Seeing Yao Anle sitting at the table and eating big, Cheng County Lieutenant and Dong Zhushu looked at each other and smiled, also took the plate together, went to load the vegetables and meat, and returned to the table. Seeing Du Zhongxiao looking at the two of them laughing, the two of them were happy and poured a bowl of wine each.

When the other petty officials saw that the chief had done this, and what else was there to be polite, they each took a plate, pretended it like a mountain, and sat down at the table.

Du Zhongxiao looked at everyone coldly, they all tried to fill as much meat as possible, and those who decorated some vegetables in it were mostly embarrassed, so they put a few vegetables to decorate it. Seeing this scene, Du Zhongxiao sighed secretly, in this era, only meat is king. These are all officials, and the officials are all eaten without death when they see meat, not to mention ordinary people.

What's delicious? This question will have different answers in different times and asked to different people. In this day and age, ask most people and they will tell you that meat is the best. Quite simply, there are too few opportunities to eat meat. Even if it is Du Zhongxiao, if it weren't for the relaxed economy at home, there would be only himself and Han Yueniang who were officials outside, and life would be tight. What about being an official? In this era, a small county official, if you want to be greedy, you can't have much money to be greedy. There are thousands of households in a county, which is not much different from a big village in his previous life, and how much spare money does the official have to be greedy.

This is the gap between the times, the current county, the big is equivalent to the township of Du Zhongxiao's previous life, and the small one is only equivalent to a village, plus the population is scattered and the transportation is inconvenient. It's not easy to govern, and it's even harder to do something about it.

Yongcheng is a large county, not only because it has a large jurisdiction, but also because it is located next to the Bianhe River, there are many merchants who come and go, and the county is very prosperous. In fact, leaving the county, the population in the countryside is very sparse. Du Zhongxiao once estimated that the population of this era was only about a little more than one-twentieth of the population of his previous life. In the previous life, the densely populated Central Plains region was sparsely populated in this era, including Yongcheng here.

What is this concept? Yongcheng in Wangxian County has less than 6,000 households, and the prosperous county seat, including all the households inside and outside the city, is less than 2,000 households, and the urbanization rate has reached an astonishing more than 30%. These nearly 2,000 families depend on the Bianhe waterway for their livelihood.

I remembered that in my previous life, there was a big village near my home, and the three villages were tightly stacked together, separated by only one road from each other, and the three villages together had nearly 5,000 households. As soon as the time of thousands of years is compared, I know what kind of success I know as a county.

Today, it is said that the magistrate invited the county officials to a banquet, but the actual scene is equivalent to a dinner party for village cadres in the previous life?

After everyone sat down, Du Zhongxiao raised his glass, led everyone to drink a glass of wine, and said, "It's rare to gather so neatly today, and eat and drink first." I have something to say until I have eaten and drunk to my heart's content. ”

Cheng County Lieutenant and Dong Zhushu thanked them, no longer polite, grabbed a large piece of meat, and took the lead to eat.

Du Zhongxiao was afraid that everyone would eat meat unsightly, so he specially took the pork ribs, brought more meat, and served them after they were cooked to a thin extent. In his previous life, ribs were more expensive than meat, but in this era, it is the opposite, and the fat and thick meat are everyone's favorite.

After drinking a few rounds of wine, seeing that everyone was full of oil and almost finished eating, Du Zhongxiao said: "Let's stay for a while and listen to me say a few words." Since I came here last year, I have been following the instructions of the state to set up camps. As the capital, the state withheld the county's taxes, and I set up another field to make fireworks, which was very prosperous. At that time, the county's taxes were intercepted, and the state did not say what would happen next, because the camp was originally a matter of the state. ”

In the Song Dynasty, there was no independent financial power at the county level, and in principle, all incoming and outgoing money should be registered in a book and checked by the state. All revenues, except those of the provinces, are also vested in the cantons, and the counties have no right to use them. All in all, all the money collected by the county except for the tribute court is from the state, including the income of the county officials, and the county has no surplus wealth. That's not all, all the officials in those states have money, such as the minister's money, because Yongcheng is too far away from Bozhou, and it is basically difficult to get it. Du Zhongxiao heard a sentence in his previous life, three lives were unfortunate, and the county was attached to Guo; Three lives do evil, attached to the provincial city of Guo; The evil is full of evil, attached to Guo Jingcheng. This is the dynasty after the Song Dynasty, the situation of the Song Dynasty is just the opposite, because the officials of the attached Guo County can touch the light of the minister's money and other funds, and the official affairs are directly managed by the state, and the money is more and easier.

The farther away from the state city, the worse the treatment of officials, this is the status quo of officialdom in this era. Don't think that the mountain is high and the emperor is far away, and the officials in the county can get up and down their hands, and be a little greedy. It's not how high the consciousness of the officials is, but to send the money to the state in full, the officials have to use their brains and come up with all kinds of methods, and they really don't have much energy left to earn money for themselves. The farther away from the state town, the higher the freight of the tax on the county.

The taxes of the Song Dynasty were fixed on the basis of counties, and since the time of Emperor Zhenzong, the regular taxes have basically not been increased. In the past, there were more money-saving things left in the localities, and the officials had loose hands, and since the war with the party, the three divisions were eager to get all the money in the local area to the capital, and the days were as tight as one day at a time. Since it is a money-saving thing, it is the money of the three divisions, so what can the local government say?

The amount of tax is fixed there, and it will remain unchanged for one or two hundred years, and everyone knows it, and the imperial court has a strict order that it is not allowed to change. The government is located here, and every move from the government to the administration will cost money, and the province will not be saved. There are many of the three divisions shipped to the capital, and the land is convenient. What to do? You can only think of various ways in addition to the positive tax, such as folding, transferring, distribution, and many other names, the so-called ancient method of carving and stripping, which is available at this time. Because the administration at this time was based on conventions, once some temporary measures were fixed, the number was fixed, and later people had to think of other names. Therefore, to see whether the taxes of the people are heavy, we cannot look at how many items there are, but we must see how much of the private income has been scavenged at the end. Because the rules remain the same, once the local economy improves, it is possible that although there are more items, there will be fewer taxes than before.

The difficulties in the county are well known to everyone here. As soon as I heard Du Zhongxiao mention that he had withheld the tax county to give the camp field last year, and then remembered that Du Zhongxiao concurrently served as the camp field envoy this year, everyone cried out bitterly in their hearts. The benefits of camping haven't been seen in the county yet, so won't this be the debt to be repaid?

Looking at everyone's faces, Du Zhongxiao sighed: "You think well, the state wants us to pay back." Spring planting and autumn harvest, camp work will not have a harvest until autumn, and the state is not unkind, let us pay back last year's money and grain together when we pay taxes in the autumn. Also, the state saw that the fireworks and firecrackers were making money, so I made a register and sent it to the state, and in the future, it will be under the jurisdiction of the state, and a supervisor will be sent to be an official. ”

Hearing this, Dong Zhushu's face immediately changed, and he couldn't help but exclaim: "As soon as the chief said this, where can we still eat?" ”

Du Zhongxiao waved his hand: "Don't worry, I came to you today to discuss what to do." The Northwest negotiated peace, and the three divisions did not mean to reduce the money and grain to the capital, and it is estimated that we still have to live a hard life. I am an official, and I can't see the hardships of my subordinates. Everyone left their hometown and came here to do things for the imperial court, but as a result, not to mention wine and meat, and even suffered from cold and hunger, how could they bear it? Always have to find a way, not only to hand over the money and food of the court, but also to let everyone live a good life, do you think it's okay? ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and bowed their hands together: "We can do things under the hands of the county magistrate, it is really a blessing from the previous life!" ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "I will find a way to do the camp and field affairs, and they will give the best of the money and grain that were intercepted last year." Anyway, there is a three-year system of no tax and no tax on the farmland, and it is really not enough to borrow some in the name of there. Otherwise, it will harass the people and annoy the boss. The most difficult thing now is how to think of a way to make money in the county, and everyone gets together every day to use some wine and meat, and the officials who do the work give some rewards. Otherwise, one day there will be another thing like Mamon. Everyone gathers firewood and the flame is high, this method, everyone thinks about it together. ”