After Zhao Jun returned to the post house, he asked people to go to Liangzhejiang Road to transfer the Yamen to transfer Liu Yong's information.

He actually knew many poetry celebrities of his time, such as Su Shi, Liu Yong and so on.

But he never took the initiative to find these people.

In the early days, he himself was so busy that he didn't have time to look around.

Second, if you take the initiative to find someone, they will probably wonder what you want to do.

The third is also the most important point.

Got it.

And then what?

This group of people is great because of the Song Dynasty and has left a brilliant mark in Chinese civilization.

But that's about it.

If you like Tang poetry, it is understandable to travel to the Tang Dynasty and see Li Bai.

I like Song Ci, I am in the Great Song Dynasty, and it is good to have the opportunity to meet Su Shi.

The problem is that when the two sides meet, that is, the worshippers and idols, they can't always follow each other all the time.

Everyone has their own life trajectory, and Zhao Jun has more important things to do, so if he has the opportunity, he will meet him, and if he doesn't have the opportunity, he won't force it.

I didn't have a chance to meet with Yoo Yong.

The last time Zhao Jun came to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Liu Yong was in Muzhou as a regimental training officer, and he was still at the end of his three-year term.

Therefore, I did not see it when I was patrolling the world.

However, this time Liu Yong took the initiative to come to the door, which Zhao Jun did not expect.

In the evening, in the lobby of the post house, Zhao Jun was reading some official documents sent to him by the Imperial City Si Yamen on Liangzhejiang Road.

At this moment, Jiang Dalang came in and said excitedly: "Zhiyuan, Liu San has changed." ”

Even Jiang Dalang knew about Liu Yong's reputation.

"Let him in."

Zhao Jun commanded.

"Yes."

Jiang Dalang went out to say hello.

After a while, Liu Yong came in and bowed to Zhao Jun crampedly: "Xiaguan has seen the prefect. ”

Zhao Jun didn't look pleasant, but said: "I am like thunder about Liu Sanchang's name, and I finally saw it today." ”

Liu Yong was ashamed and said: "The lower officials have a little name, and they don't know about the courtyard." ”

"Huh."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "You are still very famous, and I often read the poems you write, but I have a question for you." ”

Liu Yong hurriedly said: "The lower officials must know everything and say everything." ”

"Now is the period of the New Deal, and officials from all over the country should perform their duties, since you are the Dinghai Salt Supervisor, why did you appear in Hangzhou?"

Zhao Jun frowned and asked.

This involves a matter of principle for officials, and it must be asked.

If he encounters an official who does not perform his duties, even if the other party is the famous Liu Yong, he can't cover it up.

Liu Yong hurriedly replied: "The governor doesn't know that although our salt farm is more than a county, it is not under the control of the local state government, but is shipped to the yamen. ”

"Oh."

Zhao Jun suddenly realized and remembered.

That's true.

For example, Yang Xu's previous positions were Huainan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jinghu, the preparation of tea and salt alum taxes, the transportation of the capital, and the mention of coinage.

This tea, salt, and alum are franchised, so they are in charge of a special yamen.

Liu Yong said with a smile: "After all, this salt is a great plan of the country, so the lower officials have to come to Hangzhou once a month to report on official business, and today it also happens to be in the dispatch of the yamen to report, I heard that the prefect is coming, so I dared to come to offer poems." ”

"I see."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "There was indeed this regulation before, but considering the long distance, the yamen of the shipping envoys from all over the country are reported on the first day of March, but I didn't expect that after the new policy came down, it became strict, you can sit down." ”

"Xie Zhiyuan, this collection of poems?"

"Bring it to me and I'll take a look."

"Yes."

Liu Yong respectfully handed over the poetry collection in his hand.

Zhao Jun motioned for him to sit down, and at the same time took it and flipped through a few pages.

In my heart, I slandered myself for memorizing Liu Yong's poems when I went to school, and now I have to read them, which is very uncomfortable.

But the mood is different.

In the past, I was forced to memorize, but now it belongs to appreciation, just take a look, look at Liu Yong's level, and don't need to memorize it anymore.

"Yes, it's very well written, and this article is brilliant and jumps on the page."

Zhao Jun read a few poems, among which the first poem on the first page was actually a eulogy, which was written specifically for him.

The content of the poem is to praise that under his own hard work, the country is singing and dancing everywhere, and a peaceful and peaceful scene, which gives Zhao Jun a whole music.

He smiled and said: "You, don't be a little bit of this bells and whistles, even if you want to play with human feelings, you can't always play it." ”

Liu Yong was puzzled for a moment and asked, "The lower official is stupid, please ask the court to dial it." ”

"It's nothing, I just want to tell you, it's okay to pat me on the back, but next time remember to bring the official family, and it is not only my credit to govern the world, but also the credit of the saint and the Son of Heaven."

Zhao Jun arched his hand to the north, and then said: "When writing words, write more about the wisdom of the Son of Heaven, so that you can mix well in the officialdom." ”

"Amount"

Yoo Young smiled awkwardly.

In fact, in his early years, he was also a proud person, and the song "Crane Soaring to the Sky on the Gold List" made Zhao Zhen directly ask him to fill in the lyrics.

Later, in his twilight years, he finally understood the importance of patting sycophants, so he went to Muzhou to take office in the first year of Jingyou's examination, and when he passed through Suzhou, he wrote a poem dedicated to Fan Zhongyan, who was the governor of Suzhou at that time.

But it's a pity that Lao Fan didn't take a fancy to it.

After that, he served as the magistrate of Yuhang County for three years, and it stands to reason that his political achievements are outstanding, the people are clean, and he is deeply loved by the people.

What makes Liu Yong uncomfortable is that he is still only transferred to serve as the Dinghai Salt Supervisor.

The salt supervisor is actually a county order, and the prison was also an administrative district in the Song Dynasty, at the same level as the county, but this county mainly produces salt, so the chief official is not called the county order, but the salt supervisor.

Seeing that he was in his fifties, and he had been rolling at the county order level for seven or eight years, Liu Yong was also anxious, so he dedicated the whole song "Drunk Penglai Gradually Pavilion Gao Yexia" to Zhao Zhen.

As a result, the horse's fart slapped on the horse's leg, and Zhao Zhen was even more unhappy when he read one of the sentences, "It's too liquid", anyway, there is no chance of promotion in this life.

I thought it was hopeless in this life, but I heard that Zhao Zhiyuan of the Constitutional Yuan has always liked talents, like Chen Xiliang, the former commander of Changsha County, because of the attack on the powerful, he was retaliated against, and he was not promoted for six years.

Thinking that he had obviously outstanding political achievements, but he had not been promoted for seven years, Liu Yong cried in his heart, and it happened that he came to report on official business this time, but he didn't expect Zhao Jun to come too, so he was naturally overjoyed and seized the opportunity to give a speech.

Anyway, he gave Fan Zhongyan a speech, but Fan Zhongyan ignored him. Dedicated a message to the emperor, and the emperor was even more unhappy. Things are already getting so bad that why don't you try again with the Governor's Academy, in case you don't?

"The literary style is really good, but it is not good to govern the country with literary talent, and when you are an official, you still have to be the master of the people and make beautiful political achievements, so that you can be favored by the world."

Zhao Jun commented, and then said: "Of course, the previous officialdom was indeed very dark, even if you have literary talents and political achievements, you may not be able to be promoted, you also need someone above, you offend the emperor, who dares to use you." ”

Liu Yong was even more embarrassed and said: "It's all because the lower official was confused when he was young, and later the lower official was also very remorseful. ”

"Don't regret it, the official family is careful that it's his problem, don't worry too much."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "I have seen your political achievements before you came, it is indeed quite outstanding, it happens that the state-owned salt farm has been restructured for several years, I want to hear your opinion." ”

This is obviously a test of ability.

A literati who does well in poetry does not necessarily have strong political ability.

Li Shen was also embarrassed to write "Compassion for Nong", and Cai Jing and Qin Hui's calligraphy and poems are a must.

Therefore, literary talent is of course very important, but ability is even more important, otherwise it will be a royal literati at most.

Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Liu Yong immediately said: "The restructuring of the state-owned salt farm is really a good medicine to save the world, and after several years of restructuring, no one has died in the Dinghai salt farm for two years." ”

"Just haven't died again?"

Zhao Jun was stunned.

"That's already great."

Liu Yong sighed and said: "Official rents and private debts, the taxes of the salt people have not been paid in full before, and the private debts are pressing. Many people are yellow-skinned and human-shaped, and they may fall to the ground and not get up while working in the salt works. Finally, when the salt is boiled into a low price and sold to the government to get money, the debts must first be repaid, and the borrowed money often has to be repaid ten. The cycle continues, the more debts you make, the more you do, and countless people die in your family. ”

"It's hard."

Zhao Jun sighed, when he inspected the world, because the salt works were all on the seaside, not connected to the canal, and the road was far away, he really didn't go to see it, which was his negligence.

"Now it's better, after the restructuring of the state-owned salt farm, the operation is all handed over to private businessmen, and the price of salt collected by private businessmen is much higher than that of the previous official salt, so that salt farmers can have money to pay off their debts, from the period of gathering into salt brine to boiling salt, when there is no salt to sell, they can also have a little extra money to live."

Liu Yong said: "Although it is still bitter, there is hope for the future."

"Just what?"

"It's just that since the beginning of this year, I heard that the salt price of the Minghe Salt Farm in Cixi next door has been much lower, and many salt farmers over there have secretly come to our Dinghai to sell salt, and some officials and salt merchants have hinted at me to lower the price of salt."

Liu Yong was still hesitant to say it, after all, this matter would offend people.

However, thinking that the rumor has always been upright and likes to expose the darkness of officialdom, he also spoke out boldly, hoping to get Zhao Jun's appreciation.

These words made Zhao Jun's face suddenly pale.

Although he did not go to the seaside salt field to inspect, he did go to the tea mountains outside Hangzhou to see it.

In the Song Dynasty, tea and salt farms were sold, and the output of tea farmers and salt farmers had to be sold to the government at a low price, and there were high taxes to pay.

In this way, the burden on tea farmers and salt farmers is extremely heavy, and their lives are overwhelmed, and when there is no harvest of tea and salt, like farmers who grow grain, they can only go to rich people who specialize in lending money to borrow.

And it is also a loan shark, often a loan is not an annual interest rate of more than 36% or usury, but more than 300%, and even exaggerated can reach 1000%, borrowing consistently, and repaying ten times a year.

For example, in the loan documents unearthed in the Tang Dynasty, "take 20 wen of silver, and don't make two wen of profit money in a month" is a more common content, in the words of later generations, it is to borrow 20 wen, and the interest of one month is two wen, that is, the monthly interest rate is 10%, and the annual interest rate is as high as 120%!

120% is considered the normal interest rate in ordinary loans, and in Wang Anshi's reform, the interest rate of the government lending to the private sector is 40%, which is an ultra-low interest rate, which shows how terrifying the interest rate of private loans was during the Tang and Song dynasties.

It is no wonder that many peasants in the Song Dynasty went bankrupt, and a large number of peasants were forced to become tenants without dignity, because of the government's excesses in taxes and miscellaneous taxes, coupled with the high loans of landlords and lenders, and the constant urging.

Therefore, to a large extent, Wang Anshi's change of law is actually to protect the people at the bottom.

But it's a pity that the officials didn't do a good job.

The current situation is that under the impetus of Zhao Jun, Li Zheng presided over the state-owned restructuring, privatizing many tea mountains and salt farms, and state-owned enterprises only holding shares and not participating in the operation, and private enterprises handled the operation.

Fortunately at first, the private traders were relatively restrained, collecting salt at a higher price than during the official period, which allowed the salt farmers to get a lot of benefits.

Like in the past, the government collected sea salt, bought it at the price of two or three cents of cabbage, sold it for twenty or thirty wen, and even dared to sell it for 50-70 wen when it was expensive, and the better quality snowflake white salt was equivalent to the luxury of salt, and the government sold it for 100-300 wen a catty.

This intermediate change of hands is tens or hundreds of times the profit.

Now that private individuals are involved in the operation, the purchase price is much higher than before, and ordinary salt sold for twenty or thirty wen can be purchased by private traders for seven or eight wen, and good salt can reach thirty or forty wen a catty.

Don't look at just a few pennies raised, but salt is originally a large amount to win, "Song Hui Yao" records that Wenzhou Ruian's Shuangsui Salt Farm produces more than 3 million catties of salt a year, and a few more cents is several times higher in the total number.

In addition, there are also a lot of costs for private traders to transship, sell, and pay taxes, maybe the purchase price of a shipload of salt is 30,000 guan, and when it is transported to Bianliang, the total cost has reached 60,000 or 70,000 guan, and it can only earn 10,000 or 20,000 guan when it is sold.

If you are unlucky enough to encounter bad weather, or other factors, the price of salt has plummeted, and it is a good thing not to pay compensation.

So to a certain extent, it is more reasonable to sell twenty or thirty wen a pound of salt in the market normally, and sell seven or eight wen when you go out of the salt farm. At least it is much stronger than the previous government's two or three pennies, and sometimes even the price of one penny and one catty.

However, capital is certainly not satisfied with this.

Since you can't make huge profits on the sales side, start with the cost.

Wouldn't it be a great profit if the government could lower the price of salt in the same way that the government had lowered the price of salt in the past, and private traders also lowered the price of salt?

So it's clear that some people have started to think about it.

"Well, I got it."

Zhao Jun nodded, looked at Liu Yongdao, and said: "You should pay more attention to this matter, pay more attention to it, record which people are doing what things, and report it to the shipping envoy Yamen." ”

"Yes."

"It coincides with the New Deal, and we do our part every month. The court will be rewarded for merit, and punished for mistakes. A good person will never be wronged, nor will a bad person be spared. ”

"The lower officials believe that the court has its own judgment."

"Well, you just need to stabilize the livelihood of the people in the territory, visit the county more often, and observe the people's feelings. When you encounter problems, you must deal with them properly, and when you encounter unreasonable things, you must speak up, even your boss should not be afraid, don't let those corrupt officials, corrupt officials, profiteers, and inferior gentry damage the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"Yes."

Liu Yong nodded again and again in understanding.

Then Zhao Jun forced him to say a few words, although he did not promise to give him a promotion, but as long as things are done well, there is no need to worry about promotion.

After all, being an official is not like writing poetry, if you write poetry well, you will be touted, if you don't do it well, the lives of tens of thousands of people in the county are at stake, so don't talk about Liu Yong, even if Li Bai and Su Shi come, you have to do your best to be promoted.

After sending Liu Yong away, Zhao Jun sat in the hall and looked out of the door with a stern gaze.

There are still fewer places.

In just a few years, the state-owned restructuring has changed.

It seems that cracking down on corruption should be normalized, every year, and we should not relax.

(End of chapter)