Chapter 2875 Salt Tax
Bai Shan was obviously very excited. He described the sea along the way to Zhou Man. After returning home and washing up, he talked about business with Zhou Man, "The sea is beautiful, but people living by the sea have a hard time."
He said, "I walked along the coast for three days, and every village I passed was poorer than Zhaojiagou."
His voice dropped, and he continued, "The houses are low and simple, and the clothes are barely enough to cover their bodies. I've asked around, and they fish year-round. During the peak harvest, if they're lucky enough to have merchants buy their salted fish, their annual income is only around 200 wen per person. You know, fishermen along the coast basically don't have any land. They make their living by fishing and chopping wood for the salt fields to make salt, so they have to buy food."
Manbao was surprised. "Even if food costs ten cents a bushel, they still don't have enough to eat."
Bai Shan nodded, "That's right, so they are hungry for half a year and can't get enough to eat."
"Isn't there a salt field?" Manbao frowned. "How much does it cost per day at the salt field?"
Bai Shan glanced at her and said, "Nine to twelve cents a day, but they have families. I'm just calculating the average income."
"Nine to twelve cents is too low," Manbao said. "Back then, your family paid twenty cents a day for building the house, and twenty-five cents for skilled workers."
Bai Shan: "...How old were you then? How could you remember it?"
Manbao said proudly, "I have an account book. My fourth brother lost money gambling and our family was broke, so I kept track of every penny we earned during that time."
She couldn't remember these things, but she did remember them in her account book. It turned out that a good memory is not as good as a good pen.
Manbao asked him, "So what are you going to do? Since they can't make anything from the land, they can only make money from the sea."
Bai Shan nodded. "That's what I was thinking, but as for the sea... I can only think of fish right now. I need to meet with the merchants who buy salted fish before making a decision."
Manbao asked slightly excitedly: "When are you going to the beach again? I want to go too."
Bai Shan smiled and said, "Aren't you staying at the hospital?"
Manbao's shoulders slumped. "There are no patients in the hospital."
She sighed, "I don't know why. I've had people beat drums and gongs all over the county to notify everyone, and even had County Magistrate Fang send letters to the village heads, asking them to notify the townships under their jurisdiction, but still no one has come to seek medical treatment."
Bai Shan hesitated and said, "So you're going out for free medical treatment?"
He lowered his voice and said softly, "I see that the fishermen on the coast are not in good health."
Manbao sat up straight instantly, nodded repeatedly, and said with a look of deep agreement, "Yes, I am going to the free clinic!"
Bai Shan laughed instantly, crossed his legs and sat cross-legged on the couch, smiling and saying, "Then get ready. I'll go with you after I finish my business at the county government office."
Manbao nodded happily.
Bai Shan is not in the county government office, so the number of affairs accumulated recently is not much, but it is not small either.
Most of the problems could be handled by County Magistrate Fang on his behalf, and the rest would have to wait for him to come back and make a decision.
Bai Shan spends half a day handling these official duties, and then takes out an hour every day to go to class to deal with the backlog of cases. The rest of the time is spent meeting various people.
There are various merchants in Beihai County, as well as the Song family and the Li family, which are relatively large aristocratic families in Beihai County.
Three days later, Bai Shan packed up his things and took Song Zhubu and Dong Xianwei with him to go to the countryside.
County Magistrate Dong, who had only been back for three days and still felt like his butt wasn't even warm enough: ...
Song Zhubu was also in a daze, touching his face which had not yet turned white. Before Bai Shan took office, he had been in the countryside for nearly ten days. Even though it was spring, he was almost sunburned.
Doesn’t County Magistrate Bai love going to the countryside too much?
What's good about the countryside?
As a newcomer to the post, shouldn't you fight with County Magistrate Fang for the power of the county government?
You run around the countryside all day long, and leave most of the affairs to the county magistrate. So which one of you two is the county magistrate?
Bai Shan was talking to County Magistrate Fang. "I've taken a look. We only have one salt field in Beihai County, but the salt output is not high, so the wages for salt boiling are also very low."
County Magistrate Fang seemed to have been expecting Bai Shan to ask this question. He said, "The salt fields are managed by Chief Secretary Song. When Magistrate Lu was here, he reported that there were few trees in the mountains, so the scale of salt production was limited, and therefore the salt production was not high."
County Magistrate Fang paused and said, "Sir, the salt production at the salt fields has indeed always been low. Since the previous dynasty, thanks to the efforts of the county magistrates over the years, it has actually increased. Currently, 60% of Beihai County's finances rely on the sale of official salt, and the remaining 40% comes from various taxes."
It can be said that the ratio is very unhealthy.
Bai Shan raised an eyebrow and asked, "How much has it grown? Why has it grown?"
He smiled slightly and said, "Now that we've found a way to increase its length, we might be able to make it grow even longer."
County Magistrate Fang lowered his eyes and said, "If the cooking pot grows, the size will naturally grow."
Bai Shan: ...
This kind of growth without any technical content is what Bai Shan least wants to see.
He stretched out his fingers and rubbed his forehead, saying, "Forget it, let's check the salt works's accounts first."
Bai Shan said, "I've been taking County Magistrate Dong and Chief Secretary Song out with me, so I've been really troubled by County Magistrate Fang. Please check the salt works' accounts and report back to me."
County Magistrate Fang was stunned for a moment. Seeing Bai Shan stand up to leave, he couldn't help but stand up, "Sir..."
County Magistrate Fang called him over, frowned, and thought for a moment before he couldn't help but hint, "Your Excellency, do you mean to check the salt works' accounts? But the salt works' accounts have always been managed by Chief Clerk Song..."
"But Chief Secretary Song and I are going to the seaside tomorrow, and we won't be back for at least ten days. Since County Magistrate Fang is staying at the county office, I'd appreciate if you could please check the salt works' accounts." Bai Shan turned and stared at him, saying meaningfully, "I've looked. Beihai County has a long coastline, so we could easily have several salt works. Why stick with just one?"
County Magistrate Fang lowered his eyes and said, "Before County Magistrate Lu left, he had the same idea. He had already sent people to open a salt field in the Dajiawa area. Unfortunately, the forest near Dajiawa caught fire before it was only half built."
He said, "The wildfires destroyed a lot of trees. Even if the salt fields in Dajiawa were built, there wouldn't be enough firewood to make salt, so the matter was put on hold."
Bai Shan's face darkened. He didn't know about this. He asked, "When did this happen?"
"Two years ago," County Magistrate Fang said, "the salt works had been closed for over a year. County Magistrate Lu saw many new trees growing on the mountain and wanted to reopen the salt works. But then, Qingzhou underwent a dramatic change, and County Magistrate Lu was promoted to Yidu County."
Although they were both county magistrates, Yidu County was Guo County of Qingzhou, and it was a higher county, with an official rank half a level higher. This was an unexpected promotion. Otherwise, according to County Magistrate Lu's qualifications, he would have to work in Beihai County for another three years before being promoted and leaving.
In three years, maybe he could really win over the local gentry.
See you at 6pm
(End of this chapter)
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