On the twenty-fourth of the twelfth lunar month, Chu Qing entered the palace again, this time to report on his duties.

The emperor summoned the magistrates of Jizhou, Xinlun Prefecture and Chu Qing to the Imperial Study Room.

Their respective work reports have been handed in long ago, and the emperor has read what he should read. This time, he mainly wants to hear their opinions on the issue of cotton cultivation.

Because there was an investigation report by the Secret Investigation Department on the Xinlun Prefecture government's failure to cooperate with the development of military wasteland, the emperor also summoned Xinlun Prefecture's Feng Zhizhou this time.

Some personnel transfers require the emperor's direct attitude to prevent intermediary officials from getting involved and helping to cover them up.

I was originally not very satisfied with the report submitted by Xinlun Prefecture, and I was even more dissatisfied with this interview.

Xinlun Prefecture was originally the old Donglun State, and it was originally a place mainly focused on commerce. Two years after the war, Xinlun Prefecture's tax revenue was actually lower than that of Jizhou. Among them, Xinlun Prefecture had the most favorable policies.

I wanted to hear what specific difficulties the Zhizhou of Xinlun Prefecture had, but I didn't expect that Feng Zhizhou didn't know anything about it. He just complained and asked for money.

How much newly reclaimed wasteland has been reclaimed in the past two years? I don’t know.

How many new shops will be added? I don’t know.

Asked how many students the state and county schools have enrolled this year? There is only an approximate number. Do all the original literati in old Donglun have records? How many participated in the imperial examination? I don't know.

Asked about the movements of the old Donglun nobles? I don’t know whether I didn’t want to talk or didn’t understand, so my answer was vague.

Not to mention digging mountains, digging canals, mining, and building roads.

How did you become this official?

Feng Zhizhou felt miserable.

He originally came to Xinlun Prefecture through the back door and asked for Wu Jichang's access. He thought that this place was big and had just been recovered. Taking advantage of the time when everything was waiting for improvement, he could achieve political achievements by doing whatever he wanted. He didn't expect that

Several nobles refused to cooperate, and many tasks could not be carried out.

Later, under Wu Jichang's operation, Wu Jichang's close confidant Han Fu Qianhu took over the management office and provided him with a lot of conveniences. Less than two months after the good times, Han Fu Qianhu left.

At any rate, he captured a few nobles who often offered him sacrifices, and his life was finally smooth. In the past two years, he was busy collecting money, and he had to avoid Qianhu, who would later become the White Vice-President. How could he have time to care about anything else?

Now the emperor is asking so many strange questions, how could he know! The master had helped to prepare the work report, and he had memorized all the contents above, but the emperor didn't ask any questions!

The emperor was so angry with Feng Zhizhou that he almost shut himself down.

After suppressing his anger, he turned his attention to Song Tingshan, and his mood finally improved. Jizhou unexpectedly increased its tax revenue by 30% this year.

The emperor asked: "Song Aiqing, Jizhou's peanut harvest is good this year?"

"Back to the emperor, it's okay. This is the first year of planting, and the wasteland has not been matured yet. Next year will be better." Song Tingshan replied.

"How do you get people to voluntarily cultivate wasteland?" the emperor asked. Just now, when Feng Zhizhou mentioned the wasteland, he asked for money and people with a grimace.

A lot of problems are left to the emperor to solve. Why do you, the governor of the state, need to be used?

Song Tingshan replied: "Back to the emperor, I gathered the refugees scattered in various counties in Jizhou and distributed them to wasteland areas and distributed farm tools;

And inform them: As much as they reclaim, they will be allowed to use it for free for five years, and after five years, they will pay taxes as appropriate according to specific circumstances;

At the same time, they are required to plant in accordance with the orders of the state government, and the state government will purchase them uniformly, and the money earned after deducting the cost of agricultural tools and seeds will belong to them."

No wonder.

It was expected in the court meeting that within three to five years after the National War, serfs from the Dong Lun Kingdom would flee to the interior, and all places would be troubled by the refugee problem.

In the past two years, various state capitals have indeed reported refugee problems of varying severity, but Jizhou has not.

It was originally thought that Jizhou, as a border town, would be the most severely disturbed area. If there was no report, then there would be a problem of concealment, so Song Tingshan was also impeached.

However, the investigation result given by the Secret Investigation Division is that there is no adverse impact caused by the refugee problem. On the contrary, there are labor markets in each county to give these homeless people the opportunity to work part-time to make a living.

I heard the report with my own ears today, and it turned out to be the result of the combined treatment of wasteland and refugees.

This Song Tingshan still used his brain.

Thinking of this, the emperor asked again: "This year's taxation has increased by 30% compared to last year. Is it all due to your peanut planting?"

Song Tingshan: "No, Your Majesty, the peanuts were purchased by people from the state government and are not included in taxation."

Emperor: "Oh?"

Song Tingshan: "That's it: the peanuts produced in the wasteland are purchased by Mr. Chu, and Mr. Chu does not pay taxes to the state government.

This year's tax revenue has increased because people have money in their hands, which promotes the transaction of goods, so this year's tax revenue mainly comes from municipal taxes."

Emperor: "Oh?"

Another "Oh", do you want to hear the detailed content?

Song Tingshan weighed it up and said: "For example, in the past, people had no money and nowhere to work, so they naturally lived frugally and tried not to buy anything. If there was no business, the city tax would not increase;

Now people can easily find jobs, and with extra money in their hands, they will naturally buy and sell items to improve their lives, and city taxes will also increase."

Municipal tax is commercial tax. Song Tingshan means that most of the state government's tax revenue this year comes from commercial tax.

The emperor stopped saying "oh" this time and asked: "How can there be any work to do?"

Song Tingshan: "Back to the emperor, I have to thank Mr. Chu for this. Mr. Chu is constantly recruiting workers, so that the people have a place to work during the slack time. For example..."

This time, without waiting for “oh” to come out, Song Tingshan directly gave an example: “Each process of Chuqing’s weaving workshop requires a lot of labor, so it absorbed villagers from several nearby counties to work;

And because of the need for dyeing, it indirectly led to the opening of several dyeing workshops nearby; because of the need for weaving tools, it also led to the opening of several new carpentry workshops.

Because of the reasonable treatment of workers, people are willing to work there. Then other landowners and wealthy businessmen have to follow her example and improve the treatment of employees. People get benefits, work harder, and businesses also get more benefits.

.

One county is like this, and each county learns from each other. Since last year, our state has basically eliminated poverty-stricken villages and counties, and this year it has been able to turn over middle-to-high-level taxes compared with other state capitals."

Speaking of this, Song Tingshan couldn't suppress his proud expression and had to lower his head.

Feng Zhizhou didn't dare to raise his head. He couldn't answer the emperor's question just now. He knew that he had angered the emperor, and he was thinking about how to relieve himself.

When I heard Song Tingshan's answer, I wanted to strangle him to death: "Why don't you show off your stink! Why don't you go to heaven!"

Alas, there is no harm without comparison.

Chu Qing silently paid attention to the expressions of the two people: one couldn't suppress the upturned corners of his mouth even though he tried his best to suppress it; the other couldn't wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead no matter how hard he tried.

"How can you raise so much tax revenue by producing and selling goods in one state?" the emperor asked again.

Song Tingshan: "Back to the emperor, in the past, farmers rarely spent money. They mended and lived on a budget.

The goods in the shops are almost only purchased by wealthy families, and the number of shops in each county is also small.

There has been improvement in the past two years. I summarized two points: First, the resettlement of refugees has increased the population. With more people, there are more people working and more output;

Second, Mr. Chu’s business covers all aspects of clothing, food, housing and transportation, and there is a lot of demand.

For example, she collects soybeans and presses oil in the county. The soybeans grown by the common people used to be kept for themselves and used to make sauce or tofu. They are basically eaten by themselves. Now they can be sold for money. If the common people press the oil themselves, then Mr. Chu will also purchase the soybean oil, and the soybean oil will be sold.

Sell ​​to various counties and then purchase soybeans from various counties;

When people have money to buy oil, they need vegetables and meat to buy oil. Especially people in the county town need to buy food, clothing, housing and transportation. Farmers can sell their own vegetables and meat, which makes the market lively;

For another example, Mr. Chu taught workers various processes, so that they could not only earn money through work, but also weave and cut clothes for their own homes. This year’s cotton allowed many people to buy winter clothes;

Related dyeing workshops and carpentry workshops were also mobilized, and the people also had a place to dye their own cloth. When they saved more money and needed to build a house, they could purchase bricks and stones of various prices at Mr. Chu's brick kiln.

When the common people have money in their hands, they dare to take their families to restaurants from time to time, go shopping in the market, and buy some hair, face, and jewelry for the women at home. In this way, the number of customers in restaurants and silver buildings will increase;

People with foresight were willing to pay some money to send their children to school. As a result, bookstores and grocery stores in various counties were also mobilized;

There is a demand for all kinds of goods, and those who make pens, paper, build houses, repair porcelain, all have businesses to do..."

Chu Qing secretly praised Song Tingshan after hearing this: Song Tingshan was so good at being a man. He was talking about demographic dividend, closed economic loop, and supply and demand relationship, but secretly he took it out and praised Chu Qing. It was equivalent to telling Chu Qing that the credit goes to you.

Half, what's the good thing? Keep thinking of me!
Chapter completed!