In the Huairou County Government Office, Zhu Houzhao walked around in the county office with some disgust. He was followed by the County Prime Minister Sun Yupeng and the Lord Bo Zhongrui.
The county magistrate is equivalent to the second-in-command of a county in later generations, and in this era, the power is much greater than that of the second-in-command in later generations. As for the chief secretary, he is equivalent to the clerk of a county, and is in charge of many things. Most of them are composed of scholars.
Those who came to serve were all candidates with a good reputation. After there was no hope of passing the imperial examination, they signed up to be a minor official or a minor official.
But don’t think that the official position of Chief Bo is just average. Think about the current third-in-command in a county, and you will know that there are countless people who can’t even achieve this step.
Sun Yupeng and Zhong Rui both looked like middle-aged men in their forties. At this moment, they both looked helplessly at Zhu Houzhao in front of them.
I don't know what the superiors were thinking, but they actually transferred an eighteen or nineteen-year-old man to be the county magistrate. This really made them confused.
The officialdom of the Ming Dynasty has always acquiesced to many rules, such as those who are not members of the Imperial Academy and are not allowed to join the cabinet, those who are not members of the Imperial Academy, are not allowed to be officials, and those who are not Jinshi are not allowed to be promoted, and many other rules.
Zhu Houzhao was very young at first glance. He became a county magistrate at the age of eighteen. This seriously did not comply with the rules of Ming Dynasty officialdom.
You must know that it is really rare for a person to be admitted as a Jinshi at the age of nineteen. Since the establishment of the entire Ming Dynasty, there have been very few people. If you are not a Jinshi, it will be really difficult to become a county magistrate.
He must have great hands and eyes, a profound background, and a huge fortune, otherwise it would be absolutely impossible to get such a young person to the position of county magistrate.
In the Ming Dynasty, there could be a young emperor, but there was absolutely no chance of a young prime minister!
"Master Zhu, the county government is quite satisfied with it. Is there anything you would like to renovate?"
Lord Bo Zhongrui asked with a smile.
The young man in front of me most likely has a very deep background. If you please him a lot, it will definitely be useful in the future.
"Repair?"
"I almost want to tear it down and build another one."
"Look, these are all wooden houses. Nowadays, reinforced concrete is popular."
Zhu Houzhao curled his lips, extremely dissatisfied with this county government.
"Sir, there is no problem if we renovate it. The relevant expenses and budget are fixed every year. But if we need to rebuild a county government office, we in Huairou County don't have that much money, unless the superiors are willing to allocate funds."
Lord Bo Zhongrui replied helplessly.
Since Liu Jin carried out the tax reform, the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue has been divided into two parts. One part is collected by the government, which is similar to before. It mainly collects land tax and local tax. The other part is directly under the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty.
The tax yamen is mainly responsible for collecting commercial taxes.
The government collected land taxes and local taxes. In the past, they could still receive some, but they were all in kind such as grain and cloth. However, now that the Ming Dynasty was booming, the court tax revenue was sufficient. Therefore, Emperor Hongzhi also exempted and exempted local taxes many times, which caused various local government offices to
The land taxes and land taxes received will become less and less.
"Forget it, Liu Jin, find someone to repair it again, and I'll pay for it."
Zhu Houzhao shook his head slightly and then gave instructions to Liu Jin beside him.
"Yes, sir!"
Liu Jin nodded quickly. They were now playing the role of a master and the housekeeper.
"Sun Xian Cheng, how is the situation in Huairou County?"
After inspecting his county government office, Zhu Houzhao also prepared to walk around the county town, take a look, and chat with Sun Xuepeng and Zhong Rui beside him while walking.
"Sir, Huairou County is located northwest of the capital. It is greatly influenced by the capital. The situation in all aspects is still very good."
"We have a lot of coal here in Huairou County, and the demand for coal in Beijing is very large, so the main industry in our Huairou County is coal mining."
Sun Xuepeng didn't really like Zhu Houzhao in front of him, nothing else.
Because he had coveted the position of Huairou County Magistrate for a long time, and he had been the county magistrate for many years, which originally meant that he would have a chance after the original county magistrate was transferred.
After all, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty has now confirmed that many of the former magistrates have become county magistrates, and he has been a county magistrate for some years. In addition, he also spent a lot of money to smoothen relationships.
Originally, the reply given above was a sure thing, but who knew that Cheng Yaojin would appear and cut him off halfway.
How could Sun Xuepeng look at Zhu Houzhao?
Being able to reply politely is also the background of being afraid of Zhu Houzhao. After all, when Zhu Houzhao arrived, there were dozens of four-wheeled carriages, a large group of servants, servants, butlers, etc. It was obvious at a glance that this was no ordinary family.
's son.
"Coal mining industry?"
Zhu Houzhao also wrote it down silently.
Then we walked around Huairou County very casually.
This place is indeed greatly influenced by the Beijing-Tianjin area. Many houses are built with reinforced concrete just like the Beijing-Tianjin area. They are painted white on the outside and have glass windows, which makes them look very beautiful.
"Sun's Gambling House?"
"Sun's Pawnshop?"
"Sun's Supermarket?"
"Sun's Red Mansion?"
"Sun's Grain and Oil Store?"
The county town is not very lively, there are relatively few people, many are children and the elderly, not many young people can be seen, but there are many various shops and the like.
But soon, Zhu Houzhao discovered a strange phenomenon, that is, many shops and shops had Sun's name written on them.
"Why do these shops say Sun's name? Do they all belong to the same person?"
Zhu Houzhao pointed to the shops on the street and asked Sun Xuepeng and Zhong Rui beside him.
"This is indeed..."
Halfway through Zhong Rui's words, Sun Xuepeng said with a smile: "Sir, there are so many people named Sun in Huairou County, so we can see a large number of shops opened by the Sun family."
"Oh, that's it~"
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he immediately nodded slightly, but with a sneer on his lips.
"I really think this prince is young and ignorant, so he is fooling me. No matter how many people here are named Sun, it is impossible for all of them to be Sun's shops. What's more, the family patterns and logos on them are all the same, so they must all be owned by the same person.
of."
Zhu Houzhao was very smart and well-informed, but he did not expose Sun Xuepeng's lies. Instead, he pretended to think about it and said, "I heard about Huairou County before I came to Huairou County."
There is a man named Sun Zixiang who said that by establishing a good relationship with him, I, the county magistrate, can live a very comfortable life."
"I don't know, do you know this Sun Zixiang?"
"I know, I know, of course I know~"
Sun Xuepeng rushed to say: "He is a big landowner in our Huairou County. He is indeed quite prestigious in our Huairou County. He is also very generous. He likes to make friends with young men from aristocratic families like you."
"Then I'd really like to see you too."
Zhu Houzhao smiled and said.
"It's not difficult. I will ask someone to inform Sun Zixiang later and ask him to be the host for you."
Sun Xuepeng readily agreed to make the decision for Sun Xuepeng.
After wandering around Xuancheng for a few times, Zhu Houzhao returned to his county office. After Sun Xuepeng and Zhong Rui left, Liu Jin found Liu Jin and asked in detail about the situation in Huairou County.
"Your Highness, there are many coal mines in Huairou County, which is the main coal supply place for our capital city."
"But the entire coal business in Huairou County is monopolized by Sun Zixiang."
"This Sun Zixiang is a complete bully..."
Liu Jin began to report to Zhu Houzhao the details of his investigation.
Sun Zixiang was born into a large landowner family in Huairou County, but he did not like reading since he was a child. He liked to fight and hang out with a bunch of local gangsters.
Originally, his family was very powerful in Huairou County, and because he had been hanging out with local gangsters since he was a child, he gradually became a bully that everyone in Huairou County talked about.
Bullying men and dominating women is the lightest word for Sun Zixiang.
He is far from just being tyrannical here in Huairou County. He relies on the power of his family and a group of ruffians and desperadoes under his command to use various illegal means to almost monopolize many industries in the entire Huairou County.
.
In the largest coal industry, almost all the coal mines are owned by his Sun family, and no one else can get involved. Originally there were many coal mine businessmen here, but they were all squeezed out by him using various means. It is even said that
There was also a tragedy where families were wiped out, and more than a dozen people died in one fell swoop, but in the end it was left unsolved.
In addition, almost all gambling houses, brothels, pawn shops, grain and oil, supermarkets, restaurants, etc. in Huairou County are also occupied by one person. In order to achieve this goal, it is said that he once forced someone to hang himself, and forced many merchants.
I had to go far away.
Monopolizing various businesses in Huairou County, wildly raising prices, and making huge profits could not satisfy his huge appetite and ambition. He also set his sights on some factories here in Huairou County.
Those who open factories are those with connections and energy, so he uses all kinds of dirty tricks to force the other party to partner with him, and then uses various means to squeeze them out.
Excavation of coal requires a large number of manpower, so he forced people in Huairou County to mine for him, and only gave him a very small salary, which was far lower than the market price.
Even when some people were unwilling to dig coal for him, he ordered his men to kill more than a dozen people and used bloody methods to suppress the troubled coal miners and farmers.
The numerous crimes committed by the bully Sun Zixiang in Huairou County are simply too numerous to describe. It is not impossible that people here in Huairou County have tried their best to move to this Sun Zixiang.
But no matter what method he used, Sun Zixiang still got good results. Even if he went to the capital to complain, he was captured by Sun Zixiang's people before he arrived in the capital, and many people died for this.
So much so that people here in Huairou County are constantly moving out to work in the capital, and rarely return to Huairou County.
As for this Sun Zixiang, I dare not express my anger, I can only accept it and endure this ruffian.