Corrupt County Magistrate (16)

Chapter 45

Not only Grandpa Ji, Grandma Ji, and Father Ji are working hard to protect him, but Mother Ji, who went back to her parents' home to visit the elderly this morning, also said that some relatives from her parents' home wanted their daughter to be a concubine for their son.

After all, their family was born as a merchant family, and they were not a wealthy family that could make a lot of money. Most of their relatives and friends were farmers. For these families who may not even be able to fill their stomachs after working hard for a year, if their daughter could be a concubine for Ji Changze, who became an official, not only would she be glorious, but she could also help her family.

In addition, there are some wealthy families who want to get close to Lord Ji, who has become a prefect.

Originally, they had good thoughts. Everyone knew that Ji Changze was in the prefecture, and there were only his parents and grandparents at home. Before Ji Changze became famous, the Ji family was just an ordinary merchant, and they certainly didn't have much vision. At this time, they came to the door affectionately, sent their daughter as a concubine, and sent gold, silver and jewelry. The family would certainly agree happily.

Unexpectedly, the elders of the Ji family were all unmoved.

What your daughter is beautiful and charming, what the jewelry is worth a lot of silver, they all refused it so straightforwardly.

The daughter is beautiful and charming? That's not good. Their Changze is now valued by His Majesty, and he is busy with the prefecture. He doesn't even have time to be with his proper wife. What do you want to do by sending a beautiful girl at this time? Do you want to ruin our Changze's body?

As for the rare treasures, they might have been shocked in the past, but since Ji Changze opened the Yuanhua Pancreas factory, he has never been short of money, and he often sent people to send things and money home. The Ji family was originally worried that the money came from an illegal source, but they were relieved when they saw Ji Changze wrote that he earned it legitimately and His Majesty also knew about it.

After seeing too many good things, they naturally didn't care about these ordinary things sent by others.

There was still some anger in their hearts that they were looked down upon: Do you think my family is short of money? You want us to sell our son/grandson just to send such a small thing.

That's right, after Ji Changze brainwashed his family for a long time, now in the eyes of the entire Ji family, taking a concubine means that the body will suffer sooner or later, and others giving gifts to please is equivalent to asking them to sell people.

No matter how you look at it, it's their family that suffers (people who send money and people:...), these people are really heartless.

The family of four finished a meal happily, and the old man ran to sit outside the door again.

Although he disliked those who wanted to send women to his grandson, he still liked others who spoke nicely (flattered himself).

Every day after dinner, he would sit at the door, and then the neighbors who came out for a walk would gather around him and start to praise him for having a good grandson in his family, how capable he was, and how filial he was to their elders.

As they were talking, the person sent by Ji Changze to deliver the letter arrived.

He came so many times that he was already familiar with the Ji family. When he saw him coming, the servants who were waiting at the door reminded him happily: "Old man, the messenger of the adults is here again."

"Huh?"

The old man who was listening to others flattering his family comfortably opened his eyes and stood up with a happy face.

"My grandson has sent a letter again."

There was another round of flattery around him, and before the messenger came forward to speak, there was another sound of gongs and drums.

Someone came to deliver the imperial edict to Grandma Ji and Mother Ji. The clothes and jewelry of the imperial lady and the imperial edict of the emperor came to the door of the Ji family in a majestic manner.

The old man had never seen such a scene before, and he was stunned at the time.

The other people in the Ji family in the house were also shocked by the noise and ran out.

"What's going on? What's the matter?"

"But Changze sent someone again?"

The messenger knew what Lord Ji asked him to tell his family, so he smiled and greeted him: "Grandpa, great news, it's the Lord who asked for the imperial edict for the old lady and the old lady. You two will be the imperial ladies in the future."

Grandma Ji and Mother Ji were both shocked.

Since Ji Changze became an official, they have also made up for the knowledge of officials and naturally knew what the imperial edict was.

Now, they are going to become imperial ladies?

Imperial ladies!

In the past, even if they fantasized, they only dared to fantasize about being pardoned ladies. Now, Changze actually made them become imperial ladies.

The two of them only had the four words "imperial ladies" in their minds. Mother Ji was fine, but Grandma Ji was so happy that her hands were shaking.

Following the instructions of the messenger, they received the imperial decree and looked at the precious imperial lady's clothes. Although they knew that these clothes could only be worn when meeting nobles or entering the palace, they were excited enough to touch them carefully.

The material was naturally good, but it was not so rare that they could not buy it. If they wanted, Ji Changze would definitely buy them a box of such material.

But these were clothes given by His Majesty.

Becoming imperial ladies was still a high rank. In the future, even the county magistrate of their county would have to salute them when he saw them. Of course, the current county magistrate was also polite to them.

Forgive the two of them. They have worked hard all their lives. Apart from Ji Changze, the highest official they have ever seen is the county magistrate.

Grandma Ji touched it and laughed, tears falling down. She trembled and turned around the clothes for several times, but she was reluctant to stop: "I can become a lady of imperial decree. I can have this day. Which old lady in this ten-mile radius can be as blessed as me."

It's all thanks to Changze. She must have done a lot of good things in her previous life to have such a good grandson.

Mother Ji and Grandma Ji received the imperial decree from His Majesty, and the news of the imperial decree spread quickly throughout the county.

The Ji family came to celebrate again in batches, and it was very lively. The patriarch of the Ji family came to congratulate, and at the same time implicitly expressed that "although Changze is living a good life now and has brought glory to the whole family and even the whole clan, he is not at home now. You must not use Changze's power to do bad things, and don't accept too many gifts. I will also restrain the clan members. Although Changze is glorious but hard to be an official outside, we must not drag him down."

The clan leader was worried that his words would make the Ji family unhappy when they were so happy, but he didn't expect that the Ji family would agree with him.

Although they were immersed in the joy of having a baby and being granted an imperial title, they still remembered that Changze had complained about the difficulty of being an official when he wrote back.

The superiors above cannot be offended and must be flattered (the superiors who tried to make friends with him:...) The subordinates below have their own ulterior motives (the subordinates who were tossed around:...) He has so many things to do, but he can only do it himself (the overtime trio:...) He hopes that his family can help him take care of the relationship in his hometown, and never accept gifts casually or promise to do anything for others, etc.

The Ji family has different personalities, but they all have one thing in common, that is, they love Ji Changze to the bone.

Naturally, they treat what he says as an imperial decree.

First, they thanked the clan leader, and then gave him the letter that Ji Changze wrote to the clan leader.

Yes, Ji Changze also wrote a letter to the clan leader, telling him that he planned to buy some land as a clan member and to run a school.

This is also a convention. If a big figure emerges in the clan, he must give back to the clan.

Ji Changze is not short of money, so doing these things is just a matter of convenience. Moreover, he has now helped the clan members. When there is an official in the clan in the future, they are born in an alliance.

Like the Wei family, some members of the clan are arrogant and bully their fellow clan members, and the clan elders turn a blind eye. When Wei rises, they try every means to suppress them. That is rare.

The Ji family was jubilant and tried not to drag Ji Changze down. Lord Wei received a letter from his son-in-law. The letter said very smoothly that the clan leader came to remind the head of the family and the elders, and then he gave the clan sacrificial land and ran a school in the clan. He stroked his beard and praised with a smile.

This is the real way to open the clan. Look at their Wei family. What a thing.

He suddenly had an idea and wrote a poem to praise the mutual help between his son-in-law and the clan.

This poem quickly spread, and most people who read it thought that it was written by Lord Wei, but the head of the Wei family felt that the Wei family clan was slapped in the face.

Look at what is written here. It says that when Ji Changze had not passed the imperial examination, the clan specially collected silver for him when he went to the capital to take the exam. After he passed the exam, he did not use his reputation to seek benefits, but specially warned Ji Changze's parents and relatives not to hold Ji Changze back. It can be said that they are a good clan that protects the country.

Let's look at their Wei family. When Lord Wei was young, the pillar of his family passed away. Not only did the family not help, but they also turned a blind eye to the oppression of people in the family. Later, he passed the imperial examination and became an official in the court. They were afraid that he would take revenge, so they suppressed him several times. When Lord Wei took a high position, he had clearly drawn a clear line with the family, but there were still people in the family who used his name to do evil outside, and then Lord Wei personally reported them to the emperor.

Is this praising the son-in-law? This is to mock their Wei family.

Lord Wei has a good reputation, but some people think he is too cruel. He can do this to his own family and personally report the junior who borrowed his reputation.

Now that this poem has come out, Ji Changze generously repaid the family after helping him. Isn't everything Lord Wei did a reward?

It's just that the Ji family clan gave Ji Changze sugar, so Ji Changze naturally reciprocated honey.

The Wei family gave Lord Wei a lot of money, so how could he rush to give honey to them?

A small number of people saw that Lord Wei was using the son-in-law incident to mock the Wei family, but no one stood up to say a word for the Wei family.

What else can they say?

They saw what the Wei family did in the past. Now Lord Wei has been promoted, and his son-in-law Ji Changze is in the emperor's heart. Although the Wei family is a noble family, it is now the world of the royal family. Even if it is a noble family, it is still up to His Majesty to decide whether it has power or not.

Since you have done something like suppressing, why are you afraid of what others say?

When Ji Changze knew about this, he took the letter to show Wei Juncan, and the couple hid in the house and laughed for a long time.

Especially Wei Juncan, who felt quite relieved.

When she was a child, her father's official position was not very high. At that time, the Wei family suppressed, her father was angry, and her mother secretly wiped tears. She remembered it clearly.

Now that the skin that the Wei family had covered their faces has been thrown off, it is really gratifying.

Ji Changze received another letter from the capital and said to Wei Juncan; "It's about the person who harmed you in the past. She is not doing well now. Do you want to see it?"

Wei Juncan shook his head, hugged the child in his arms, and smiled: "I am fine as long as I am doing well."

Speaking of which, she still has to thank that person.

If it weren't for that calculation, she wouldn't have married such a good husband.

Ji Changze agreed; "That's right. The better you live, the more torture it is for her."

She took such a big risk to push Wei Juncan, wanting to push him into the abyss. Now that she found that the place where Wei Juncan fell into was actually heaven, it would be strange if she didn't feel depressed to death.

He walked forward, picked up the big fat boy in Wei Juncan's arms and shook him: "Smelly boy, you eat so much, you are as round as a ball."

There was a servant knocking on the door outside, saying that Wu County Magistrate had come.

Ji Changze returned the child to Wei Juncan, pushed the door open and asked, "How does he look?"

"Look? Lord Wu looks good, as if something good happened. I saw that Lord Wu's face was full of smiles."

That should be because he had done what he had told him to do before.

Ji Changze smiled and patted his sleeves, strode forward, and walked in when he reached the study room and pushed the door open: "Lord Wu, you are here at the right time. I have a new task for you."

Seeing him come in, Wu County Magistrate was full of joy and was about to say, "Lord, I have completed the task you gave me. Let's have a good holiday." "..."

Ji Changze, who firmly believed that "if I assign tasks quickly enough, you can't catch up with me during the holiday," assigned the new task and patted Wu County Magistrate on the shoulder; "You can do it. Those who are capable should do more work. I believe in you."

Wu County Magistrate: "..."

What else can I say? Blame me for being too good.

The muttering in his heart disappeared the next day when he learned that Lord Ji actually sent Captain Wang to lead people to eliminate the pirates.

Compared to working overtime for clerical work, pirates are really working their way up.

If you are not careful, you will lose your life.

Fortunately, Lord Ji did not ask him to do this. Wu County Magistrate, who was immersed in a pile of paperwork, secretly rejoiced in his heart.

It is indeed happy to work overtime.

On the other side, Captain Wang was so excited after receiving this order, especially after Ji Changze directly told him that this matter was approved by His Majesty, and if he won this time, he could recommend Captain Wang to be a military officer.

People always want to climb up step by step, but most of the superiors are only concerned about climbing up and completely ignore the people below. Lord Ji directly handed the ladder to him, how could he not be grateful.

Besides, he has been thinking about eliminating pirates for more than a day or two. He and his brothers practiced arranging troops and fighting with swords, guns, sticks and boats every day. Isn’t it for this day?

A real man must dare to kill and fight. If he is asked to do the work of Lord Wu, he can’t do it.

It is indeed fun to kill pirates.

In the 176th year of Anguo, the pirates in the waters of the prefecture controlled by Ji Changze were wiped out by the government. From then on, in addition to merchant ships, there were more military ships flying the flag of Anguo on the sea.

At the beginning, some pirates from other seas did not believe in evil and tried to take over this piece of land, but they died in batches. Not only did they lose people, but their ships were also taken back by the damn government (Ji Changze said that these ships were good things and could be recycled). Later, no pirates dared to come to this sea area.

The prefecture under Ji Changze's jurisdiction also opened a sea route, and new roads were made of cement everywhere on the road, making it easier and faster to transport goods, and gradually became a commercial center.

He was very sensible. Almost everything he made had a special account book, and every account was recorded clearly and handed over to the emperor.

Ji Changze had no intention of hiding the fact that he had made a lot of money. He made money with his own ability, so why should he hide it? Not only did he not hide it, he also put it in front of the emperor for him to see.

Of course, the premise is that the money he gave to the treasury was much more than his own wealth.

Under this premise, the emperor didn't think it was a big deal. Even if someone reported Ji Changze for taking advantage of the opportunity to make a profit, the emperor would have rebuked him.

What's wrong with making a profit? Did he rob or steal? Did he harm the people? Did he take the taxes for himself? Did he rob people's land? Did he have **?

He made money, but that was all money he made with his own ability. He not only made it himself, but also made it with the people. You say he is a corrupt official. Whose money did he corrupt?

Is being rich a bad official? According to what you said, then everyone should stop opening shops and buying farms, and donate them all. Aren't you good people? Don't you think it's a crime for Ji Aiqing to be rich? Please go and take a look, see how comfortable the people in the prefectures governed by Ji Aiqing are, and see how the taxes paid there are almost filling up half of the national treasury.

Ji Aiqing dared to show me his account book directly. I know where every penny of his family's money comes from and where it is spent. Do you dare to show me your family's account book and see where your family's money is spent?

He is a corrupt official, but he is also openly corrupt. He made money to build roads, free schools, orphanages, and official ships to offer to the court. Can you do it? Can you do it? If you can't, don't talk about it.

The person who complained: "..."

Everyone can do good things, but the problem is that even if they want to do it, they can't make so much money.

Originally, I wanted to say that Ji Changze was full of money, and those who dealt with money every day did not dare to say anything.

His Majesty had said so, what else could they do? If they said it, who knows whether His Majesty would directly ask them to hand over all the money in their families.

Everyone knows that money has no good reputation among literati. The noble literati have always thought that it is money-smelling, but most people know that without the smell of money, what can they eat, drink and wear? The emperor just looked down on their appearance of being both a scumbag and a scumbag. How could his Ji Aiqing be pure and unpretentious, making money without concealing it, and especially liked to share with him how to make more money.

Is that love of money? No!

Ji Aiqing knew that only by making money and having more money in the treasury could the people of Anguo live well and better help the people when natural disasters come. What kind of corrupt official is that? He is the most noble and clean person.

The emperor had a lot of words to praise Ji Changze in his heart and wanted to talk to someone, but when he looked around, he found that there was no one who could tell the truth.

The concubines' sons are all grown up now, and they are thinking about their sons instead of being on the same page with him. Not to mention the sons, the older they grow, the more they think. I'm afraid that if he praises Ji Aiqing to them today, they will all flock to "make friends" with Ji Aiqing tomorrow. It's even more impossible for the palace maids and eunuchs. How can he talk to them?

After thinking about it, the emperor was really suffocated, so he simply sent someone to bring the youngest prince born by the queen.

The third prince was kicked out of the list of heirs because of the previous concubine incident that made the emperor unhappy. Later, he thought that the queen might not know how to raise children, and raised a good child without any royal temperament. He didn't like other children, so he simply asked someone to bring the youngest legitimate son to his side to raise him, trying to practice the small one after the big one was useless.

However, even if he thought so, the emperor thought that the youngest prince would definitely not be able to sit on the throne. After all, he is so old now. Although he doesn't want to die, he also knows that people will die sooner or later. I'm afraid that when the new emperor ascends the throne, this child has not married yet.

It was because he thought that "the youngest son would definitely not be the emperor, and he was young, so it shouldn't matter if I chatted with him about gossip and my capable, reliable, honest, patriotic, and devoted Ji Aiqing." After the youngest son came, the emperor held him and began to boast about how caring and powerful his Ji Aiqing was.

The four-year-old little prince sat on his father's lap in a daze. Although he didn't understand much, his memory was very good, but he remembered all these words.

After that, the emperor suddenly found that his youngest son was a perfect tree hole.

He was a biological son, so he didn't fear taboos. He was young and didn't fear that he would have other thoughts. He was a legitimate son, so it was natural to pamper him. Moreover, he had previously neglected the third prince, which led to the decline of the queen's prestige in the harem. Now pampering the youngest son can also make the harem stable.

It was perfect.

So, the four-year-old little prince was a tree hole until he was six years old.

The emperor's complaints about the court, his dissatisfaction with his ministers, his enjoyment of developing new systems, his expectations for Anguo, his love for the people, his ambitions for the country, and his daily praise of Ji Aiqing all entered the little prince's ears.

If it were an ordinary child, he would definitely forget what he heard today tomorrow, but he was gifted and had a perfect memory, so he remembered everything.

So, while other brothers were still studying in the imperial study, he was like a sponge, trying to absorb his father's "Emperor's Experience Encyclopedia".

Then, the emperor lived a very long life.

The year when the little prince had his second child, the emperor was seriously ill and felt that he would not live long. He looked around and found that his group of sons had white hair and white beards and looked less energetic than him. He looked away with disdain and set his eyes on his youngest son who had been gifted since childhood, smart and well-behaved, and was now in his prime.

In the 196th year of Anguo, the old emperor passed away and the new emperor succeeded to the throne.

Ji Changze's political enemies were gloating over the misfortune, thinking that this favorite minister who had crushed all the ministers during the previous emperor's reign must be very annoying to the new emperor. Even if he was not suppressed, I am afraid that the era of Lord Ji would be over.

However, the new emperor, who had heard his father call him "my caring Ji Aiqing", "my reliable Ji Aiqing", "my Ji Aiqing who can match the civil and military officials of the whole court" since he was a child, inherited his father's good tradition.

After ascending the throne, he said, "Quickly announce my Ji Aiqing."