With this question in mind, the prince arrived in Xiuning County.
The officials and village officials in Xiuning County were very warm and respectful, and they went out ten miles away to greet him.
Although, they now only know that the prince is the magistrate of the county, and on the surface, he is a new magistrate with an obviously ordinary background.
But after all, the magistrate is Bailihou, who represents the court, or the emperor, and exercises power in the county. Therefore, Xiuning County officials and rural eunuchs still have to give face to the magistrate.
Even if you, a country official, were once a minister of the imperial court.
They can only be regarded as scholars and people, and they want to call the county magistrate an old parent.
Because these people were quite respectful, the prince did not pull a straight face and was smiling all over his face.
Of course, strictly speaking, these people are not actually the prince's enemies, but they cannot be said to be friends.
As for whether he is a friend or an enemy, it depends on what kind of political environment the prince will be in in the future.
However, at present, these people and the prince, the county magistrate, have no hostility towards each other. At most, they are wary of each other.
After all, even if the county magistrate is a foreign official, because he represents the imperial power, if he wants to cause some damage, rob the rich and give to the poor for the sake of his sense of justice, and disrupt the political and economic balance here, they will still be allowed to do so. Headache.
The prince indeed had some intention of robbing the rich and giving to the poor.
In fact, we cannot say that we want to rob the rich and give to the poor, but that we want the increased wealth to be distributed in a more balanced manner.
Today's Ming Dynasty has been victorious in foreign conquests and has made rapid progress in domestic science and technology. Therefore, the cake has been getting bigger. There is no problem of who can't afford to eat or who can't survive. There is only the problem of uneven distribution of wealth.
This issue, in the eyes of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty, cannot be ignored.
After all, the ancients have long said that we should not worry about scarcity but inequality.
Sitting back and watching the problem of uneven distribution persist for a long time is not only a sign of neglect of duty by those in power, but also a dig at their own foundation.
After all, although the phenomenon of unevenness cannot be eliminated, if it is not curbed, more yellow nests will appear.
Therefore, any ruler with a sense of responsibility will not sit back and watch this kind of inequality exist, but will try to curb it.
The same goes for the prince. He knows that as the magistrate here, he needs to try his best to maintain justice and fairness here.
This is the basic responsibility, and the second is to benefit the people.
But just doing this basic responsibility will offend some people.
However, the prince thought about what Qi Baoguo said: not only should the richest eunuch in a county not suffer a loss, but he should also get the maximum advantage if he wanted to do things.
As a result, he didn't even know whether he should fulfill this most basic responsibility.
After all, if you really want to fulfill this basic responsibility, you will definitely make the village officials suffer, which is contrary to the principles that Qi Baoguo concluded after governing a county for several years.
So what to do now?
The prince was actually very confused.
"Dong Weng!"
In order to be a good magistrate, the prince also learned from most bureaucrats and hired a professional master as his staff.
Today, there are many scholars in the Ming Dynasty. There are many masters who work full-time as masters instead of officials. They only want to use money to make suggestions without taking administrative responsibilities.
The master hired by the prince is named Zhang Yunsheng. He is from Shanyin, Shaoxing. He is over fifty years old, but he is still sharp and clear.
Moreover, he was also very respectful to the young boss, the prince. When he took the initiative to speak to the prince, he would bend down very low and call out first.
"Mr. Zhang, please tell me if you have anything to say."
The prince was also very polite to Zhang Yunsheng, so he smiled, raised his hand and said something, and asked him to sit down.
Zhang Yunsheng thanked him and handed over a piece of paper:
"This is the list of talented and talented officials in this county that I have found for Dong Weng, as well as the status of the local officials who passed the exams in the recent township examinations, and the status of the officials in each township who passed the exams in the recent township exams, for Dong Weng's sake. Dong Weng can refer to it, and being good at protecting Dong Weng can be promoted to an important position as soon as possible."
"Why did Mr. Zhang let me look at this first instead of looking at the money, food and population situation in the county?"
After hearing what he said, the prince asked him about it.
After Zhang Yunsheng heard what the prince said, he did not laugh at the prince because he was young and ignorant. Instead, he followed the master's rules and explained patiently:
"As long as Dong Weng takes good care of the most prominent rural officials in the county now and those who are about to become more prominent, they can be promoted to important positions as soon as possible. It doesn't matter what the situation of money, food and personnel is, whether it is a deficit or a surplus!"
After hearing this, the prince didn't ask any more questions and just said: "Then give it to me, Mr. Zhang, thank you for your hard work."
"yes!"
Zhang Yunsheng gave the fold to the prince with a flattering smile, and then breathed a sigh of relief. He thought to himself that this rich man was not only willing to give money, but also upright. He hoped to become his long-term employer, and he might be able to accompany him all the way. The Six Sections, the Chief Secretary, the Chief Secretary, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Six Ministries and even the Cabinet.
While Zhang Yunsheng was looking forward to the future, the prince looked at the list of eunuchs and felt very depressed. He thought to himself: "There are too many eunuchs in Xiuning!"
After reading these lists, the prince asked Zhang Yunsheng: "In Mr. Zhang's opinion, apart from knowing these people, what should this county do now?"
"Dong Weng is the first Jinshi in your mansion. His parents and ancestors are all common people. It is not suitable to bother. As long as the country officials do not come to ask Dong Weng to do anything, Dong Weng can take the country gentlemen and wise men to visit historical sites, offer sacrifices, pray for rain, and even encourage students to learn. It’s appropriate.”
"Of course, if Dong Weng feels that these are tiring, he doesn't have to do them. He can just stay in the backyard and talk about scriptures or play chess in the name of doing nothing."
"In short, just wait and wait for something to happen."
Zhang Yunsheng replied with a smile.
After hearing this, the prince nodded and said, "Can I go to Jiageku to have a look?"
Jiageku was the place where the county government in the Ming Dynasty stored the household registration, field registers and financial status of a county. It was the life gate of a county's management.
Therefore, the prince naturally wanted to visit here.
After hearing this, Zhang Yunsheng asked with a vigilant look on his face: "Why did Dong Weng go to Jiageku to see what?"
"Just take a look! Get to know the situation in this county so that you can respond easily if the patrol officer comes to inquire."
The prince said.
Zhang Yunsheng said: "Don't worry, Dong Weng. When Shangguan comes to visit, he must issue the cards first. If the cards are not issued, the official will accuse him of causing nuisance. So when the cards for Shangguan's visit arrive, Dong Weng will not be ready." Not too late."
"What's more, what you may need to prepare by then is not to be questioned by your superiors about the state of the cabinet and prisons, but silver coins or other things that can make the superiors happy."
"Yeah?"
"If Mr. Zhang hadn't reminded him, this county wouldn't have known about it."
The prince replied with a sarcastic smile, and then said: "Then let's go pay homage to the historical sites and have a sightseeing tour, but is it okay if we don't let the local officials go with us?"
"Of course it won't work!"
"On the one hand, it shortens the financial path, and on the other hand, it cuts off the official career."
"To be specific, the village eunuchs will go together and ask Dong Weng to keep the calligraphy treasure and buy it at a high price. This is a way to make money."
"Rural eunuchs will also praise Dong Weng for coming to inquire about the people's sentiments, rather than going to the countryside to disturb the people and not doing his job properly. This is the official way."
Zhang Yunsheng hurriedly replied.
The prince nodded: "Okay!"
For a while, when the prince and several rural eunuchs and gentry in Xiuning County paid their respects to the historical sites in Xiuning County, they saw that Xiuning County was indeed crowded with people, especially in many towns.
At first glance, the prince, who had done a social survey, knew that the actual population of Xiuning County must be several times greater than the population listed in the yellow rolls he had seen at the Ministry of Household Affairs.
This made the prince realize that there might be some concealment of the population.
besides.
The prince also discovered through observation that the scale of shops, workshops and even large factories in Xiuning County seemed to be much larger than the shops and industries in Xiuning County registered with the Ministry of Household Affairs.
This made the prince even more aware that not only was the population concealed in Xiuning County, but many industries might also be concealed, resulting in a large amount of commercial taxes not being collected.
but.
The prince remembered that the amount of commercial tax provided by the National Taxation Department had been increasing, and the increase was greater year by year, whether it was a county or the entire Chief Secretary.
The prince couldn't help but began to realize that ordinary traders may have been levied a lot of commercial taxes. Therefore, although many shop properties had evaded taxes by not being registered, the commercial tax bank submitted to the court was due to the test. But it's still increasing.
The prince further observed that there were obviously many idlers in the entire Xiuning County, and this seemed to be normal, because there were also many idlers in other places.
Many officials and gentry said that this was because the country was prosperous, so the people did not have to rush to produce, so they became more and more lazy and did not do their jobs properly.
But what the prince didn't understand was why among the same people, some people worked overtime and stayed up late to work in workshops and factories, while some people were willing to let themselves be so idle. They were really exploring the world of mortals, seeing through life and death, and breaking away from the material world. desire?
The prince, who has been taught since childhood that Chinese people have always been hard-working, always feels that there is something secret in this.
Especially when he found some people lying in the mountains and forests to enjoy the cool air, and some people acting as porters to carry him and the squires up the mountain to pay homage to the ancient relics.
Therefore, after returning to the county government office, the prince specially asked a young man dressed as Sun Zhongwen, a guard in royal robes, to follow him and pass on an idle man.
This idle man's name is Ronan.
As soon as the prince saw Ronan, he asked, "Are you married?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"I can't afford to marry you!"
"nonsense!"
“In this day and age, can’t you still afford a wife?”
the prince asked.
Ronan laughed and looked at the prince as if he were a fool: "My parents really don't know or they just don't know. As long as we don't go to sea, ordinary people like me with no land and no household registration will not be able to afford a wife."
The prince had to ask seriously: "Why?"
“I can’t find work, I can’t make money.”
Ronan replied.
The prince said: "There are so many shops, workshops and factories. Can't you find a job?"
Ronan said: "Only those with connections can get in! Besides, the shops, workshops and factories are all opened by the relatives of the officials. They are powerful. If you go in and have no background, you don't know how you will die."
"So, if you have money, you can't even open a shop or workshop?"
the prince asked.
Ronan nodded: "It can't be opened! Who dares to do business without some background? We ordinary people have no power anyway, so if you really have some spare money, you can spend it in a brothel. The most stupid thing is to open a shop and do business. When the time comes, you will definitely be punished by the official The old men have eaten all the bones." (End of chapter)
