GBP Chapter 829 Does Yang Dianfeng have some serious illness?
Chapter 829 Does Yang Dianfeng have some serious illness?
When the kettle started to hiss, the old man took out an iron box, put a pinch of tea leaves into the teapot, and then poured hot water into it. A refreshing aroma of tea immediately filled the air.
Li Shanchang was stunned again.
This is Penglai green tea, which only became popular last year!
Penglai green tea is known for its high aroma, rich flavor, thick leaves, and ability to withstand multiple infusions. The tea soup is bright, slightly astringent at first, and has a sweet aftertaste. The spring tea harvested around Grain Rain is considered the finest among Penglai green teas. Due to its extremely limited production, the first batch of Penglai green tea was sent to the palace as tribute, the second batch was given away by Yang Dianfeng as a favor, and only the third batch would enter the market.
Besides the rarity of spring tea, even slightly inferior autumn tea can be considered a rare delicacy.
Spring tea has a pure and refreshing taste, with a rich chestnut aroma and pea flavor. Autumn tea, on the other hand, has a strong aroma with a unique fragrance that is very similar to orchid. It is said that its price in the market has always remained high.
The old man in front of me didn't bring out top-quality spring tea, nor the autumn tea that was in high demand, but rather relatively inexpensive summer tea.
But that's summer tea from Penglai!
According to Yang Dianfeng, the growing environment for Penglai green tea is extremely demanding. Temperatures that are too high or too low are unacceptable. Soil that is too barren or too fertile is also unacceptable. The planting location must be at a suitable height or a suitable height. In short, it is extremely picky, resulting in shockingly low yields. Even the summer tea, which has the highest yield, the worst taste, and the cheapest price, can fetch a high price of half a tael of silver per pound at the market.
The old man in front of me just picked up an iron box, which must have contained at least half a pound of tea leaves!
Even if the price is cheaper in Dengzhou Prefecture than at the border market, it should still be at least several tens of coins per catty, right?
Therefore, even in the impoverished Dengzhou Prefecture, an ordinary farmer's family could afford to live in a brick house and drink Penglai green tea that cost tens of coins per kilogram.
As Li Shanchang pondered, he looked at the old man and asked, "Brother, your family seems to be quite well-off. You can even afford this Penglai green tea?"
The old man glanced at Li Shanchang, then at the tea leaves in the teapot, and pursed his lips, saying, "Sir, you've mistaken me. This is Laiyang green tea, which costs only three or five copper coins a pound. If you're talking about truly good tea, you have to go for Xiaolongtuan from the south. I've heard that it costs several dozen taels of gold to exchange for a pound of it."
Li Shanchang was stunned again.
I just want to ask, is this even human language?
As the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, how could I not know whether what I am drinking is Penglai green tea or the fictitious Laiyang green tea?
Laiyang doesn't produce tea at all!
Even if tea is produced, Yang Dianfeng would never allow tea from Laiyang to sell for three to five coins per pound!
Also, is it normal for an old man from the countryside to casually spend tens of taels of gold on a small dragon ball?
This is not normal!
Many people in Jiangnan don't even know what Xiaolongtuan is!
While inwardly cursing, Li Shanchang looked at the old man and asked, "May I ask your honorable name, and how many people are in your family?"
The old man pursed his lips again.
And you still say you're not an imperial censor?
You guys aren't annoyed by these questions, but this old man is!
The old man gave a soft hum and said, "My surname is Gao, and my name is Gao Thirty-Seven. My wife passed away a little early, leaving me with only a son and a daughter."
“My daughter got married early and moved away with her husband’s family back in the Zhizheng era. We don’t know if she’s alive or dead now.”
"The remaining son lives with his father, farming the land. He got married years ago and had a child who is now studying at the community school."
At this point, the old man simply said, "Please wait a moment, sir," and went back to the east room to take out the household registration book. When he returned, he handed it to Li Shanchang and said, "Sir, take a look for yourself. My family consists of just a few people, a small courtyard, and a little land at the south end of the village."
Li Shanchang glanced at it casually, then looked at Gao Thirty-Seven and asked, "Brother, how have you been these past two years?"
Gao Sanshiqi became increasingly certain of his guess that the old man in front of him was an imperial censor, so he hummed in agreement and replied, "It's alright. Apart from being dirt poor, everything else is fine. At least we've been able to eat our fill and stay warm for the past two years."
They're broke again!
Have you learned nothing else besides these four words?
Li Shanchang felt that things couldn't continue like this, so he simply smiled and said, "Brother, I am indeed not an official of the Ministry of Works, nor am I a censor of the Censorate, but rather a secretary of the Ministry of Personnel."
"The purpose of this trip to Laiyang is to see if our county magistrate is a good official. If he is, we will give him an excellent rating in this year's assessment and promote him next year. If he is not, we will give him a poor rating or simply strip him of his official robes."
Li Shanchang pointed to a group of vice ministers and junior ministers and said, "Among these people, there are those from the Ministry of Works who are in charge of checking whether the roads are well-maintained, and those from the Ministry of Revenue who are in charge of checking whether the people's families are rich or poor. Because our Ming emperor said that good officials should be rated as excellent and promoted, while bad officials should be rated as poor. Stripping them of their official robes is considered lenient; even beheading a corrupt official is not too much."
Gao Thirty-Seven paused slightly, then tapped his cane and said to Li Shanchang, "You say you're from the Ministry of Personnel, so you're from the Ministry of Personnel? Do you have the official seal?"
With a dark expression, Zeng Wenyu, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, took out the official seal and handed it to Gao Thirty-Seven: "This is the seal of our Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel."
Who would understand? He went out for a perfectly good time, and as a result, his official position and even his name were all stolen by that old scoundrel Li Shanchang!
It’s his mother’s fault!
Gao Sanshiqi opened the official seal and glanced at it, only to find that he recognized only the characters "吏" (official), "文" (literary), and "大明" (Great Ming) throughout the entire document; he didn't recognize the rest.
"This, Ming Dynasty official, what, what, what, document, what, what..."
Gao Sanshiqi muttered under his breath, "It's similar to the county magistrate's, so it should be real."
Looking at Gao Sanshiqi's appearance, Li Shanchang almost laughed himself to death, but as he laughed, he suddenly couldn't laugh anymore.
Is this normal?
This is not normal!
Just from the name Gao Sanshiqi, you can tell that the person in front of you is an old man who has never been to school and has never read a book.
Yet this old man actually recognized the characters "大明" (Da Ming), "吏" (Li), and "文" (Wen), and had even seen the seals and stamps of officials.
Does Yang have some serious illness?
Just as Li Shanchang was mentally ranting, Gao Thirty-Seven returned the tally and said to Li Shanchang, "Please come with me, sir."
Li Shanchang followed Gao Sanshiqi to the room on the east side.
The room wasn't very big. In the southeast corner was a bed placed facing north and south, with the foot of the bed on the north side. Next to the foot of the bed was a cabinet, and four large vats were neatly arranged on the west side of the cabinet.
Gao Thirty-Seven lifted the lid of a large vat and said, “These four vats, sir, come and see for yourself. These four vats are all filled with wheat, each vat containing about two hundred catties. There are three more vats of the same size in the west room, one vat of sorghum, one vat of beans, and one vat of millet.”
Li Shanchang was stunned again.
So, an old man, along with his son, daughter-in-law, and at most his grandson, a family of four, had 800 jin of wheat, more than 200 jin of sorghum, more than 200 jin of soybeans, and more than 200 jin of millet in his reserves.
More than 1,400 catties of grain, is this what Yang the madman called "not enough grain for three months"?
Li Shanchang cursed the unspeakable prince consort in his heart, but Gao Thirty-Seven went back to the bedside, pulled out a small wooden box from under the bed, opened it and grabbed a handful of Hongwu Tongbao coins. "There are several hundred copper coins in here, and the rest are called 'treasure notes,' all accumulated over the years. You can count them, sir."
"Oh, right, we also have a cow, a pig, a few chickens and ducks, and a dog. The pig and chickens are in the pigpen, the ducks have gone out to the river, and I don't know where the dog went. It comes back with the ducks around dusk."
Gao Sanshiqi rambled on and on, saying, "Our Magistrate Pang of Laiyang is indeed a good official."
“In previous years, he first led the people of Laiyang to dig reservoirs and ditches, and later he led the people of Laiyang to plant pear trees. He wore out two or three pairs of boots in the process.”
“Such a good official deserves to be promoted and made rich.”
Li Shanchang suddenly froze.
Is this old man in front of me stupid?
Not stupid.
In fact, he knew that if Magistrate Pang were to be promoted, the new magistrate might not be as good as the one he had described.
However, he still wanted Magistrate Pang to be promoted and make a fortune.
He even brought out his stored grain and money for people to inspect, and used the cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, and dogs he raised at home as bargaining chips, trying to prove just how good an official their county magistrate was.
If the old man in front of us isn't stupid, then what about the people of Suzhou Prefecture?
They kept praising Wei Guan as a good official, and even wrote a letter requesting that he stay in office.
Is it that the people of Suzhou Prefecture are too selfish, or is there another hidden story?
Thinking back to the scene of Emperor Zhu scolding people with a dark face not long ago, Li Shanchang couldn't help but laugh again.
Taking the lead was the right thing to do.
Some people really shouldn't be spoiled too much.
While pondering, Li Shanchang smiled and said to Gao Thirty-Seven, "Magistrate Pang is indeed a good official. He will definitely be rated as excellent in next year's assessment."
Gao Thirty-Seven grinned, but Li Shanchang suddenly changed the subject and said, "But there is another difficult matter. The prefect of your Dengzhou Prefecture, our Ming Dynasty's imperial son-in-law, is unwilling to allow the Ministry of Personnel to transfer officials from Dengzhou."
As Li Shanchang finished speaking, Gao Thirty-Seven's smile vanished instantly, and the expectation in his eyes when he looked at Li Shanchang was gone, replaced by a scrutinizing look.
Gao Thirty-Seven said in a deep voice, "Then it must be that your Ministry of Personnel has offended our Prefect!"