amaotonovel Chapter 899 What good intentions could a weasel have when it pays New Year's greetings to a chi
Chapter 899 What good intentions could a weasel have when it pays New Year's greetings to a chi
I've figured it out!
Why is Dengzhou Prefecture always short of people, yet few people from other places voluntarily migrate to Dengzhou?
To put it bluntly, it's not that they don't want to, but that they are trapped by the household registration system.
But what if we go through Dengzhou Prefecture to Liaodong?
Yang the Madman would definitely dare to leave people in Dengzhou Prefecture.
Even if he doesn't force them to stay, he will find a way to issue these young and middle-aged people a "household registration transfer permit" to remove the restrictions on household registration transfer.
Unfortunately, I am not as you wish!
Wang Guangyang stroked his beard and smiled, then left Yang Shaofeng behind and approached Hu Weiyong alone, greeting him with a smile: "Provincial Governor Hu, how have you been?"
Hu Weiyong instinctively felt that something was wrong.
What kind of relationship do I have with that old scoundrel Wang Guangyang?
No!
Not only did they have no friendship, but they also disliked each other intensely.
As the saying goes, "Those who offer unsolicited kindness are either treacherous or thieves."
That old scoundrel Wang Guangyang took the initiative to come and greet me. I wonder what he's up to with me.
After giving a few vague replies, Hu Weiyong asked directly, "Why has Governor Wang come to see me?"
Wang Guangyang stroked his beard and smiled, then glanced at Yang Shaofeng and said in a low voice, "I have come here specifically to help Governor Hu solve his problems."
Hu Weiyong was slightly taken aback.
Can you help me relieve my worries and solve my problems?
Go to hell!
What good intentions could a weasel have when it visits a chicken to wish it a Happy New Year?
Hu Weiyong was internally ranting, but Wang Guangyang said with a smile, "I heard that Liaodong is short of manpower to reclaim wasteland and build settlements. Fortunately, Shandong under my jurisdiction has quite a few able-bodied men. I was thinking, could we send them to Liaodong to work and earn money?"
Hu Weiyong felt he was starting to understand the meaning of things.
The wages for the able-bodied men who went to Liaodong this time were allocated separately by the Ministry of Revenue.
Whether the money is earned by the young and strong in Jiangnan or Shandong, it makes little difference to the imperial court.
But for these provincial governors, it was a completely different story.
When the able-bodied men earn money, they can return to the provincial governor's jurisdiction to spend it, which will allow the merchants under their jurisdiction to earn more money, and the prefectures, states, and counties under their jurisdiction to collect more commercial taxes.
Making money in Liaodong and spending it in Shandong, what's the big deal?
This is a classic case of exploiting the imperial court.
Tsk tsk.
So even someone as handsome and shrewd as Wang Guangyang has learned how to exploit people!
Hu Weiyong continued to complain in his heart, while Wang Guangyang was still vigorously promoting the young and strong men of Shandong: "Provincial Governor Hu can rest assured that we Shandong people are known for our honesty. We are honest in our character and honest in our work. There will never be any slackers among us."
Well, if I didn't know Yang the Madman, and hadn't heard Li Xiang mention the jokes about the southern countryside, even if I'm illiterate and haven't read "Cheng Da Youjin" in history books or folk tales, and hadn't heard anyone say "Shandong has always produced bandits" or Liangshan Marsh, perhaps I could believe your nonsense.
Wang Guangyang turned and glanced at Yang Shaofeng again, then continued, "How about this, I'll gather some able-bodied young men for you."
"We don't have much, but we can always scrape together ten or twenty thousand, or thirty or fifty thousand."
"But there is a point."
“These people have to travel by land; they cannot take a boat from Dengzhou Prefecture to Liaodong.”
Hu Weiyong was stunned again.
The waterway route was directly from Dengzhou Prefecture to Jinzhou.
However, traveling by land required detouring through Beiping and Yongning, heading east to Shenyang and Liaoyang, and then south to Jinzhou.
The extra distance involved is not just a few dozen miles.
It's not even just a few hundred miles.
It's at least a thousand miles apart.
Hu Weiyong glanced at Wang Guangyang suspiciously.
Is this old scoundrel drunk or still half asleep?
wrong.
Although Wang Guangyang is no good, he is a man of real ability.
The fact that he would rather take the long way by land shows that he believed there was a problem with taking the waterway.
Safety?
What a joke.
His Highness the Crown Prince and Yang the Madman dared to travel to Japan on warships of the Dengzhou Navy, so what does Wang Guangyang have to worry about?
So, he wanted to avoid Dengzhou Prefecture?
Or perhaps he wanted to avoid Yang's epilepsy?
As it turns out, there were very few good people in the Ming Dynasty's court.
After a little thought, Hu Weiyong guessed what Wang Guangyang was worried about.
They feared that the young and strong men of Shandong would want to stay in Dengzhou after seeing its prosperity, and they also feared that Yang the Madman would force officials in other prefectures and counties of Shandong to allow people to migrate to Dengzhou.
What a pity, what a pity! You, Wang Guangyang, were clever all your life, but you made a foolish mistake for a moment.
You're afraid of Yang the Madman of Dengzhou Prefecture, but aren't you afraid of the county magistrates along the route from Yanyun to Liaodong?
What Yang the Madman dared to do, those county magistrates might not dare to do either.
For example, if they kidnap someone and then run to their master's wife for help, what can you do to them?
You're worried that the young and strong men of Shandong will choose to stay in Dengzhou Prefecture, but aren't you afraid that they will choose to stay in Liaodong?
Yes, Liaodong was a desolate and impoverished place beyond the Great Wall, a remote and impoverished area where even sages would not venture.
The key is that Liaodong has black soil, so fertile that it's so rich it flows when you grab a handful. Does Shandong have that?
Liaodong has plenty of coal mines, iron mines, forest farms, and is teeming with roe deer and pheasants. Do you have that in Shandong?
Once the problem of the waterlogged areas is solved, Liaodong will be a fertile land. I don't believe that the young and strong men of Shandong would not want to stay in Liaodong!
If all else fails...
Hu Weiyong touched his chin.
Liaodong is next to South Korea.
Although the quality of Silla maids from the Koreans has declined, what ordinary young man would choose this one?
If I just ask Park Seong-heon and Park Deok-hwan for some Silla maids and then distribute them to the young men in Shandong, I'm not afraid they won't want to stay in Liaodong.
Steady!
Having made up his mind, Hu Weiyong immediately put on a reluctant look and said stammeringly, "Provincial Governor Wang's suggestion is quite good, but the problem is that bypassing Dengzhou Prefecture will inevitably offend the Prince Consort."
“Provincial Governor Wang should have heard that I have already been punished with thirty strokes of the military rod for leading my officials to Liaodong without authorization.”
"If we bypass Dengzhou Prefecture again this time..."
Wang Guangyang glanced at Hu Weiyong and said in a low voice, "These are two different things!"
"I will send every single one of the thousand able-bodied men that should be sent to Dengzhou Prefecture."
"The remaining young men are the result of a private relationship between the two provincial governors."
"Even if it escalates to the point of involving the higher-ups, we can still explain ourselves."
"As for Dengzhou..."
Wang Guangyang stroked his beard, then turned and glanced at Yang Shaofeng, saying resentfully, "I'll arrange for some more people to go to Liaodong from Dengzhou later, consider it a loss to avoid further trouble."
Hu Weiyong nodded with a hint of sympathy, then forced a reluctant, deadpan expression and replied, "Alright then."
"Since Governor Wang has spoken, I will accept this favor from him."
"But we need to make one thing clear beforehand: Liaodong is an extremely cold and harsh place. You young men from Shandong can't just come to Liaodong and start making a fuss about coming back."
Wang Guangyang nodded without hesitation: "Don't worry, we Shandong people are not afraid of the harsh cold of Liaodong."