After deciding to transfer Ran Tao from Dun'an as soon as possible, Shang Chengcheng turned the topic to local government affairs.

The conversation was still in the way he was accustomed to, mainly because he asked questions, and then the officials answered them, and occasionally he asked questions repeatedly if he did not understand something, until he understood. He was concerned about the general situation of the population and households, the local public order situation, or the finance, taxation, government management, production, land reclamation, and water conservancy, and even carefully inquired about the reasons why the county's Dingkou growth last year was not as good as in the previous two years.

At first, this way of talking made several officials very uncomfortable, and a series of questions made them a little nervous, and several people were unable to answer after being asked questions by Shang Cheng. You know, these numbers are always on their lips on weekdays, but I don't know why, but now they have become unfamiliar. Because he couldn't answer the question of the governor, the head of the household department, who was originally quite sophisticated, was shocked and frightened, and his face changed in a hurry......

Shang Cheng stopped talking and asked the pale-faced lord to drink saliva to relieve his emotions beforehand.

He asked Ran Tao, "How long has Lord Ran been in Dun'an?" ”

Ran Tao owed a debt on the drum stool, and arched his hand and said, "Don't dare to bother the adults to ask." From August 16 to the present, it has been almost four years since Xia Guan came to Dun'an. And he said, "Your Excellency can call me Yanqing." He knew that his hometown accent was heavy, and he was afraid that Shang Cheng would not understand it, so he learned to speak these two sentences very slowly in the official dialect of Shangjing.

This time, Shang Cheng understood. He frowned slightly. I remember that when Ran Tao reported his resume just now, he mentioned that he was a jinshi in the seventh year of the Eastern Yuan Dynasty, why is he still a nine-grade sesame official? Jinshi was born, even if he is a person who does not want to make progress, just by virtue of his qualifications, he will at least be a county magistrate of the county for more than ten years, right? What's more, Ran Tao doesn't look like a mediocre person...... This question flashed through his mind. He took a sip of water and said, "You have been here for so long, the situation of Dun'an must be very familiar, what do you think is the problem of Dun'an?" Is it because of the barrenness of the land and the scarcity of property, or is it because the taxes are too heavy? Or is the Department of Health not paying enough attention to this place? Or is it something else? ”

Ran Tao slowly shook his head and said, "It's all and it's not." He paused, pursed his lips and thought for a moment, as if to organize his thoughts, and then continued, "Dun'an is a mountainous area, and it is an indisputable fact that there is little arable land, but the land is similar to the surrounding counties, and it is not barren. If we want to say that the taxes are heavy, except for the miscellaneous taxes set by the imperial court, we will never charge a penny more. He met Shang Cheng's scrutinizing gaze and said in a resolute tone, "If you don't believe what Ran said, you can go out and visit." ”

Shang Cheng said: "It's not that I don't believe it, but it's just strange that since the land is no different from other places, how can the situation in Dun'an be so far different from other counties?" Coming from Yan Qingdao, the situation I saw was very poor, don't talk about it, let's talk about food, clothing, housing and transportation; Don't say anything far away, just talk about the ...... in front of you," he pointed to the engineering director who was sitting at the back of several officials, "...... The people in the yamen are dressed like this when they pay homage to the officials? ”

Several people looked in the direction of Shang Cheng's fingers, and immediately they all had strange expressions on their faces that they wanted to laugh but couldn't. The director of the engineering department was flushed, and hurriedly buried his head in a gap in the hem of his robe, and explained in a hurry: "No, it's not that the little official has the intention to lose his honor in front of the official, is it...... When he entered the door just now, he accidentally fell...... "He was still clutching his robe tightly in his hand, and he accidentally made a "whoosh" sound, and tore off the piece of silk that fell off the hem.

Shang Cheng and several magistrates were amused by the funny scene. A little tension in the room just now was diluted with this laughter.

In order not to make the poor engineering director even more embarrassed, Shang Chengcheng said: "It seems that I am thinking too much. Yanqing, you are familiar with the situation in Dun'an, I would like to ask you one by one, if we want to change the situation in Dun'an now, where do you think we should start? ”

Ran Tao's eyes flashed behind his eyelids, and then he lowered his head, pursed his lips as if thinking, and said for a long time: "It depends on how the adults and the Health Department want to change Dun'an." If we hope that the people will have a temporary stability in terms of food and clothing in front of them, it will be easy to allocate money to subsidize relief every year in the spring and autumn. This is not very expensive, and it is simple and easy to do, as long as the person who does the work is reliable, it is enough to ensure a year's safety. ”

Who can't think of a way to throw money? Shang Cheng shook his head in disappointment. He originally expected Ran Tao to give him a good way, and he also had the idea of testing this person's ability, but now it seems that his expectations for this Jinshi are a little too high. But he couldn't help but continue, and he asked casually, "There is no other way?" ”

Ran Tao shook his head silently. Just as Shang Cheng was about to continue to learn about other situations in the county, he suddenly raised his head and stared at Shang Cheng and said, "As long as the adults can promise me one thing, within three years, I can keep Dun'an Road behind." ”

"Oh? Tell me, what do you have to do? ”

"Build roads!" Ran Tao's words burst out from between his teeth. "The reason why Dun'an was poor was because of the heavy rain in the middle of the summer in the third year of the Eastern Common Era, and the mountains collapsed, destroying the road to the Central Plains to the south. The section of the shallow waterfall in the north, and the section from Cangling to Weixian under the rule of Quzhou in the south, are all difficult and bumpy. Among them, the south side is especially severe, there are many road crashes and bridge collapses, and there is almost no way to go. Because of the difficulty of this road, the merchants who went south and north through here gradually changed their routes, or took Nanzheng, or changed their routes to Canglu, and now the business travel is almost extinct in Dun'an. The adults just said that we were poorly dressed and poorly fed, and this is the truth. Don't hide it from adults, in Dun'an, one or two incense can be sold for one hundred and twenty yuan, one stone valley is always two, the price is twice as expensive as Shangjing, and more than twice as expensive as Yanzhou. In such a market, can Dun'an people not be poor? Of course, we are also willing to dress better and eat better, and we can get a lot of meat at once, but if the merchants don't come to Dun'an, where can we buy good things? And if the merchants don't come, Dun'an's grain, cloth, mountain goods, and furs can't be sold, and people have no money to spare and no hope, and how many people will still work hard and hope for a better life? ……”

Shang Cheng nodded while listening, and Ran Tao was telling the truth. If you want to get rich and build roads first, solve the traffic problem first, and other things will naturally be much easier to do, not to mention more, even the relief of the imperial court is easy to send over......

Several officials agreed with Ran Tao's idea. One hundred and twenty dollars of oil is too expensive!

Shang Cheng asked Ran Tao: "Have you made a plan for road construction in your county?" ”

"Yes." Ran Tao said. How can such a big event be without a case? He has been in Dun'an for four years, and there are at least three copies of the road repair notice handed over to the Yanzhou government and the health department, and every time he goes to Yanzhou to do business, he has to ask once, but there is only one reply when he returns: no hurry. The case is under consideration......

Shang Cheng immediately said: "Then you go back and send the filing foundation over, I'll take a look at it at night, and tomorrow we will take some time to discuss this matter." ”

Hearing him say this, several magistrates were so happy that their eyebrows fluttered.

This was originally what they wanted to do for Shang Cheng, and they had made a lot of preparations for this before coming, who would have thought that the new admiral would be so easy to talk to, and none of the things prepared would be put on the table, Shang Cheng had already agreed. Although Shang Cheng said that he would discuss it with them, it seems that there is a great hope that this thing will be done.

The biggest thing came to mind, and the mood of several magistrates was noticeably relaxed. They and Shang Cheng kept talking until dinner. They called several of the most famous chefs in the county to the post house, and made a sumptuous banquet for Shang Cheng that was not inferior to the Yanzhou Restaurant. Several hard-working cooks not only received praise from the Admiral, but also received a reward of several hundred wen in the Yamen. Ran Tao: While they were excited, they were also a little regretful and nervous, and they didn't know if this meal could really satisfy the Admiral; It's a pity that the head of the Nancheng Qingwa Fang, the pillar of the brocade lady, has something to do and is not in the county, if she is there......