To the south of Lincheng thirty miles shop, Qingzhou Thorn Shi Xu Qian and the garrison Guanggu Governor Tu Xu rushed to greet each other, and the two returned to Lincheng after saluting. Because Zeng Hua was "on vacation" this time, he was very low-key, so he did not arrange any welcome ceremonies such as sprinkling soil and holding incense, and quietly entered the Qingzhou Thorn History Mansion.

On the second day, Zeng Hua, Wang Meng, and Pu Ben, Xu Qian, Lu Cai, and Tu Xu discussed Qingzhou's military and political affairs in the study of Fuzhong, while Valerian and He Fudiyan went to Qingzhou University accompanied by Qingzhou to promote academic administration.

"Mr. Fu Xun (Xu Qianzi), I have traveled to Jinan and Taishan counties, and I have seen that the people live in peace and the place is peaceful, thanks to your painstaking governance." Zeng Hua said.

Xu Qian arched his hand and said: "Don't dare to risk the approval of the general, Xu has only one person's strength, if there is no colleagues in the whole state, without the full assistance of Governor Lu and Governor Tu, Qingzhou will not be able to have this situation." ”

Zeng Hua smiled, knowing that half of these words were kind words that were appropriate to the situation, and the political achievements and exploits of various officials and generals had already been examined by the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of the Army, and the Ministry of the Navy.

"There are a few things to discuss with you this time, and we will discuss them in detail, and it will be decided when Mr. Fu Xun goes to Chang'an Shangshu Province to report on his work at the end of the year." After the kind words, Zeng Hua turned to the topic.

According to the official system of the Northern Prefecture, the chief officials of each prefecture, county and county are appointed every four years, and every two years, the county guards of the prefecture have to go to Chang'an Shangshu Province to report on their work. Later, the territory of Beifu became more and more extensive, so it was modified, and the county guard of the inner state of the near road still went to Chang'an every two years to report on his work, and the county guard of the far border state of the state of the state went to Chang'an once a year to report on his work, and the Shangshu Provincial Officials Department would gather the officials of the relevant ministries and bureaus to dispatch the states. In conjunction with Cao, the driving officials of each prefecture and county, every two years, the prefecture and county orders are reported to the state.

The debriefing includes the statement of his own merits by the county order of the county of the Assassin History, and the provincial or state officials of Shangshu Province and the prefecture Cao shall evaluate and collect the responsibilities of the county officials of each county according to the records of the daily work of the relevant departments. Due to the fact that Beifu implements a very complete administrative pre-settlement system and a very complete tax system, the evaluation and accountability of officials in Beifu is completely different from the previous way.

According to the official system of the northern prefecture, from the state affairs of Pingzhang in Shangshu Province to the county order, a pre-decision must be made every two years, that is, a plan must be made according to the people's feelings under his own rule and the pre-decision of his superiors, such as improving the people's livelihood. It is expected that in the next two years, the people will be encouraged to reclaim as much barren land as they reclaim and build how many miles of river embankments and ditches; In order to improve the transshipment of trade, it is planned to build a branch road for many miles. Wait a minute.

With these plans in place, local governors at all levels will have to make further budgets. How to allocate the money and food left to the local government to the various plans. For two years, the magistrate followed these plans, and whether the money spent at that time did not get things done. If things are done well or not, there will be departments and departments of the relevant ministries and bureaus of Shangshu Province, and the departments of the prefectures and counties will conduct examinations. The money and grain are monitored by the household department from the beginning of the collection of taxes, how much the county retains, how much the county retains, how much the state retains, and how much the province collects, all of which are controlled by the household department, and every year the household liquidation bureau will calculate it again, review the degree of expenditure of each locality, and the provincial audit office will also independently review it, and finally the results of the review of these degree expenses will be used as an important reference for the evaluation of the performance of the course.

There are also local daily social security, persuasion of the good and punishment of the evil, collection of taxes, disaster relief and orphan relief, education and labor assistance, persuasion of agriculture and mulberry, and trade along the way. In addition, the merits of these works have become the majority of the content of the officials' debriefing and examinations.

The results of the Beifu examination are divided into six grades, and the intermediate benchmark is the examination level, which means that the local officials have completed the collection of taxes, there is no escape of the household registration, and the land and acres are kept constant. The daily work of officials such as the equalization of the department, the decoration of the building, and the opening of roads are just to complete their own work. The rest of the pre-determined matters were barely completed and could only be settled.

If there are poor and inferior below the level, it means that the work has been completed, and the pre-decision work has not been completed more than half, which is poor; If the work is not completed, and the pre-determined work is only completed by less than half, it is a disadvantage. The rest of those who bend the law and dereliction of duty and are transferred to the judicial department will not be counted

There are good, excellent, and excellent above the level. Liangwei completed the pre-final work ahead of schedule, and the results of his own work were outstanding; The best thing is that the pre-determined work is not only completed in advance, but also because of the savings of a sum of money and food, some additional things can be completed outside the budget, or in the face of sudden disasters, the loss is minimized, etc.; Zhuo is to make the development of local agriculture and industry, the increase of the population of the people, the affluence of life, the taxation of a higher level, and so on.

According to the official system of the Northern Prefecture, each year is a subtotal, every two years is a medium count, and every four years is a large plan.

The subtotal is the inferior, the medium is the poor, the inferior is eliminated, and the large is the poor. The rest are as if the law division examination course is reasonable, the judgment is fair, the decision is not delayed, and the seizure is reasonable; The academic and political examination courses are well trained, the school is full, the students are also promoted, and the talents are promoted; The military department examination department is well-organized, the guard is not lost, the training is well-trained, and the attack and battle are sure to win. The corresponding rewards for good, excellent and outstanding are generally salary increases and promotions, each with its own detailed rules.

As high-ranking officials in the Northern Prefecture, the Assassin Shi and the County Shou would also discuss some major matters with Shangshu Province when reporting on their work, and provide reference opinions to Shangshu Province in order to formulate some feasible plans and national policies.

Xu Qian listened to Zeng Hua's tone and knew that it was something big, so he said with a straight face: "Please correct the general." ”

"The first thing is that I heard that there was an incident in Xiami County, Beihai County, Qingzhou, because of the silver yuan coupons, so you ordered Qingzhou to suspend the circulation of silver yuan coupons, and Qian Fugui, the household servant, sued you." Zeng Hua said with a smile.

Xu Qian looked at Zeng Hua's face and knew that the general would not blame himself for this, because the general was very open-minded and allowed his subordinates to have different opinions and ideas from others, so he opened his mouth to explain.

"General, this spring, a hunter in Xiami County went to the city to sell wild animals and furs, and a shop bought his goods, and the payment was given in silver dollars. The old Orion was illiterate and didn't know what it was, so he immediately refused to do so. The shop said that it was published by the Ministry of Households, and it could be used as a silver dollar, and it was hard to give it to Orion. The Orion did not allow it, nor did he want to argue more, so he picked up his goods and left. The shop was in a hurry, and grabbed the old hunter. After the dispute between the two parties, the shop slandered the old hunter for violating the spring ban law and hunting privately. ”

"When the matter arrives at the Xiami County Patrol Police Station, it will be clear that the old hunter is a hunter for generations. In the county, Cao has done the record, and most of the prey in other places is fur, and even the wild animals are pickled, all of which were laid last autumn. When I received this report, I thought of something else. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Qian paused for a moment and took out a silver coupon: "General."

Look at this silver coupon, it is beautifully printed, and it is said that many anti-counterfeiting hands are used to forge it. But the general, there are many illiterate people in the villagers everywhere, and they don't know how real this silver coupon. Therefore, his subordinates are afraid of unscrupulous people. In order to deceive the villagers, a suspension order was issued. Wait for the household department to come up with a perfect plan and then recirculate this silver dollar. ”

Zeng Hua understood as soon as he heard it, Xu Qian and Qian Fugui were not wrong in this matter from different positions, one wanted to protect the interests of the people. Although Beifu is educated, there are still many rural mountain people who are illiterate, and if you go with a silver coupon, they know what it is, let alone distinguish between real and fake. At that time, a traitor took a piece of paper with calligraphy and pictures printed indiscriminately and lied that it was a silver coupon, and used it to exchange things with the people, and then not only the people suffered losses, but also the authority of the silver yuan land was greatly damaged.

However, Qian Fugui took the authoritative position of maintaining the silver yuan to tell Xu Qian. Qian Fugui took advantage of the east wind of the Taihe West Expedition bonds to issue this silver dollar bond. It is used to offset the principal and interest of the bond. Moreover, Beifu was very cautious in the issuance, basically how much money and wealth took from the gold and silver of the Western Expedition as the "principal" was stored, and he issued as many silver coupons. Silver Dollar Bills were popular with far-sighted businessmen as soon as they were issued. In the future, they would not have to suffer from transporting thousands of pounds of silver and copper coins to trade. Just take these silver coupons with you. These coins could not only be used to pay taxes, but also to withdraw money from the state coffers. You only need to charge a "little" fee. Led by merchants, silver yuan coupons soon became popular in various parts of Beifu, but the circulation is not very large at present, and I can't imagine that this kind of thing happened in Qingzhou.

Zeng Hua thought for a while and said: "Mr. Fu Xun thinks about it, I think that as long as the world is ordered, the selection of silver yuan cash and silver yuan coupons must be voluntary, and we all know that it will take some time for the people to accept and recognize the silver coupons that are transferred from gold, silver and copper to paper." ”

Speaking of this, Zeng Hua turned to Wang Meng and Pu and said, "Dazai and Shaozai are here, I think they will take care of this matter." ”

Wang Meng and Pu smiled and arched their hands, but they didn't make a sound.

"But Mr. Fu Xun, it is too reckless for you to suspend the silver yuan coupon in Qingzhou, but this is to refute the authority of Shangshu Province, the impact is not good, you should be able to avoid the loss of the people in another way." Speaking of this, Zeng Hua didn't say any more, but it scared Xu Qian out of a cold sweat. At worst, this matter is just an abuse of power, and at worst, it is an abuse of power, which is the most taboo thing for the superiors. At that time, I had the impulse to do this, because Xu Qian looked down on Qian Fugui, who was born in business, from the bottom of his heart, and naturally he didn't like the silver yuan coupons that Qian Fugui single-handedly handled, so he had such a thing as soon as his mind was hot, and he regretted it a little after doing it, and began to understand the seriousness of the consequences of the matter, but at that time, it was already difficult to ride a tiger, so he had to continue to hold on.

Now listening to Zeng Hua say this, Xu Qian certainly understands the meaning of these words, although Zeng Hua has rarely exerted power in recent years, it does not mean that no one is not afraid of this general. Because everyone knows that the general either doesn't make a move, and if he does, it is estimated that it will be the "wrath of the Son of Heaven", ambushing millions of corpses and bleeding like a river.

Looking at Xu Qian, who was already in a cold sweat on his head, Zeng Hua waved his hand and said, "I know that Mr. Fu Xun is dedicated to the people and has done bad things with good intentions. But good intentions are not an excuse for violations. Before I came, Qian Fugui had already impeached you in the capacity of a household servant to Baishan (Zhang Shou), who was acting for the affairs of the Pingzhang state, and I heard that the Metropolitan Procuratorate would also impeach you to Zhongshu Province for exceeding its authority.

”

Hearing this, Xu Qian knew that he already had a lawsuit in his head, and his face couldn't help but become depressed.

Zeng Hua looked at Xu Qiandi's expression in his eyes, but still said in the same tone: "Mr. Fu Xun, don't worry, according to the law." The consequences of your overstepping your authority are not serious, and it is estimated that Shangshu Province will give a penalty of half a year's salary, and a major demerit will be recorded; The punishment of Zhongshu Province is estimated to be an explicit order. ”

Just when Xu Qian was secretly bitter in his heart, Zeng Hua said again: "Jing Luo has signed a commendation order for you when he left Chang'an, in recognition of your dedication to the people and the courage to do things, the award is five hundred silver yuan, and the merit is recorded once, it is estimated that there should be officials transferred to Qingzhou in the next two days." ”

Looking at Xu Qian's somewhat surprised expression, Wang Meng explained: "Although your method is wrong, you are trying to avoid losses for the people. If Shangshu Province can't reward the land, who else will be so brave in the future? ”

Zeng Hua didn't care what Xu Qian felt in his heart, clapped his hands and said, "Mr. Fu Xun, whether you think this is a power trick or not, this matter is over." Let's move on to the second thing. ”

"Yes, the Great General!" Xu Qian arched his hand and said, he knew in his heart that this was Zeng Hua's style of doing things, and Zeng Hua had already dealt with it lightly this time, so he didn't say much immediately, but Lu Cai and Tu Xu next to him were dumbfounded.

"With the end of the Taihe West Campaign. There are also the Dongying War and the suppression of bandits in various places, plus the officials in various places have been diligent in governing affairs for more than ten years, so there are many people who have been awarded Shilang for meritorious service. The province wants to set up councils in each state to exercise the power of supervision. ”

Xu Qian heard the rumor. The three provinces all wanted to expand their powers, and as soon as the council heard it, it knew that it was the Zhongshu Province that was reaching out to the states. It is important to know that Shangshu Province can tightly control the prefectures and counties through various ministries and corresponding administrative powers, while Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province have the power to inspect impeachment. There is almost no power in the locality, and it seems that they can't stand the loneliness anymore.

Xu Qian pondered his words and said: "General, Dazai, Lord Shaozai, the original intention of setting up the council was to exercise the power of local supervision, but the current situation is that the local government has a ministry to take exams, there is a procuratorate to supervise, a judicial judgment office, a Zhongshu Provincial Metropolitan Procuratorate to supervise, and a Menxia Provincial Audit Office to investigate, so it can be said that many pairs of eyes are staring at local officials. Now many officials find it difficult to be a magistrate. If there is one more council to point fingers, I think there will be more problems such as political affairs and prevarication in this place, which may affect the original intention of the general. ”

Zeng Hua nodded. This is indeed a problem. The establishment of the council is the first step, according to the plan of Che Yin's gang. They are going to turn the council into a "sub-province" of the Zhongshu Province in each prefecture and responsible for investigating and correcting the affairs of a state, and the Menxia Province also intends to follow up after the Zhongshu Province "succeeds" and supervise the finances of each state. In this way, it is indeed possible to effectively supervise local officials, but there is a danger that local power is too heavy, and there are too many "mothers-in-law" in charge of affairs, and the spirit of local officials who have the courage to do things may be greatly reduced

"Mr. Fu Xun, what do you suggest?" Zeng Hua asked.

"General, since the state councils are set up to supervise, then you can start from here." Xu Qian thought for a while and said, "It is better to set up a council and organize the shilang to evaluate the performance of local officials every year, and the comments of the council can be used as a reference for the examination." ”

Zeng Hua's eyes lit up, this is a good idea, since the Qin and Han dynasties, there has been a township council, and now the council is used to replace the township council, and the right to supervise is exercised by means of evaluating the merits of local officials, but the initiative and decision-making power are still in the three central provinces, so there is no need to worry about excessive local power.

"That's good, it's possible." Wang Meng and Pu also nodded.

"Alright, now for the third thing." Since Xu Qian put forward his opinion, the next step is to discuss the detailed rules, which is a matter of the three provinces, and has nothing to do with Xu Qian, so Zeng Hua began to talk about the third thing.

"The Ministry of Transshipment made a report a few years ago, saying that the best way to transshipment in Beifu is to merge by land and water. At present, the construction of trunk roads and branch roads in various states has been regularized, and the land roads are basically about to be completed. Therefore, the Ministry of Transshipment wants to strengthen the transshipment of waterways, and they even put forward a plan to build a canal to connect the Great River, Huaishui, Surabaya, Yellow River and Zhangshui. ”

Wang Meng continued: "Shangshu Province has calculated that the cost of water transportation is much less than that of land transportation, especially bulk goods, and there can be one more north-south transportation channel in addition to sea transportation. That's why I think this canal is very necessary. ”

Hearing this, Xu Qian, Lu Cai and Tu Xu couldn't help but jump out of the corners of their eyes, the north-south transfer? Could it be that the general is ready to make a big move against Jiang Zuo? But the three of them didn't dare to say it, after all, Beifu was still a vassal of the Jiangzuo court.

"But the canal costs a lot, although the treasury of Beifu is rich in these years, but after all, it has only been opened for more than ten years, and the foundation is quite shallow, once the people's power is exhausted, the country is unimaginable, so Shangshu Province is ready to build in sections. In the past few years, the Ministry of Industry and the Military Intelligence Department have spent a lot of manpower and material resources to explore a baseline of the canal, and now they only need to dig along this line. Shangshu Province plans to divide the canal into four sections, which will be built by Sizhou, Yanzhou, Beiyu Prefecture and your Qingzhou Bao section, and it will take three years to repair the southern section of the canal, and the rest of the river sections will be completed within ten years. ”

After saying this, Wang Meng stared at Xu Qian and asked, "There is no problem here in Qingzhou, right?" ”

"How do you calculate the money? How to construct it when it is built? How to manage it after repair? Xu Qian asked three very critical questions.

"The Ministry of Money Users allocates all the funds, and it is expected that special funds will be allocated every year and special treasury bonds will be issued, and it is planned to complete the entire project with 32 million silver yuan. The construction is in charge of the officials of the Ministry of Industry and the Military Intelligence Department, and the local government only needs to provide labor and management, and there is also a guarantee of grain and grass supply. After the repair, the transshipment department will set up a special canal bureau to be responsible for management and maintenance. ”

"Then there's no problem, isn't this sending money to Qingzhou?" Xu Qian nodded and replied with a smile.

Zeng Hua also laughed, this set is very normal in another world, the country invests in infrastructure construction, in order to stimulate domestic demand, stimulate consumption, and finally make GDP grow rapidly. I brought this set to this era to realize it, and there was not much purpose, as long as I wanted to transfer the money from the treasury to the people and realize the goal of making the people rich and the country strong.

"After the political affairs are over, it's time to talk about your local affairs, Tu Xu, I read the reports of the War Department and the Privy Council, and the bandits in Qingzhou have finally been cleared?" Zeng Hua turned to Tu Xu and Lu Cai and asked.

"Yes, my lord, the bandits in Qingzhou have the remnants of the original Duan Qi, the remnants of the pseudo-Yan, and the remnants of the former pseudo-Zhou Dongfu, and even the defeated army of Yao Chang and the original people, at most there are as many as 30,000, scattered in Mount Tai, Taishan, Langxie County, gathering in the mountains and forests, cutting paths and robbing wealth, and endangering places. Most of the Qingzhou government soldiers and garrison troops focused on exterminating the bandits. Lu Cai is not good at words, so he asked Tu Xu, who was a little smart, to answer.

"In the first two years, due to the initial peace of the place, the people's hearts were undecided, so it was more difficult to exterminate the bandits at that time, and then Qingzhou was a great line of the uniform field system, and the people returned to their hearts, so the bandits had no place to maneuver, and we fought more easily, and I beat less and less. Last winter, we captured the bandit leader Su Sanning alive in Mengshan, Langxie County, and wiped out more than 100 of his men. Su Sanning bandits should be the last bandits in Qingzhou, in order to be cautious, Governor Lu and I searched the mountains and forests many times, until June this summer, there was still no information about the bandits, so I reported to the War Department and the Privy Council, but unfortunately it took nearly ten years to calm the place. Tu Xu said with a slight blush.

"Okay, the place is peaceful, so that the trade routes can be smooth, and the people can live in peace, you have made great contributions, and you have fulfilled your duties as soldiers." Zeng Hua nodded and said, "You don't have to be arrogant, it took nearly ten years for the bandits in Guanlong to exterminate and pacify." The situation in Qingzhou is not simpler than that of Guanlong, and it would be good to calm down. At present, only Joseon County and Hanyang County in Pyongju are still scattered bandits, and the local garrison is stepping up to exterminate them. ”

Speaking of this, Zeng Hua's face became solemn: "Although Fan Liu in the south has calmed down temporarily, according to the latest information, they will soon have a resurgence again. You must strengthen vigilance and strictly prevent the more than six tribes from entering the country and spreading to Qingzhou. Recently, the Privy Council is going to send some additional troops and state soldiers and van troops to support, so you must be prepared.

”

Lu Cai and Tu Xu glanced at each other, nodded knowingly, and replied in unison: "Follow the general's order." ”

"Okay, the matter is over, Fu Xun, has the meeting with Shilang Township Elder been arranged in the afternoon?" Zeng Hua asked.

"General Hui, it's already arranged. It's just that the time is not in a hurry, or it will be done again tomorrow. Xu Qian replied.

"There is no way, I received a message the day before yesterday that Zeng Min has now rushed to Weihai. Mrs. Wuling (Fan Min) hadn't seen her son for more than a year, so she hurried to Weihai to meet Zeng Min. ”

"Ah, Shizi, oh, has the second son arrived in Qingzhou?" Xu Qian asked in surprise.

"Yes, Zeng Min just graduated from Chang'an University, and he was going to participate in the imperial examination, but he had to travel the world for a while, so he and his senior friend, accompanied by Yin Shen, the chief secretary of the Ministry of Rites, went out of Chang'an last spring, and happened to go to Qingdao some time ago, so I asked someone to pass him to Weihai."

After listening to Zeng Hua's explanation, Xu Qian was relieved and immediately went out to arrange an afternoon meeting.