"This is quite majestic..." Liu Xiang said with a smile, deeply aware of the deep gap between the government and the people. &乐&文&Novel www.lwxs.com This cannot be changed overnight. Therefore, he did not rush to make various "people-friendly" gestures: he supported an old lady and asked emotionally: "How old are you?" or grabbed a farmer selling vegetables and asked with expectation: "This year's How is the income?". Instead, he walked casually along the street. He saw a notice posted by the Office of Comprehensive Management posted on the wall on the street. There were many people gathered under the notice, obviously coming to see the notice, and he felt very satisfied. Our voices must be spread openly and as far as possible.
Liu Xiang was led by Lin Baiguang and walked along the street. The business here is very prosperous, and there are various shops almost everywhere along the street. There are all kinds of shops. As he walked, he soon realized why Lin Baiguang asked him to "come and take a look for himself" - these illegal buildings in the 17th century, built haphazardly, were no worse than those in the 21st century.
Except for the government offices on both sides of the street, there is almost no inch of the street that is not occupied by shops or vendors' shacks on both sides. At least half of the road, which is said to be more than 9 meters wide, is occupied. The most exaggerated part is that only a sedan can barely pass in the middle. Tattered reed mats, scattered bamboos, scattered bricks and tiles... These shabby shacks make the entire Chengxuan Street like a shabby secondhand market - to be honest, the old shacks of another time and space. The goods market is neater than here.
He noticed that many sheds were built by shops on both sides of the street. They were initially used to provide shade, but gradually became part of the shops. Some simply set up workshops in the sheds, and some restaurants and cafes simply put tables and chairs in the sheds for guests. Some shops have completed the transformation from shacks to houses, and have built houses on the road. Treat road encroachment as a fait accompli.
It can be seen that the road has not been repaired for a long time, or has been repaired hastily. He saw at least two types of paving on the street. One was made of blue bricks with vertical herringbone patterns on the sides. Although it is incomplete, it can be seen that the paving is very meticulous; the overall street surface is high in the middle and low on the two sides. Conducive to street drainage. The other type is bluestone, which is quite rough to lay.
At the moment, no matter what kind of paving it is, the damage is very serious, with bricks chipped and slates chipped. I don’t know whether it’s because there are no drainage ditches or it’s blocked. The drainage on both sides of the road is obviously poor, and the sewage dumped by the shops on the street flows everywhere. The shacks on both sides also show their unique abilities. Some are raised with moso bamboo on the bottom, and some are simply covered with sand to raise them. The sewage and the garbage piled up everywhere created an indescribable smell permeating the entire street.
Liu Xiang frowned and said, "How many years has this road been repaired?"
Jia Jue said quickly: "It is repaired every two or three years."
Every time repairs are made, high-ranking officials such as the left and right chief envoys of Guangzhou take office. As usual, the first and second counties of Guangzhou have to repair the roads, firstly to make a good impression on the newly arrived adults, and secondly, in case someone carrying the sedan chair steps into a hole. If you sprained your foot or tripped, it would be hard for the magistrate to explain. The so-called repair is also very simple. Just mix sand, soil and gravel and then pave the uneven areas on the road and compact them firmly - in fact, it is similar to the "loess road" approach. Naturally, this kind of repair can fool you for a while, but over time it will become the same as before.
"Why don't you use bricks or bluestones to repair the road like you do when building roads?"
Jia Juebei said with a smile: "To tell you what my lord, it's mainly because I don't have money. The first major renovation on Chengxuan Street was in the 42nd year of Jiajing. That's where the bluestone slabs were used." He said with an apologetic smile, " You don’t know. To build bridges and roads, we have to rely on the gentry and merchants. Now we are in trouble. Who has the spare money? Building bridges and roads costs a lot of money. It can’t be done without tens of thousands of dollars. …”
Liu Xiang remembered Yu Eshui's lecture on "Fiscal Policy in the Ming Dynasty" and knew that this was also true. In the Ming Dynasty, local finance was very weak, and public facilities were basically financed and provided by the private sector, and the government played the role of initiator and supervisor at best. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many stories of “building bridges, repairing roads, and doing good deeds” handed down in ancient times.
This is really enough "local autonomy". Liu Xiang thought. He asked again, "Are there drainage ditches on Chengxuan Street?"
"Yes!" Jia Jue replied without hesitation.
"Where?"
"Sir, please take a look." Jia Jue led the group of them to a place on the side of the road that was not occupied by shacks. Liu Xiang saw an open ditch exposed to the outside, which was more than one meter wide, although it was filthy. But it can be seen that the ditch walls are made of bricks and filled with silt and various garbage. It was almost full, and sewage was slowly flowing in the ditch. It gave off a disgusting stench.
"There were originally open ditches on both sides of this place, and rainwater and sewage from each house were poured into them and then discharged into the Liumai Canal. Now you have seen it."
These shacks that were built haphazardly and encroached on the road surface were basically covered with wooden boards or stone slabs and then built on top of the open ditch. The original "open ditch" became a "gutter".
To say that sewers are much more hygienic than open ditches, the problem is that the "illegal buildings" on both sides of the road have completely covered the ditches, and even if the government wanted to clear the ditches and clear them, they would not be able to do so.
"I haven't washed the ditches for many years, and they have already become clogged. It's better if there is no rain these days. When I return to Nantian in a few days, when there is a lot of rain, the ditches will overflow. That's when it's called 'stinking beyond smell'." Jia Jue said.
"Why don't you dig ditches? Is it because you don't have money?"
"To my lord, it doesn't cost a lot of money to clean the ditch. You can just ask the people from all over the country to come and do it. It doesn't even cost much money - just let them take the smelly mud out to make fertilizer. But you have seen it. ," Jia Jue pointed at these shacks, "How do you dig ditches like this?"
"The store owners built their tents in Fugou. Although the space is large, they are the ones who suffer from the smelly water flowing across the ditch." Liu Xiang was puzzled.
"Sir, they deserve their own fault for suffering. But the situation has become like this. Who is willing to demolish their own shacks and let the officials dig ditches? Besides, demolishing one or two houses is not effective. We have to demolish the shacks on both sides of the street. All the shacks have to be demolished. There are hundreds of businesses here, and people have different opinions, so the matter has been discussed many times, but it has never been done."
Liu Xiang said: "These shacks originally had no land deeds. The merchants were occupying official land on the roads. Why didn't the government demolish them?"
Lin Baiguang smiled and said: "You don't need to ask this. Demolition of illegal buildings has always been very difficult - the benefits involved are too great."
Jia Juepei smiled and said: "Mr. Lin is right. Which of these shops does not have a big threshold behind it? Some of them, let alone the magistrates of Panyu County in Nanhai, even the prefects, may not be in their eyes. The so-called cutting off people. Making money is like killing your parents. You can do anything in a hurry. In the early years, a Hufutai wanted to demolish a shack. The shopkeepers couldn't find any money channels, so they spent money to bribe the people of the Guandi Temple. Thousands of beggars flocked to the gate of the government office to defecate and urinate, singing about the falling of lotus flowers, pretending to be crazy and scolding the street people. After struggling for several days, they forced Mr. Hu to take back his life."
"Are beggars so good? The yamen is equipped with torture instruments and prisons. All those who come to cause trouble are arrested, and a few standing cages are put to death. How can this still not cure them?"
"Beggars are people who have nothing. Even if they die, their lives are at risk. This cannot scare them." Jia Jue said with a smile, "Besides, how big can the cell be and how many people can be arrested? The yamen can't take care of food, so why don't they have to be released? Get out. If the matter gets serious, the enemy will be able to seize the opportunity. These four words of 'provoking a civil uprising' will immediately ruin the master's future."
"It's really impressive."
Lin Baiguang smiled and said: "Even if the wealthy gentry family in Guangzhou is holding weddings and funerals, if you don't pay them 'bichen' in exchange for a post to put on the door, I guarantee that you will be unable to do anything." Even if the trouble gets bigger and a notice of complaint is sent to the government, the worst they can do is bring a few scapegoats to stand trial. Beat or kill them as they please. Anyway, they have lives to spare."
"It seems that it's really hard to be the mayor of Guangzhou." Liu Xiang touched his forehead, "Qiongzhou Mansion is just a small place after all. It can't be compared." He turned to Lin Baiguang and asked:
"How much do you know about the conditions of these lower classes?"
"We don't know much. The social sentiments here are dozens of times more complicated than those in Hainan Island." Lin Baiguang said, "Our Ministry of Urban Industry has a small number of people and only one person. Most of them are middle- and upper-class people, and their knowledge of the bottom of society is very limited - But Qiwei Escort Agency should know something. Boss Sun also posted a message to me, asking to see you."
"See you in the evening." Liu Xiang said, "We need people like them now."
"Don't have too much hope. Although the people the escort agency deals with are from all walks of life, they are just 'dealing', not 'colluding'. They may not necessarily know all the thresholds inside."
"You are posing difficulties to me." Liu Xiang said with a smile, he realized
"Where, where," Lin Baiguang said, "the three religions and nine sects outside the city of Guangzhou are still quite afraid of us - thanks to the work of the special investigation team back then. I don't think it is too difficult to demolish illegal buildings. We just entered the city. The demolition of the illegal buildings on Chengxuan Street is equivalent to expressing to the citizens of Guangzhou our determination to remove the old and install the new."
"Yes, it's not just that. We also need to do a few practical things to let them know that we are different from the decadent Ming Dynasty." Liu Xiang said, "My first impression after entering the city was that the streets were dirty and sewage flowed across the street. We The troops and agency personnel should be mobilized to carry out a comprehensive clean-up, remove the garbage in the city, and desilt the sewer system in Guangzhou. These are all things that are actually beneficial to the people." (To be continued.)
