In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 489 Young people don’t know how good women are

"Mrs. Zhong, Mr. Guo Xiaolang is here."

"Invite him in." A very majestic voice came from inside.

Guo Xiong quickly straightened his clothes.

Mrs. Zhong was the favorite concubine of the previous emperor and was pardoned from the palace by Zhao and Rui. It is said that she used to be the most beautiful woman in the harem and was called the most beautiful woman in the Song Dynasty.

Judging from his age, he is probably in his early forties at most.

Guo Xiong felt a little panicked and didn't dare to raise his head after entering the door. Only when he heard Mrs. Zhong's voice did he dare to raise his head slowly.

I saw a beautiful woman sitting in front of her, with a graceful figure and a delicate face. She sat upright with her chest straight and her back straight. She looked at Guo Xiong with a hint of majesty in her eyes.

"Nephew Guo Xiong, please pay homage to Mrs. Zhong." Guo Xiong's heart beat faster after just one glance and he quickly knelt down.

Mrs. Zhong is over forty, but she still looks as beautiful as a flower, and she is even more mature and mellow.

He had never met Mrs. Zhong more than ten years ago.

Mrs. Zhong's figure has become plump and a little fatter in recent years. If it were more than ten years ago, her figure would be even more incredible.

Mrs. Zhong immediately said: "Quickly excuse yourself and sit down." A smile appeared on her face.

Guo Xiong came here often with Guo Chengzhang when he was a boy, but he rarely saw Mrs. Zhong.

The Guo and Zhong families were on good terms, and Mrs. Zhong also knew that Guo Xiong, apart from not liking to study, was a reliable character, and that Guo Xiong had a good relationship with the eldest prince Zhao Qi.

Guo Xiong had no choice but to find a seat and sit down. He didn't know where to put his hands, and it was obvious that he was still panicking.

Mrs. Zhong smiled and chatted with him for a few words, and suddenly asked, "Is there a marriage?"

Guo Xiong's eyes lit up and he immediately thought of the little girl just now. He quickly shook his head, no.

Mrs. Zhong said, you are not young anymore.

Guo Xiong nodded quickly again, then blushed slightly, and quickly shook his head again. He shook his head for a while and nodded for a while. Mrs. Zhong was also secretly amused. She thought to herself, Zhao Yurui was only fifteen years old back then, how could he be as naughty as Guo Xiong? too much.

She saw that Guo Xiong was quite honest and honest in nature, so she felt satisfied immediately and quickly signaled to the man outside to send him out.

It's October and Jinan is still a bit hot. Guo Xiong felt that his back was sweating after he came out. He didn't know why he was so nervous.

At this moment, he felt a little itchy in his heart, and couldn't help but ask the man, who was that little girl just now?

The man said calmly, that is Magistrate Zhong's youngest daughter.

Guo Xiong was secretly happy, thinking that Uncle Zhong protected him so well.

In the past ten years, he has followed his father Guo Chengzhang to Zhong's house at least six times. Zhong You has also been to their Guo house. This is the first time he has seen Zhong You's daughter.

At the same time that Guo Xiong walked out of the door, a person walked out of Mrs. Zhong's inner room. If Guo Xiong were here, he would definitely be scared to death. It was the current emperor Zhao Yurui.

"Yu Rui is right, Guo Xiong seems to be quite honest." Mrs. Zhong covered her mouth and smiled.

As soon as Zhao Yurui saw Mrs. Zhong's expression, he also showed a thoughtful look on his face: "What are you thinking of?"

"Thinking of how cunning you were back then." Mrs. Zhong smiled even brighter, and then gritted her teeth almost word for word: "Thief-eyebrows, lust-boldness--"

Zhao Yurui immediately screamed that he was wronged, and took a step forward and said: "I don't know who it was back then, under the pretext of taking my calligraphy and painting, he secretly pinched me with his little hands."

"Why did I pinch you?" Mrs. Zhong smiled charmingly and looked up at Zhao Yurui with a smile.

"Look at Yu Rui, come and demonstrate." Zhao Yu Rui reached out seriously.

"Bah." Mrs. Zhong said, even at this age.

"Young men don't know how good women are." Zhao Yurui said softly, "Sister, can you turn around?"
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After Guo Xiong left the backyard of the prefect's Yamen, he went straight to Licheng County.

Zhong You takes people to the countryside. The first stop is Licheng, and then they will go to Yucheng, Zhangqiu and other counties. It is said that Jinan Prefecture
He traveled all over the five counties and stayed out for at least a month. All matters in the government were handled by the magistrate in advance.

Guo Xiong was shocked. He didn't expect that Zhong You would be out for a month. It turned out that Zhong You not only traveled to the county, but also to many villages.

Today Zhongyou’s first stop is Lishan Village.

Lishan is a famous mountain in Licheng County. Lishan Village is backed by Lishan, with mountains and rivers. The people farm and grow grain and live a prosperous life.

In October, the rice rises in the countryside and the land is golden. Although Guo Xiong is considered a noble and wealthy young man, he has been following his father's position in these years. He has spent more time in the countryside than in Lin'an, so he is relatively knowledgeable.

Entering from the main road at the entrance of the village, you can see that the village roads have been repaired, and you can see waterwheels not far away.

The water conservancy construction of the Song Dynasty reached its peak under Zhao Yurui. The imperial court allocated funds every year. There were more than 200 households in Li Village and more than 4,000 acres of grain fields. More than a dozen ditches and 21 water wheels were built. A reservoir was also built near the mountain to draw mountain water into the reservoir for irrigation. At the same time, more than a dozen wells were dug in various places to prevent drought.

"There are so many people." Not long after they entered the village, they saw a lot of villagers working near Lishan Mountain in the west. There were about thirty or forty people. A follower asked: "Is it going to be the autumn harvest? Look at this year The rice is growing well.”

Although Guo Xiong did not study well and did not pass the imperial examination, he still knew a lot. After all, he often traveled outside: "The rice in Jinan will have to wait a little longer, it is estimated to be early to mid-November."

"Let's go and have a look." He led people to the other side of the mountain and found that the villagers were building a dam.

A man who looked like the local security chief was leading the villagers to work.

Guo Xiong recognized the security guard at a glance. The security guard was missing an ear, so he knew he was a retired sergeant who had returned from the battlefield.

Zhao Yurui did not allow former squires and landlords to serve as security chiefs and village chiefs. He spent more than ten years replacing all grassroots security chiefs and village chiefs in the Song Dynasty. Basically, they used retired sergeants or family members of active sergeants. .

"Chief Security Officer, is Magistrate Zhong here?" Guo Xiong asked.

The security guard turned to look at him and pointed to the east: "Prefect Zhong is to the east, about a mile ahead."

"Thank you, Chief Security Officer, what are you doing?"

"Build a dam to prevent floods," Baochang said. Jinan Prefecture is quite far away from the Yellow River, but it has also been harmed by the Yellow River. To the north of Lishan is the Daqing River. The imperial court has spent several years regulating the Yellow River, and it is still improving.

If it rains heavily, the Daqing River will still overflow. In order to prevent waterlogging, the local area continues to build dams and strengthen flood control.

According to the imperial government's policy, villagers from each village, under the leadership of the security chief and village chief, work during the slack season. During special periods, the local garrison will help even when the farming season is busy.

Now that the rice is growing well and it's not the autumn harvest time, the people also have time to work. This is called tolerance work, and everyone improves their own village.

As for building waterwheels and repairing ditches, many tools and materials will be provided by the court without the common people having to pay.

Guo Xiong chatted with Baochang and the common people for a few words, and found that everyone was in high spirits and in a good mood. They seemed to be quite satisfied with the growth of rice this year, and it was another bumper year.

The Baochang was also from the same village. He was the first to be killed by Li Quan, and then he surrendered to the Song Dynasty. He followed the Song army in the north and south, and after he became the commander of the army, he was hit by an arrow and lost an ear. Originally, he could have continued to serve in the army with this kind of injury, but When the Baochang got old, he applied for retirement and returned to his hometown. The court gave him twenty acres of land, and then he served as the Baochang.

The security chief has no salary, but he can get tax deductions. This security chief's family does not have much land. The court allocated him 20 acres. He later bought five acres with his soldier's salary and retirement money, and he could not pay much for 25 acres of land. He pays taxes, so he is quite popular in the village and can be considered a small landowner.

People like him, who were granted land by the imperial court and then came back as minor officials, were very supportive of the imperial court and Emperor Zhao Yurui, and could also well complete the promotion and publicity of the above various policies.

Guo Xiong had learned in school that it was difficult for the imperial power to be sent to the countryside in the past. The court relied on local gentry, landlords and elders to govern local areas. At that time, he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and he was also thinking about how to let the imperial power go to the countryside. School Li also asked him to write a similar article, and the students had different opinions. Even in Zhao Yurui's imperial examinations over the years, similar issues were mentioned at least three times.

After so many years, Zhao Yurui seems to have really solved the problem of sending imperial power to the countryside. At least for now, the imperial court's tasks, policies and intentions can be well conveyed to the grassroots.

Guo Xiong has not been an official, and neither is his father, so they cannot prepare to know the specific requirements of the court, but from the chat with the chief security officer and the common people just now, it can be seen that the efficiency is quite good now.

Lin'an just issued an order ten days ago to do something. Almost all the Bao Zhang and the common people knew about it. The Bao Chief also knew that Jinan was going to build a bank.

This efficiency was impossible in the previous Song Dynasty or in previous dynasties.

Guo Xiong suddenly became more confident about setting up a bank. As he walked, he said to the people around him: "The imperial court only officially issued the decree ten days ago, and the people here knew about it in three days."

"Jinan is not far from Lin'an, but it is certainly not close. It is quite efficient for the court's decree to reach the homes of ordinary people outside the county and village level so quickly."

The followers all agreed and boasted about how awesome the Song Dynasty was.

While they were talking, they followed the Baozhang's directions and headed east. After a while, they saw many horses in front of them.

Only then did Guo Xiong realize that Zhong You came on horseback.

He slapped his head and thought, "Why don't I ride a horse? I'm so sweaty all the time?"
There are more people here, not only the villagers, but also the security chief, village chief, magistrate, and government officials, plus people from the magistrate's government office, sixty-seven people are at the scene.

When Guo Xiong arrived, he saw that some villagers and craftsmen had filled in a piece of land next to the largest rice field. Many of the unripe rice fields had been cut, and then they filled it in and built a pavilion.

The pavilion has not yet been built, only half of it is built. Zhong You is watching on the spot and giving lectures to the local magistrate, village chief, and security chief.

This is the propaganda booth required by the imperial court.

The propaganda booth needs to be windproof and rainproof, and it can also store people's farm tools. There is a propaganda board in the middle. From now on, all official documents from the court, publicity policies, and even newspapers that are published once every seven days will be posted here.

For example, in Lishan Village, a small village with 200 households, two publicity booths were built, one on the roadside of the main village entering and exiting, and one in the village.

One is built for households with less than 100 households, and three are built for households with more than 500 households.

Their current location is on the main road entering the village, and further east is where the villagers gather.

Guo Xiong did not dare to disturb Zhong You. He first looked outside from a distance. Zhong You also saw him, nodded to him, and continued talking.

Guo Xiong still admired Zhong You. Just a few days after the imperial decree was issued, the Jinan Prefecture's propaganda pavilion had begun to be built.

After Zhong You spoke, the two met, and Guo Xiong met Uncle Zhong. Only then did he realize that in addition to Zhong You working harder, the court also had similar regulations.

All prefects must visit the propaganda booths in every county, and all county magistrates must visit the propaganda booths in every village and leave their signatures in the booths.

After the publicity booth is completed, the county magistrate will have to come again and sign it.

The prefect didn't ask to go all the way down to the village, but Zhong You still came over in person.

Propaganda is the magic weapon for our army to defeat the enemy. Zhao Yurui used it very thoroughly and took it very seriously. Zhong You naturally followed His Majesty's footsteps and paid great attention to this matter.

He planned to visit all the villages in Jinan Prefecture in one month and personally lead the magistrates to visit all the points.

When Guo Xiong said that he was coming to Jinan to open a bank, Zhong You immediately nodded: "Fatty Qin (Qin Chen) told me in a letter that I will naturally support you fully."

But the imperial court would also build banks in various prefectures, so Jinan Prefecture had two banks, one public and one private.

As the prefect, Zhong You naturally had little power. At that time, the imperial court occupied Jinan and raided the landowners. The best shops in Jinan Prefecture were all in the hands of the imperial court.

Over the years, the imperial court successively sold part of it and rented out part of it, but still retained part of it for Zhao and Rui to use for future restructuring.

Zhong You rented several shops to Guo Xiong on the busiest street in Jinan. The location was quite good.

"But I can't make the final decision on the rent. It's all based on the market price. There are no discounts. This is expressly stipulated by the court." Zhong You finally said.

"Thank you, Uncle Zhong. It would be nice to have a shop." Guo Xiong quickly smiled and said, how could he embarrass his uncle? The Guo and Qin families are not short of money.

Then Guo Xiong discussed the details with Zhong You and felt that opening a bank would be a good thing for the imperial government and the local government. He came to Jinan Mansion at the right time and it would also be helpful to Zhong You.

The financial situation of Jinan Prefecture is of course very good. After Zhao and Rui occupied Jinan, it quickly became an important prefecture in Shandong. However, because of the developed maritime trade, the best tax and financial situation in Shandong is not Jinan, but Denglai Prefecture in the north.

Dengzhou was not well-known before the Song Dynasty, and Li Quan was only a small port during his reign. It was not until Zhao Yurui recaptured Shandong that he began to focus on Dengzhou and Laizhou.

In the fourth year of Baoqing, Zhao and Rui merged Laizhou and Dengzhou into Denglai Prefecture. The government was in Dengzhou and focused on operating the ports of the two places. Later, the Song Dynasty navy went to Goryeo, and most of the Liaodong navy departed from Denglai.

The construction and expansion of ports in the two places, and the fact that Shandong's local sugar and green salt are all shipped from Denglai, Qinghai, etc., have also promoted related maritime trade, and more and more merchant ships from Japan and Korea have come.

During the Yuanzhen period, the income of Denglai Prefecture exceeded that of Qingzhou and Jinan.

Now Guo Xiong is running a bank in Jinan Prefecture. According to regulations, he must hand over 10 million yuan to Jinan Prefecture at one time. Although it is used as a deposit, the bank exists and the deposit will never be refunded. Unless the bank cannot continue to operate, the court will The deposit will be refunded to you, of course, provided that you do not owe money to the people.

(Recommend Der Spiegel’s new book "I Died Again and Again in the Ming Dynasty". Welcome to collect it. Please continue to support it)
(End of this chapter)