Only when she truly became a local official did Feng Ziying deeply feel the inconvenience and backwardness of the agricultural era.
For a huge dynasty like the Zhou Dynasty, even if the capital city already has a million people living in it, it is still the largest city in the entire world. However, whether it is the backwardness of its urban management or the lagging economic development, it has made it difficult for it to survive.
It is unimaginable and unacceptable to modern people.
Urban management in this era seemed to focus on only two things, one was public security and population management, and the other was ensuring basic expenses, especially the needs of the royal family, bureaucrats, the army and their families, and the rest could be ignored.
This is why the slightest change, whether it is floods, droughts, epidemics, or insufficient supply caused by water transportation congestion, will cause unrest in such a big city.
Shuntian Prefecture is far from being self-sufficient in food. It feeds millions of people in the capital. Without the support of water transportation, it is impossible to support the survival of such a huge city.
What Feng Ziying finds difficult to accept is that even in this era, the salaries of court officials and military officers and soldiers were still paid in salary and grain. This situation lasted until thirty years after Yuanxi, when it gradually began to be paid in part.
The distribution was divided into silver coins and part of the salary and grain, from seven and a half silver grains in the 30th year of Yuanxi to half and half silver grains in the eighth year of Yonglong, which is enough to illustrate the importance of grain.
The reason why salaries are still paid at half lumi is partly because of the shortage of gold and silver. However, this situation is rapidly improving with the lifting of the maritime ban. Silver bullion and silver ingots from Sulu, Japan and Nanyang are being used in large quantities.
The influx into Dazhou at a speed visible to the naked eye greatly alleviated the silver shortage, and also had some impact on food-based prices. If it were not for Dazhou's silk, tea, porcelain, cloth, medicinal materials and other goods, it would still remain stable.
With strong export sales momentum, this impact will be even greater.
On the other hand, because the grain output in the south of the Yangtze River has become more profitable with mulberry, cotton, hemp, indigo and other cash crops, the momentum of abandoning grain to plant mulberry has become stronger. "Suhu ripe, the world is full" has been officially changed to "Huguang ripe"
"The world is full", which also made the water transportation route to ensure the capital's grain longer. The large-scale transportation of grain formed a line from Huguang via the Yangtze River to Jinling, Yangzhou, and Suzhou, and then northward to the capital through the canal.
This lengthening of transportation lines will also have a disturbing impact on the food security of the entire capital. This is why the imperial court still maintained a considerable scale of grain storage in Jingtong warehouse for the distribution of officials and soldiers after repeated consideration.
Facing Feng Ziying's questioning, Fu Shi could only rub his hands helplessly.
Is charcoal making so simple? Starting from the Yuanxi period, opening a kiln in Xishan became an undisclosed secret. Without any backing, how dare you open a kiln in Xishan? You were tricked to death without even knowing why.
Moreover, Xishan has high mountains, dangerous roads, and dense mines. How many people are involved, and how many forces are involved? Over the years, a realistic balance that cannot be broken has been formed. Who dares to break it easily?
Thirty-five years after Yuanxi, anyone who dared to open a kiln in Xishan without the backing of a fourth-grade official or above was simply asking for trouble. No one dared to go to Xishan without a bruised face, swollen head, and bleeding.
Say something?
Isn't it possible that no one in the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households knows about these situations, let alone the prefectures and counties? They know it very well and tacitly understand it.
It can be said that there are two hornet's nests in Shuntian Prefecture. One is Xishan Kiln and the other is Tongzhou Cang. They range from prefectures and counties to the six ministries and even the cabinet and the emperor. Who doesn't know?
This mess is difficult to clean up. I don’t know how many people will be offended and how much energy will be spent to clean up this mess.
Seeing that Fu Shi remained silent, Feng Ziying became really curious and raised her eyebrows, "Qiu Sheng, why didn't you say anything?"
"Sir, it's hard to say anything here, and I don't even know where to start." Fu Shi smiled bitterly.
"Master Fu, where are you from?" Feng Ziying looked Fu Shi up and down, nodded, and said softly.
"The lower official is from Jurong, Jinling Prefecture, but he settled in Shuntian Prefecture in his early years." Fu Shi didn't understand why Feng Ziying asked this.
Feng Ziying slightly nodded her head.
Both Jia Shi and Wang Xue were from prominent families in Jinling, and the relationship between Fu Shi and Jia Zheng as master and disciple should also be due to the rural party.
In Shuntian Prefecture, although the governor Wu Daonan is a scholar from Jiangyou, everyone knows that there are hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the Gyeonggi region. If you are not a scholar of sufficient weight, it will be difficult for you to open up a situation here.
Wu Daonan is a typical example. His own political ability is insufficient, his personality is soft, he is a good old man, and he is a scholar from Jiangnan. This greatly limits his ability to govern in Shuntian Mansion. It is no wonder that he can only rely on Confucian education to cultivate his hopes.
separated.
Feng Ziying also got to know the officials in the entire Shuntian government office, from Fu Yin, Fu Cheng, Zhi Zhong, Tong San, and Recommendation to officials such as the Experience Department, Zhao Mo Suo, Confucianism, Prison Department, and Taxation Department.
, Hebo Station, Zazao Bureau and other officials, except for himself and Wu Daonan, Mei Zhiye is a scholar from Huguang, with five connections in the middle, three from the south and two from the north, three southern scholars, two of them are from Jiangnan, and one is from Jiangnan.
He is a scholar from Guangdong and Guangxi, and the official Song Xian is a scholar from Shanxi. This is why he and Song Xian quickly became close. Qiao Yingjia and Sun Juxiang are the leaders of Shanxi scholars, and they have a very close relationship with him.
Although there seems to be a balance between the north and the south among high-level officials, the grassroots officials in the prisons department, taxation department and other departments and bureaus below are basically scholars from the Northern Zhili, not to mention the staff.
They are all locals.
In this case, let alone Wu Daonan, who is originally a Jiangnan scholar and lacks ability. Even if you have political talent, if you don't have enough internal and external support, you will probably be in trouble.
It can be imagined that the forces behind the Xishan Kiln are basically big figures in the capital city, and they are involved in a wide range of things. Wu Daonan does not dare to touch it. Fu Shi naturally does not want Feng Ziying to stir up a hornet's nest. He would rather follow Feng Ziying and work honestly.
Do something practical so that you can get promoted in the future.
"Master Fu, I understand your worries. It is said that Shuntian Mansion is a dragon's pond and a tiger's den. But if this is not the case, why do you think the princes of the court awarded the position of Prime Minister of Shuntian Mansion to Feng?"
Feng Ziying knew Fu Shi's concerns and worries. As a governor, Wu Daonan did not dare to touch these two hornet's nests. The previous governor turned a blind eye to these two things and turned a deaf ear to them. He had to touch this when he first arrived, which would inevitably make people nervous.
.
"If we say that the Shuntian Mansion incident does not involve the big shots behind it, even this random murder case will not involve a lot of connections, but Mr. Fu, do you think this situation can continue?
?”
Fu Shi remained silent.
"I can tell you clearly, Mr. Fu, if Feng followed the example of his predecessor, Feng, and lived a life without food, in less than a year, Feng would be assigned to a job like Taichang Temple or Taipu Temple.
Went up to drink tea and live our lives. If Feng was over fifty, that would be fine. But Feng has just turned twenty and is so timid and hesitant. He is afraid of wolves in front and tigers in back. How can he become an official and seek retirement?"
Fu Shi sighed, and after a long time he said: "I'm an ignorant official, but have you ever known that the Xishan Kiln incident involves a lot of light? I'm afraid it's beyond your imagination. It's not one person or a few people, nor a group, but
Almost all the nobles in Beijing are involved."
"Since Feng is determined to clarify the matter of Xishan kiln, how can he not understand it? Every year, 90% of the firewood in Beijing is attributed to coal, and it is worth more than hundreds of millions?" Feng Ziying smiled, "Especially in winter, when every day in Beijing is worth millions,
Residents use it for heating and cooking, and the average household borrows more than ten kilograms per day. According to the current coal price, one hundred kilograms of lump coal is worth two hundred yuan, and each kilogram is twenty or three yuan. In a winter, each household has to spend two to three yuan.
Liang, if you add in the expenses for cooking rice and boiling water in the other three seasons, I’m afraid the annual expenditure will be five or six liang?”
Feng Ziying has done some research on the current prices of various commodities in Beijing. This was completed with the assistance of Wang Wenyan and Cao Yu. There are probably more than a hundred types of materials listed, including food, clothing, housing and transportation, which are especially related to food. In fact, charcoal is also
It is closely related to food, which is also Feng Ziying’s focus.
The price of coal currently ranges from 150 yuan to 220 yuan per 100 kilograms. The price fluctuates slightly according to quality and season. In winter, there is a long queue of charcoal trucks entering the city from You'anmen every day.
In addition to those used by ordinary people, the ones used by high-ranking families are even larger, especially in places like Rongguo Mansion and Feng Mansion, from the bedroom to the flower hall to the wing room and the wing room, they must burn the kang and burn the earth dragon all day long, and the charcoal consumption is even greater.
A rough estimate shows that the annual cost of coal consumption in Beijing is at least five million taels. This means that the coal production value of Xishan kiln is of this scale. I wonder how many people will make profits from it? Let’s say less.
There are ten households, each of which has a livelihood of more than 100,000 taels, and as far as Feng Ziying knows, less than 10% of the Xishan kilns are truly government-run and have the registration procedures.
In this case, according to the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Finance, the mining tax is calculated based on the number of one draw per ten, which is also a profit of four to five million taels. How can the court not be moved?
In the past, everyone kept silent. On the one hand, no one had calculated how big the scale and profits would be here. Secondly, there was really no suitable person to run it. But now that Feng Ziying is taking office, it is because of the recommendation of all the people.
I have some thoughts on this aspect.
In Feng Ziying's opinion, the biggest reason is that the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry have no idea about the scale of the output of Xishan kilns. They didn't pay much attention to it before, but now the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Commerce are separated, and each is responsible for sharing taxes.
In class, it is natural to take action.
As long as these figures are carefully calculated and presented to the public, Feng Ziying believes that there is no way that Huang Ruliang, the Minister of Household Affairs, Cui Jingrong, the Minister of Industry, and Fang Congzhe, the cabinet minister in charge of finance, will be unmoved.
This chapter has been completed!