The autumn pond is getting longer, and the leaves turn from dark green to brown. Blown by the autumn wind, they float down and dive into the bushes.
In fact, compared to the vibrant spring and summer, Zhang Fei prefers the elegant, aloof autumn, which is full of sad beauty.
Under the autumn sunshine, all the scenery in front of you seems to become clear and translucent. This kind of beauty is even more unforgettable.
At this time, Zhang Fei was sitting at the open-air dining table, with two charming wives sitting beside him.
"ah--!"
Zhang Fei stretched out and looked at his two beauties, "It's a nice day today, would you two beauties come with me to go for a walk in the city?"
Gao Wenyin said in surprise: "Going to the city? In this season, everyone in the city will go out to play."
Zhang Fei hesitated for a moment, "Then don't go to the city and go to the countryside."
Gao Wenyin added: "If we talk about the suburbs, where else has more charming scenery than ours? I heard from Xiao Tao that many literati visit our area."
".?"
"Pfft!"
Xu Zhiqian couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw Zhang Fei's deflated expression.
Zhang Fei turned his head to look at her and said pitifully: "Xu, a beautiful lady?"
Xu Zhiqian shook her head hurriedly and said: "We still have a lot of things to do now. We still have the papers that the people handed over before, and now there is a public security management penalty regulation. There is no free time to go out and play."
"You have to take a breath even if you hang yourself."
Zhang Fei said: "You must know that this autumn is the harvest season, you may encounter surprises."
"surprise?"
Xu Zhiqian glanced at him curiously.
"Um."
Zhang Fei smiled profoundly.
As Gao Wenyin said, in this season, the suburbs are full of literati and poets, stopping to visit and climb up to gaze into the distance.
In the southern suburbs, two older scribes dressed in simple clothes came to a tea shop on the roadside to rest.
"call."
The scribe in a blue gown sat down, took a breath, and said to the gray-shirted scribe next to him: "Now that the transportation company is so busy with official duties, Brother Yuan is still interested in inviting me to come here for mountain climbing." .”
These two scribes are Cai Yanqing and Yuan Jiang.
"You have to go out and take a breather!" Yuan Jiang chuckled: "Besides, doing things behind closed doors will only be counterproductive."
Cai Yanqing heard that there seemed to be something in his words, but when he thought about it carefully, he had no clue. He looked around, but there was nothing inspiring to see.
At this moment, the shopkeeper came up with some wine and food, "My dear guests, please take your time."
"Good work!"
Yuan Jiang nodded with a smile and said, "Shopkeeper, your store is doing good business!"
"It's okay! It's okay!"
The shopkeeper nodded happily.
Yuan Jiang said: "You are so happy that you can't even close your mouth. I wonder if it's okay!"
The shopkeeper chuckled: "My guest doesn't know something. I'm not happy because the business is good. In this season, the business is usually pretty good."
Yuan Jiang snorted: "What's the reason for that?"
The shop owner said excitedly: "It's because our Hezhong Prefecture has a public prosecutor's office."
Cai Yanqing frowned, "Public Security Bureau? What does this have to do with your business?"
"It's a big deal."
The shop owner said: "In the past, we who opened a small shop, at least three to four times out of ten, had to sell out the money we earned every year. If we are unlucky, if there are a few more customers who don't dare to ask for money, the day's business will be in vain." Done.
But it's different now. Now that we have the public prosecutor's office, we can do business more safely. If anyone dares to refuse to pay, then we will sue him in the imperial court. If business is not doing well, it is because we have no ability, I admit it. However, many shops close down, not because of lack of ability, but because they have no choice. "
Cai Yanqing nodded and said, "That's it."
There happened to be a customer calling in that room, so the shopkeeper greeted him twice and then went back to the shop.
Cai Yanqing looked at Yuan Jiang and said, "This must be the reason why Brother Yuan invited me here today."
Yuan Jiang nodded: "It's obvious that the public security law is more conducive to businessmen. Since arresting some people at the police station last time, not only has the public security improved, but the small traders can also come and go easily."
Cai Yanqing said: "To promote Chang Pingsi is to use money to make money. Money can attract business. Brother Yuan plans to make more use of businessmen in the future."
Yuan Jiang nodded and said: "That's right. As far as the Salt Law is concerned, our dynasty implemented the Salt Cracking Law at the beginning. The corruption was simply shocking. In the end, the court had to use money to subsidize the Salt Cracking Law. So there was the Trade Law, but the merchants colluded with the border generals to pass off inferior goods and profit from them.
Finally, Fan Xiang came here and switched to the salt banknote method, so that he gradually got back on track. Although there were disadvantages, in general, relying on merchants could save the court more money than working for the people.
Nowadays, the Public Security Bureau and the Procuratorate are very beneficial to businessmen. Why not take advantage of this and choose to spend money to hire businessmen. "
Cai Yanqing pondered for a while and said: "Indeed! Every year when selling salt, as many as 30% or as little as 10% of the ships are wrecked on the way, and most of them are intentional. Therefore, Xue Xiang has already used merchant ships to transport, or he has used merchant ships to transport salt. , official ships merged, allowing them to supervise each other.
In this way, a lot of losses are indeed reduced, but businessmen are always seeking profits, and they will also try their best to obtain greater profits.
Moreover, this only applies to peacetime. If it is a war, merchants are still more reliable without officers and soldiers. "
Yuan Jiang immediately said: "Merchant transportation is not as easy as officers and soldiers. That's just because there is not enough money. If there is enough money, merchants will be more useful. Moreover, the transportation of officers and soldiers only relies on the labor of a large number of people along the way. But after the war, even if there is no war, The ravaged inland counties often need several years to recover, resulting in a sharp drop in tax revenue, and the losses are far lower than hiring merchants!"
"That's true."
Cai Yanqing nodded and asked, "I wonder what Brother Yuan plans to do?"
Yuan Jiang said: "The Lifting and Transportation Department only cares about the money coming in and the money going out, and does not care about the rest. When the Transportation Department allocates money to the government, it will mainly focus on coins. Didn't we mention before that many financial tasks are handed over to the government? In the local area, whatever the government needs, it spends money to buy, instead of laboring or hiring people to do it themselves.
In this way, the accounts are simple, corruption can be prevented, and losses can be saved. "
Cai Yanqing said: "But Hezhong Mansion doesn't have so many coins!"
Yuan Jiang said: "Don't you have salt banknotes? Moreover, I will also suggest to the court to increase the coinage of Hezhong Prefecture."
Cai Yanqing said: "But no one has done this before. Whether it will save money or increase expenses is not certain!"
Yuan Jiang said: "To tell you the truth, I don't dare to say anything about what will happen, but reforms are happening right now, not only in finance, but also in the military camp. If you choose to hire businessmen at this time, you can also lay off people." If more people are dropped, the cost will be relatively lower if it is tried out."
Over there, Zhang Fei finally deceived Xu Zhiqian, and the couple chose to travel on horseback.
The two of them were galloping in the countryside, having a great time.
In fact, Xu Zhiqian is not a homebody and cannot stay at home, but she prefers to work.
Of course, the cost is also very high, and they are followed by Long Wu, Niu Beiqing, and four masters.
The group rested for a while at a foot shop along the way, then rode south again to explore the surrounding scenery.
"Oh, the surprise you mentioned is this businessman."
Xu Zhiqian looked at Zhang Fei with sudden realization.
Zhang Fei nodded and said: "Exactly, of course the Public Security Bureau does not only provide help to businessmen, but depending on how well the Public Security Law is implemented, it is best to find the answer from the businessmen.
Because no matter how fair the Public Security Law is, it cannot change the lives of ordinary people, but it can revitalize business, because businessmen have no power and can only rely on contracts. This is very consistent with the Public Security Law. "
Xu Zhiqian nodded thoughtfully, "It's a pity that those businessmen are only interested in profit and forget their loyalty. They are of no great use to the country."
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "If it is beneficial to the public security organs, does it count as beneficial to the country?"
Xu Zhiqian said: "Is it beneficial to the police, procuratorate and law?"
"certainly."
Zhang Fei said: "If businessmen rely on the Public Security Bureau to become stronger, they will naturally become staunch supporters of the Public Security Law, but those big landowners will never support the Public Security Law.
Because the Public Security Bureau will not only deprive them of some of their power, but will also inhibit their development. "
Xu Zhiqian said happily: "I understand, you want to use the power of businessmen to deal with those big landowners."
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded: "That's right."
Suddenly I heard a noise in front of me. I looked up and saw a wooden shed on the street full of people.
"What happened?"
Xu Zhiqian immediately walked up on her horse.
"Hello."
A fast horse suddenly caught up from behind, it was Long Wu.
Zhang Fei breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself, this woman is really brave. He immediately followed on horseback.
When I arrived near the wooden shed, I saw a man walking out from the side, "President Zhang."
Zhang Fei turned his head and looked, "Ou Jun? Why is it you."
Ou Jun pointed to the wooden shed, "This is our Royal Police branch."
"ah?"
Zhang Fei was stunned and then thought that at that time, this branch office was promoting it to nearby villages by registering military pay for soldiers, and in order to prevent people from noticing that these branches would exist permanently, they did not directly buy or build houses, but just temporary ones. A wooden shed was built.
Xu Zhiqian asked: "Police Ou, why are there so many people?"
Ou Jun said: "They are all farmers nearby and came here specially to pay taxes."
"Pay taxes?"
Xu Zhiqian said in surprise: "It seems that there is still half a month until the autumn tax collection."
Ou Jun said: "We have told them to pay the tax later, but they refused and had to pay it now. Later, after Magistrate Cai gave permission, we let them pay the tax."
Xu Zhiqian was confused when she heard this. She had never seen anything like paying taxes in a hurry. I couldn’t help but ask: “Did Hezhong Mansion charge very heavy taxes in the past?”
Ou Jun said: "That's not the case. It's just that in the past, Li Zheng, household heads, and government officials went door to door with tax bills to collect them. They mostly looked at the tax bills, but now they declare independently, can see the land deed, and pay taxes. This is very beneficial to the farmers. They are afraid that the government will change their minds at that time, so they are in a hurry to pay taxes."
Zhang Fei said: "So the people who come now are all farmers."
Ou Jun nodded and said: "They are all farmers, there are no landlords or tenant farmers."
Zhang Fei said: "Then have you asked about the specific situation in the village?"
Ou Jun looked around and whispered: "They are all walking around now, and they seem to be unwilling to pay taxes according to the land deed."
Xu Zhiqian said worriedly: "Zhang San, if they all play tricks, how should we deal with them?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said: "Then only one can come out alive."
(End of chapter)
