Chapter 0902 thousands of people and thousands of faces
Kou Tianci instantly grinned, and Zhao Run showed a hint of blush on his face.
Zhao Run is obviously a bit arrogant.
Kou Tianci had a lot of gifts, but he only had the ancient inkstone from Kou Ji.
He naturally cherishes the ancient inkstone.
When Kou Tianci found him and wanted to give him a cart full of gifts, he pretended not to care about the gifts in order to save his face.
But when Kou Tianci asked him for the ancient inkstone, he couldn't hold back at all.
After Kou Tianci exposed Zhao Run's little arrogance, he did not chase and fight him. Instead, he walked to a carriage, jumped on the shaft, and waved to Zhao Run.
Zhao Run glared at Kou Tianci, walked over, jumped on the carriage, and sat on the carriage side by side with Kou Tianci.
When the two of them jumped on the car's shaft, Kou Ji and others had already loaded all the things they wanted to bring into the car.
On the occasion of parting.
Kou Ji called Di Qing aside.
"Di Qing, I'm afraid we will have to wait until the two newly appointed imperial troops arrive here before we see each other again. You will have to guard this place for a long time to come.
There are some things that I can't tell you in front of others, so now I have specially called you behind the scenes to give you some instructions.
After I leave, the military affairs here will be under your control.
Once you encounter a prisoner rebellion, you must not show mercy.
The imperial court will then send a large number of civil servants over.
If anyone among them still protects the prisoner after the prisoner makes trouble, you don't have to be lenient.
In short, anyone here who hinders our rule in the Song Dynasty can be killed first and punished later.
Don't be afraid of trouble, and don't give too much face to those civil servants.
You are commanding the Forbidden Army, and they have no right to interfere with anything of the Forbidden Army."
Kou Ji mainly emphasized to Di Qing how Di Qing should deal with the civil servants after they arrived.
The civil servants of the Song Dynasty had previously cleaned up batch after batch.
However, with the rapid expansion of its territory, the imperial court selected many officials as exceptions.
It is precisely because of this that the imperial court will inevitably let some pedantic or black-hearted people mix in when they are ignorant.
Not to mention black-hearted guys, pedantic guys sometimes easily do bad things with good intentions.
Once a rebellion breaks out among the prisoners, someone among those pedantic guys will surely stand up and say that God is good at life and prevent Di Qing from leading heavy troops to suppress it.
Then he ran to reason with the prisoners and recruit them.
Doing so will not only harm yourself, but also harm others.
It is also easy to raise tigers.
The prisoners here are fundamentally different from the bandits and bandits in the hinterland of the Song Dynasty.
If they get into trouble, they're basically going to fight to the death.
Appeasement and solicitation are almost non-existent.
Unless the Song Dynasty allowed them to establish a ministry or a country.
But is that possible?
Therefore, once the prisoners here start to make trouble, there is no other way except to use heavy troops to suppress them.
Kou Ji didn't want any rebellious forces to arise here and become a general trend because of the stupidity of some civil servants.
Once a general trend develops, the people who move here will suffer great disaster.
After listening to Kou Ji's words, Di Qing understood why Kou Ji said these words to him. He also knew the nature of some pedantic civil servants in the court, so he nodded without any hesitation.
In Di Qing's eyes, prisoners are just prisoners, and they are still criminals.
Until they are freed from their criminal record, Di Qing will not feel any psychological burden if he kills many people.
After Kou Ji finished admonishing Di Qing, he patted Di Qing on the shoulder and said, "Although the officials will not make you king this time, they will definitely remember your merits."
Di Qing nodded heavily.
Kou Ji withdrew his hand and got into the carriage.
Di Qing got on his horse and sent Kou Ji and his party out of Liaoyang Fucheng.
At the gate of Fucheng.
Di Qing watched Kou Ji and others' team disappear before riding back to Liaoyang Mansion.
After Kou Ji and his party left Liaoyang Mansion, they led their troops and horses, escorted gold, silver, treasures and other items, and headed west.
We walked west along the highway for about ten miles.
I saw patches of newly cultivated farmland.
The relocated people were driving the prisoners to work in the fields. When they saw Kou Ji and his entourage passing by, they rushed to the roadside, bowed to Kou Ji's carriage, and shouted loudly.
"Send Kou Gong off!"
"Send Kou Gong off!"
"..."
Kou Ji and his party walked all the way, and the people seeing them off shouted all the way.
Wang Zeng was sitting in the carriage, holding the curtain of the carriage with one hand, looking at the endless black soil outside the window, listening to the louder sounds of farewell, and was filled with emotion.
"There is no one in the Song Dynasty who can compare with you."
Wang Zeng let out a long sigh.
Kou Ji lay on his side in the carriage, holding a wine bottle in one hand and a pastry in the other. He curled his lips and said, "Don't talk nonsense... No one in the Song Dynasty can compare with the official family."
Wang Zeng smiled sarcastically, "If you raise your arms here, I'm afraid there will be more than a million followers. Officials can't do that."
Kou Ji threw down the wine bottle in his hand and said dissatisfied: "Do you think I'm not troublesome enough, or do you think I'm not dying fast enough?"
Wang Zeng said calmly: "I'm just telling the truth."
Speaking of this, Wang Zeng lowered the curtain of the carriage, stared at Kou Ji, and said with emotion: "It has only been half a month since the fall of Goryeo, but you have already been cultivated and cultivated as far as the eye can see."
Fertile farmland.
Such efficiency is simply astonishing.
If other officials in the court were left to handle it, they might not be able to cultivate so much fertile land by the end of summer.
This fertile field with endless horizon will definitely harvest a large number of crops in autumn.
The people who migrated here will be able to completely settle down after the autumn harvest.
When the two million soldiers and horses recruited by the officials arrived here.
This place has truly become the territory of my Song Dynasty.
This place will always be occupied by the people of the Song Dynasty.
It is not an exaggeration to describe your contribution with the words "hard work will last forever."
Wang Zeng raised his head, sighed and said: "I regret that I was born at the wrong time and was unable to join the officialdom with you and build a lasting legacy together.
I am glad that I can live to this day and watch you step by step build the Song Dynasty into a truly heavenly state."
When Kou Ji heard this, he said angrily: "We will make it clear what needs to be said in Liaoyang Mansion. There is no need for you to flatter me."
Wang Zeng's eyes fell on Kou Ji, "I am telling the truth."
Kou Ji curled his lips and said nothing.
Wang Zeng once again opened the curtain of the carriage, looked at the fertile fields outside the carriage window, and sighed sincerely, "The Song Dynasty today... is really good..."
Kou Ji grabbed the wine bottle again and said: "It will be better in the future..."
A smile appeared on Wang Zeng's face, and he said with a bright smile: "Yes, it will be better in the future."
Wang Zeng just watched the people farming all the way, sighing with emotion all the way, and slowly walked westward.
Since they were escorting a lot of things, they didn't travel very fast.
It was half a month later from Liaoyang Mansion to Shangjing City.
After entering the boundary of Shangjing City, which had been renamed Linheng Mansion, Kou Ji and Wang Zeng saw different people.
When they were in the boundaries of Liaoyang Prefecture and other prefectures, all they saw were newly cultivated fertile fields, as well as scattered common people and captives scattered in the vast fertile fields.
After arriving at Linheng Mansion, Kou Ji and Wang Zeng saw fertile fields covered with crop buds.
On the road beside the fertile fields, there were people selling baskets, baskets and other items on their shoulders.
The further you go to Linhengfu City, the more people there are hawking on both sides of the avenue.
After the imperial court moved the people here, they only distributed some simple farm tools and some original houses in Liao.
Apart from that there is nothing.
The common people were diligent. After planting crops, they relied on their own skills to make baskets, baskets and other items for sale.
The craft of weaving baskets and baskets is not a rare craft.
The raw materials are basically branches, bamboo sticks, rattan and other materials.
There is almost no cost.
There are many people who know this craft among the people.
Therefore, the most common items on the market are baskets and baskets.
Since the people here were extremely poor during the Song Dynasty, they did not have much wealth in their hands.
So the money used for trading is very small.
Almost all were bartered, or prisoners were used to pay off the debt.
For example, a small basket is worth five cents.
If someone takes four baskets at once, he can let a prisoner in his family work in the other person's house for two days to pay off the debt.
Or you can lend the horses assigned to your family to others for two or three days to offset the debt.
Crops in fertile fields are not finished once they are planted.
In the middle, we need to weed, loosen the soil, and carry water for irrigation during drought.
Therefore, after planting crops, people have to work in the fields from time to time to help the crops grow strong.
Therefore, even if the people plant crops, they still need labor.
Especially in the first year after the grassland is cultivated into fertile land, weeds will always pop up inadvertently, so we often have to weed.
Far away from Linheng Mansion, almost all the people were hawking.
Those close to Linheng Mansion were not only common people, but also some businessmen.
Kou Ji took a quick look and saw that most of them were salt traders and fur traders.
Salt merchants carry salt bags on their backs and walk among the people. From time to time, they put down their salt bags and trade with the people.
The common people gave money to those who had money, and gave credit to those who had no money.
After the autumn harvest, the grain will be used to pay off the debt.
If grain is used to pay debts, the salt merchants will price the grain at an extremely low price.
After the autumn harvest, salt merchants don't make much money from selling salt.
Each household of the common people has at least one thousand acres of land, and there will certainly be no shortage of crops during the autumn harvest, so they are not afraid of salt merchants taking advantage of this.
Salt merchants are not afraid that people will default on their debts.
After all, salt and iron are all government-run.
Almost everyone involved in the salt business has the shadow of the government behind them.
Therefore, the common people had a happy transaction with the salt merchants.
When Kou Ji and his party entered Linheng Mansion, they saw an even busier business scene.
They sell everything.
Kou Ji and Wang Zeng even saw two bookstores.
Who would have thought that in just a few months, Shangjing, which was once deserted, would become bustling again.
Kou Ji and Wang Zeng are almost certain that the future Shangjing City will probably be more prosperous than the previous Shangjing City.
Because when they entered the city, they saw many merchants transporting large quantities of goods into Shangjing City.
"Can the people here afford it?"
After Kou Ji and Wang Zeng entered the city, a question arose in their minds.
After they met with the prefect of Linheng Prefecture, the prefect of Linheng Prefecture gave them an answer.
"Of course the common people can afford it."
The prefect of Linheng Prefecture is a middle-aged man in his thirties named Qian Tong. He used to be the county magistrate of Fangling. He was bullied by the Wei royal family for more than ten years and was not promoted.
After the royal family of Wei was dealt with, Qian Tong began to show his prominence.
He served as county magistrate once and prefecture magistrate twice, and was finally promoted to Linheng Prefecture as magistrate.
After hearing Qian Tong's words, Kou Ji and Wang Zeng looked suspicious.
Qian Tong was also a good person. After seeing the expressions on the two men's faces, he hurriedly explained without waiting for them to speak: "To be fair to the King, Prime Minister Kou, I am going to use money to buy the people's surplus grain after the autumn harvest.
The lower officials have already expressed their displeasure with the people about this matter, and now the prefects of various states are accounting for the fertile land cultivated in Linheng Prefecture.
Then, based on the fertile land they have cultivated, they will calculate the amount of surplus grain they can sell.
In order to avoid natural and man-made disasters, the official will also reduce the amount by 50% after the amount is calculated.
After the reduction by 50%, the lower officials will use their money to pre-purchase the remaining grain from the people.
People will soon have money, and with money they will be able to afford the things here."
The reason why Qian Tong called Kou Ji "Kou Xiang" was because Kou Ji's position as privy envoy was also regarded as a phase, but the nature was different from that of Lu Yijian and others, so few people called him that.
After listening to Qian Tong's words, Kou Ji said in a deep voice: "You must keep an eye on this matter from beginning to end, and you must not allow officials to bully the people.
Let alone take advantage of this to squeeze the people.
If something happens where officials bully the people or exploit the people, the Imperial Guards stationed here will never sit idly by and ignore it."
Qian Tong had a bitter look on his face when he heard this, "Kou Xiang was joking, Prime Minister Zhang will be stationed here later, and there will be inspectors at the same level as the lower officials."
I don’t have the guts to bully the people under their noses."
Hearing this, Kou Ji nodded.
Wang Zeng stared at the money channel: "Where do you get enough money to buy food for the people?"
Qian Tong said hurriedly: "The lower official will sell off the ownerless houses and shops in Shangjing City."
Wang Zeng frowned slightly.
Qian Tong said hurriedly: "Actually, Xiaguan didn't want to sell those ownerless houses and shops at first. After Xiaguan took office, a group of businessmen came over from Bohai Mansion.
They insisted on spending money to buy some houses here, saying that they wanted to live in the prince's mansion and the princess' mansion in Liao Kingdom and have a good time.
They also told the officials that Kou Xiang had said that all the houses in Liao could be sold.
When the officials heard that it was the Kou Prime Minister's permission, they sold the house to them.
Who knew that on the first day they moved in, something big happened.
A businessman discovered a secret room in a mansion of a nobleman from the Liao Kingdom. The secret room was filled with antique calligraphy and paintings.
The value is inestimable.
As a result, it spread to ten, and businessmen from all over the country flocked over.
The houses and shops in the upper capital have also been sold out."
Speaking of this, Qian Tong said cautiously: "Xiaoguan feels that these houses and shops are empty. They can be sold and converted into money. Part of them can be given to the court, and the other part can be used to build granaries and buy out the people." With the grain, Changpingcang in Linheng Mansion was built as soon as possible.
As long as there is no natural disaster in Linhengfu this year.
I am confident that I can build sixteen Changping warehouses in Linheng Mansion and fill them with grain."
After Wang Zeng heard this, he was speechless and turned his head to look at Kou Ji.
Kou Ji shrugged his shoulders and said: "My soldiers are not professional searchers, so they will inevitably make mistakes when searching this place.
So if someone took the opportunity to pick it up, I can't blame anyone.
As for what Qian Tong just said, the sale of houses and shops was approved by me, and it is true.
Since we have taken over this place and want to govern it, we should make this place prosper as soon as possible.
Rather than letting this place live in poverty for a long time.”
Wang Zeng let out a long sigh and said: "I know that extraordinary measures should be used in emergency situations. But I really feel bad for taking advantage of those businessmen."
In Wang Zeng's mind, it is okay to take advantage of the people, but it is absolutely not possible to take advantage of the merchants.
Kou Ji said frankly: "I didn't get those antique calligraphy and paintings illegally. I sold them legally."
Wang Zeng sighed again and said no more.
Seeing this, Kou Ji looked at Qian Channel: "You have done a good job. When I meet with the official, I will mention your contribution to the official."
Qian Tong was overjoyed and bowed to Kou Ji and Wang Zeng.
"Thank you, Prime Minister Wang. Thank you, Prime Minister Kou..."
This guy is also a good person, not only good at doing things, but also good at behaving as a person.
It was obviously Kou Ji who said he would mention his contribution to Zhao Zhen, but he thanked both Kou Ji and Wang Zeng.
Kou Ji smiled and waved his hand and said: "Okay, go down and let your people prepare, let them settle the soldiers who are coming, and set aside a camp for the Forbidden Army soldiers who stay here to garrison."
"I will send someone to take care of it immediately."
Qian Tong agreed and immediately ordered an assistant officer behind him to follow Kou Ji's instructions.
Then he took Kou Ji and Wang Zeng to patrol the Shangjing City.
During the inspection.
Qian Tong intentionally or unintentionally brought the topic to Bohai Mansion.
"Prime Minister Kou, those two guys from the Bohai Prefecture are not honest. They took advantage of the fact that their Bohai Prefecture had the right to reduce or reduce business taxes, and they completely raked in the taxes of the merchants who rushed outside the customs.
They didn't miss any tax they could collect.
It’s made it difficult for the lower officials to collect taxes.”
Qian Tong complained softly.
When Kou Ji heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched.
Su Xun and Bao Zheng were so evil-minded that they actually collected all the taxes they could.
Aren't they afraid that the prefects here will unite and kill them both?
Before Kou Ji could speak again, Qian Tong added: "What's more important is that they have allocated a large area of space for merchants to store their goods in Bohai Mansion.
So much so that merchants regard Bohai Prefecture as a place to take root and Linheng Prefecture as a post station.
Don't look at the large number of merchants in Linheng Prefecture. Almost all of them come from Bohai Prefecture.
Not only do they have to collect taxes from merchants now, but they will also continue to collect them for a long time in the future.
There is absolutely no way for lower officials to survive."
After Wang Zeng listened to Qian Tong's words, he said to Kou Ji in a neutral tone: "If you let your two students continue like this, they will become the target of public criticism here in the future."
When Qian Tong heard this, he kept nodding aside.
Kou Ji smiled calmly and said: "By next year, Bohai Mansion's tax revenue will be restored to its original state."
When Qian Tong heard this, he let out a sigh of relief.
Wang Zeng said nothing more.
After nightfall.
Qian Tong set up a table of wine and food to entertain Kou Ji and Wang Zeng.
The food and wine are not extravagant, but they are very delicious.
It can be seen that Qian Tong put a lot of thought into this matter.
Wang Zeng took the rare opportunity to praise Qian Tong.
After drinking and eating, they each went back to their rooms to sleep.
The next day.
According to the arrangement agreed upon in advance, Kou Ji left a forbidden army to guard the place, and then left the place with the remaining soldiers and horses.
before leaving.
Qian Tong gave part of the money he earned from selling his house and shops to Kou Ji, and asked Kou Ji to help escort him back to Beijing.
Kou Ji thought Qian Tong was good, so he sold some of the remaining fabrics they had seized to Qian Tong at a very low price.
The group of people set out on the road again.
The further west you go, the more prosperous the prefectures, states, and counties you see.
The most prosperous one is Bohai Palace.
Su Xun and Bao Zheng took advantage of Bohai Mansion's proximity to the sea to develop everything they could commercially.
Not only did they take advantage of tax advantages, they attracted many businessmen.
Several docks were also built on the seaside to provide berthing for merchant ships.
They also plundered some ships and craftsmen, built some shipyards, and developed the fishing industry.
Su Xun and Bao Zheng managed the Bohai Mansion so well that they took advantage of it, so some people naturally became jealous.
Therefore, after Kou Ji and Wang Zeng crossed the Gubeikou, they didn't see any greeting scenes.
On the contrary, someone secretly sent a "reporting letter" to Kou Ji and Wang Zeng.
The letter mentioned that Su Xun relied on his position as the prefect of Bohai Prefecture and the power of tax reduction and exemption to open the door to convenience for his old Taishan Cheng family.
The Cheng family used to be a moderately wealthy businessman in Meishan.
Now after moving to Bohai Prefecture, he became a wealthy businessman.
Not only does it have a fleet of five large ships, it also has five large shops covering a large area in Bohai Mansion.
Nowadays, the Cheng family is involved in many businesses, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as making money every day.
After Wang Zeng read the 'report letter', he handed the letter to Kou Ji and asked, "What do you think?"
Kou Ji said indifferently: "I don't have any opinion. If you don't get jealous, you are mediocre."
Wang Zeng hesitated for a moment and whispered: "The Cheng family..."
Kou Ji glanced at Wang Zeng and said: "When Su Xun first became the governor of Bohai Prefecture, it was near winter last year. I didn't leave much food for him at that time.
He tried his best to feed the prisoners in Bohai Mansion.
The head of the Cheng family did not move to Bohai Mansion willingly, but was tricked into moving to Bohai Mansion by Su Xun.
The five houses of the Cheng family, as well as several large boats, were all forced upon the Cheng family by Su Xun.
Su Xun took this opportunity to take out a large amount of money and food from the Cheng family.
Feeding the captives and the people who subsequently moved there.
They only saw that the Cheng family was getting up now, but they didn't see that Su Xun almost destroyed the Cheng family's property."