Chen Ping sat down, and Cao Zuo from the county sat down, the younger ones were like Chen Yuanliang, and the older ones were almost sixtieth birthdays, with their backs bent.

At this time, there is no retirement age. If you live a long life and take care of your saints, even if you work until you are more than 100 years old, it will not be a problem.

"I'll start with that." Chen Yuanliang's grandfather, Chen Shitong held a book, looked at Chen Ping with a slightly complicated gaze, and said, "Chen County Ling Fangren, should be a little familiar with the household registration of Liuhe County." There are a total of 7,329 households in Liuhe County, including 312 upper households, 2,761 middle households, and 4,256 poor households. There are 21,987 people in Chengding, and the guards of the military government are ......"

Hukou, households, etc., Chengding, guards, etc., Chen Shitong has been a county official for many years, and has been working under Hucao, these data have long been familiar with the data, and in the end I didn't look at the accounting, and I said it one by one by memory.

Of the more than 7,300 households, only 300 belong to the wealthy households, accounting for only about 4 percent, less than half a floor. There are more than 2,000 middle households, nearly 3,000, accounting for three floors, and the rest are poor households, occupying nearly six floors.

I have an understanding of the household registration and households in the county, and then the shops in the county and city, the post in Liuhe County, and the criminals in the county jail are all made a simple report by Cao Cao Zuo and Chen Ping.

Chen Ping was mostly listening, and occasionally he would mention something that was not clear.

In terms of Hu Cao, Hu and the others must have concealed false reports, which Chen Ping will not move for the time being, except for Xue Xiong's identity as the main bookkeeper, this action is big enough, and if it touches the interests of other rich gentry in the county, I am afraid it will cause resistance and bring unnecessary trouble to himself.

Another is Fa Cao, when Chen Cripple was in prison, Chen Ping came to see it, the environment inside is indeed dirty and messy, rats are running around, dark and damp, Chen Ping mentioned, what needs to be improved, Fa Cao Cao Zuo hurriedly responded, and by the way, he praised the benevolence of the county order.

As for what he thinks in his heart, Chen Ping doesn't want to care, as long as he can follow his own command, then it's fine.

In terms of counties and cities, although there are city ordinances, they only play the role of supervising and regulating disputes, and the income from contract transactions is really limited, and to a large extent, it is due to private contracts. Another big head of business tax, looking greedy, is currently unable to move.

When Yang Jian usurped the Zhou Dynasty, in order to buy people's hearts, he opened the Yanchi Distillery and allowed the people to make salt and wine privately, and the commercial taxes of all counties and cities were also exempted. Although this is beneficial to the people, it is a major loss to the imperial court, which has limited funds and cannot build basic service facilities.

Of course, at this time, the only infrastructure that everyone in the DPRK and China want to do is Chidao Station, and as for the side, except for Chen Ping, no one will care.

is obviously aware of this drawback, but Chen Ping's status is limited, and as a seven-grade county order, he does not dare to have the suggestion of collecting commercial taxes.

Without commercial taxes, the county's public expenditure can only rely on public farmland, and there are a few shops in the county and city, and the income is limited. Without government funds, Chen Pingkong is full of enthusiasm and ideas, but it is difficult to put them into practice.

However, it is not without its surprises.

There is a salt well in Zhongju in Liuhe County, and salt is a cornucopia. At this time, there are generally four ways to obtain salt, one is loose salt, which is made by boiling seawater. Liuhe County is still some distance from the sea, but it is close to the river, but the river water cannot make salt.

Loose salt Liuhe County is not successful.

The second is to supervise salt, which is made by dissolving the pond water, which is actually similar to the loose salt, the pond water is mostly an inland lake with high salt content, and there is no such environment in Liuhe County, and it is not possible.

The third is starch salt, with a starch word, but it has nothing to do with starch sugar. Salt is the salt paid tribute by the tribes of the four directions, the small countries on the periphery. Liuhe County is a small county, and there is no tribute salt available.

The fourth, the last one, is the shape of salt, which is made of brine from wells. In Liuhe County, it is this kind of salt that is mined in the county government.

"How many salt wells are there in the county?" Chen Ping asked, in charge of this matter is Jin Cao Cao Zuo, a middle-aged man, in his forties, sitting in the position of Chen Ping's hand, Chen Ping has the impression that when forcing Cao Zuo in the county to stand in line, this Jin Cao Cao Zuo named Dong Hong was not with Xue Xiong.

As far as Chen Ping is concerned, his credibility is higher and can be cultivated.

"It's not much, it's just enough for the county government." Dong Hongdao.

"Why is it so small? Is it due to lack of manpower? Or is there not enough underground brine? Chen Ping was strange.

Dong Hong sighed, and said helplessly: "The county order you don't know, the manpower for digging salt wells is enough, and the brine in that area is really sufficient, there are three salt wells in the county, separated by more than 100 meters, and the brine obtained is still sufficient." ”

"Why is that?" Chen Ping was puzzled, salt, the necessities of life, from the powerful to the poor, all have what they want, private individuals have no mining conditions, and the production of supervised salt and shaped salt is restricted, and the government has the right to mine and manufacture these two kinds of salt.

Loose salt needs to be close to the sea, and there are no production conditions in the interior, and as for the salt, the people have no way to obtain it. In this way, the production of salt is basically a monopoly of the imperial court.

Liuhe County has this condition, but it doesn't know how to use it, and it is so tyrannical. This is all county government funds, is the construction of Liuhe County, is the realization of Chen Ping's vision of the activity funds, the money is fast, and it is stable, there is no buffer period, where to find such a channel for money?

"In fact, the shape of the salt produced is bitter, which is why it can be produced for self-use. Even in the county government, most of them also buy salt from other places. Dong Hong said weakly, "Because of this, although there are salt wells in this county, the salt can't be sold, and even the poor households are disgusted, so they only buy a little." ”

Chen Ping lowered his eyes and nodded his head twice, so it was.

There is no shortage of raw materials, there is no shortage of channels, and the reason for everything is in the quality of the product, the brine has a bitter taste, which is because it is mixed with trace elements.

In the final analysis, the precision of refining is not enough, and the process is less.

"From tomorrow, we will increase the output of brine and expand the production of shaped salt." The identity restrictions of the white clothes have made Chen Ping constrained by many things, and now it is a county order, as long as it does not touch the laws of the imperial court, such as refining steel, or minting currency weapons, just producing salt, Chen Ping still has the ability to decide, and he dares to implement it, "Liuhe County must make every effort to expand the salt well and sell Liuhe salt to other states and counties." ”

"What?" When Dong Hong heard this, he was anxious, and he hurriedly said, "County order, this can't be done, the salt can't be sold, it's rainy in the south of the Yangtze River, and it's not easy to store, so it's actually useless." So...... This is a waste of manpower and money. ”

Chen Ping glanced at Dong Hong and said firmly: "Dong Caozuo don't worry, how can this county order be the faint official who doesn't care about the people's strength?" The reason why you do this is because I have a way to solve the bitter taste of the brine salt. ”

"Really?" Dong Hong hurriedly asked, as Jin Cao Cao Zuo, Dong Hong entered the county government with his own ability, and it was originally salt making, although he knew that it had a way to make good salt, but that method was pinched in the hands of others, where could ordinary people get it.

"What the county order says, can it still be false?" Chen Ping said with a smile, "You first arranged manpower to expand the salt well, and I will think of a way to remove the bitterness of salt." (To be continued.) )