After death, I became the cannon fodder of the three protagonists

Chapter 243 Calling Merchants to Raise Funds
After the general regulations were drawn up, the county magistrates dispersed and returned to their respective jurisdictions, and began to work on this matter.

Xiao Jin was not idle either. After returning to Haiyan County, he began to collect donations from merchants.

At first, he was still a little worried.

In his heart, the merchants are all cheap people whose interests are paramount, so he doesn't quite believe that those merchants will pay money just because of their reputation.

And if there are no merchants willing to pay at that time, the money collected from the donations will not reach the amount they calculated...

Fortunately, the master had sharp eyes, guessed his thoughts, shook his head helplessly, and stood up to say that this matter is not difficult.

From the performance of other county magistrates during the discussion, it is obvious that it is common to take money from merchants. In this case, this matter can be handed over to the long-serving yamen servants in the county yamen.

After thinking about it, Xiao Jin felt that it made some sense, he quickly flipped through the booklet, and then called Li Feng over.

Li Feng is an old man in the yamen, and he was not conspicuous at first. After Fang Shi took office, he was reused and became the leader of the team.

After Xiao Jin took office, he gradually became depressed. After all, he was an emperor and a courtier, so it was the same for being an official.

Xiao Jin was transferred to this coastal county as the county magistrate, so naturally he would not reuse someone who was reused by the previous county magistrate.

Of course, he didn't demote Li Feng as soon as he came, but let him be a servant of the dissipated government under the title of team leader.

It's just that Xiao Jin never thought that Li Feng was not only reused by Fang Shi, but also a hidden stake left by Fang Shi.

Li Feng was suddenly summoned, and felt a little uneasy, but he didn't show it on his face. He tightly held the handle of the big knife at his waist, strode into the study, and then bowed his hands in salute.

"This subordinate has seen the county magistrate."

Xiao Jin didn't speak, but carefully looked at Li Feng in front of him. He was tall and tall, and his face was slightly fierce.

He raised his eyebrows, with a smile on his face, "You are Li Feng?"

"Go back to the county magistrate, that's right."

Li Feng didn't know what Xiao Jin's plan was, so he held his breath and kept his words and deeds in good manners.

Xiao Jin looked at it, and wondered why this person could fall into Fang Shi's eyes.

Since the man looked good, and he was short of manpower, Xiao Jin didn't hesitate, and went straight to the point: "The improvement of saline-alkali land is imminent, and I have an important matter for you to take charge of. Li Feng, don't let me down!"

Li Feng was slightly shocked. Xiao Jin's tone didn't give him a chance to choose at all. He quickly bowed his hands again, bowed his head and bowed his head.

"Here!"

Xiao Jin gave the master a wink and asked the master to tell Li Feng the specifics, while he closed his eyes slightly and raised his hand to gently rub his aching temple.

The master got the order, stepped forward and invited Li Feng aside, and whispered in detail what Li Feng was going to do.

Li Feng, who finally heard the details, heaved a sigh of relief. He thought it was such a big deal. It turned out that it was to call merchants to raise donations. He had done this kind of thing several times.

"It's not too late. This subordinate is going to gather people and strive to complete this matter as soon as possible."

Li Feng lowered his eyes slightly. He had indeed received news from Fang Shi, asking him to focus on the improvement of the soil quality and try to ensure that it went smoothly.

In the end, it was Fang Shi who handed the booklet to Emperor Jingyong. If it was successful, Fang Shi would still benefit.

He originally wanted to start with Gu Su's side to see if he could get some news, but before he had time, Xiao Jin arranged things for him.

That being the case, he must do it with his heart.

Li Feng bowed his hands, and after Xiao Jin agreed that he would step down, he left boldly and started to make arrangements.

Xiao Jin said that he would leave it to Li Feng to handle it, but in fact it was impossible to be the hands-off shopkeeper. He took a look and arranged for the yamen servant to watch over it, and report back in time if there were any mistakes.

But there is nothing wrong with this matter. As soon as the news came out, some merchants came to the door and expressed their willingness to pay money, and several commercial firms that had business in the coastal county also sent letters to their superiors.

The people in those commercial houses are all good people. The imperial court needs to use labor and lacks money, so they can only focus on the merchants.

If there are more times, they will also get corresponding benefits. This is a profitable business, and they are eager to do it more times.

It is precisely because of this that when the news of the improvement of the soil quality came out in the capital, the managers of the major commercial firms were already watching. As soon as the news came out, they began to donate and provide the officials with usable tools for free.

Furthermore, this year coincides with the re-election of the Imperial Merchant, and all major commercial firms are closely watching this position. Now that there is an opportunity to make a good impression in front of Emperor Jing Yong, how can we not grasp it.

Of course, they would not say that they would donate tens of thousands of taels of silver at once. It would be too ostentatious, so they would just donate with the amount of silver, which was just enough to meet the needs of the court.

In the end, in just one day, the money was enough, and other county magistrates also arranged for government servants to bring farm tools, and those commercial houses directly brought iron plows by boat.

There were few iron mines in the Yong Dynasty, so iron products were strictly controlled, but in fact, only ordinary people were really not enough.

Like black armored guards, with iron armor and all kinds of weapons.

Furthermore, those noble families and courtiers, the Zhuangzi under their names would never say that they lacked farm tools.

But didn't Emperor Jingyong know this?

He knows that the current situation is much better than that of the previous dynasty. At least the peasants in the Yong Dynasty can go to the official iron shop to buy farm tools if they have money. Although there are restrictions, the price is affordable.

However, the previous government did not strictly control iron ore. Simply put, whoever discovers and exploits it can choose to transfer it to the imperial court, and then the imperial court will give corresponding compensation.

The previous dynasty also did not strictly control business registration, and collusion between officials and businessmen was commonplace. The benefits brought by this iron mine were huge. The price of products has been raised repeatedly.

In the end, ordinary people couldn't afford farm tools at all, so they had to go to work in other farms.

Emperor Jingyong was born in a farming family. He suffered during that period of time, and finally revolted with the help of his wife's family. After the establishment of the Dayong Dynasty, what he most urgently wanted to solve was the problem of iron mines.

It's just that this is related to the interests of many people. He has worked hard and spent several years to get the current situation.

He even knew which merchants had iron ore in their hands but failed to hand it in, but he couldn't help it. Sometimes, it would take a long time to turn a blind eye.

As long as they don't mess up the government and the people's livelihood, that's enough.

When the merchants saw that Emperor Jingyong let go, they would not be too presumptuous, as if they had reached some kind of agreement by default, the imperial court let them go, and then they would provide help when the imperial court needed it.

So at this time, they brought the iron plow without any cover.

When Xiao Jin heard the news, he said in his heart that it was a lie to be angry.

As a child of a family in the capital, Xiao Jin has always looked down on merchants, especially because he is backed by Emperor Jingyong, so he naturally knows some news, such as the iron mine...

Young and energetic, his heart is not as stable as that of Emperor Jing Yong. These merchants are so arrogant, in Xiao Jin's view, it seems that they are slapping the face of the court.

He clenched his fists, thinking that one day soon, the imperial court would take all the iron ore into its pocket to make these lowly merchants look good!
(End of this chapter)