Chapter 1698 This is a mess
The clerks were either silent, or spoke in a repetitive manner that sounded reasonable but actually had no substance, or they flattered the prefect, saying that the prefect was wise and would definitely find a way. They all listened to the prefect...
After checking the state treasury book again, there were no seeds. It only stated that money would be spent to purchase them from the three major families this spring, and the three major families had already promised to provide seeds to the government at market price.
But this is only an official record, and the three major families do not have any written contract descriptions archived as evidence.
In other words, the three major families can go back on their word and deny it at any time.
This incident alone shows how powerful the three major families are in Anze Prefecture, and also shows how little the former prefect cared about this matter.
Looking at the account book again, not only was there no silver on the account, but every transaction was clearly recorded, indicating that the three major families and the other two families owed a lot of silver.
Shao Yunduan took a quick look and found that the items for which the money would be used were clearly written, including building bridges and roads, digging canals, providing relief to disaster victims, and rebuilding after floods...
But each of these matters cannot withstand investigation and cannot be thoroughly investigated.
To put it bluntly, this is a bunch of bad debts.
It is the mess left behind by the previous governor, and even the previous predecessor, and the previous predecessor!
As the amount accumulated year after year, the total debt reached more than 700,000 taels of silver.
If this happened in a wealthy province in the south of the Yangtze River, it would not be a big deal, but for Anzezhou, it was a huge sum of money that could hardly be repaid.
With this as their leverage, several major families can do whatever they want in Anze Province!
More than 700,000 taels. Even if his wife is so good at making money, she has only earned over a million taels so far!
Looking at the account book, Shao Yunduan's face turned dark.
If he didn't have his wife's strong financial support to back him up in case of emergency, he wouldn't be panicked at all. But just looking at the account book is enough to give him a headache.
When facing the three major families, he couldn't be tough at all.
It is unreasonable for him to owe someone money and still want to take action against them. As the prefect, he can forget about making people respect him and lose his official authority and credibility.
Upon seeing this, the clerks exchanged glances secretly and remained motionless as a mountain.
They have long been accustomed to this kind of situation after seeing the faces of successive prefects.
Anyway, the final result will be the same, and everyone will bow to the three major families.
Spring ploughing cannot be delayed, the seeds must be prepared quickly and transported to the towns, and the villagers in each village will then bring their own land deeds and purchase the seeds according to the number of acres of land on the deeds.
The seeds purchased from the government are guaranteed to be good seeds with a high germination rate. Secondly, the price will be very cheap. People's livelihood is the top priority. The Qin Dynasty has always done well in this regard. No local official dared to tamper with the rice and wheat seeds for spring and autumn plowing. Once discovered, it would be a serious crime that would result in the confiscation of property and exile, and the descendants would be banned from official career for three generations.
It's not worth it.
Therefore, almost all farmers would buy seeds from the government.
In this case, the number of seeds required is really large!
At this time, there was not a single seed in Anzezhou's warehouse...
Faced with this situation, even though he had been secretly prepared, Shao Yunduan was still very angry.
Naturally, this discussion did not produce any results, as no one was willing to speak their mind.
(End of this chapter)
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