Li Yanqing only felt that his head was big for a while, the county government had no money, he was prepared, and every county government in the Great Song Dynasty was so poor that he was so poor, but he didn't expect that he was actually in debt of 3,000 yuan, and there were still a few months of arrears, 3,000 yuan was nothing to him personally, but this was a public debt, and he didn't want to be borne by himself.

"Who borrowed this money?" Li Yanqing asked again.

"Nominally, it was borrowed by the county government, but in fact the money was handled by the lowly official and signed by the lowly official."

Yang Ju sighed, "At that time, the lowly position had just taken office, and I didn't understand anything, so I went to do this in a daze, if I was held accountable, I am afraid that it was not Wang County's order that was unlucky, but the lowly position, and this matter begged the county magistrate to solve it properly." ”

Speaking of this, Yang Ju got up and gave Li Yanqing a deep salute, and his implication was to beg Li Yanqing not to reveal this matter.

Li Yanqing waved his hand to sit down, "Let's put this matter aside, I have another thing to ask you." ”

He just understood what he hadn't figured out when he entered the teahouse, since Yang Ju's father-in-law's family was in the grain business, how could they not be afraid of river thieves, and Bao Yanzhai also had to transport a large amount of flower juice from Jiangxia to the capital, why had he never heard his father talk about river thieves?

Li Yanqing asked Yang Ju: "If river thieves are so rampant, why is the business of Jiayu County still very prosperous?" Also, how can the grain fleet of your father-in-law's house avoid the harassment of river thieves? ”

Yang Ju smiled bitterly and said: "In the past, this area of the river was also the territory of the Black-Hearted Dragon King, and the major fleets had to pay him for the road on a monthly basis, but since last year, it was called. After the rise of Zhang Shun in Jiangxia, he often had a fire with the black-hearted dragon king, although the number of Zhang Shun's subordinates was small, but he was really brave, and every time the black-hearted dragon king was defeated, the black-hearted dragon king had not dared to come to Ezhou in the past two years, Zhang Shun was a little more moral, he did not touch the official ship and fishing boats, looted and did not get on the boat, his sampan clipper leaned to the side of the boat, collected the money and left, like a fixed fleet he also bought road money, but it was much lower than the black-hearted dragon king, and everyone could accept it. ”

"Acceptable?"

Li Yanqing couldn't have imagined that these words would come from the mouth of the dignified county Cheng, and he would compromise with the Jiang thieves, what is the difference between this and fornication?

Yang Ju saw that Li Yanqing's face was wrong, and hurriedly explained: "Actually, we don't want to do this, but there is no way, we are powerless to suppress the bandits, and we want to protect the people, so we have to compromise with the Jiang thieves, but if there is a little way, we will not use this strategy." ”

Li Yanqing didn't say anything more, he had already realized that if he wanted to be mediocre for a few years, there was no problem in living like this, but if he wanted to make a difference, he had to exterminate the river thieves.

.........

When he came back from the teahouse, Li Yanqing brought Mo Jun and Liu Fang together, and told the two of them about his conversation with Yang Ju, Mo Jun and Liu Fang glanced at each other, and Liu Fang said: "I have also heard about the debt, but the county government is burdened with a debt of 3,000 yuan, and it is the first time I have heard of it, I don't know if Mr. Mo knows." ”

Mo Jun also shook his head, "If I knew, I would definitely tell the county magistrate immediately, but a few scribes joked that Wang County's bad debts would be unbearable, at that time I thought it was about arrears, but now it seems that it should refer to the foreign debts borne by the county government, but since this is a bad debt left by the former magistrate, the county magistrate will not bear it for him!" This matter is reported to the state government, so that the state can track him down, what do we have to do? ”

"Of course I don't care about what will happen to the previous county order, I'm just worried that this matter is too widely implicated, and the county magistrate and the county lieutenant will not escape their responsibility, and the loan is handled by Yang Ju, Wang County's order can be pushed clean with a word, and in the end it must be Yang Ju who is responsible, not to mention that he has begged me, I can't give this face."

Mo Jun thought for a while and said: "Since this is the case, I can only find a way to repay this money, and I suggest that this matter be divided into two steps, the first step is to solve the arrears of the county officials and officials, and then slowly consider how to repay the money." ”

"How much money does the county government have now?"

The public office money is the office expenses, the expenses of various daily necessities of the county government, the expenses of post stations, docks, government schools, various official festivals, lantern festivals, and the salaries of clerks, government officials, catchers, and county professors.

There are two sources of public money, one is allocated by the imperial court, and the various transit envoys are allocated to the state according to the quota of each state and county, and the state is then distributed to the county, of course, it is definitely far from enough, so the other is to rely on the counties to raise their own funds, such as the rental income of public land and public housing, the donations of the squire, and so on.

In fact, each county relies on the mountains to eat the mountains, and they all change their tricks to raise money, and the former county commander engaged in fleet transportation is also a way to raise money, and it is not easy to be a county official, and it is impossible to make the horse run fast and not want to feed the horse forage.

If you want your subordinates to work for yourself, you have to ensure the income of your subordinates, after all, everyone also has to support their families, if you want to improve the enthusiasm of your subordinates, you have to find a way to get some generous benefits, this has been the case since ancient times, do a little more restrained, you will be known as a clean official, do too much, and compete with the people for profit, that is, evil officials, just see if you can grasp this degree.

Mo Jun walked back to his official room, and after a while, he brought an account and said to Li Yanqing: "I asked again just now, the public party money has been spent last year, and it will not be allocated until April this year. ”

Li Yanqing was helpless, so he had to ask, "How much money do you owe in total?" I'm talking about salaries and credit money. ”

"I owe 2,200 yuan in salaries, and about 800 yuan in various credits."

"So many?" Li Yanqing was a little stunned, and it was another three thousand runs.

"It's so much, the county magistrate can calculate it, there are about fifty people who catch fast and serve the government, according to seven yuan per person per month, that is, three hundred and fifty yuan, and there are six Cao scribes and eighteen people, each person is also ten yuan per month, that is, one hundred and eighty yuan, as well as the county school teachings, professors, and post station managers and engagements, as well as dock managers, as well as husband subsidies, and township soldiers' monthly food subsidies, adding up to more than 700 yuan a month, and the salary owed for three months has not been paid, but it is about 2,200."

Li Yanqing thought for a while, "How many other fields are there?" ”

"There are a lot of public fields, 12,000 acres, but the land here is cheap, an acre of land is only a few dollars, and the tenant rent is also cheap, and the income is not too much, and the annual tenant rent is only a few thousand yuan,"

"What about the public housing and official land in the county?"

"There are 650 public houses, a monthly rent of 300 yuan, more than 1,000 acres of official land, all empty, there is no income, in addition to land and housing sales also have some tooth tax income, but not much, most of the tooth tax, commercial tax to the state government, we only have a small part, plus the public money allocated by the imperial court, the county government is only about 1,000 yuan a month, life is tight."

"Is the land in front of the City God Temple also official land?"

"It's also an official land, and it belongs to the county government!"

At this moment, a servant ran in to report, "County gentleman, there are a lot of shopkeepers outside, come to ask for money on credit!" ”

"It's really giving me a dismount! On the first day I joined the government, I came to ask for money. Li Yanqing said angrily.

Mo Jun smiled slightly, "Actually, I don't think they really came to ask for money, they should be afraid that the county monarch will not recognize the old accounts." ”

Li Yanqing immediately said to the officials: "Invite them to the welcome hall to wait, and ask for what kind of system they want outside." ”

．．．．．．

There is a group of businessmen standing under the steps outside the gate of the county government, all of whom are the proprietors of various shops in the county, and they are responsible for providing all kinds of items from the county government, generally on credit first, and then every three months, which should have been settled before the New Year, but because the county order was transferred, the account was not settled, and it has been delayed until today, and the account has not been settled for more than four months, and everyone is a little anxious.

Although there are only more than 800 yuan in arrears, and the average amount of money for each of the more than a dozen shops is 70 or 80 yuan, they will not be unable to afford it, but they are afraid that the new county order will not recognize the old accounts, so today is the first day of the new county order, and everyone will meet to come to the county government to ask for accounts.

Everyone was waiting, and at this time, a servant came out and said to them: "The county magistrate invites you to go inside to negotiate, please come in!" ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, followed the officials into the county office, and came to the welcome hall, the welcome hall is the place where the county officials receive the squires and the people, it is relatively large, and the officials moved a few benches for them to sit down, at this time Li Yanqing and the county Cheng Yang Ju and several staff members walked out from behind the hall.

Everyone hurriedly got up and saluted, "See the county gentleman!" ”

"Everyone, please take a seat!"

Only then did everyone sit down, and many people took the opportunity to cough a few times, I am afraid that there will be no chance to cough after a while.

Li Yanqing sat down opposite them, and Yang Ju sat beside him, looking a little nervous in his heart.

"I want to ask first, is the person from the money store here?"

Three middle-aged men stood up from the back row, they were all the managers of the money shop, the proprietor of the money shop was not in Jiayu County, Li Yanqing nodded, and said to the three of them: "Before, the county government borrowed 2,000 yuan from each of your three money shops, and after the accident of the fleet, the two sides agreed not to pay interest, but only to repay the principal, and now I still owe each the three of you 1,000 yuan of principal, I'm right!" ”

"The county gentleman is right, that's exactly the case!"

Li Yanqing said again: "I admit this debt, and I will pay it off in office!" ”

Yang Ju next to him suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, he was afraid that the new county order would not recognize this account, once the matter was opened, he was afraid that he would not be able to eat and walk around, now that the county monarch has admitted the debt, he has passed this level, I am afraid that the county monarch still mainly gives himself face, and he is secretly full of gratitude to Li Yanqing in his heart.

The three money shop stewards sat down after expressing their gratitude, and at this time, there was a whisper in the lobby, and everyone didn't expect that the new county gentleman would admit this bad debt, and the ordinary officials refused to wipe their predecessors' butts.

At this time, Li Yanqing coughed lightly, and everyone immediately quieted down, and Li Yanqing smiled and said to everyone: "It is a matter of course to repay the money, since the county government still has to operate, of course, it is inseparable from your support, so you don't have to worry, I will repay your credit, but I need a little time, everyone give me a month, and I will pay off the debt." ”

Everyone breathed a long sigh of relief, and expressed their willingness to continue to cooperate with the county government, but Yang Ju next to him was worried, how could there be money to repay the credit after a month, at least until the public party money allocated in April arrived.

Li Yanqing smiled slightly: "Everyone is here today, since they are all businessmen, I have a deal to see if you are interested!" ”