Medicine in Song Dynasty

Chapter 41 errands
Su Wencheng is an orthodox Confucian student. He grew up reading the books of sages and sages. He has a lot of thoughts of worrying about the country and the people. When his daughter said this, even though he was secretly thinking, he still nodded: "Forget it, anyway, as an aide , I should have given advice to the county magistrate, but if I can’t even be outspoken, then what kind of imperial examination should I take? Even if I pass the exam, how can I be a good official who makes decisions for the people?”

Su Tong breathed a sigh of relief, don't care what his father thinks, the result is the most important thing.

"Father, don't say anything else, just investigate how many people are injured, how many fields are abandoned, and how many people die every year because of the intrusion of the sea tide."

Su Wencheng has always been a stubborn person. Although he is not a particularly pedantic person, once he decides on something, he will definitely follow it to the end. Now that he has made a decision, he will definitely implement it seriously.

For several days, Su Wencheng ran around in the wind and snow, investigating everywhere, and then polished the article with his daughter when he came back.

Su Tong is responsible for making data comparison and forecasting, and strives to write things that are rational, reasonable, and clear at first glance.

Su Wencheng, on the other hand, wrote brilliantly, and wrote the article to be extremely sensational. In fact, this person was stimulated by seeing too many tragedies in the world in the past few days. other people.

This article was directly submitted to Zhouzhi County. Originally, Zhouzhi County was quite concerned about defending the sea weir, and it was not that he didn’t want to repair it. It was just that he was frightened for a while because there were too many civilian husbands killed and injured. Now he reads it. For Su Wencheng's article, he locked himself in the study for half a day, and when he came out, his eyes were red.

"Wencheng, the common people are really miserable. This weir must be repaired. Hey, but first, we should find a way to allocate a part of the money so that the old and weak women and children who have no strong labor at home can live first. This matter is entirely up to you." You are responsible, you must do it well, and you must not let the common people poke our spines."

Therefore, after Su Wencheng took office, his first important job was to pay compensation to the families of the victims.

The benefits at this time are actually really good. From birth to death, a person is enjoying the subsidy from the imperial court almost every moment. This time, the civilian husband was killed to repair the weir for the imperial court. Naturally, the imperial court will not ignore it. At this time, the imperial court was relatively rich, and before the national treasury was empty, Long Live directly approved 50 yuan in compensation and distributed it to Taizhou.

Rugao County had the most victims and was also the most severely affected, and got half of it, [-] yuan, at once. The magistrate of Zhou County is not greedy for money. Don't dare to be too greedy, at least on the surface, all the [-] guan of silver will be used in the hands of the common people.

Moreover, Zhou Zhixian read the article that Su Wencheng showed him, and was greatly touched, and tried to find a way to get [-] guan subsidies from the yamen.

Su Wencheng has more things to do. He has to count the specific number of victims, family difficulties, and purchase supplies.

Now the compensation and relief is not just giving money to people directly, but the government has to come forward to buy various daily necessities such as rice, flour, diesel, etc., and distribute these materials to the common people. If there are any houses and yards that lose their good land, they have to find a way to distribute some land for the common people to maintain their livelihoods.

In this era, land is the most important wealth. Without land, the common people would not be able to live at all.

This is a common practice, not only in Rugao County, but also in the whole Taizhou, so every time there is a famine or something, many big businessmen form a caravan to come, and if it goes well, they can make a lot of money. Of course, this is the easiest way for court officials A place where bribes are taken.

Taking kickbacks is not only a modern phenomenon, it was even more rampant in ancient times.

Under normal circumstances, when the imperial court issued [-] guan in silver, the people who actually used it could exceed [-] guan.

Moreover, even if the parent officer is not greedy for money, he can't do everything. There are so many people in the yamen, and the relationship is intricate, but if he is a little stupid, he can be easily fooled.

Therefore, Su Tong knew that his father had taken over such an errand, and he knew in his heart that this was not an easy job to do.

Su Wencheng suddenly discovered that in just two days, his humble little staff member became popular. Many merchants came to visit with great gifts, and they were selling their products inside and out.

He also has a clear head, of course he knows why these people came.

In fact, a mere [-] guan is not a big deal. A real big businessman usually buys some jewelry for his wife and concubines.

But having said that, some businessmen with a clear mind take the initiative to do business with the government, not just for the money, but more for the reputation.

How can a merchant who can accept business from the government be a small merchant?Maybe the business is done, the reputation is spread, and it can make money and save face. It kills two birds with one stone. None of the businessmen is a fool, so how could they not do it.

Su Wencheng actually welcomed these people's approach, but after seeing their so-called discounted quotations and counting the money in his hand, he couldn't help grinning.

400 Guan seems a lot, but Rugao County has more than [-] people who died this year. Those whose houses collapsed, whose fields were flooded, and who were seriously injured are countless. To make something is simply a drop in the bucket, not enough at all.

After thinking about it for a long time, Su Wencheng still wanted to make his job more beautiful, so he took the initiative to negotiate with those merchants, hoping to lower the prices of various materials.

But this is easier said than done, businessmen value profits, who would do things without benefits?They don't make too much money, even if they are very conscientious. Besides, Su Wencheng is a scholar, and he doesn't have the skill of bargaining at all, let alone compare with those businessmen who are immersed in this way all day. He has been busy for two days. I went to meet several businessmen, but not only failed to convince them, but I almost got involved myself. I almost believed that these people did not make any money at all, and they were doing business at a loss. The price they gave was extremely low. Can't go any lower.

Su Tong looked at his father's frowning face, and couldn't help but smiled: "Father, don't worry, although we are in a hurry, but they are the same, if they don't want to do this business, they won't take the initiative to send it to your door, you If you want to make full use of the [-] guan, my daughter will give you an idea."

(End of this chapter)