Although he thought so, after returning to the city, Cai Youcai immediately made Li Mao's instructions into a document and sent it to the Youzhou Governor's Office.

A month has passed, and no one has talked about it again.

This year, the snow in Youzhou was particularly heavy, and after the third snow, the inside and outside of the city were plain white.

Early this morning, Li Mao got rid of Lan'er's stalking, escaped out of the back house, and said to Hu Sijin, who was yawning and rubbing his eyes under the corner gate: "Prepare the horse, go to Dafengfang and Stinky Water Street to have a look." ”

Hu Sijin didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly told Shi Kong and Cai Youcai, and when the arrangements were made, everyone pretended to be out of the side door of the palace.

However, the root cause of the gap between the rich and the poor is often not natural disasters, Li Mao is born in poverty, knows that the livelihood of small people is difficult, and also knows that sitting at home and listening to reports, the world will always be peaceful, and the people will always be happy.

If you want to know about the people's suffering, you have to go out and see for yourself.

The location of Dafengfang is a famous slum settlement in Youzhou, the original neighborhood is dilapidated, garbage is everywhere, sewage is flowing sideways, and the front of the street is full of beggars who wander from other places:

Regardless of the old and the young, all dressed in rags, sitting in the muddy water, staring at a pair of cloudy eyes, stretching out their black hands like chicken feet, wanting to eat and drink, and coaxing, verbal violence to single passers-by, and even the big girls and little daughters-in-law did not dare to pass even in broad daylight, and occasionally there were one or two donors who "scurried" over from other places, and the beggars attacked them in groups, even begging for them, and they couldn't wait to swallow their lives alive before they were willing.

The Dafeng Fang in front of me is deserted, the snow on the street has been cleared, the newly paved bluestone slab street, smooth and open, clean, there is not a single rotten vegetable leaf, let alone a begging beggar.

"Where are these people, who hid him?"

"No one hides, the world is peaceful, Youzhou has plenty of food and clothing, and there are no beggars."

Before Han Zhenzhi finished blowing, he was slapped by Li Mao, he rubbed the back of his head, and his smile did not change: "I was placed in the workshop, and I specially set aside a piece of land to come out and build a shack for them." ”

Han Zhenzhi was now sent to Youzhou Prefecture to experience training, and he was very familiar with the local situation, so Hu Sijin specially called him over.

"Why did you build a shack, didn't you give a subsidy to ask them to build a house, the subsidy was not enough, or was it deducted by you?"

Li Mao's eyes were like knives, Han Zhenzhi gasped, and said with a smile: "Who dares to deduct, and he doesn't dare to eat the bear's heart and leopard's guts, the money is given to them, and they are also introduced to masons and suppliers, and the result is good, people take the money to drink, buy meat, and go, and each family happily lives a good life for half a month, and then, there is no then, the money is gone, and they still beg for a living." ”

Hu Sijin shook his head and said: "The mud can't support the wall, there's really no way." ”

"It's not that there is no way, it's to find a way, they are all the people of the Tang Dynasty, they shouldn't be discriminated against, and they have to try to help them, but they know that it's a bottomless pit, and it's not a matter of taking money to fill it, this money is not falling from the world, it's not blowing in the wind, it's collected by taxes, it's earned by others' hard work, so that they are confused and ruined, what do others think about it, the local government still has to think of more ways, and there is no way to get them out of trouble completely." Han Zhenzhi has been busy in the state recently. ”

Han Zhen knew: "Back to the marshal, I have been promoted from the military to the judge, first as a division, then as a division, and now as a division, I have poor skills, and I can't climb up." Hey. ”

Hu Sijin made a small report: "He often complains that he is not working well in the background, so he didn't climb up." ”

Han Zhen couldn't understand what Hu Sijin was telling Li Mao, but he knew by instinct that it was not a good thing, so he lit his fist, was swept away by Li Mao's gaze, and hurriedly softened, and said: "It's good to be a sihu, how many high-ranking officials have been sihu, and the practice of our dynasty, the Beijing official is demoted, either Sima or Sihu." ”

Li Mao said: "Are you very aggrieved to be a household, how old are you, how many people in the officialdom can't get to your position after a lifetime, cherish it." In the eyes of the people, Sihu is a big official, and he is a blue sky on his head. In fact, there is no distinction between the size of an official, and it is a good official to do things for the people, and it is better to go home and sell sweet potatoes if you are not in charge of the people. ”

Han Zhenzhi asked: "What is a sweet potato?"

Hu Sijin said: "You don't know this, there is it in the Buddhist scriptures, this is a Western thing, and there is no Middle Earth." ”

Han Zhenzhi nodded: "If it weren't for the light of the handsome, with my ability, how could I be qualified to be a secretary, it's almost the same as being a warehouse, I don't dare to dream of it, I will do a good job, and I will never embarrass the people who come out of our handsome mansion." ”

Li Mao said: "Don't come out of the marshal's mansion, come out of the training center, the old pole in Liaodong, be an official and be a pure minister, don't form a gang, that's like taking drugs, it's refreshing for a while, and it's a lifetime." ”

Han Zhenzhi asked again: "What is taking drugs?"

Hu Sijin coughed and explained: "There is a Western proverb: taking drugs is infinitely good, but it is only harmful to health. In the Buddhist scriptures, it's okay to read more. After receiving Hu Sijin's eyes, Han Zhenzhi was honest, and he didn't dare to ask again.

After reading Dafengfang, I went to Stinky Water Street again, because of the low-lying terrain of Stinky Water Street, the sewage of the whole city is concentrated here, and it is a pool of stagnant water, so the stench hits people, and all the ways are moved to other places, so this place is occupied by beggars. Last winter, after Li Mao moved the beggars here to the farms outside the city, he made great efforts to renovate them, and the sewage from the city was directly discharged to the outside of the city, and then the living water from outside the city was introduced to wash the rivers and planted the embankment willows.

After Li Mao moved into Youzhou, he broke the inherent fang market system and allowed residents to open shops in the fang, which made Youzhou's commerce prosperous overnight.

Because of its special location, this street does not belong to any square, and now there are many shops on both sides, and it has become one of the few commercial centers in Youzhou. At this moment, the sun has risen, the shops on both sides are open, and the sound of people coming and going on the street, greeting each other, and the cries of vendors along the street, one after another.

Li Mao saw a few tax collectors lazily walking on the streets, and they were collecting the market tax from the small traders and hawkers one by one, because the tax rate was low, most of the hawkers did not resist, and they were also clever, and when they saw the tax collectors coming, they flashed into the alley and hid.

There was once a debate over whether or not to levy taxes on these small traders and hawkers who were hawking along the streets, and the faction represented by the clerk Cheng believed that the small traders and hawkers had a large number of small traders, great mobility, and a large cost of taxation, and that the gains outweighed the losses.

Zheng Xiaozhang as the representative of the faction advocated expropriation, how can there be no tax in business, do not pay taxes, the government to drink the northwest wind, and not to say that it is not fair to rent a shop to open a shop, the two sides had a dispute, no one can convince anyone, and finally asked Li Mao to decide, Li Mao supported Zheng Xiaozhang's side, commercial activities are profitable, appropriate taxation to raise some people to maintain business order, beneficial and harmless.

If left unchecked, on the surface it is beneficial to the traders, but if the rules are broken and no one cares, in the end it will damage the interests of the entire industry, there are guilds in the fish shop and horse market, and the hawkers along the street are highly mobile, and it is not easy to organize guilds.

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