When Luo Jian rushed back to Yangzhou, he learned that the investigators who had gone to various directions had rushed back one after another, and several research reports had been handed over to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion.

Luo Jian didn't go anywhere in the morning, so he carefully studied these research reports in the study.

Most of the people who came back are near Yangzhou, judging from the data of the research report, the situation is indeed good, these areas have basically not been affected by the war, and the annual family income of ordinary people can reach about 20 taels of silver, in this era, the problem of maintaining basic life is not too big.

The establishment of many factories near Yangzhou has played an immeasurable role in stimulating the local economy.

There are not a few non-staple foods such as vegetables consumed by a large number of workers in the factory every day, which makes the nearby farmers basically have no leisure time, and some farmers even use their farmland to grow vegetables, and these vegetable farmers belong to the first group of farmers to become "rich".

Luo Jian was not an expert in how to increase farmers' income, so he could only carefully recall the situation in his hometown in the countryside, and after thinking for a long time, he couldn't think of a reason, so Luo Jian turned on the computer again and carefully checked the information.

The morning passed quickly, and Luo Jian was still thinking about this question until lunch.

"Brother Luo, what are you thinking? Absent-minded? Liu Lan asked beside her.

"I'm thinking about how to improve farmers' incomes and living standards." Luo Jian said.

"Brother Luo, I have never lived in the countryside, but I know that no matter when, farmers are the most miserable, only like some countries in Western Europe, the industry is highly developed, the level of urbanization is extremely high, farmers occupy a large amount of land, and the use of mechanized farming, this situation has fundamentally changed, the first problem of farmers now is to solve the problem of food and hunger, right?" Liu Lan said.

"That's right! I found that I still didn't change my role when I was thinking about the problem, and thinking about how to increase my income was really too advanced when many places were still underclothed and fed. Listening to Liu Lan's words, Luo Jian reacted immediately, he had drilled the tip of the horns.

"Brother Luo, I think there are two things to do at present, one is to let farmers really own land, which can greatly improve the enthusiasm of production, and the other is to encourage farmers to engage in more agricultural and sideline production. The rest is our business, how to improve production technology, introduce new crops, etc., and Liu Weimin, if we can drum up chemical fertilizer, with the current population base, the problem of eating will not be a problem. ”

Listening to Liu Lan's words, Luo Jian looked at her with some surprise, this girl has lived in a big city since she was a child, but she is not the kind of eldest lady who "does not touch the spring water with her hands", and she actually has her own understanding of these problems.

"Brother Luo, why are you looking at me like this? You think I used to be a young lady, huh? Tell you, I'm not that kind of person, when I was a sophomore, my classmates and I went to the countryside to teach, although the time was not long, only three months, but I had eyes, ears, I could see, I could hear. Liu Lan said with a wrinkled nose.

After lunch, Luo Jian rushed to Shi Kefa's mansion, and as soon as he sat down, Shi Kefa frowned and said, "Princess Changping sent someone to ask how our search for the Yongwang is going?" Xinghua, what do you think? ”

When Luo Jian heard this, his head was big again, this matter had already been arranged, it was impossible to arrange people to go to the Manchu Qing Dynasty to find people with great fanfare, that was not to save people, it was to harm people, and the people of the caravan could only be arranged to look for them according to the general direction provided by Luo Jian according to the appearance and age of King Yong, and more than two months had passed, and there had been no movement.

"The princess said she was coming to Yangzhou, what do you think of Xinghua?" Shi Kefa continued.

"I think it's a good thing that the princess can come to Yangzhou, and it's beneficial to expand our influence in Yangzhou." Luo Jian thought for a while and said.

"What would you say if the princess asked you for someone?"

"Tell her the truth, if the princess understands things, she will also know that finding someone is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and it is not an easy task."

Shi Kefa listened and nodded yes.

Luo Jian gave Shi Kefa a detailed explanation of some of the things he learned about yesterday's trip to Guazhou and the situation that everyone discussed in the evening, and Shi Kefa nodded again and again.

"Xinghua, I don't know much about industrial development, so you have to worry about it." Shi Kefa said.

"Brother Xian, I didn't do this before, and I don't know much about it, let's cross the river by feeling the stones." Luo Jian said with a smile.

"Xinghua, you are at least well-informed, but I haven't even seen it." Shi Kefa also said with a smile.

"That's right, come to see Brother Xian today, I wonder if we have set the tone for the conference that will be held in ten days?" Luo Jian said.

"What's the tone? I don't really understand what you mean? Shi Kefa asked suspiciously.

"That is, what is the standard for the future development of our Yangzhou, only when this issue is clear, can officials at all levels have a direction to do things." Luo Jian said succinctly.

"I think the future development of Yangzhou must be based on whether the people's living standards have been effectively improved, Brother Xian, what do you think? Focusing on this big premise, let's think about it in detail. Seeing that Shi Kefa was thinking, Luo Jian continued.

"Then in some places, the living standards of the people are not the same, how to compare?" Shi Kefa asked.

"Let's look at how much it has improved, for example, the people of Huai'an, we will conduct a sample survey of 100 households to see how much everyone's annual income will increase next year compared with this year, so that the regional differences will be much smaller." Luo Jian explained.

"Wouldn't that increase the number of officials and increase the burden on the people?" Shi Kefa still didn't understand.

"Brother Xian, with the development of industry and commerce in the future, our current officials and institutions will be far from meeting the needs, and it is unthinkable that dozens of people will manage a county like this in the future, and the necessary establishment of institutions is indispensable. Moreover, the development of society in the future will be able to fully support these officials. ”

"Of course, we must also conduct a full demonstration of the additional institutions, and only increase them if necessary, not to artificially set up some institutions for the sake of making people officials, we can't do this kind of thing." Luo Jian continued.

"Xinghua, you can see far, I still can't keep up with some of your ideas, I still have to read books." Shi Kefa said with a sigh.

"Brother Xian, to be honest, in terms of the breadth of knowledge, people in this era are really few of us in addition to the eight articles and poems, and there are really few people who can surpass us in other aspects, but our biggest deficiency is that we don't have a thorough understanding of this era, and everyone's way of thinking is quite different, so I hope that Brother Xian, we can all give full play to our strengths and learn from each other's strengths in order to do things better, Brother Xian, what do you think?" Luo Jian said sincerely.

Listening to Luo Jian's words, Shi Kefa also nodded solemnly.

In the following days, Luo Jian repeatedly approached Shi Kefa to discuss and prepare for the upcoming meeting.

However, then the entire officialdom of Yangzhou set off an uproar.

The reason was a proposal by Luo Jian, who proposed that officials at all levels must regularly disclose their own assets, and the effect of this practice is self-evident.

Shi Kefa was also extremely surprised by Luo Jian's proposal at that time, the traditional Chinese concept is that "family wealth should not be exposed", and Luo Jian's proposal was really difficult for people to understand.

Even Liu Lan felt that Luo Jian's proposal was not the right time, but Luo Jian still insisted, now that the stall is small and the number of officials is not large, he can still make a decision.

"Xinghua, I'm afraid you'll drive away a lot of officials in Yangzhou if you do this!" Shi Kefa said worriedly, he is now hiding in the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion every day, and his mansion is full of officials every day, and it is really a headache to deal with.

"Brother Xian, we lack scholars who are academic, talents who are engaged in technology, generals who can fight, but there is no shortage of people who are officials." Luo Jian said.

"Brother Xian, the salaries of officials are too low now, this is a fact, we must gradually improve the treatment of officials, so that their income is enough to maintain a more decent life, but this alone cannot prevent some officials from being corrupt, we must block the door to their corruption from the system."

Hearing Luo Jian's words, Shi Kefa fell into deep thought.

"Brother Xian, we don't expect every official to be a saint and can sacrifice himself for the benefit of everyone, so we will use the system to let them perform their duties as well as possible, and that's enough." Luo Jian continued.

"Xinghua, look at the current officials, which one of them doesn't ride a horse and sit in a sedan chair when they go out, and there are a few who don't have three wives and four concubines, so no matter how much salary you give, it's not enough for them to spend." Shi Kefa shook his head and said.

"As long as his money comes from the right way, we don't care how he spends it, if all this money is corrupt, then it will not work." When Luo Jian heard this question, he also had a headache, and just said forcefully in his mouth.

"Alas, Xinghua, it is not a day's work to correct these officialdom practices." Shi Kefa said with a sigh.

"Let's start from ourselves, you and I have no problem, and the chief officials of several prefectures are not a big problem, let's grasp them from top to bottom and see what they have to say." Luo Jian said resolutely.

"Xinghua, when Yuan Jixian and Lu Zhenfei come over, how about we discuss it specifically?" Shi Kefa shook his head and said.

"Okay, Brother Xian, let me tell you from my heart, this article must be implemented, no matter how many difficulties lie ahead." Luo Jian said.

After a few days, all the people sent to various places for research returned to Yangzhou, and within a few days, Yuan Jixian and Lu Zhenfei also arrived.

The results of the investigation made Luo Jian feel very uncomfortable, Anqing Mansion is slightly better, the average annual income of peasant families is estimated to be about ten taels of silver, Huai'an and Fengyang Mansion are very bad, the average is only a little more than five taels.

However, the results of the survey are no longer the focus of people's attention, and everyone is concerned about whether the disclosure of officials' assets can be carried out.

Now there are some new words popular in Yangzhou, such as "audit", "publicity", "inspector" and other words, which can often be heard in the chat of citizens.