Chapter 492 Demonstration Project
Chapter 492 Demonstration Project
The first county to complete the cleanup of the charity granary was Jiangning County, mainly because Zhang Yunqiu had already done a preliminary cleanup once before, making the second cleanup easier.
A liquidation team consisting of ten county school students was formed, led by Lu Miao, a military officer of the General Administration Office, and was responsible for the cleanup of the charity granaries in two counties of Danyang County.
Thirty teams were dispatched to clean up the charity granary, each with eleven people. The General Administration Office could not provide so many people, so a large number of students were mobilized to participate.
Xiao Xia arrived at Jiangning County again. Three days ago, Zhang Yunqiu had led a dozen officials to Jiangning County to inspect the cleaning of Jiangning Charity Granary, which was completely qualified.
At this time, the square in front of the charity granary was crowded with people, and more than 2,000 farmers became the first batch of farmers to be liquidated.
The situation was changing. Previously, they wanted to liquidate everything before discussing a solution together. However, the truth could not be hidden. The news of the liquidation of the charity granary had spread to many places. Farmers rushed to the government to inquire, and a large number of farmers gathered in many places.
When the news reached the General Administration's Office, Gao Jiong immediately suggested that Jiangning County be liquidated first to create a model so that other local governments could use Jiangning County as an example to answer the farmers' questions.
Confidence and hope are the most important. Once the peasants have confidence in the government and once they have hope in their hearts, they will no longer cause trouble.
Xiao Xia immediately approved Gao Jiong's suggestion and put forward the principles of reciprocity and non-prosecution.
The principle of reciprocity is an explanation given to farmers. The principle of reciprocity means that the farmers paid new grain at that time, and now the accounts will be settled according to the price of the new grain.
It is crucial to compensate the difference in grain with equal amounts of money or materials without any discounts. The grain in the charity granary is all old grain. If it is discounted by at least 30% based on the market price, it will damage the interests of the farmers and lead to their resistance to liquidation. It will be counterproductive to care about that little bit of profit.
The principle of non-prosecution applies to the charity granary managers and government officials. Whether it is corruption or fraud, past events will not be pursued.
Without this principle, the charity granary will never be cleaned up, and someone may even burn it down.
This principle was put forward at the very beginning, and the cleanup of charity granaries received full support from local governments.
Xiao Xia went straight to the charity granary after getting off the boat, and arrived at the liquidation site accompanied by Zhang Yunqiu and the governor Pei Xuanji.
Seeing the huge crowds of people at the scene, Xiao Xia was a little surprised and asked, "Are there more than 2,000 farmers here?"
Pei Xuanji bowed quickly and said, "Your Highness, in addition to the first batch of more than 2,000 farmers, there are many more farmers who have come to check on the situation. I estimate that there are at least tens of thousands of people here."
Xiao Xia was puzzled and asked, "How were the more than 2,000 farmers selected? Were they divided by region?"
Zhang Yunqiu shook his head and smiled, "We have to thank the local government and gentry for their support. Our liquidation team has already gone to every township and village, explaining the liquidation to every household. If you can accept it, sign on the spot and come here today to receive food and money. Otherwise, it will take more than half an hour for one person to explain on the spot, and we won't be able to liquidate a few people at all."
Xiao Xia said happily: "Very thoughtful, well done. Who proposed this plan?"
"Your Highness, it is the county magistrate Zhang Qujiang."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Is it the county magistrate who was suspended last time?"
"It's him!"
Xiao Xia happily said: "Please ask him to come over and give me a live explanation!"
Soon, the sweaty county magistrate Zhang Qujiang hurried over and bowed, "I pay my respects to Your Highness!"
Seeing that he had dark skin and the temperament of a scholar, Xiao Xia smiled and asked, "From your accent, you must be from Guanzhong, right?"
"I am from Chang'an, my home is near Qujiang Lake, my father named me Qujiang."
Pei Xuanji added, "Zhang County Magistrate was ranked fifth in the imperial examination in the 18th year of Kaihuang. He was appointed as the magistrate of Jiangning County three years ago. Before that, he was the lieutenant of Licheng County in Qi County."
"I see!"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Will the farmers have much resistance to the liquidation?"
“Your Highness, we have deducted the losses and most of the funds raised, and the remaining accounts are all clear. Don’t underestimate the farmers. They know very well in their hearts. They are very frank in admitting which year they did not perform labor service, how much grain they used to offset, and how much grain they used to offset taxes. They know it very well.
In fact, most of the people we liquidated agreed to it. Many people did not sign at the time because they were worried that the government would go back on its word and not give them compensation. So now so many people have come to check the situation. Many people have to sign and put their fingerprints on the spot. We also sent people to handle the on-site liquidation."
At this time, Xiao Xia saw a dozen old farmers happily walking away with the sheepskins in their arms.
He smiled and asked, "Sheepskin seems to be very popular?" The most abundant material in Xiao Xia's warehouse was sheepskin. He seized millions of high-quality sheepskins from Tuyuhun and Dangxiang, half of which were given to the court and the other half were kept for himself, which he brought all the way to Jiangdu.
Liu Wenjing then proposed to use a portion of the sheepskins to offset the compensation money as an inducement, which would have a better effect.
This kind of high-quality sheepskin was wholesaled to big merchants for three strings of coins per piece. After changing hands several times, it finally appeared on the market for six strings of coins per piece.
This time the liquidation will be priced at three strings of coins, which is half cheaper than the market price. This bargain is placed directly in front of the farmers. It depends on whether you want to take advantage of it!
Zhang Qujiang said quickly: "Your Highness, sheepskin is the most popular. The difference compensation is basically free. If you want sheepskin, you will get money only if there is not enough sheepskin to offset it."
After a pause, Zhang Qujiang continued, "Your Highness, many officials think that three strings of cash for a sheepskin is too cheap, right?"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly, "The peasants are calculating economic accounts, we are calculating political accounts. I don't think it's expensive to use three strings of cash to quell the potential rebellion!"
Zhang Qujiang was immediately ashamed, and quickly bowed and said: "I am short-sighted!"
Xiao Xia nodded and said to everyone: "The local government and the liquidation team have worked hard this time. In the end, I will give each official and student who participated in the liquidation a sheepskin as an extra reward!"
Several officials were overjoyed and bowed together, saying, "Thank you, Your Highness, for the reward!"
Everyone is living at home. Farmers can get cheap high-quality sheepskin at three strings of coins per piece. Low-level officials have also put in a lot of hard work to participate in the cleanup of the charity granary, but they cannot get such benefits. Their mentality is somewhat unbalanced. As the supreme ruler of Jiangnan Road, it is Xiao Xia's duty to be considerate of his subordinates.
At the front was a long row of tables. The liquidation team was responsible for checking, and the county officials were responsible for distributing money, grain and sheepskins.
Thousands of farmers lined up in six long rows, each holding an iron plate with a number engraved on it.
"Young Master, look at this!"
An old man handed an iron plate to the scholar at the table. The scholar was from Jiangdu County School and was not very old, only sixteen or seventeen years old. He took the iron plate with a serious face, looked at the number, and flipped through a list book, and quickly found the number on the iron plate.
"What's your name?"
"Call me Yu Chuwu!"
The scholar nodded, "I have confirmed with you before that I will give you three stone and three dou of grain, and two strings of cash, right?"
"Yes! Yes! But I want a sheepskin, is that okay?"
The scholar smiled and said, "That's fine, but the sheepskin is three strings of cash, do you know?"
"I know, it's good sheepskin. I don't have enough money, so I'll use grain to pay for it."
"One stone of grain is five hundred coins. Is this price acceptable?"
"Ok, Ok!"
The old man had obviously inquired clearly. The market price of a dou of rice was forty cents, and he was offering ten cents more, which was of course appropriate.
Farmers are always calculating, so if you give them a little advantage, things will go much easier. But in fact, the total cost is not much.
"Then I will give you a discount, and finally give you a sheepskin and 1.3 dou of grain. If you agree, please leave your fingerprint here."
"I know, it's correct!"
The old man dipped his thumb in red clay and pressed his fingerprint on the list. While everyone was lining up, they had already made up their minds.
The scholar gave him a red chip, a white chip and three short white chips, and asked him to collect money, food and supplies.
Except for the scholars in the liquidation group, most people here are illiterate, so they made chips according to custom. A red chip represents sheepskin, a white chip represents a stone of grain, a short white chip represents a bushel of grain, and a yellow chip represents money. However, this old man had no money, so he did not get the yellow chip.
It was made into a stick, and even if one was illiterate, one could tell the meaning of it at a glance. After the old man got the stick, he went excitedly to get food and sheepskin.
(End of this chapter)