Zhou Xian and Gao Hongtu talked about Laizhou for a long time, and he only heard about some things, but did not know the details. After hearing what Wang Duheng and Gao Congfeng and Han Nian did, he was furious and cursed for a long time before stopping.

After a while, Gao Hongtu breathed a sigh of relief and slowly returned to calm. He turned to Zhou Xian and said, "Master Zhou, if you only listen to your one-sided words, what you did is indeed nothing wrong. But there are some things that cannot be just looking at the surface. If you want me to be the dean, you have to do something that I can really see."

Zhou Xian looked at Gao Hongtu in confusion and said, "Sir, what kind of thing do you think you are, for example!"

Gao Hongtu smiled and said, "Master Zhou, have you been applying for the mine to the official position? In Jiaozhou, there is a coal mine and a salt field. The scale of the coal mine is the largest in Shandong, and the annual profit of the salt field is also quite large. If you can acquire all these two places as officials, I voluntarily serve as the dean."

Zhou Xian smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, you really have a problem for me! Although the size of Jiaozhou salt farm is not as big as that of Yangzhou, it is not small in scale. Now the person who controls it is an adopted son of the eunuch Du Xun, and the other eunuchs seem to have made profits from it and are involved a lot. And the coal mine is now under the control of a nephew of Gao Qiqian. No matter which of them is a relationship of heaven, I am a small prefect, and if I am not careful, it may be crushed to pieces!"

Gao Hongtu smiled and said, "If you don't do this, how can you see clearly your character as a magistrate Zhou!"

Zhou Xian lowered his head and pondered for a while, looked at Gao Hongtu and said, "Sir, I will build a school house for you in Laizhou City first. In two months, I will invite you to go."

Gao Hongtu looked through the stack of accounts left by Zhou Xian, and became more and more frightened as he looked at it. He ignored Yeheishan Gao and returned home with the help of his servant. He called his second brother Gao Hongye, who had already fallen asleep, to the Gao Family Ancestral Hall. Then he threw the accounts on his face and shouted out loud: "You can see it yourself, are you all doing these?"

Gao Hongye was Gao Hongtu's second brother, and he took care of everything in the Gao family. After he had dinner, he felt a little tired and went to bed early. Unexpectedly, Gao Hongtu suddenly came down from his residence in Laoshan and called him to the Gao family ancestral hall angrily. Gao Hongye fell to the ground with a dizzy head. He picked up the account book and looked at it, and was stunned. "Brother, where did you get these things?"

Gao Hongtu raised his beard and said angrily: "In other words, these things are true. First, encourage the people to sign an agreement and divide the fields on our Gao family to avoid the tax collection of the court. Then, collude with the officials and take out these agreements to snatch these fields according to law. You are really my good second brother and you really know how to manage the family. I was curious about why my Gao family's family business has become bigger and bigger over the years. It turns out that you are the one who manages the family!"

The Ming Dynasty treated scholars and officials extremely well from the beginning. If they were scholars, they could be exempted from labor service. If they were scholars, they could be exempted from taxes. If they were scholars, they could be exempted from taxes. If they were Jinshi, they would be treated even higher. This was the court's favor for them, but such policies in the late Ming Dynasty were completely distorted. Many common people attached their fields to scholars, officials, and vassal kings to avoid the tax collection of the court.

But there are risks in doing so. For example, ordinary people attach their fields to them, and they will have corresponding purchase and sale agreements. Once there is a lawsuit between the two in the future, the government will support those powerful people in any aspect, because these agreements are real. In the late Ming Dynasty, many people took advantage of the common people's greed for small gains to induce them to attach their fields to the government and vassal kings. In the end, these fields were taken away for nothing, resulting in more and more common people without land.

Gao Hongye looked bitter and said, "Brother, I have indeed done some such things, but not so many! Most of them are servants of the Gao family or remote relatives who rely on the reputation of my Gao family to do these things. In fact, it is also my fault. I am not strict with them, which leads to frequent such things happening. Brother, please spare me! I promise to strictly demand them in the future and not let such things happen again."

Gao Hongtu sighed, sat down on the chair dejectedly, and said to Gao Hongye: "Hongye, you can sit too!"

Gao Hongye secretly looked at Gao Hongtu and didn't dare to get up.

"Do you still want me to beg you?" Gao Hongtu shouted in a deep voice.

Gao Hongye stood up quickly and sat next to Gao Hongtu, still full of curiosity. Gao Hongtu has always been lazy and did not care about these mundane things before. Everything recorded in these things is very detailed, and even if the government checks it, it will never be difficult to find out for a while. He has been staying in Taigu Hall in Laoshan to write poetry and practice calligraphy. How did he know this?

Perhaps seeing Gao Hongye’s doubts, Gao Hongtu was silent for a while and said, “Today, Laizhou Prefect Zhou Xian came to visit me. This was left for me before he left.”

"Who...that villain slaughtered?" Gao Hongye said in surprise.

Seeing Gao Hongtu nodded, Gao Hongye looked pale and said anxiously: "Brother, this villain Tu Ke killed a red-hot spot in Changyi, and dozens of squire including Wang County Magistrate fell to the ground. He... Could he have taken a fancy to my Gao family's business and wanted to deal with my Gao family with these things?"

Gao Hongtu glanced at Gao Hongye, shook his head helplessly, and asked back: "If he wanted to deal with our Gao family, why would he give me these things?"

Seeing that Gao Hongye was still full of doubts, Gao Hongtu said: "Although I am idle at home, I have some influence in both the court and Laizhou. Zhou Xian just came to Laizhou. Although he showed strong performance and seized most of the military power in Laizhou. However, without the support of local squire, he will face endless pressure in the future. He left these things for me to show goodwill and to rely on my reputation in Laizhou to win the support of some squires for him."

Gao Hongye asked, "Brother, then what should we do?"

Gao Hongtu was silent for a while and said, "Repay for your kindness. Since he has done this, please help him do something! You go and verify these things one by one. If it is true, return them all to the people and give some subsidies. In addition, we convene the gentry in Jiaozhou, saying that I want to see them."

"Brother, what are you going to do?"
Chapter completed!