I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 576 The current situation in the capital
Nearly two months have passed since the emperor ordered Shuntian Prefecture to allocate funds to clean up street gutters.

The emperor personally issued an edict to urge them, and also specially set aside time for them to clean up. The Five Cities Military and Horse Division and the Shuntian Prefecture did not dare to do nothing, so they immediately hired migrant workers and prepared for action. The first step was to clean up the road gutters in the capital.

Due to unreasonable urban planning and malfeasance of management personnel, Beijing's drainage system has failed.

In particular, the two main drainage systems, the East and West Chang'an Gate water ditches, are clogged by sand blown in by year-round sandstorms. In addition, residents' garbage and even feces are dumped, causing the drainage ditches to be clogged all year round.

Therefore, even when there is little rain in Beijing, it is difficult to drain the accumulated water on the streets.If it rains heavily, it will be even more serious. It is common for roads to be muddy and muddy. It is also common for roads to be flooded with water, cut off from traffic, and impassable.

Fortunately, Zhu Youxiao also knew about this situation, so when the Shuntian Mansion was being cleaned up, while sending eunuchs to keep an eye on it, he would also issue orders and give suggestions at any time according to the situation.For example, he ordered people from Shuntian Prefecture and the Wucheng Military and Horse Division to hire people to clean the drainage ditches, and stipulated that people should be sent to clean up the drainage ditches regularly in April and September every year without delay. Violators would be severely punished.

Under the supervision of the emperor's people, after nearly two months of cleaning up, most of the debris in the sewers in the capital was finally cleared away.Although the city of Beijing has been smelly in the past two months, it is now a blessing in disguise, both in terms of drainage and stains.

But Zhu Youxiao is really worried about this. Beijing is the face of Ming Dynasty and must be taken seriously.

Originally responsible for the appearance of Beijing's cityscape, the Five Cities Military and Horse Division, affiliated to the Ministry of War, was responsible for patrolling the capital, detecting thieves, clearing streets and ditches, cleaning up prisoners, and fire alarms. It can be described as a hodgepodge of urban management, industrial security, industry and commerce and other departments.

At the same time, it is also because this department involves too many things, coupled with problems such as irresponsibility and laziness of officials, that the urban appearance and health conditions of Beijing have always been poor.

So he then ordered to reorganize the Five Cities Military and Horse Department and split this hodgepodge department into three.

One is called the Inspection Department, which specializes in patrolling thieves, guarding prisoners, and handling fire alarms. Its responsibilities are similar to those of the Industrial Safety Bureau.

One is called the Inspection Department, which inspects vendors, checks market buckets and scales, and examines the names of dentists. Its responsibilities are similar to those of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

The last one is the City Patrol Division.It specializes in managing Beijing's streets, sewer drainage, sanitation, and the city's appearance. Its responsibilities are similar to those of urban management.

These three departments are still jointly managed by the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Shuntian Prefecture, and have unified jurisdiction over the public security, economy, and health of the capital. At the same time, Zhu Youxiao will also take pictures of the censor for inspection from time to time.

Under the emperor's strong intervention, the Five Cities Military and Horse Division was quickly split up.

Moreover, the newly formed City Patrol Department also understood the emperor's importance, so under the emperor's instructions, together with Shuntian Mansion, it took the lead in pilot operation on West Street.

In order to facilitate management, the Shuntian Prefecture and the City Patrol Department first set up Baojia in every street and alley on West Street, and then recommended a dedicated person to be responsible for cleaning up garbage and domestic debris in a street and alley.Then, people from the City Patrol Department will regularly send people to collect the garbage and take it outside the city for special personnel to handle it.

So Huang Dong looked around and saw that the streets on West Street were much cleaner than before, and there was no smell at all.

Each street entrance has a dedicated person responsible for cleaning up street garbage, or some alley entrances have specially placed boxes with a dedicated person watching over them. "It's a really good business, and it's a really good way to clean up."

Huang Dong looked at the current arrangements and couldn't help nodding his head and secretly sighing at the wisdom of the court's approach.

People are unable to afford it early. If they are asked to take the initiative to dump garbage, these people will definitely be lazy because they are afraid of trouble. They will either dump it at the entrance of the alley or dump it in the gutter. Anyway, as long as the government doesn't care, they don't care.

But now we arrange for dedicated personnel to monitor the collection, and then the government will carry out unified transportation and cleaning, which will virtually make the efficiency much higher, and can also control people who dump garbage indiscriminately.

There is no other reason than that collecting garbage is profitable.Huang Dong has been used to a hard life since he was a child, so he naturally knows that there is a lot of profit in garbage.

As long as you pick out some of the unused clothes, food or sundries and sell them, you can make a considerable profit.It's just that many people are unwilling to do it because they have to deal with dirty things. The reason is the same as collecting gold juice.

But there are so many people in the Ming Dynasty, so naturally some people don't dislike it, so there will definitely be people rushing to do this kind of thing.

Shopkeeper Li on the side heard Huang Dong sighing and quickly agreed. He has been in business for many years and naturally knows the ropes.

"What the big shopkeeper said is that when the City Patrol Department first launched this policy two months ago, many village chiefs were assigned this job. At that time, many people found it troublesome and said that the government was harsh at this time, but there were also smart people who took the initiative to take the job. , there is one person who manages seven alleys, and it has only been two months, but I heard that the profit of one alley in one month can be as much as two taels of silver."

Two taels of silver. Huang Dong smiled when he heard this, and then shook his head. This was at least half and half. With so many people in an alley, it would cost at least four taels of silver.

The carriage slowly passed by West Street and slowly arrived at Guangning Gate, where people were also crowded.This gate is the main way for southern provinces to enter Beijing, so merchants and officials from the south pass by here one after another, and the streets inside Guang'an Gate are also prosperous. There is even a slang saying that once you enter Guang'an Gate, money touches people.

Therefore, there are many tax inspectors in Guang'anmen, each of whom guards four door openings, controls the access roads, and levies taxes based on the goods of passing merchants, even caravans flying noble flags are no exception.

It's just that they were also watching people order food. Shopkeeper Li had already said hello before coming. When he saw Huang Dong's motorcade coming, he immediately speeded up the review and quickly released Huang Dong's motorcade.

After exiting Guang'anmen, the view of the entire road suddenly became wider, and the carriage quickened its pace and headed towards Wanping County quickly.

It's just that the speed was just a little faster, but it soon slowed down. Huang Dong opened the curtain and looked around, and saw many people on both sides of the road, starting to clean ditches and level the land. There were horse-drawn carriages pulling stones on the side. In the distance, it looked like the road was going to be smoothed.

"Big shopkeeper, the imperial court has spent a lot of money on the road from Beijing to the Xishan Coal Field. It is all made of stone, and ditches have to be dug on both sides to plant trees. The transportation of this stone is a big expense, and it costs almost two taels of silver to pave one foot. , these sixty miles cost a full 15 taels of silver, this means is not a big deal."

(End of this chapter)