I studied in modern times

Chapter 952 Cai Que Returns to Beijing
The day when Empress Dowager Xiang issued an edict ordering Kaifeng Prefecture to count the number of people and distribute rice and charcoal to the poor in Bianjing was the fifth day of the twelfth month of the second year of Yuanyou.

Qian Xie, the acting prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture, wrote a letter to the emperor saying: This prefecture has received the imperial edict and approved the emperor's order to inspect the poor people in various areas of the capital, count the number of people and provide them with daily rice and charcoal.

There are many miscellaneous affairs in the government. I request that from today onwards, Kaifeng Prefecture be allowed to take charge of the various districts in the inner and outer cities of Bianjing from the judge down to supervise the counting of people and the affairs of the population, and have the censors monitor their responsibilities. If there are any slacks, please report them to my attention.

Follow it.

Although Qian Xie was a flatterer.

But when it comes to government affairs, he is indeed an expert, and knows how to control those in Bianjing City who may reach out to the poor at this time.

The only solution was to send people down to the neighborhoods, to appoint prosecutors, judges, left and right inspectors, and other officials from the registrar's office to take charge of the various neighborhoods inside and outside Bianliang, to assign each neighborhood a designated area of ​​responsibility, and to lead the task of counting the number of people in each neighborhood and allocating rice and charcoal on a daily basis.

This means that democracy governs officials rather than the people, and it is a law that has existed since the Qin Dynasty.

However, the dynasties that were able to achieve this throughout history usually only lasted for the first ten years or so after their founding.

Subsequently, due to the dysfunction of the grassroots, the central government gradually lost control over the grassroots. The so-called officialdom gradually collapsed and eventually became an empty talk.

But today's Song Dynasty is a deformed dynasty.

There may be a lot of problems and countless drawbacks around this deformed dynasty.

However, grassroots governance and control are the strongest in history!
It is not only because the national policy of governing the world together with the literati successfully won over the literati all over the world.

So that the central authority can be implemented locally.

Whether it is Wang Anshi's reform or the current Yuanyou reform, various laws have been adjusted.

The grassroots will execute the orders given by the central government, even though there have been conflicts of various kinds, as well as various excuses, resistance and obstacles.

But, it was executed in the end.

It's just the intensity and degree that are different.

It is not only because the Zhao officials before Zhao Xu, based on the mentality of sustainable exhaustion of resources, firmly controlled the money-making channels such as mountains, swamps, salt lakes, silk, tea, and iron in the prefectures and counties of the Song Dynasty through supervisors, and used the method of buying bets to connect with local wealthy families, achieving a sense of you in me and me in you.

Thus, strangely enough, in this medieval era, a state monopoly on minerals and major resources was achieved.

Whether in the northwest or in the southeast.

Almost all mineral resources, salt, silk and other industries belonged to the Zhao family (of course, most of them were sold to local tyrants, and the Zhao family just took a commission).

In addition, the largest landlord in the Song Dynasty was also Emperor Zhao - there were 7.2 million hectares of registered cultivated land in the world, and at least 320,000 hectares of official land belonged to Emperor Zhao!
Supervisors in various places and official fields spread across the prefectures and counties of the country.

This gave Zhao officials the means to intervene in the local economy.

This meant that even in remote military states, Emperor Zhao's wishes and orders were not as weak as those in the middle and late periods of other dynasties.

On the contrary, it has a strong appeal and influence.

It is also because the cities of the Song Dynasty, especially the city of Bianliang, have completely entered an economic model dominated by industry and commerce.

Almost all of the millions of residents in Bianliang had completely left agriculture and relied entirely on handicrafts, services, and industry and commerce for their livelihoods.

Therefore, even in this medieval feudal society, at least in the city of Bianliang, the government's grassroots governance capabilities were extremely strong. It can even be said that they were a bit too strong in the feudal dynasty.

This is because the development and growth of emerging handicrafts, industry and commerce made the people of Bianjing particularly keen on litigation - whether it was brothers fighting over property, couples divorcing, or private business disputes.

When mediation fails, the people of Bian Jing will resort to legal means.

This forced Kaifeng Prefecture to keep up with the development trend of the times.

As a result, the Kaifeng Prefecture of the Song Dynasty actually maintained a complete bureaucratic system that penetrated from top to bottom, penetrated into the grassroots neighborhoods, and mastered all kinds of detailed data of the people in the entire city.

This is called the economic base determines the superstructure!

After Zhao Xu ascended the throne, he organized civil servant examinations, which further strengthened the executive capacity of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Over the past three years, more than 2,000 officials who passed the civil service examination and were recruited into Kaifeng Prefecture were all intellectuals - at the very least, they were scholars who had read the Five Classics, had no difficulty reading and writing, and mastered a certain amount of administrative and legal knowledge.

After entering the system, and because of Zhao Xu's preferences.

They all know how to use an abacus and have basic math skills.

Therefore, the method proposed by Qian Xie had a basis for implementation.

Moreover, the execution is very efficient.

In just two days, the number of poor people in the inner and outer cities of Bianjing and the nine wards and thirteen blocks outside the city, totaling seventeen wards and one hundred and thirty-five blocks, was counted.

When Zhao Xu saw the number reported by Qian Xie, he was also surprised: "More than 30,000 people?"

"How can there be so many?!" he asked Qian Xie who came up to him and played the game in person.

It should be noted that the standard for the poor set by the capital was very high - they must be people who had no housing in the capital and had to sleep on the streets; or elderly people who were over 60 years old, had no children and no one to rely on; or orphans who were under the age of 14 and had no parents.

As we all know, most of the orphans in Beijing have been properly educated.

Kaifeng Prefecture would send all orphans that came into its sight to work as newsboys.

So, in fact, it is the first two categories of people who need relief and assistance.

Qian Xie smiled bitterly and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, more than 80% of these 30,000 people are refugees who have fled to Beijing from various prefectures and counties in recent years..."

Zhao Xu was suddenly speechless.

This is what the Song Dynasty was like.

When a place is hit by a disaster, the victims run to the city to survive.

The city of Bianjing was generally the first choice for disaster victims to escape.

Therefore, in the past, the Song Dynasty strictly prevented refugees from local prefectures and counties from entering the capital.

He was unwilling to allow refugees to enter Beijing easily.

Even after entering Beijing, they would not be allowed to enter the city easily.

But starting from the first year of Yuanyou, things began to change subtly.

Under Zhao Xu's remote control, Kaifeng Prefecture began to adopt an attitude of neither encouraging nor opposing the refugees from local prefectures and counties to come to Beijing.

All the passes, ferry crossings and checkpoints began to turn a blind eye.

Basically, if the refugees say a few nice words and give the officials some money, they will lend a helping hand.

This trend has become more obvious since the beginning of this year.

Who asked Zhao Xu to develop industry and commerce!
But the wages in Bianjing City are too high!

In the stacking yard, a coolie who carried bags was paid more than 120 coins a day!

If one is a skilled carpenter, blacksmith or other skilled worker, he or she must be provided with food and accommodation, and must be paid five strings of cash per month.

How can we develop industry and commerce with such high wages?
The guys in Beijing are still not satisfied!

As Bianliang's industry and commerce prospered, they actually wanted to raise wages?

Can Zhao Xu tolerate this?

I can't bear it!

The gates were opened decisively to facilitate the entry of disaster victims from western Beijing, eastern Beijing, Huainan and other places into Beijing.

If it weren't for the fear of Bianjing City's food supply capacity.

Last year, when there was a severe drought in Huainan, Zhao Xu might have issued an edict to allow the victims to come to the capital for food.

"I see!" Zhao Xu looked at Qian Xie and asked, "Then according to Prefect Qian, how should we deal with these poor people?"

Qian Xie bowed to the ground and said, "I am a stupid and ignorant person. I respectfully request your grace to descend upon me!"

Zhao Xu looked at him, smiled, and said, "Well... let's start by providing rice, salt, and coal at 30 coins per person per day..."

"And arrange for those who have no place to live to live in the abandoned military camps in the capital..."

"At the same time, I will give 10,000 strings of money from the Fengzhuang Treasury to Kaifeng Prefecture. Kaifeng Prefecture will use this money to hire carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, bamboo craftsmen, weavers, painters, etc. in Beijing..."

"Go to the resettlement areas and recruit young and strong men as apprentices for a period of six months. Instruct the craftsmen to teach them skills... For every apprentice recruited by the craftsmen, they will be rewarded with five strings of cash!"

"Also, every six months, Kaifeng Prefecture will test the apprentices recruited by the craftsmen... If anyone passes, they will be rewarded with another five strings of cash!"

"In addition, Kaifeng Prefecture should also formulate regulations to list the rewards for the number of qualified apprentices taught by the craftsmen!"

"For example, recruiting one, five, ten, twenty, or fifty people and giving different rewards..."

"If there are one, five, ten, twenty, or fifty qualified people, different rewards will be given!"

This is the reward for first deposit, ten consecutive draws, and one hundred draws in modern online games.

In modern times, Zhao Xu even heard people say that the lighthouse on the other side of the ocean introduced a similar model into the blood selling system.

The first time you sell blood, you will get a certain amount of reward... There will be milestone rewards for selling blood ten times in a row... There will be rewards for selling blood cumulatively up to a certain amount...

After thinking about it, Zhao Xu felt that material rewards alone might not be enough to inspire the enthusiasm and initiative of the craftsmen, so he said to Qian Xie: "In order to motivate the craftsmen, I think we can set a rule that if 100 apprentices pass the test, they will be granted official titles and rewarded by Kaifeng Prefecture!"

"If anyone can teach more than 500 qualified apprentices, the acting governor of Kaifeng Prefecture will personally write a plaque on his house to honor his achievements, and his name will be reported to me!"

"What does Prefect Qian think?" Zhao Xu looked at Qian Xie, who was already confused. Qian Xie swallowed his saliva.

What else could he do?
Object?
impossible!

Because since His Majesty ascended the throne, the decisions he has made have not failed so far.

He keeps winning!
Especially in the economic field, the decisions he made were ultimately proven to be feasible.

In this case, he could only bow and say, "Your Majesty, there is no greater wisdom than your majesty!"

"Good!" Zhao Xu clapped his hands and said, "When Prefect Qian returns, please bring out the relevant documents as soon as possible and present them to me!"

"promise!"

What about those lonely elderly people who have no children or anyone to rely on?

Zhao Xu didn't say anything, and Qian Xie didn't mention it either.

Because, taking care of these people is the responsibility of Emperor Zhao and Kaifeng Prefecture.

It’s not that the Zhao officials suddenly became good, or were possessed by Confucius, with their bodies filled with benevolence, righteousness, loyalty and forgiveness.

But this matter is profitable——

After these old people died, all their property belonged to Emperor Zhao!

Otherwise, how do you think the thousands of stores and hundreds of shops in Bianjing came about?

At least 30% of the properties owned by the store and property office are private property.

Therefore, Zhao Xu was not simply doing good deeds when he hired craftsmen and provided a vocational education opportunity to the young and strong refugees.

Since he studied abroad in modern times, he knew that the education and training of industrial workers is of utmost importance!
If the Song Dynasty's handicraft industry wants to go further, it cannot do without the supply of a large number of skilled workers!

At the same time, these young and strong men, thanks to his favor, became apprentices.

Of course, a contract must be signed.

After graduation, it would naturally be up to Emperor Zhao to decide where they would work.

In this way, Emperor Zhao can play the role of a labor dispatch agent...well, now he should be called a dispatch agent.

But the dentist can have the best of both worlds.

Even for the remaining refugees, Zhao Xu would not let them take advantage of him for nothing - after the spring of next year, he could introduce them to the construction sites outside the city and the stacking yards inside the city to carry heavy loads.

Women could work in textile workshops or as cooks, maids, or housekeepers.

In this way, the labor prices in Bianjing will naturally not increase - don't you want to do it?

There are plenty of people who can do it!
……

When Qian Xie was playing music in the palace.

Twenty miles east of the Xinsong Gate in Bianjing City, a ceremonial guard was seen walking on the official road where the snow had not yet been cleared.

Countless ceremonial plaques were held high, and there was also a cool umbrella standing in the team.

Immediately, it attracted the attention of the officials in the post station on the side of the official road.

"I wonder which minister is returning to the capital?"

Some people looked at the ceremonial plaque on the official road, trying hard to make out the words on it.

Then he read out the words above.

"Grand Scholar of the Guanwen Hall..."

"Fujian Surveillance Commissioner..."

"Judge the military affairs of Quanzhou!"

"Promote the Quanzhou Maritime Customs!"

"Special Advancement, Guardian of the Sikong… Duke Run!"

"Cai!"

"It's the former Prime Minister Cai Xianggong who has returned to the court!" the man exclaimed.

Even though he was guarding the post station in front of the New Song Gate, he had seen all kinds of important figures.

But the name of the former prime minister, Duke Run, Cai Que, is also well-known.

Without it!

Among contemporary ministers, there are only a handful who can be as favored and close to the current emperor as Duke Runguo.

no way!
Cai Que was the first prime minister since the founding of the Song Dynasty to receive special permission from the emperor to go out to his hometown and lead a local army.

This alone was enough to allow Cai Que to be favored by the emperor and rank among the famous ministers of the previous dynasty such as Yan Yuanxian Gong and Han Zhongxian Gong.

Not to mention, this former prime minister served in Fujian for nearly two years.

During these two years, there were festivals, Cai Que’s birthday, his mother’s birthday, and his wife’s birthday.

The angels in the palace would go to Cai’s mansion to announce the imperial edict of congratulations and bestow many imperial gifts.

What’s even more exaggerated is that in April this year, the former prime minister’s concubine gave birth to a son in Quanzhou.

Originally, this was just a small matter.

But when the news reached the capital, the emperor issued an edict, bestowing upon him the title of Taimiao Zhailang.

They have just been born, their eyes are not even open, and they may not even have a nickname yet.

He has already received the salary from Emperor Zhao!

The starting point is a high position that countless people cannot reach in their lifetime.

As a result, people inside and outside the capital all expressed their admiration for the former prime minister's great favor from the emperor, which was rarely seen in the world.

Even those who were guarding the post stations expressed their feelings of hardship in their spare time.

Now, seeing this legendary figure returning to Beijing, everyone is naturally terrified and fearful.

The officials of the post station hurriedly took the people from the post station out to greet them.

However, just as he went out, he saw dozens of people coming out of the official pavilion specially prepared for officials in Beijing opposite the post station.

They all wore cotton-padded jackets and thick cotton hats.

The leader went straight towards the oncoming procession and knelt on the side of the road.

The carriage under the cool umbrella opened its curtains.

The prime minister, wearing a purple robe and a wide-legged hat, held an incense burner in his hand and looked at the young man kneeling on the side of the road with a smile.

"Wei Er, please get up!"

His eyes swept across Cai Wei, and then looked at the people behind Cai Wei.

There are sons of his in-laws, sons of his friends, and sons of his colleagues.

There are even nephews and nephews of former political enemies.

Everyone looked at him, with all kinds of expressions in their eyes, and then they all bowed as if they had discussed it beforehand: "Juniors greet Mr. Cai!"

Cai Que looked at these people calmly and said, "I am really touched that you, my dear nephews, braved the snow to come here to greet me!"

But his eyes were already cast on the towering city of Bianjing in the distance.

There were surging emotions lingering in his heart.

So he chanted softly: "When I went there, the millet was in full bloom... Now I come back, the road is covered with rain and snow..."

This was Nan Zhong’s inner voice on his way back from the campaign against the Xianyun.

This is also his current voice.

After being away from the country for two years, he governed Fujian, presided over the construction of the Maritime Customs, implemented government policies, attracted merchants from afar, and encouraged Fujian merchants to go out to sea.

All of these things were created from scratch with great difficulty.

Only he knows how much thought and effort he put into it! ?
But he enjoys it!

It's not just because he is in Fujian to seek benefits for his fellow countrymen and to leave a legacy for his family and descendants.

Moreover, it was because he was repaying the deep kindness of his king and father.

Just like Nan Zhong, in order to repay King Xuan's kindness, he did not care about the cold or heat, the wind and frost, and was willing to take risks and go on an expedition to a foreign land.

And he, like Nan Zhong, returned triumphantly!

The next day, there will be a mention of Cai Que in the history books!
(End of this chapter)