Zhou Qi is his eldest apprentice, and it stands to reason that he is the most kao person, but Chen Minggang is very mean. Zhou Qi's parents have long passed away, and according to the rules of the old era, Chen Minggang is his closest elder, not only has the obligation to take care of him, but also has the responsibility of marrying a wife and starting a family for him.

Chen Minggang never married him - Lingao in the Ming Dynasty was an area with a serious imbalance between men and women, and most of the immigrants were bachelors, and there were very few women. This makes the cost of marrying a wife much higher than on the mainland. And with Zhou Qi as his apprentice, he can't just find a woman, it should be a relatively wealthy local small grain household or a peer girl. This would have to be a decent dowry, and a house would have to be built for them to start a family.

Chen Minggang was reluctant to spend this amount of money, and he kept procrastinating, and in the blink of an eye, he was almost thirty years old—in the 17th century, he was already an older unmarried young man.

Not getting married for a long time is a very shameless thing for Zhou Qi, and this has also caused another consequence, Chen Minggang is an excellent woman, since Zhou Qi is his eldest apprentice, many of the master's private affairs are handled by him. The more contact with Master's woman, the Master will inevitably become suspicious - after all, this apprentice is young and strong, much stronger than himself.

Recently, there have been some rumors, either that he had an affair with Chen Minggang's woman, or that he had great complaints behind his back, although Chen Minggang didn't believe it much, but his trust in him was less. Coupled with the recent incident of Qiuhong, he has a lot of doubts about his ability to do things as a big apprentice.

"That's right, Xiao Hu is right, this kind of thing must have a reason to force the big families to agree. We are just ordered to do errands, and we can't complain about us. Chen Minggang said, "Wicked people, naturally ask them to do it." ”

Everyone nodded again and again, and some people had to pat a few sycophants.

"But what should I look for?" Someone asked, "It's hard to find the reason for this." ”

First, the common people must believe that this common people are not ignorant fools in the countryside, but some landlords and gentry with some property status, who will not be intimidated by a few empty words of empty words. The second is that Australians have to admit their accounts. Chen Minggang knows that Australians are very careful about their own image, and they are most taboo to be used in their name.

Chen Minggang was not in a hurry, and took a sip of tea first. He felt that the reason why he was better than this group of people was not only because he had the ancestral treasure of the Yulin Book, but also because he could see farther and understand better than everyone else.

"You're from the countryside, what are the Australians' teams up to?" He asked suddenly.

In fact, the task force has done a lot in the rural areas, mainly engaged in social surveys: population, land quantity, and the barrenness of the fields.

"You didn't get to the point." Chen Minggang shook his head and said, "In fact, what Australians care about most is to find out the details of this county!" ”

Everyone looked at each other: What is the bottom of this county?

There is one of the more sophisticated ones, who came up with the idea: "The number of people and fields ......"

"Yes, that's it." Chen Minggang nodded and said, "Australians want to stay here here for a long time, what do they need to know?" He slapped his palms with a Sichuan fan and counted, "First of all, we need to know how many people there are in the county, how many fields there are, and what is produced in the fields." ”

"Zhangtian?!" The umbrella shop said it.

"Not bad!" Chen Minggang glanced at the umbrella shop Xiaohu appreciatively, "Australians are running a task force in the countryside and collecting food in the county. At the root, it is nothing more than to find out how much oil and water there is in Lingao County. He opened the fan and shook it gently, "We're going to do him a favor, Zhangtian!" ”

Now everyone was in an uproar. As the name suggests, "Zhangtian" is to measure the acres of land, but it is not enough, and at the same time, Zhangtian must draw a new fish book and re-register the land property rights and tax status. This is not a trivial matter in ancient society, often to the court to take the lead in the event, the Ming Dynasty in addition to the Hongwu period Zhangtian to draw the fish Lin book, only the early years of Wanli Zhang Juzheng Dynasty did Zhangtian. Every time Zhangtian, not only the household department and the province have to send special officials to handle it, but also send students from the whole province to assist, and the time can not be done in one or two months. At least more than half a year.

Although they are "food-eating" and know a little about how to grow the field, they are not professionals in the end, so they are unable to do this, and they have too late time.

Chen Minggang motioned for them to calm down: "What are you arguing about?" It's just a head! He sneered, "Do we really have to help them?" Even if everyone is willing, they don't have the ability to do this, right? ”

Everyone nodded. They all looked at this backbone.

"Australians want to know how much foundation Lingao has, so we cater to them. Said to help them measure the acres of land - the Australians would not refuse. As long as we have this name, those big families are not up to us to fiddle? ”

Everyone applauded: this is a brilliant idea. Not only is the teacher famous, but the Australians will never refuse this offer. Would be happy to be this "wicked person". zuihou: The big guys have nothing to say, and the consequences of all this can be pushed on to the Australians.

"Can the big guys buy it?" Zhou Qi was a little hesitant, "There is also a collusion between them and the Australians. ”

"It doesn't matter if there is collusion," Chen Minggang saw very clearly the relationship between the crossing group and the gentry, "Australians don't like the gentry. Now it's just a matter of using them. ”

"Isn't that a little unexpected?" Xiong Buyou smiled when he relayed Chen Minggang's proposal in Wu De's office.

"yes, I was surprised." Wu De nodded, unrelieved, "I didn't expect that it was this Chen Minggang who could see our minds clearly." The scholars in the county didn't understand one by one. There is a sense of sympathy for each other.

According to Wu De's original jihua, he was going to let Chen Minggang go to increase the consumption of rice to his heart's content, which made the gentry and villagers complain, and when the county's taxes were almost over, they arranged a "petition" drama in which the people were raging.

After venting the people's anger, they took the opportunity to implement the "new policy" -- on the pretext of avoiding the recurrence of such things in the future, they began to clear the acres of land in the county, verify the tax rate, and complete the tax reform.

Wu De also prepared a back hand. If there is any accident in the process of collecting grain, so that the autumn tax cannot be collected in time, he has already obtained the consent of the executive committee, and he will use the method of payment on behalf of the group, and the crossing group will first pay the autumn grain and taxes, and then slowly deduct them from the taxes.

No matter which method is adopted, the crossing group is sure to pay off this year's autumn tax on time. In this way, you can calmly open up the field and clean up the household registration. There is no need to rush to do these things within the tax deadline -- the so-called slow work and meticulous work, and Wu De intends to slowly boil the porridge of this "new tax system".

This is a big project for the crossing group, and for this reason the Executive Committee has issued several orders to the ministries, commissioners, offices and companies.

The Leizhou Sugar Company was instructed to continue selling sugar to Vietnam, and at the same time to sell some other goods needed locally, so as to purchase rice from Vietnam in large quantities.

The order given to the Liliang Department at sea was to concentrate their transportation capacity and rush to transport Vietnamese rice to Lingao. Strive to increase the reserve of Lingao brown rice to 35,000 stone by the eleventh month of the lunar calendar.

The instructions to the Foreign Trade Commission were to use Vietnamese rice to purchase silver in the three counties of Leizhou, with a quota of 10,000 taels. This amount of money was prepared for the "Liao salary" of Lingao. Wu De expected that the high price of rice would fall because of the levy of "liao salary", so they just sold the silver they had sold rice at a high price and bought grain at a low price.

The Ministry of Education was instructed to immediately begin arranging classes in students' practical classes such as surveying and mapping, simple plane geometry, etc., to prepare them for a comprehensive survey of the land.

The printing house was also notified to print a large number of blank title deeds and title registers immediately.

……

"Chen Minggang is really a talent." Xiong Buyou said.

"It's a pity that this person can't be kept." Wu De couldn't help but look at this "bad official" with admiration, and the historical circles explained that the grassroots level of the Qing Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty was actually "ruled by officials", which really made sense.

Xiong Buyou said: "How can I reply to him?" ”

Implying that he could do so. You've got to show a lot of interest in Shota. Wu De decided to let Chen Minggang make a fuss about this issue. It is equivalent to blowing the wind to the local big households first, just as every time before the introduction of any policy, first have a harsh test of the water, let the public opinion criticize and write, and then low-key launch of a slightly improved conditions plan, it is easy for the public to accept. Wu De decided to do the same.

"But it must not be explicit." Wu De should be instructed face-to-face, "You should arrange for someone to record the conversation with him, and if you want to say more specious things, you should first discuss with the people in the Propaganda Department how to talk about it, so that it is convenient to edit the picture in the future, and let him try his best to recommend our Zhangtian--"

"I see." Xiong Buyou nodded.

"Chen Minggang is nothing more than preparing us to be wicked people and make a fortune ourselves. Originally, we could have been this wicked person. Wu De was a little regretful, "If he is really willing to help us in a down-to-earth manner." ”

"Hahahaha, you're just fighting with a tiger." Xiong Buyou has a lot of contact with the officials, and he knows very well what they are, "It's just a group of silverfish in the system, and they just think about how to benefit themselves." How can there be such a high level of enlightenment! ”

"There is another thing, Chen Minggang asked us: Where is the grain cabinet for collecting grain, and how many of our people should be used on the cabinet?"

"The cabinet is still in the county," Wu De had already thought about it, "none of our people are needed." Let them go on as usual. Wu De said, "Since you want them to carry the black pot, it is better to carry it thoroughly."