Relocating the county government office?
Zhan Tong frowned slightly and looked deeply at Gu Zhengchen: "Gu Zhixian's words seem to have other meanings."
Gu Zhengchen smiled.
I was so worried that I couldn't sleep last night. After all, Wei Guan, the prefect of Suzhou, was a great official who worked for the people. He was able to achieve the first place in Ming Dynasty's political performance because of his sincere dedication. It is really chilling to have someone grab the handle and chop off the head.
Maybe it was because the sky was unstoppable that Wei Guan actually sent Zhan Tong at this time!
Zhan Tong and Wei Guan are acquaintances, and they are very familiar people, because they were both living together in their early years.
Yes, these two were the civil servants who recorded Lao Zhu's words and deeds. Of course, they were not the ones to record the affairs in the harem, and it would not be appropriate to ask them to break the news.
Later, Zhan Tong and Wei Guan were both sent by Zhu Yuanzhang to travel around the country in search of talented people. As for how many so-called talented people these two men had produced, Gu Zhengchen did not know, but Zhan Tong and Wei Guan cherished each other and had a good personal relationship. .
"When Wu Lin left, I mentioned you many times. I am returning home for my official career. Although I won't pass through Jurong, I still want to come and see you."
Zhan Tong sat down and mentioned Wu Lin.
Gu Zhengchen was very grateful to the old minister Wu Lin. After marrying Zhang Xiwan, he learned that the reason why his father-in-law Zhang He readily agreed to the marriage was because Wu Lin talked about him before proposing to the Gu family.
In a sense, Wu Lin is the "matchmaker" between Gu Zhengchen and Zhang Xiwan.
"I don't know what happened to Wu Shangshu."
Gu Zhengchen exchanged greetings.
Zhan Tong took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "He just returned to Huanggang and got a new title, called Chizu Shangshu."
"oh?"
Gu Zhengchen was very interested.
Zhan Tong looked at Zhan Hui. Zhan Hui knew that his father was tired from talking too much, so he took the initiative to do it for him: "Gu Zhi County, after Mr. Wu took office at the beginning of this year, he enjoyed farming in his hometown. However, His Majesty was suspicious, so he sent an angel An unannounced visit to Huanggang. After the angel arrived, he looked for Wu Lin's residence and saw an old farmer wearing a straw hat, sitting on a rice-planting horse, barefoot, raising rice seedlings in the paddy field. He thought he was an old farmer, so he went up to inquire about Wu Shangshu's family. Where."
"Unexpectedly, the old farmer looked at the angel and said bluntly: I am Wu Lin. The angel was greatly surprised. He never thought that the old farmer who was farming barefoot and skilled in the skills was actually the famous official minister. After the angel returned to Jinling, he informed His Majesty, Your Majesty was so impressed that he was a barefoot minister."
Gu Zhengchen burst into laughter. He had to say that Wu Lin, the barefooted minister, was very good. At least he had a good old age.
But this incident also revealed that Zhu Yuanzhang's suspicion seemed to be much more serious than before. You must know that Wu Lin was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, a civil servant, and an old man who had little influence after becoming an official. What could he have planned? Is there anything Lao Zhu cares about?
There was really no need to send an angel to make an unannounced visit, but Lao Zhu did it anyway.
Gu Zhengchen took over the conversation with a smile and looked at Zhan Tong: "I am the magistrate of the county, and he is the barefoot minister. What kind of minister does Zhan Shangshu plan to be?"
Zhan Tong burst out laughing, leaned back on his chair and laughed heartily: "What a great Gu Zhengchen."
Zhan Hui rarely saw his father smile like this, and looked at Gu Zhengchen with gratitude in his eyes.
Zhan Tong smiled and started talking about business: "Speaking of eating and magistrate, your journey in Jurong is very admirable. Three of the four courtyards have added a lot of income to the people, and there is news that you We plan to encourage people to raise pigs and grow medicinal herbs in Jurong, in order to get rid of poverty and allow people to have food to eat. Do you think these paths are feasible?"
Gu Zhengchen walked towards Zhan Tong and picked up the teapot on the table: "A gentleman once said: There is no road in the world. When more people walk, it becomes a road. Whether these roads are feasible depends on the people who follow them. too much."
"When there are more people walking, it becomes a road? This statement has some charm of studying things. The gentleman you are talking about is also a master of Neo-Confucianism?"
Zhan Tong asked.
Gu Zhengchen shook his head slightly: "No one has ever thought about how to fundamentally solve the problem of people having enough food. In other words, all those who want to solve this problem stubbornly put everything on the fields. But if you think about it carefully, I think, if every house can be hung with bacon in the winter, even if there is a famine in the coming year, if you save some food, at least you will not become a refugee, and you will not starve to death..."
Gu Zhengchen had no reservations about how to develop and his considerations for development, and informed Zhan Tong of them all.
Zhan Tong listened very carefully, asked a few questions from time to time, and frowned: "You are doing the right thing, but you should not promise to help the people sell it. This is unwise. If every household in Jurong If you raise pigs, let’s say one pig per family, tens of thousands of pigs, who are you going to sell them to?”
Gu Zhengchen sat next to Zhan Tong: "This is indeed a thorny issue, but the county government is not without its back-ups. The signing of this contract is under the control of the county government, which means that the county government can actively control the domestic pigs sold on its behalf. quantity."
"In addition, the population of Jinling will increase, and the consumption of meat will also increase. It is not impossible to sell three to five thousand pigs in Jinling a year, not to mention that Guanglu Temple also needs pigs... …”
"Guanglu Temple, are you planning to sell the pig to His Majesty?"
Zhan Tong was surprised.
Gu Zhengchen laughed: "It's not selling to anyone. As long as the pigs can be turned into copper coins or grains, the palace can sell them, and the East Palace can also sell them. If it doesn't work, I will go to Wei Guogong's mansion to sell them, so that Wei Guogong can eat them for more than a year. You can still do it with a few pigs. Sales is a science, and there is always a way..."
Zhan Tong suddenly remembered that he was worried in vain. Gu Zhengchen was not only a magistrate of the county, but also a judge of people. A guy who can make the sugar business bigger and stronger really doesn't have to worry about sales.
"If you weren't an official, you'd be pretty good as a businessman."
Zhan Tong said seriously.
Gu Zhengchen was noncommittal.
If you become a big businessman under Lao Zhu, you may not end well. If you become a local rich man, you will be bullied by officials.
Gu Zhengchen chatted with Zhan Tong for more than an hour. Seeing that Zhan Tong wanted to leave, he stood up and said, "Zhan Shangshu, I don't know if I can take a step to talk."
Zhan Tong looked at Gu Zhengchen doubtfully. There were only three people in this room, and the extra one was his son. What was there to worry about? Do you still need to take a step forward?
Even so, Zhan Tong still nodded in agreement.
Zhan Hui left the second hall and stood guard outside the door.
Gu Zhengchen looked at Zhan Tong and said solemnly: "Wei Guan, the prefect of Suzhou, is a good friend of Zhan Shangshu, right?"
Zhan Tong nodded slightly: "That's right."
Gu Zhengchen looked at the door and lowered his voice: "I wonder if Zhan Shangshu passed by Suzhou when he returned to his hometown?"
Zhan Tong stared at Gu Zhengchen, not understanding what he meant.
My hometown is Wuyuan, so coming to Jurong is already a detour, and going to Suzhou is even longer. Although he misses Wei Guan very much, he is busy working to provide relief and appease the victims, so it is best not to disturb him.
Seeing Zhan Tong shaking his head, Gu Zhengchen said in a deep voice: "Zhan Shangshu should pass by Suzhou when he returns to his hometown!"
Zhan Tong said: "You want me to meet Wei Guan, why?"
Gu Zhengchen did not say it directly, but instead said in a roundabout way: "I heard that the Suzhou Prefecture is using work for relief. The Wei Prefecture not only plans to dredge the inner rivers of Suzhou, but also plans to move the prefecture's administration to the inner city, and the prefecture's administration is within it. The location of the city is exactly Zhang Shicheng’s palace!”
Zhan Tong heard Gu Zhengchen bite the word "palace" very hard, and he understood in an instant.
It is extremely taboo to build the Ming government on Zhang Shicheng's palace. If someone is taking advantage of it and submits a memorial, he will definitely die!
Zhan Tong took a deep breath and nodded: "You are right, I should go to Suzhou."
Gu Zhengchen was relieved and relaxed: "This matter is not a trivial matter. Chen Ning and I had nothing to do with each other, but just because His Majesty made him hungry, he put his grudge on me and attacked me several times. And the relationship between Chen Ning and Wei Zhifu The depth of his fault is far greater than mine. Once he gets a hold of him, he will definitely kill him."
Zhan Tong understands Chen Ning, this is a dog, and a vicious dog!
"This thing may work."
Zhan Tong squinted his eyes, as if he had thought of something, and then glanced at Gu Zhengchen: "What happens next has nothing to do with you. Just treat it as if it never happened, and Suzhou has never been mentioned between us."
Gu Zhengchen didn't know what kind of trouble this retired old fox could make, but he was right, he had never mentioned this matter.
After Zhan Tong left, Gu Zhengchen sent him three miles outside the city before returning to the county government office.
As soon as they returned to the county government office, Yang Liang, the magistrate, arrested two men in tattered clothes and said to Gu Zhengchen: "Your Majesty, they claim to be refugees from Suzhou Prefecture and they can't escape alive."
"People from Suzhou Prefecture?"
Gu Zhengchen frowned and looked at the two people, one a middle-aged man and the other a young man. After a cross-examination, the two of them answered fluently, even the mayor and the old man could answer clearly. They could basically be from Suzhou Prefecture.
This is a father and son, the father is named Wang Chui and the son is named Wang Zhuo.
"Prefect Wei didn't provide work-for-relief in Suzhou, so why did you escape?"
Gu Zhengchen asked.
Wang Chui looked at Gu Zhengchen with a sad look on his face: "May I ask the county magistrate, how much is the tax on one acre of private land in Jurong? And dare I ask the county magistrate, do you know how much the tax is on one acre of private land in Suzhou Prefecture? It's seven dou and five liters!"
Gu Zhengchen suddenly realized.
Famine was just an inducement; the real reason for them to flee famine was too heavy taxes.
The tax on one mu of private land in Jurong is a little over three liters, but in Suzhou Prefecture the tax on one mu of private land is over seven pou and five liters. Compared with the heavy taxes in other areas, which are as high as 25 times, the taxes in other places cannot even catch up to a fraction of Suzhou Prefecture.
The total amount of grain harvested from one acre of land is basically two stones and twenty buckets, and the tax directly accounts for more than one-third.
Wang Chui was filled with sadness: "We endured hunger to help the plow even before the frost abated. We could only light a handful of straw to keep warm when it was freezing. When the seedlings were established, the weather had just warmed up, so we had to stoop to plant rice in the field, waist-deep every day. The poles would be broken. When it was time to plant the seedlings, it was hot and we would comb with our fingers and kneel in the field."
"We still need to guard the crops. We are afraid that people and animals will damage the fields, so we can't even sleep well. As soon as we collected the grain, the government took away nearly half of it for us in the blink of an eye. The remaining grain was not enough for us for half a year! This year's government loan Suzhou Prefecture, when the autumn harvest comes, our family may not even have a morsel of food left. County Lord, we can’t survive..."
"I'm going to see a Chinese medicine doctor today. It's a long journey. I'm taking a day off to rest. Please understand. Thank you Jingxue."
