Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 280 Fortunately and Powerless

Gongyuan is located in the south courtyard of the Ministry of Rites, covering a very large area. It is divided according to the heavenly stems and earthly branches, and each area has a gate.

The carriage stopped some distance away from Ren District.

"My lord, madam, sir, there are too many people in front of us, and the carriage cannot move forward," the coachman Welin said.

"Mom and dad, please don't get out of the car. Desheng can just send me there," Li An said.

"It's okay, your father and I will see you off." Ms. Liu said.

"Yes, your mother and I have nothing to do. Let's join in the fun and brag to others when we return to Yangzhou." Li Nan said with a smile.

When Li An heard this, he stopped trying to persuade them. The family got off the carriage, Desheng carried the quilt, and Li An himself carried the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and followed the flow of people towards the gate.

"Aniu, it's still a little cold in the morning and evening. Remember to cover yourself with a quilt so you don't get cold. Take a rest when you're tired, you know?" Ms. Liu warned.

"Mom, I understand, this is not my first exam." Li An smiled.

This is normal. Although it is only a provincial examination, this is a rural examination on Gyeonggi Road, and the examination venue is still in Bianjing.

Li An had gone through the provincial examination once, so he was considered experienced. After entering the examination room, he started to pack up.

When the provincial examination was held in Bianjing, all the administrative offices throughout the Song Dynasty were conducting the provincial examination.

There is actually not much difference between the township examination and the county examination. The subjects examined and tested are actually the same.

At the gate of Ren District, soldiers and officials from the Ministry of Rites set up more than a dozen checkpoints. In addition, it was only one of the areas, so there were not many people queuing up.

Naturally, no one dares to slack off at all.

The official carefully checked the description of Li An's appearance on the roster and found that there was no problem, so he let him in.

Li Nan handed the basket of food to the officials.

Fortunately, it was Gongyuan. Although the examination rooms were only slightly larger than those in Yangzhou, they were kept very clean.

……

The county examinations vary slightly from place to place, but the township examinations are all held on the same day.

Li An nodded, holding a quilt in one hand and a basket containing pens, inks, paper and inkstones in the other hand and came forward for inspection.

The outside inspection is just a rough inspection, the key point is to check whether it is the person.

Once any cheating news breaks out, it will reach the ears of the officials.

Li An didn't wait long before it came to him.

It's just that the questions are different and a little more difficult.

After much tossing, Li An arrived at his examination room No. 98 after half an hour.

Inspections are also more careful.

Li An waved to his parents, then put the quilt on his back and walked in with a basket in one hand.

"We don't need you to worry about it. Take care of yourself and go ahead." Ms. Liu said.

"Mom and Dad, I'm going. Just go back when I come in." Li An said.

Yuzhou, Tongfanyamen.

An old carriage stopped at the door of Tongpan Yamen. Wang Anshi got off the carriage wearing official uniform and entered the Yamen with his entourage.

When he came to the office and sat down, his entourage was about to make tea for Wang Anshi.

"Don't make the tea yet, go see if Ding Lu is here and ask him to come over." Wang Anshi said.

"Yes." The attendant bowed and withdrew.

After a while, Ding Xiu, the Yuzhou official, came in.

"I have seen Lord Tongpan!" Ding Xiu bowed his hands.

Wang Anshi waved his hand and said, "Ding Lu, please sit down."

"Thank you, sir."

After Ding Xiu thanked him, he sat down under Wang Anshi.

"A few days ago, I asked the counties to report all the money they lent to the people to buy grain seeds. Have the counties reported it?" Wang Anshi asked.

Wang Anshi came to Yuzhou to take office after the Lantern Festival.

After taking office, I first spent more than half a month on visits and roughly understood the situation in Yuzhou.

Wang Anshi ordered the counties to dredge the canals, and then summoned the county magistrates under the jurisdiction of Yuzhou to tell them in detail how to implement the loan to the people to buy grain, how much to borrow, and how much the interest would be, and ordered them to implement it.

Spring plowing takes place in March and April, and people who have no food will find a way early. It is now mid-March, and all the people who should borrow money have already done so.

So he ordered each county to compile the accounts of loans borrowed.

The interest rate he set was ten percent, which meant that he could borrow one hundred pence from the government and pay back one hundred and ten pence.

This interest rate will definitely be a bit high in later generations, but in ancient times it was no longer conscientious.

In ancient times, borrowing money always came out nine times and returned thirteen times.

What does that mean?

That is, if you borrow a hundred coins, you will receive only ninety coins, and you will have to pay back one hundred and thirty coins.

This was considered usury in later generations, but it was very common in ancient times.

And many of them are actually higher than this, and those who can truly achieve nine outings and thirteen returns are considered to have a conscience.

Wang Anshi wanted to know how much each county had lent to see the people's attitude towards this policy.

"Master Tongpan doesn't ask, and the subordinate officials are also preparing to come and report. Each county has already reported the specific amount of money borrowed." Ding Xiu said.

"How much did each county lend out in total?" Wang Anshi asked.

"Back to Lord Tongpan, each county has lent a total of three hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars and one hundred and eighty-three cents. It has benefited thousands of households, and the people are all grateful to Lord Tongpan." Ding Xiu said with a smile.

Wang Anshi was not as happy as expected when he heard this, and said with a livid face: "There are nearly 50,000 households in Yuzhou and more than 500,000 people. More than 1,000 guan have been lent out to the surrounding villages and towns in Yuzhou alone. Tell me about the other six The county only lent out more than 300 yuan? Is it because the county magistrates were acting erratically and did not lend money to the people? "

The villages and towns directly under Yuzhou are definitely richer than the counties below, and more than a thousand guan have been lent out.

Yuzhou has six counties under its jurisdiction. Although the population of these counties alone is not as large as that of Yuzhou, together they are several times that of Yuzhou.

But only more than 300 yuan were lent, and only more than 1,000 households borrowed money, with an average of only 200 households in each county.

No matter how stupid Wang Anshi is, he knows there is something wrong with this.

"Master Tongpan has misunderstood. It's not that the counties don't borrow, but that there really aren't many people borrowing money." Ding Xiu said.

"Haha." Wang Anshi sneered and said: "What Ding Lu means is that the people in those six counties are richer than the people around Yuzhou? I have checked the files of the past twenty years and found that the taxes of each county have increased every year. It is decreasing, but there have only been three floods and five droughts in Yuzhou in the past twenty years. The remaining twelve years have been good. It is no problem that natural disasters have reduced tax revenue. Good weather has also reduced tax revenue. Ding Lushi will explain to me. ,why is that?"

"This... this... has been reported by every county."

A trace of cold sweat broke out on Ding Xiu's forehead. He naturally knew how the taxes were low.

After every natural disaster, some fields will become uncultivable.

For example, in a flood, the fields near the river were submerged and turned into river beds, so the number of fields was reduced.

But this is just a statement on the surface, and it is actually hidden.

Landlords and gentry all relied on similar methods to hide their fields.

"The officials in each county newspaper have read it. What has been flooded, lost its fertility and turned into barren fields, and there are some things that the people's families cannot afford to pay. Since the people are living in such difficulty, why do the government pay such a low interest rate? Lend them money to buy seeds, but there aren't many people to borrow?" Wang Anshi said lightly.

"Back to your lord, the magistrates of each county have also reported it. It's not that they don't borrow, but that the county and county offices don't have any money. After your lord came to office, he ordered the local officials to sign in and dredge the ditches and repair water conservancy. Each county needs to provide food for the people. The counties have already spent almost all their money," Ding Xiu said.

"Really?" Wang Anshi sneered: "Ding Lushi just said that there were not many people who borrowed money, so why are the counties now out of money? The counties have to identify themselves and have out of money, so why don't they report it?"

"I don't know, I don't know." Ding Xiu lowered his head, not daring to look at Wang Anshi.

"Humph!"

Wang Anshi snorted coldly and said, "I'm going to inform you and ask the county magistrates to send all the account books from last autumn to the present to Yuzhou. I want to see where they spent the money."

When taxes are collected locally, part of them will be used for county expenses, and the rest will be turned over to the national treasury.

How much is left behind varies from place to place.

Yuzhou is located in the Central Plains, with fertile land, and the money retained every year is not small.

Wang Anshi didn't believe that all the counties' money and food were spent just on repairing canals.

"Yes!" Ding Xiu responded.

"Go down." Wang Anshi waved his hand.

"Your Majesty, please retire!" Ding Xiu stood up, bowed, and left.

Wang Anshi watched Ding Xiu leave, feeling a little lucky in his heart.

Fortunately, I listened to Li An and went to the local area to try it out.

When he was in Yuzhou, officials from various counties dared to obey and violate the law. If he was really allowed to preside over the reform, there would be few officials in the world who would strictly implement it.

Thinking of this, Wang Anshi suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness.

(End of this chapter)