Zhao Bin walked towards the gate of the palace. At this time, Wang Wu also followed and asked, "My lord, are you going out?"
"Well, I want to go out for a walk and see what Yan City is like." Zhao Bin said.
"Then where are we going?" Wang Wu asked.
"Go to the government office and have a look."
"Then I'll call Commander Xiao," Wang Wu said.
"No, just let the guard tell him. There's no need to call anyone. Everything will be fine in broad daylight." After saying that, he walked out. Wang Wu said a few words to the guard and followed closely.
The palace is located in the center of the city, and the government office is located about ten minutes east of the center of the city, so it is not very far away.
The three of them left the palace and headed east. People were coming and going on the street, but after all, it was a border town, not as prosperous as the capital, and the population was not that large.
Soon the three of them arrived at the entrance of the government office. Two large stone lions stood on both sides of the door, and four lean government servants stood on both sides with sabers on their waists.
Seeing someone coming, one of the government officials immediately stepped forward and shouted: "Stop, what do you do?"
Zhao Bin glanced at a few people and said, "I am Zhao Bin, King of Yan."
"Yan, King Yan?" The government official was speechless. He knew that King Yan had arrived in Yancheng, but they had been on duty in the government office for the past two days and did not go to the city gate with the eunuch to receive him, so they had not seen Zhao Bin.
At this time, I was a little surprised and a little suspicious when I heard someone say that he was King Yan. Upon seeing this, Zhao Bin immediately took out a golden token from his arms and engraved the word "Yan Wang" on it.
When the four government officials saw the token, they hurriedly knelt on the ground: pay homage to His Highness King Yan.
"Get up. Is Mr. Lin in the office?" Zhao Bin asked calmly.
"Go back to Your Majesty. Mr. Lin is handling official business in the inner hall. Your Majesty, please come with me."
After saying this, the yamen servant stepped aside and led the way into the yamen. Another yamen servant had already trotted into the yamen to report.
Not long after Zhao Bin walked into the courtyard of the government office, he saw Lin Jingtang running up to him with several officials.
Several people came to Zhao Bin and saluted in unison: "I am here to pay my respects to His Highness King Yan."
"You don't have to be polite," Zhao Bin said, raising his hand.
Lin Jingtang stood up and said, "Your Majesty, please come."
As everyone came to the hall, Zhao Bin sat on the main seat, and the rest of the group stood below.
Seeing this, Zhao Bin said: "I am passing by today, so I came in to take a look. You don't have to be polite, please sit down and talk."
"Thank you, Your Majesty" everyone replied with cupped hands.
"I arrived in Yancheng for the first time yesterday, and I am not familiar with you all. Please introduce yourselves to your name and official position, so that I can get to know you."
Lin Jingtang stood up from the chair and cupped his hands and said: "Xia Guan Lin..."
"Hey, Mr. Lin, you don't have to. You and I met yesterday. Just let others introduce us." Zhao Bin waved his hand to Lin Jingtang to sit down.
After that, Lin Jingtang stood up and saluted with his hands raised: "I am Cao Li, currently serving as the county magistrate of Yancheng." The county magistrate is actually the deputy of the prefect, which is equivalent to the deputy mayor.
"The lower official He Miao is currently the chief registrar of Yancheng." The chief registrar is equivalent to the director of the municipal government office.
"The lower official Yang Tai is currently the treasurer of Yancheng." The treasurer is in charge of money and grain.
"The last general, Qin Fang, is currently the captain of Yancheng." After Qin Fang finished speaking, he sat back on his chair. Zhao Bin couldn't help but look at this man a few more times. He was tall and strong, no less powerful than Xiao Chu, with a Chinese character face and a thick face. Big eyebrows and big eyes.
The reason why Zhao Bin looked at this person more was not because of his appearance, but because Xiao Chu said that the vassal king was not allowed to enjoy military power. It turned out that the military power of the county and city had to be handed over to the Ministry of War, which meant that Qin was not under his jurisdiction and was under the jurisdiction of King Yan. .
Qin Fang stood up alone and said, "I am a lower official, Wei Xiang, and I am currently the head of the capital."
After several people introduced each other, Zhao Bin said: "I have just arrived in Yancheng, and I am not very familiar with the affairs of Yancheng. I will need more help from you in the future."
Lin Jingtang said: "Your Majesty, you're welcome. Now that your Majesty has agreed, we will be your subordinates in the future. We will definitely obey your Majesty's instructions."
He said this quite calmly. Logically speaking, the prefect was the lord of a city, and no one wanted to have someone with a higher official position than themselves.
But this Lin Jingtang is different, or this Yancheng is different. Lin Jingtang is a good official, otherwise he would not come to Yancheng.
In his early years, Lin Jingtang served in the court, but because he offended the powerful people in the court and became a victim of the family, he was finally squeezed out of the court and demoted to Yancheng.
Now in his fifties, almost sixty years old, he is no longer capable of handling government affairs. He has long thought of retiring and returning to his hometown. He originally planned to submit a letter to resign at the end of the year.
So it doesn't matter to him whether King Yan comes to Yancheng or whether someone else comes to be his immediate boss. He just hopes that there won't be a dandy prince.
Yancheng was originally a frontier fortress. Over the past hundred years, the nomads from the north had broken through the pass several times, burned, killed, and looted, leaving the population sparsely populated.
He has been in Yancheng for ten years, hoping to restore production and increase the population through measures such as light corvee and low taxes. However, in ten years, the population of Yancheng has increased by less than one-tenth. As a prefect, he is already more than capable. Not enough.
"Now that Mr. Lin has said this, I will not be polite. I have a few questions I would like to know. What is the total population of Yancheng? What is the tax situation every year?" Zhao Bin looked at Lin Jingtang and said.
"Back to your lord, the total population of Yancheng is less than 100,000. There are about 50,000 residents in Yancheng and less than 50,000 villagers in the surrounding villages and towns.
In addition, there are five county towns under its jurisdiction, which have long been dilapidated and destroyed, with almost no population.
However, the prince's fiefdom was limited to Yancheng and surrounding villages and towns. The five counties under the imperial court's original jurisdiction would be assigned to nearby counties and cities.
Please let Mr. Yang talk about the specific details of taxation. "
Yang Tai stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the cultivated land in Yancheng is about 350,000 acres. The grain tax in Yancheng is 4/10, which is equivalent to about 150,000 dan per year. The commercial tax is 2/10, which is about 10,000 guan per year, which is equivalent to Ten thousand taels of silver, two hundred bolts of cloth, two hundred game, five hundred animal skins, five hundred catties of medicinal materials..."
Zhao Bin listened silently to the data reported by Yang Tai. It was obvious that there were big problems with Yancheng's tax revenue. First, the number of cultivated fields was too small, and second, the yield was extremely low, with only one stone of grain per mu.
The key problem should be insufficient labor or backward production technology. Of course, natural factors should also play a role.
Third, taxes are too high. He remembered from his previous life that history showed that the tax revenue in the Qing Dynasty was only a few percent.
But that is much more than the taxes collected in this way. Of course, the productivity level in the Ming and Qing dynasties was already quite high.
Zhao Bin really can't figure out which stage of history the dynasty he traveled to is in. Forget it, since you can’t think of it, don’t think about it, just solve the problem step by step.
Everyone was talking and chatting in the hall, the atmosphere slowly relaxed, the atmosphere became less restrictive, and time passed by unknowingly.
Seeing the evening, Zhao Bin finally said: "The autumn harvest is about to begin now. The king wants to go out of town tomorrow. Will Mr. Lin have time to accompany me to see the autumn harvest tomorrow?"
Just as Lin Jingtang was about to speak, Cao Li, the county magistrate who made the move, said, "Your Majesty, Mr. Lin is old and may not have enough strength. Why don't you go out with me and accompany you out of the city tomorrow?"
Zhao Bin glanced at Cao Li and then at Lin Jingtang. Although Lin Jingtang didn't say anything, he seemed to acquiesce to the subordinate's opinion.
Zhao Bin seemed to understand something when he saw this. It seemed that Cao Juncheng had some ideas, and the two seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding.
"Okay, let's let Cao Juncheng accompany you. Mr. Lin can handle other matters in the government office. It's getting late, and it's time for everyone to leave their posts. If you have anything to do in the future, you can come to the palace to see me at any time."
After saying this, Zhao Bin walked out the door, and everyone also walked all the way to the outside of the government office to "send off the prince."
After Zhao Bin left the government office, everyone returned to the hall. Yang Tai was the first to speak: "Sir, what did King Yan mean by his last words?"
Lin Jingtang took a sip of tea and said with a meaningful smile: "That's what it means literally."
"Literally?"
Cao Li didn't speak. He understood that this was King Yan declaring his sovereignty. Lin Jingtang had also mentioned to him that he would submit a petition to complain at the end of the year, and bluntly said that he would recommend him to the court to take over the post of prefect.
Although I'm not sure whether the imperial court will adopt it, I think it won't be a big problem. No one wants to come to this border area.
Besides, now that King Yan is here, and after Lin Jingtang leaves, the candidate for the post of prefect will most likely be decided by King Yan. This is also the reason why he took the initiative to accompany Zhao Bin out of the city just now.
