When Du Zhongxiao and his entourage arrived in Ye County, the sun had not yet set. Stepping out of the special train, Du Zhongxiao raised his eyes and looked around, but he couldn't find the shadow of four years ago. It's growing so fast that it hasn't changed for decades like other states.

Wu Junyong, the governor of Baiting, and Li Qi, the magistrate of Ye County, brought officials and waited at the station early and stepped forward to greet them.

After saluting, Wu Junyong said: "The Ye County Post House has arranged Zhongcheng's residence, and Zhongcheng can take people there." Tonight, for Zhongcheng to catch the wind, the officials of this prison will meet together, and I hope not to refuse. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's easy to talk about this matter. Yesterday, a document was issued in Ye County, asking the Jian family and others involved in the case to be arrested, has it been done? ”

Li Qi on the side said: "Back to Zhongcheng, the lower officials have already done so this morning." All those involved in the case have been imprisoned. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, thought for a while and asked, "After two days of fighting between the DPRK and China, is there any news to Ye County?" Did any of the criminals escape? ”

Li Qi said: "The affairs of the court have not been transmitted to the local government for a while, and the criminal knows nothing about the dispute between the court and China, which is very lucky. ”

If the case is not handled here, the DPRK and China will fight back and forth, Du Zhongxiao is most afraid that the DPRK and China will not fight for a result, and the criminal will get the news first. After listening to Li Qi's words, he was relieved. With Yi Li's confession, the case is not complicated, just be careful.

Because Ye County is on the north-south transportation artery, there are many officials who come and go, and the post house is extremely luxurious. Du Zhongxiao lived in a separate courtyard, and the people he brought were placed near the left, which was very convenient. went to the residence to change into civilian clothes, and Du Zhongxiao and Cheng Laiguang went to the reception banquet together.

They all sat down, and the governor Wu Junyong got up and introduced the officials of Baiting Supervisor and Ye County to Du Zhongxiao, and said: "Zhongcheng has come from afar, and the hundred officials are very happy. Special thin wine, for Zhongcheng to catch the wind, shabby and strange. ”

In recent years, as more and more railways have been paved, many central officials have begun to go out on patrol, and Yexian County has received many officials, and everyone has become accustomed to it. Du Zhongxiao said a few polite words and drank with everyone. In the end, it is a big county, and the banquet is very rich.

After three rounds of drinking, all the officials gossiped and slowly dispersed.

Du Zhongxiao said to Wu Junyong: "Over the years, the Baiting Prison has collected a lot of money and grain, and it is an important place in the eyes of the imperial court. However, I heard that there are too many customers here, and the government is not well managed, and the rule is also very chaotic. The Bai family case is just an example, in fact, there are many such things in the local area. ”

Wu Junyong sighed: "Zhongcheng, Baiting is here, there are few officials and many people, and the government really can't manage it." is like Baiting Prison, with a population of nearly 100,000 households, but it is still only a small state, and the officials are uneven. Cases that occur under his rule are difficult to investigate if they are not fully evidenced. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This is also the truth. Seven or eight years ago, when I first established the Baiting Prison, there were only a few thousand households under my rule, but now it has expanded more than tenfold. There are still so many people in the government that it is really impossible to govern the locality. ”

Wu Junyong said: "Fortunately, the government-run several large factories are all managed by themselves, and there is no need for the government to intervene, otherwise the situation will be worse." I have played many times, and I want to upgrade the Baiting Supervisor to a large state and increase the number of officials, but the DPRK and the Central Committee are not allowed. ”

This is a very embarrassing thing, the DPRK thinks that the current Baiting Prison is very good, and he collects a lot of money and grain, and he doesn't want to change. What are you afraid of in a little case, but it will not affect the overall situation. The dispatch of people to Baiting only strengthened the management of official field affairs and sent more supervisors as officials, and there was no change in the place.

This is not a question of any one person, but the entire court, which has no idea how to govern the changes that have taken place in the Baiting Prison. For thousands of years, agriculture has been the foundation of the world, and this kind of industrially developed place is an alternative, and the imperial court has evaded management and delegated power to the locality.

What happens if it goes on like this? The power of the powerful factions in the local area swelled, and eventually took control of the local area, and even caused unrest. They may not be able to overthrow the government, they are more likely to be suppressed, and the nascent industry will be hit.

This problem must be solved, and the old political system is not suitable for management here, so the political system must be reformed. Now that it has been developed for less than ten years, it has been full of chaos, and if it is not sorted out, it will become more and more serious.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The court rules the world, and what it thinks about is nothing more than the peace of the country and the people. In recent years, there has been a lot of chaos in Baiting Prison, and there is a huge backlog of cases. I heard that when there are many disputes in the localities, they are not reported to the government at all, and no one cares if they do. ”

Wu Junyong said: "This matter is really wronged, except for me in the yamen, there is only one official and one recorder to join the army, and they are busy every day, where is no one to care?" It's just that there are so many people, and the number of officials is also limited, so I can't manage it. ”

In the official government of the Song Dynasty, in addition to officials, they were actually public officials, all of whom had to be paid and had a specified quota. Baiting Prison is the same as Xiazhou, and the number of officials is not much, how can he manage such a big place? What can be temporarily increased is just a bad service. Baiting Jian is a place with developed industry, and the vast majority of people are customers, where to find such a messenger? And that's the end result.

Institutionally speaking, the level of the state capital is based on the number of households, and the level of the place with a larger population is higher. Most of the people who have increased here are customers, and the liquidity is very large, and even the account statistics cannot be completed. From the local government to the imperial court, they are all passable.

Li Qi on the side said: "The imperial court only hopes to open more factories here and collect more taxes, but I don't know that for the locality, there are not enough officials, many things can't be managed, and there are many troubles." This is true of Baiting Supervisor, and the same is true of Ye County. Just like the case of the Bai family, it was reported at the time, and it was investigated according to the evidence, and it was like that. The descendants of the Bai family came to sue, but they couldn't find evidence, so they had no choice but to close the case. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "I'll live here in Ye County for a few days, get to know the place, and then play." If you must change it, then change it as soon as possible and don't cause a big problem. The Bai family's case was taken first, and then it was tried when Bao Ti came to be punished. ”

Wu Junyong and Li Qi bowed their hands together: "This is the best." The two of us were soft-spoken, and even if we played, no one paid attention. Zhongcheng is an important minister of the imperial court, and if he plays on behalf of the locality, it will inevitably be different. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "I hope so." By the way, Baiting supervised the construction of many schools back then, what happened now? ”

Wu Junyong said: "There is no money in the local area, so the factories can only build themselves. Now several factories have their own schools, and those who have learned to work in the factory are working. The biggest and best of the iron supervisor, all the children of the factory can study in school for three years, and then take the entrance examination to other schools. ”

Du Zhongxiao frowned and didn't say anything. The economy of the Eberton Prison should not be like this, but it is actually like this. Due to the developed local economy, the Baiting Supervisor completely abolished all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and only collected taxes according to the laws of the imperial court. The Song Dynasty was a highly centralized system, and the money collected at the local level theoretically belonged to the three divisions, and the money and goods collected by the treasury in the prison were sent to the province. Strictly speaking, the local government does not have complete financial authority, and there are very few funds in hand that can be misappropriated. The money collected by the Baiting Prison was large, and it belonged to the imperial court, and the magistrate had no money in his hands.

Due to the development of the local area, the Baiting supervisor works here, and temporarily uses money, and can ask local large households to donate. Whether this kind of large money is willing to donate or not, it has to be taken out, which is the so-called excesses. When the economy is developed, there will be more such donations, which is easier to do than ordinary states and counties.

This era has a completely different relationship with the central and local places in Du Zhongxiao's memory. In order to eliminate the harm of the feudal towns, Taizu collected local financial power and changed the official structure. The local threat to the central government is smaller, and the ability to govern is also weak.

While talking to Wu Junyong and Li Qi, Du Zhongxiao thought secretly in his heart. With the development of the economy, the original political structure no longer conforms to reality, and how to change it in order to be accepted by the emperor and officials.

With the development of industry, the place became complex, and the original political structure could no longer be adapted. If no change is made, the government's control over the localities will inevitably weaken, the contradictions with the local tyrants will inevitably increase, and sooner or later something will happen. And when the local economy is strong, it will inevitably pose a threat to the imperial court. The combination of the two is an eternal problem for China, a unified central empire.