"Since Hu Ma peeked out of the river, the trees in the pond have been abandoned, and the soldiers are still tired of talking about it. It is getting dusk, the clear corners are blowing cold, and everyone is in an empty city."
There is a huge amount of information hidden behind Jiang Kui's few words.
At the turn of the Song Dynasty, the Jianghuai region became a battlefield. The population and economic losses were serious, business travel was almost cut off, and the land was left uncultivated.
Even Huaiyin, Xinghua, Lai'an, Wujiang, Chaohu and other counties were directly downgraded from counties to towns because they were too sparsely populated.
If there had been no Jingkang Rebellion, Huainan would not have lost to Jiangnan at all.
Sitting on a canal, commerce is developed.
There are few floods and agriculture is prosperous.
From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, Chuzhou replaced Yangzhou and became the big brother in the Huainan region.
Because Yangzhou was so rich, warlords from all walks of life wanted to get involved. After repeated battles, the city was massacred several times.
And what about Chuzhou?
He only experienced massacre once, and he was massacred by Chai Rong.
Chai Rong only massacred a city once in his life, and this only time was given to Chuzhou. Moreover, he was stopped by Zhao Kuangyin in the middle. The loss was not great, and only more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians were massacred.
According to statistics from the ten years of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty, Chuzhou's commercial tax in that year was 18,995 guan, while Yangzhou's commercial tax was only 10,887 guan.
Today, Chuzhou has become the capital of Huainan Province in the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with policy changes, the business environment has become better, and the place has become increasingly prosperous.
Even though the commercial tax rate has been reduced and many harsh and miscellaneous taxes have been abolished, the commercial tax of Chuzhou Prefecture still reached an astonishing 24,087 yuan in the first year of the Ming Dynasty!
The Ming Dynasty is extremely wealthy now.
"The content of the meeting just now should be compiled into a document for me to review." Nie Wen, the prefect of Chuzhou, ordered.
"Yes!" Jiang Wu bowed his hands and stepped back.
Jiang Kui was not born yet, and he didn't know if he would be born. Anyway, his father, Jiang Wei, had already passed the Jinshi examination.
As a Jinshi of the new science and in the third month of Guanzheng, Jiang Wu was assigned to Chuzhou Prefecture as a ninth-grade secretary because of his outstanding performance. After only half a year of service, he was selected by the new prefect to serve as a full-time secretary of the prefect, which is the capital city of the province.
The top secret!
In the Song Dynasty, there were many official positions similar to secretaries, such as observing envoys, secretaries in charge, etc.
When Zhu Guoxiang reformed the official system, Tongtong was changed to secretary.
That is, the secretary-general is the secretary-general, and the secretary is the ordinary secretary.
Since the imperial court did not allow private hiring of shogunate officials - except for the Kaifu, the secretaries (secretaries-general) of various levels of yamen actually played a role similar to that of a master.
At the county government level, only the secretary-general is a high-ranking official, and most of them are held by senior officials who have transferred to official positions. Ordinary secretaries are all second-class civil servants.
At the prefectural government level, there are two ordinary secretaries of the ninth rank, and the rest are all first-class civil servants.
At the first level of the government office, there are four ordinary secretaries who are the ninth grade, and the rest are all first-class civil servants.
The disadvantage of this is that the number of officials increases and administrative expenses increase. The advantage is that the court has stronger control over local yamen and eliminates the emergence of groups of masters.
Even the Song Dynasty did not have a master, so Ju Ming naturally did not allow the Ming Dynasty to emerge.
A county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty had several chief masters alone. How do you think this county magistrate had money to pay his salary?
Now that the Ming Dynasty has inherited the system of the Song Dynasty, new scholars are awarded officials for the first time. At most, they can be directly awarded the county magistrate. Those are rare beings.
Therefore, for those with poor rankings, being assigned the first position of secretary (secretary) has become a promising choice for their political future.
If you are chosen as a full-time secretary by the first or second boss, you will be even more lucky!
Jiang Wei, the full-time secretary of the Chuzhou Prefecture, carefully organized the meeting minutes and quickly wrote an article, which he gave to the Prefect Nie Wen the next day.
After reading it, Nie Wen nodded in approval: "You have a great talent. Your writing is brilliant and easy to understand. It is rare for both the refined and the popular to appreciate it. Let the literary officials copy it and send it to the various Cao Cao for processing."
Jiang Yu turned around and walked a few steps, then stopped and said, "Prefect, there are a large number of immigrants being recruited this time, so we have to guard against those subordinate officials taking the opportunity to harm the people."
Nie Wen said: "During the recruitment of immigrants, if you hear any noise, please do not intervene without authorization. Record it and let me handle it as appropriate."
"Yes!" Jiang Wu bowed his hands and stepped back.
Recruiting 50,000 retired soldiers or militiamen is a matter for the commander-in-chief and subordinate yamen.
The government office where Jiang Ung worked was a civil official, so it only recruited ordinary immigrants. A total of 150,000 immigrants were spread among the four most populous provinces, and the amount in each county was actually not large.
The Ming court included Lianshui and Sizhou into Chuzhou Prefecture, and the whole government recruited a total of 3,855 immigrants. According to different administrative positions, more than 500 immigrants were immigrated to large counties, more than 400 immigrants were immigrated to middle counties, and more than 300 immigrants were immigrated to small counties.
The population density of Chuzhou Prefecture is extremely high, and three to five hundred immigrants to one county is nothing.
Even if the government deliberately conceals information and rural areas have relatively little information, the immigration work will not even make a big splash.
A few days later.
Jiang Wei was wandering around the city in civilian clothes, his expression becoming more and more gloomy.
The prefect strictly ordered not to post notices and not allow officials to publicize it wantonly, but within a few days word spread throughout the city.
If this were just the case, it would be normal. After all, there are always petty officials who have no control over their mouths.
What is abnormal is that immigration information is deliberately distorted!
Jiang Wu stepped forward and clasped his fists in greetings to several passers-by: "Brothers, where did you get the news? How did I hear that only three to four thousand people were recruited, and urban household registration was not involved."
These neighbors who gathered together did not know the government secretary.
Seeing Jiang Heng's calm and graceful demeanor, they subconsciously thought he was a scholar from a wealthy family, and quickly greeted him respectfully.
A neighbor said: "Don't be afraid, little Xianggong. The government will not forcefully recruit scholars with meritorious honors and students studying in official schools. Even if they do not have meritorious titles and are not studying in official schools, the government will give preferential treatment to scholars. It's nothing more than that.
It’s just a little extra money.”
"Who did you listen to?" Jiang Yu asked again.
Another neighbor said: "I have relatives and friends who work in the county government. Can what is being said there be false?"
Jiang Heng continued to inquire, but these people could not tell a reason. Who knows where they heard the rumor.
Jiang Heng went to ask a few more people, and then hurried back to the government office.
"Prefect, someone is deliberately causing trouble," Jiang Yu said. "There are rumors in the market that the Chuzhou government wants to immigrate tens of thousands of people, and they can hire people to replace them as long as they send money."
"Understood," the prefect Nie Wen ordered, "order all counties to put up notices and make the truth known to the public. You can leave the rest of the business alone. The censor should have arrived in the provincial capital. We can't give them some credit.
The censors’ trip was in vain.”
Jiang Heng understood and resigned.
Nie Wen added: "Call Xun Dafan."
"yes!"
Jiang Wei left the room and went next door to ask for the judge.
The general magistrate of Chuzhou Prefecture, named Xun Mao, quickly came to the Huangtang Hall of the Prefecture and exchanged greetings with Nie Wen.
After chatting for a while, Nie Wen said: "Some people want to take this opportunity to make money. Brother Xun, please restrain your subordinate officials in Fish and Meat Township. It is related to important military and state affairs, and Chuzhou is a capital city. There must be a censor to inspect it. The censor has been here to this day."
He hasn’t shown up yet, so he’s probably doing a private visit on Weibo.”
"It's my fault. If this matter goes wrong, both you and I will suffer." Xun Mao did not mention the daily conflicts between him and Nie Wen, but said tentatively, "The Li family's side..."
Nie Wen smiled and said: "We can't take care of it, and we don't dare to take care of it."
"Indeed." Xun Mao nodded knowingly.
The biggest loser in Chuzhou Prefecture is Prime Minister Li Hanzhang’s clan!
Li Hanzhang's father has passed away and his brother is an official in other places. He took his mother to live in Luoyang. In fact, he has no close relatives in Chuzhou.
However, there are also cousins, clan brothers, and all kinds of random clan relatives.
Some people used Li Hanzhang's name to act recklessly. As long as they were not involved in a murder case, local officials would turn a blind eye.
Many local officials even deliberately curry favor with Li, hoping to get on Li Hanzhang's boat.
…
On the outskirts of the provincial capital, Beishen Town.
A group of officials arrived in a hurry. They were first ordered to post notices in the town to calm the people, and then went to the countryside to make money in violation of the notices.
"Puff puff puff!"
The officer slammed the door of a large house outside the town.
A servant opened the door carefully and invited them inside. The head of the household had heard the news and rushed to greet them.
When the official officer met him, he said, "Mr. Gong, do you know about the recruitment of immigrants?"
The wealthy man known as Gong Yuanwai said: "I have heard a little about it."
The chief official continued: "Although your family has been separated, you still have six young men in your household registration. The county government officials have decided to take one of them from your family."
Gong Yuanwai said: "My eldest son has not returned from a study tour. The other sons are also studying, and one is studying at a government school."
The head of the official mission said: "Except those who have studied in official schools, the number of men in your family is enough to be recruited to immigrate."
"Please take a step to speak."
The two of them walked side by side to a remote corner. Member Gong took out a dozen silver coins and said, "Brothers, please take this to tea."
The chief official was furious: "Are you sending someone to beg for food?"
Gong Yuanwai flattered him: "Please let me know the exact number."
The chief official said: "Five hundred strings."
"Five...five hundred guans?" Gong Yuanwai's eyes widened.
The chief official said earnestly: "Oh, you are also a shady person. The other wealthy households have gone to Master Li's house to pay their respects, but you haven't done anything at all, and you bothered a few of our brothers to come and talk."
Gong Yuanwai said: "Can you be accommodating? After the separation of my family, my financial resources are not as good as before, and several sons are studying..."
The chief official interrupted directly: "Four hundred and eighty guan, not a penny less. If you don't give it, we will arrest you directly."
Gong Yuanwai had a frown on his face, but he dared not say anything when he was angry. He went back to his room to get some money to eliminate the disaster.
Mr. Li takes the lion's share of the rich people's money, while the officials can only eat soup.
After visiting several wealthy households, the officials returned to the city with smiles on their faces.
As for ordinary people, they have their own chief of security to urge them. If the chief of security cannot handle it, the officials will take action.
At this moment, the eldest son of Yuan Gong, who was studying abroad, was visiting the countryside with a classmate and friend.
"Brother Yan became the censor and was sent to the Chuzhou Prefecture. Whether he can make meritorious deeds depends on how courageous he is." Gong Miyuan said with a smile.
Censor Yan Tao stood with his hands down: "The Li family really dares to make money through such a big event?"
Gong Miyuan said: "Not only the Li family, but the subordinate officials below also have to eat. All the chiefs of the protection and armor must pay tribute to the subordinates, otherwise they will be given more quotas. Will the chief of protection and armor pay for themselves? Not yet.
Let the common people who protect each other come together. If any family can't come up with the money, their men will have to be taken away as immigrants."
