Zhou Qi is his eldest disciple, and he is supposedly the most deserving person, but Chen Minggang is very mean. [Full text reading] Zhou Qi's parents have passed away long ago. According to the rules of the times, Chen Minggang is his closest elder. He not only has the obligation to take care of him, but also has the responsibility to marry him and start a family.
Chen Minggang never got married to him - Lingao in the Ming Dynasty was an area with a serious imbalance in the ratio of men to women. Most of the immigrants were singles and there were very few women. This makes the cost of getting a wife much higher than on the mainland. And as Zhou Qi is his apprentice, he cannot just find a girl. She should be the daughter of a relatively prosperous local small grain farmer or a fellow traveler. This requires a decent betrothal gift and building a house for them to start a family.
Chen Minggang was reluctant to spend the money and kept procrastinating. In the blink of an eye, Zhou Qi was almost thirty - in the 17th century, he was already an older unmarried young man.
Being unmarried for a long time was a very shameful thing for Zhou Qi, and it also caused another consequence. Chen Minggang was a very womanizing person, and since Zhou Qi was his disciple, many of his master's personal affairs were revealed. It was up to him to handle it. If you have too much contact with the master's women, the master will inevitably become suspicious - after all, this apprentice is young and strong, and is much stronger than himself.
There have been some rumors recently, either that he had an affair with Chen Minggang's woman, or that he had huge complaints behind his back. Although Chen Minggang didn't believe it, his trust in him was gone. Coupled with the recent incident of Qiu Hong, he had great doubts about the ability of his great apprentice.
"Yes, Xiao Hu is right. There must be a reason for this kind of thing to force the big bosses to agree. We are just on duty, so you can't blame us." Chen Minggang said, "Evil people will naturally ask them to do it."
Everyone nodded, and some even wanted to flatter him.
"But what kind of excuse should we find?" someone asked, "This excuse is not easy to find."
First of all, the common people must believe that these common people are not ignorant people in the countryside, but landlords and gentry with some property status. They will not be intimidated by a few empty words. The second is that Australians have to admit their debt. Chen Minggang knows that Australians pay great attention to their own image and are most afraid of someone using their name falsely.
Chen Minggang didn't panic and took a sip of tea first. He felt that the reason why he was superior to this group of people was not only because he had the ancestral treasure of Yulin Book, but also because he could see further and understand more clearly than everyone else.
"You came from the countryside, what are the Australian work teams busy with?" he suddenly asked.
Everyone started talking about it. In fact, the work team did a lot of things in rural areas. It mainly conducted social surveys: population, land quantity, and the poverty of the fields. It also generally helped each village to establish villagers, tree fences, and also practiced medicine and delivered medicine. .
"You haven't even hit the point." Chen Minggang shook his head and said, "In fact, what Australians care about most is finding out the details of this county!"
Everyone looked at each other: What is the details of this county?
A relatively experienced person among them came up with the idea: "The number of people and fields..."
"Yes, this is it." Chen Minggang nodded. "The Australians want to stay here in Lingao for a long time. What do they need to know?" He patted his palms with a Sichuan fan and counted, "The first thing is to know the county. How many people are there, how many fields are there, and what the fields produce.”
"Zhang Tian?!" Xiao Hu from the umbrella shop said.
"Not bad!" Chen Minggang glanced at the umbrella shop's Xiao Hu with admiration, "The Australians set up work teams in the countryside and collect grain and taxes in the county. Basically, they just want to find out how much oil and water there is in Lingao County." He He opened the fan and shook it gently, "We are here to help him, Zhangtian!"
Now everyone was in an uproar. As the name suggests, "Zhangtian" means measuring acres of land, but it doesn't end there. At the same time as Zhangtian, a new Yulin register must be drawn up, and the land property rights and tax status must be re-registered. This was not a trivial matter in ancient society, and it often required the imperial court to take the lead to organize it. In the history of the Ming Dynasty, except for the drawing of fish and lin books in Zhang Tian during the Hongwu period, only Zhang Juzheng in the early Wanli year had done so. Every time a farm is transferred, not only do the Ministry of Household Affairs and the province have to dispatch special officials to handle it, but they also have to recruit health workers from across the province to assist, and it takes more than a month or two to complete it. It will take at least half a year.
Although they are people who "eat food" and know a thing or two about how to farm land, they are not professionals after all. They are unable to do this, and they don't have enough time.
Chen Minggang motioned for them to calm down: "Why are you making such noise? This is just a reason!" He sneered, "Do we really have to help them find land? Even if everyone is willing, they don't have the ability, right?"
Everyone nodded. They all look to this backbone.
"The Australians want to know how much financial support Lingao has, so we should cater to them. If we say we can help them measure the acres of land - the Australians will not refuse. As long as we have this name, aren't those big households at our mercy?"
Everyone cheered loudly: This is a great idea. Not only is the teacher famous, but the Australians will never refuse this offer. Will be happy to be this "evil person". Finally: the big players have nothing to say, and the consequences of all this can be passed on to the Australians.
"Can the big investors buy it?" Zhou Qi hesitated, "They also have connections with the Australians."
"It doesn't matter if there is a connection," Chen Minggang saw very clearly the relationship between the Cross Travel Group and the wealthy gentry. "Australians don't like the gentry. Now they are just using them."
"Isn't it a bit unexpected?" Xiong Buyou laughed when conveying Chen Minggang's proposal in Wu De's office.
"That's right, it's really beyond my expectation." Wu De nodded and sighed with emotion, "I didn't expect that Chen Minggang could see our thoughts clearly. On the contrary, all the scholars in the county couldn't understand." There was something in his words. A feeling of mutual sympathy.
According to Wu De's original plan, Chen Minggang was going to spend more rice as much as he wanted, causing the gentry and villagers to complain. After the county's taxes were almost collected, he would arrange a "petition" scene where the gentry and the people were furious. , in the end, the Time Travel Group came forward to play the role of Mr. Qingtian, and directly killed Chen Minggang and all his men, in order to anger the people.
After venting public anger, they took the opportunity to implement the "New Deal" - on the pretext of avoiding the recurrence of such things in the future, they began to clear out acres of land throughout the county, determine tax rates, and complete the tax system reform.
Wu De also prepared a backup plan. If something unexpected happens during the grain collection process and the autumn grain collection cannot be collected in time, he has already obtained the consent of the executive committee and will use the payment method. The Chuanchuan Group will advance the autumn grain and taxes first, and then slowly proceed from there. Deducted from taxes.
No matter which method is used, Chuanchuan Group is sure to pay this year's autumn tax on time and on time. In this way, you can calmly establish your land and clear your household registration. Rather than rushing to do these things within the tax deadline - as the saying goes, slow work produces careful work, Wu De's plan is to slowly cook the porridge of this "new tax system".
This is a big project for the Crossing Group, and the executive committee has issued several orders to various ministries, offices, and companies.
Leizhou Sugar Company received instructions: continue to sell sugar to Vietnam, and at the same time transport some other goods needed locally to purchase large quantities of Vietnamese rice.
The order given to the Ministry of Maritime Power is to concentrate their transportation capacity and rush to transport Vietnamese rice to Lingao. Strive to increase the reserves of Lingao brown rice to 35,000 shi before the eleventh month of the lunar calendar.
The instruction given to the Foreign Trade Committee was to use Vietnamese rice to purchase silver in three counties of Leizhou, with a quota of 10,000 taels. This money was prepared for Lingao's "Liao salary". Wu De expected that the price of rice in Lingao would fall due to the imposition of "Liao rates", so they just used the money they earned from selling rice at high prices to buy grain at low prices.
The instruction given to the Ministry of Education is that they immediately start arranging courses such as surveying and mapping and simple plane geometric operations in students' practical classes to prepare manpower for comprehensive land surveying.
Printing plants have also been notified: they will immediately print a large number of blank land deeds and property rights registration copies.
…
"Chen Minggang is really a talent." Xiong Buyou said.
"It's a pity that this talent can't be retained." Wu De couldn't help but look at these "bad officials" with admiration. Historians have shown that the grassroots level of the Qing Dynasty was actually "official administration", which really makes sense.
Xiong Buyou said: "How should I reply to him?"
"It hints that he can do this. You have to show great interest in Zhangtian." Wu De decided to let Chen Minggang make a fuss about this issue. It is equivalent to giving the local big players a head start. Just like every time before introducing any policy, it is easy to test the water harshly first and let public opinion criticize it, and then low-key launch a plan that slightly improves the conditions. The public accepted it. Wu De decided to do the same thing.
"But it must not be stated explicitly." Wu De gave the instructions face-to-face, "The conversation between you and him must be videotaped, and you must say more specious words. You must first discuss with the people in the Propaganda Department how to talk, so that it will be easier to edit the footage in the future. We have to make him show his sincerity in recommending our husband -"
"I understand." Xiong Buyou nodded.
"Chen Minggang just wanted us to be villains and make money for ourselves. Originally, we could have been villains." Wu De felt a little regretful, "If he was really willing to help us get land."
"Hahahaha, you are seeking skin from a tiger." Xiong Buyou has had many contacts with subordinate officials and knows very well what they are like. "They are just a group of silverfish in the system. They only think about how to gain benefits for themselves. How can they be so high? Awakening!"
"One more thing. Chen Minggang asked us: Where is the grain cabinet for collecting grains, and how many of our people will be on the cabinet?"
"The cabinet should be set up in the county," Wu De had already thought about it, "None of our people will be used. Let them continue as usual." Wu De said, "Since they want to take the blame, they should do it thoroughly!~!
