The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

After the trade conference began, Marsh Mansion became more lively and prosperous. Now if you walk on any street in Marsh Mansion, you can see it full of people. The shops on both sides of the street are all open. If you walk into a store at random, it will be crowded with customers.

Of course, the noisiest places are the various local exhibition halls.

From the first day of the trade conference, there has been an endless stream of visitors to the exhibition halls in various places.

In the past few days, businessmen from other places and foreign countries were all very happy because they sold a lot of things and signed a lot of business deals. This time they came to Marsh Mansion to participate in the trade conference, and they made a lot of money. It is no exaggeration to say that the money they made in just a few days was more than they made in the entire last year.

Not only did the businessmen who came to participate in the trade conference make money, but the people of Marsh Mansion also made a lot of money. People are making more money than they have made in the past few decades. During this period, people could wake up laughing at night.

When there are many people, accidents are easy to happen. In order to ensure safety during the trade conference, Zhao Yao not only let his personal guards patrol, but also "borrowed" many soldiers from the Zhennan Camp to patrol.

There are tens of thousands of Zhao Yao's personal guards, but these people cannot be seen in public. They pretend to be ordinary people and sneak into the streets to keep tabs on them to prevent anyone from causing trouble and to be on guard against subtleties.

Now patrols can be seen on every street and in every corner of Marsh Mansion. They carried swords on their waists and patrolled around with stern expressions, leaving no corner untouched to ensure the safety of the Marsh Mansion and the people.

After the trade conference started, Zhao Yao became even busier. More and more people came to him for business cooperation, and there were also many cooperative business projects.

Zhao Yao sighed in his heart. Fortunately, he had figured out printing very early, otherwise the business contract signed in the past few days would have broken his wrist if he had written it by hand.

The business cooperation between the mainland people and Zhao Yao is all private cooperation. However, foreign merchants were not only private individuals, but also represented the state. To do business on behalf of the country, foreign imperial merchants had to sign a contract with the Ministry of Revenue.

Zheng Qian and his officials were also very busy these days, busy signing business deals with representatives of various foreign countries.

Although divided into private and national, the goods ordered are basically the same. Because it was the first trade conference, Zhao Yao gave many discounts to foreign merchants, such as tariffs, which were only 10% for the time being. After half a year, the tariffs will return to normal.

Regardless of whether it is private business or national business, only one level of tariff is charged. After half a year, private and state tariffs will be different. The national tariff will be one level lower than the private tariff.

Knowing that tariffs would return to normal in half a year, the foreign businessmen decided to buy more things within this half year, so they signed many cooperation contracts in advance and paid deposits in advance.

Zhao Yao's own small treasury and the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue were almost filled with gold and silver from foreign countries in the past few days.

When foreigners came to do business in Marsh Mansion, they paid gold and silver instead of copper coins from the Zhou Dynasty. Zhao Yao stipulated that they pay in gold and silver. Of course, this does not mean that copper coins are not collected at all. The transaction amount involved is not large and can be paid with Dazhou copper coins. However, the foreign merchants purchased and ordered too many things, and the transactions involved were very large, and they could only be paid for in gold and silver.

Fortunately, there was a lot of gold and silver in these foreign countries, especially Siam and Annam. There are many gold mines in these two countries, so the royal members of these two countries are covered in gold. They walked on the street in broad daylight, their bodies shining with golden light, looking very ostentatious.

In addition to paying with gold and silver, Zhao Yao also allowed purchases with grain. Although there is no shortage of food in Marsh Mansion for the time being, the more food, the better. However, not every foreign country has excess food. Annan-Siam, Johor and other countries have sufficient food. Their country has a small population, and rice is grown in double and triple crops, so they have no shortage of food.

Because these countries have no shortage of food, they do not plant double or triple crops of rice every year. It is obviously double-cropping and triple-cropping rice, but sometimes they plant it as single-cropping rice. Back then, when Zhao Yao heard about this incident, he felt angry and jealous.

However, since these countries surrendered to the Great Zhou, they no longer grow rice as one-season rice, because they paid tribute to the Great Zhou and sold some grain to the Great Zhou.

Dazhou purchased grain from these countries at the lowest price, so Dazhou's rice warehouses had a lot of grain in these years.

The foreign merchants were very happy to learn that they could pay with food, because they also had no shortage of food. However, food is cheap. If you want to pay with food, you have to pay a lot of food.

At present, many foreign businessmen are ready to pay with grain. Last year, the weather was good in these countries, and the grain harvests were so abundant that the foreign merchants' families had too much food to eat.

Countries such as Annan and Siam are not far from Marsh House, and merchants have sent their entourages back to transport food.

In the past few days, the former granary of Marsh Mansion has been filled to capacity. Fortunately, Zhao Yao had the foresight to build ten new large granaries last year.

Officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs felt a sense of accomplishment and moved when they saw the old granary being filled.

At this time, Zheng Qian was reporting the results of the past few days to Zhao Yao.

Zhao Yao was very satisfied after hearing this.

"Thank you for your hard work these days."

Zheng Qian said respectfully: "Your Highness, I don't feel it's hard, on the contrary, I'm very happy."

Zhao Yao smiled and asked, "Does it feel like a great achievement?"

"I feel a great sense of accomplishment." Zheng Qian said, with a look of embarrassment on his face, "Your Highness, at the beginning, all the ministers were frightened. They couldn't believe that they made so much money on the first day. I can’t even believe that in just a few days, the former granary of Marsh Mansion was filled with food.” To be honest, even now, they still feel as if they are dreaming.

"Hahahahaha..." Zhao Yao laughed a few times, "This is just the beginning. In the future, the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue will become richer and richer."

"Your Highness, the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue needs to be built a few more times, otherwise I will worry that it will not be enough." "We will build a few more." Zhao Yao said with a smile, "I am afraid that the money from the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue will not be retained for long, waiting for the trade conference When it’s over, there’s a lot to build and it’s going to cost a lot of money.”

Zhao Yao explained: "After the trade conference is over, your household department will make a budget to see how much it will cost."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Zhao Yao told Zheng Qian a lot of things before letting him go back and continue working. By the way, he asked him to call the Minister of Staff and the Minister of Staff.

The Minister of Personnel is Jiang Muyuan, a descendant of the former Prime Minister Jiang. The minister of official affairs is Pei Dingyuan.

Zhao Yao called them here to ask them which of the talented people who came to Marsh Mansion some time ago could hold official positions.

The small court of the King of Han was organized last year, but it still lacked many officials. Furthermore, other state capitals are also short of officials.

Since the failed talents came to Marsh Mansion, Zhao Yao asked officials from the Ministry of Personnel to secretly observe and inspect them.

Jiang Muyuan and Pei Dingyuan had drawn up a list of people who were qualified for official positions, but in the end they felt they had to examine them to determine whether they were qualified.

On the list are not only the names of talented people, but also their characters and what they did during this period.

Zhao Yao carefully read the detailed list submitted by Jiang Muyuan and the others, and said thoughtfully to Pei Dingyuan and the others: "Let's do this. After the trade conference is over, your staff will arrange an assessment to select those who pass the assessment. Only then can one hold an official position.”

Jiang Muyuan asked respectfully: "Your Highness, what is the content of the assessment and selection?"

"You make your own arrangements, but the core content of the assessment must be related to people's livelihood, do you understand?"

"I understand."

"After the assessment is completed, you will arrange their official positions and submit them to the cabinet at that time."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"As for those who fail the assessment, we will arrange them to do other things at that time." Zhao Yao tapped his fingers on the table, "Don't rush to let those who pass the assessment take office, first arrange for them to go deep into the people and understand the people's sentiments. How can you be a good official and do things for the people if you don’t understand the people’s sentiments at all?”

Jiang Muyuan asked: "Your Highness, what about those who failed the assessment?"

"First let them go deep into the private sector with those who have passed the examination, and then arrange for them to do other things." Zhao Yao said, scratching the back of his head, "Official schools and free schools must be established as soon as possible."

Pei Dingyuan hesitated for a moment and then said: "Your Highness, if you want to establish an official school, you have to consider sir."

After hearing Pei Dingyuan's reminder, Zhao Yao raised his hand and patted his forehead, and said with a distressed look on his face: "If you didn't tell me, I really forgot. The teachers Mr. Xiao brought are not enough. I have to find a way to get more." Some gentlemen come to Marsh Mansion, otherwise the official school will not be able to be built without gentlemen to teach it."

He added: "I can only trouble my fourth brother about this matter. I will write to my fourth brother later and ask him to find it for me in advance, so that when I come back from the capital next year, I can take my husband back to the swamp." Mansion." Fortunately, he has a fourth brother, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to trick Mr. into coming to Marsh Mansion.

Jiang Muyuan reminded: "Your Highness, even if people who pass the examination are appointed to official positions, there are still not enough officials." Other state capitals are in urgent need of officials.

"When I return to the capital, I'll see if I can lure some people to come to Lingnan." Zhao Yao sighed quietly, "Oh, there is really a shortage of people everywhere, and there is still a shortage of talents." If we want to build Lingnan well, we must More people have to be attracted here.

Jiang Muyuan and the others were also anxious about the lack of people, but they had nothing to do.

"By the way, officials will be assessed on their political performance starting this year, and rewards and punishments will be given based on the results of the assessment." Zhao Yao said, "This year, the assessment will be conducted every six months, and next year it will be assessed once a quarter."

This was the first time Jiang Muyuan and Pei Dingyuan heard about the assessment of officials, and they couldn't help but look surprised on their faces.

“With performance assessment, officials can be motivated to do their jobs, and it can also spur those officials who are slack or inactive.” Zhao Yao said with a serious face, “In this year’s first assessment, officials with outstanding performance will receive generous rewards. Officials with poor political performance will be given a verbal warning for the first time. If at the end of the year, the second assessment shows that the political performance is still very poor, then they will be demoted."

Jiang Muyuan and the others were shocked, "Your Highness is wise." Official assessment is very beneficial to the court and the people.

"By the way, everyone has worked hard during this period, and the salary of all officials will be doubled this month." Only by rewarding officials from time to time will they work more energetically.

After Jiang Muyuan and the others heard this, they felt happy and hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you, Your Highness."

"Also, during the trade conference, some officials accepted bribes from others and must be severely punished." Zhao Yao said with a stern face, "When you go back, give them a good warning." Zhao Yao has long known which officials have accepted bribes. He is not touching them now, firstly because the trade conference is not over yet, and secondly because he wants to give them a chance. "I encourage people who take bribes to come to me and surrender. I will punish those who surrender lightly. Those who do not surrender, I will punish them severely after the trade conference."

"Although the court is short of officials, I will never corrupt or bribe officials. You also know my temper, and I will never be soft-hearted." (End of Chapter)