Less than three months after taking office, Yoon Bi of Shuncheon Prefecture was strict and rode a healthy mule to patrol the streets of the outer city. This is his busiest daily work in the past half month.

Bi Ziyan is a native of Zichuan, Shandong, and has been a scholar for 20 years in Wanli, and the longest job he did when he entered the official career was Songjiang Tuiguan.

During his tenure as the governor of Songjiang, he began to contact and learn about the economic activities of the Jiangnan region, and completed several complex local economic affairs with great success.

In the first year of Taichang, he had already been promoted to the secretary of the Taifu Temple, ranking one of the nine secretaries. According to reason, he is a return to the office, and he should be used as the original official or promoted to a higher level when he recovers. As the Yin of Shuncheon Mansion, he can completely refuse.

However, Bi Ziyan obviously did not regard the official position too seriously, and since his colleagues and the emperor asked him to come out to do things, he returned to the officialdom without complaint.

As the governor of Suncheonfu, Bi Ziyan originally wanted to grasp two things after taking office, one was the public security problem in the Gyeonggi area; The other is the issue of grain production in the Gyeonggi region.

However, after taking office, he soon realized that the security problems in the Gyeonggi area no longer required him to pay more attention.

The patrol police station and the county judge have already disposed of more than 90% of the cases on their own, and only cases involving human lives and the powerful people in the capital will be transferred to him. In this way, Bi Ziyan's work suddenly became easier.

As for the grain production problem in Shuntianfu, spring plowing has not yet begun, and he has no way to care about it. For this reason, he decided to tour the capital to see how these patrolmen worked. However, after going to the street, he was quickly attracted by other affairs.

As soon as the weather warmed up, the construction workers who had transferred from the Beijing military to the construction company immediately began to get busy.

They demolished the walls of the inner and outer city and many abandoned and dilapidated houses, and began to level the vacant land, digging drainage ditches on both sides of the streets, and filling in some stagnant pools and stinking ditches.

Tens of thousands of workers are scattered all over the construction sites in the capital, especially the outer city, which has almost turned into a huge construction site.

But the strange thing is that Bi Ziyan does not see the numbness and anger in these workers, but feels that these workers are full of a sense of vitality when they are working.

This puzzled him, in the government-led construction projects he had experienced, even if it was to repair the river control projects that were closely related to the people, the people who were requisitioned for river work were just as lifeless as they worked.

In order to find out these reasons, he began to develop a habit of patrolling the streets every day, or perhaps it should be said to be loitering.

Bi Ziyan couldn't help but be a little curious today, so he simply asked his entourage to stop a worker carrying bricks who passed by, and then he came down from the mule and asked, "Why is this well-built road raised on both sides?" ”

The worker looked up and saw Bi Ziyan in his official uniform, immediately put down his burden, and replied respectfully: "According to our general flag... Ao, the squad leader said, in the middle is the main road, for the carriage and horses, and on both sides of the raised sidewalks, for pedestrians to walk. In the future, cars and horses will have to drive on the right, so that the road will not be easily blocked. ”

Bi Ziyan looked at this road that had not yet taken shape, but imagined it in his mind, and immediately understood the benefits of such a design.

After bowing slightly, he pointed to the house under construction on the side of the road nearby and asked, "What is the purpose of the house you are building now?" Why is it so strange inside, so narrow, and almost a mile to build one? ”

"Oh, this is the toilet. This design is quite strange, but I heard that it is a style sent from the palace, how dare we talk more. ”

Bi Ziyan continued to ask a few words, and then let the worker go. He looked at the construction site for a long time before beckoning his entourage to leave.

When Bi Ziyan returned to the government office in the inner city, Menzi hurriedly stepped forward to hold the mule for him, and after serving him down, he respectfully reported to him: "Master, Ni Hanlin and Lu Yuanwailang are here." ”

Bi Ziyan patted the dust on his body and asked casually, "Have you been here for a long time?" ”

"It's not a long time, about a quarter of an hour or so, Master Yuan is receiving two adults in the second hall."

Bi Ziyan nodded and walked towards the second hall. Ni Yuanlu and Lu Chengyuan, who had just been transferred to the Ministry of Rites, were talking about a few small orders with Yuan Benchang, a staff member beside Bi Ziyan, and the three of them immediately interrupted the conversation when they saw Bi Ziyan walk in, and got up to greet him.

After Bi Ziyan returned the salute, he beckoned the three of them to sit down and talk. Yuan Benchang left in an interesting manner under the pretext that he still had business to deal with, leaving room for the three of them to talk.

As soon as Bi Ziyan sat down, Lu Chengyuan couldn't wait to say to him: "Senior, you have been in office for almost three months, I don't know how you plan to correct Your Majesty's mistakes?" ”

Bi Ziyan held the teacup, looked at him with some surprise and replied: "Your Majesty's mistake? Forgive the old man for being stupid, what do you mean by this? ”

Lu Chengyuan subconsciously glanced at Ni Yuanlu beside him, looked at him with low eyebrows and lowered his eyes as if he was unheard, and finally said to Bi Ziyan.

"Over the years, I have seen constant changes in internal and external wars and disasters, and floods and droughts in various places for many years, and the treasury has long been empty.

The first emperor repaired the three major halls, and it cost a lot of money, and the treasury has already begun to support the grain. Now it is necessary to build a great project for the first emperor and control the Haihe River, so it can be said that there are places everywhere where money is spent.

However, for the convenience of his own travel, His Majesty actually renovated the roads in the capital, and demolished a lot of the walls in the inner and outer cities. His Majesty just ascended the throne and abused the people's power in such a way, what is the difference with Emperor Yang of Sui?

I also hope that the old-timers will sympathize with the hardships of the people, stop these big works in the capital, save the treasury funds, and save some vitality for my Ming Dynasty. ”

After Bi Ziyan took a sip of tea, he put down the teacup. Only then did he slowly say to Lu Chengyuan: "The road construction and various workshops built in the capital, as far as the old man knows, the treasury has not contributed a penny. ”

Lu Chengyuan was stunned, and he subconsciously denied: "Is the old-timer blinded, this household Guo Shangshu likes to cater to the holy will the most, Your Majesty wants to build a road in the capital, how can he not pay for it." ”

Bi Ziyan shook his head and said: "The first phase of the road construction project in the capital is divided into 129 projects, which are registered and filed by the city hall, and are responsible for reviewing the quality of the project and appropriating funds after the acceptance of the project.

According to the city hall's explanation of the raising of project funds, Daxing and Wanping counties raised one-third, Shuntianfu raised one-third, His Majesty's inner treasury allocated one-third, and the tentative project fund was 150,000 taels of silver. ”

Lu Chengyuan's mind was a little confused, and when he was thinking about how to refute it, Ni Yuanlu looked up at Bi Ziyan and asked seriously: "How do Daxing and Wanping counties raise funds?" Is it apportioned to the small people? Where does Shuntianfu go to raise funds? ”

"Daxing and Wanping counties will use the county's industrial and commercial tax as a source of financing. The share of the funds of the Shuntian Mansion has been advanced by His Majesty. In exchange, the newly opened No. 1 cotton spinning factory in Beijing will receive a five-year tax holiday. Bi Ziyan said with a strange expression.

"The industrial and commercial taxes in Daxing and Wanping counties, in the final analysis, are not the wool out of the sheep? Isn't this exploiting the small people? Lu Chengyuan seemed to hear the flaw, and immediately shouted indignantly.

Bi Ziyan was suddenly unhappy, as an official with rich experience in economic work, he did not think that collecting industrial and commercial taxes was tantamount to exploiting the small people.

Duanben said this rudely, scholars, farmers, industry, and commerce, in addition to the scholars receiving preferential treatment and tax exemption, the other three classes to pay taxes is a matter of course, how can it be called exploiting the small people?

If the merchants can not pay taxes, then should the peasants and workers pay taxes? If no one in the world pays taxes, what will the imperial court use to distribute the salaries of officials and provide food and salaries for border soldiers? ”

Lu Chengyuan was choked, but he reacted quickly. Justified himself: "I'm not saying that it's bad to collect commercial taxes, but the commercial tax regulations stipulate that if you charge one point, the low-level officials can receive ten points, isn't this still a bit of exploitation of the small people?"

If Daxing and Wanping counties want to collect 50,000 taels of taxes, then these officials are likely to collect 500,000 taels. As a result, merchants who could not pay their taxes would go bankrupt, and merchants from other places would not dare to enter Beijing to do business.

If the merchants do not enter the capital, the goods cannot be transported to the capital, then the market will inevitably be expensive. At all times, as an adult in Shuntianfu, how do you deal with yourself? ”

Bi Ziyan's brows suddenly furrowed, what Lu Chengyuan said was certainly a bit extreme, but judging from his officialdom, this is not impossible.

Ni Yuanlu observed Bi Ziyan's expression, and couldn't help asking: "Why don't you want to stop, this project to build the road in the capital?" In the eyes of the younger generation, it is no problem to move this road construction to the future when the national treasury is abundant? ”

Bi Ziyan glanced at the two of them, sighed and explained: "You don't know, the laborers who built the roads in the capital are all streamlined personnel from the Beijing camp, about 35,000 people.

They work eight hours a day and are paid eight cents a day. Two hours of overtime, overtime pay 3 cents. Most people can work for 10 hours, which is a dime a penny, which is exactly the price of a bucket of rice in the Four Seas Trading Company.

If these works were stopped, the laborers would lose their jobs. The camp will no longer give them monthly rations, and there are at least 70,000 or 80,000 of the 35,000 people plus their families. Do you think it would be a good thing for 70,000 or 80,000 people who have no food to eat to stay in the capital? ”

Ni Yuanlu was silent for a while, Lu Chengyuan was still a little unwilling, he muttered, "Can't you just let Jingying call them back again?" ”

Bi Ziyan glanced at Lu Chengyuan like an idiot and ignored him. Ni Yuanlu thought for a long time before asking tentatively: "Since Your Majesty has taken out the share of Shuntian Mansion, can't you let Your Majesty even fill in the shares of Daxing and Wanping?" ”

Bi Ziyan glanced at him coldly and said: "The share of Shuntianfu is offset by the tax of the cotton spinning factory, and Your Majesty will pay for Daxing and Wanping, and he must definitely ask for the industrial and commercial tax of the two counties as collateral." Are you sure that it will be better to let the eunuchs in the palace collect taxes than the officials? ”