Through a rough calculation, Ma Jixiang learned that the river yamen had bribed a total of 1.5 million yuan in public funds for river management, and perhaps even more.

He felt that as the eunuch in Xijing and the river supervisor in Shaanxi, he received one million yuan

Therefore, Ma Jixiang lowered his face and said coldly in an official voice: "It's okay if you don't give it to me, then our family can only do it for the sake of official business and report to the emperor to thoroughly investigate the breaking of the Wei River last year. By then, if Your Majesty knows the truth, another group of people may fall to the ground!"

Bi Yuntao's face twitched, and he had already imagined the angry expression of Emperor Tianwu. Then all the officials in the river yamen, including himself, were wearing white prison uniforms and big shackles, and were pressed on the guillotine and chopped their heads.

He trembled suddenly,

You know you will be scared!

Ma Jixiang's face was calm, but he had a clear mind.

He added another fire and said patiently: "Last year, our family was covering up the Wei River break. I haven't seen you grateful and filial to you for so many days, so I'm too ungrateful!"

Bi Yuntao cried and said, "Ma Gong, the official is willing to be filial, but you cannot break the rules of the officialdom!"

Corrupt officials also have rules for corrupt officials, and they are a set of mature unspoken rules. Before bribery, you have to say slander, such as "Qinguan One" that you have to give 120 taels of silver, because there is an allusion that says: "Hanguguan is 120 feet high."

"Mengjin's crossing" means that eight hundred taels of silver were given, which was taken from the meaning of the eight hundred princes crossing Mengjin to defeat Zhou.

In addition to slander, there are also fixed standards for the specific amount of bribery. There are hard-core standards for officials of all ranks, positions, things, and how much money should be collected. They all have hard-core standards. It is not enough to give less, nor is it enough to give more.

A method of openly demanding bribes like Ma Jixiang and relying on the powerful lion's way of speaking out has undermined the rules of bribery and accepting bribes and harmed the interests of a large number of people.

After hearing this, Ma Jixiang smiled and said, "Our family is not an ordinary official, I won't accept your kindness!"

His words are very straightforward. As the eunuch in Xijing, our family holds great power, and we want to give you officials a warning and set your own price!

After saying this, Bi Yuntao had no choice but to bargain with the old eunuch with tears in his eyes.

First, I cut in half, and saw that the old eunuch looked gloomy and was about to have an attack, but then I cut down one hundred thousand and one hundred thousand.

Hard work pays off. Finally, Eunuch Ma is willing to give in to 660,000 taels.

Nothing else, just for this number!

The door opened, and when Bi Yuntao came out of Ma Jixiang's room, his official uniform was already wet.

Even so, he did not dare to delay and immediately called the officials from the river yamen, and everyone tried to find a way to crowdfund them together.

After listening to Lord Bi’s story, several confidant officials jumped up to varying degrees, yelling that the old eunuch was too dark!

Some officials showed suspicious eyes. They suspected that Lord Bi was making a trap and charged extra money by bribing the eunuchs in the custody?

After all, for such a thing, the little officials cannot ask the old eunuch in person how much money it costs, and it will be unlucky if you ask.

It can be seen that Lord Bi is also an inauthentic master.

Bi Yuntao is more sensitive and deeply felt the suspicious gaze of his subordinates, because this is not the first time he encountered this situation. When he was sharing the money last year, his subordinates also had such suspicious gaze.

"Don't think too much. What Eunuch Ma wants is 660,000 silver dollars. This is what I have worked hard to get after I have worked hard to get it. At the beginning, what he wanted was one million silver dollars!"

The room was quiet, and several confidant officials were still looking at him with suspicion.

Lord Bi was anxious and sweared to the sky on the spot: "If I, Lao Bi, lie to you, I will ask my head to the ground and the whole family will search the house!"

As soon as he said this, an official immediately stepped forward and held his arm and said, "Mr. Bi, what are you doing? Why do you have to swear? We believe in you!"

"Yes, Lord Bi, why bother? We have been working together for so many years, can we still not believe you?"

"I believe that I believed in Lord Bi's character from the beginning."

A group of officials comforted each other, although they did not believe it, there was no look of suspicion on their faces.

Next, we will talk about the main business and discuss how to make up money. This is the most important thing.

At this time, the one who is most greedy in the river is definitely Bi Yuntao, the master of Hedao, and everyone is waiting for him to make his statement first.

However, Lord Bi is a complete wealth fan. Although his family's property has 500,000 silver dollars and he has saved 300,000 silver dollars in living money, he is unwilling to take out even 200,000 yuan. He just kept crying and said that he could pay up to 50,000 silver dollars.

As soon as he cried, the people below also cried. After some discussion, they only raised 200,000 silver dollars, which was less than one-third of the amount set by Eunuch Ma.

When Lord Bi saw that this was definitely not good. He couldn't squeeze out another 50,000 silver dollars by himself. Then the officials below reluctantly added some for each person, and they raised a total of 600,000 taels.

In the end, Lord Bi mobilized and said all the good things, but no one was willing to take out a piece of copper coins, and the crowdfunding was in a deadlock.

Bi Yuntao understood it with reason and moved it to persuade him with emotion: "My colleagues, there are only 60,000 taels left. Everyone works harder. After you get through the current hurdle, I will take you to greed next year and make up for today's losses, along with capital and profit!"

After saying the words of encouragement, Lord Bi also adopted a strategy to imply that if anyone performs well today and is strong, the dividend ratio will be increased next year!

The opportunity for promotion and salary increase is right in front of you. Officials are still good at weighing the pros and cons. Someone immediately stood up and expressed his willingness to "donate" another 20,000 taels!

Lord Bi highly praised his behavior and asked, "Who else is willing to fund it?"

"Sir Bi, the official is willing, just"

One of the officials said that they like to collect and have invested in antiques for their daily ink money. There are many antiques, calligraphy, paintings, etc. at home. Can you choose a few to use them to mortgage them?

"Yes, of course!"

Bi Yuntao said it was completely feasible. He knew very well that Xiang Eunuch Ma who had seen big scenes should prefer high-end toys like antique calligraphy and paintings than Qiancai!

The next day, two long brocade boxes were placed on Ma Jixiang's desk in the room.

One of them is a Long Yuan bill stacked like a book, and the other is a thick painting.

Ma Jixiang opened the brocade box containing calligraphy and paintings and found that the painting was several meters long, with the signature saying Huang Gongwang and "Fuchun Mountain Residence Picture".

He sighed slightly, "This painting is so long, no wonder it is so thick!"

A young eunuch holding a painting said, "Godfather, how many silver dollars can this smelly and long thing be worth!"

"You know nothing!"

Ma Jixiang laughed and scolded, touched the "Fuchun Mountain Residence Picture" and said, "This is a good thing, it is obvious that it is made by famous masters!"

Ma Jixiang has not studied calligraphy and painting much, but he can also see that this painting is quite good, at least with hundreds of years of history, and there are also several seals stamped by famous artists on it.

Zhu Cilang was not like Qianlong. He did not stamp this painting when he got it, so he gave it to Empress Xu at that time.

After the wedding, Empress Xu collected the painting in the royal treasure house in the palace as a souvenir.

Looking at this long scroll, Ma Jixiang felt more and more good as he looked at it. He decided to keep it and devote it to Emperor Tianwu who likes calligraphy and painting when he returned to Beijing to report his work, so as to win the favor of the holy favor.

If the emperor dislikes him, he will give it to Wu Zhong, the chief supervisor.

In this way, Eunuch Ma, who had collected the money, finally returned home with satisfaction, and the huge guard of ceremonies slowly walked out of the river yamen.

The officials of the river yamen once again crossed the way to bid farewell, or followed the process of greeting, but the firecrackers were delayed.
Chapter completed!