Chapter 62 Chapter 62 Refusing to Eat Big Fish and Big Meat

Wen Qing and Zeng Guofan each brought a few priests and accompanying guards to check the distribution of food relief in Shandong's prefectures, prefectures, and counties in two ways. Wen Qing was in charge of the counties of Dongchang Prefecture and Linqing Prefecture in the northwest of Jinan Prefecture.Zeng Guofan was in charge of the prefectures and counties of Caozhou Prefecture and the counties of Jining Prefecture in the southwest of Jinan Prefecture. At that time, Shandong Province was divided into six prefectures and three prefectures, which were: Jinan prefecture, Dongchang prefecture, Tai'an prefecture, Wuding prefecture, Yanzhou prefecture, Caozhou prefecture, Linqing prefecture, Jining prefecture, and Yizhou prefecture.

Zeng Guofan's first stop on his way to Caozhou Prefecture was Changqing County.Changqing County is under the jurisdiction of Jinan Prefecture. Zeng Guofan lived in Changqing for one night, then rushed to Dongping, from Dongping to Wenshang, he could reach Jining Prefecture. Dongping County and Wenshang County are both on the ground of Jining Prefecture. Zeng Guofan decided to investigate Dongping County first, and then go to Caozhou Prefecture. Dongping is an ancient town. It was called Dongping Mansion in the Yuan Dynasty. It was established in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty changed the state into a county. However, the population is larger than that of ordinary small states. Therefore, the number of magistrates in Dongping County is higher than that of other counties. The first level is from the sixth rank official.

Zeng Guofan already held a roster of official seals of various prefectures and counties transcribed by Hechun, and knew that the magistrate of Dongping County was Ye Zisong, a Juren of Huaxian County, Guangdong. At the Chengguan of Dongping County, Zeng Guofan and others walked around the center of the city first, and saw that although the streets were deserted and there were few pedestrians, the merchants and shops were still open as usual, unlike Changqing County, which is close to Jinan, but has ten rooms and nine rooms. Kong, according to the words of the local people, all went to other provinces to escape famine.Walking on the street, Zeng Guofan already had a little respect for this first-born Ye Zisong in his heart.When they arrived at the county government office, Ye Zisong was ill, and was supported by the master copywriter to meet with Zeng Guofan reluctantly.

Zeng Guofan looked at Ye Zisong. He was about fifty years old, and his figure was not very grown. Although his face was pale, he was dignified; he was wearing an old patched official uniform, his big eyes were covered with two eyebrows, and his cheekbones were protruding. Lao Gao looked sad. After the ceremony, Zeng Guofan saw that Ye Zisong was panting heavily and out of breath, so he hurriedly asked the accompanying copywriter to help him to the stool and allowed him to sit and answer. "Ye Ming Mansion," Zeng Guofan asked softly, "I feel that the drought in Dongping is lighter than other prefectures and counties along the way."

Ye Zisong replied in Cantonese: "Back to what your lord said. Your lord's words are wrong. The drought in Dongping County is not lighter, but worse than other counties. As far as I know, the ground along the Yellow River has more or less wheat. Harvest, Liangshan area can also catch some fish and shrimps to make ends meet. Dongping is the most miserable place, with a large population, if the imperial court did not provide timely relief, Dongping would be hungry and starving, so how can we still have the strength to open shops to welcome customers?" Zeng Guofan wondered: "Don't other states and counties have the same relief?"

Ye Zisong said: "Naturally, I'm afraid there will be more relief." "How do you say that?" Zeng Guofan was surprised. Ye Zisong replied with a wry smile: "Think about it, my lord. Every time I go to Jinan to receive food and donations, the amount of Dongping is the same as that of other counties. Other counties who receive 5,000 Dongping also receive 5,000, and other counties receive 10,000 Dongping as well." Ten thousand. But Dongping is a big county, with a population one-third larger than other counties. The people in Dongping get more or less than the people in other counties when they are distributed based on headcounts.”

Seeing Ye Zisong breaking out in cold sweat, Zeng Guofan signaled his master to help him into the inner room to rest.Ye Zisong refused at first, but later saw that Mr. Zeng was sincere, so he stood up, cupped his hands in apologetic way, supported by the master copywriter, and entered the inner room tremblingly. After a while, the master copywriter came to see Zeng Guofan with officials such as the county magistrate, master book, and Dian Shi.Zeng Guofan greeted everyone one by one in the official hall, and then moved to Ye Zisong's signing room. When they arrived at the signing room, Zeng Guofan asked the master copywriter to hold the records of food and money distribution, and check carefully by himself according to the amount of money in the past.

Looking at it, Zeng Guofan suddenly became alarmed.In his impression, although the relief food was transferred from other provinces several times, most of it was wheat, millet and the like.However, words such as sweet potato and taro appeared on the account page of Dongping County's food relief. Except for the first few pages, the mention of wheat never appeared in the latter part.Where did the millet and wheat go? Zeng Guofan asked someone to call Master Qian Gu to ask him what happened. Master Qian Gu's clothes are not as good as Ye Zisong's. He is in his fifties, with a few yellow beards stuck on his chin, slightly curled up, dry and thin, and looks like he is about to fall ill.He is also respectful when meeting people, especially when he is slow to speak, and does not say a word without asking.

Master Qian Gu greeted Zeng Guofan respectfully, then stood with his hands down, waiting to ask questions. Zeng Guofan pointed to the account book and said: "As far as the Ministry knows, the imperial court has never transferred sweet potatoes to Shandong for disaster relief. But in this case, there is almost no food, except sweet potatoes and taro, and millions of catties of mulberry trees and elm bark. The more the Benbutang looks, the more confused he becomes, so he can only ask Sanyin ①." Master Qian Gu bowed respectfully and said: "My lord, this is all Ye's parents' idea. In Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, the sweet potatoes have been harvested in the past two years, and the taro has also been sold at a low price. The food allocated by the imperial court can save a moment. Urgent, but it can’t solve the long-term difficulties. Ye’s parents sold the relief food at a high price, and then bought sweet potatoes, taro, and elm bark from Anhui, Zhejiang and other places, so that Dongping people can have Drink sweet potato soup."

Zeng Guofan pondered for a while, and said, "Go down, I wonder how long Ye Mingfu has been ill?" Master Qian Gu replied: "Ye's parents have been in a bad mood for the past six months, and it has become a little serious recently, and they refused to spend money to hire a doctor, and they have been suffering like this." Zeng Guofan nodded, watching Master Qian Gu retreat slowly.Not long after, the master copywriter helped Ye Zisong to the signing room. Just as Zeng Guofan was about to speak, Ye Zisong fell to his knees with a thud, and said again and again: "This official is guilty! This official is guilty! Please tell Master Zeng truthfully to the Holy Majesty, and I will plead guilty!"

Zeng Guofan was taken aback, and quickly asked, "I don't know why Ye Mingfu is like this?" Ye Zisong took a breath and said, "The lower official took the initiative to replace the relief food with sweet potatoes and taro, and deceived the people of Dongping. Isn't this a crime of deceiving the emperor?" Zeng Guofan pulled Ye Zi up and said: "Ye Mingfu, you have done a great thing for the people of Dongping! All the prefectures and counties in Shandong are like Dongping, why did the people go to other provinces to escape famine! The old saying is good,' A golden nest and a silver nest are not as good as your own poor nest, and the common people will not leave the nest if they have sweet potato soup in their mouths!" After Ye Zisong stood up, he choked up and said: "Thank you for your praise. The lower official has already sent a letter of plea to the governor's yamen, and I believe that within a few days, the new official will arrive. As soon as my lord arrives I was busy checking the relief, and I didn't even take a sip of water. The official asked the cook to boil a pot of taro and sweet potato soup, please have a bowl of sweet potato soup at least, sir, before doing business." Only then did Zeng Guofan realize that he hadn't eaten for a long time, so he stood up and walked into the dining room of the county government with Ye Zisong. The staple food was indeed sweet potato and taro soup, but there was an extra bowl of white rice in front of Zeng Guofan, and half bowls of red and brown rice were placed in front of several people who accompanied him. Zeng Guofan pushed the white rice to Ye Zisong, saying: "Ye Mingfu, you are sick, you should eat this bowl of rice." Ye Zisong smiled wryly and said: "Xiaguan has suffered from many disasters and illnesses since he was a child, and a bowl of white rice can't make up for it. As long as adults don't dislike him, Xiaguan will be satisfied." Zeng Guofan didn't touch the bowl of rice, but drank three bowls of sweet potato soup in a row. Then he put down his chopsticks and said, "It's the luck of the people that the officials have good food. The people of Dongping are blessed!" Ye Zisong didn't say a word, and drank the sweet potato soup in front of him in small sips.After the meal, Zeng Guofan took a short rest, and according to the roster of food relief distribution, he asked the government officials to find several recipients separately, and asked if the sweet potatoes and taro they received were consistent with the roster, but they were worth one or two pounds per catty. not bad. Only then did Zeng Guofan take a rest, and prepared to leave for the next county the next day—Wenshang County, where the county magistrate was Hongcai, a Jinshi from Henan. When Zeng Guofan rushed to the county government office in Wenshang County, Hong Cai had been waiting for a long time with the county magistrate, clerks, masters and others.Zeng Guofan looked at Hongcai, with short stature, a big square face, fair skin, in his thirties, dressed in neat official uniforms, and looked full of ambition. After the ceremony, return to your seat.Hong Cai was the first to say: "Master Zeng has been working hard all the way. It is the people of Wenshang who have remade their parents. The officials have prepared bouillon and vegetables in the back garden. I hope that your lord will use it before you go to work. My lord, please always invite me." When Zeng Guofan came to the dining room in the back garden, he saw that there were four plates and four bowls on the lacquered red tabletop, all tightly buttoned.As soon as Zeng Guofan took his seat, someone came over and removed the covers covering the dishes, but there were four meat dishes and four vegetarian dishes, including chicken, duck and fish.Then more than a dozen hot dishes were served, and the table began. Zeng Guofan didn't drink at all, and Hong Cai didn't force it, so everyone ate white rice. After the meal, it was already noon, but Zeng Guofan was not busy looking at the records of the food distribution brought up by Hong Cai himself, but quietly brought the guards who came with him, and went to look around the street. Wenshang is the smallest county in Shandong, but it suffered the most damage in terms of street appearance and street appearance.The shops were all closed with their grilles closed, and the street was deserted and deserted, occasionally a few people in ragged clothes walked by, helping the old and the young to cross the street, fleeing to the outside of the city if asked. Zeng Guofan slowly walked out of the small county town.About half a mile out of the county seat, there is a small village with thirty or forty families.Zeng Guofan and others went to ten houses in a row, but the houses were all empty. Finally, in the eleventh house, they met an old man who was bedridden, but he was dumb and deaf.When I was about to leave the village, I met a person sitting in front of the door basking in the sun.The man had long hair and looked about fifty years old. When I asked, he was only thirty years old, and his name was the second gangster. Zeng Guofan asked the second gangster: "Why did the people in the village go?" The second gangster rolled his eyes and saw that he was an official, so he lazily replied: "I ran for my life! It's not like going out to dig treasures these days." Zeng Guofan asked again: "They all ran for their lives, who will receive the relief food given by the court?" The second gangster stood up abruptly, and replied angrily: "When did the people in my village see the relief food given by the court? Whoever can eat the food will run out!" Zeng Guofan asked with a smile, "Why don't you run for your life?" The second gangster said: "Don't go and wait to starve to death? It's just that I still have three catties of sweet potatoes in the kiln. I will leave after eating." Zeng Guofan asked, "What kind of village is this?" The second gangster pointed at a stone tablet not far from the village head, and then sat down again in silence, obviously not wanting to consume any more energy. Zeng Guofan followed the finger of the second gangster and looked around, and saw the word "Tiger Leaping" written on the stone tablet, which presumably was the name of the village. Seeing that it was not early, Zeng Guofan and others returned to the county government office, Hong Cai had already prepared meals early and was waiting impatiently.Seeing Zeng Guofan walk in, Hong Cai said repeatedly: "Master Zeng, you are always frightening the lower officials. There is a bandit in Wenshang, and if you want to visit and say hello, the lower officials can take care of you! If there is someone Three pros and two deficiencies, it’s not for the life of an officer!” Zeng Guofan replied coldly: "This is the first time for the main hall to come to Wenshang, and it is just a casual walk. Hongming Mansion is too polite. It is really enviable that Hongming Mansion can be maintained so well in a famine year." !" Hong Cai replied respectfully: "My lord's words, the next official is thanks to the emperor's blessing, all thanks to the timely allocation of food, and finally I am not hungry." After chatting for a while, they had dinner. Zeng Guofan resolutely refused to eat big fish and meat on the grounds of diarrhea.Hongcai had no choice but to ask the cook to fry a plate of lotus root slices for Zeng Guofan, and bring them together with white rice to the signing room, and waited on him personally, watching Zeng Guofan eat it bite by bite.Only then did I call people over to clean up, and then I left and went to the dining room to eat.Hong Cai naturally ate big fish and meat, but he didn't dare drink alcohol. After the meal, Zeng Guofan took the records of food distribution that had been neatly arranged, and looked at them one by one.I have read a few volumes, but I can see that the names of the people are clear, the numbers are clear, one village, one village, one capital and one Jia, all are clear. Zeng Guofan praised in his heart: "As expected of a person from the top two rankings, he really understands when he does things! When doing things in the officialdom, you have to think big and start small. You must be precise and concise!" A few people who had left the city gate were asked by the yamen servants waiting outside the gate to ask questions.After the people arrived, they asked one by one, and what they received was exactly the same as what they put down.Zeng Guofan was even more secretly amazed.