Chapter Ninety-Five: Orientation (Part II)

"Phew!" "Phew!" "Papapa, pa, papa!" The genius is dark, and in Yangzhou City, the sound of firecrackers can't wait to sound, one after another, continuously.

Bamboo cannons can be bought for a hundred for each new dollar. The finger-thick earth-shattering thunder can buy ten for every new money. If you light your tail, you can fly into the sky, and every new money can buy just a dozen. Fireworks that can be set off in mid-air can be worth a lot of money, ranging from five wen each for the small ones to fifteen to fifty wen for the large ones.

If someone dared to light fireworks and firecrackers before midnight in previous years, they would definitely be beaten with crutches by the elders of the family and their heads were full of bags, "Loser, loser, no wonder you are poor every year, this kind of waste will be a mountain of gold sooner or later!" ”

The elders will scold like this, because the elders know how hard life is and how unpredictable the road ahead is. But in the last two years, the temper of the elders has changed a lot. There is even a white-bearded grandfather with a small bamboo whip in his hand, which is specially dismantled and distributed to his grandchildren. Even if he accidentally burned his beard with the incense stick of firecrackers, he would not be angry, but just raised his head and laughed.

There's nothing to be upset about, isn't it just a festive and lively New Year?! If the grandchildren are willing to listen to the noise, they can buy more fireworks to play! Zuo is just a matter of dozens of words, and it's not worth worrying about. The boss is out of the woods, and he has already worked as a craftsman in the workshop. The second child has become a third-level worker this year, and when he can read enough 1,000 words after the New Year, he will also have the funds to take the exam as a craftsman. The third child in the family is a little clumsy, and he is still a first-class general worker. But even so, the monthly salary is a whole hanging of Chase Treasure! And there is a bonus to be won at the end of the year!

The monthly salaries of the three children are added together, and they can get seven Huaiyang Datong treasures every month. In the past, it was almost eighteen hangings. This is a piece of money that the shopkeepers can only get in a year, and it has to be the number one gate in the city. Now that the people in Nancheng have got it in a month, as the head of the family, why should the old people bother to show their children and grandchildren for the New Year? This money should be spent, but it still has to be spent. The more righteous the money is spent tonight, the happier it will be next year.

Besides, the sound of fireworks and firecrackers is not in vain. According to the head of Zhou Fang, who was missing an arm at the mouth of the alley, thousands of guns fired at the battlefield in unison, which was almost like this. And if you hold back the panic and calmly listen to the greetings of the commanders, the probability of dying in battle will be reduced by more than half. Even if you accidentally hang up the lottery, as long as you can survive the urging of the bull head and horse face, after crawling out of the army's medical hall, you will basically have a settlement for the rest of your life.

And Wu Guogong is an old man, and anyone who has sold his life for his old man, as long as he does not die, will definitely be arranged. is like the one-armed head himself, long before he enlisted in the army, he was just a broken household that ate the last meal but not the next. And now, they have eaten hardcore crops that are guaranteed by drought and flood. Not only do they have two and a half dollars to get every month, but the officials and men of the government and county government will come to visit from time to time. That connection, that face, let the neighbors who live in the same alley walk on the road and the waist pole is three points higher than others.

Master Zhou, the head of the workshop, is not very literate, but he usually speaks of what he usually says. If you want to stop living the kind of hard life under the rule of the Tartars, someone has to carry a gun for Wu Guogong. No one expects other people's children to fight and die in front of the battle, and their own children should squat behind and enjoy the blessings.

Therefore, let children get used to the movement of guns from an early age, and they will be more productive when they grow up. If you can have better luck than the elder Fang and survive in the army, then the whole family will soar into the sky. If you don't believe it, look at the handsome people around Wu Gong and his old man, several of them are born rich and noble. In the early years, it was not the life of the shack in the south of the city, and in the blink of an eye, he took the fame in front of the battle, and in the blink of an eye, he rode on a high-headed horse, and he was accompanied by personal soldiers when he went in and out! [1] For thousands of years, the common people have always been the best fool and the most practical. You can fool them once or twice, but you can't fool them for the rest of your life. Everyone has a small account book in their hearts, how to live their lives, how to make their children and grandchildren live better than themselves, and they can calculate it clearly.

It turned out that when the Mongolian lord was in power, whose children wanted to make a living, they either studied to gain fame, or mixed into the yamen to work for the tiger. Therefore, the people are scrambling to stuff their children into these two roads, even if the parents eat bran vegetables, and even cheat and abduct them.

And now, there are more ways to get ahead, and everyone knows how to do what they can. If the child is smart and studious, then the three steps of primary school, county school, and government school are the first choice. If the child is ingenious, Baigong Technical School is a shortcut. If the child is born tall and big, and he naturally likes to fight, the gate of the martial arts hall has become the goal that parents have erected for him since he was a child. If the child is not bright at all, then he will be raised to be a stupid and bold child from an early age, and he might as well shave his hair and join the army, and gamble on his life and blood to make a name for himself in this life!

I can see the road in front of me clearly, and I can understand the account book in my heart, this Huaiyang Chinese New Year's Eve has been more and more prosperous year by year. "Phew!" "Phew!" "Bang Bang Bang" "Bang Bang Bang! Bang Bang Bang! Whoever listens to the sound of fireworks and firecrackers is not annoyed in their ears, but people in other places want to listen to a lively one, he must have such a family background and mood!

"Phew!" "Phew!" "Papapa, pa, papa!" In the sound of firecrackers full of festive flavor, the lights of the brilliant Huaiyang Governor's Mansion look tall and mysterious.

However, the people inside are not tall at all from the perspective of traditional Shilin.

I saw them sitting in chairs one by one, panting and pouting. Some people have beads of sweat on their foreheads, some people scratch their ears and cheeks with breath, and some people clench their hands into fists in a state of full body alert. As if there was a slight stir, he was ready to jump.

"This year, the Household Affairs Bureau set up a total of 640 tun villages in Xu, Su, Sui, and Qiao, housing 317,000 men, 292,600 women, and 635,320 children under the age of 12. According to the calculation of 10 acres of fertile land and 20 acres of thin fields and mountainous land granted to each household, a total of 7.51 million mu of land is distributed. Among them, more than eighty percent of the families already have grain stocks at the end of the year, and there is no need for the governor's office to continue to subsidize them next spring. About half of the other people "Behind the front row of tables and chairs facing the center on the left side of the hall, Li Mubai, deputy director of the household bureau, held his head high and read the manuscript prepared in advance.

"Why didn't the other 10 percent of the families dig enough food? Can the Household Affairs Bureau investigate the cause? Zhu Chongjiu tapped the table with his fingers and interrupted loudly.

"It's because, most of them are sick because of the strong labor in the family!" Li Mubai thought about it first, and then quickly gave an answer, "The household clerks and tun chiefs in various counties have all gone down to investigate. Because many places over there have been flooded by the Yellow River, and the corpses of people and animals are buried in the ground, the yin qi is too heavy. And those who are willing to go down to divide the land and set up a household usually have no old people. So when the man in charge of the house is sick, the land can't be cleaned up! ”

"Master Zhang, you put this matter in the category of targets that need to be tracked in Ming Chun. Mr. Lee, I'll ask you again. Does the household bureau have any countermeasures? What about the small part that remains, why do they have no food to eat? Zhu Chongjiu instructed his staff to record the matter and then continue to ask questions.

"Yes, yes!" Li Mubai was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly added loudly, "The household bureau has instructed all household departments to continue to subsidize rations to those who have no food next year according to this year's standards." In addition, a very small number of families were worried that the land of the original landowners would be liquidated by the Mongol court in the future, so they preferred to rent land from nearby monasteries rather than move their land. For such families, the household bureau has decided to take back the land allocated to them and make other arrangements next year! ”

"There are still such people, so why did they sign up to go to Tuntian in the first place?!" Zhu Chongjiu frowned, feeling a little annoyed in his heart. But in the blink of an eye, he threw his frustration out of the clouds. The same rice raises a hundred kinds of people, and some people are used to being tenants, and they are not suitable for being landlords, and they may not be able to say. Besides, Sui, Xu, Qian, and Su were officially transferred to him at the beginning of the year, so it's no wonder that some people suspect that they can't keep them.

Thinking of this, he turned his gaze to the others and asked with a smile, "Do you have any opinions on the report of the household bureau?" Some hurriedly mentioned it, it's so late, don't wait to delay going back to the reunion dinner! ”

"Hehehe!" The civil and military forces laughed heartily, and immediately began to ask questions. With Li Mubai's knowledge and tactfulness, of course, he coped with most of the problems. However, when Zhang Song, the head of the Internal Affairs Department, was rotated, the latter unexpectedly made a shady move.

"Dare to ask Director Li, since he knows the Yin Qi species in the Yellow Flood Area, why didn't the household department do more to take precautions when recruiting people to go to Tuntian?"

"Yes, I was given a decoction at that time. But Director Zhang should also know that many decoctions may not work! Li Mubai was slightly stunned when asked, and quickly defended himself.

"That can teach the people to be like when the lord first came to Yangzhou, sprinkled lime in the shacks, filled the puddles to death, and discharged and collected the manure at designated points? Have you ever instructed the people to boil the water before drinking? ”

"Of course, Xia Guan watched that book with his own eyes, and that epidemic prevention regulations were issued!" Li Mubai's brows furrowed, and his voice gradually became a little hard.

Zhang Song was deliberately giving himself a problem, and with the experience of fighting under Zhao Jun back then, he realized very quickly that the other party was not good. But why Zhang Song wanted to give himself a problem, he was puzzled. It is said that the expenses of the Internal Affairs Department do not go to the household bureau at all, but the live broadcast of the private treasury of the general manager. The household bureau has no chance to offend the Internal Affairs Department, how can they become enemies of each other?

was confused, but saw Zhang Song arching his hand at him, and asked aggressively, "Since some people would rather be tenants, why don't the household bureau allocate another barren land and rent it to them for farming?" Anyway, the skin and bones belong to the government, and even if there is trouble in the future, they can't be found! ”

"Director Li's mention is very timely, and the household bureau can implement it next year!" More than one person noticed that Zhang Song was menacing, and Yu Changlin, the head of the household bureau, also stood up and took the other party's killing move before Li Mubai was asked.

"Master Yu is humble and open, Zhang admires!" Zhang Song bowed his hand to Yu Changlin very politely, and continued to ask, "Then Zhang has another question, if there are people who deliberately pretend not to lay down food, how should the household bureau deal with the subsidies of the government?" Although there are not many such people, it is probably not normal to say that the man in charge is sick and there is no harvest in the field! ”

"Here, they, they just said that there was not enough food to eat, they didn't say, they didn't say that there was no harvest?!" Where could Yu Changlin care about such trivial details, he was immediately stunned by the question, and muttered for a while before muttering a response.

"If I were an ordinary family, I saw that my neighbor could get food rations from the government without working. And I have to pay 20% of the food myself. I'm sure next year I'm pretending that someone in my family is sick and the harvest is insufficient! Zhang Song shook his head and reminded with a smile.

"This" Yu Chang Lin and Li Mubai both had beads of sweat on their heads. The position that the other party bites is precisely the omission of their daily governance, and for a while, there is no way to give a reasonable explanation.

"Also" Seeing that the two were losing and retreating, Zhang Song plucked up Yu Yong and continued to press step by step, "In the middle of the year, the lord announced that he would take care of families who had children as soldiers in terms of taxes. I just listened to the report of Director Li that the household bureau has indeed reduced taxes for the businessmen who open businesses in the city. But these people in the countryside have not seen any reduction or exemption from the household bureau! ”

"Ahh Zhang Song was taken aback, and quickly picked up the manuscript he had read and flipped it quickly. I was sweating profusely when I flipped it, and I didn't turn out the relevant words.

His immediate boss, Yu Changlin, was even thinner-skinned, and he was so embarrassed that he was almost embarrassed at the moment. took the initiative to bypass the table, walked to the center of the hall and bowed to Zhu Chongjiu to plead guilty, "Lord Qiqi, it was the lower officials who were negligent in doing things and forgot to reduce or exempt the field tax of the military dependents in the Tuntian household. The lower official is guilty, please punish the lord! ”

"I said in advance that today we are doing a year-end evaluation, not asking people to blame. Besides, if you work hard or not, I can see it clearly. Zhu Chongjiu smiled and shook his head in response.

"Thank you for your magnanimity!" When Yu Changlin heard this, he hurriedly led his subordinate officials to thank him with red faces.

"But! You guys, hard work is hard work, but you need to be more careful in doing things in the coming year! Don't make a mistake, you have to ask your colleagues to help you fill the holes! Zhu Chongjiu smiled again and counted happily.

"Yes!" Yu Changlin, Li Mubai and others blushed and responded curtly.

"Sit down and get ready to hear the final results!" Zhu Chongjiu waved his hand at them and announced loudly. "Do you have any thoughts on the report of the household bureau? If you have it, it's faster, if you don't, it's handed over to the jury for the final evaluation!! ”

"It's gone!" Everyone laughed and shook their heads, then regained their spirits and turned their eyes to Su Mingzhe, the chairman of the jury who had been temporarily pushed out.

In the ardent anticipation of everyone, Su Mingzhe quickly exchanged opinions with Lu Luzeng, Feng Guoyong and other reviewers, and then stood up and announced loudly, "According to the year-end report and court meeting results of the Household Bureau, and with reference to the year-end assessment plan issued by the Governor's Office this month, this jury finally determined that the overall performance of the Household Bureau this year is excellent and low." The principal and deputy chief officials will be raised by one level next year, and the dividends for this year will be distributed according to the third grade. The promotions, rewards and punishments of other officials of the bureau shall be reviewed by the bureau itself, and then handed over to the bureau and the chief governor's office for final verification, and then they can be executed! ”

"Boom!" As soon as the words fell, the hall immediately resounded with the sound of ear-to-ear exchanges.

Many people who reacted quickly had actually seen that Zhang Song, the director of the Internal Affairs Department, was eyeing the position of the household bureau and wanted to change himself to an errand that did not offend anyone, so he suddenly made trouble at the last moment. But it can be seen that no one can cry out for Yu Changlin, Li Mubai and others, after all, Zhang Song's few bites are in the right place, not a bone in the egg.

The final result given by the jury is also fair. Yu Changlin and others got the top grades, and they will not delay their future promotions. The increase of one level can also be regarded as an encouragement for their achievements this year.

However, their monetary losses are absolutely miserable. At the end of the year, the Grand Governor's Office received hundreds of thousands of dividends from the Huaiyang firm, and at least more than 30% of them were to be distributed to the core figures of the Grand Governor's Mansion according to the rules. At the level of the director of a game, the difference between dividends and dividends is hundreds of times. From the first class to the second class, each person lost at least more than 2,000 yuan, which was enough for several of them to remember for a lifetime. (Note 2) Listening to the noisy discussion below, Zhu Chongjiu thought for a while, and turned his head to Liu Ji, a Chinese soldier who was sitting next to him, "Berwyn, how about Zhu's method?" Although the smell of copper is heavier, it is more effective than pushing people out to whip them, right?! ”

Not wanting to embarrass the other party, his voice was also very low. But when Liu Bowen heard this, he still immediately blushed, "The lord's move is unheard of by Weichen!" ”

Taking a deep breath, Liu Bowen tried his best not to be depressed to death, "Even the officials who do their duty can be converted into copper coins to measure, and the essence of the master's arithmetic is indeed shocking ancient and modern." But whether this method is effective, Weichen thinks that it is too early to talk about it! ”

"Then leave it for this time next year, there is one year of hard work, enough for you and me to see the results!" Zhu Chongjiu smiled, and the confidence on his face was full of words.

Note 1: South of the city. Ancient Chinese cities were affected by many factors such as drainage and air circulation, and were usually valued in the north. The south of the city belongs to the downwind and water, and is mostly the residence of the poor people.

Note 2: According to the price of rice at that time in the book, one catty of rice is two large copper coins. The value of a large copper coin is equivalent to one yuan. It is always 1,000 yuan, and 2,000 yuan is 2,000,000 yuan. Come to think of it, it's really painful. Hehe, the novelist joked, don't sit in the right seat.