Pingyin County!

Hong Min has been here for half a year.

From confusion at the beginning, to shock, and then to worry.

After arriving at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he knew his responsibilities and what he should do.

The worry in my heart subsided slightly.

Arrive at Pingyin County.

There was no resistance as imagined, and almost all the officials in Pingyin County were kicked off from top to bottom.

It may be a bit untrue to describe the officialdom of Pingyin County as "ten without one", but the real current situation should be "ten without ten".

From the first level, Li Zheng, Fu Lao, Du Zai, Li Jianmen, Li Zu.

Then go to the first level of the pavilion, the pavilion chief, the pavilion assistant, the pavilion hou, the thief, the pavilion father, and the pavilion pawn.

Then there is the township level, the township has a rank, the township is a mistress, the township is a assistant, the township is a traveler, the township is three elders, and the township is a soldier.

Then to the officials at all levels in Pingyin County, one by one, they were all removed from their posts. Those who deserved to go home went home, and those who deserved to be punished were punished.

For a time, people in Pingyin County were panicked.

The days of military control were also somewhat chaotic, making it almost impossible for the entire Pingyin County to maintain stability, and even normal operations were difficult to achieve.

This situation is undoubtedly a huge challenge for these officials who are about to come to Pingyin County to perform their duties.

The county magistrate, Chen Hua, is from Sui County Cheng, Nanyang County. Even though he has more than 20 years of political experience, he still seems a little helpless after coming here.

The entire county magistrate is just a bare commander, with only a few confidants brought by him under his command.

But these people are not officials and can only help him with some trivial tasks, running errands and so on.

After Hong Min came here, he also felt a headache.

Fortunately, Hong Min has a lot of grassroots experience. Although he has never been a real leader, his experience is enough to support him in this position now.

After understanding the imperial court's layout of Pingyin County, Hong Min reported to his immediate superior, the county magistrate, and suggested that the two levels of officials in the township adopt the method of assigning different positions within the county.

After all, Pingyin County is just a pilot project. County-level officials can be appointed from other places. Even if a lot of positions are added, it is only enough to transfer eight officials from other places.

However, the number of people at the township level is extremely large. If they are all called from other counties, this work will be extremely complicated.

Moreover, when grassroots officials use the words of people from other counties, various problems will inevitably arise.

On the contrary, allowing them to serve in other townships within the county can avoid those problems.

Although it is not my hometown, it may be next door. No matter how far away it is, it is still within the same county.

If he acts too recklessly and is scolded every day, he will not be able to survive in this county.

And if Guan Bei achieves this step, he will basically not be able to escape the fate of being dismissed.

Chen Hua felt that this method could be tried, so he reported the idea to the officials in charge of Pingyin County, and was finally approved and allowed to test.

I thought that the next step would be a difficult battle, but Chen Hua did not expect it.

As a subordinate who has never been a chief official, he has such rich experience that he can handle many things in a clear and logical manner without having to worry about it personally.

In just two months, all officials from every township in Pingyin County were in place, and government work was finally carried out normally.

As the person in charge, Hong Min has hardly spent much time in the county government in the past few months.

We used various means to investigate, inquire, and secretly inquire about the performance of these officials after taking office, and compiled an evaluation catalog.

Perhaps because of habit, Hong Min likes to do part of it himself no matter what he does, so that he knows what he is doing.

However, today was the same as usual. Hong Min habitually went downstairs for a walk.

Unexpectedly, before leaving the city, I heard some rumors.

As soon as he arrived below, he was questioned by the officials, which made him a little confused.

So I had to temporarily give up what I was doing and return to the county government.

"You mean, a rumor suddenly appeared inside and outside the city today?" Chen Hua realized that something might be wrong and frowned.

"Yes, this rumor came very suddenly and spread very quickly. I suspect it was spread in an organized way. This sudden rumor, coupled with the previous events in Pingyin County, made the people suddenly worried." Hong

Min said.

"It's strange, why are there such rumors suddenly?" Chen Hua frowned tightly.

As a rule, it is groundless.

Whatever rumors are circulating among the people, he must have a reason.

Either the official released it on purpose, or someone did it on purpose.

But there are all kinds of rumors released. What is the use of spreading such rumors that are related to rebellion?

Are you still worried that there will be rebellion in Pingyin County?

That’s not right either!

Could it be...

Chen Hua suddenly thought of a possibility.

If there is no ground, Pingyin County may not be the one who rebels.

It is normal for the people of Pingyin County to be worried because of the events ahead.

If you don’t enjoy those policies, the tax exemption will be gone for three years, which is a lot of money.

And the most fatal thing is that taxes will be doubled.

The current tax rate is one stone per five acres.

If the average yield per mu is two stones, the tax rate is one in ten.

Neither light nor heavy, it is within the acceptable range of the people, provided that corvées are not recruited too frequently.

But in addition, Pingyin County also has a large number of official fields. These official fields are distributed in every corner of the county, and the farming people can directly contract them without running around.

Cultivating official land only requires effort, and for every three acres cultivated, the one-stone tax can be offset as long as the yield per mu is not less than one and a half stones.

If you include this, the tax is actually not heavy.

But there is one thing, it is for lazy people.

A diligent person can earn ten shi more food per year than others.

People who are too lazy can earn twenty dan less than others in a year.

Because I'm too lazy, I can't even keep up with the output in my own fields, and I still have to pay taxes. What's not twenty dan less than others?

The tax of one stone for five acres has become a tax of two stones for five acres, and it is not allowed to cultivate official land to offset the tax. Who can bear this tax rate?

Chen Hua realized that there might be some unrest in some places, and the court might be preparing for a rainy day.

So he told his subordinates: "Send an order to all villages and this county to ask the superior officials. Today's rumors are all nonsense. Don't panic everywhere. If anyone takes the opportunity to cause trouble, he will be severely punished!"

"No!" A confidant responded quickly and ran out.

After thinking about it, Chen Hua still felt that it was not safe.

Then he ordered: "Notify the county captain and ask him to send more manpower to patrol. We must not give any opportunity to some people."

Immediately afterwards, Chen Hua took out another piece of silk cloth, thought for a while, and then started writing on it.

Silk cloth is very valuable, and each county does not store much.

General official documents can only be written on bamboo slips, and silk cloth is only allowed to be written on documents that must be stamped with an official seal for archiving.

As for paper, it is not very mature yet, and the people below are not aware that the imperial court is working on paper.

After a while of writing quickly, Chen Hua took out his official seal from his body and stamped it on it, then handed it to another confidant and said: "Hurry and hand it over to the city defense captain Wei!"

The city defense army is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Although it is stationed in various counties, the county magistrate has no right to mobilize them.

The two are not the same system, nor do they have any affiliation with each other.

The main task of the city defense army is to guard the city, control the city gates, and guard the county warehouse.

But if there is no connection between the two, it will naturally be detrimental to local development, so this document was written by Chen Hua himself.

Although Chen Hua did not have the right to mobilize the city defense army, after receiving the document, the city defense army needed to be on alert with the entire battalion or a certain number of troops as required, and be ready to respond to emergencies at any time.

If it is determined that there is unrest in the city, troops can be sent out directly to suppress it without an order.

Of course, the decision whether to send troops or not rests with the city defense military commander.

As for whether to send troops or not, officials from the Ministry of War will personally review it afterwards to see if his decision is reasonable.

In short, this approach follows Wang Buxu's instructions, which is to loosen the grip on power and at the same time lock it in a cage.

This method is currently only used in Pingyin County in the entire Han Dynasty, and it is also a pilot project.

From the beginning to the end, Hong Min played his role very well. Except for matters other than the appointment and dismissal of officials, Hong Min never interfered or paid attention.
Chapter completed!