Chapter 547 Back in the Day
Dangtu County was a small county under the jurisdiction of Jinling Prefecture of the Great Xia Dynasty. It bordered the Yangtze River to the west. The area was a mix of plains and hills. The people were not poor, but they were certainly not rich either.
But in the summer of the first year of Jinglong, a tremendous opportunity that could make all the people of the county rich fell upon this land that had been quiet for nearly a thousand years.
Two high-ranking officials of the third rank arrived in the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, bringing with them a group of "technical personnel" to the Dangtu County government office. They were accompanied by the prefect of Jinling County. This lineup almost made Qiu Chengwang, the magistrate of Dangtu County, wet his pants on the spot.
All I did was snatch a young virgin as a concubine! I gave her a dowry... double the dowry! How did this alarm the prefect? Already alarming the prefect is one thing, but why are people from the capital coming? Who went to lodge a complaint with the emperor?
“Magistrate Qiu, these are two Vice Ministers from the capital, and this is a high-ranking official… Director Shi wants to explore for iron ore and build steel workshops in your jurisdiction of Dangtu County. You must fully cooperate… Do you understand?” Prefect Hua said, staring intently at Qiu Chengwang.
Qiu Chengwang finally felt relieved, but his mind was still confused. "Do you understand? I don't understand. Please explain clearly. Do you want me to cooperate fully, or do you want me to trip them up and hold them back?"
"May I ask, Your Excellency, what kind of iron mine do you need, and how large should the iron smelting workshop be?" Qiu Chengwang decided to first find out the background of the several vice ministers.
Dangtu County does indeed have many iron mines. Gushan Iron Mine, Hemushan Iron Mine, Zhongshan Iron Mine, Baixiangshan Iron Mine, and Huangmeishan Iron Mine are all large mines, and there are countless other small mines. Therefore, there are many small blacksmith shops in Dangtu County, and the iron farm tools they make are quite famous in the surrounding counties. This is also why Dangtu is not considered poor.
Zhang Haoying, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, raised his chin arrogantly and said, "All the iron mines in your Dangtu County have been requisitioned. As for how big the workshops are, we are not building iron smelting workshops, we are building steel factories!"
"Complete...requisition? My lord, you may not know this, but although Dangtu County is small, it has quite a few mines. Requisitioning them all...I'm afraid it will cause some trouble...The local clans and villagers have taken over many of the mines..." Qiu Chengwang's heart tightened. He also had a small mine in Baixiang Mountain. If all of these were requisitioned, how would he support his four concubines?
"You insolent fool, you think you, a county magistrate, are afraid of a bunch of troublemakers? What use is the court to you? This is an iron smelting factory personally supervised by His Majesty!" Magistrate Hua jumped out in anger, spitting all over the face of the ignorant Qiu Chengwang!
"It was Your Majesty's doing... I misspoke, I know I'm guilty!" Qiu Chengwang hurriedly bowed and apologized, but in his stomach he was cursing the eighteen generations of female relatives of Prefect Hua.
Would it have killed you to say so earlier? His Majesty overseeing this? His Majesty can't even pee by himself! This is clearly the Empress's business!
If I had known it was the Empress Dowager's order, would I have refused? Now I have the chance to be the Empress Dowager's lackey... I, Qiu Chengwang, am about to rise to prominence!
"Magistrate Qiu, this is the 'Land Acquisition Compensation Regulations' discussed by His Majesty and Prince Heng. His Highness Prince Heng said that good citizens whose land is being acquired will be given priority in being hired to work in the steel mill, with a monthly wage of no less than three silver dollars, the kind of high-ranking official silver coins..."
Qiu Chengwang skimmed through the unprecedented "Land Acquisition Compensation Regulations" and was secretly delighted. According to these regulations, there would be no trouble with land acquisition, and there would even be some profit to be made. He could even estimate how much water he could pump from one acre of land.
"Your Excellency, rest assured, I will take this... Director Shi to inspect the area tomorrow. However, there are quite a few iron mines in Dangtu County. If we were to requisition them all, it would probably cost over a million taels of silver. I wonder..."
Prefect Hua finally couldn't hold back any longer and roared at Qiu Chengwang, face to face: "The imperial court has already allocated tens of millions of taels of silver, but you are making excuses here. Does your Dangtu County... have any grievances against the current imperial court?"
"...Tens of millions of taels...This official has no complaints. Tomorrow...Today I will take you gentlemen to inspect the iron mine..." Qiu Chengwang finally understood what Prefect Hua meant. An investment of tens of millions of taels—what a great achievement! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it would affect Prefect Hua's career for the rest of his life.
Of course, my spring is coming too, with tens of millions of taels of silver! Should I start looking for my fifth concubine?
In the days that followed, Qiu Chengwang accompanied Shi Jing and other master craftsmen on a journey through the mountains and rivers of Dangtu, allowing the young talents of the high-ranking officials to witness the various methods employed by a low-level bureaucrat in the Great Xia Dynasty.
"You audacious scoundrels! When the imperial court requisitions land, what does it matter whether it's paddy field or dry land? We'll give you an extra fifty mu of wasteland in exchange, and five jobs in the steel factory for your village, three silver dollars a month... Do you understand silver dollars? High-ranking officials' silver dollars!"
"Oh, it's Master Liu! What? Your ancestral graves are in the way? Look at this, it's not a good place! No, no, no... Please calm down, I promise to find you a better feng shui burial site..."
"What? The ancestors are at rest and it's inconvenient to disturb them? You wait here, I'll go and kowtow at your ancestors' graves. If my seventh-rank official hat isn't enough of a face, Magistrate Hua will be waiting for me in the county office!"
"Don't worry, Prefect Hua will definitely come to kowtow to your ancestor. After all, your nephew is one of the Six Ministries in the capital. Oh, I misspoke, I misspoke. It's not the Six Ministries anymore. I have a Vice Minister of Transportation in my county office! Ah... Ah, Mr. Liu, please take care..."
Magistrate Qiu used both soft and hard tactics, and employed his influence to the fullest extent. Iron mines of all sizes were seized, and suitable factory land was requisitioned. Of course, the timely distribution of compensation also played a huge role. People appreciate tangible benefits. Try giving them an IOU and see what happens.
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