Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 660 Extra Story (VIII) Cilang is an Official
"It's finally over..."

On the fifth day of April, when a familiar voice appeared in the vast white desert, Zhu Youjian, who was the owner of the voice, also closed the information in his hand.

In front of him, apart from the vast white desert, there are also lakes among the desert dunes.

The lake is clean and blue, but there are some black algae on the bottom of the lake.

Such scenes of deserts, lakes, and algae existed in Wendeng Mansion of Qi State, and such a spectacle was also named Qianhu Desert by Zhu Youjian.

"Your Highness, although the war in Europe is over, they have also improved a lot because of the war."

"Now they are launching troops in Northern Levia. If there is no accident, they will run into Ruiguo in the future..."

Under the canopy umbrella, apart from Zhu Youjian lying on the recliner, there were also Huang Long and Sun Yingyuan standing behind him.

The person who spoke was Sun Yingyuan, who was in his sixties at the moment, and Huang Long beside him was also in his fifties.

As for Man Gui, he is seventy-five years old this year, and he is no longer doing military affairs, but recuperating in Xijing City.

The old man is aging one after another, and Zhu Youjian himself is no longer young.

At the age of 45, although he looks only in his thirties, his declining physical strength and energy have been reminding him that he is also getting old...

"King Rui is my fifth uncle after all. If the Nile Valley is really captured by the Europeans, it will indeed threaten him, but..."

Zhu Youjian stood up while leaning on the handrail. He looked at the Qianhu Desert in front of him, and then he said:

"The Nile River Basin must be in the hands of Guochao!"

The Nile River Basin is actually not important to Ming Dynasty, but the problem is that the Suez Canal, which can be developed in the Nile River Delta, directly controls the communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.

What's more, only by winning here and uniting with the Southern Kunlun Supervisory Commissioner, can the Ming Dynasty exercise north-south control over the feudal clans of Levia.

Thinking of the problem of the canal, Zhu Youjian also asked Huang Long behind him: "Have you communicated with the Navy and the Ministry of Industry, and have the excavation standards for the Zhongdu Canal come out?"

The Zhongdu Canal, also known as the Panama Canal in history, is one of the seven engineering wonders of the world and the "World Bridge".

Regardless of whether it is for the benefit of Qi or the Ming vassal system, this canal has to be dug through, and Zhu Youjian has been preparing for it for five years.

"We have communicated well, but there is still a gap of [-]% for one million reformed-through-labor workers."

Huang Long made a bow, and at the same time, he also asked the question: "Most of the labor camp workers in Yingzhou back then have passed away, and those who remain are old, weak, sick and disabled."

"The reform-through-labour workers owned by Guochao are all rebels who have been suppressed and arrested by various prefectures, and the number is only more than [-]."

Where there are people, there are fights. Even though the natives of Qizhou are doing well now compared to before the arrival of Qi, some natives still don't appreciate it.

In their view, Qi should give them food and cloth for free instead of letting them farm.

They are natural hunters, they shouldn't be farming, they should be hunting.

It took only five or six years for this concept to grow from the germination to the formation of the rebellious consciousness against Qi.

Almost every year, several tribes will rebel, and their ending is basically suppressed.

The Ministry of Punishment convicts them for reform through labor according to the extent of their rebellion. Those with more crimes are sentenced to life, and those with less crimes are sentenced to more than ten years.

In the laws of the State of Qi, there are two sets of laws for ordinary people and officials. Except for particularly serious crimes such as abduction, murder, and rape, ordinary people are sentenced to death.

As for officials, the term of labor reform is at least three years, and corruption is basically 20 years of labor reform to punish the three ethnic groups.

If there is an act of confessing to other people, the crime will be lowered according to the circumstances.

This shows how much Zhu Youjian personally hates corrupt officials.

Of course, Zhu Youjian did not require all officials to be frugal, and he was relatively generous in the salaries of officials in Qiguo.

In addition to the regular salary, incumbent officials also have year-end silver which is about [-]% of the annual salary.

For a grassroots official from the ninth rank, the annual income is 18 taels of silver with the regular salary plus the year-end silver.

As of the 35th year of Apocalypse, the price of grain in Qi State was two liters per catty, and the output of an acre of land after applying various fertilizers was basically about 350 catties.

After deducting the cost of chemical fertilizers, the profit of planting an acre of land is only [-] yuan.

The distribution of land in Qi State is [-] mu per citizen and [-] mu per native.

In other words, the national income of a family of five is no more than 30 taels, and the income of a family of local residents is no more than nine taels.

In this case, the income of an ordinary ninth-rank grassroots official is equal to the output of [-] mu of land.

In addition, many commodities in Qi State are cheap, so after Zhu Youjian's own visits, the grassroots officials from Jiupin can easily support six people.

It cannot be said that there is a lot of fish and meat, but meat is always indispensable on the dinner table.

At present, as far as Qi is concerned, there is no way for only the natives to eat meat.

However, for the natives of Qizhou who are rich in meat resources, meat is not a luxury food for them.

Compared with meat, it was the wheat and rice that Qi brought to cultivate that they wanted to eat more.

Their diet is different from that of the nationals, but when they have various grains and seasonings, they also invent food and dishes that suit their own tastes.

For most of the indigenous people in the tribal era, they had no ethnic distinctions at all.

Before the arrival of the nation, they were divided only into tribes.

Zhu Youjian's governance policy for the Qi State is mainly based on the distribution of production materials, but at the same time all production materials belong to the state in name.

Although Qi's textbooks and Daming's textbooks are generally similar, they are not the same when broken down.

Qi State pays attention to the state and the collective, and the reason is relatively simple.

At present, more than half of the arable land in Qi State is reclaimed by the imperial court using labor camps and tractors, and it will continue to be the same in the future.

Labor reformers use labor to reduce their prison terms, and the state acquires land as a means of production, and then hands over the means of production to the people.

In other words, the common people don't need to do anything during this process, they just need to be honest and wait for the land to be distributed.

What they need to do is to use the production team as the basic unit to use tractors after the land is divided, and sell the grain to the village government office (Wangdian) while cultivating.

The currency issued by the village officials will be collected at the same time, and the agricultural tax will be taken away.

In terms of the current number of reformed-through-labor workers, this policy will not change in the next two decades.

Only when the number of reformed-through-labor workers drops sharply, will the Qi State change its basic policy.

What officials need to understand and be clear about is that it is the country and the people who feed them and give them their salaries, not they give the people a way to live.

"Recently, the number of officials who have committed crimes has gradually increased. Is there any news from Xia Yunyi?"

Zhu Youjian and Sun Yingyuan walked on the fine sandy beach, talking while walking.

"It has been reported that there are still some unsatisfied corrupt officials in the country, and they are basically sentenced according to the "Qi Law"."

Huang Long responded, and at the same time expressed his opinion:
"Your Highness, I still think that these corrupt officials and their families should be killed directly."

"That being said, it's very difficult to really do this..." Sun Yingyuan took over the topic after hearing this, he knew very well that if Qi State did that, it would really become the target of public criticism among the feudal vassals.

Just as Sun Yingyuan thought, Zhu Youjian didn't answer Huang Long's question, but changed the topic and said:
"How are Brother Hong and Brother Huan? When are you going to return to China?"

Zhu Youjian brought the topic to the kings of Zhujun, and Sun Yingyuan also helped to change the topic, and answered the topic:

"The king of Zibo County has just graduated. He wrote back saying that he wants to practice in Daming for a few more years. It seems that he is preparing to join Enke and enter the officialdom."

"Stepping into the officialdom..." Zhu Youjian murmured, then sighed.

It's impossible to say that he doesn't want his children. What he hopes more now is that Zhu Cihong and the others will return to Qi State to help him after graduation.

Although there are not many state affairs in Qi State, he was able to teach Zhu Cihong and others while handling state affairs.

Now he let Daming go on according to his own ideas, but Qi State still needs someone who can inherit his ideas.

"Reply and give him another three years."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he turned and walked towards Qianhu Desert, Huang Long and Sun Yingyuan also followed.

The letter was delivered to Zhu Cihong two months later, but his action was faster than Zhu Youjian expected.

When he got this letter, he had already become the magistrate of Fangzhang County, Dongzhou Prefecture, Southern Prefecture of Ming Dynasty, as the Ninth Enke National Envoy.

"Woooo-"

The ear-piercing sound of the siren brought Zhu Cihong back to reality. He raised his head and looked in front of him. What appeared in front of him was the abbot island known as the largest among the three overseas islands of Nanzhou.

Abbot Island, the South Island of New Zealand in another world.

As for the three overseas islands of Nanzhou Province, they are Fangzhang Island (South Island), Penglai Island (North Island), and Nichinan Island (Tasmania).

Among them, Nichinan Island was under the control of Pingdong Prefecture, but because the population of Nichinan Island exceeded 19 in the 20th year of the Apocalypse, it was designated as Rinan Prefecture by the imperial court.

Compared with Nichinan Island, Fangzhang Island and Penglai Island are separately designated as Dongzhou Prefecture because they are far away from Nanzhou.

The prefecture of Dongzhou Prefecture is mainly on Penglai Island in the north, because Penglai Island is flatter than Fangzhang Island.

The Ming Dynasty landed on Abbot Island in the ninth year of Tianqi, and the official development of Abbot Island was in the 13th year of Tianqi.

Abbot Island has a large area, more than [-] miles long from north to south, and more than [-] miles from east to west.

However, although Fangzhang Island is very large, its entire territory is mountainous, and the mountainous area occupies more than [-]% of the island.

Coupled with the lush rainforest and the indigenous people who lived in the mountains for a long time, the cleaning work of Fangzhang Island in the Ming Dynasty was not completed until the 18th year of Tianqi.

Since the 19th year of Tianqi, Abbot Island has welcomed immigrants.

In the past 16 years, 5 people have poured into Fangzhang Island one after another, and most of them live on the long and narrow plain along the eastern coast of Fangzhang Island.

"Fangzhang County is on the plain in the east of Fangzhang Island. There are more than 100 villages and nine towns on the island from north to south. The population of the county seat is less than [-]..."

"Honestly, I don't know why you want to come here."

On the Donggang Wharf in Fangzhang County, when the steam ship docked, Xia Wanchun chatted and got off the ship with Zhu Cihong.

They came to the pier, listening to Xia Wanchun's complaints, Zhu Cihong's attention was attracted by the pier and the county town in the distance.

The Donggang Wharf is not big, and the ships it can accommodate are extremely limited. After all, it is at the edge of the Ming Dynasty, and there are no enemies or pirates around. It can be said that it is a place where people eat and wait to die.

In Xia Wanchun's view, if Zhu Cihong really wanted to step into the temple, he should go to a place where he could make achievements.

"I think it's nice here, don't you?"

Zhu Cihong walked on the pier, watching the people wearing Jiangnan textile cloth coming and going, he had never felt so relaxed.

The immigrants here are basically immigrants from the Zhejiang area, so the snacks sold on the wharf and some teas in the tea shop are mainly produced in Zhejiang.

Fortunately, in the 35th year of Apocalypse, most of the people had attended official schools, so the accent of official Chinese was very light, so that Zhu Cihong would not encounter the embarrassing situation of not being able to understand.

The ordinary pier has been turned around a few times by them, basically there is not much to see.

Like the Central Plains, the entire pier is made of cement and pig iron. The only difference is that there is no city wall in Fangzhang County in the distance, and all houses can be exposed in front of their eyes without shelter.

Zhu Cihong walked around, walking from the pier to the county. Many facilities and public facilities in the county were basically similar to those in Daming.

Familiar manpower lifting the barricade, familiar concrete floor, familiar intersection and the pendulum clock on the intersection.

Some of the four-wheeled carriages waiting for guests, some are open, some are covered.

In addition to them, there are also Qi State public carriages that emerged in the 25th year of Tianqi.

Two large horse-drawn horses with a shoulder height of more than 1.5 meters pull the upper and lower floors, and a public carriage for ten people can walk around the city on a fixed route.

You only need one penny, and you can get off at any stop, which is basically similar to the buses of later generations.

This kind of urban public transportation is what Zhu Ciran learned from Qi Guo.

Zhu Cihong and Xia Wanchun boarded a public carriage. They sat on the second floor and could see the surrounding scenery in the open air.

According to regulations, the main road in Fangzhang County can only be eight feet long, the auxiliary roads are six feet long, the streets are four feet long, and the laneways are two feet long.

Zhu Cihong and the others were going to the county government office, so the roads they took were basically the main road and auxiliary roads.

Sitting on the second floor, feeling the wind blowing in front, Zhu Cihong and Xia Wanchun looked curiously at both sides of the street.

In fact, the two sides of the streets in various places are similar, basically all kinds of flowers, clothing, food shops.

In the past seven or eight years, Zhu Cihong used his summer and winter vacations to go to various places that can be reached by Daming railways and ships.

From Lingbei at the northernmost point to Nanzhou at the southernmost point, in his opinion, the common people are living a pretty good life, but it is difficult to eliminate the phenomenon of random tax collection.

He came here just to know whether it is really that difficult to put an end to random tax collection.

With this thought in mind, he was brought back to reality by the sound of the coachman ringing the bell on the first floor.

Since Fangzhang County is not big, the carriage only took three miles to send them to their destination.

The drivers don't know where the passengers will get off, so they need to stop at each stop, and then pick up a bell and shake it three times to remind them.

After five seconds, if no one gets off the bus, go to the next stop.

"The coachmen here must have a good life. I looked at it and found that they go to work at four o'clock in the morning (9:30) and close at midnight (17:[-])."

"In this way, there is still a salary of nine hundred cash per month..."

Xia Wanchun took a breath, as if to say that this money is much easier to earn than the Central Plains.

"There is no other way, the salary can only be raised if there are fewer people."

Zhu Cihong smiled, and then walked into the county government office with Xia Wanchun.

Regarding Zhu Cihong's arrival, the county magistrate of Fangzhang County had known about it for a long time, and he was even clear about Zhu Cihong's identity.

As for Zhu Cihong, the eldest son of King Qi, he didn't dare to neglect or make things difficult.

Since the Ming Dynasty followed the system of floating officials, there was no such phenomenon that local subordinates stumbling officials during the Wanli period.

The grass-roots officials are also paid, and they can only serve here for three years before being transferred away, so they cannot form any force to hinder the new county magistrate.

With Xia Wanchun's help, Zhu Cihong figured out the situation in Fangzhang County in less than a day.

There are more than [-] people in Fangzhang County, and nearly [-]% of them rely on farming and animal husbandry as their main source of income.

Local output mainly includes livestock products such as rice, mutton, beef, wool, and dairy products.

Although the place is remote, the local agricultural tax and commercial tax can reach more than 200 taels of silver every year.

However, there are a total of more than 570 local officials, and the basic expenditure of salary alone reaches more than 9000 taels of silver every year.

In addition to these, there are more than 500 non-level service personnel in the Huimin Pharmacy Bureau, Nursing Home, Environmental Sanitation Bureau, etc., and the annual expenditure is more than 5000 taels of silver.

Therefore, in the past ten years, Fangzhang County has always been a remote county that needs blood transfusion from Ming Dynasty.

If there is a rebellion in this kind of place, it is unclear whether Daming will rescue it. After all, stationing officials here is simply a long-term loss-making business.

There are more than 200 counties like this in Daming.

Therefore, the proposition of this year's Enkece theory is how to solve the poverty and income and expenditure problems of these more than 200 counties.

Zhu Cihong's policy theory score was 89, ranking No. 70. If it weren't for other exams to pull his score up, I am afraid he would be able to get the official position of a town mayor at most.

He was able to get the official position in Abbot County, and it was purely because no one was willing to come here.

Even when Zhu Ciran learned that he was coming to Fangzhang County, he sent Zhu Heyin to come to the door in person to persuade him.

However, Zhu Cihong didn't take it seriously.

He felt that since his policy theory did not get high marks, it meant that his ideas were unrealistic and far away from life.

In this case, he has to make up for his shortcomings.

When he came to Fangzhang County, he just wanted to know how to solve the negative expenditure problem of more than 200 counties in Daming.

In addition to this problem, he has another problem that needs to be solved here.

Thinking of this, Zhu Cihong turned his head to look at the courtyard outside the study window, and touched his chin:

"I've come here, Dad can't tell me to go back to the prison country..."

　The extra episode is mainly a brief continuation of the plot, and the postscript is the posterity
　　There are still a few chapters outside the episode, and then the epilogue
　　-

　　recommend a friend's book

　　


(End of this chapter)