What Zhao Feng said shocked Yu Ruhai.
He originally thought that Zhao Feng was just proposing a solution to this incident, but he did not expect that the things Zhao Feng was considering were so long-term, and even next year's taxation had already been considered.
You must know that taxation is a top priority for a place. Whether an official can add some highlights to his performance when he goes to Beijing to report on his work at the end of the year mainly depends on the taxation of this place.
Before Zhao Feng came here, taxation had always been Yu Ruhai's biggest headache, because most of the areas here were remote areas, and only small areas that could be cultivated were in the valleys.
This also makes the tax here mainly rely on the commercial tax paid by those merchants, as well as the salt tax paid by the salt merchants represented by the Liu family and the Li family.
This is not to say that the agriculture here is not developed. The food grown by those farmers cannot meet the tax revenue needs of this area.
But compared with the food grown by these farmers, commercial taxes and salt taxes account for the majority.
Therefore, in previous years, in order to allow these merchants to pay taxes on time and avoid any problems, the local prefect would collect the grain grown by farmers into the treasury and turn a blind eye to the management of the treasury. One eye.
Under such circumstances, the Liu family and the Li family simply took on the task of collecting grain. Since the local population, yield per mu, and the number of acres cultivated could not be determined, the grain had already been collected before it entered the treasury. part of it was taken away by them.
Coupled with their secret requests from the treasury, it will naturally make the food in this area look like there is not much.
It's not that Yu Ruhai has never thought about solving this matter, but because the Liu family and the Li family are so powerful here, some of his rights as the prefect have been taken away, leaving him with no way to solve the problems here. .
Over time, the power of the Liu family and the Li family became more and more powerful, and now it has even reached the point where he has to deal with it.
The method Zhao Feng proposed now would not only destroy the Liu family's conspiracy in this matter, but also make the people here rich.
Yu Ruhai nodded in admiration and said to Zhao Feng.
"The method proposed by Mr. Zhao is really great!"
"I didn't expect Mr. Zhao to help me solve such a big problem just after he came here!"
Zhao Feng smiled, waved his hand, and said to Yu Ruhai.
"The main reason is that the prefect is indeed a good official who loves the people as his own son. Otherwise, he would not have thought of distributing all the money used for disaster relief to the people."
Yu Ruhai nodded in agreement, then sighed sadly and said.
"Whether it is a government or a dynasty, the people always come first."
"As the saying goes, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, the reason why these farmers are ranked second is enough to show the importance of these farmers."
"If I really let it go, many people will be affected by this drought, and the population of this mansion will inevitably decline. Once the people's livelihood is damaged, it will be difficult to recover!"
Hearing Yu Ruhai's words, Zhao Feng was suddenly surprised. He didn't expect that in such an era, there would be an official like Yu Ruhai.
It can be said that Yu Ruhai's knowledge is already very advanced among these officials, because those officials do not know the role of the common people at all.
There are even many officials who stand over the heads of the people and yell at them, thinking that they are the food, clothing and parents of these people.
But these officials have no idea that if there are no common people, then they are nothing!
Thinking of this, Zhao Feng also said with emotion.
"The king is like a boat, and the people are like water. Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it!"
Upon hearing this, Yu Ruhai turned around in shock, looked at Zhao Feng very seriously, and then said in deep agreement.
"I didn't expect Mr. Zhao to have such a high opinion of the people, and this opinion can be said to be the first of its kind in history!"
"No, I must record these words and report them along with the memorial, so that His Majesty, the Great Zhou Dynasty, can see these words!"
Zhao Feng quickly stopped Yu Ruhai and smiled at Yu Ruhai.
"Sir, let's discuss how to let the people work for relief first!"
Yu Ruhai had no choice but to nod his head when he heard this, but he began to pay more attention to Zhao Feng. Before, he only liked Zhao Feng because of the waterwheel Zhao Feng built, and later when Zhao Feng led the villagers to defeat a copycat. of bandits.
Through these two things, Yu Ruhai felt that Zhao Feng was a very imaginative and creative person. If he was allowed to stay by his side, he might be able to create something that would solve some of his problems.
Of course, he also wanted Zhao Feng to introduce him to Zhou Kang's faction.
But now Yu Ruhai has a different view of Zhao Feng. It seems that there is a reason why Zhao Feng can get the attention of the fourth prince Zhou Kang. Based on what he just said, it is definitely not something that a master from a small place can say. from!
Yu Ruhai nodded seriously, looked at Zhao Feng carefully, and his mind couldn't help but become more active.
Zhao Feng quickly came up with some strategies of using offense instead of formation, which was nothing more than asking these people to build some livelihood projects and the like.
These livelihood projects not only include building roads and bridges, etc., but are also related to some matters for next year.
For example, Zhao Feng asked these people to collect all the straw from the farmers this year, and then collect some feces and other things and pile them all together, seal them with straw and mud on the outside, and let these things ferment inside.
At the same time, some people were also asked to dig canals to prepare for agricultural irrigation next year.
Seeing the projects listed by Zhao Feng, Yu Ruhai asked Zhao Feng with some doubts.
"Mr. Zhao, I can understand the construction of roads, bridges and canals, but why do you let these people pile up all these wastes?"
Zhao Feng explained to Yu Ruhai with a smile.
"Sir, you can think of this as a kind of fertilizer, although some people have begun to use farmyard manure to increase the fertility of those soils and make those crops grow faster and better."
"But many farmyard fertilizers have not actually been corrupted, so the effect is not very good."
"But if this is done, after a whole winter of accumulation and decay, these things can become real fertilizers! The yield of crops applied with these fertilizers next year can be increased by at least half!"
