Chapter 283 Assigning tasks to the original male lead again…
After spending so much time together, Prince Ning finally knew that his elder brother disliked others acting this way.
He thought for a moment and couldn't recall the construction plan, but he still stood up and reprimanded, "Lord Zhang, the Emperor is asking you a question! Why aren't you getting up and explaining why?"
As he spoke, Prince Ning kept giving him meaningful glances.
Zhang Rui suddenly seemed to have found his backbone. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, quickly stood up, and said tremblingly, "Your Majesty... Yes, it is because Yanshi County has had little rain for years. In comparison, settling the refugees and regulating the merchants are more important."
The sewer repairs have been delayed until today.
Qi Chengming glanced at the sky.
The sun was shining brightly, and although it wasn't far from Luoyang, the heat was intense, making faces burn. Looking around, apart from the crops in the fields and the specially cultivated vineyards, the vegetation on the mountains was sparse, revealing many abandoned mine pits and shafts, bearing the marks of human exploitation.
"Does this place produce a lot of grapes?" Qi Chengming asked, changing the subject to a seemingly unrelated question.
Zhang Rui regained his composure and gave a well-organized answer, immediately realizing the meaning behind the king's question: "There is a local gentry family who loves grapes and has planted them on a hillside. After Master Mo came to Yanshi to investigate, he instructed some of the people who had been allocated farmland to buy grapevines and plant grapes as well. Next year, the county government will buy and sell them to other places. In the coming years, Yanshi will vigorously develop grape groves."
"Excellent, very well done!" Qi Chengming couldn't help but praise again, eager to get Master Mo into the court as an official.
He gained experience by following Mr. Qin; he's incredibly knowledgeable.
Although Yanshi County copied the model of Liuzhou City, it couldn't be copied entirely. The most direct problem was that it was just a small county town, not large in scale, and unlike Liuzhou City, it didn't have a prince stationed there, attracting many merchants and opportunities. If Master Mo had honestly focused on developing the three major grain crops in Yanshi County and reformed it as a granary...
Qi Chengming will record their achievements, which is standard procedure; anything more would be unnecessary.
However, Master Mo realized that if Yanshi County wanted to offset the deficit brought about by the new reforms, it would be impossible to rely solely on building shops and factories and spreading the business in all directions. It was necessary to find a unique characteristic of Yanshi County and specialize in it.
It seems he chose the direction of the vineyard.
Qi Chengming's handwritten copy of "Friends of Dual-Use Talents for Military and Civilian Use" in two volumes probably adds up to at least a million words. Although it is now unknown who has it, the relevant loose pages have been copied several times. In any case, the book contains several recipes for processing grape by-products, including raisins, wine, grape juice, grape jam, candied grapes, grape pastries, etc.
—There's another point, Qi Chengming suspects that Master Mo also figured it out.
"Let's go, it's too sunny here." The young emperor raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, and headed towards the county government office.
This area has been under constant mining, resulting in sparse vegetation and exposing the local people to the scorching sun. The best way to improve the situation is to plant more grapevines. Everyone could earn money while enjoying more shade – a win-win situation!
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Zhao Ju'er, who was left behind in the county government office, looked up and his eyes lit up. He greeted the emperor in a loud voice, completely different from his reserved demeanor back then.
He was fiddling with what looked like a wooden waterwheel, its mortise and tenon structure almost complete. Then, in his excitement, he stood up and knocked off a missing part.
"You go about your business! I'm going to check the county annals and accounts." Qi Chengming quickly stopped him. The technical staff are precious treasures; they should be treated with care and not disturbed.
"Your Majesty, these are all." Li Banhui served him very attentively, carrying a large number of thick books with Zhang Rui. The county clerk followed behind, quietly pointing out the classifications.
Qi Chengming turned his head slightly, and Song Gu knowingly sat down in front of the ledger.
Looking at the county annals and notes was Qi Chengming's way of understanding whether Yanshi County's overall development had been adequate over the past six months. The accounting books were Song Gulai's way of checking for omissions and deficiencies. If the reforms went too far and brought unseen, hidden losses to Yanshi County, they had to be prevented as early as possible.
Prince Ning sat uneasily to the side, picking up his teacup. He could only sit there waiting for an answer, feeling quite uncomfortable.
After spending half an hour carefully reviewing the accounts, Qi Chengming found nothing wrong. He then turned his gaze to Song Gu. Some issues could only be understood from the accounts.
"Your Majesty, it's still a problem with sales channels." Song Gu had finished his investigation and subtly pointed to the ledger. "With the backing of many wealthy families in Luoyang, factories and shops are thriving, benefiting the people. However, the sales are no longer done with the county government. If the county government wants to earn money from public funds, it needs to solve the problem of selling the crops of the farmers who have signed contracts with them..."
Qi Chengming thought about it and realized that it made perfect sense.
With him in charge of spreading rumors during the morning court sessions, countless people rushed to Yanshi to share in the profits. They invested in factories and shops, made money, and shared it with the people. The owners were rolling in money, and the people lived in peace and prosperity. Even if the county government collected taxes, it was a steady stream of income, not as profitable as being an owner themselves.
“Back then in Liuzhou, we formed our own caravans, so we didn’t have to worry about sales. No one dared to bypass the prince’s authority to use the prescriptions to make money. It was like we were the bosses. It’s different in a county government. This is also a pain point for other regions when they reformed later…” Qi Chengming stroked his chin, and as he thought about it, he couldn’t help but turn his gaze to Prince Ning.
Prince Ning paused, swallowed a mouthful of tea, and asked, "...Why is Your Majesty looking at me like that?"
"Should I start a caravan too?" he asked uncertainly.
"...It's alright, I'll think about it some more." Qi Chengming turned his head away silently and called out to Zhang Rui, "Lord Zhang, how are you planning to find sales channels?"
He inexplicably felt as if he wasn't an emperor in ancient times, but a civil servant in a poor county in modern times.
Zhang Rui looked in the direction of Luoyang City, looking somewhat worried: "We can either go back to Luoyang City to sell, or talk to merchant caravans to sell to Jiangnan, but neither of these methods is very effective."
Qi Chengming gradually understood the situation and got up to leave:
"Alright, I know everything. You can try again. The next allocation will arrive in a few days."
Zhang Rui, who hadn't expected such wonderful news, and Mo Shiye, who had been silent, both looked up in surprise and said, "Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty!!"
"Is it because Your Majesty sees our hardships that you've come to help us again?"
Prince Ning was overjoyed, but although he asked, no one could give him an answer.
The next day.
The emperor's imperial carriage traveled in a grand procession, with the imperial guards clearing the way, accompanied by his favored civil and military officials. Many curious commoners and wealthy households also spontaneously followed, all the way to Yanshi County.
I heard that His Majesty first praised the excellent growth of the crops in the fields, then, accompanied by Prince Ning, enjoyed a feast of locally produced grapes, and finally visited the various newly opened factories and shops on the main street before returning to the capital in a grand procession before sunset. Not long after, officials from the Ministry of Revenue discovered that His Majesty had newly approved a "reform fund" for Yanshi County. He also repeatedly praised it in private when reviewing memorials with the Grand Secretary, seemingly quite satisfied…
Now Yanshi County is famous.
Those "owners" who had initially followed His Majesty to Yanshi, investing money and providing manpower, were very pleased with their profits. Those wealthy households who missed out bought up the grapes His Majesty had praised overnight, supplying them to the upper-class and powerful families, and were also very satisfied. With Prince Ning able to return to the capital to see his sister, and Yanshi County having a market and receiving funding, everyone was pleased.
"This won't last long; we've only gotten through this difficult time temporarily." Qi Chengming had been watching this carnival with a cold eye since that day, and had stopped paying attention to the aftermath in Yanshi County.
The pilot program in Yanshi County exposed problems with the new system.
In general, the success of Liuzhou City was an isolated case; not every county government could control the entire situation like the Prince Rui's Mansion in Liuzhou City.
It's unwise, or rather, unacceptable, to expect county governments to generate extra revenue locally. Some people can do it, some can't. The pressure of reform demanded by the government shouldn't be distributed across the county governments; this will only breed corruption and opposition to reform.
Perhaps they can...
By strictly defining and rigorously reviewing the upper limits of commercial taxes payable by various factories and shops, as well as the lower limits of monthly wages and benefits for working people, the county government's revenue would solely rely on collecting large amounts of commercial taxes to fill the gaps left by the reforms. Based on this, county governments with the capacity could then generate additional revenue, while those without would simply live off their existing savings.
"...Your Majesty, it's all sorted out." Qin Liusong listened while writing furiously down everything, then turned his slightly sore wrists and looked up.
Qi Chengming looked out at the blue sky and seemed to vaguely see Yanshi County in the distance. He added, "Let's leave it at that for now. Yanshi County is just a pilot case. When the reforms are fully implemented in the future, the national treasury will only allocate funds in a unified manner. Without special reasons, no funds will be allocated to any particular place."
"Your Majesty?" Qin Liusong held the brush in his hand, patiently waiting for the new emperor to finish his sentence, based on his understanding of the emperor.
"There are secret guards and strongholds in various places, but they have long been abandoned. I want to reactivate them." Qi Chengming carefully considered his words. He was not sure if his decision was correct, but he could only move forward with Shen Ejian's fading state. "...My many prescriptions cannot be left to languish. They must be handed over to the right people."
The country was too vast and too fragile; a single misstep could have far-reaching consequences. Qi Chengming could only skillfully patch up this beautiful but riddled-with-hole garment. Therefore, he couldn't arbitrarily allocate funds and subsidies to any region based on reasons that wouldn't convince the people; from a policy implementation perspective, he had to treat everyone equally. But—he also had to tailor his approach to different regions, developing specific areas accordingly.
Therefore, we need to rely on the secret guards to investigate.
Every year, when evaluating counties and prefectures that are considered below average, the local secret agents must analyze and understand what kind of roads are suitable for their stationed areas, how they need to develop, and what their current pain points are. Once approved, the solutions from Qi Chengming's "Friends of Dual-Use Military and Civilian Talents" will be sent to the local area to provide assistance along with specialized personnel from the Six Ministries.
"No funds allocated, but an imperial envoy sent?" Qin Liusong repeated, indicating a good level of acceptance.
This sounds similar to some of the methods used by emperors in the past to govern the country, so it won't cause too much resistance. Moreover, the secret guards also operate in secret, reporting only to the emperor, and don't need to be publicly informed.
"I intend to let Zhao Fuman and my seventh brother try it out first," Qi Chengming said calmly.
Qin Liusong: "?"
Qi Chengming nodded; he couldn't stand the Seventh Prince being kept around and eating and drinking for free.
Let's just consider it as making use of waste.
Zhao Fuman, who loves to stir up trouble and find amusement, was appointed as an inspector in the secret guard. The original male lead, the Seventh Prince, is still imprisoned, forced to analyze and organize official affairs across the country from written documents, formulate unique policies, and only by achieving merit can he eat well, dress well, and receive more rewards…
Qin Liusong lowered his head again, silently continuing to memorize.
With everything arranged, Qi Chengming, who had been worrying for several days, could finally relax. Feeling relieved, he became restless and secretly opened the task panel, ready to claim a large wave of rewards.
—It's always the most exhilarating time at times like this!
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