Chapter 468 The Beginning of the New Deal
Chapter 468 The Beginning of the New Deal
The next morning is the first day of the first lunar month. Customs vary from place to place. In the north, the whole family changes clothes and takes a bath on New Year's Eve. From the first to the fifth day of the first lunar month, you cannot take a bath or clean the house. You can only take a bath and clean after sending off the ancestors and the god of wealth.
In the south, it is just the opposite. On the first day of the first lunar month, the old garbage in the house is thrown out and the whole family takes a bath to welcome the new year.
Therefore, on the first day of the first lunar month, bathing is a big deal for people in Jiangdu. No matter if they are rich or poor, they will boil a basin of hot water for their family to take a bath.
Xiao Xia's family was of course no exception. The whole family entered the hot spring room, and the four of them soaked in the boiling hot spring, relaxing their muscles and bones. There was a large wooden basin in the hot spring, and his son Qiu Guaner lay in the basin, giggling with joy. The basin floated back and forth between the parents, and everyone played with him.
Xiao lay lazily in the hot water, surrounded by the steam. He looked at his three wives playing with the children and his baby son waving his white arms in the bathtub and giggling. At this moment, Xiao Xia felt an indescribable comfort and satisfaction in his heart.
After the first day, the fifth day soon arrives. The fifth day is the time to welcome the God of Wealth. This is the same in the north and the south. Under the influence of Taoism, Li Guizu is regarded as the God of Wealth.
On the fifth day of the first lunar month, if you did not have time to offer sacrifices to your ancestors on the first day, you can make up for it on the fifth day of the first lunar month.
After the fifth day, the New Year comes to a temporary end. At least the government will start to operate, while for the common people, the New Year is not over until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. However, the community day will soon arrive in February.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month, the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office reopened, and officials returned to their respective posts to start the new year.
Early in the morning, Xiao Xia also came to his official room. He had not been there for a whole month. After returning from Luoyang, although he met with many officials, they were all met in the mansion and he did not come to the official room.
A brazier had been lit in the official's room, and the charcoal was burning vigorously, constantly emitting strings of sparks, which dissipated the coldness in the room and began to warm up.
The tea boy came in and served tea, and Fang Xuanling also came in with a dozen volumes of documents.
"Any important documents?"
"The important thing is that the dredging of Shanyang Canal has been completed ahead of schedule, and it needs your highness's signature and approval. There are also several imperial edicts from the emperor, as well as important documents from the court's political affairs hall, which are the specific implementation details to cooperate with the imperial edicts. They were all delivered on the last day of last year."
Xiao Xia hurriedly looked through the documents in the Council of State, and indeed saw that the court had notified the 1,300 warships anchored in Jiangling to move east to Jiangdu Jingkou. He had a receipt here, requiring them to make preparations for the reception as soon as possible.
This was a document issued in mid-December. Judging from the time, the fleet should have left Jiangling, which made Xiao Xia breathe a sigh of relief.
"Has the grain harvest report for last year come out?"
"Not yet, but the High Commander may give a brief report to His Highness."
Xiao Xia nodded and said, "Go and inform Gao Ying, Liu Wenjing, Zhang Yunqiu, Pei Wen'an, Zhou Mo, Wei Zheng, Zhang Liang, and Li Yixuan, and ask them to come to my office immediately. I want to briefly tell them about the New Year's deployment. You are responsible for taking notes."
"I humbly obey my orders!"
Fang Xuanling left in a hurry, and Xiao Xia took out a small notebook from his arms. This was his memo book, and some of his important ideas were written down in the notebook.
Soon, everyone came to the reception hall of Xiao Xia's official residence. When everyone was present, Xiao Xia waved his hand and asked everyone to sit down.
Xiao Xia said slowly, "Last year we were in the adaptation period. We adapted for half a year, which is almost enough. Starting this year, we will carry out some major government affairs, involving politics, military, finance, and personnel. Let me tell you a big thing first. In May, the emperor will come to Jiangnan for an inspection. We must provide a good reception. The emperor asked to build a temporary palace. I thought about it. Now we don't have enough time to build a temporary palace. Secondly, it will be too laborious and costly. So I simply restored the Jinwang Mansion where I live now into Jiangdu Palace. I will move to the city temporarily. Don't discuss this matter. Arrange it as soon as possible!"
Gao Ying nodded, "I will arrange it as soon as possible!"
Xiao Xia continued, "The second major event is about dredging the Jiangnan River. After the New Year, Li Chun, the Chief of the Craftsmen's Office, will lead officials from the Craftsmen's Office and the Water Conservancy Office to Jiangnan to conduct hydrological surveys and canal planning in advance. We must also start preparations, including the allocation of food supplies and personnel. Lord Gao will still serve as the chief canal manager.
I have another piece of good news for you all. I sent people to Jian'an County a few years ago to ask them to send all the tamed elephants to Jiangdu to help dig the canal. There should be at least several hundred elephants. Everyone said happily, "With the help of elephants, dredging will be much easier!"
"The third thing I want to talk about is the power of officials. Previously, we had the power to review, suspend, dismiss and recommend officials at the county level in Jiangnan, but we lacked the power to appoint. But starting this year, we can also exercise the four powers on county-level officials, except for the governor, which means that our power has increased.
Starting this year, we will gradually take control of each county. If the governor refuses to obey the orders of the Jiangnan Dao General Administration Office, we will sideline him and send a Tongpan to hold the real power, and at the same time send troops to station there. "
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. His Highness was going to target the local people again. However, to govern Jiangnan, one must first control the power of local officials. Otherwise, the people below would secretly disobey their orders and in the end, nothing would be accomplished.
"Let me talk about the fourth thing, which is about finance. The emperor has agreed to give us half of the taxes in Jiangnan Road. It was 30% before, and now it has increased to 20%. The reason is that the emperor agreed to let me expand the army. First, recruit another 20,000 troops. Second, the Great Sui Navy will be stationed in Jiangdu, and I will serve as the Grand Admiral of the Navy. Then the court will allow us to mint coins, and half of the proceeds from minting coins must be handed over to the court. This is more complicated and may need to be confirmed by the court."
“The fifth major event is to take over the copper and iron mines. We need to set up a mining bureau as soon as possible to look for new iron mines.”
Today's meeting is a simple briefing. Xiao Xia just wants everyone to understand the ten major things he will do this year, and then all departments will cooperate. Any need to increase government offices and officials must be implemented as soon as possible.
After the meeting, Gao Jiong and Liu Wenjing stayed behind as there were several important matters that needed to be addressed immediately and they needed to finalize them with Xiao Xia.
Gao Jiong smiled and said, "I am a little confused. Why did the emperor suddenly become so generous that he actually gave us half of the taxes in Jiangnan Road and expanded the power of officials. This was unimaginable during the time of the previous emperor."
Xiao Xia said calmly: "Mr. Gao is an old prime minister. He has experienced the battle between the five dragons for the throne, especially the fierce battle between my father and Crown Prince Yang Yong. He should understand my father's thoughts."
Gao Jiong pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Could it be that the rumors are true, and the emperor wants to establish a grandson as the crown prince?"
Xiao Xia nodded, "The emperor made such a big concession to me because he hopes that I can stay in Jiangnan for a long time and not have any unreasonable thoughts."
Gao Jiong sighed, "So that's how it is. I understand now!"
Liu Wenjing said, "Your Highness is going to work hard this year, so there are a few things that need to be arranged as soon as possible. The first is the government offices. If we restore the General Manager's Mansion and the Prince of Jin's Mansion to Jiangdu Palace, we will need to build a few more government offices. In addition, there is your Highness's Prince of Jin's Mansion. I will start working on this matter this afternoon. I hope your Highness will approve it!"
Xiao Xia said happily: "I have approved it verbally, please submit another application later! Anything else?"
"There is also a shortage of officials. We discussed before that instead of transferring officials from the imperial court, it would be better to transfer officials from the counties in Jiangnan. Anyway, we have the right to recommend officials, so we only need the imperial court to make an appointment!"
"Is there any suitable candidate?" Xiao Xia asked.
Liu Wenjing nodded. "Based on the evaluations from last year and the year before, we have drawn up a list of sixty-four people. Your Highness, please review it!"
If it is the Shangshu Xingtai who is selecting, then they must be middle or low-level officials. The candidates recommended by the previous officials must be considered by Xiao Xia. This is their division of power.
Xiao Xia nodded, "Let me see it later!"
At this time, Liu Wenjing asked back: "What do you think is the most urgent matter?"
Xiao Xia said slowly, "For me, the most urgent thing is to recruit 20,000 troops. I plan to station troops in various counties. Only with the presence of troops can we deter the counties and deal with emergencies in the counties. You may not know that I encountered a bandit attack in Shanyang County. If I was not there at the time, Shanyang County would have been devastated. The second most urgent thing is horse administration. I will go to inspect the horse farm in two days."
(End of this chapter)