Qing Yao

Chapter 237 It's alright, Fu Zhongtang also offers loans.

The official positions sold by the Ministry of Personnel were divided into "large donations" and "small donations".

"Major donations" refers to official positions of the fourth or fifth rank. These positions were only offered for sale during major events, such as the Empress Dowager's birthday, the Emperor's birthday, or when the country was in a major war or faced a major natural disaster.

Officials of the fourth rank and above were also offered for sale, but not many.

In the thirty-sixth year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, when the Empress Dowager celebrated her eightieth birthday, in order to raise the funds needed for the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration, the Ministry of Revenue asked the old emperor to make an exception and sell several official positions of the third rank, including the highly lucrative position of Salt Commissioner of Lianghuai. However, he was given a term limit, which was only two years.

During the two years of the Salt Commissioner's term, countless wealthy people were vying for the position, to the point that the Ministry of Personnel had to hold a "bidding" process, which ultimately resulted in a bid of 430,000 taels of silver.

"Large donations" are not a regular occurrence, usually happening only once every ten to fifteen years, and regardless of what kind of official position is being sold, the official position in the Ministry of Personnel will never be sold.

The reason is that the Ministry of Personnel, as the head of the Six Ministries, has great power and responsibility. If even the official positions in the Ministry of Personnel can be bought and sold at will, then the entire court will undoubtedly fall into chaos.

Therefore, the Ministry of Personnel would never sell its vacancies.

The highest official position that could be bought in the Ministry of Personnel was a fourth-rank official. Most of the positions sold were minor vacancies of the sixth or seventh rank, and these minor vacancies were mostly not for officials with official seals. Even if one bought an official seal, one would still have to wait for a position.

It can only be filled when the current official in charge is transferred or retires.

Therefore, some wealthy candidates for official positions would pay the Ministry of Personnel to find ways to get rid of their predecessors so that they could take office as soon as possible.

Some of the candidates, who were getting impatient, would privately approach their exes and offer them a large sum of money to retire early.

This is a very worthwhile deal for officials who are getting older and have no hope of advancement.

In addition, there are regulations prohibiting monks and Taoist priests from buying official positions.

On the old man's sixtieth birthday, a monk named Mingxin took all the money that the temple had accumulated over the years to the Ministry of Personnel to buy an official position. He impersonated Wang Dexun and bought a lucrative post as a prefect.

Equivalent to the mayor of a city.

As a result, because Mingxin had been a monk for many years and often chanted Buddhist mantras in the hall, people became suspicious, and his misdeeds were exposed. He was put in shackles for two months and then exiled to Heilongjiang.

Chun Chun lost both her wife and her army.

Zhao An was unfamiliar with the rules of the Ministry of Personnel regarding the sale of official positions, but his years of experience in combating fraud made him instinctively suspicious of this practice.

Fu Zhongtang is a big shot at the Nascent Soul level. How could such a big shot openly send people to solicit bribes from officials?
Without any concealment?
This is completely contrary to the general public's understanding of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Just like how the common people believe that the emperor's carrying pole must be made of gold, it seems unreasonable for such a high-ranking official to directly ask for money.

If Du Man hadn't come with the third-class guard Hakshan, Zhao An would definitely have taken him down as a "conman from the capital."

Twenty thousand taels isn't much; Zhao An from the Grand Secretary's side once gave them eighty thousand taels as tribute.

Therefore, if the matter is true, then Fu Zhongtang is definitely a genuine person.

But it's always better to be safe than sorry, and Zhao An didn't want to be fooled, so he used raising money as an excuse to go out and talk to Lao Ding about it, asking him how credible the matter was.

"Six points."

Old Ding doesn't rule out the possibility that this person is a fraud, because someone had previously impersonated the Fu brothers to swindle people.

"Five years ago, there was a rogue in the capital named Fu Tianbao. Because he was neighbors with Fukang'an's servant, he learned about Fukang'an's power, status, and hobbies from the servant's boasting. He felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of this, so he gathered dozens of idle rogues in the capital and went out of the capital to extort money from the prefectures and counties under the name of Fukang'an."

Zhao An laughed and said, "Most of these dozens of scoundrels are Manchus; they're very good at staging accidents."

"Who, apart from impoverished Manchu families, would dare to be so blatant?"

Old Ding laughed and continued, "To avoid being recognized by local officials who had seen Fukang'an, Fu Tianbao claimed all the way that Commander Fu was slightly unwell and unable to receive guests, so he refused to see anyone. The officials along the way didn't dare ask any questions, but instead vied to bribe him in an attempt to curry favor. Fu Tianbao and his party reaped considerable profits; the bribes recovered afterward amounted to over 30,000 taels of silver."

Zhao An asked curiously, "How was Fu Tianbao's group exposed?"

"These people had too big an appetite and didn't know when to stop. They even swaggered all the way from Jiangbei to Chenzhou in Hunan. As it turned out, the local prefect, Qing Antai, was someone recommended and promoted by Fukang'an. Upon seeing his benefactor, he immediately asked to see him."

However, Fu Tianbao and his entourage obstructed them in various ways under different pretexts. Qing Antai became suspicious and forced his way into the inner room, pulling back the curtains and quilts, only to discover that Fu Tianbao was disguised as Fukang'an lying on the bed.

According to Lao Ding, after Qing Antai captured Fu Tianbao and his gang, he reported the matter to the imperial court, and the old master issued an edict to promote Qing Antai to the position of Circuit Intendant of Hengyong Chengui.

The problem is how the magistrate of Yangzhou knew about something involving a high-ranking official. It was because Fukang'an took the initiative to petition the court to publish the matter in the newspaper so that local officials would no longer be deceived.

This can be considered a real-life anti-fraud and anti-scam announcement in official circles.

What happened to the group led by Fu Tianbao who committed fraud? Apart from Fu Tianbao being beheaded, the other Manchu rogues didn't seem to be dealt with much.

There was no other way; they were all Manchu bannermen, and we couldn't just kill them all.

If all these people are killed, what will happen to the officials who bribed the swindlers?

Those were dozens of state and county officials!

It wasn't easy for the imperial court to train them. Execute the ringleader, and send a warning to officials across the country so they won't be fooled again.

If someone dares to use Fukang'an's name to swindle and deceive, then we must be wary of someone using his younger brother Fuchang'an's name to commit fraud. But how can we tell if this Du Man is a fraudster?

Zhao An wanted to ask the third-class guard, Ha Ke San, who had come to deliver the imperial decree, but Lao Ding said that it was inconvenient for Zhao An to ask, and that he should ask instead.

This is what buffering means.

If Zhao An, the person involved, were to ask directly, and it turned out to be true, it would definitely make Du Man uncomfortable, making him feel that Zhao Liangdao looked down on him.

If someone unrelated asks, at most it's just a matter of seeking verification, leaving room for both sides to maneuver.

After all, there is nothing wrong with seeking verification.

Old Ding immediately went to the VIP room to verify with Ha Ke San. When he knocked on the door, Lord Ha had just taken off the thin riding trousers that had been delivered and was admiring his bound feet. Although he was somewhat displeased when he heard the knock, he still got dressed and came to open the door.

"Your humble servant, Ding Chengen, the magistrate of Ganquan County, pays his respects to Lord Ha!"

Old Ding bowed respectfully to the guard.

"Does Magistrate Ding have something to discuss with me?"

There's a skinny guy inside; Master Ha definitely won't let Old Ding in to talk.

After considering his words for a moment, Old Ding asked, "Is there a servant named Du Man among Lord Ha's attendants? I wonder what his relationship is with Minister Fu?"

Upon hearing this, Ha Ke San seemed to have anticipated something and chuckled lightly: "Was it Zhao Liangdao who sent you to come and ask me for confirmation?"

Old Ding smiled apologetically, neither admitting nor denying it.

"Du Man is indeed a man of Fu Zhongtang, so Zhao Liangdao can rest assured. If Magistrate Ding has nothing else to do, I'll take a rest. I've drunk quite a bit of wine today."

As he spoke, Lord Ha yawned, feeling itchy and unwilling to waste any more time.

"Lord Naha, please rest. I shall take my leave now!"

Old Ding didn't dare to delay and quickly went downstairs to tell his grandson-in-law the results of his investigation.

"So, Du Man is indeed Fu Chang'an's man. Then Lord Zhao can give up these 20,000 taels. We can't afford to offend Minister Fu for these 20,000 taels."

The speaker was Old Song, who thought that 20,000 taels of silver was definitely a good deal to get a position as a Daotai (a high-ranking official).

Old Ding meant something similar: spending 20,000 taels to get in touch with Fu Chang'an was definitely a good thing, since he was a big shot in the court, just like He Zhongtang.

The combined energy of the two brothers is enough to rival that of He Zhongtang and A Zhongtang.

With He Zhongtang and Fu Zhongtang in place, it will be much easier for him to move with Lao Song.

Zhao An nodded and went to Du Man again. Instead of giving him the money directly, he looked embarrassed and said that he was an honest official. He had been a seventh-rank official with a limited income. Although he was very grateful for Fu Zhongtang's promotion, it was still very difficult for him to come up with 20,000 taels at once.

Zhao An suggested that he could give three thousand taels first, and the rest after he took office; if not, he could give Fu Zhongtang an IOU.

Why is it so complicated?
The fact that Fu Chang'an could directly send someone to ask him for money shows that this Grand Secretary is extremely shameless and greedy. If he were to hand over 20,000 taels without hesitation, Fu Chang'an would think he's incredibly wealthy.

If Fu Chang'an were to target him now, Zhao An felt that he might end up being used as an ATM by Fu Chang'an.

He didn't want to have Fu Chang'an take all the money he earned.

He doesn't have the power to say no to a Nascent Soul cultivator right now.

Therefore, it is necessary to feign poverty and not flaunt wealth, lest one be targeted by such a virtuous Nascent Soul cultivator.

Honestly, he would rather deal with a high-ranking official who takes money and does things, and even refunds the money if he can't do the job, than work with a shameless person like "Ertai" for a long time.

In order to make Du Man fully understand the predicament of Zhao An, a poor official, he voluntarily offered a thousand taels of silver, hoping that the other party could put in a good word for him with Ertai.

At the same time, he took out a 3,000 tael silver note as the down payment. If Du Man agreed, he would write an IOU for 17,000 taels right now, guaranteeing that he would not disappoint Fu Zhongtang.

Du Man glanced at the two silver notes on the table, but only accepted the one with a thousand taels, not the three thousand taels.

Zhao An's heart tightened upon seeing this, unsure of what Du Man meant.

Unexpectedly, Du Man laughed and waved his hand, saying, "It's alright, Lord Zhao, you don't need to worry about the money. The Grand Secretary knows you can't come up with this amount of silver either, so he's already thought of it for you."
After Lord Zhao takes up his post as the grain commissioner in Jiangning, someone will come to the yamen to sign a loan agreement with him. Lord Zhao can repay it all at once or in installments, whenever he wants. However, he will have to pay some interest.

"."

Zhao An was dumbfounded: Was this guy going to lend me money at exorbitant interest rates?

Damn it, no wonder they say Fu Chang'an is the old man's illegitimate son. The two of them are truly cut from the same cloth.

However, these two men probably never dreamed that Zhao Youlu was a loan shark!
If you're willing to lend, I'm willing to borrow!
(End of this chapter)