amaotonovel Chapter 314 The Prefect is Awesome
Chapter 314 The Prefect is Awesome
Having finally escaped the days of being alone in his room at night, and with the glass tea set that Yu'er had specially brought, and his favorite little dragon tea being served again, Yang Shaofeng has been in a great mood lately.
Then, Yang Shaofeng showed Xu Jingyu, the magistrate of Penglai, what it meant to be the arrogant and domineering son-in-law.
Yang Shaofeng brewed a pot of Xiaolongtuan tea, poured a cup for Xu Jingyu, and then said with a smile, "This is Xiaolongtuan tea bestowed by His Majesty. Magistrate Xu, you may wish to try it."
Xu Jingyu carefully picked up the glass, examined it several times before slowly taking a sip, then let out a long sigh and praised, "It is indeed good tea."
Yang Shaofeng smiled, took a sip of the glutinous rice ball, put down his cup, and looked at Xu Jingyu, asking, "Have you visited all the villages north of Penglai? And what about those fishermen who used to make a living by fishing? Have you allocated land to them as well?"
Upon hearing Yang Shaofeng's question, Xu Jingyu put down his cup, sat up straight, and said, "Your Excellency, we have already visited all the villages north of Penglai. There are ten villages in total. Following Zhou Shengyuan's method, I have had them elect ten village chiefs."
"Among them, Laowangzhuang, which is close to the county seat, is the largest village, with a total population of 210 people in 43 households."
"..."
"The village closest to the sea is Zhangjiazhuang, which is also the smallest village. It has a population of ninety-three people, divided into thirty households."
"Besides these villages, there are more than a dozen fishing families on Changdao Island. Since I can't swim, the people from Zhangjiazhuang went to call them down and also talked to them about the land division. Later, they were all incorporated into Zhangjiazhuang."
"I plan to visit the villages in the east of the city, then the south and west, and try to find out the population of Penglai as soon as possible."
Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but glance at Xu Jingyu in surprise.
It's so rare, so incredibly rare! In the third year since I transmigrated to the Ming Dynasty, I've finally encountered a barely respectable official!
That doesn't seem right either, after all, that minor official from the Court of State Ceremonial, and Wu Yanhu and the other two were quite good.
While Yang Shaofeng was thinking wildly to himself, he said with a smile, "After the land is distributed, what is Magistrate Xu planning to do next?"
Xu Jingyu replied respectfully, "Your Excellency, I plan to follow the method taught to me by Scholar Zhou and go door-to-door to complete the household registration records for the people."
Yang Shaofeng nodded, "When making the household registration book, we should make it clear to the people that Dengzhou is a pilot area of the Ming Dynasty. We don't distinguish between farmers, fishermen, salt producers, scholars, beggars, etc. Everyone is a commoner and everyone can be allocated land."
Before being transferred to Dengzhou, Xu Jingyu had visited the Ministry of Personnel in the capital and stayed there for a few days. Therefore, he had heard similar rumors. So, he wasn't too surprised to hear Yang Shaofeng's words.
Yang Shaofeng continued, "Since everyone can be allocated land and they are all farmers, it means that everyone can do what they want to do in addition to farming. Those who want to fish can go fishing, and those who want to boil salt can boil salt."
Xu Jingyu was immediately taken aback and looked at Yang Shaofeng, asking, "Salt boiling? Your Excellency, this salt administration..."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Like household registration, Dengzhou is also a pilot area for salt administration. The Salt Transport Commissioner's Office and the Salt Tax Supervisor's Office have no jurisdiction over Dengzhou."
Xu Jingyu's brain almost shut down, his mind filled with nothing but the words "Your Excellency is awesome!"
Although it was already known that Yang Shaofeng, the prefect of Dengzhou, was very powerful, not only having married two of Emperor Zhu's adopted daughters, but also being known as "Crazy Yang" in the court, it was said that no official, high or low, dared to provoke him.
In particular, during the last case involving the plowshare, Emperor Zhu actually sent the Leopard Guard and a battalion of naval forces, personally led by Lan Yu, the Vice Commander of the Grand General's Office, to support his Prefect Yang. Qu Mingjie, a seventh-rank county magistrate, had both his legs broken before he could even be interrogated.
Therefore, Xu Jingyu felt that he had some understanding of the status of Prefect Yang in the eyes of Emperor Zhu.
But to everyone's surprise, Emperor Zhu actually took out the revenue from the salt administration for his good son-in-law, letting Prefect Yang do whatever he wanted!
It's completely upside down!
Xu Jingyu suddenly had an idea and looked at Yang Shaofeng, asking, "Your Excellency, since the Salt Administration has no jurisdiction over Dengzhou, should the salt produced by the people be sold by the people themselves, or should the government purchase it and then sell it?"
Yang Shaofeng smiled and, instead of answering, asked, "What's Magistrate Xu's opinion?"
Xu Jingyu pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Are the common people allowed to sell these goods themselves?"
This answer should be fairly reliable, since this Prefect Yang always puts the people first in many things. Following this line of thought, the answer shouldn't be wrong, right?
However, Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "It's definitely not feasible for ordinary people to sell their salt on their own. After all, most of Dengzhou is located along the coast. If everyone boils salt to sell, in the end, no one will be able to sell their salt."
"As for letting the people sell their salt to other prefectures and counties, that's even more impossible. Not to mention whether the salt administration will cause trouble, just the question of how to guarantee the quality of the salt produced by the people is enough to give us a headache."
Under the state monopoly on salt and iron, boiling salt was hard labor, while selling salt was extremely profitable.
If people are allowed to boil salt themselves and sell it to other prefectures and counties, the quality of the salt cannot be guaranteed, and it may even lead to a struggle between large and small salt merchants.
If things continue to develop, it's hard to guarantee that it will become a price war between salt merchants, and then the last salt merchant who wins will become dissatisfied with the status quo and try to reach out to the imperial court for power.
A certain Mr. Ma has already demonstrated the greed of businessmen through his actions.
Shaking his head slightly, Yang Shaofeng continued, "I plan to establish a salt tax office in Dengzhou. Firstly, to set up a government-run salt field, and secondly, to purchase salt produced by the people themselves according to certain standards."
"I'm telling you all this so that you can tell the people that they will be allowed to boil salt in the future, and there will be a special salt tax office to buy the salt they boil."
"Start by allowing people to fish and boil salt, we gradually let them accept that all household registrations have been changed to civilian household registrations."
Xu Jingyu immediately cupped his hands and replied, "Yes, this humble official knows what to do."
……
After Xu Jingyu left, Yang Shaofeng couldn't wait to run to the backyard, find Yu'er, grab her hand and say, "Come on, let me take my wife to the beach for a walk."
Yu'er smiled and nodded, then whispered, "I will follow my husband's arrangements."
Oh my goodness!
What does it mean to be shy and timid?
What does it mean to have light in your eyes?
Yang Shaofeng felt that sooner or later he would lose himself in these sounds of music.