entangled with the cloth, but after Su Ze activated the skill and stuffed silver in the guard's hand, the group entered the city smoothly.

Looking at the wide streets, Huang Maochong couldn't help admiring, "It's indeed one of the two capitals, and it's much more prosperous than Fuzhou."

Zhao Bingzhong and Fan Congming nodded repeatedly. They passed through many cities when they went north from Zhejiang, but none of them could be as prosperous as Nanjing.

Li Zhi said indifferently: "Nanjing is good, but it's not easy to live in. Fame and fortune disturb people's hearts. This Nanjing is the most unsuitable place to study!"

Li Zhi remembered that he was still a doctor of Guozijian, and he said to everyone: "Let's go, go to Guozijian and I will take you into prison."

As he walked, Li Zhi introduced to everyone: "Nanjing Guozijian was established earlier than Jingshi Guozijian. It was repaired once during Zhengtong years. On the left is the Confucian Temple for worshiping saints, and on the right is the place where Guozijian studied."

"At the beginning of the Republic of China, Guozijian was the head of the school. After winning the examination, you must enter the prison to take the imperial examination. Even if you are a Jinshi, you must pass the Guozijian examination before you can be awarded an official."

"But the style of study of the Nanjing Imperial College now, hey."

Li Zhi sighed and said with a look of contempt: "Now the academic officials in the Imperial College are just rotten moths."

Everyone looked at it, and wanted to remind Li Zhi that he was also a doctor of the Imperial College, but Li Zhi pointed to himself and said, "Look at me, I left the prison and went home without permission, and the Imperial College didn't dismiss me, what do you think the academic style of the Imperial College is so decadent? "

After walking together all the way, everyone got used to Li Zhi's madman style. Su Ze asked, "Mr. Zhuo Wu, what will we do after we're in prison?"

Li Zhi said: "According to regulations, the Guozijian has to be promoted and checked every day. The promotion is the roll call of the academic officials of the Imperial College, and the check is to roll the names of the students. But now there is no roll call. After entering the prison, just Once you’ve got your affairs in order, you don’t have to go to class.”

Everyone has already heard from their seniors before they came here that most of them don’t want to sit in the prison to study, because the academic style of the Imperial College is too bad, and the professors are just dawdling. No one teaches well at all.

Li Zhi said: "Nanjing Guozijian also has a good place, and that is the library in the prison. There are not only "Zizhi Tongjian" in the library, but also some copies of "Yongle Dadian."

Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard "The Great Canon of Yongle", and Su Ze asked, "Isn't the Great Canon of Yongle hidden in the Imperial Academy of the Imperial Academy? Nanjing Guozijian also has a copy?"

Li Zhi nodded and said, "These transcripts were actually transcribed by successive officials in Nanjing. Many officials from the Nanjing Six Departments also came from the Imperial Academy. After arriving in Nanjing, they donated what they transcribed to the Imperial Academy."

"However, these manuscripts are fragmentary and have not been properly proofread, but the "Yongle Dadian" must be admitted to the Imperial Academy to be eligible to read it. It is good to have these readings."

Everyone nodded. For scholars, the library is a place full of temptation.

Especially after passing the Juren examination, the scriptures and meanings of the Four Books and Five Classics have basically passed, and the skills of stereotyped essays have also been perfected.

At this time, if you want to pass your colleagues across the country, you cannot improve by rote memorization.

It is necessary to read a lot of books, increase knowledge, and study the style of writing in the pre-Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, and write out your own characteristics.

The process of entering the prison is also very simple, just report to the Guozijian, hand in the identity certificate and the proof materials for passing the examination, and everyone will get a wooden sign.

This wooden badge is the waist badge of the supervisor, and everyone has completed the admission procedures like this.

Nanjing Guozijian supposedly has dormitories, but since the beginning of the Republic of China, the number of recruits has increased sharply, and the number of people admitted to the Guozijian has rapidly expanded.

The Guozijian also has a canteen, and now only the supervising students living in the Guozijian can go to the canteen to eat. Su Ze and others did not want to compete with those poor children for the precious accommodation places, so they voluntarily gave up the dormitory.

However, after Li Zhi returned to the Imperial College, he was severely reprimanded by the Imperial College for offering wine, and was then detained in the Imperial College, and he probably won't be able to get out for the time being.

When everyone came out of the Imperial College, Su Ze saw a familiar figure rushing towards him.

"Uncle!"

Fang Aizhu also came to Nanjing with Su Ze. After seeing this person, Fang Aizhu immediately reminded Su Ze:

"This is Steward Fang, and they are the people next to the master."

The master Fang Aizhu spoke of was naturally Fang Wanghai. Only then did Su Ze remember that he should have seen this old man in the back house of the government office. This is Fang Wanghai's personal butler.

Seeing the anxious look on the old man's face, Su Ze knew that he should have been sent by Fang Wanghai to block him at the gate of the Imperial College.

Su Ze ordered Fang Aizhu to go up to meet Steward Fang, then turned around and said to the people around him:

"Brothers, there is an elder in my family who is an official in Suzhou and has called me there. I will go to Suzhou first, and I will return to Nanjing to meet you after a few days."

The group was still discussing about renting a house in Nanjing. Hearing what Su Ze said, Zhao Bingzhong said:

"Brother Ru Lin isn't renting a house in Nanjing?"

Su Ze smiled bitterly and said, "The elders have a call."

Huang Maochong is more familiar with Su Ze's situation. He knows that Su Ze has a future father-in-law who will be an official in Jiangnan. He said:

"Ru Lin should go to Suzhou first, and when we settle down, we will go to Suzhou to find you."

Seeing everyone's reluctance, Su Ze said with a smile:

"I'll go to Suzhou first. After you settle down, tell Mr. Zhuowu your address. We will exchange letters."

The postal business in the Jiangnan area is well developed. Not only the official courier shops will also secretly deliver private letters, but there are also letter delivery caravans that go to and from various cities. There are also postmen in Nanjing who specialize in delivering letters.

After bidding farewell to the group, Su Ze pulled the old housekeeper to a tea stall, sent Dr. Tea away and asked:

"Steward Fang waited for me at the gate of the Imperial College?"

Steward Fang quickly said: "Master said that counting the days, my uncle should arrive in Nanjing during this time, so he sent me to wait in front of the Imperial College, and indeed I have waited for my uncle."

Su Ze once again felt the underdevelopment of communication in ancient times. When there was no fixed address, there was no way to communicate. Traveling was basically a state of being out of contact.

If Fang Wanghai can send someone to block him at the gate of the Imperial College, Fang Wanghai must have encountered difficulties.

Su Ze asked, "How is Master Fang?"

The old housekeeper said anxiously: "Master has encountered a difficult matter, so he asked me to wait for my uncle. This is an urgent letter from my master to my uncle. The master also told me to go to Suzhou as soon as possible if it is convenient for my uncle."

Su Ze opened the letter and saw that it was indeed Fang Wanghai's handwriting, and the content was not beyond Su Ze's expectations. It was Fang Wanghai who was implementing the banknote customs law in the south of the Yangtze River, and encountered difficulties at the first stop in Suzhou.

In fact, when Su Ze advised Fang Wanghai on the customs clearance method, he had already expected that he would encounter difficulties.

The design of the Banknote Customs Act is naturally exquisite, but in the exquisite design, it will also encounter a problem that modern society cannot solve-tax evasion.

The reason why Fang Wanghai set up the Chaoguan Hall in Xuguan, Suzhou is because Suzhou is the most developed city in the Ming Dynasty today.

At that time, there was a saying that Su Song was the richest man in the world. This Su refers to Suzhou Mansion, and Song refers to Songjiang Mansion.

The taxes on land and grain in these two prefectures are high, but they are as much as in Zhejiang. What really matters is the well-developed commerce and trade.

When Fang Wanghai set up the Chaoguan in Suzhou, he naturally wanted to eat the fat of Suzhou first, so that the Chaoguan law could bear fruit first, and he could turn to the emperor.

But it turned out that Suzhou's mouthful of fat was made of stone, and Fang Wanghai's teeth were almost knocked out.

Half of Fang Wanghai's letter complained about the low quality of Suzhou merchants, Suzhou officials defended merchants, and the banknote customs law encountered resistance in Suzhou and it was difficult to advance.

The remaining half of the content is praising Suzhou for its prosperous literary style, pleasant scenery, and a good place.

Su Ze is not surprised that his future father-in-law's thoughts are split, because Suzhou is indeed a good place in the Ming Dynasty these days.

Although Nanjing is the second capital of Ming Dynasty, Suzhou is recognized as the first capital of Jiangnan.

Even though it has been poisoned by Japanese pirates, the commerce and trade in Suzhou Prefecture is still developed. Su Ze’s suggestion to Fang Wanghai is correct. To implement the money customs law, you must first start with Suzhou Prefecture.

But Su Ze talked about it, but didn't tell Fang Wanghai the difficulty.

Suzhou Mansion is not only economically developed, but also culturally developed. There are many academies here. I don’t know how many Scholars have gone out of Suzhou Mansion, and many of them are already in the imperial court and are already high officials of the imperial court.

We must know that most of the "righteous people" in the later generations during the "Zhongzheng Ying Dynasty" came from the south of the Yangtze River, and this is the lair of the "Donglin Party".

Of course, today's scholars in Suzhou Prefecture do not have as much energy as in the late Ming Dynasty, but it is still not something that Fang Wanghai, a mere prefect who has just been promoted, can hold back.

Fang Wanghai said in the letter that after he arrived in Suzhou, he immediately started to reorganize Huguan, but he had "not made any progress" in the past few months. Not enough.

All of this was naturally in Su Ze's plan. He had already concealed his selfishness in recommending Suzhou to Fang Wanghai.

Along the way, Su Ze didn't stop to visit Hai Rui in Zhejiang except for attending the Wenhui in Quzhou. He even bypassed Hangzhou and didn't visit Yu Dayou. He rushed all the way to Nanjing.

He had originally planned to go to Suzhou as soon as he arrived in Nanjing, but he didn't expect that Fang Wanghai was the one who was more anxious, and directly sent a housekeeper to wait for him at the gate of the Imperial College.

Su Ze secretly smiled in his heart, but pretended to be anxious, and said to the housekeeper of the other party's house:

"Then please lead the way, we are going to Suzhou Mansion now!"

Manager Fang was worried about Su Ze's procrastination, but he didn't expect this uncle to be so sensible. He said with tears in his eyes:

"The master is looking forward to my uncle! I have already prepared the carriages and horses at the gate of Suzhou Mansion, and invite my uncle to get on the carriage!"

After walking out of Nanjing City, Su Ze discovered that Steward Fang had brought the frame of the Chaoguan Hall. It seemed that his future father-in-law was really in a hurry.

Nanjing City is not far from Wu County, the prefectural city of Suzhou. The group set off at noon and arrived in Wu County before midnight.

Chaoguan hall is near Huguan, so there is no need to enter Wu County.

Huguan was originally a flat land beside the Grand Canal. After the excavation of the Grand Canal was completed, it gradually became a trading pier.

With the economic development of Suzhou Prefecture, Huguan became more and more prosperous. In the fourth year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court set up a banknote pass in Huguan to collect banknote tariffs on passing ships.

Fang Wanghai is also a vigorous and resolute man. Although the imperial court allocated funds for the new government office, in order to facilitate tax collection, Fang Wanghai did not build an official office in Wu County, but used the old government office in Huguan.

The Huguan Chaoguan Office is also the standard building of the Ming Dynasty official office. It is a building with three fronts and three entrances. The first two rows of houses are the official offices, and the officials live on both sides.

Because his wife and children are still in Quanzhou, there is only Fang Wanghai in the official office, plus the original servants of Fang's mansion, it is much more deserted than the prefect's yamen before.

Steward Fang didn't care about the news, and directly led Su Ze into the back of the government office. After hearing the news, Fang Wanghai walked out of the bedroom in his pajamas.

"Ru Lin!"

I haven't seen him for half a year, but Fang Wanghai has aged a lot. It seems that the position of Chaoguan Envoy is really not easy to sit in.

"Meet Uncle Fang Shi!"

Su Ze and Fang Ruolan were not married yet, so naturally they couldn't call him Yuezhang. Fang Wanghai didn't care about Su Ze's address, so he left Steward Fang and Fang Aizhu to watch at the door, and dragged Su Ze into the study.

As soon as Su Ze sat down, Fang Wanghai complained: "The gang of profiteers in Suzhou don't want to pay taxes for the country at this time of national crisis, but the Suzhou government actually protects these businessmen. It’s not enough, how can we go on like this!”

The bill customs law was first advocated by Fang Wanghai's memorial. If the tax was not collected, with the character of that emperor, I am afraid that Fang Wanghai was lucky to be dismissed.

Su Ze had already expected all this.

Although my future father-in-law is a good official, after all, he is still the old way of thinking cultivated by the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty for decades.

When he was in Yanping Mansion, Fang Wanghai had the highest position, so he could turn his hands around.

But in Suzhou Mansion, not to mention how many sons of these rich families in the local area became officials, even the Sixth Department of Nanjing had a higher position than Fang Wanghai.

Su Ze took out the answer he had prepared: "Uncle Shi, collecting taxes since ancient times has never been done by words alone. If you want me to say, you need to train soldiers!"