Fan Jin didn't take the account books sent by the two, but looked at the two of them and said: "In the past, when the summer grain was collected, who was in charge of the grain and who was responsible for the collection, can there be a final case?" ”

Chen Youfang said: "Yes, naturally there are." It's just the old law of the predecessor, I don't know what new regulations the old man has? ”

Chen Zhubo said with a smile. This official is new, I don't know everything, what new chapter to talk about? Everything should be done according to the old rules, that is, remember only one thing, and do not neglect your duties, nor do you push too much. It is necessary to stress both the system and human feelings, and not to be biased. The official will send someone to review, and if anyone poisons the people or sells favors, the official will not agree. ”

"Yes, it's natural."

Chen Youfang nodded, but he didn't leave, he looked at Fan Jin with some embarrassment, and smiled awkwardly, "County Zun, there is still affection for your humble position." ”

"Please."

"The government mentioned in the court is a good government that is sympathetic, and the lowly officials do not dare to obstruct it more, so as not to mess up the dignity and humility, but ...... These good governance of the county are inseparable from two words, silver. The servants needed money for food, money for soup and medicine, and money for making new clothes. The humble duty knows that the county is well-intentioned, and also knows that our Shangyuan is a land of ointment, richer than the north. It's just that I'm worried that the county will misunderstand the money and grain in the county, so I want to explain ......"

Liu Peng was more direct, "County Zun, now we have a deficit of more than 3,000 taels in our account. Just because Lai Xianzun died, it is difficult to chase from above. Of course, this account can't be borne by the eldest master, and in the end it can only be paid by the counties of Yingtian, which is not a big deal. It's just that since we have made a deficit here, if we give clothes and rations at this time, I'm afraid it will cause criticism. According to the opinion of the lower officials, it is better to write this down first, you don't have to rush to do it now, and when there is money in the yamen, it is not too late to do so. ”

Fan Jin shook his head and said: "People don't stand without faith, since the official has promised them, this thing is naturally done." What's more, if the yamen wants to work, it can't do without the contribution of the public. If you don't give enough benefits to the public, how can you let them contribute? Moreover, the combination of grace and power, rewards and punishments, this ancient way of leading troops. Now the same is true for this official to be sent to the Ministry of the Art of War, and then I will have to strictly evaluate the system, and those who fail to pass will be laid off, and if there are not enough people, they will be recruited from the people. If there is not enough good, who will come? This official comes from a peasant family, and knows what the people think of the servants, which is a drudgery, but it is also a fat poor. If you are lucky, there are also poor people who get a few hundred taels of silver a year. I just want to tell them that being a servant is not a drudgery first, and the second is not a fat job, it is just a job. If you do it well, you can earn the family's expenses for rice and food, and if you don't do it well, you will have to smash your job. They are bitter, the official is looking for benefits for them, and if they mess up, I will do it again! It is because these money cannot be saved. ”

"But...... But we have ...... in our hands."

"The matter of issuing the silver, the official will send it to them from his own hands, and as for other expenses, I will write to Ying Tianfu to borrow money. The left and right have already lost more than three thousand taels, and they are not afraid of a little more. If it doesn't work, I will borrow it from the Wei State Mansion, and there will always be a place to borrow it. ”

The two also admitted that Fan Jin was not comparable to the average county, just a person who had been praised by the Queen Mother was worth hundreds of taels of silver. Besides, Ying Tianfu Yin Wang Shizhen is a famous man in the literary world, and he is also a famous dramatist, so he must favor Fan Jin, a talented junior who can write words and instinctively write plays, and there is no problem in borrowing some money from him. Even if it is not good, there is also the big Buddha of the Wei State Mansion, how can he accept a month's money and food, but how to deal with it in the future depends on his ability.

Fan Jin asked the two of them at this time: "Two, you are in charge of the county seal during this time, and the official will ask you if he has something." Do we ever have the account books of the land of Shangyuan Dingkou? In addition, the official sees that Jiangning is densely populated and there are many businessmen, so what is the income from the tax collection of the stalls? ”

"Naturally, there is a land and population account book, and without the fish scale album, you can't do it. However, when it comes to the tax levied by the door stall, there are household departments and should be levied by Tianfu, and we don't have much in our own hands. It's true that our Jiangning is full of gold, but it's not the turn of the county yamen to pick it up. ”

Liu Peng smiled embarrassedly, "The things done by the county yamen are tired and thankless, and those who give it to us will not have a fortune errand." ”

Fan Jin shook his head and said, "That's not right. Our Jiangning is a thoroughfare in all directions, all industries are thriving, and the land population is more than that of Jiangning County, how can there be no way to make money? ”

Chen Youfang answered: "Although we have more land, we also have a lot of entertainment expenses. Not to mention anything else, the palace alone requires us to pay a sum of money to repair it every year, which is a considerable amount. We are not as good as Jiangning County, although the two are Linxian County, the conditions are very different. Our management territory is bordered by Binjiang in the north and Jurong in the east, the land is barren and the products are not abundant. The land in Jiangning County is fertile and the grain production is abundant, and the beads and rice they produce there are fragrant for miles when the rice is ripe. We can't plant in Shangyuan, because there is more land but less harvest, and the amount of relief apportioned above is the same, so our life is very difficult. ”

Liu Peng said: "In addition to these, there are also a large number of noble tombs in our county, such as the tomb of Xu Lao, the king of Zhongshan, in Zhongshan. Every year, those nobles worship their ancestors, we have to deal with it carefully, and where we can't deal with it, it's a basket. Therefore, although our Shangyuan and Jiangning are neighboring counties, when it comes to wealth, they are a big difference. ”

The two sang and sang together, emphasizing financial difficulties, and the purpose was, of course, to get Fan Jin to take back the benefits he had promised before. But this doesn't mean that what they say is not the truth, as husbands, they will not deceive people in such a clumsy way as lying, and the situation in Shangyuan County is indeed difficult.

As the earliest national capital, Yingtianfu's tax is notoriously low in the southeast, and the tax of the whole province is only more than 330,000 stones, which is simply a paradise compared to the tax figure of Su Song's same field. However, in the Ming Dynasty, taxes were light and labor was heavy, and because Shangyuan and Jiangning counties were the first counties, forced labor was the hardest hit area.

Hai Rui and Ouyang Duo both practiced a whip method in Jiangning, and so far, Jiangning Mansion still maintains a part of the whip method. But the burden of the people was not lightened by the whip, but increased. On the one hand, all the registered households have to turn their service into silver and hand it over, and on the other hand, whoever has their turn to serve or who has to serve, and the payment cannot be reduced, as for the reason: no one can be found.

The entire household registration management system in Yingtian was in chaos, and Shangyuan was particularly serious. At present, there are more than 10,000 service households in the entire Shangyuan County, and there are only more than 20,000 people who can be recruited.

The poll tax and the amount of service apportioned to them were to be paid down according to the figure of 150,000 dings. As for the source of 150,000 ding, it came from after Yongle moved the capital, that is, after the Xuanzong Dynasty, the local fish scale album has not been updated, and the household registration is still managed according to the old fish scale album. The people's account does not match at all, so I took the official household registration book to find someone, but I couldn't find a few.

In terms of land production, in the year of Hongwu, Shangyuan County had a total of 11,500 hectares of land, and at present, the fields have become a little more than 9,200 hectares. Of course, land will not disappear out of thin air, but the number of people who enjoy preferential exemptions will shrink, and the area of land calculated as a tax base will also shrink. In addition, natural disasters have also caused some land to be unusable for arable land.

This is also thanks to the single economic structure of Jiangning, mainly planting wheat, rice and other crops, the gentry's desire for land annexation is not too strong, and there is no vassal king here, otherwise there will only be less land. The total number of fields has decreased, but taxes have not been reduced.

One of the major drawbacks of the Ming Dynasty's preferential exemption system is that individuals are exempted, not the total number of preferential exemptions. No matter how many scholars are in a region and how much land is exempted, the total amount of taxes that should be paid in the county remains unchanged. It will not be that there are many scholars in one county, and it will change from the upper county to the lower county. Those preferential and exempt fields should be taxed, and they will be apportioned to other people who have no merit, and the court will not suffer this loss.

At present, more than 9,000 hectares of land have to bear the land endowment of more than 11,000 hectares, and at the same time, since Jiangning is the capital of Liu, the forced labor is heavier than that of ordinary areas, and this part of the pressure must also be borne by the local people themselves.

With the current prosperity of Jiangning City, Shangyuan County, which is half of the city, will definitely not have only a few people. However, in the Ming Dynasty, not all natural persons were registered, but taxpayers, and those who did not pay taxes did not appear on the fish scale album. For example, the gentry who enjoy preferential exemption, and the military households who do not bear the burden of conscription.

However, Jiangning was the national capital at the beginning, guarded by 49 guards, and at most hundreds of thousands of soldiers lived here. Although some people went north after the Jingjing, there were still more than 100,000 soldiers and their families who remained in Jiangning. With the multiplication of the population and the production of intermarriage, there are more and more military households, most of whom are not soldiers and do not undertake combat missions, but they do not have to undertake military service.

In addition to military households, there are also displaced people who hide their hukou, or those who have separated their households. The hukou is elsewhere, and people live in Shangyuan County, such as Dong Xiaowu's situation. Although these people lived in Shangyuan, they did not bear the burden of servitude, and they were also not listed people.

Fan Jin is facing such a complex situation, the Ming Dynasty has been established for nearly two hundred years, no matter how good the system is, there will be countless drawbacks and sequelae at this time. As a grassroots official, he is the bearer of the sequelae of this malpractice, and there is no point in complaining about the world, so he can only find ways to reduce the impact of these ills as much as possible.

Now for Fan Jin, the biggest problem is that there is no reliable manpower on hand. A total of two or three kittens were brought from their hometown, and it was Wu Sheng Yuwen. Guan Qing's kung fu is passable, it is more than enough to catch fast here, and Fan Zhigao is okay with being a doorman. But in terms of copywriting, you have to go into battle shirtless.

When the average scholar reaches this point, most of them are helpless. After all, they have always learned the worldview, and it is definitely not possible to suddenly let them engage in methodology without the premise of having an officer. Therefore, the magistrates are often subject to the servants of the officials, not that they are incompetent, but that they are indeed unable to carry out the work alone, not to mention that many jobs are beyond the scope of their knowledge and are powerless.

Fan Jin had to sincerely thank him for his experience in Luoshan at this time. Ling Yunyi regarded him as a nephew to teach him skills, and trained Fan Jin's processing ability in a virtual Luodingzhou, allowing him to be a virtual governor for nearly a year, and there was another governor by his side to mention it at any time. It's because he doesn't know anything about general affairs, and he's better than ordinary people. Another advantage is that he actually came down with a big hat this time. The canonization of the holy decree, the first assistant to protect the promotion, and the two-layer halo protection of Fan Jin made ordinary people dare not look directly at his edge, and he was also more powerful than ordinary magistrates in his actions.

Things like raising the salaries of the yamen officials can't be done by ordinary people except him. First of all, if you don't get support from the government and can't borrow money and food, second, the opinions of neighboring counties may beat you to the point where you can't hold your head up. If it weren't for the high treatment given to these officials, he would suddenly arrange for his two cronies to be among the officials, which would cause dissatisfaction among the majority of the officials.

Yesterday, Xu Liu's inventory deficit was more than 2,000, according to Liu Peng's statement, it was more than 3,000 taels, and if the inventory deficit would increase somewhat. At the moment, we can't rush too much, otherwise the dog will jump over the wall in a hurry and burn the warehouse, and the loss will be even greater. Fan Jin has already decided to use the method of boiling in warm water, adding fire little by little, so that such a Xu official knows how powerful he is.

Before lunch, the list of officials had been reported. At this time, the people did not understand the importance of the archives, because the yamen gave rations and clothes, so they naturally knew everything, Fan Jin glanced at the dense registration information, and said to Guan Qing:

"You go and talk to them, and I'll visit them from time to time according to the address. If the information does not match, start immediately! So give them a chance to make amends. Today's lunch is still done according to the existing head. ”

He asked Zhang Tiejian again: "Are you wronged by the position of this officer?" I know that you are from the rivers and lakes, and you are from Dongchang, if you don't want to be a servant, I will change your position. ”

Zhang Tiejian shook his head again and again and said, "Don't, don't change it." The official is good, don't you know, when I was a little runner in the rivers and lakes, I wanted to be a regular servant. Don't look at the children of regular service who can't take the imperial examination, but there are great benefits, and being a team leader for one year is better than being a robber for three years. The villain is an identity in Dongchang, and he can earn food for future generations when he does regular service, which is unbelievable. Only the big man is gracious, and he will take the small one with him when he is promoted in the future, no matter where he goes, the small one will give you protection. ”

"Talking. But it's not enough to just be able to talk, you have to be able to work. Let me ask you, what have you seen in the past half a day? Who is the main person in this fast class? ”

"I can see it. The surname of the head of the fast class is Yu, called Yu Deshui, I heard that he has a brother, that is, Liu Mazi who was disposed of by the master. This surnamed Yu is not a thing, he is treacherous, insidious and vicious, and the entire fast class is either changing stickers with him, or he is a disciple. Don't look at it as just a servant, he is very generous, and the buckles on his belt are made of red gold. The benefits of the eldest master, he actually didn't see it in his heart, and he never put the old man in his eyes. To be polite to the small on the surface, in fact, it is to hang up the small one and not let the small one work. It is said that the little ones are allowed to drink tea in the class room every day, and the management of the mansion is good, but it is clear that the little ones are not allowed to work, and they should be killed! ”

"I can think that there must be such a person in a yamen, especially in a place like Shangyuan. At the beginning, Liu Mazi was able to produce in the county, and now there is such a person, which is the most normal. I have a way for this person. But I have to ask, if you do it, are you his opponent? Don't have to deal with him when the time comes. ”

"Of course not. There are more than 50 people with the surname Yu and 60 people, and they have no means and no strength, and the villain system him is not wasteful. ”

"That's good. Zhang Tieji, do you want to have an addiction to head-catching? I don't dare to guarantee how long you will be the head catcher, but this official is on any day, you are a day to catch the head, no one can move your position, do you want to? ”

Zhang Tiejian nodded and said, "Yes!" Naturally, I want to! ”

"Good. Then you do one thing first, go to the coat and hat store and buy two pairs of the strongest fast boots, and then spend a month running out all the two pairs. A month later, the official asked Shangyuan County in Jiangning City to manage the actual situation of every household in the territory. How many people there are in each family, who their surnames are, where they live, and what they do for their livelihood, all need to be asked clearly. The foxes and rats in the city must know that there is such a character as your head, let them all listen to your mobilization, and the position of the head catcher is yours. ”