Chapter 80 Chapter 80 Always think about the imperial court

Zeng Guofan came to the lobby of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, but saw Qi Yuzao and Wen Qing already waiting there. Seeing Zeng Guofan coming in, Qi Yuzao said slowly, "Master Zeng, something serious has happened! The old man is discussing countermeasures with Mr. Wen, and I'm waiting for you to come." Zeng Guofan was startled, and hurriedly asked: "Big Sikou, why are you so panicked?" Wen Qing said: "Laonami committed suicide by taking poison in prison! How can I explain this to the emperor!" Zeng Guofan stood there for a while, unable to say a word for a long time.

After the ministers and above officials from various ministries arrived, Qi Yuzao explained the situation helplessly.The ministers looked at each other in blank dismay, silent.In the end, Qi Yuzao said: "This old man will blame the emperor for his absence!" Emperor Daoguang kept Qi Yuzao's papers unpublished, but summoned Zeng Guofan that night. Emperor Daoguang was taking medicine when Zeng Guofan entered, and Zeng Guofan knelt aside and waited quietly. Emperor Daoguang took another breath after drinking the medicine, and then said in a low voice: "Zeng Guofan, since I became the throne, the most troublesome thing is silver. Silver is the blood of my Qing Dynasty. Disaster relief and bandit suppression are inseparable from silver." This Raunami! How can I go to see my ancestors!" Emperor Daoguang's eye circles began to turn red.

Zeng Guofan didn't dare to speak, he still couldn't figure out what the emperor meant by summoning him. But Emperor Daoguang didn't say anything more, just panting, Eunuch Cao helped the emperor to lie down on the dragon couch, and it took a long time before seeing Emperor Daoguang waved weakly at Zeng Guofan.Zeng Guofan withdrew angrily, feeling very uncomfortable. That night, Zeng Guofan tossed and turned, itching all over his body, unable to sleep for a long time, his ringworm disease broke out again.Emperor Daoguang, who was ill, issued an oracle for the bank deficit case.

The edict said: Lao Nami was expelled from the flag and executed.Because the criminal committed suicide in fear of crime, he was exempted from execution, and all the property of the criminal was confiscated to the state treasury.The men of the nine ethnic groups in Raunami were exiled to serve in the Xinjiang army, and all the women were sent to the armored men as slaves for life without pardon.The inspector of the Metropolitan Procuratorate will never be dismissed for the crime of negligence, and the post of inspector of the Metropolitan Procuratorate will never be vacant.Du Shoutian, the servant of the household department, was fined six months of salary for the crime of negligence, and was demoted to a second level of punishment. He was temporarily appointed as a bachelor of the Imperial Academy.All officials and servants in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment were dismissed for the crime of ineffective guarding.The co-organizer, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, Qi Yuzao, was punished with six months of salary for the crime of improper employment.This is it.

This edict only punishes, not rewards.The next day, all civil and military officials in the court knew that the emperor's condition had worsened.Zeng Guofan began to feel melancholy. In the afternoon of this day, Zeng Guofan had properly assigned the few official tasks at hand, and suddenly remembered the matter of repairing the Huguang Guild Hall.So it was decided to put the sedan chair in Huguang Guild Hall. The accountant of the Huguang Guild Hall was sipping tea in his room. When he heard that Zeng Guofan had arrived, he was taken aback. He left the wastebasket in the corner, and when he opened the door and ran out, he bumped into Zeng Guofan because of his bad eyesight.He was full of resentment, and was about to take the opportunity to explode, so he slapped him casually, cursing: "You are so short-sighted, a second-rank servant, I panicked you like this, if the emperor arrives, you must not Pee your pants?"

Zeng Guofan's face was flushed from the beating, and he stood there for a while, neither advancing nor retreating. After the old master finished beating and scolding, he saw that the person who came was still blocking the door, so he looked up and saw that the one who was beaten was Zeng Guofan. "Oh!" The old master yelled, turned over and knelt down, and began to plead guilty again and again, "Damn the little one! Damn the little one!" It took Zeng Guofan a long time to wake up. He smiled and said: "Old Master, you are so frightened that this department is only a second-rank official. If the emperor comes, I'm afraid you'll really pee your pants, right?"

The accountant stretched out his hand and slapped himself. After the slap, he said: "Small talk ①, it's time to slap! I hope the adults don't care about it!" Zeng Guofan said: "Get up quickly. Tell the waiter to invite all the deacons and supervisors. The headquarters has something to say." deacons. Zeng Guofan sat down to drink tea, and the accountant said: "My lord, the couplet that your old man inscribed for the Changsha guild hall is famous all over the world. When will you inscribe some words for our Huguang guild hall?" Zeng Guofan didn't talk to him, but asked him to bring out the big account, wanting to reconcile the account and perform his duties as a deacon.The accountant opened the meeting hall, and Zeng Guofan was invited to sit down.Only then did someone move in several large ledgers and ask Zeng Guofan to look them over.

Zeng Guofan flipped through it roughly, and saw that the terms and conditions were still clear, so he put it aside and began to think about the renovation of the guild hall while drinking tea. Zeng Guofan asked the accountant's master: "Dexiang, in my opinion, let's lower the scale of the guild hall's renovation and use the existing silver?" The accountant's name is Luo Dexiang, and he is the nephew of Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Guangxi.Luo Bingzhang was born in Huaxian County, Guangdong Province, and was born in two lists. When he was a lecturer in the Imperial Academy, he worked as a deacon in the Huguang Guild Hall with Tang Jiantong, a minister of Taichang Temple.Later, when there was a vacancy in the accountant of the guild hall, Luo Bingzhang recommended his nephew to take care of the account, but nothing serious happened.Zeng Guofan and Luo Bingzhang also got along relatively well when they were in the capital.

Although Luo Dexiang is many years older than Zeng Guofan, he has always treated Zeng Guofan as an uncle. Luo Dexiang replied respectfully: "Returning to the adults, if the adults insist on doing this, the little ones have nothing to say. But the little ones think that if the adults initiate a proposal, it will be easy to collect tens of thousands of silver." Zeng Guofan didn't answer, but changed the subject: "Old Master, how is your uncle in Guangxi?" Luo Dexiang replied: "Responding to my lord's words, my uncle wrote a letter to my younger one at the beginning of the month. Banditry in Guangxi is serious, and my uncle is not happy with his official career in Guangxi! My uncle is different from an adult. He is famous, he responds to everyone, and he is very kind. Uncle is a man. Others don’t know, adults don’t know?”

Zeng Guofan said: "Brother Yumen (Luo Bingzhang's name is Yumen) is a person who is willing to do things, but he has a more stubborn temper." Just as Luo Dexiang was about to speak, someone reported that Li Wenlu, a lecturer at the Imperial Academy, had arrived.Li Wenlu was originally from Hubei, and was also the supervisor of the Huguang Guild Hall. He was an old subordinate of Zeng Guofan. Later, Mei Yi, the reviewer of the Imperial Academy, and Zeng Zhaojun, the editor, also arrived.These two are newly elected deacons, and they are both Zeng Guofan's subordinates. Except for Li Yan'an, the Minister of Guanglu Temple, who has not returned from his business trip in other places, all the deacons have come.

After everyone had seen the ceremony, a row of five tea bowls were set up in the tea room of the Huguang Guild Hall, and everyone began to discuss matters while drinking tea. "My lord," Mei Yi spoke first, "Students from the capital of the two lakes want to initiate the establishment of some kind of hometown association. I wonder if this is feasible? If it is feasible, the chairman of this association must be an adult." Li Wenlu said: "This idea is good! If there is anything, we can take care of each other." Others also chimed in and said it was feasible. Zeng Guofan pondered for a while and said: "Accordingly, it is not impossible to set up a society to contact the feelings of fellow villagers, and it may be a good thing, but it is not possible now. There are gangs all over the place, and we in Huguang should not join in the fun. The main hall is not Participate, and I advise everyone to keep a respectful distance. The Qing Dynasty unified the north and the south, so why bother to create this faction or that faction?" Everyone looked at each other and bowed their heads in silence. Luo Dexiang broke the deadlock and said: "My lords, let's discuss the matter at hand. This Huguang Guild Hall Mr. Tang wanted to renovate it when he was here, but now we can't delay it any longer. Mr. Zeng read the big account just now, and there are still two more in our guild hall. The balance of 12,000 taels." Li Wenlu looked at the silent Zeng Guofan and said, "According to my opinion, the guild hall needs to raise about 50,000 silver to do this. Mr. Zeng, what do you mean?" Zeng Guofan said: "According to the meaning of the main hall, the renovation of the guild hall will be used according to the existing surplus money. The harvest in Huguang has been poor in the past two years, Shandong and Henan have suffered major disasters, and Guangdong and Guangxi are full of bandits. I don't know when we will be able to calm down? The people are in dire straits! In such a situation, how can the guild hall open its mouth to persuade the Hunan people to donate? The bank of the household department only has more than 10 million taels of silver, which is less than one-seventh of that in Kangqian period! The treasury allocated three million taels of military pay. If this goes on, if the treasury does not receive any more silver, within two years, we will not be able to pay out our salaries.” After speaking, his eyes turned red, and he almost shed tears.The originally relaxed and lively atmosphere suddenly became heavy as soon as Zeng Guofan's words fell. Luo Dexiang sighed, and said: "It's more than 20,000 silver, I'm afraid it's still not perfect." Li Wenlu said: "Master Zeng's words are very clear. It's a great fortune to be able to maintain the guild hall. What's the point of talking about perfection! In my opinion, let's do as your lord said. What do you think, two Hanlin lords? " Mei Yi and Zeng Zhao said in unison: "Just follow the instructions of the two adults, and I will just listen to the pie." Li Wenlu said: "Master Zeng, you have repaired the Confucian Temple and supervised the imperial mausoleum. You are naturally an expert in this field. You have to take care of the repair of my Huguang Guild Hall. You can assign it." Zeng Guofan thought for a while and said: "Everyone, see if this is good. Dexiang first listed all the places that should be repaired in the guild hall, and the degree of damage was marked on it. According to this, we will make a key point, according to the existing silver. One of the items is in place. Focus on the key points, protect the overall situation, according to the 20,000 silver spend, how about the degree of repair? Dexiang will make up the details, and I, Master Li, will count as one when I come back, and Wen Lu, Mei Yi, Zeng Zhao Five people will take turns in supervision until the completion of the project.” Everyone said in unison: "Just do as your lord wants." Zeng Guofan stood up and was about to say goodbye when he saw Zhou Sheng rushing in in a panic, plopped down on his knees as soon as he reached the hall, and said in a hoarse voice, "Master, the family's ancestor is gone!" "What?" Zeng Guofan froze for a moment, his face turned pale. When Li Wenlu saw it, he hurriedly said to Zhou Sheng: "Don't ask someone to help you get into the sedan chair!" After speaking, he and Luo Dexiang rushed to help Zeng Guofan. Zhou Sheng hastily called Li Bao and Liu Heng, and they hurriedly carried Zeng Guofan into the sedan chair.