Pengze is a small county town with a population of only over 20,000, where the water network is dense, swamps and lakes are dotted, the temperature is moderate, and the land is fertile, which is very suitable for the growth of crops. Therefore, the products are rich, the resources are diverse, and people's lives are relatively stable. Tao Yuanming came to work in Pengze and was satisfied at first, because it was not far from home. As long as he takes a boat from Pengze, it takes only two days to reach the inland river ferry near Shangjingli. According to an unwritten rule at that time, each county magistrate can have the right to control the income and expenditure of 300 mu of public land, and the income also belongs to the county magistrate, which is enough to maintain the life of a family. At the same time, with his talent, he is full of ambition and confidence in managing a small pengze county. When he dreams of coming to pengze county, he must be compassionate, love the people and do his best to make them live and work in peace and contentment. ?

In pengze county at that time, since the implementation of the oral tax system in the first year of Xiaowu, there have been two phenomena that each adult male receives 50 meters rent. First, the burden on ordinary farmers has greatly increased, and farmers are unwilling to own more land. No one wants to reclaim some barren hills and swamps, and even some farmers have given up some barren land. Second, the hidden population situation is serious, and there is a strange phenomenon that the borrowed population is far less than the actual population, which leads to the reduction of government tax revenue and the transfer of government burden to ordinary farmers. Faced with this situation, the first thing Tao Yuanming has to do after taking office is to check the household registration. ?

The census of household registration has not been conducted in pengze county for more than ten years, because some local officials didn't go deep into the people's feelings and didn't know much about the inside story, so they turned a blind eye and let it go. Some saw the problem and caught it, but they gave up halfway because of various interferences. There are two main types of people in Subversive. One is a big landlord with deep pockets. Because he has money, he bribed the section chief of the inventory to help them hide the population; Second, local local tyrants and evil gentry, or importune with law enforcement personnel, make it impossible for them to inspect, or use someone in their family to be an official in Zhou Ya, forcibly oppress others, so that inspectors dare not work normally and can only register symbolically. For example, the Hetai in the north of the city has hundreds of hectares of fertile land and hundreds of adult slaves at home. Because He Long, the younger brother of He Tai, served as the magistrate of Xunyang County for a long time and was the deputy of the prefect, all the magistrates gave special treatment to He Jia, and only 20 men were registered, which was far from the actual figure. So other big landlords followed suit, and the census work could only be abandoned halfway. But in this census, Tao Yuanming is "catch the thief first, catch the king first", and he dares to bite the bullet. He set out from his home at once. He suddenly visited He Tai and took the leader into the river house. On the spot, he instructed Mrs. He's housekeeper to take out the roster and check it one by one. He found out that He Tai's family had hidden more than 200 adult men, which shocked the county in one fell swoop. After only half a month, he found out 3000 adult men hidden by the rich man and the gentry. After the success of the first battle, he announced that from the following year, the tax rice paid by each adult male would be reduced from five stones to three stones. The people of the county cheered in unison, praising the new county magistrate's wisdom and virtue of loving the people like children. ?

Tao Yuanming offended Cheng and Long of Xunyang County because of this census. In order to ward off evil spirits, He Long designed and used the hand of Du You and Liu Yun to punish Tao Yuanming. Du You is a county official, who is responsible for the specific monitoring and assessment of county officials' achievements, and has a direct impact on the promotion, dismissal and appointment of county officials. Liu Yun, a native of Xunyang County, Adu, is famous for his fierce greed for money. Every winter and summer, he visited all the counties, called the administrative department, and every time he went to the administrative department, he came back with a full load. He Long ordered Liu Yun to come to Penze as planned. He didn't write a notice in advance. In order to give Tao Yuanming a surprise, he suddenly broke into the county government. Just then, Tao Yuanming was drinking and chatting with several aides. When he heard that He Yun had arrived, he immediately retired to meet him. Unexpectedly, Liu Yun was angry, not only did he not reciprocate, but also scolded: "When this official department came to your county, you were disheveled and lazy. What is the reason? At present, the country is in an eventful autumn. You don't think about the country's kindness, and make great efforts to benefit the people. Instead, you gather people to drink in broad daylight and ignore political affairs. What's the use of the court letting you wait for corrupt officials? " Say and roared off, gave Tao Yuanming a duel. After Liu Yun left, Yuan Ming asked the crowd, "Du You is angry today. Don't know why? " An adjutant replied: "Du You has always been insatiable. Judging from his humble position, he just used the topic to ask for bribes. " Yuan Ming said angrily: "How can I stoop to the villains in the countryside for five dou meters! Asking for a bribe, he found the wrong person. " ?

On this night, Wuchang people came to mourn. Tao Yuanming's sister died of a sudden illness, and a sense of sadness suddenly rose in Tao Yuanming's heart. He recalled what happened during the day and the current situation of intrigue in officialdom, and then thought that his desire to retire from the countryside for many years had never really come true. I can't help but make him finally make up his mind to quit officialdom and retire to the countryside. So life Xing Tao found a boat outside the city, packed his luggage, stepped into the county gate alone, looked at the "mirror hanging high" gold plaque, laughed a few times, and printed it out.

Tao Yuanming resigned from Peng and retired, leading a quiet life of self-cultivation and drinking and writing poems.

Legend has it that one day, a teenager came to him for advice and said, "Mr. Tao, I admire your profound knowledge." I really want to know your wonderful method of reading when you were a teenager. Please advise, the younger generation is grateful. "

Tao Yuanming laughed and said, "How can there be a wonderful learning method? There is only a stupid way, relying on hard work, hard work, progress, and dropping out! "

Seeing that the boy didn't understand what he meant, Tao Yuanming took his hand and walked to the rice field where he was sowing. He pointed to a seedling and said, "You stay here, take a closer look and tell me if it has grown taller?" After watching it for a long time, the young man still didn't see Xiaomiao grow up, so he stood up and said to Tao Yuanming, "I'm not good at it!" "

Tao Yuanming asked, "Are you sure you can't? So, how did the dwarf seedlings become so tall? "

Seeing that the teenager bowed his head and said nothing, Tao Yuanming further led him to say, "In fact, it has been growing, but we can't see it with the naked eye. The same is true of reading and studying. Knowledge is accumulated bit by bit, and sometimes it is not easy for him to notice, but as long as he keeps learning, many a mickle makes a mickle. "

Then, Tao Yuanming pointed to a grindstone by the stream and asked the boy, "Why is that grindstone so concave as a saddle?" "I see," the boy replied casually.

"When was that ground into this?" The boy shook his head.

Tao Yuanming said: "This is what we do every day, sharpening knives and sickles, accumulating over time, year after year, and so is our study. If we don't keep studying, we will owe something every day. "

The teenager suddenly realized that he quickly sent a big gift to Tao Yuanming and said, "Thank you for your advice. Students will never ask for any wonderful methods again. Please leave me a few words, which I will always remember. "

Tao Yuanming happily wrote: "Diligence is like a seedling in spring. If it is not increased, it will grow stronger day by day;" Dropping out of school is like a whetstone. Can't see the harm, losing money every day.