The prefect toasted Shen Zhao and asked with a smile, "I don't know if the prince is still satisfied?"

Shen Zhao said lightly: "It's quite satisfied, but this king hopes that there is no need to do such a thing in the future."

"This is what a subordinate should do." The prefect hurriedly said.

"Instead of spending time doing these things, we should think about how to improve the lives of the people of Qingcheng." Shen Zhao said in a slightly cold voice.

The prefect was stunned when he heard this, and said unnaturally, "This, isn't everyone doing well?"

Shen Zhao glanced at him lightly, and his voice was slightly cold: "Is it really good, do you want to find a few people to ask?"

"This, this...... The prince knows that he is joking with the lower officials and scaring the lower officials." The prefect deliberately led the conversation in the direction of a joke.

Shen Zhao didn't say anything, Sheng Qingyuan said to him, "All the expenses needed for the banquet for the people tonight don't need to be paid by the prefect, I will settle these accounts."

Sheng Qingyuan's words were like a heavenly voice to the prefect: "This, how can this make the princess break the bank?"

He was polite on his face, but the ecstasy on his face could not be concealed.

Looking at the prefect's expression, Sheng Qingyuan sneered in his heart, and said with a faint expression on his face: "The money used for the banquet, if the prefect doesn't invest it in the construction of Qingcheng, in this way, it can be regarded as a good thing for the people."

The prefect's joy was immediately extinguished by a basin of cold water, "What does the princess mean by this......

Many people nearby also pricked up their ears when they heard Sheng Qingyuan's words.

"Qingcheng is low, if it is rainy, Qingcheng's crops will be easily flooded, digging ditches, building embankments should have been built, but I heard that the prefect has been delaying it because he has no money and no one to do it, right?" Sheng Qingyuan asked him lightly.

The prefect hesitated for a moment, and for a while he didn't know how to answer Sheng Qingyuan's words.

Sheng Qingyuan asked Xuanyu to send an account book, and said, "I calculated an account for the prefect, Qingcheng's taxes this year, plus the necessary expenses for Qingcheng's daily maintenance, and finally the cost of tonight's banquet, not only can I dig ditches and build embankments, but I can also have money left, which is enough to prevent other emergencies."

When the prefect heard this, his face began to slowly become ugly.

Sheng Qingyuan continued: "As for the prefect who said no one, I see that there are a lot of people in Qingcheng, and they seem to be able to help, and they are all the people of Qingcheng, and they will not ask the prefect for a price if they want to, as long as their normal wages are fine, I don't know what the prefect thinks?"

"This, this matter is not so simple, and the investment required is not so simple to calculate, this matter still needs to be carefully considered, considered, but the lower official promised the princess that he would definitely consider this matter seriously." The prefect said to Sheng Qingyuan.

Consider?

It can probably be considered that they left Qingcheng, and then the matter was finally settled.

Sheng Qingyuan saw through what he was thinking at a glance, and sneered in his heart: "Okay, then you can think slowly, when you decide to start construction, when will you send someone to Zhushanfang to get all the expenses for tonight's banquet."

The prefect was stunned: "Princess, what do you mean......

Sheng Qingyuan said lightly: "I am willing to pay this amount of money, because I think Qingcheng has a need, but if Qingcheng does not plan to dig a canal to build a dam, if you want to come to the prefect's money bag, it is more than enough, and the money that should be given to the people tonight, don't forget it."

"This, this......"

Ignoring the prefect's stunnedness, Sheng Qingyuan said to Shen Zhao, "I've eaten well."

Shen Zhao said, "Since you have eaten, let's go."

Everyone hurriedly got up to send the two off.

After the banquet, the general judge asked the prefect, "My lord, are you really going to give out this money tonight?"

"How much money is left in the yamen?" The prefect asked.

The general judgment was difficult: "Already, there are no more taels of silver left, if we want to use the silver taels of the yamen to give tonight's money, then, then our yamen is afraid that we will not even be able to pay the wages of other people in the yamen."

「

What do you mean by that? So you mean, are you going to let me pay for it myself?" The prefect asked.

The general judge said, "My lord, then King Jing and Princess Jing have already put their words here, if they still use the money of the yamen, I am afraid that it will be inappropriate."

The prefect said disdainfully, "What are they? Just do as I say."

The judge's face was ugly, and he said tentatively, "My lord, in fact, this sum of money doesn't necessarily have to be paid by the government office."

"Are you out?" The prefect asked angrily.

The judge hurriedly said, "Of course it's not, the lower officials, the lower officials are very poor. Xiaguan means that this banquet was originally prepared for King Jing and Princess Jing, it stands to reason that those people are not qualified to come to eat with the prince and princess, and today is considered a great gift to them, and besides, they also eat this meal themselves, and they go out to eat on weekdays, so don't they all have to pay? Tonight, then, their wages will be counted as before meals."

The prefect was very satisfied with this approach: "You have a very reasonable point, so you will do it."

It's not good for the yamen to pay for it, and it's even worse for the people to pay for themselves, so it's best for the people to pay for themselves!

The prefect did not give money, and the people dared to be angry but did not dare to speak.

What makes everyone even more angry is that in addition to working, the people are not like going out at all in their leisure time, as long as they don't go out, they don't need to spend money.

As a result, the streets were much deserted, and when the prefect saw this scene, he immediately asked the people to drive them into the streets.

It is not enough for the people to go out, but also for the people to spend money.

On the main street of Qingcheng, the most food is sold, and it is impossible for the stall owner not to collect money when the food is ready, so the complaints in the hearts of the people are getting heavier and heavier.

Fortunately, the family conditions are so difficult that they can't open the pot are recruited by Sheng Qingyuan to work, give money, and take care of food and housing, if there is an urgent need for money, you can also advance the wages first, so under the pressure of the prefect, there will not be a situation of starvation.

But the people's grievances are not less.

Sheng Qingyuan specially asked Xuanyu to pay attention to the situation of the people in the city, and if there was really a problem at home, he would secretly help first.

These situations of the people are obviously not in the scope of the prefect's consideration, and for him, the most important thing at the moment is the birthdays of several high-ranking officials in the capital.

"In the next three months, it was the birthday of the official secretary, the servant of the ministry, the secretary of the rites, and the prime minister. Yes, after the birthdays of these adults, it should be Master Taishi's, and the congratulatory gifts to be given this year have to be carefully considered." Thinking about this question, the prefect felt that his head was big.

"So many adults, do you have to send them?" After listening to the general judgment, I couldn't help but feel troublesome.

"Send it, of course you have to send it, if I want to be promoted quickly, these adults can't save it, why is the money in this government not enough." After speaking, the prefect sighed long.

After sighing, he asked the judge, "Is there any way to get some more money now?"

The general judge said: "This, if you want to get money quickly, then you have to find another reason, and collect some taxes, and there is nothing faster than this."

"Well, this is also a way, then you are like a clear eye, collect some more taxes from the people, I have been in the position of Qingcheng prefect for almost three years, if I don't move again, it will be even more difficult to rise in the future." The prefect said very wistfully.

The general judge thought about it carefully and said, "My lord, didn't Princess Jing suggest that we dig a ditch and build a dam? Moreover, Princess Jing also opened a new shop and invited a lot of people, so now that these people have jobs and wages, they should also pay some taxes."

"Yes, yes, this is good, this is good, so that even if the people want to complain, they can't complain about the head of the official, so do this, go to the draft, and get the money as soon as possible, so that you can pick a better one as soon as possible, otherwise the good things will be selected by the prefects of other cities, and I will be the first to go, then I will be busy in vain." The prefect was very satisfied with this approach.

The decree was soon issued.

The people, who were already miserable, immediately cried when they saw this new decree.

"This

If you don't let people live, the original tax is high, and now you have to pay another tax, and the money you earn is not enough to pay taxes."

"What ditch to dig and what dam to build? I have no money, I can't eat, what's the use of getting this?"

"It's a good thing to dig ditches and build dams, so that our crops don't have to be flooded anymore, but we can't do this, and now we don't have money to eat, so how can we have money to support this."

"Why did King Jing and Princess Jing get worse and worse as soon as they came?"

Sheng Qingyuan, not far away, listened to the complaints of the people, and his eyes were slightly gloomy.

She doesn't care about the people's complaints about them, because she knows very well in her heart what the source of all this is, they don't know, so they have this complaint.

"I've seen it clearly, if I see it clearly, I'll hurry home and prepare the money and pay the taxes!!" The official yelled at the crowd.

"Brother Guancha, can you go and talk to your lords, we can stop digging ditches and dams, but can we not raise taxes anymore? We really can't afford it." The people pleaded bitterly to the officials.

But the officials did not take their affairs to heart at all, and said angrily, "Go and go, don't talk about these things that you don't have, if you can't pay the taxes, you can leave all the things in the house and mortgage them, and then go to live somewhere else."

Mortgage everything in the house to pay taxes, it is a tool for them to eat, without these, they go to other cities, how can they support themselves?

Another official said, "Also, this digging a ditch and building a dam is not what our adults said, it was said by Princess Jing, and we adults can't refuse the princess's words, if you don't want to dig a ditch and build a dam, you go to Princess Jing, and it's useless to tell us adults!"

Hearing these words, Xuan Yu was really angry, and looked at Shen Zhao and Sheng Qingyuan: "Master, madam, do you need to go down and clarify?"

"Record and collect everything, and then hand it over to Zhao Shuling along with this letter." Shen Zhao commanded lightly.

Xuan Yi should go down and do it immediately.

Zhao Shuling, is the governor of Qinglin Road, Qingcheng, Qinglin Road, Zhao Shuling, is also the top boss of the prefect of Qingcheng, the governor of the Great Zhou has great power, if the reason is sufficient and appropriate, he can directly remove the prefect of a city.

"Zhao Shuling is sleek and self-pity, but there are barely a few twists and turns in his heart, and this person has always left a way back for himself, and it is best for him to solve the affairs of Qingcheng." Shen Zhao explained to Sheng Qingyuan.

Sheng Qingyuan has never had any objections to Shen Zhao's decision, but he has a doubt in his heart: "Why did this Wang Qinhui suddenly increase taxes? I don't believe he was digging ditches and dams."

Even if you dig a ditch and build a dam, you don't need to raise money in this way.

This is a water conservancy project that benefits the people, and if the local government is not financially adequate, it can apply to the imperial court for funding, instead of increasing the people's taxes privately.