sjar Chapter 151 If you want to be a good person, you need capital
Chapter 151 If you want to be a good person, you need capital
Luo Mian did not answer. He slowly walked to Cao Mingzhe and took out a token engraved with "King of Ruyang".
After Cao Mingzhe saw the words on the token clearly, he quickly stood up and knelt down.
"Greetings...Greetings to King Ruyang!"
The living king of hell, King Ruyang, Cao Mingzhe was no stranger to King Ruyang Luomian. He was terrified and didn't know what this "plague god" was doing here.
Luo Mian looked around and one word to describe it was "broken", two words to describe it was "very shabby", and three words to describe it was "Ode to the Humble House".
"Get up."
How could Cao Mingzhe dare to stand up?
"Prince Ruyang... why did you come here suddenly? I... I am guilty of not being able to greet you in person. Please punish me, Prince Ruyang!"
Luo Mian sat on a wobbly chair, looking at Cao Mingzhe who was kneeling on the ground.
"Get up. I don't want to say it for the third time."
Cao Mingzhe slowly stood up and walked in front of Luo Mian with his old waist bent.
"Why did Prince Ruyang come here this time?"
Luo Mian smiled.
"Town massacre."
Cao Mingzhe knelt down again with a plop.
"This...this...My Lord, why..."
"I... there are tens of thousands of people here... Your Majesty..."
"I... As the county magistrate, I am willing to die for them!"
"The people are innocent..."
Luo Mian didn't say anything.
Cao Mingzhe knelt on the ground without looking up.
The two of them just confronted each other.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"Dad, Magistrate Ma sent a letter to you. Can I come in?"
Cao Mingzhe hurriedly said, "Just leave the official at the door. Dad is handling official business!"
Cao Guan paused, but chose to speak: "Dad, a few days ago I was beaten up by Magistrate Ma's people on the street again..."
Cao Guan is the only son of Cao Mingzhe. He is about the same age as Shen Runing. Cao Mingzhe's wife died early and he never remarried. For so many years, the father and son have depended on each other.
"Guan'er, I still have some silver in my drawer. You, you can take it to the doctor..."
"Dad, that money is for our food expenses next month. I don't have any major problems, it's just..."
"Why don't you just resign? We two will live better anywhere!"
"shut up!"
Cao Mingzhe was a little excited.
"You, you should go back! I have something else to do! Go back quickly!"
Officer Cao only felt that Cao Mingzhe in the room was a little strange, but he didn't think much about it. He just leaned over and put the envelope at the door, then left.
Luo Mian asked.
"Why don't you resign?"
Cao Mingzhe trembled and said cautiously: "Who doesn't like to be an official..."
"How can one voluntarily resign from office?"
Luo Mian thought Cao Mingzhe would say righteously, "For the people."
"Oh, I see. Go and get the letter for me to see."
Cao Mingzhe suddenly raised his head, and stared straight at Luo Mian with his cloudy eyes.
"What? I can't watch?"
"Yes...I can read it..." Cao Mingzhe got up, opened the door, and took the letter in.
Magistrate Ma has written many "threatening letters" to Cao Mingzhe.
This was not the only time that Cao Guan had been beaten by Magistrate Ma's men.
Luo Mian took the letter.
Well, interesting.
"Abandoning the fields and planting mulberry trees is the will of the emperor. It is decided by the court. If you disobey it, you may suffer great disaster. Your Excellency has children. The previous incident has served as a warning. If you obey in the future, you will be safe and worry-free. If you insist on reporting it, you may be in great trouble.
Adults should cherish themselves and their families, and not burden their families with temporary matters.
Follow the will of heaven, protect yourself first, and don’t make mistakes. "
After reading, Luo Mian looked at Cao Mingzhe.
"He is threatening you, will you still report it?"
Cao Mingzhe's face was all smiles.
"If Prince Ruyang says to submit a memorial, then submit it. If Prince Ruyang doesn't allow me to submit a memorial, then I won't submit it. I will obey you."
Damn it, Cao Mingzhe thought Luo Mian was an accomplice of Magistrate Ma, and thought that Luo Mian came this time to threaten him with the lives of everyone in the town.
Luo Mian smiled and tore the letter into pieces.
"Whether to submit a memorial or not, what does it have to do with me?"
Cao Mingzhe nodded and bowed.
"Thank you, Prince Ruyang, for making this trip. I, I will never play again..."
"I won't play it anymore..."
"thump!"
"Pah!"
A man fell from the roof of Cao Mingzhe's simple house.
"Ouch..."
"It hurts..."
Cao Mingzhe knelt down again.
"Your Majesty, please let the people go! They were forced to do this!"
Yunshui stood up and said, "Why is your roof so fragile? You are a county magistrate after all! Can't you fix the roof?"
"Yes, yes! I'll fix it in a minute!"
Luo Mian looked at Yunshui: "What did Cang Ai say?"
Yunshui rubbed his butt and handed a letter to Luomian, who opened it.
The proposal of 'abandoning farmland and planting mulberry trees' was put forward by the wise Fang Zhen five years ago. Every year, Tianyan State exports a large number of sericulture products. In order for silkworms to produce silk, they must be fed with mulberry leaves like crazy, so someone must plant mulberry leaves.
In theory, if this industrial chain can form a closed loop, it would be a very good proposal.
However, this Daoyuan Fang, while proposing to "abandon farmland to plant mulberry trees", bought a lot of land to plant mulberry leaves himself, and families raising silkworms could only buy mulberry leaves from him.
If it were just this, it would be fine. At worst, the people would just stop growing mulberry leaves.
But he wants this, this, and this.
He also did not allow the people to grow their own food, because he bought food from neighboring provinces at low prices and sold it to farmers who grew mulberry leaves at high prices, so he could make money twice.
What a genius.
The fat bodies are greedy to get enough food, while the hungry bones are everywhere in the countryside. The rich are still singing and dancing, but the suffering of the people is ignored.
He is as cunning as an ant, his heart is as hard as a stone, he is full of gold and jade, but he never sees the people.
Luo Mian tore the paper into pieces again.
"Yunshui, tell His Majesty that the rumor is false, and immediately issue an order to cancel the 'abandoning fields to plant mulberry trees' farming system here."
"Yes."
Yunshui was still rubbing his butt, and it looked like he had fallen pretty hard.
Cao Mingzhe couldn't believe his ears.
"Prince Ruyang? What? How..."
"You're not here..."
He didn't know what to say. In the eyes of King Ruyang, the thing he had worked hard for for so many years could be solved with just one sentence.
Cao Mingzhe was happy because there was finally hope that this broken system would be abolished.
Cao Mingzhe was sad because the thing he had worked hard for several years was just a matter of one sentence from someone of the status of King Ruyang.
Some people are born in Rome, and some people are born as cows and horses.
Luo Mian smiled and said, "I came here to massacre the town, but now I don't want to massacre anyone."
Cao Mingzhe really couldn't guess what this old man was thinking.
Is he doing this for himself or for the people?
He has been cheated time and again in all these years in the officialdom. This time, he is facing a living devil. How can he trust him?
Luo Mian looked at Cao Mingzhe and spoke again.
"You are a good official, but you don't have the means to strike with thunder."
"I……"
"If you want to be a good official, you should first learn to be a bad person, the worst possible person, and then you will be qualified to be a good official, do you understand?"
Cao Mingzhe widened his eyes.
This was the first time he had heard such an argument.
To be a good person, isn't it enough to just be good all the time?
Is not it?
"boom!"
The old wooden door was completely unusable, so Officer Cao kicked the door open with a stick.
Because the more he thought about it after he left, the more something seemed wrong, and his sixth sense told him that his father was in danger.