Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 447 Autumn Fu ([-])

Zhou Qi is his big apprentice, logically speaking he is the most reliable person, but Chen Minggang is very mean.Zhou Qi's parents have passed away long ago. According to the rules of the old times, Chen Minggang is his closest elder. He not only has the obligation to take care of him, but also has the responsibility to marry a wife and start a family for him.

However, Chen Minggang never got married for him——Lingao in the Ming Dynasty was an area with a serious imbalance in the ratio of men to women, and most of the immigrants were bachelors, with very few women.This makes the cost of marrying a wife much higher than on the mainland.And as Zhou Qi is his apprentice, he can't just find a woman, it should be a well-off small grain household in the local area or the daughter of a colleague.This requires a decent dowry and a house for them to start a family.

Chen Minggang was reluctant to spend this sum of money, and kept procrastinating. In a blink of an eye, Zhou Qi was already in his thirties—in the 17th century, he already belonged to older unmarried young men.

Being unmarried for a long time is a very embarrassing thing for Zhou Qi, and it has caused another consequence. Chen Minggang is a very womanly person. Since Zhou Qi is his big apprentice, many of the master's private affairs are of great concern. It is up to him to handle it.If there is a lot of contact with the master's woman, the master will inevitably become suspicious - after all, this apprentice is young and strong, much stronger than himself.

There have been some rumors recently, either that he had an affair with Chen Minggang's woman, or that there was a huge complaint behind his back. Although Chen Minggang didn't believe it much, his trust in him had already diminished.Coupled with what happened to Qiu Hong recently, he had even more doubts about the ability of his big apprentice to handle affairs.

"That's right, what Xiao Hu said is right. There must be a reason for this kind of thing to force the big households to agree. We are just being ordered to work as errands, so we can't blame us." Chen Minggang said, "Evil people, naturally want them to do it."

Everyone nodded again and again, and some even offered a few words of flattery.

"But what excuse should we find?" Someone asked, "This excuse is not easy to find."

First, the common people have to believe that the common people are not ignorant and foolish people in the countryside, but rather landlords and gentry with some property and status, and they will not scare you with a few empty words.The second is that Australians have to admit it.Chen Minggang knows that Australians are very concerned about their own image, and they are most afraid of someone using their name.

Chen Minggang took his time and took a sip of tea first.He felt that the reason why he was better than this group of people was not only because he had the ancestral treasure of Yulin Book, but also because he could see farther and more clearly than everyone else.

"You come from the countryside, what are the Australian work teams doing?" He suddenly asked.

Everyone started to talk about it. In fact, the work team did a lot of things in the countryside, mainly doing social surveys: population, land quantity, and the barrenness of the fields. .

"You didn't get to the point." Chen Minggang shook his head and said, "Actually, what Australians care about most is to find out the details of the county!"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay: What's the inside story of this county?

There was a more experienced person among them, who thought it out: "The population, the number of fields..."

"That's right, it's exactly this." Chen Minggang nodded, "Australians want to stay here for a long time in Lingao, what do they need to know?" He patted his palms with a Sichuan fan and counted, "First of all, we need to know the number of people in the county. How many people are there, how many fields are there, and what is produced in the fields.”

"Zhang Tian?!" Xiao Hu from the umbrella shop said.

"Not bad!" Chen Minggang glanced at Xiaohu in the umbrella shop admiringly, "Australians set up work teams in the countryside and take care of food and taxes in the county. Basically, it's nothing more than making a fuss about how much money there is in Lingao County." He said Slapped the fan open and shook it lightly, "We're here to help him with this, Zhang Tian!"

Now everyone is in an uproar. As the name suggests, "Zhangtian" is to measure the acres of fields, but it is not enough. At the same time, a new Yulin book must be drawn to re-register the land property rights and taxation status.This was not a trivial matter in ancient society, and it often took the initiative of the imperial court to hold it. In the history of Ming Dynasty, apart from Zhang Tian's painting of fish scale books in the Hongwu period, only Zhang Juzheng in the early Wanli years had done Zhang Tian.Every time Zhang Tian, ​​not only the Ministry of Household Affairs and the province have to send special officials to handle it, but also recruit students from the whole province to assist, and it will not take a month or two to complete.At least half a year or more.

Although they are people who "eat food" and know a little bit about how to grow the land, they are not professionals after all. It is impossible to do this, and there is not enough time.

Chen Minggang signaled them to calm down: "Why are you making a fuss? It's just a pretext!" He sneered, "Don't we really have to help them grow the land? Even if everyone wants to, we don't have the ability, right?"

Everyone nodded.All look at this backbone.

"Australians want to know how much foundation Lingao has, so we cater to them. We say to help them measure the acres of land - the Australians will not refuse. As long as we have this name, can't those big households let us fiddle with it?"

Everyone burst into applause: This idea is great.Not only is the teacher famous, but Australians will never reject this proposal.Will be happy to be this "villain".Finally: The big players have nothing to say, and the consequences of all this can be pushed to the Australians.

"Can the rich people buy it?" Zhou Qi was a little hesitant, "They also have connections with Australians."

"It doesn't matter if there is a relationship," Chen Minggang saw very clearly the relationship between the Time Travel Group and the big gentry. "Australians don't like gentry. Now we are just using them."

"Isn't it a bit unexpected?" Xiong Buyou smiled when he told Chen Minggang's proposal in Wu De's office.

"That's right, it's really beyond my expectation." Wu De nodded, feeling very emotional, "I didn't expect that it was Chen Minggang who could see our thoughts clearly. Instead, all the scholars in the county couldn't understand." A sense of sympathy.

According to Wu De's original plan, Chen Minggang was going to let Chen Minggang distribute more rice to his heart's content, which caused complaints from the gentry and villagers, and after the county's taxes were almost paid, he arranged a "petition" scene where the gentry and villagers were raging. In the end, the Time Traveling Group came forward to play the role of Master Qingtian, and they directly executed Chen Minggang and his subordinates to anger the people.

After venting public anger, take the opportunity to implement the "New Deal" - to avoid such things from happening again in the future, start clearing Zhang's land in the whole county, approve tax rates, and complete tax reform.

Wu De also prepared a backhand.If there is any accident during the grain collection process that prevents the autumn tax from being collected in time, he has already obtained the consent of the executive committee, and he will use the method of payment on behalf of the group. tax deductions.

No matter which method is used, the Traveling Group is sure to pay off this year's autumn tax on time.In this way, you can calmly manage the fields and clear your household registration.Instead of rushing to do these things during the taxation deadline-the so-called slow work and meticulous work, Wu De intends to slowly cook the porridge of this "new tax system".

This is a big project for Time Travel Group. For this reason, the executive committee has issued several orders to various ministries, committees and companies.

The Leizhou Sugar Company received an order to continue selling sugar to Vietnam, and at the same time sell some other goods needed by the local area, so as to buy a large amount of Vietnamese rice.

The order to the Ministry of Maritime Forces was to concentrate their transportation capacity and rush to transport Vietnamese rice to Lingao.Strive to increase the reserve of Lingao brown rice to [-] shi before the eleventh month of the lunar calendar.

The order to the Foreign Business Committee is: use Vietnamese rice to buy silver in the three counties of Leizhou, with a quota of 1 taels.This sum of money was prepared for Lingao's "Liao Pay".Wu De predicted that the price of rice in Lingao would fall due to the levy of "Liao rates", and they just sold the money they got from selling rice at a high price to buy grain at a low price.

The instruction to the Ministry of Education is that they immediately start arranging courses such as surveying and mapping, simple plane geometric calculations, etc. in the practical classes of students, so as to prepare manpower for comprehensive land surveying.

The printing house has also been notified: immediately print a large number of blank title deeds and title registration books.

……

"Chen Minggang is really talented." Xiong Buyou said.

"It's a pity that this talent can't be kept." Wu De couldn't help but look at this "bad official" with admiration. Historians have explained that the grassroots in the Qing Dynasty were actually "government by officials", which really makes sense.

Xiong Buyou said, "How can I reply to him?"

"Hint that he can do this. You have to show that you have a lot of interest in Zhangtian." Wu De decided to let Chen Minggang make a fuss about this issue.It is equivalent to blowing the wind to the local big households first, just like every time before introducing any policy, first test the water harshly, let the public criticize it, and then launch a plan to improve the conditions in a low-key manner. Let the public accept it.Wu De decided to do the same thing.

"But it must not be stated explicitly." Wu De gave the opportunity face-to-face, "You need to arrange for someone to videotape your conversation with him, and you have to say more plausible things. You should first discuss with the people in the Propaganda Department how to talk about it, so that it will be easier to edit the screen in the future. Let him act as if he strongly recommends us, Zhang Tian—”

"I understand." Xiong Buyou nodded.

"Chen Minggang is nothing more than preparing us to be villains and make a fortune by ourselves. Originally, we can also be villains." Wu De felt a little regretful, "If he is really willing to help us grow the land in a down-to-earth manner."

"Hahahaha, you are seeking skin from a tiger." Xiong Buyou has been in contact with the subordinates a lot, and he knows how they are. awareness!"

"There is one more thing. Chen Minggang asked us: Where is the grain cabinet for collecting grain, and how many of our people will be used in the cabinet?"

"The cabinet is still in the county," Wu De had already thought about it. "One of our people is not used. Let them continue as usual." Wu De said, "Since they are going to be blamed, they should be more thorough."

(End of this chapter)