With this question in mind, the prince went to Xiuning County.

The officials and eunuchs of Xiuning County were very warm and respectful, and they went directly out of ten miles to greet each other.

Although, they only know that the prince is the magistrate of this county, and on the surface, it is a new county magistrate with an obviously ordinary background.

But after all, the magistrate is the Marquis of Baili, representing the imperial court, or the exercise of power on behalf of the emperor, so the officials and eunuchs of Xiuning County still have to give the magistrate face.

Even if you, the eunuch, used to be the secretary of the imperial court.

That can only be regarded as a citizen, and it is necessary to call the county an old parent.

Because these people were quite respectful, the prince did not pull a face, but also smiled.

Of course, strictly speaking, these people are not enemies of the prince, but they cannot be said to be friends.

As for whether it is a friend or an enemy, it depends on what kind of political environment the prince will find himself in in the future.

However, at present, these people and the prince, the magistrate, have no hostility towards each other, at most they are wary of each other.

After all, even if the magistrate is a foreign official, because he represents the imperial power, it will still give them a headache if they want to do some sabotage, do something to rob the rich and help the poor for the sake of the sense of justice in their hearts, and break the political and economic balance here.

The prince did have some thoughts of robbing the rich and helping the poor.

In fact, it cannot be said that they want to rob the rich and help the poor, but they want to make the increased wealth more balanced.

Today's Ming Dynasty, the foreign war is victorious, and the domestic science and technology are advancing rapidly, so the cake has been getting bigger, and there is no problem of who can't afford to eat, who can't live, only the problem of uneven distribution of wealth.

This problem, in the eyes of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty, cannot be ignored.

After all, the ancients have long said that it is not a small number but an uneven situation.

Sitting idly by and watching the problem of uneven distribution persist for a long time is not only a manifestation of the dereliction of duty on the part of those in power, but also a sign of digging their own foundations.

After all, although the phenomenon of unevenness cannot be eliminated, if it is not contained, it will also allow more yellow nests to appear.

Therefore, any ruler with a sense of responsibility will not sit idly by and watch this kind of inequality exist, and will try to curb it.

The same is true for the crown prince, he knows that as the magistrate here, he needs to try his best to maintain justice and fairness here.

This is the basic responsibility, and the second is to benefit the people.

But this basic responsibility alone, if you want to do it, will offend some people.

However, the prince thought of what Qi Baoguo said, for the richest eunuch in a county, not only can he not let him suffer, but if he wants to do things, he must let him get the biggest bargain.

As a result, he didn't know for a moment whether he should do even this most basic responsibility.

After all, if you really want to fulfill this basic responsibility, you will definitely make the eunuchs suffer, which is contrary to the principles summed up by Qi Baoguo after governing a county for a few years.

So what to do now?

The prince is actually very confused.

"Dong Weng!"

In order to be a good magistrate, the prince also specialized in learning most bureaucrats and hired a professional master as his staff.

Nowadays, there are many Daming literati, and there are many masters who are full-time masters and not officials, and they just want to use money to make plans and do not bear administrative responsibilities.

The master hired by the prince is named Zhang Yunsheng, a native of Shanyin, Shaoxing, who is over fifty years old, but he is still deaf and clear-sighted.

Moreover, he was also very respectful to the young boss of the prince, and when he took the initiative to speak to the prince, he also bent his body very low and called first.

"Mr. Zhang, please say something."

The prince was also very polite to this Zhang Yunsheng, so he smiled and raised his hand to say a word, and asked him to sit down.

Zhang Yunsheng thanked him and handed over an excerpt:

"This is the list of the county eunuchs and virtuous people who heard about Dong Weng in the next few years, as well as the situation in the township in the last few township examinations, and the situation of the township eunuchs in the recent township examinations, so as to serve as a reference for Dong Weng, and to protect Dong Weng to be promoted to important positions as soon as possible."

"Why did Mr. Zhang let me look at this first, instead of looking at the money, grain and people in the county?"

When the prince heard him say this, he also asked him.

After Zhang Yunsheng heard the prince say this, he did not laugh at the prince's young and unintelligible meaning, but strictly adhered to the master's rules and patiently explained:

"As long as Dong Weng takes care of the most prominent eunuchs in the county and the eunuchs who are about to become prominent, he can be promoted to important positions as soon as possible, what is the situation of money, food and people, deficit or surplus, in fact, it doesn't matter!"

After hearing this, the prince didn't ask more, but said, "Then give it to me, Zhang Lao worked hard." ”

"Yes!"

Zhang Yunsheng smiled and handed the fold to the prince, and then breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that this Dong Weng was not only willing to give money, but also very good, and hoped to become his long-term employer, and he might be able to accompany him all the way to the Sixth Branch Corridor, the Judicial Division, the Political Division, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Six Ministries and even the Cabinet.

When Zhang Yunsheng was looking forward to the future, the prince looked at the list of eunuchs, and was very depressed, and said secretly: "There are too many eunuchs in Xiuning!" ”

After reading these lists, the prince asked Zhang Yunsheng again: "In Zhang Lao's view, in addition to knowing these people, what should the county do now?" ”

"Dong Weng is the first Jinshi in your house, his parents and ancestors are all common people, it is not advisable to toss, as long as the eunuchs do not come to ask Dong Weng to do anything, Dong Weng and take the squire to visit the historic sites, sacrifice and pray for rain, and even for persuasion to learn as appropriate."

"Of course, if Dong Weng feels that he is tired, he can not do it, and only in the name of doing nothing, he can stay in the backyard and talk about scriptures or play chess."

"In short, it is to wait, to do nothing."

Zhang Yunsheng replied with a smile.

After hearing this, the prince nodded and said, "Can I go to the Pavilion Library to have a look?" ”

The pavilion library is the place where the county government of the Ming Dynasty stores the household registration and financial situation of a county, and belongs to the lifeline of a county management place.

So, naturally, the prince wanted to go and see here.

After hearing this, Zhang Yunsheng hurriedly asked with a vigilant face: "What did Dong Weng go to the pavilion library to see?" ”

"Just take a look! Know the situation in the county, so that if there is a patrol and other inquiries, it is easy to answer. ”

The prince said.

Zhang Yunsheng said: "This Dong Weng, please rest assured, Shangguan visits, must first issue a ticket, if you don't issue a card, there will be an official impeachment of its nuisance place, so when the card ticket for Shangguan's visit arrives, Dong Weng is not too late to prepare." ”

"What's more, what you may have to prepare at that time is not to be questioned by your boss about the situation of the cabinet treasury and prison, but silver dollars or other things that can make Shangguan happy."

"Really?"

"If it weren't for Mr. Zhang's reminder, the county wouldn't know."

The prince replied with a smile, and then said: "Then let's go to the monuments and enjoy the mountains and rivers, but can you not let the eunuchs go together?" ”

"Of course not!"

"One is shortened for wealth, and the other is cut off for official purposes."

"Specifically, if the eunuchs go together, they will ask Dong Weng to stay and buy it at a high price with the hanging ink treasure, which is a way of wealth."

"The eunuchs will also praise Dong Weng for coming to inquire about the people's feelings, instead of going to the countryside to disturb the people, not doing business, this is the official road."

Zhang Yunsheng hurriedly replied.

The prince nodded: "Okay! ”

For a while, when the prince and several township gentry of Xiuning County were paying tribute to the monuments in Xiuning County, he saw that Xiuning County was indeed crowded, especially many cities and towns.

At first glance, the prince, who had done a social survey, knew that the actual population of Xiuning County must be several times more than the number of people in the yellow book he had seen in the household department before.

This made the prince realize that there might be something hidden from the population.

Besides.

The prince also found through observation that the scale of the shop workshops and even the large factories in Xiuning County is much larger than the store industry in Xiuning County registered in the household department.

This made the prince more aware that there was not only a situation of concealment of the population in Xiuning County, but also a situation where many industries were concealed, so that a large number of commercial taxes were not collected.

But.

The prince remembered that the amount of commercial tax provided by the National Taxation Department was always increasing, and the increase was increasing year by year, whether it was a county or the entire government department.

The crown prince couldn't help but realize that it may be that ordinary traders were levied a lot of commercial taxes, so although many shops and properties evaded taxes by not being registered, the amount of commercial tax money handed over to the imperial court continued to increase because of the law.

The prince further observed that there were obviously many idlers in Xiuning County, and this seemed to be normal, as there were many idlers elsewhere.

Many officials and gentry said that this was because the country was prosperous, so the people did not need to rush to production, so they became more and more lazy and did not do their jobs.

But what the prince doesn't understand is why the same people, some people work overtime and stay up late in the workshop and factory, and some people are willing to let themselves be so idle.

The prince, who has been taught since he was a child that the Chinese people have always been industrious, always feels that there is some secret in this.

In particular, when he found that there were people lying in the mountains and forests to enjoy the coolness, and there were also people who were porters carrying him and the squires up the mountain to pay respects to the monuments.

Therefore, after returning to the county office, the prince specially asked a little guy dressed as Sun Zhongwen, a brocade guard, who followed him, to pass on an idle man.

This idler's name is Ronan.

As soon as the prince saw this Ronan, he asked, "Have you married a wife?" ”

"Nope!"

"Why not?"

"I can't afford to marry!"

"Nonsense!"

"In this era, you can't afford to marry a wife?"

The prince asked.

This Ronan smiled and glanced at the prince like a fool: "I don't know if the old parents really don't know or not, now as long as I don't go to sea, ordinary people like me who have no land and no hukou can't afford to marry a wife." ”

The prince had to ask seriously, "Why?" ”

"I can't find a job, I can't make money."

Ronan replied.

The prince said: "There are so many shops, workshops and factories, can't find a job? ”

Ronan said: "That's all related to get in!" What's more, the shops, workshops, and factories are all opened by relatives of officials and masters, and they are powerful and powerful, and if they go in, they don't know how to die if they die without a background. ”

"So, if you have money, you can't even open a shop and workshop?"

The prince asked.

Ronan nodded: "Can't open it!" Who dares to do business without a little background, anyway, we ordinary people have no power, so if you really have some spare money, go to Qinglou and spend it to understand people, the most stupid thing is to open a store to do business, and when the time comes, there will definitely be no bones left to be eaten by the officials. (End of chapter)