After taking Li Hao back to the right hall, Wei Gongcao said goodbye and went back to Gongcao's Yamen. But before Li Hao could sit down and rest for a while, he saw Jia Cang Cao, who was under his jurisdiction, and Jia Cang Cao, who had just met him. Zhanghu Cao and Cao Shicao, three military officers and officers, came hand in hand. After entering the right hall, they paid homage and said, "I have seen Mr. Tuiguan."
After hearing this, Li Hao hurriedly said: "You three don't need to be polite. I don't know what you are here for."
The three of them looked at each other and said, "We are all directly under your command, so we come together to inquire about the future work regulations."
After hearing this, Li Hao asked the three of them to sit down and then ordered the officials to serve tea. Then he said: "The three of you also know that I am new here and I don't know enough about the specific functions and powers of the departments under my jurisdiction. Why don't you ask the three of you to explain it to me."
Then Zhanghu Cao, the oldest among the three, said: "Then let me explain to you the specific responsibilities of the three of us. The Hucao under my jurisdiction is responsible for the household registration management of everyone under the Kaifeng Prefecture; the Shicao is responsible for the household registration management of everyone under the Kaifeng Prefecture. Under the rule of Kaifeng Prefecture, he was responsible for the construction and maintenance of Hejin, bridges, and buildings; Cangcao was responsible for the salary of officials in the prefecture, rural cooking, renting and transferring public houses. In addition, he also had jurisdiction over the cashiers, merchants, and Gouji offices. .”
"As for the Gong Cao, he is in charge of the corrections and substitutions of the officials in the government, civil servants' books, examinations, and furnishings; the Bing Cao is in charge of the beacon fire, post horse transmission, gate control, field hunting, and honor guards in the Kaifeng Mansion; and the Fa Cao is in charge of the prosecution and law. Review and decide cases, etc.”
"The remaining left and right military patrols are responsible for patrolling the old and new cities, arresting thieves and interrogating, and fighting fires. They also work with the Forbidden Army to maintain public security in Bianjing."
"In addition, in the eleventh case of the envoy, the officials responsible for sending money, grain, taxes, and various documents to prisons and prisons are responsible for assisting Mr. Fu Yin in handling official affairs."
"The last Secretary of Records is responsible for household marriage lawsuits and also manages all the paperwork of the Six Cao."
After listening to everything, Li Hao said: "In that case, I mainly deal with you three colleagues on weekdays."
Zhanghu Cao said: "Your Majesty, you are welcome. We will all obey your orders."
Li Hao replied: "We are all colleagues, and we should help each other and serve the court. Especially since I have just come here, I don't know much about many things, so I'd better just follow Xiao Guicao and do everything according to past practices." That’s fine, so I’ll rely more on the help of the three of them.” After saying that, he stood up and bowed his hands to the three of them.
The three people stood up quickly and said in unison: "Don't dare, we will work together to do things for you."
After hearing this, Li Hao sat down, then asked the three of them to sit down again, and said, "Don't be too polite, you three. How about this, if you all have nothing to do today, how about I invite you all to go to Fanlou for a drink." "
After hearing this, the three people quickly agreed and then prepared to say goodbye and leave. Before leaving, Li Hao suddenly said: "By the way, I have nothing to do now. You might as well bring over some of the recent household registration information and rent and tax account books. I'll look through them when I have nothing to do, so I can understand the specific situation first."
To this, the three naturally agreed. Then they left the right hall, and after they were far away, the three of them gathered together and started talking.
Jia Cangcao said: "Although this Shangguan is not very old, he is not that young and energetic. He does not seem to be difficult to get along with."
After hearing this, Zhanghu Cao said: "Now that he has just arrived, everything will be fine, but who knows what it will be like in the future. Moreover, he is Lord Fuyin's favorite disciple. After all, it is not something you and I can afford. Take good care of it."
After hearing this, Cao Shicao also said: "What Brother Zhang said is reasonable. Anyway, I'll wait until I have something to do. I just want to keep him alive. This will save him from having to make up for it if he makes any mistakes."
Zhanghu Cao answered: "If he really doesn't want to do anything, I'm not afraid. I'm afraid he just wants to do something big. After all, he is a young man who is proud and has not been tempered. Can we stop him then?"
Then the three of them fell into silence, and then Cao Shicao said: "It's useless for us to guess here. Just wait and see. At worst, we will show off when the time comes. Didn't he invite us to have a drink today? Let's test it out then. Let’s test it later.”
After hearing this, the other two people nodded in agreement, and then went back to the Yamen. They also arranged for someone to send the household registration and account books compiled in the past to Li Hao.
After Li Hao ordered the scribe to take over, he first asked him to take a brief look at the rent and tax account books over the years. This look indeed proved that the wealth of the Song Dynasty was well-deserved. In terms of commercial tax alone, Kaifeng Prefecture collected no less than 700,000 guan last year. Adding in the Ding tax, land tax and miscellaneous tax in the annual tax, the total annual tax revenue can reach more than one million guan. .
When I saw the household registration, I was even more shocked. There were 121 registered households in Kaifeng Prefecture and 137,750 households in the outer city. With an average of five people per household, the total population of Kaifeng Prefecture reached more than 680,000. If combined with There must be at least more than 800,000 people living in Bianjing City as a result of the Imperial Guards and their families.
These data created a prosperous scene for Li Hao. After briefly looking through the data, Li Hao asked the scribe to put away all the account books and everything else.
Although Li Hao really wanted to see if there were any problems in the account books, looking at the large number of account books, it was obvious that the workload was too much. And now that I have just joined the job, there is no need to be too radical.
After everything was packed, Li Hao sent someone to see if Ouyang Xiu was still in the office. After getting a reply, he got up and rushed to the office to see Ouyang Xiu.
After entering the hall, Ouyang Xiu asked Li Hao to sit down and asked: "It's your first day in office today. How do you feel?"
Li Hao replied: "I didn't understand it at first and thought that the job of recommending officials would not be hard. But after understanding it today, I found that the responsibility is very heavy. I just looked through the household registration book in recent years, and I really didn't expect it. There are so many people living in Bianjing City."
After hearing this, Ouyang Xiu said: "Yes, before this, even I never thought that the population would be so huge, and you have to understand that this is only the registered population. If hidden households are included, the population of Bianjing City will be more than one million, so The responsibilities of Kaifeng Prefecture are far greater than those of other states and counties.”
"Although you don't care about prison, but since you just learned about it, you should understand that what you are in charge of is not just as simple as counting household registrations and collecting taxes. Selling disaster relief to the people, managing imperial examinations and government affairs, inspecting taxes, stabilizing prices, and even The etiquette and music affairs of various celebrations are within your scope of authority. Many things are directly related to people's livelihood, and you must not slack off."
After hearing this, Li Hao solemnly stood up, saluted, and said, "I understand, I will do my best and will never let you down."
Then he sat down at Ouyang Xiu's signal and heard Ouyang Xiu ask: "Have you figured out how to do things now?"
Li Hao said: "I haven't thought about it yet. It's better to understand the specific operations of each department first, and then make plans after understanding. Anyway, didn't you ask me to watch more and do less for the time being?"
After hearing this, Ouyang Xiu said: "That's good. I'm really afraid that when you first take office, you will rush into it and want to do something big."
After hearing this, Li Hao asked: "Am I so impulsive in the hearts of adults?"
Ouyang Xiu said: "That's not the case, it's just that I have seen many young people with youthful spirit and enthusiasm. In the end, many of them have good intentions and do bad things, so I just want to remind you." Then he said: "If nothing happens, you can Let's go back."
Just as Li Hao was about to stand up and leave, he suddenly heard Ouyang Xiu say: "By the way, I heard that you will invite three subordinates to have a drink at Fan Lou later."
After hearing this, Li Hao said doubtfully: "You already know this news. I made an appointment with them. Is there something wrong?"
Ouyang Xiu said: "Where did the government office come from so many secrets? As for the question, I don't have any questions. I just want to give you a few words. Firstly, it doesn't matter if we have good friends, but the emperor should not be too lenient. A balance of hardness and softness is the most appropriate. Secondly, In addition to them, you will also be able to use the Si Lu Division, the other three Cao Cao, and the Left and Right Military Inspectorate. You have to decide how to balance the relationship, and at least ensure that you can have them work together to help you when needed."
After hearing this, Li Hao replied: "Thank you for your teaching." Then he returned to the right hall.
