"The Farmer's Fat Wife" - Fat Men Are All Potential Stocks (Part 14)...

Ever since Ye Xiqing swiftly captured Huaizhou City, the system has remained silent for a long time.

Finally unable to contain himself any longer, he burst out in a fit of rage: "Host! What are you doing!"

Unable to stand the system's overreaction, Ye Xiqing picked at her ear and said, "Can't you see it? It's encouraging childbirth."

“You keep asking me how to develop the population in a matriarchal society, making it seem like the population is all born by men. I'm not doing family planning now; I'm seriously encouraging the birth rate. See how anxious you are now.”

system:……

"Is that how you encourage someone?!"

"Of course there are. In palace intrigues and family feuds, if a woman gives birth to a boy who will inherit the throne and the family fortune, she will risk her life to have eight children in one pregnancy, even at the cost of her life, to protect the baby."

“I didn’t let any middlemen make a profit. I directly gave the throne and its assets to each person who gave birth. Why shouldn’t they have children? I don’t even need them to have eight.”

"What, are you discriminating against me? You only like eating secondhand food and don't like eating firsthand food."

system:……

Every time Ye Xiqing does something, the system feels there's a problem and wants to refute it.

But when you apply it to real-world situations, you realize that such a problematic thing has already been done by someone, and for quite some time.

Caught off guard, the system choked again and simply dropped the pretense: "But what time is it now? How can such a huge undertaking as rebellion succeed by giving up half of one's gender!"

Ye Xiqing couldn't help but nod; having given up long ago, she had the confidence to do so.

Women seize any achievement they make, whether it's military power or wealth, and as soon as the matter is over, they find a man to take it over. This has been going on for thousands of years, and now they realize that giving up half of their gender makes success impossible.

Haven't you really found any? There are already many real-world examples to refer to, so isn't it quite successful? What's the problem?

By comparison, she did it much more gently.

She didn't prohibit men from taking the imperial examinations; she simply had them sterilized after their testicles became useless and caused some harm.

You should know that in ancient times, men would have their entire penis cut off to prevent other men from usurping their power or cuckolding them, but she didn't have her entire penis cut off.

If it weren't for the rudimentary medical conditions and outdated contraceptive methods in ancient times, and the fact that uncontrolled childbirth was extremely dangerous for women and could even endanger their lives, would she have resorted to such a desperate measure?

system:……

As a time traveler, you're saying that contraceptive technology is difficult to improve? Does that make any sense?

"Moreover, the relationship between men and women in ancient times was inseparable from the level of productivity. How can it be simply replaced? It's one thing to do this in a prosperous era, but to do it in a chaotic era is suicidal!"

"Productivity is produced by whoever generates it."

system:……

"Productivity isn't what it literally means!"

"But the literal meaning is important."

Since these three words no longer appear in serious settings, they always appear in situations where men's oppression of women is justified, or where feudal systems oppress people is justified.

Ye Xiqing really wanted to know who was actually producing productivity and how it had become a convenient excuse for an unjust system.

Wow, so it turns out that the beneficiaries of oppressive systems are actually the main force of production.

Without the emperor who has taken everything from us, who will produce anything for us ordinary people?

In this era of low productivity, we ordinary people would surely starve to death.

system:……

Ye Xiqing understood sarcasm, and the system didn't want to talk to her properly either: "So, host, are you saying you don't plan to become emperor?"

"No, I admit I just wanted to freeload in feudal society."

system:……

The system originally wanted to have a three-hundred-round battle with Ye Xiqing, but Ye Xiqing readily agreed and unlocked the second state, becoming confident even when he was not in the right.

What's wrong with that? Can't she have the limitations of feudal society, the limitations of productivity?

You have productivity limitations, and so do I. It makes perfect sense, since productivity can't be limited to just one person.

system:……

The system briefly appeared before immediately returning, as it shouldn't have existed given the limited productivity of ancient times.

Ye Xiqing bids farewell to her artificial intelligence and continues to ponder how to become an emperor in ancient times. Yes, she just wants to be an emperor.

Taking it down is nothing; governing it is what truly belongs to you.

The re-registration of households and the redistribution of land stabilized the most basic and widespread living environment for farmers. The next step should be to stabilize the living environment for industry and commerce.

For the business class, Ye Xiqing used salt as an example and proposed a new law: abolish the state monopoly on salt, and allow any business that is legally registered with the government to operate a salt business.

This news shocked not only her subordinates but also those who had joined her in the rebellion.

Although you might want to criticize the imperial court when you're smuggling salt, how can you not monopolize the salt industry when you're in charge of the imperial court?

Ye Xiqing, however, took it for granted that it was precisely because he had started as a salt merchant that he wanted to reform the salt system. Didn't he know how he had started his business?

Everyone who rises to power through rebellion will be extremely careful about the path they took to get there, and Ye Xiqing was no exception.

Why are salt smugglers a high-risk group for rebellion? They are extremely profitable, have their own armed forces, and operate in the dark. They basically disregard the law, so how could they not be prone to rebellion?

How could she eliminate the group of private salt dealers? Wouldn't it have been better if she simply abolished the state monopoly on salt?

From today onwards, anyone who is officially registered with the government can sell salt. Since there is no official salt, there is naturally no private salt.

However, as a condition for free and private ownership, the transaction price was uniformly regulated by the government, and at no time could the price of salt exceed the price of one dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice.

At the same time, a ban on hoarding was issued. Hoarding has always been a good way for merchants to make money, and now it is being severely cracked down on.

Merchants are not allowed to sell goods at prices controlled by the government, nor are they allowed to refuse to sell. It is also illegal to refuse to sell goods that are in stock, and if reported, they will be in serious trouble.

Not only salt, but also other commodities such as grain, tea, and cloth were subject to the same rule: private production was not prohibited, but prices could not exceed those controlled by the government.

The government must have state-run industries, but the role of these industries has changed from monopoly to reserve, in order to prevent anyone from driving up prices.

There are no profit KPIs; production is all that matters, whether it can be sold or not is unimportant.

Employees of state-owned enterprises enjoy top-tier holiday benefits and salaries.

Production should be sufficient; there's no need for excessive motivation or private businesses to vie for KPIs, as that's illegal.

Ye Xiqing and her group were just starting out, and there were very few ambitious people willing to join them, but Zhu Niangzi had her own network of connections.

Back then, on the banks of the Yi River, there were seven other courtesans who were as famous as her. Each of them had their own unique talent, and they were all proficient in at least a few of the four arts: music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. As for reading, they were even more basic.

Once Ye Xiqing's rebellion succeeded, he raided all the brothels along the Yi River, and the girls inside were all released.

Previously, Zhu Niangzi was in competition with the seven top courtesans, but now that she needed people, she immediately put aside past grievances and extended invitations to the remaining ones.

People of the lowest social class often have the ambition to risk their lives for fame. In the past, those who worked in their line of work could occasionally leave behind a reputation for their beauty, which was considered a great honor for them.

But if one can leave behind a legacy of rebellion, it is obviously more valuable.

If they didn't immediately pledge their allegiance, even if they failed and were beheaded, just thinking about how future generations would record their deeds would make them want to laugh.

The remaining seven people quickly joined, and Ye Xiqing's original political team began to take shape.

However, although these people are talented, they have little experience in handling political affairs. Mei Junlian Shuying asked in confusion, "In this way, all the money will be distributed among the merchants. Even though we are officials, won't we still be subject to their control?"

Mei Junlian Shuying has always been praised for her ethereal beauty and graceful demeanor. Her voice is as clear as ice and snow, and she speaks in a gentle and persuasive manner. Listening to her speak is such a pleasure that Ye Xiqing's mood improved, and he became more patient.

“They can run their own businesses, but we can collect taxes,” Ye Xiqing said, preparing to give the ancients a shock with invoices.

Private businesses, their real estate, employee employment, and annual output were all registered and filed with the government.

Invoices must be issued for both incoming and outgoing goods as tax receipts. As for how to get merchants to comply with invoices, the answer is that costs can be deducted from taxes.

Whatever it is, there must be a profit motive for it to be implemented. How can you expect businesses to honestly pay taxes and honestly pay their employees' wages?

Only by including employee wages and raw material purchases in the cost and reducing taxes can businesses make a profit and thus engage in such unprofitable activities.

In this way, the elite profession of accountant was born in ancient times, which shows that accountants have a wide range of employment opportunities.

By designating the accounting firm as a third-party organization, each store must rent an accountant for remittances. However, the accountant does not provide services to merchants on a fixed basis, there is a service cooldown period, and the accountant is held accountable for life. The cost of renting the accountant is also included in the cost and can be deducted from taxes.

Merchants, accountants, and tax authorities are given different ways to obtain benefits, creating a balance of power among the three parties.

It's impossible to supervise every business to prevent them from engaging in shady practices; different interest systems must be designed to counteract such supervision.

Although Ye Xiqing's political team is somewhat inexperienced, they are exceptionally quick learners with outstanding comprehension skills.

With a little guidance, I not only understood the policy, but also suddenly had a feeling that something had clicked, as if I had vaguely grasped something.

We should immediately discuss and refine the specific methods for implementing this strategy.

For the ancients, allowing all industries to be privatized and balancing them with tax laws was a novel, bold, and worthwhile new idea to try.

However, for this method to be implemented, it will definitely require a large number of grassroots implementation agencies.

That would be even better for Ye Xiqing. Now that he has just taken over Huaizhou, it is the time for him to establish a firm foothold. There are plenty of openings available now.

The new announcement caused an uproar among the people of Huaizhou. A series of policies were being rolled out, and they had no idea what to look at.

Allowing private salt production was indeed the most eye-catching move. In ancient times, what difference was there between this and allowing people to mine gold themselves? Salt farmers by the sea, who had bent over their entire lives, could finally straighten up.

They all rushed to set up their own businesses, without having time to consider the implications of standardized pricing and the changes that the new tax law would bring.

Of course, not everyone has such an enterprising spirit; many people want stability and a secure job.

The government is expanding recruitment to include military personnel, government officials, tax officials, accountants, and employees of state-owned enterprises. No prior experience is required; anyone who dares to apply will receive on-the-job training from the government.

The basic-level salary is two strings of cash per month, three bushels of rice per year, and clothing is provided in winter and summer.

Those engaged in physical labor should take turns with menstruation according to the woman's menstrual cycle, alternating between yin and yang, taking half a month's leave and half a month's rest, with paid leave.

Those engaged in mental work will work four days on and three days off, and selection will be based on previous merits.

In fact, those who are just observing don't have a chance to comment on this policy; the registration area is already packed with people who want to sign up.

In an era when women were fined for not getting married, and there was no advanced contraception technology, there were far too many women who had given birth to many children.

There's a condition: the child must be in Huaizhou Prefecture right now. I've had several, but they were all taken away by the old court. I'm so anxious, just like Bai Sheng!

Looking back at her old man, she thought, "Why don't you go and try to get some merit? At your age, what use is that thing to you?"

Old man: ……

The new government was recruiting for many positions, but there were too many applicants, and no amount of screening could be done, so they finally implemented an assessment.

Ye Xiqing's political team went to various places to organize exams. They didn't test anything else; they just gathered people together, had the same teachers, and taught them to recognize characters for three days, one hundred characters each day.

Three days later, the teacher gave a dictation test on 150 characters, awarding one point for each character, and graded the characters in front of everyone.

Finally, those who scored above 140 were eliminated, and the remaining people were selected in order.

After all, we have to consider the issue that it's unfair to pit educated people against uneducated people, since some of them have received education.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with people doing well on exams. Ye Xiqing has other uses for these high-scoring students.

Such a rudimentary imperial examination was actually quite laughable, but everyone who participated took it extremely seriously, frantically memorizing characters during the three days of preparation.

When the results were announced and I saw a group of lucky people happily joining the company, it was impossible not to regret it. The evaluation criteria were too simple; anyone could have done it!

But this opportunity is fleeting, so let's wait three years and try again next time.

Next time, the evaluation criteria won't be so simple.

Regardless of their skill level, Ye Xiqing's executive agencies were immediately filled with qualified personnel. Those with knowledge who could be sent out were dispatched to personally teach the newly appointed officials how to do their jobs.

Of all the positions, the newly reformed tax law is the most complex, posing a huge challenge to the newly appointed tax officials.

Fortunately, practice makes perfect. Sometimes, while memorizing, I would suddenly slap my forehead and realize how stupid my previous method of memorizing was. Wouldn't it have been easier to memorize it that way?

Practice makes perfect. Go through all the processes once, and if once isn't enough, do it twice. Gradually, you'll understand what you're doing.

Once you know what you're doing, literacy won't be a big problem. After all, it's just bookkeeping and accounting, not writing articles. A lot of the text is repeated. If you look at the repeated words for a few months, even the biggest idiot will learn them.

In the beginning, when we had no experience, many huge mistakes were made, but fortunately, things stabilized after a few months.

In ancient times, ordinary people were used to officials making mistakes, and new officials would correct them, so it wasn't a big problem.

As the number of workers increases, skilled workers are automatically selected, promoted to lead teams, and efficiency increases. As a result, people find that the environment in all walks of life is improving.

After the land was allocated, farmers were exempt from taxes for three years. After that, all kinds of miscellaneous taxes for farmers were abolished, and only the land tax was collected, which was replaced by a cash tax. For the first time, the people were able to eat the grain they harvested themselves.

Salt, tea, and cloth were all given free rein to private ownership, and then something astonishing happened: in just a few months, the production of salt and cloth equaled the total output of Huaizhou Prefecture in a previous year.

Of course, the new government forbade price gouging for salt and would inspect the salt quality, so the price of salt fell back to twenty coins per catty.

However, with the price of salt low, more people were consuming it. Huaizhou Prefecture was now thriving, with private workshops and official positions everywhere, making it easy to earn money. The first wave of merchants and workers who bought fresh salt made a fortune.

After Ye Xiqing's decision was announced, not only the locals in Huaizhou but also outsiders pointed fingers and said that she wouldn't last long.

While other places were still in chaos, Huaizhou Prefecture had already become orderly and embarked on a new path.

Everyone was stunned. How could this be!

Ye Xiqing remained calm. "What else could it be? Do you really think the sun comes out by crowing?"

Throughout history, regardless of the era of prosperity, there has always been a common characteristic: those in power have been lenient with taxes and levies and have shown compassion for the common people.

Does this mean that the ancient people were fortunate to have a wise, benevolent, and loving monarch?

No, this shows that as long as those who benefit from the status quo take less advantage and squeeze the living space of ordinary people less, the people at the bottom can increase productivity.