Prime Minister

Chapter 486 Han Jiang, who has an idea
The heavy rain outside the branch hall is still falling.

Rainwater drips from the eaves into the ditches in the courtyard. Many craftsmen are checking the roofs of each house. If the roof seeps, the accounts for storing characters will be affected.

Now the roof of the important account book warehouse has been covered with a layer of felt.

"It's raining too much." Han Jiang sighed.

Then he looked back at the abacus on the case.

After listening to Zhang Yue's words, Han Jiang felt that the abacus could be promoted in the third division, so she asked Zhang Yue, "Apart from the abacus, what else can be promoted in the third division?"

Zhang Yue hesitated slightly.

Han Jiang said: "You used to know everything in front of the old man, but now that the old man is your superior, it's a good thing."

Zhang Yue thought for a while and said: "I want to report to the provincial governor, the lower officials thought it would be too troublesome to keep accounts for the third department in words, so it can be simplified."

Han Jiang said, "How do you say it?"

Zhang Yue immediately picked up a pen and wrote ten words 'one, two, three...' on the paper.

Then under these ten numbers, write symbols such as '〡, 〢, 〣...' respectively.

Han Jiang and Wu Chong were puzzled and asked, "What is this?"

Zhang Yue said: "All the numbers in this world can be formed by five counting chips. I call it the word "Shan Tiao", which is derived from the counting chips."

"Province, look at this '〡' is one counting chip, '〣' is three counting chips, '〤' can be 'four', and 'six' is '〦', one counting chip is Horizontally, if one counts as vertical, it is six, and so on."

"Then what's the use of it?"

Zhang Yuedao: "It can be simplified. For example, 4022 means four thousand and 22. You need to write six characters from top to bottom. If you use the Chinese character '〤〇〢二', it only takes up one space. Change from vertical to horizontal."

What Zhang Yue recommended to Han Jiang was "Suzhou Mazi".

In fact, Arabic numerals were introduced to China very early, but they were not used in business. Why?Because traditional Chinese ledgers are all vertical ledgers, which are written from top to bottom, it is not intuitive to use Arabic numerals for accounts.

The Suzhou Mazi evolved from calculation chips, which are generally used to make accounts, and this account book is generally incomprehensible to non-professionals.

After listening to Zhang Yue's detailed explanation, Han Jiang was still a little confused, but said to Wu Chong: "It seems that it can be implemented."

Wu Chong said: "Province Lord, my son-in-law is just a whim. If you don't talk about the abacus, just use this to make a change of words. How much inconvenience will be caused to the officials in the department."

Han Jiang said: "There is no law, as long as it is beneficial, you can try it. It seems that the abacus is ten times better than the calculation, but why don't you fully implement it in the Jiaoyin Prison? You have to come from the newcomers." try."

Zhang Yue thought, Han Jiang's step was bigger than her own.

But Han Jiang does have a lot of ideas.

He also had great political achievements in Sichuan and Sichuan. In Sichuan and Shu, the imperial court gave coupons to the poor from Zhang Yong, allowing them to buy rice with coupons in spring and salt with coupons in autumn, but over time the coupons were all in the hands of the rich.

The first thing Han Jiang knew about Shu was to abolish the old coupons and issue new ones, so as not to benefit the rich people.

Zhang Yue got up and said, "It's because the lower officials are short-sighted."

Han Jiang signaled Zhang Yue to sit down, and then said to Wu Chong: "Your son-in-law is a useful talent. I remembered that when I was in Hebei, I met a father and son who wanted to serve in the Yamen. The father said to the son, if I die, our family will die." It’s not a Shuangding household, so you won’t have to suffer from the wind, snow, freezing and starvation because of the yamen. After talking about his father throwing himself into the river, his son was crying beside him, which I saw with my own eyes on the side of the road.”

"When I was in the south of the Yangtze River, I saw that some people in the south of the Yangtze River married their grandmothers and separated from their mothers to avoid the act of the government. Houses, downgrade their households, and make their servants return to the same households as before."

"Chongqing, I know that Shu once told his son-in-law before that the worst thing in the world is to serve Yaqian Prefecture. This really harms countless people."

"I asked him how to make it easier. The son-in-law and I can use the method of exempting them from service. The households of the people are all taken according to the tax, and the salary is also given to the public. This method has the meaning of bringing the king to the people. I once tried it in a county, and asked the people to pay for the Yaqian to go to the army, and the people all said it was convenient."

"But it's a pity after coming to Beijing..."

Wu Chong said: "Oh, dare to ask why this law is not implemented?"

Han Jiang sighed: "This time I am serving as the third envoy, and I once told Sima Junshi and other admonishing officials about the method I implemented in Sichuan, but Sima Junshi ridiculed me in front of everyone, saying that the palm of the hand in front of the Yamen is now How can the loser come to serve for a thousand five hundred dollars and two dendrobiums?"

"The left and right officials are all attached to Sima Junshi. This department has no choice but to give up."

Zhang Yue felt very strange when he heard this, because Sima Guang also suggested the abolition of Yaqian. He once proposed to Renzong that Yaqian recruit people to do it, but why Han Jiang met his opposition when he proposed.

Zhang Yue felt that Sima Guang was very contradictory.

Before the breakup between Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, the two had similar political views, but after the breakup, it can be said that one is in the south and the other is in the north.

Wu Chong also persuaded Han Jiang to discuss the matter of exemption from military service. Han Jiang shook his head and said, "If Mr. Sima really refuses, this matter cannot be done. Let's wait for a while."

Zhang Yue thought to himself, even if he knew it was not going to work, he should first go to the Shu to let the officials and officials know the existence of the exemption law. If they could discuss it, it would be better than saying nothing at all.

However, Han Jiang didn't agree, and he didn't want to break up with Sima Guang, so the matter failed in the end.

Seeing this, Zhang Yue sighed. No wonder Zhu Xi once commented on Han Jiang and Wang Anshi in history, saying that Han Jiang would not change, but when Wang Jinggong took part in politics, he changed as soon as he changed.

However, Han Jiang is also commendable. Compared with Lu Gong's work, Lu Gongbi's brothers.

Han Jiang was born as a descendant of an aristocratic family. Instead of safeguarding the interests of those with vested interests, Han Jiang wholeheartedly wanted to reform the law, which is already rare among officials and eunuchs.

But having said that, only unkind people can accomplish great things.

However, Han Jiang still expressed his support to Zhang Yue and asked him to implement the abacus and suanchou characters as soon as possible, and immediately cultivate a group of officials who can get started from the Jiaoyin prison to the third division.

Zhang Yue was still very happy to see Han Jiang let himself do it after a few words.

Cai Xiang also supported herself at the beginning, but she was opposed to many things, always saying that there is no precedent for this matter, so don't move too fast.

Cai Xiang is an official who acts according to the rules, but Han Jiang is more about efficiency.

After Han Jiang and Zhang Yue discussed business affairs and walked out of the public hall, they heard an official report: "Province Governor, the Bian River has been overflowing due to the heavy rain for several days, and the houses on both sides of the bank have been flooded!"

Wu Chong glanced at the sky and couldn't help saying: "This rain is really evil!"

Han Jiang said: "Not only the rain, but also the Bianhe River leading to the Yellow River, which is full of sediment on weekdays. Although there are people dredging every year, it is still worse every day. Moreover, many officials in Bianjing have recently invaded the river. Bao Longtu was the prefect of Kaifeng and no one dared to do it, but now no one dares to take care of it."

At this time, Zhang Yue came forward and said: "Province Lord, once Bianjing is flooded, this matter will be unimaginable, please make plans early?"

Han Jiang asked, "What countermeasures do you have?"

(End of this chapter)