The heavy rain was still falling outside the branch office.
Rainwater trickles from under the eaves and flows into the ditch in the patio. Many craftsmen are checking the ceilings of each house. If water leaks from the roof, the account books storing the writing will be affected.
Now the roof of the important account book warehouse has been covered with a layer of felt.
"This rain is too heavy." Han Jiang sighed.
Then he looked back at the abacus on the case.
After listening to Zhang Yue's words, Han Jiang felt that the abacus could be promoted in the Third Division, so she asked Zhang Yue: "Besides abacus, what else can be promoted in the Third Division?"
Zhang Yue hesitated slightly.
Han Jiang said: "You used to know everything in front of me and talk about everything, but now that I am your superior, you are very happy."
Zhang Yue thought for a moment and said, "I'm reporting to the provincial governor. I thought it would be too troublesome to keep accounts for the Third Division in writing. We can simplify the complicated things."
Han Jiang said: "How to put it?"
Zhang Yue immediately picked up a pen and wrote the ten words "one, two, three..." on the paper.
Then under these ten numbers, symbols such as '〡, '〢, '...' are written respectively.
Han Jiang and Wu Chong looked at it and asked in confusion: "What is this?"
Zhang Yue said: "All the numbers in the world can be made up of five counting chips. I call this word suanchi, which is derived from suanchi."
"Provincial Lord, you see, '〡' is one calculation stick, '〣' is three calculation sticks, '〤' can be made into 'four', and 'six' is '〦', and one calculation stick is Horizontally, one chip is counted as vertical, which is six, and so on."
"Then what's the use?"
Zhang Yue said: "It can be simplified. For example, 4022 means four thousand and twenty-two. You need to write six characters from top to bottom. If you use the Chinese character Suanchi, you can write '〤〇〢二', which only occupies one space, like this The characters can be changed from vertical to horizontal.”
What Zhang Yue recommended to Han Jiang was 'Suzhou Code'.
In fact, Arabic numerals were introduced to China very early, but they were not used in business. Why is this? Because traditional Chinese account books are vertical account books, written from top to bottom, it is very unintuitive to use Arabic numerals to make accounts.
Suzhou code evolved from arithmetic and is commonly used for accounting. Moreover, this account book is generally incomprehensible to non-professionals.
After listening to Zhang Yue's detailed explanation, Han Jiang was still a little confused, but he said to Wu Chong: "It seems that it can be implemented."
Wu Chong said: "Provincial Lord, my son-in-law is just a whim. Not to mention abacus, just use this calculation to change the word. It will cause a lot of inconvenience to the officials in the department."
Han Jiang said: "There is no fixed method, as long as it is beneficial, you can try it. This abacus like Duzhi is ten times better than a calculated plan, but why don't you fully implement it in Jiaoyin Prison? You have to come from the new people. try."
Zhang Yue thought to himself that Han Jiang had taken a step further than himself.
But Han Jiang does have great ideas.
He also had great political achievements in Sichuan and Sichuan. In Sichuan and Shu, starting from Zhang Yong, the court gave coupons to the poor, allowing them to use the coupons to buy rice in the spring and buy salt in the autumn. However, over time, the coupons went into the hands of the rich.
The first thing Han Jiang did when he learned about Shu was to scrap the old coupons and issue new ones so as not to enrich the people.
Zhang Yue stood up and said, "This official is short-sighted."
Han Jiang motioned Zhang Yue to sit down, and then said to Wu Chong: "Your son-in-law is a useful talent. I remembered that when I was sent to Hebei, I met a father and son on the road who wanted to serve as yamen servants. The father said to the son, if I die, our family will It's not a double household, and it saves you the suffering of snow, cold and hunger in front of the Yamen. After saying that his father threw himself into the river, his son was crying beside him. This is what I saw with my own eyes on the roadside."
"When I was in the south of the Yangtze River, I saw that some people in the south of the Yangtze River married off their grandmothers and separated from their mothers to avoid being punished by the government. This was really treasonous and unethical. In many places, poor people gave their land to government officials, and the land was exempted from service. His family will be demoted to the same household, so that all the servants will return to the same households as before."
"Chongqing, I know that Shu once told his son-in-law that the worst thing in the world is the Yaqian Prefecture Service. This is really harmful to countless people."
"I asked him how to change it, so that my son-in-law and I can use the method of exemption from service, measure the people's households, etc. and take all the gifts, and return the officials to the public officials with salary. This method has the meaning of benefiting the king and the people. I am in Sichuan and Shu I once tried this in one county and asked the people to pay to hire yamen to serve, and the people all said it was convenient."
"But it was a pity after coming to Beijing..."
Wu Chong said: "Oh, I dare to ask why this method is not implemented?"
Han Jiang sighed: "I took office as the third envoy this time. I once told Sima Junshi and other officials about the method I was implementing in Shu, but Sima Junshi ridiculed me in front of everyone, saying that now the palm of the hand in front of the government office is Official property, the loser has lost tens of thousands of gold, how can he come to serve for a thousand and five hundred gold and two dendrobium grains?"
"All the officials on the left and right are attached to Sima Junshi. We have no choice but to give up."
Zhang Yue felt very strange after hearing this, because Sima Guang had also suggested abolishing Yaqian. He had proposed to Renzong that Yaqian should recruit people for it, but why was Han Jiang opposed by him when he proposed it.
Zhang Yue felt that Sima Guang was very contradictory.
Before Wang Anshi and Sima Guang broke up, their political views were actually similar. But after the breakup, one can simply be described as one in the south and the other in the north.
Wu Chong also advised Han Jiang to talk about the exemption law. Han Jiang shook his head and said: "If Sima Jun really refuses, this matter cannot be done. Let's postpone it for the time being."
Zhang Yue thought to himself, even if he knew it was not possible, he should first go to Shu to let the officials and officials know about the existence of the exemption law. If they could have a discussion, it would be better than saying nothing.
However, Han Jiang did not agree and did not want to break up with Sima Guang, so the matter ultimately failed.
Zhang Yue sighed when he saw this. No wonder Zhu Xi once commented on Han Jiang and Wang Anshi in history, saying that Han Jiang could not change, but when Wang Jinggong became involved in politics, he changed.
But Han Jiang is also commendable. Compared with Lu Gongzhu, Lu Gongbi's brother.
As a child of an aristocratic family, Han Jiang did not protect the interests of vested interests, but was bent on reform, which was already rare among officials and aristocratic families.
But having said that, only inhumane people can achieve great things.
However, Han Jiang still expressed support for Zhang Yue and asked him to implement the abacus and suanchizi as soon as possible, from handing over to the prison to the third department, and immediately cultivate a group of officials who can get started.
Zhang Yue was very happy to see Han Jiang let him go with just a few words.
Cai Xiang also supported him at the beginning, but he opposed many things he did. He always said that there was no precedent for this matter and you should not move too fast.
Cai Xiang was an official who acted according to the rules, but Han Jiang was more concerned about efficiency.
After Han Jiang and Zhang Yue discussed official matters and walked out of the public hall, they heard an official report: "Provincial Lord, the Bianhe River has overflowed due to heavy rains in recent days, and the houses on both sides of the bank have been flooded!"
Wu Chong took a look at the sky and couldn't help but said: "This rain is really evil!"
Han Jiang said: "Not only is it raining, but the Bianhe River leading to the Yellow River is usually silted up with sediment. Although people clear the silt every year, it is still worse than ever. Moreover, many officials from Bianjing have recently encroached on the river. In the past, Bao Longtu was fashionable among the governors of Kaifeng and no one dared to do it, but now no one dares to control it.”
At this time, Zhang Yue came forward and said: "Provincial Lord, once Bianjing is flooded, it will be unthinkable. Please make plans in advance?"
Han Jiang asked: "What are your countermeasures?"
