"Counsellor Wei, Chief Zhang wants to see you for something!" Chen Wuren shouted to the sleepy Wei Bifu behind the rosewood desk.
There are more than ten "counselors" in the Guangzhou Special City Council, but there are not many "official" things to do here. Most of the time, they go to work if they want to come to work, and stay at home if they don't want to go to work. Several of the senators have actually found other jobs, becoming small farmers or running businesses in the countryside. However, regardless of whether there is a way out or not, senators are not allowed to resign and must sign in and attend meetings in the council room every week.
Wei Bifu does not run any industry, but in the past when several Ziji companies issued non-preferred shares in Guangzhou, he bought a lot of them. The annual dividends are quite generous, and coupled with the rich savings from the past, life is very comfortable. Just to show my "positiveness", as long as it is a working day, I will go to the council room every day, no matter what happens. After Zhang Xiao took office, he had to come every day and stay there for the whole day - he had a hunch that Elder Zhang would definitely summon him to inquire about the local situation.
Hearing that Zhang Xiao was about to summon him, he stood up in excitement, took off his glasses and touched his face with his hands. Instruct his servants:
"Bring water!"
The servant quickly brought him a basin of wash water. He wiped his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He felt that he was in good spirits and then walked out of his office.
After Zhang Xiao entered the city, he was so busy that he didn't say a word to him for several days. Just when he suspected that there was something wrong with his judgment and that the new leader had forgotten about him, he suddenly sent someone to summon him - this must be to question him. Although Wei Bifu had been an official in the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the political sense he had cultivated through years of ups and downs in officialdom still made him quite sensitive to the recent personnel changes in the Guangzhou Municipal Government.
"Wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes. The officialdom of the Song Dynasty is not so peaceful." Wei Bifu sighed in his heart.
Zhang Xiao was very polite: "Counsellor Wei, sit down! Sit down! Don't be so formal."
Wei Bifu knew that Australians didn't like people coming to visit, so he honestly pulled up a stool and sat down.
"When Counselor Wei was in the Ming Dynasty, how long did he serve in Guangzhou Prefecture?" Zhang Xiao asked.
"It's embarrassing to say that when the Heavenly Soldiers entered the city, the students had just arrived, and it was only a year ago." Wei Bifu said.
Zhang Xiao was slightly disappointed: less than half a year, which was too short. How much do you know about the local situation? Moreover, the general magistrate is an assistant officer, not an official. Assist the prefect in taking charge of some local affairs. Insufficient grasp of the overall situation.
His disappointment was immediately seen by Wei Bifu. Wei Bifu is an old bastard in the officialdom, and he is the most brilliant person. He knew that the leader Zhang in front of him was most afraid of his subordinates being "smart", so he just pretended to be stupid and looked like he was "awaiting to be taught".
Zhang Xiao didn't know the twists and turns in his stomach. He was disappointed. The only one who wanted to understand the situation in Nanhai County was the person in front of him. He concealed his emotions and asked, "So, you don't know much about the situation in Nanhai County."
"If we talk about the situation in Nanhai County, students do have limited knowledge. However, one year after taking office, the general situation in Nanhai and Panyu counties is also known."
"Then I'd like you to tell me about the geography and people of Nanhai County."
Wei Bifu thought for a moment and said: "If the chief wants students to summarize the situation in a county in Nanhai, this place should be worthy of the four words 'charge, complexity, fatigue, and difficulty'."
"Oh?" Zhang Xiao asked again: "Tell me, what are 'rush, complexity, fatigue, and difficulty'?"
"Looking back to the chief, the one who has a well-organized land will be in trouble; the government affairs will be complicated and complicated; the one who owes too many gifts will be tired; the people will be unruly and unruly, and there will be many robberies. This is the most important county in Guangzhou Prefecture and even Guangdong Province. "
Wei Bifu summarized the basic situation of the South China Sea in just four words. Zhang Xiao couldn't help but show a little respect for the ability of this former county magistrate of the Ming Dynasty. It seemed that Chongzhen had no shortage of talents.
In the history of the old time and space, the evaluation of states and counties based on conflict, complexity, fatigue, and difficulty did not come into existence until the Qing Dynasty. However, it is obvious that this kind of evaluation is not an invention of someone's whim. There were people in the late Ming Dynasty. It’s not surprising to think of this.
Nanhai County is densely populated and is the economic and political hinterland of Guangdong. Coupled with the characteristics of "rush, complexity, exhaustion, and difficulty", one can imagine the scope and difficulty of its governance.
"The ground is a tunnel, I can understand this." Zhang Xiao tapped the fingers of his right hand on the table in turn, as if playing a piano, and said: "Both the Xijiang River and the Beijiang River flow through this county, with dense water networks and countless tributaries. Nanhai Jurisdiction It reaches Huashan in the north and Jiujiang in the south, a straight-line distance of more than a hundred miles; it is connected to Sanshui in the west and Guangzhou City in the east. The commercial exchanges are the highest in Guangdong. People are the source of everything. If there are more than one person, trouble will easily happen, especially the floating population. But this So what if the government affairs are in turmoil?”
When Wei Bifu heard this question, he understood that the new chief was not very clear about government affairs, so he said: "The Ming Dynasty stipulated that except during busy farming seasons, county magistrates must receive lectures from the peak every month, such as the emperor's edicts, laws, and moral advice. Later, he spread the word and preached it to the elders of the forts and even to the people; every month he led the scholars to offer sacrifices to the Confucian Temple and Heaven and Earth. The literary style of this county was very prosperous in Lingnan, and there were many academies. The county magistrate was responsible for holding the rural examination every three years, and it occupied half of Guangzhou. The city, the examination also needs efforts; needless to mention the Yangjiyuan and Jiefutang; the county also has the west and north rivers flowing through it. Since Jiajing, Guanyaojiao and Lubaoyong have gradually accumulated siltation, and floods are frequent, so relief is often needed. To appease the people, if you can build some water conservancy projects, you will be a good official; in addition, you can arrest bandits, collect taxes, and welcome people..."
Zhang Xiao felt dizzy after hearing all these things. In the Ming Dynasty, officials and officials were separated, and only officials and a small number of "official officials" had financial support. More than 90 people in the entire county government are unpaid. Moreover, local financial issues in the Ming Dynasty have always been unclear. County magistrates had heavy responsibilities and few resources. It would be easier to live in a remote place like Lingao. In a "crash" and "complex" place like Nanhai County, being a county magistrate has great potential, but the work pressure is also high. Therefore, it is also said to be "complicated" and "difficult".
What about now? The Senate at least equipped him with much more staff than the Ming Dynasty, and he did not need to worry about salary matters. There was also no need for such frivolous matters as moral advice, worship of temples of literature, and sacrifices to ghosts and gods. The training and selection of civil servants is now the responsibility of the Guangzhou Cadre School, local security is supported by the Guangdong Region National Army, and tax collection is led by the Guangzhou Finance and Taxation Bureau. The disadvantage is that cross-department matters are easiest to pass the blame on. It is not easy to do well, but you will inevitably take the blame if you do something wrong. As for welcoming people and sending them off, everything is waiting to be done now. The Senate has not yet reached the level of bureaucracy that it was in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There shouldn't be many things like hosting banquets to entertain superior colleagues and taking official friends on sightseeing tours.
The remaining areas of education, health, water conservancy and even the development of local economy should be areas where he can make achievements.
However, in accordance with the requirements of the Senate's overcoming version of modern government, these tasks are no less onerous.
Sure enough, there are thousands of threads at the top and a needle at the bottom.
Zhang Xiao continued to ask, "I have heard for a long time that Panyu in the South China Sea is the most prosperous place in the world. Taxes are not as important as Su, Song, Chang, and Tai. Why are there so many in arrears?"
"The chief must also know that: officials and businessmen collude to avoid commercial taxes; deceitful mails are flying everywhere, the number of powerful places is increasing, and the number of people paying taxes is decreasing." Wei Bifu said.
Zhang Xiao nodded. He had seen these methods in Lingao. They were once key issues in the tax reform of Lingao and Hainan.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the collusion between government and businessmen was very serious. Some smuggling ships could be released for maritime trade after paying enough money to the government. On the contrary, those regular ships will be extorted and paid taxes for various reasons if they do not pay the money. False posting is a way for homesteaders and small landowners to evade taxes and servitude by falsely registering their land in the name of a gentry with tax-free privileges. Feisha means that landlords collude with the government to break the land taxes into small pieces and distribute them to other farmers' fields to avoid taxes. As time goes on, the pockets of officials and gentry are getting bigger and bigger, but the money in the treasury is getting less and less day by day.
“How can we make up for the tax debt we owe?”
Wei Bifu said: "The chief may not know about 'Ding Gong's false tax'. The people of Guangdong have suffered no more than Ding Gong from Nanhai. The name Ding Gong is unique to Nanhai."
"Oh? What do you mean by 'Ding Gong's false tax'?" Zhang Xiao asked.
"In the ninth year of Wanli's reign, the land in Nanhai was cleared and collapsed due to floods. In the sixth year of Longqing's reign, the county had more than 15,400 hectares, resulting in a loss of 1,828 hectares. At that time, those involved did not dare to report the loss and had no choice but to In order to make a profit, the land was actually measured in the ninth year of Wanli, and eight three cents and six cents was regarded as an acre. An imaginary tax of one cent, six cents and four cents was added to each acre to make up for the lost amount. This is where the name Ding Gong comes from. Ye. To make up for the lost amount of zhang, it is 400 hectares more than Longqing's original amount. Taking into account the additional tax of 2,228 hectares in Nanhai County, Ding Gong will pay more than 7,780 taels of silver every year. It is a landless levy, and it has been compensated one after another, but it is not yet full. In the past fifty years, the people have paid more than 300,000 yuan to compensate those who paid false taxes, and the people of Nanhai are exhausted." After Wei Bifu finished speaking, he did not forget to prolong the ending. , seems sincere.
Zhang Xiao sneered and said: "There are so many tricks here. I think it's not just as simple as flooding and collapse. I'm afraid you officials are taking advantage of it, right?"
Wei Bifu suddenly became nervous, thinking that he had only been in office for less than a year, and just as he was eating hot pot and singing songs, the thieves came over. How could he have gained so much money? He didn't even get the "share" he deserved.
Just as he was thinking about how to deal with it, Zhang Xiao didn't dwell too much on this issue and asked: "With such a heavy burden, don't the local gentry have any objections?"
"Chief Mingjian: There are complaints among the Jin gentry and common people in the county about this matter. Huang Xiyin, the former magistrate of Nanhai County, and Yan Junyan, the former official of Guangzhou Prefecture, had a good relationship. The two had discussed this matter, so Brother Yan asked for orders and earnestly obeyed the imperial edict. "Huidian" clearly states that please exempt Ding Gong from having insufficient food to soothe his long-term sleepiness."
(End of chapter)
