Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1073 1068 [Exploiting the People]

"Since the Hu horse peeked at the river and left, the pools and trees have been abandoned, and I still hate to talk about war. As dusk gradually approaches, the clear horn blows in the cold, and the city is empty."

There is a huge amount of information hidden behind these few words of Jiang Kui.

At the turn of the Song Dynasty, the Jianghuai region became a battlefield. The population and economic losses were severe, business travel was almost cut off, and the land was abandoned and no one cultivated it.

Even counties such as Huaiyin, Xinghua, Lai'an, Wujiang, and Chaohu were directly downgraded from counties to towns because they were too sparsely populated.

If there had not been the Jingkang Rebellion, Huainan would not be inferior to Jiangnan at all.

It has a canal and a developed business.

There are few floods and agriculture is prosperous.

Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Chuzhou replaced Yangzhou and became the big brother in the Huainan region.

Because Yangzhou was so prosperous, warlords from all walks of life wanted to get their hands on it. During the repeated struggles, the city was massacred several times.

And what about Chuzhou?

He only experienced one city massacre, and it was at the hands of Chai Rong.

Chai Rong massacred a city only once in his life, and that was the one that was given to Chuzhou. Moreover, he was stopped by Zhao Kuangyin halfway through, so the loss was not great, and only more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians were massacred.

According to statistics from the tenth year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty, Chuzhou's commercial tax that year was 18995 strings of cash, while Yangzhou's commercial tax was only 10887 strings of cash.

Today, Chuzhou has become the capital of Huainan Province in the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with policy changes, the business environment has improved and this place has become more prosperous.

Even though the commercial tax rate was reduced and many exorbitant taxes were abolished, the commercial tax of Chuzhou Prefecture in the first year of Shenfu in the Daming Dynasty still reached a staggering 24087 guan!
The Ming Dynasty court is now extremely rich.

"Write down the content of the previous meeting and let me review it." Chuzhou prefect Nie Wen ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Jiang E bowed and retreated.

Jiang Kui had not yet been born, and it was unknown whether he would be born, but his father Jiang E had already passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi.

As a newly-appointed Jinshi, Jiang E was assigned to Chuzhou Prefecture as a ninth-rank clerk because of his outstanding performance after observing government affairs for three months. After only six months, he was selected by the new prefect to serve as the prefect's full-time secretary, that is, the chief secretary of the top leader of the provincial capital city!
There were many official positions similar to secretaries in the Song Dynasty, including observation envoy, chief secretary, etc.

When Zhu Guoxiang reformed the official system, they were all changed to clerks.

That is, the chief secretary is the secretary general, and the secretary is an ordinary secretary.

Since the imperial court did not allow the private employment of shogunate officials - except for the establishment of a government office, the secretary-general of government offices at all levels actually played a role similar to that of a legal advisor.

At the county level, only the secretary general is a high-ranking official, and most of them are old clerks who have been transferred to other positions. Ordinary secretaries are all second-class clerks.

At the provincial government level, there were two ordinary secretaries who were of the ninth rank, and the rest were first-class clerks.

At the government office level, there were four ordinary secretaries who were of the ninth rank, and the rest were first-class clerks.

The disadvantage of this is that the number of officials increases and administrative expenses increase. The advantage is that the court has stronger control over local government offices and the emergence of a group of legal advisors is eliminated.

Even the Song Dynasty had no legal advisors, so Zhu Ming naturally would not allow one to emerge in the Ming Dynasty.

A county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty had several chief legal advisors. How do you think he had the money to pay their salaries?

Now the Ming Dynasty has inherited the Song Dynasty system, and when a new Jinshi is first appointed to an official position, at most he can be directly appointed as a county magistrate, and those are extremely rare.

Therefore, for those Jinshi with poor ranking, being assigned the first position as a clerk became an option with great political prospects.

It would be even better luck if you were chosen as a full-time secretary by the top leader or second in command!

Jiang E, the full-time secretary of the Chuzhou prefect, carefully organized the meeting minutes and quickly wrote an article, which he handed over to the prefect Nie Wen the next day.

After reading it, Nie Wen nodded in approval: "You have great talent. Your writing is brilliant and easy to understand. It is rare for both the elite and the masses to appreciate it. Let the clerks copy it and send it to the various departments for processing."

Jiang E turned and walked a few steps, then suddenly stopped and said, "Governor, this time we are conscripting a large number of immigrants, so we must be careful that those clerks will take the opportunity to harm the people."

Nie Wen said, "During the period of recruiting immigrants, if you hear any noise, do not intervene without permission. Write it down and let me handle it as appropriate."

"Yes!" Jiang E bowed and stepped back.

Recruiting 50,000 retired soldiers or militiamen is the responsibility of the Military Commandery and its subordinate offices.

Jiang E's government office was a civil official, so he was only responsible for recruiting ordinary immigrants. A total of 150,000 immigrants, spread across four populous provinces, the number for each county was not that large.

The Ming court incorporated Lianshui and Sizhou into Chuzhou Prefecture, and a total of 3855 immigrants were recruited from the entire prefecture. According to different administrative positions, more than 500 immigrants were recruited from large counties, more than 400 immigrants from medium-sized counties, and more than 300 immigrants from small counties.

The population density of Chuzhou Prefecture is extremely high, so three to five hundred immigrants to a county is nothing.

Even if the government deliberately conceals the news and rural areas are relatively isolated from information, the immigration work may not even make any waves.

A few days later.

Jiang E was wandering around the city in cloth clothes, his expression becoming increasingly gloomy.

The prefect issued a strict order that no notices should be posted and officials were not allowed to spread the news at will, but the news spread throughout the city in just a few days.

If it were just this, it would be normal. After all, there are always petty officials who can't control their mouths.

What is abnormal is that immigration information is deliberately distorted!

Jiang E stepped forward and clasped his fists towards several passers-by and greeted them: "Where did you get this news, brothers? I heard that only three to four thousand people were recruited, and that urban residents were not involved."

These neighbors gathered together and did not know the government secretary.

Seeing that Jiang E was calm and elegant, they subconsciously thought that he was a scholar from a wealthy family, and hurriedly returned the greetings respectfully.

A neighbor said, "Don't be afraid, young man. The government will not forcibly conscript scholars who have achieved honors or students who are studying in official schools. Even if they don't have honors or are not studying in official schools, the government will still give preferential treatment to scholars. It's just a matter of giving them a little more money." "Who told you that?" Jiang E asked again.

Another neighbor said, "I have a relative's friend working in the county government. How could the rumors there be false?"

Jiang E continued to ask questions, but these people could not give a clear explanation. God knows where they heard the rumors from.

Jiang E asked a few more groups of people and then hurried back to the government office.

"Governor, someone is deliberately doing something bad," Jiang E said, "There are rumors in the market that Chuzhou Prefecture is going to relocate tens of thousands of people, and that as long as you pay money, you can hire someone to replace them."

"Got it," the prefect Nie Wen ordered, "Order each county to post notices to make the truth public, and don't worry about the rest. The censors should have arrived in the provincial capital, so they should be given some credit. We can't let them make a wasted trip."

Jiang E understood and bowed to take his leave.

Nie Wen said again: "Call Judge Xun."

"Yes!"

Jiang E left the room and went next door to ask for the judge.

The magistrate of Chuzhou Prefecture was called Xun Mao. He hurried to the Huangtang of the government office and exchanged greetings with Nie Wen.

After chatting for a while, Nie Wen said, "Some people want to take advantage of the opportunity to make money and bully the people. Brother Xun, please restrain your subordinates. This is a matter of military and national importance. Chuzhou is the capital, so there must be an imperial censor coming to inspect. The imperial censor has not shown up yet, so he is probably on a private visit in disguise."

"I saved it. If this fails, both you and I will be in trouble." Xun Mao did not mention the daily conflicts between him and Nie Wen, but tentatively asked, "As for the Li family..."

Nie Wen smiled and said, "We can't control it, and we don't dare to control it."

"Indeed." Xun Mao nodded in understanding.

The biggest tyrant in Chuzhou Prefecture is a relative of Prime Minister Li Hanzhang!

Li Hanzhang's father had passed away and his brother was an official in another place, so he brought his mother to live in Luoyang. In fact, he had no close relatives in Chuzhou.

However, there are also cousins, brothers, and all kinds of miscellaneous relatives.

Some people did evil things under the name of Li Hanzhang, and the local officials turned a blind eye as long as it did not involve murder.

Many local officials even tried to curry favor with the Li family on purpose, hoping to get on board Li Hanzhang's side.

……

On the outskirts of the provincial capital, Beishen Town.

A team of officials came rushing in. They were first ordered to post notices in the town to reassure the people, and then they went to the countryside to collect money in direct violation of the notices.

"Ahhhh!"

The police knocked hard on the gate of a mansion outside the town.

A servant carefully opened the door and invited them in. The owner of the house had heard the news and came to greet them.

When the chief official met him, he asked, "Mr. Gong, do you know anything about the conscription of immigrants?"

The wealthy man, known as Mr. Gong, said, "I have heard a little bit about it."

The chief official continued, "Although you have separated your family, you still have six young and strong men registered under your name. The officials at the county government have decided to take one of them from your family."

Mr. Gong said, "My eldest son is away studying and has not returned yet. The rest of my sons are also studying, and one is studying in a government school."

The chief official said, "Apart from those who have studied in the government schools, the number of males in your family is enough to be conscripted for immigration."

"Please spare me a moment to talk."

The two walked side by side to a secluded corner, and Mr. Gong took out a dozen silver dollars and said, "Brothers, take them and have some tea."

The chief of the police was furious: "Are you sending away beggars?"

Mr. Gong flattered: "Please tell me the exact number, sir."

The chief of the police said, "Five hundred strings of cash."

"Five... five hundred strings of cash?" Mr. Gong's eyes widened.

The chief official said earnestly, "Alas, you are also an ungrateful person. Other wealthy families have gone to Mr. Li's house to pay their respects, but you have not done anything at all, and you have even bothered us brothers to come to your house and talk to you."

Mr. Gong said, "Can you be flexible? After the family division, my financial resources are not as good as before, and I have several sons who are still studying..."

The chief of the police interrupted directly: "Four hundred and eighty strings of cash, not a penny less. If you don't pay, we will arrest you directly."

Mr. Gong had a sad face, but dared not say anything. He went back to his room to get some money to avoid disaster.

Mr. Li took the lion's share of the rich family's money, while the officials could only drink soup.

After visiting several wealthy families, the officials returned to the city with smiles on their faces.

As for the common people, the head of the baojia would urge them. If the head of the baojia couldn't handle it, the officials would take action.

At this moment, the eldest son of Mr. Gong, who was studying abroad, was visiting the countryside with a classmate.

"Brother Yan has become an imperial censor and has been sent to Chuzhou Prefecture. Whether he can achieve meritorious service depends on how courageous he is." Gong Miyuan said with a smile.

Imperial Censor Yan Tao stood with his hands down: "Does the Li family really dare to use this kind of event to make money?"

Gong Miyuan said: "It's not just the Li family. The clerks below also need to be well fed. All the baojia heads must pay tribute to the clerks, otherwise they will be given more quotas. Will the baojia heads pay for it themselves? They will have to let the common people in their baojia contribute. If any family can't pay, they will have to conscript their men to become immigrants."

(End of this chapter)