Chapter 110 Pirates
The taxation issue caused a stir in the court, but the effect was immediate.
The local governors immediately began to investigate the counties under their jurisdiction. Anyone found to have engaged in corruption by using tax revenues would be punished without mercy. They would be sentenced according to the law, but their official careers would not be implicated.
After the matter was over, Song Yuzhu sent someone to Changji County to reward Liu Changzhou, specially bestowing him with a plaque that read "loyal and righteous man", rewarding him with 100 taels of silver, and asking the local government to arrange for him to teach in school.
When the imperial envoy from Beijing arrived at Liu Changzhou's home with the emperor's edict, he excitedly struggled to climb down from the bed, fell to the ground and kowtowed to express his gratitude.
The imperial envoy personally stepped forward to help him up, patted his shoulder and said, "You have suffered, the emperor knows everything about you."
At this moment, Liu Changzhou finally couldn't control his emotions and choked with sobs.
He didn't cry when he was arrested, nor did he cry when he was beaten. Even when he learned that he was disabled and would never be able to stand up again for the rest of his life, Liu Changzhou still didn't cry.
But at this moment she was crying like a child, as if she wanted to vent all her grievances.
After he calmed down, the imperial physician took his pulse and found out that his lumbar injury was too severe and he had been delayed for so long that it was impossible to cure him. The only thing he could do was prescribe some tonic medicine for him to slowly recover.
When Liu Changzhou learned that he could teach in a university in the future, he wiped away his tears and a happy expression appeared on his face.
Although I can no longer participate in scientific research to serve the country, I can still teach and educate people, and let my students pass the imperial examinations and serve the country. Isn't this a kind of inheritance?
After the imperial envoy left, Liu's mother took her son's hand and asked quietly: "Son, is it worth it?" Is it worth exchanging a pair of legs for a future?
Liu Changzhou's eyes were clear and he said solemnly, "Mom, there is no such thing as worth it or not. If you do the right thing, it is worth it!"
*
After a swift and resolute rectification by the higher authorities, all taxes in various regions have been paid. A total of 21.7 million taels of tax silver were collected this year, more than five times the amount in the past!
With so much money going into the treasury, the Ministry of Revenue was almost grinning. In the past, Liu Lin had a nickname called "Stingy Man", and it was very difficult to deduct money from him.
Now that I have money in my hands, it's easier to talk. The Yellow River is changing its course? Approve silver! The army needs more weapons, give money! The scientific research department needs funds, give it, give it, give it! As long as it doesn't exceed the limit, the Ministry of Revenue will approve it quickly.
Song Yuzhu raised the issue of increasing officials' income with the Ministry of Revenue.
Today, the salaries of Daqi officials are still paid according to the standards of the previous dynasty.
From the first rank to the ninth rank, the salaries were as follows: the first rank official received 180 taels of silver per month; the second and second rank officials received 150 taels of silver per month; the third and third rank officials received 130 taels of silver per month, and so on. The ninth rank official received only 12 taels of silver per month.
In addition to salaries, the court also gave rewards such as cloth, grain, tea, salt, charcoal, wine, etc.
This amount of money may seem like a lot, but after paying for favors and the expenses of the mansion, there is basically nothing left.
Take an ordinary fifth-rank official as an example. His monthly salary is eighty taels of silver. For a family of twenty people, the daily food expenses are one tael of silver, which means thirty taels of silver a month. When you add the purchase of clothes, stationery, gifts, etc., the money is not enough.
In addition, housing prices in Beijing are ridiculously expensive. Song Yuzhu originally thought that housing prices in the capital were high enough in her previous life, but she didn't expect that prices had already skyrocketed thousands of years ago.
If you want to buy a two-story courtyard in Shangjing, the cheapest one will cost at least a thousand taels of silver. If you want a better location and environment, you will have to spend at least ten thousand taels of silver. It would take a fifth-rank official ten years without food or drink to afford it.
Officials above the third rank mostly had residences awarded by the emperor, while those below the third rank had to fend for themselves.
Therefore, many officials had no choice but to buy houses in the suburbs of Beijing. The housing prices in the suburbs were cheap but the location was remote. In order not to delay the time for court attendance, they got up at Chou time every day and took a carriage to court. The conditions were not bad in summer but cold and sleepy in winter.
There are also some children from poor families who, after great difficulty, passed the imperial examination and became officials in Beijing, only to find that they could not afford to buy a house, to eat, or even to give gifts, and finally had to go down the "wrong path".
In order to change this situation, Song Yuzhu not only gave officials a salary increase, but also developed a community near Changqing Garden.
Changqing Garden is located in the northwest of the imperial city. It used to be one of the royal gardens. Later, due to the decline of the prosperous dynasty, it was neglected and no longer has the beauty of the past.
This place had been vacant before. When Emperor Longwu was alive, he planned to build a terrace here for moon watching, but it collapsed before it was built. The subsequent emperors who ascended the throne also had no time to plan here. Since they had nothing to do, Song Yuzhu simply built a house here for his ministers to live in.
The community was built in the style of small villas in later generations. The layout of each house is the same. The first floor is the living room, study, dining room and kitchen, and the second floor has six bedrooms. There are also two back houses and side rooms in the villa yard for servants to live in.
After the houses were planned, the Ministry of Works drew up blueprints and sent people to build them. The first batch of villas were completed in less than six months.
Song Yuzhu awarded these houses to several officials from humble backgrounds, which made them all very happy.
The courtyard is small, but it has everything it needs. Most importantly, it is close to the imperial palace. It only takes an incense stick of time to walk to the palace gate. They no longer have to worry about being late for court!
*
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, another year has passed and Song Yuzhu has also celebrated her 21st birthday.
Zhao Xiao was not at the palace during the New Year this year, and the palace seemed suddenly much quieter. In previous years when he was here, the palace was bustling with firecrackers, fireworks, and lanterns.
Li Dehai noticed that the emperor was disappointed and said carefully, "Your Majesty, General Zhao is not here, and it seems that there is no New Year atmosphere."
"Yes." Song Yuzhu sighed. They had been walking for more than half a year and didn't know where the Hope was now.
Ever since the system suddenly opened a new map, there has been no movement. Song Yuzhu tried several times but was unable to break through the waters near Johor.
The newly appointed Johor County Lord Chen Hainiu was very conscientious in carrying out the task assigned by Zhao Xiao. In the past few months, she has been leading people from the tribe to collect rubber on the island.
They rolled the collected rubber into balls, strung them together with hemp ropes, and piled them up into a huge pile, which made Song Yuzhu salivate.
Rubber has a wide range of uses. In addition to the commonly used tires, soles, and conveyor belts, it also plays a very important role in medicine and light industry. Once this batch of rubber is delivered back, it will be handed over to the scientific research department for careful study.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?"
Song Yuzhu came to her senses from her daze and said, "Go prepare the car and go back to the Song Mansion to celebrate the New Year."
*
Zhao Xiao and his group, who were far away at sea, were also celebrating the New Year.
Early in the morning, the soldiers on the ship began to make paste and paste couplets. The couplets were written by Song Yutang and several officials on the diplomatic mission, and the content was nothing more than auspicious sentences for bringing good fortune and wealth.
Although Song Yutang was a doctor, his handwriting was not bad. He had acquired a good demeanor from his early business experience, and his handwriting was even better than those officials who were Jinshi graduates.
Zhao Xiao felt itchy when he saw them writing couplets, so he picked up the brush and wrote one too. The top line reads: May you be blessed with good fortune every year, the bottom line reads: May you be safe and prosperous every year, and the horizontal banner reads: Go home early. Those poorly written characters were not even as good as chicken scratching.
He himself did not think it was ugly and ordered the soldiers to put it in the most conspicuous place.
Every year in the palace he would write one and post it on the door of Song Yuzhu's bedroom, and Yuzhu never disliked it.
The foreigners also joined in the atmosphere, picked up their brushes and wrote a few crooked English couplets, which they then posted on the door of their dormitory.
Zhao Xiao was so amused by their scribbles that he couldn't even straighten his back.
"Xiao Anzi, what the hell are you writing?"
Antonio explained seriously: "The one on the left says that we hope every day will be a good day, and the one on the right says that we hope we can live a healthy life."
"Yes, it is quite appropriate for the occasion."
Speaking of living a healthy life, Antonio was probably speaking from his heart. Some time ago, he suffered from diarrhea, probably because he ate something bad and had a gastrointestinal disorder. The disease could have been cured by a dose of Shenling Baizhu decoction, but he was almost killed by the barbarians who were traveling with him.
They first gave Antonio an enema, but after four enemas, he still didn't get better, so they started bleeding him. After two bowls of blood were drained, Antonio not only didn't get better, but became weaker and weaker.
Song Yutang happened to be looking for Antonio to ask about something. Seeing Antonio lying on the bed with a pale face and extremely weak, he was shocked and asked, "He was fine a few days ago. Why did he suddenly become like this?"
"Master Song, I may be dying..."
Song Yutang thought he had a serious illness, and as he, a half-baked doctor, could not diagnose his pulse accurately, he quickly called the doctor on the boat to help treat the disease.
The doctor asked about his illness and what had happened in the past few days.
Antonio finished explaining the whole story. Everyone was in tears. How could you cure a disease like this? All the good people would be cured to death!
However, this is the most commonly used medical method in the West. Even their kings are treated in this way when they are sick. Whether they can be cured depends entirely on God's will.
The doctor prescribed him two doses of Chinese medicine to stop diarrhea, and some blood-replenishing and qi-boosting medicine, and warned him not to use their random treatment methods again.
Antonio recovered from his illness within a few days. After his recovery, he developed a strong interest in the mysterious oriental medicine and often sought discussion with Song Yutang on this subject.
Song Yutang said: "If you want to learn medicine, you can't learn from me. I am the worst doctor in our family."
"Who in your family is the best doctor?" Antonio asked.
Song Yutang said proudly, "The one who counts is my cousin. He could practice medicine and diagnose pulses when he was ten years old."
"Song, who is your cousin?"
"His Majesty, the Emperor of Daqi."
Antonio was surprised and disappointed and said, "Then I'm afraid I won't have the chance to learn from him."
*
By the way, after putting up the couplets, the soldiers on the ship started to make bread dumplings.
The dumpling filling is softened bacon and leeks grown on the boat. These leeks have been grown for a long time and no one has been willing to harvest them, waiting to be eaten on New Year’s Day.
Thousands of soldiers made hundreds of pots of dumplings from morning to noon. Zhao Xiao also allowed the soldiers to drink wine today. The wine was also brought with them, only more than 30 jars, and each person got a small bowl.
The soldiers didn't dare to shake their hands when pouring the wine, for fear that it would splash out and be wasted.
The dumplings were cooked, and everyone sat around on the deck, drinking wine in one hand and dumplings in the other, their faces filled with the joy of the New Year.
Captain Ge shouted, "Let's sing a song!"
"What are you singing?"
Zhao Xiao said: "You start and sing a song that everyone can sing."
"Then let's sing 'The Song of Daqi'. Everyone in Daqi knows how to sing our national anthem!"
"Okay!" everyone responded with a clamor.
"Beautiful mountains, beautiful waters, beautiful scenery, strong soldiers and horses, happy and healthy, living in this good era, the people are happy..."
The soldiers sang at the top of their lungs, some of them had tears in their eyes as they sang, some of them thought of their parents far away.
Zhao Xiao picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp. He wiped the wine and tears off his face and said, "It's New Year's Day!"
“It’s the New Year!”
Just as the soldiers were celebrating the New Year, several ships suddenly appeared not far away. These ships were similar to the ships that the barbarians had originally taken.
Yao Qing discovered them first and quickly reported them to Zhao Xiao.
Zhao Xiao picked up the telescope and looked over there. It was the first time he saw a strange ship in these few months of sailing on the sea. He pulled Antonio over with great interest.
"Xiao Anzi, look at those boats. Are they from your hometown?"
Antonio picked up the telescope in confusion. It would have been fine if he hadn't looked at it, but when he did, he was so scared that he uttered in his hometown dialect: "Oh my God! General Zhao, we've encountered pirates!"
(End of this chapter)
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