I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 97: The governor of the state sits in the official position, and the general magistrate guards the post house

Another day, near noon.

In Qizhou city.

The sky is blue and the summer wind blows.

The lotus flowers on the lake in the distance stand tall and have bloomed a little pink.

This is the sixth day that Su Liang came to Qizhou.

As a supervisory censor, he came to Qizhou not only to solve the problem of the dismissal of low-level officials, but also to supervise PepsiCo and report various facts to the court.

Although Zhao Zhen said that any problems that are difficult to solve in Qizhou can be reported to the court.

However, the efficiency of the ministers in the court was very low. They kept asking for money, grinding and grinding, and there was no hope at all.

Everything depends on yourself.

Su Liang rode a horse and walked on Qizhou Street, observing the situation around him.

Compared with when he was a recommendation officer.

The biggest change in Qizhou City is that the flow of people has increased.

When wealth no longer mainly depends on the fields, people will quickly become mobile.

……

afternoon.

Su Liang, escorted by two imperial city officials, ran on the official road outside the city.

At this time, the wheat has been harvested.

In addition to rows of green trees on both sides of the official road, there are crop fields full of wheat stubble.

After Su Liang walked on the official road for half an hour, he suddenly discovered a problem.

The caravans he saw were all local caravans from Qizhou.

This is the case inside the city, and it is still the same outside the city.

There are those selling Chinese medicinal materials, there are those selling ironware, there are also cloth merchants selling cotton and silk...

The cloth banners are all marked with Qizhou people's logo, and every caravan hires guards.

Along the way, seven or eight caravans were like this.

Su Liang couldn't help but feel that something was abnormal.

When he saw a caravan selling cloth stopped on the roadside to rest, he couldn't help but ride over and ran over.

now.

A middle-aged man in a cloth shirt, about 40 years old, is resting in the shade of a tree. Judging from his clothes, he must be the shopkeeper.

There were seven or eight men on the side, each guarding a carriage.

When Su Liang approached.

Those men looked at him very warily.

Su Liang quickly grabbed the horse's rope and said: "Everyone, please don't misunderstand me. I don't have any ill intentions. I am a businessman from other places. I wanted to come to Qizhou to do some small business, but along the way I found that all Qizhou businessmen were out and there were no businessmen in Qizhou." Foreign businessmen came to Qizhou, I don’t know why?”

The middle-aged man saw that Su Liang had an extraordinary demeanor and did not have a Qizhou accent. The two followers following him were also very heroic. They looked like they were either rich or noble. He couldn't help but smile and asked: "You must have just come to Jingdong Road, right?"

Su Liang nodded.

The middle-aged man said: "Businessmen from other places dislike the fact that there are too many people cutting trails in Qizhou, and they are unwilling to come to Qizhou. It is us who send the goods out and then bring the goods from other places in. This has become a routine over the past few years."

Su Liang was taken aback.

"It shouldn't be! Are there still many trail cutters in Qizhou now? I heard that two months ago, the magistrate of Qizhou personally led his soldiers to wipe out the bandits!"

When Su Liang was serving as an official, there were many path cutters in Qizhou.

They are basically villagers near the official road. Their main business is farming and their side business is robbing.

When committing a crime, some people stay on guard, while others block the road and intercept passengers. They do not hurt anyone, they rob the rich but not the poor, they rob the people but not the officials. They have their own set of rules in the world.

When the government came to arrest them, they ran towards the mountains, forests and lakes. They were hard to guard against and difficult to control.

However, with the arrival of Wang Anshi and Sima Guang.

This situation has improved significantly.The two men led the troops to clear out the area twice, and due to the division of fields, many of those who had cut the paths had washed their hands in the golden basin.

Wang Anshi also reported to Zhao Zhen that the trail cutters in Qizhou had almost disappeared.

Su Liang remembered it very clearly.

Now, this middle-aged man says that there are too many outsiders who dislike Qizhou for cutting trails.

Su Liang suddenly didn't know who to listen to.

The middle-aged man couldn't help but smile when he heard Su Liang talking about the soldiers and thieves. He said, "Young man, you know a lot!"

"Let me tell you, there are almost no trail cutters in Qizhou now. No matter you walk during the day or at night, whether you take the official road or the trail, it is difficult to encounter a trail cutter."

"But...but the foreign businessmen don't believe it at all."

"They felt that there were many people pruning the roads on Jingdong Road, and Qizhou had the most people. Some people even called Qizhou: out of ten common people, there are nine thieves, and when geese plucking their hair, animals leave their skins."

"I have told many outsiders that there are no trail cutters in Qizhou, but no one believes me. Now, Qizhou is definitely safer than Qingzhou, Yunzhou, and Mizhou, but no businessmen from outside are willing to come here!"

The middle-aged man looked helpless.

Hear this.

Su Liang immediately understood that this was no longer a matter of whether there was someone who cut off the path, but that Qizhou's reputation was completely ruined.

Like a quilt soaked with animal urine.

Even if it is cleaned and left to dry in the sun or in the yard, a pungent odor will slowly come out.

In order to attract businessmen from other places, this bad reputation must be washed away.

……

At dusk, inside the state government office.

Su Liang gathered with Wang Anshi and Sima Guang.

When Su Liang told them that many businessmen were unwilling to do business in Qizhou because of the reputation of Qizhou, Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were already on the verge of tears.

They are very aware of the situation.

"Alas! Qizhou has such a bad reputation because of the shadow of the famous tree. It must have been the joint efforts of the previous governors. It is really difficult to wash away this bad reputation!" Wang Anshi sighed.

"The benefits of sericulture are far greater than farming. If we can attract a group of foreign businessmen, it will be of great help to our business in Qizhou, and it will also be beneficial to restraining land annexation. However, under the current situation, we can only slow down Let's get our good reputation back soon!" Sima Guang said.

Swapping sincerity for sincerity, although it is slow, it is indeed effective. The two of them can't think of any other method.

Immediately, the three of them went to rest.

……

The next day, early in the morning.

Su Liang appeared in the back hall of the government office, and the three of them would basically have breakfast at this time.

Seeing that Su Liang was very excited, Wang Anshi and Sima Guang couldn't help asking: "Brother Jingming, what happened to make you so happy?"

Su Liangdao: "I have a plan that can quickly solve the bad reputation of cutting paths in Qizhou City."

"What's the plan?" Sima Guang and Wang Anshi asked curiously at the same time.

Su Liang put his hands behind his back and said: "The governor of the state is an official, and the general magistrate guards the post house."

"what for?"

"One of you is guarding the official road outside Qizhou City, and the other is staying at the post house heading towards the official road to Qingzhou. When you see foreign merchants, you will introduce our Qizhou's special products, and promise that when doing business in Qizhou, any problems will The state government is responsible for all thefts and invites them to come to Qizhou to purchase goods. If you do this for more than half a month, businessmen from other places will flock to Qizhou."

Sima Guang touched the back of his head and said, "Brother Jing Ming, after all, we are the chief officials of the same state. It would be a bit indecent to act like a disciple to recruit businessmen from other places!"

Wang Anshi's chest puffed up and he said: "I think it's a good idea. It's a reform. It means not taking the usual path. I'm willing to go!"

Sima Guang gritted his teeth.

"For the sake of Qizhou, I am willing to go!"

Su Liang immediately smiled, letting go of his pride as a scholar-bureaucrat, things would be much simpler.

Besides, officials work for the welfare of the people and have no shame in anything they do.

　Good night everyone, there will be three chapters left around ten o'clock tonight

　　
　
(End of this chapter)