Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 81: Abolishing Townships and Establishing Counties
Although this soldier caused a big disturbance in the court, His Majesty benefited and Old Guo gained face, and the only one who was hurt was Gao Shilian, who stood nearby with his eyes half closed the whole time.

He had a thousand and one ways to squeeze the emperor, but facing this unreasonable old guy who held military power and whose family was guarding the border, that was really...

Let alone him, no one except the late emperor can control this old dog, including the current emperor. What's more annoying is that the old dog grew up with the emperor, and the two have a very good personal relationship. His Guo family is a pillar of the country, and their loyalty is full. What's more annoying is that his family does not engage in business or participate in politics, but only runs a mine in Shanxi to sell coal, so it's hard to deal with him.

Because he was afraid of being messed up, he focused all his attention on defense and was nicknamed Guo Tie Wangba.

And everyone knows clearly that this old guy is the last barrier left by His Majesty's side, a guillotine specially used to purge the emperor's side. When it is his turn to appear, everyone else must step back three steps, otherwise they will be covered in blood.

The court was unusually quiet at this moment, with only the rustling sound of His Majesty flipping through the accounts. He carefully checked the accounts, but in his heart he was wondering why the paper of the account book was so smooth and white.

The old man likes to write a few words when he has nothing to do, but he is the type who is addicted to writing but not very good at it. Just like when someone loses money playing mahjong, he blames the seat, his luck, feng shui, or even someone stepping on his stool, but he never blames his poor skills. So he always attributes the reason why his handwriting can't improve to bad paper, bad pen, bad table, bad light...

Now, as he touched the fine paper in his hand, he felt itchy in his heart, and thought to himself, "If I could also have such smooth and fine paper, wouldn't my progress be much faster?"

But of course he couldn't say it to her face, so he just hummed after checking the accounts: "Minghuai, I see Xinping Township is listed in many accounts, where is this? How come six out of ten accounts are related to it?"

The first thing Old Guo thought of at this moment was what Xia Lin had said to him. Xia Lin's original words were: Lord Guo, His Majesty will definitely ask about this Xinping Township. You must not reveal it. Just say that Jiangnan Province has set up a market in Xinping, which is in a pincer attack with Jiujiang Boat Market, one on water and one on land, and it is crowded with merchants.

Lao Guo still liked this style of high-profile work and low-profile life. He quickly handed the speech to His Majesty, who nodded after thinking: "You are smart and capable."

"I implore Your Majesty to abolish Xinping Township and establish a county, uniting the surrounding four townships and one town to facilitate management."

"Set it up." His Majesty glanced at his subordinates and said, "Let the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue work with you to get it done."

Everything is easy to discuss when the emperor is happy, and Gao Shilian is too lazy to get involved in such matters. Isn't it just a matter of setting up a county? How can it really take off?
When the morning court session was almost over, the emperor suddenly asked, "Minghuai, why is your paper so smooth and bright?"

"How should I know? Do you think I look like a literary person?"

This remark made all the civil and military officials in the court laugh. Even Gao Shilian sighed and shook his head helplessly, cursing in his heart: "Soldier scoundrel!"

"But if Your Majesty likes it, I can ask my men to send a batch to you. It's not a valuable thing."

At this moment, the emperor should be sitting on pins and needles. This old Guo is a double-edged sword. It annoys others and himself. Can the emperor take the things of his subordinates at will? If he takes it, he has to pay! Otherwise, the historian will record it as the emperor's heavy taxes and competing with the people for profit.

Thinking of this, he turned his head to glance at Taishi Fu in the hall, and Taishi Fu also looked up at him. From the emperor's eyes, there was a strange light flashing in Taishi Fu's eyes, as if he wanted to eat someone.

Who is the person you can't mess with the most? Gao Shilian? No, no, no, he's just a power businessman. Guo Da? No, no, no, he's just a soldier. The most unbearable people are these historians, they are all sick, all sick!!!
The Sima family of the previous dynasty, was that a royal family? But because of the saying "betraying the emperor and killing him in the street", they became so infamous that people with the surname Sima were too embarrassed to greet people and changed their names. For this, the Sima family had to tormented the historians, but it was useless. These people were really like stones in the toilet, smelly and hard. If they really recorded some dirty things, how could I face my ancestors in the future?

It's okay to do it quietly, but this Old Guo... oh, why is he saying this in the court?

"No need, no need. I will go and see it myself when I go on my southern tour."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Taishi Fu again. At this moment, Taishi had lowered his head, and stood there with his sleeves gathered up like a statue.

Being an emperor is really hard...

After finally making it to the end of the court session, Old Guo wished he could walk sideways when he went out. All the civil and military officials in the court walked around this old fool. At this moment, Gao Shilian was kneeling in the imperial study with tears streaming down his face.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... I have been loyal for thirty years, but today I am being purged by the governor Guo. I am wronged... Your Majesty... I am wronged..." The old emperor was very happy at the moment, but he had to save face. He sighed and said, "Don't bother with that old man. Don't you know what kind of person he is? He will be leaving the next day."

The consolation seemed feeble and powerless at this moment. Gao Shilian knelt there and wiped away his tears: "Hey... Your Majesty, I am really wronged and helpless. I am also distressed that Your Majesty is short of money during the southern tour, so I specifically asked you to raise 300,000 taels of tax for Your Majesty."

As he spoke, he handed the tax list in his hand to the emperor. The emperor glanced at it and waved his hand: "My dear Gao, I know what you mean. By the way, is your second daughter still unmarried? In my opinion, let your daughter marry Lao Guo's son. You two can become a good match, which can be regarded as the harmony of generals and ministers in this dynasty."

"Your Majesty... my second daughter has already married the only son of the Minister of Rites He..."

"Oh~~ I remembered it wrongly. Oh? Lord Gao, your niece..."

In fact, there was no need to continue the conversation. The emperor had obviously started to smooth things over, and it was useless to say anything more. Although Gao Shilian felt aggrieved, he had no better way to deal with it. He could only bite the bullet and chat for a while before leaving.

Within a few days, the work of abolishing the township and establishing a county was completed. Xinping Township was changed to Fuliang County, and a seventh-rank county government was set up to govern Qimen and Wuyuan in the upper reaches and Leping, Zhushan and Changnan Town in the lower reaches. It was not difficult to meet the standards of a regular seventh-rank county.

However, when it comes to the seventh-rank county, the number of militiamen can be expanded from 500 to 3,000, but whether to expand the army is up to the governor.

Don't underestimate the seventh-rank county magistrate. It has been said since ancient times that the seventh-rank county magistrate is a hundred-mile marquis. Within a hundred miles, he is the highest-ranking official. The power of trial alone can be called the position of "parents."

The scale of Fuliang County is actually very terrifying. With the former Xinping Township Yamen as the center point, it is about 200 miles to the border of Leping Township, 140 miles to the Leping Township Yamen, 240 miles to Qimen, and 160 miles to Wuyuan.

Although it is a seventh-grade county, it has the scope of a fifth-grade county. Although most of it is mountainous, at least the land is there. Some smaller provincial capitals are not as big as this one.

With such a large territory, there is naturally a lot of room for development, but Lao Guo doesn't really care. The bigger the place, the more money one can make, and the more money one makes, the more face one will have in the future. Although face is an illusory thing, one cannot do without it.

If the township is promoted, should the township head be promoted? Of course he should be promoted. Xinping Township became Fuliang County, so naturally Xinping Township would become the magistrate of Fuliang County.

Moreover, this place belonged to the fiefdom of Prince Teng. The lower-level administrative power in the fiefdom was not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, and the appointment and dismissal of officials below the fifth rank, including the fifth rank, were all decided by the small court of the fiefdom.

The prince would not be so stupid as to transfer Xia Lin away. After all, he is a big rooster that lays golden eggs, and it would be useful to keep him.

As for the rest, we just have to wait patiently for the emperor's tour next spring, which will surely be the largest and most high-level parade in the history of this dynasty.

However, Chuntao had already arrived in Hangzhou Prefecture by now, but she only met the young prince today. Since the young prince was in charge of the country, he naturally had to travel everywhere, so he only returned to his fiefdom today. The previous Prince of Yue’s mansion has now been allocated to the young prince, and he is now the founder of a real mansion.

“Will there be a locust plague next year?”

After reading Xia Lin's letter, the young prince was somewhat skeptical: "This is a very serious matter. If there is any mistake, your life will be in jeopardy."

"My young prince, Xia Daosheng said that there are three strategies for this matter."

"explain."

Chun Tao bowed gently: "The worst option is to wait until the disaster occurs and then deal with it, provide disaster relief and accept immigrants. The middle option is not to grow crops in the three places of the Central Plains next year, and the court will allocate funds to build water conservancy projects in the city. The best option is to deal with the insect plague immediately and prevent it from happening."

The young prince frowned and said, "Let me think about it."

(End of this chapter)