Chapter 622 0617 [Inspection of Shandong]

Zhu Ming inspected Shandong with only 2,000 guards.

1,000 heavy armored soldiers, 1,000 musketeers.

Counting the officials of the Grand Marshal's Office, the Privy Council, and the military logistics personnel, the total number was 3,200.

Following the ancient Bian Canal to the southeast, the fleet headed straight for Xuzhou, passing through Yucheng, Dangshan, Xiaoxian and other places along the way.

The counties and prefectures along the way can only be said to have stable public security, far from restoring people's livelihood.

In fact, Shandong was already exhausted, and was repeatedly ravaged by various rebels, and the population had dropped sharply to the level of a hundred years ago.

In the administrative divisions of the Ming Dynasty, Xuzhou was still under the jurisdiction of Shandong.

In order to prevent separatism and rebellion, Shangqiu and Ningling were assigned to Kaifeng Prefecture, and Xiapi and Suqian were assigned to Huainan Province. According to the river conditions at that time, it was equivalent to cutting Shandong Province into two parts, east and west, through water transportation.

As for the border between Shandong and Hebei, it was divided along the old course of the Yellow River.

When Song Huizong first ascended the throne, the Yellow River changed its course very violently.

According to the place names of later generations, the Yellow River now flows through the following areas: Puyang, Daming, Qiu County, Qinghe, Hengshui, Xian County, Cangzhou, Qing County, Tianjin.

Well, the Yellow River flows into the sea from Tianjin...

Anyway, Zhu Ming made a big move, and Liaocheng, Gaotang, Dezhou and other places were finally included in the territory of Shandong.

"Meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Outside the city of Xuzhou, Xuzhou prefect Yuwen Chang led the officials and people out of the city ten miles to kneel and welcome him.

Yuwen Chang was still an official in Jiangxi last year. After Jiangxi surrendered, Zhu Ming immediately asked him to come to Xuzhou to govern, and he didn't even have to report to the Ministry of Personnel in the capital.

Zhu Ming personally helped Yuwen Chang up and said with a smile: "Brother Quan Ke, you and I meet again. According to the etiquette of the new dynasty, officials and people are not allowed to kneel at will except for major occasions such as sacrifices, grand courts, enthronement, announcements, and triumphal returns. Don't kneel next time."

"Yes!" Yuwen Chang replied.

Zhu Ming said to the others, "Everyone, please stand up."

"Your Highness, do you still remember me?" Geng Dingchen, who was standing next to him, stepped forward impatiently.

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Of course I remember. When I was the governor of Puzhou, you were the chief clerk of Lei Ze County."

Geng Dingchen cried with joy, wiping his tears and said, "Your Highness actually still remembers me. How can I be so kind to receive such a favor!"

You can tell how important Xuzhou is by looking at these two officials. They are all Zhu Ming's old colleagues and subordinates.

This place ranks first in the country in steel production!

Geng Dingchen is the supervisor of Liguo Supervisor, who is in charge of the iron ore area. His rank is similar to that of the governor of a lower-level state.

The Ming Dynasty followed the system of the Northern Song Dynasty. Mining and smelting institutions were divided into five types: supervisors, officials, fields, pits, and smelters.

Supervisors are regional administrative agencies, officials are tax departments and purchasing stations, fields are mining fields, pits are mines, and smelters are smelters.

After the rest of the officials and local celebrities came forward to pay their respects, they accompanied Zhu Ming into the city.

Zhu Ming casually asked about the steel production, and Geng Dingchen said: "Since the Li Guojian adopted the new smelting method, it can produce 180,000 kilograms of raw and wrought iron per month, and merchants, craftsmen, and civilians have all benefited from it."

In other words, it is about 100 tons per month, and both raw and wrought iron are counted together.

Most of these raw and wrought irons are produced by private iron smelters. Merchants only pay 20% of their production to pay taxes, and the rest must be purchased by Li Guojian.

There are also state-owned iron smelters, but they are mixed with military factories.

In addition, these 100 tons of raw and wrought iron are not all the production of Xuzhou. There must be some that are quietly hidden for tax avoidance and used for local scattered transactions.

The industrial and commercial taxes of the Ming Dynasty inherited the system of the Northern Song Dynasty.

That is, the tax amount of a certain year is used as the ancestral amount (base), and the actual tax amount collected in the next few years is used to determine the tax amount of the year through a certain algorithm, so as to ensure that the industrial and commercial taxes in various places are stable and rising.

Officials will be qualified as long as they collect this amount. There will not be the situation in the Ming Dynasty where the industrial and commercial taxes are collected less and less. At the same time, it also gives officials the opportunity to embezzle reasonably.

For most officials, the actual tax amount collected is generally just enough to pass, and the remaining industrial and commercial taxes are privately divided.

For officials who are eager to climb up, the actual tax amount collected will often increase sharply to highlight their political achievements. This practice is very offensive. First, it leads to less money for subordinates, and second, it may lead to an increase in the local industrial and commercial tax amount.

If the actual tax amount is insufficient, officials will usually make up for it by making up for it.

It is also okay not to make up for it, but the reason must be explained in detail, and the performance evaluation will be affected.

The industrial and commercial taxes are more complicated when broken down, and the tax amount is even accurate to a certain day, with daily, ten-day, quarterly, and annual amounts.

Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming did not think of changing this tax law. It was already very remarkable that the tax amount could be steadily increased in ancient times. Officials can reasonably embezzle and merchants can reasonably avoid taxes, which can be regarded as leaving room for flexibility.

The hotel in Xuzhou has been cleaned up, and the rest of the guests are asked to leave in advance. Only Zhu Ming and his entourage are allowed to stay.

The Xuzhou guesthouse envoy, that is, the general manager of the Xuzhou Hotel, showed his face when he stood at the gate to greet them, and also said a few words to the prince. This made him extremely excited, and he immediately worked harder, busying himself and making meticulous arrangements.

Such positions were generally promoted from clerks in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

However, in the Song Dynasty, the general managers of hotels above the state level were mostly from the official positions of the imperial court, and even many new scholars were appointed.

Doesn't this solve the employment problem of the imperial court and the imperial scholars?

"How has Quan Ke been in recent years?" Zhu Ming stayed in the hotel, leaving only Yu Wenchang to chat, and the rest of the officials were sent away.

Yu Wenchang said with emotion: "After leaving Lizhou, I was first transferred to Chengdu to rectify the tea and horse trade there. Because the rectification was so good, it offended many people. When he was not satisfied with his term, he was transferred to Kuizhou, and then to Huainan again. Traveling around Jiangxi, it was too difficult to do things in the previous dynasty, and there were always people to hold you back.

"Indeed," Ju Ming said with a smile, "when I led the troops to occupy Chengdu, the tea and horse department there was in a mess. There were not even a few war horses to be found. Quan Ke's governance in Chengdu had long been in vain."

Yu Wenchang said: "It's still a matter of official governance. The rules have been completely corrupted. One good official does his job, but a hundred weak officials bring trouble. How can there be good governance in this world?"

Ju Ming sighed: "The administration of officials in the new dynasty must be strictly rectified."

"It's not bad," Yu Wenchang said with a smile, "There was a case in Xuzhou last year, and even the prefect was exiled to the northwest, so I had the opportunity to be transferred to Xuzhou. After this incident, Xuzhou officials restrained themselves a lot, at least they didn't People dare to be blatantly corrupt and bend the law.”

The two reminisced about old times, and Yu Wenchang said goodbye and left.

There was also a banquet in the evening, where Ju Ming gathered with local officials and celebrities.

Leaving the guests, Yu Wenchang felt inexplicably emotional.

At that time, he was the magistrate of the state and Ju Ming was just the magistrate of the county. But now it has become this kind of relationship. The fate in the world is really wonderful.

Wei Gong, the magistrate of Pengcheng County, had been waiting outside for a long time. When he saw Yu Wenchang, he asked: "Prefect, many places of interest have been cleaned up. Has the prince decided on a day to visit?"

Yu Wenchang said: "The prince is busy with business, so he will only travel for one day tomorrow. Just go to the Yanzi Tower and the Theater, and forget about the other historical sites."

"Yes, I will go and make arrangements right away!" Wei Gong left quickly.

After returning to the county government office to give instructions, Wei Gong was still worried, so he went to the Yanzi Tower to check in person, and even went to the horse theater on horseback for a stroll.

It was not until evening that Wei Gong returned to the county government house.

Several children were still playing, and the most naughty one was Wei Sheng. This seven-year-old kid could beat his brothers to tears with a stick.

"Dad, have you seen the prince?" The children gathered around him.

Wei Gong said with a smile: "See, the prince is majestic and kind, and his heroic demeanor is hard to find in the world. You should study hard, and when you grow up, you can take the imperial examination and serve as officials to assist the prince. Especially Asheng, don't do it. It’s been a year since you first started practicing Mongolia, how many words do you know?”

Wei Sheng held the stick and lowered his head, but secretly stuck out his tongue when his father wasn't paying attention.

"Throw the stick away!" Wei Gong scolded.

"Oh." Wei Sheng actually waved the stick again before throwing it, and finally threw it towards the tree trunk in the distance.

After hitting the target, Wei Sheng clenched his fists and cheered.

Wei Gong shook his head, feeling that this child was really careless and didn't know whether he would become a talent when he grew up.

The ancestor of the Wei family is Wei Yu, the sixth generation grandson of Wei Zheng. He is by no means a low-level farmer in the legend.

For example, Wei Gong's father died of illness while serving as magistrate of the state. Wei Gong was very famous in Suqian and was known as "Master Wei". When Fang Mengqing seized the Huaihe River, Wei Gong was recommended to Fang Mengqing and transferred to Pengcheng as county magistrate last year.

What a pity. If Ju Ming saw the seven-year-old Wei Sheng, he would definitely take the kid back to train him.

A person like Li Yanxian!

In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wei Sheng's father was killed by Jin soldiers. In order to avenge his father, he joined Han Shizhong's army at the age of fourteen to serve as a soldier.

Han Shizhong was transferred away, and Wei Sheng returned home to study and practice martial arts.

Feeling that the Jin soldiers would go south, Wei Sheng signed up to be a rural soldier and explained his ideas to the magistrate.

Zhizhou did not dare to mobilize troops without permission, so Wei Sheng spent all his wealth to recruit 300 militiamen, went to defeat Lianshui himself, and then recovered Haizhou.

The Kingdom of Jin sent an army of 20,000 to attack. Wei Sheng led 500 cavalry to lure the enemy, led the infantry into an ambush circle, and killed the general sent by Yan Liang.

After repelling several encirclement and suppression campaigns by the Jin soldiers, Wei Sheng controlled more and more territory. He built up a state and an army from scratch, but the Southern Song Dynasty court did not know it from beginning to end...

Li Bao was able to annihilate tens of thousands of golden soldiers across the sea because Wei Sheng took the initiative to provide intelligence and sent his elite troops to help.

It is a pity that after such a fierce man was appointed an official in the Southern Song Dynasty, he was unable to display his talents and died in battle after only one year.

Wei Sheng became a military general in the Southern Song Dynasty. The first order he received was to immediately demobilize his elite troops, then go to Chuzhou to take over the garbage troops, and return Lianshui and Haizhou, which he finally captured, to the Kingdom of Jin.

Only half a year after Wei Sheng dismissed his troops, the Jin soldiers violated the peace treaty and came to kill them, specifically targeting Wei Sheng's army.

The friendly troops were forty miles away and turned a blind eye, allowing the Jin soldiers to shoot Wei Sheng to death with random arrows.

"The sky and the earth are dark and yellow, and the universe is primitive. The sun and the moon are waxing and waning, and the stars and constellations are arranged. Cold comes and summer comes, autumn harvests and winter hides..."

At this moment, this fierce man was scratching his head and scratching his head, lighting an oil lamp and reciting "The Thousand-Character Classic" to deal with his father's nightly inspection of homework.

"Spread your palms out!"

"oh."

The sound of bamboo shoots frying meat could be heard in the Pengcheng County government office.

(The extra was uploaded by Qidian staff. All the gaps between each chapter were deleted and all the chapters were connected together. The transition was extremely blunt. It has been changed.)