Yang Ming's promise to reward Du Ruhui with a concubine was not just for words.
And he was sure that this boy was no longer a virgin. He was sixteen years old. Coming from such a family, it was impossible for him not to taste the taste of women.
Yang Yinjiang was responsible for managing the maids in the inner garden, so Yang Ming asked her to select a more beautiful maid named Ruhua and rewarded it to Du Ruhui.
The maid can only provide the services she can provide, and there is no way to have any spiritual communication with Du Ruhui, who has read many books about sages.
And Yang Ming's reward was not to spy on the other party. Du Ruhui was already under his nose, and there was nothing to spy on.
In Yang Yinjiang's view, servants cannot read. Even if you let them read, they have no interest in it.
Just like the rulers of the feudal dynasty, they didn't want to see all the people studying. If they knew too much, it would be difficult to manage them.
Next, Yang Ming will prepare a congratulatory gift for his sister Yang Chan.
It was less than a month before October, and it would be too late if he didn't prepare, and it was impossible for him to be drafted back to Beijing just because Yang Chan got married.
However, Yang Ming believes that the marriage between the two will not take place in October, after all, he has not received notification from his father and mother.
What can I give? Yang Ming actually wanted to prepare some more unique gifts, but after much thought, he couldn't find anything like this.
And the congratulatory gifts he gave couldn't be too many, because he was a younger brother, not an older brother.
The ones who really want to prepare generous gifts are the eldest brother Yang Zhao and the second child Yang Jian.
He's not an adult yet, so it's okay to just mean it.
Yang Ming took Yang Yinjiang to the warehouse and asked her to help choose. Women know women best.
Of course, gold, silver and jade were no big deal. Wherever Yang Yinjiang pointed, a servant would carefully wrap up the item. It didn't take long before a corner of the warehouse was emptied.
Then, Yang Yinjiang selected 6,000 pieces of fine brocade, 4,000 pieces of damask, 200 pieces of fine horses, and 5,000 shi of rice.
This is how gifts were given in the Sui Dynasty. They basically chose from "food, clothing, housing and transportation". Other than that, there was really nothing to give.
Half a month later, Yang Ming received a letter from his mother-in-law Xiao, saying that his sister Yang Chan was to marry Pei Xuanji of Hedong, and the date was set for November 26th.
Yang Ming hurriedly ordered the congratulatory convoy to go north, making sure to deliver the things before the wedding.
Yang Chan got married, and Yang Ming was relieved of one of his worries. However, there was another thing in the letter from his eldest brother Yang Zhao that made Yang Ming very unhappy.
Yuwen Ergou, who was originally sent to the frontier as a garrison, came back and became his father's bodyguard.
There is nothing that can be done about this. Yu Wenshu is his father's confidant, and his father is now the prince. Sangou has a promising future.
Surprisingly, Jiancheng also wrote a letter to Yang Ming. The letter was quite bragging, saying that Shimin was disobedient and was beaten by him, although he was beaten by Li Yuan again after that. , but Shimin is quite afraid of him now and has been trying to please him.
This is how children are, the more afraid they are, the more they will find ways to please them.
Yang Ming wrote three words of encouragement to Jiancheng: "Well done."
On this day, Du Ruhui came to Yang Ming with a stack of files in his hand.
"There's something wrong with the fields in Baling County."
After Yang Ming asked him to sit down, he smiled and said, "Speak slowly."
Du Ruhui is now the general manager of Fu Hu Cao, in charge of farming and mulberry affairs in Jingzhou area, so the field acres are within the scope of his duties.
He nodded and said: "There are a total of 1,300 acres of open fields in Baling County, of which 300 acres are public fields. The annual tax payable is 1,000 acres, and the tax is in full." Turned in."
Yang Ming was stunned: "Then what's the problem?"
Du Ruhui said: "I checked and found that the actual tax-paying acres in Baling County are only 300 qing. In other words, these 300 qing people paid a 1,000 qing tax, so where are the taxes for the other 700 qing? Already?"
Yang Ming's face instantly darkened, and he understood what Du Ruhui meant.
All over Jingzhou
Regarding the issue of farmland, he was not unaware that ordinary people almost did not have enough farmland, some of which was due to geographical issues.
For example, counties located in the northern mountainous areas have a large population but few acres of land, so there is not enough land for distribution.
But Baling County is a major grain-producing county with Honghu Lake in it. It can be said to be a land of fish and rice. The acres of land are definitely enough. The government must have obtained more land, and the aristocratic families have also divided up a lot. But you can't ask these three hundred farmers to pay their own taxes. He said that he would also pay taxes for you, and he still paid three to make up for seven. This was going too far.
If you impose taxes like this, once public anger is aroused, what will I do to the superiors?
"Check! You personally lead people to check. First check the total number of acres in Baling County, and then check where these fields belong. No matter who is involved, they must find out for me."
Du Ruhui was stunned on the spot.
Originally, he thought that Yang Ming's first step would be to call Baling Governor Gao Zhu for questioning before making a decision. Unexpectedly, Yang Ming directly asked him to investigate, clearly not giving Gao Zhu face.
Although Yang Ming's instructions stated that no matter who was involved, they must be investigated, but Du Ruhui still didn't understand how big the scale should be.
Will the government’s public farmland be inspected? How should the family investigate?
So Du Ruhui asked carefully: "Is it going to be checked from top to bottom?"
Yang Ming suddenly frowned: "Don't you understand what I said?"
"I understand," Du Ruhui nodded quickly, feeling reassured.
That is to say, only the clan has such great courage. If it were anyone else, they would save some face for the prefect of a county. After all, if he can achieve this position, how can there be no one behind him.
If you don't give face to the county guard, you still have to give some face to the people behind you.
Just check it, if anything happens, you will be the one to take care of it.
The next day, Du Ruhui got the approval document from Yuan Wendu and went to Baling County with two hundred guards from the General Manager's Office.
He still doesn't know that his departure will create a huge trap for Yang Ming.
...
Time flies so fast and it’s almost the end of the year.
The various states and counties will begin to calculate the general ledgers. The total amount of taxes collected this year will be sealed and stored in the treasury at the end of the year.
Then these local officials will come to Jiangling to discuss next year's expenditure with Yang Ming.
Spending means discussing how to spend money.
The money from various treasuries is just sitting there. Who is not jealous, and who doesn't want to find more projects so that more funds can be approved.
Yang Ming is responsible for reporting these, and then the Ministry of Household Affairs will review and submit them to the imperial review. The funds that pass will be covered with red. The funds that do not pass will be honestly sealed into the treasury and affixed with a seal. Who dares to tear it? Who wants it? life.
There are two treasuries in the Jingzhou area, one in Jiangling County and one in Jiangxia County. The person responsible for guarding the treasury is the local commissioner assigned by Taifu Temple, and Yang Ming cannot control them.
On December 10th, all twenty-two chief officials from the Jingzhou area arrived in Jiangling County, waiting to be summoned by Yang Ming.
The servants of the Governor's Mansion were busy all day, preparing wine, food and meat, and placed pens, inks, papers and inkstones in front of each chief officer's desk.
Early the next morning, twenty-two people entered the back hall of the Governor's Mansion and began to discuss matters.
The first was Yang Xuangan. After he stated the tax accounts of the Jiangxia (Ezhou) region one by one, he said:
"Next year, Ezhou will have only two major expenses besides daily expenses. One is that Jiangxia Wharf needs to be repaired and ten more official ships need to be added. The expenditure for this item is about 230,000 yuan. The other is for the city. There is a need to build another Buddhist temple in China, which was assigned by Taichang Temple. The money is 280,000 yuan. Apart from this, there are no other expenses."
It would be nice if people could be as worry-free as you are.
Yang Ming nodded and looked to Yuan Wendu aside:
"Recorded in Eucalyptus."
Yang Ming deliberately chose Yang Xuangan to be the first to report expenses, just to give him a head start, because he knew that Yang Xuangan was not very interested in money, so he would not compile a lot of expenses.
The person who speaks later can be as many as
I will be a little afraid of erasing those places that I have already prepared and it sounds like I shouldn’t spend money.
At this time, Yang Ming looked at Murong Sanzang again and asked, "How is the situation in Jiangling County?"
Murong Sanzang was working under Yang Ming's nose, so he naturally didn't dare to make any random reports. After clarifying this year's tax situation, he said:
"Jingzhou Pier also needs repairs and maintenance, which will cost about 230,000 yuan."
Originally, in the article he prepared, this item cost 250,000 guan, but when he heard that Yang Xuangan's additional official ship would only cost 230,000 guan, he quickly revised it and reduced it by 20,000 guan.
Yang Ming nodded and signaled the other party to continue.
Murong Sanzang said: "The treasury is abundant this year, and the Jiasheng warehouse in the north of the city is almost full, so it is necessary to build an additional warehouse, which costs about 90,000 guan. There is a flood in Changlin County, and 300,000 guan are needed for disaster relief. There are still three hundred thousand guan. The county river embankment needs to be strengthened and requires 280,000 yuan..."
Yang Ming felt dizzy after hearing this.
Who said that governing a big country is like cooking small dishes? It obviously raises people's blood pressure.
The amount listed by Murong Sanzang, in addition to offsetting all taxes from Jiangling County this year, also left a deficit of 480,000 guan.
But there is no way. The problems mentioned by the other party are real and do require money.
After all, Jiangling County is the capital of Jingzhou, and there are too many places to spend money. These shortfalls can only be made up from other counties.
Next, Yang Ming asked Du Zha from Xiangyang County to speak.
Yang Ming clenched his heart, and finally breathed a sigh of relief after listening to the other party's account.
Yes, Xiangyang relies on the benefits of the Han River. This year, it has collected a lot of taxes on water transportation, and apart from building river embankments and building canals to irrigate acres of land, it has not made many major expenditures. It only spent a total of 680,000 yuan. Guan, excluding the annual expenses, there will be a balance of about 1.7 million Guan.
Very good, it can make up for the shortfall of Jiangling County.
However, Yang Ming knew better than to be happy too early. Only three of the twenty-two chief officers had passed.
Next, Yang Ming called their names one by one and asked them to report their expenses.
This discussion lasted until late at night.
"Okay, okay, everyone, please go back to Guanyi and rest first. We will discuss it tomorrow."
Yang Ming dragged his tired body back to the inner garden and asked Yang Yinjiang to be called directly.
In the house, Yang Ming changed his clothes and got on the bed under the service of Warm Winter and Cool Summer, allowing them to massage his tired body one after another.
Yang Yinjiang sat aside and said with a smile: "How is it? Isn't it very confusing?"
"The head is as big as an ox," Yang Ming lay on the bed and said with a wry smile, "These bastards are better at spending money to repair the city gates. They even dare to ask for 40,000 guan. Why don't they go and rob it?"
Yang Yinjiang waved her hand, signaling Nuan Dong and Liang Xia to step back. Then she took off her boots, got on the couch and knelt beside her, gently beating Yang Ming's back:
"Take your time, this is a bargaining process. How much do they want, how much do you really want to approve? They are testing you now to see if you can handle it well."
Yang Ming said: "Then what should I do according to your words?"
Yang Yinjiang thought for a moment: "Regardless of whether it's reasonable or not, cut it all in half and let them figure it out on their own. A piece of cake can be a meal or a day's rations."
Yang Ming smiled and shook his neck: "Down below."
Yang Yinjiang smiled sweetly, changed her sitting position, and tapped Yang Ming's waist.
