Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1707 Performance Evaluation
Youyan, Rao'an

A father and son dressed as wealthy men, accompanied by a dozen or so attendants, arrived at Baiguyuan, the largest farmers' market in Rao'an.

Although it's called a farmers' market, to be honest, it sells all sorts of things: old clothes, old books, and even secondhand tools like scissors, hammers, and axes.

The entire market probably has only about five or six hundred sellers. That number sounds okay, but you have to know that Rao'an is a prefecture city in Youyan. According to the Youyan Provincial Administration Commission, the permanent population of Rao'an City is about 51,000 households, and the total population is about 330,000.

Baiguyuan is the largest farmers' market in Rao'an, and at this time it is 3:45 a.m., which is the busiest time of the morning market.

Standing in the Hundred Valleys Garden, Jingren was like a curious child, looking around from time to time, seemingly very interested in everything around him.

"Grandpa, your kite is so beautiful!"

"Young master, these were all made by this old man himself. Would you like to buy one?"

Hearing this, Jingren looked at his father beside him, and Ye Mingsheng said:

"Put the kite back!"

Although Jingren was somewhat reluctant, he had no choice but to put the kite back.

Seeing that the kites hadn't sold, the old man beside him couldn't help but offer some advice:
"Sir, you're clearly not short of money. Since your child likes it, why don't you buy him one? He'll be happy to have one to play with at home!"

"And the kites I make are cheap, only twenty...fifteen coins each!"

Ye Mingsheng ignored the old man's words and walked straight to the side. Jingren was very unwilling, but he could only follow his father step by step.

Ye Mingsheng, on the other hand, inquired about the prices of agricultural products in the market. In this market, the price of old rice was about three and a half qian of silver per shi, while that of new rice was about seven or eight qian of silver per shi. A bolt of cloth was about two and a half qian of silver, and the price of a jin of pork was as high as two qian of silver. An egg cost ten wen.

Upon learning of this situation, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but frown. The price of basic supplies in Rao'an was slightly lower than that in Yijing, which was about 30% more expensive overall.

The problem is that Yijing has implemented a minimum wage standard, so basically, except for some special groups, the minimum wage for each person is more than five taels of silver per year.

Ye Mingsheng had not yet learned about the wages of the people of Rao'an, but based on his past experience, 70-80% of the people of Rao'an earned about three taels of silver a year, which was almost double that of Yijing!

Therefore, the prices of grain, cloth, and meat are undoubtedly too high!

To confirm the validity of his idea, and also because Ye Mingsheng was a bit hungry, he took Jingren into a restaurant in the market.

The waiter, who had been sitting idly in his chair, immediately brightened up when he saw Ye Mingsheng and his large group enter the shop. He stood up from his chair and greeted them with a beaming smile:
"Please have a seat here. Our restaurant serves rice porridge, pumpkin soup, stir-fried cabbage, stir-fried peanuts, noodles, and steamed buns. What would you like to eat?"

Upon hearing the waiter's introduction, Ye Mingsheng frowned slightly and said:
"What do you mean by 'this is all you have at your restaurant'?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's words, the waiter said somewhat awkwardly:

"Our shop is small and we don't have anything special, please excuse us..."

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng continued to ask:

"I see that the prices of grain, cloth, and meat are quite high here. What's going on? Is it related to the floods?"

The waiter sighed and said:
"It's not just not low, the price is simply too high! We're not Yijing here, how can we afford such a high price!"

"Of course it's related to the floods. This year, God first brought drought, then floods, and now there's a locust plague. The crops in the fields have all failed to yield a good harvest. People rely on the crops in the fields to make a living all year round, and now that the crops have failed, the people have no money!"

"My shop is located in Baiguyuan. Out of 100 people who enter Baiguyuan, 99 are ordinary people, not government officials or rich people. Since most of us don't have much money, we naturally can't afford good food!"

"In previous years, it was alright; I could still earn a few coins to make ends meet. But this year is different. Don't laugh at me, but I fired one employee and two chefs. Now I'm the only one left in the restaurant!"

"I was the manager, the shop assistant, and the cook all by myself..."

At this point, the person continued:

"Sir, if you would like to eat anything, you'll have to pay me first so I can go to the market to buy it and then cook it for you!"

Hearing this, Ye Mingsheng was also a little surprised. He really didn't expect that the waiter in front of him was both the manager and the cook. He was definitely an all-rounder!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but ask:

"Does the yamen (government office) know about the situation here? What has the yamen done? I see your prefect, Zhang Dafu, has certainly taken quite a bit of bribes..."

"The yamen knows about it. When the flood first started, Prefect Zhang evacuated people. Some old men and women stayed in their homes and didn't want to leave, so Prefect Zhang had them carried away. This time, we lost a lot of land in the flood, but not many people died or were injured. The few who died or were injured were trapped inside while trying to get their belongings in the middle of the night!" "Also, during the flood, we cooked porridge for everyone, one big bowl a day for each person. In addition, the yamen gave three hundred taels of silver to the major banks, which is considered the interest on the money that we farmers in Rao'an borrowed from the banks this year, so that we don't have to repay the money this year, but can postpone it until next year!"

"And we don't have to pay taxes this year anyway. Actually, we're completely broke; even if the imperial court wanted us to pay, we wouldn't have the money."

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly upon hearing this. To be honest, Zhang Dafu was obese and pot-bellied. His eyes would light up when he talked about money. He was a typical CCP figure.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng also had some empiricism and preconceived notions that Zhang Dafu, the prefect of Rao'an, was an incompetent and greedy TG.

But now it seems that Zhang Dafu is not as incompetent as Ye Mingsheng imagined!

After a moment's thought, Ye Mingsheng asked again:

"Did Prefect Zhang do anything about the prices of grain, cloth, meat, and vegetables?"

"Prefect Zhang didn't do much about the prices of cloth, meat, and vegetables, but he was quite concerned about grain. I heard that he obtained 500 shi of relief grain from the Provincial Administration Commission and distributed it to the major grain merchants to help them balance rice prices!"

“Our old rice used to cost five qian of silver per shi, but after receiving these five hundred shi of relief grain, the price of old rice has come down!”

"From what you're saying, your Prefect Zhang seems to be quite capable?"

"Indeed, Prefect Zhang has done a good job. Although he hasn't been here long, he has indeed done some things for the people of Rao'an. He has done his best. The current situation is already quite good; at least everyone can survive. If this had happened before, it probably would have been..."

The shopkeeper stopped there, but his face showed a hint of regret.

Seeing him like this, Ye Mingsheng was quite moved.

Everything in this world is interconnected, like dominoes, one on top of another!
After unifying the country, Ye Mingsheng saw that Guanzhong, Jingchu, Huainan and other places were devastated by years of war and the people's livelihood was in ruins. In order to help these places recover as soon as possible, Ye Mingsheng also exempted these places from taxes and fees.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng's idea was good, but unfortunately, there are very few perfect things in this world!

The side effect of this was that all of the Great Qian's financial revenue was tied up in Jiangnan, Liaoyang, Youyan, Qilu, Jiyu and other places. In addition, Ye Mingsheng was going to wage war abroad. So, although the Great Qian court led by Ye Mingsheng tried various methods to save on financial expenditures and reduce the financial burden, the overall expenditure was still not low due to the war.

This situation led to a bias in the Ministry of Personnel's performance evaluation of government officials; those who contributed more money and grain to a region received higher performance ratings...
This change in assessment weighting, combined with the top-down nature of the Daqian organizational structure, has led to the situation where, in the past few years, local governors have handed over large amounts of money and grain in order to achieve impressive performance and improve their careers!
Therefore, even though the imperial court has decided not to collect taxes and fees due to the severe disasters this year, the provincial administration commissions in various regions are still unable to provide more support to the local areas!

Logically, at this time, Yi Jing should have distributed money and grain to various regions. In fact, the Ministry of Revenue did allocate silver, totaling over 100,000 taels. However, with so many disaster-stricken areas, the 100,000 taels were barely noticeable and had little effect.

Although the Ministry of Revenue had borrowed several hundred thousand taels of silver from the bonds issued by Da Dongsheng, the silver was firstly used to maintain the war on the grasslands, and secondly to maintain the operation of the court and pay the salaries of the officials in the government offices, so as to prevent these officials from trying to use their Q power to earn more salaries after their salaries were stopped, which would make the situation worse!
So, in short, it's true that even a hero can be brought down by a penny, and Ye Mingsheng wished he could split his silver tael in half to spend!

Having learned of this situation, Ye Mingsheng no longer complained about the restaurant's lack of good food, and immediately gave his orders:

"One steamed bun and one bowl of porridge per person. As for stir-fried cabbage, pumpkin soup, peanuts, etc., just bring whatever you have on hand, enough for the few of us..."

"Alright! I'll bring it to you right away!"

Because the food was probably prepared in advance and then reheated before serving, the shopkeeper served the dishes very quickly. In just the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, he brought out more than a dozen steamed buns, more than a dozen bowls of porridge, and several dishes.

Upon seeing the food, not only Jingren but also several guards showed a hint of disdain.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Ye Mingsheng wasn't angry. Although these guards were just guards in front of him, each of them was a high-ranking official. They were all bossy and domineering in front of others. He had never mistreated them since they were by his side. He always served them good wine, good food, and plenty of meat.

So Ye Mingsheng wasn't surprised that they disliked the food. To be honest, it wasn't just them who felt this way. Even Ye Mingsheng himself didn't have an appetite when he saw the color of the stir-fried cabbage. After all, his appetite had been spoiled by the good food and wine he had eaten over the years. However, Ye Mingsheng was more shrewd and didn't reveal his true thoughts.

Seeing that no one was touching their chopsticks, Ye Mingsheng thought that the people outside might not even be able to afford stir-fried cabbage. He prepared himself mentally, picked up a steamed bun with one hand, and used his chopsticks to take a bite of stir-fried cabbage from the bowl.

Seeing Ye Mingsheng set an example, Zhang Hu, the head of the guards, immediately followed suit, eating a bite of steamed bun followed by a bite of stir-fried cabbage. As the saying goes, what the superiors do, the inferiors follow. Although Jingren and the guards were reluctant, seeing that Emperor Ye Mingsheng showed no disdain, eating a bite of cabbage followed by a bite of steamed bun, they said nothing and all followed suit…
Watching Jingren eat the vegetables and gnaw on the steamed bun with gusto, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but nod in approval. Perhaps because the prices of salt and oil were not low, the shopkeeper was reluctant to use the usual amount of oil and salt. This resulted in the stir-fried cabbage being called stir-fried cabbage, but it was actually more like boiled cabbage. You had to taste it carefully to detect the saltiness.

What's worse is that the shopkeeper had fired the cook and was cooking on his own, so his skills were only so-so. The stir-fried cabbage must have been cooked in oil that wasn't fully heated, because the cabbage had a faint smell of raw oil.

So, although this dish was barely edible, to be honest, it was the worst food Ye Mingsheng had ever eaten. Ye Mingsheng felt that he could cook better than the restaurant owner.

Under such circumstances, Jingren, who had been pampered since childhood and doted on by his mother, was still able to eat heartily. Ye Mingsheng felt that it was hard to ask anything more of him.

Seeing the disgust in Jingren's eyes, Ye Mingsheng believed that Jingren had forced him to eat it, but it was already good enough that he could eat at all.

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also spoke up:
"Since you've eaten it, you have to learn to accept it. There's no need to let others see your true feelings or that you did it against your will!"

Hearing his father's words, Jingren was taken aback for a moment, then looked at his father and, sensing his father's calm expression, suddenly realized that his father also seemed to dislike this stir-fried cabbage, and was forcing himself to eat it, just like him...