Qin Official

"Thanks to your clever plan, Moroda is finished. Novel . "

A few days later, in the Yeyi County Hall, Heifu asked Chen Ping not to be polite. The two sat opposite each other. He poured wine for Chen Ping himself and said:

"Your Majesty was very angry when he heard in the Weishui Salt Fields that the Tian family in Yeyi was the biggest private salt leader in Jiaodong, and that all the other fields were involved. After coming to Yeyi, he saw everything you had arranged, and he felt even more... It is very necessary to uproot the local powerful families..."

Chen Ping said quickly: "After all, the county governor's policy of governing Yeyi is effective, and Ping Cai can add a little bit of strength. I don't know what happened today. Is your majesty still satisfied?"

Heifu smiled and said: "Your Majesty is very pleased and praises you for your kindness!"

It turned out that Heifu had already assigned tasks to his subordinates. He led the emperor himself, while his confidant Chen Ping worked on image projects in Yeyi...

Six months ago, after the Tian family in Yeyi was expelled, 100,000 acres of land were distributed to Lu Zuo and farm laborers for cultivation. Those people were used to poverty. They had never received such a favor before, and they were immediately grateful. But on the other hand, they were scolded as "Qi traitors" by the Qi people who liked the Tian Dan family. At first I was uneasy, but then I realized that I had the support of the government and the garrison, so I straightened my back and became the master!

Thousands of families were kidnapped by the black husband in this way. These beneficiaries became the people who supported the Qin government the most. In order to protect the fifty acres of land, they would do whatever the government asked them to do.

Yesterday, when Qin Shihuang's carriage arrived at Yeyi, thousands of households were also mobilized by Chen Ping. Men, women, old and children stood on both sides of the road to watch, kneeling and worshiping the emperor's carriage. Forget it, when the emperor passed by on the road, everyone still shouted: A slogan that only future generations will have...

"Long live Long live Long live!"

The sound was so loud that the whole city was shocked. Even the tightly closed curtain on the emperor's carriage couldn't help but open a gap.

In the eyes of the Jiaodong tribesmen, shouting "Long Live" was not specifically directed at the emperor. Just like a hundred years ago, Feng Chen, a retainer of Lord Mengchang, burned the local people's bonds in Xuecheng, so "the people said long live". They only cheered when they had something happy, but that was nothing more than that!

The emperor asked the county government to give them land, wasn't he a benefactor to everyone? If the government asked them to shout, then just shout!

But in the ears of Qin Shihuang, these three shouts of long live were particularly pleasing to the ears. When he opened the curtain and saw the enthusiasm of the people in Yeyi, he suddenly looked overjoyed and said:

"If it is as Hei Fu said, everyone in the city and Guizhou Province is wishing me a long life! This is the real auspiciousness!"

As soon as he was happy, Qin Shihuang allowed this group of leftists to rent free for another year on the basis of the previous one.

With the cooperation of so many extras, Chen Pinglai's image project was indeed not bad. Therefore, what Qin Shihuang saw in Yeyi were all the benefits to the government after eliminating the powerful.

"I then took the opportunity to tell Your Majesty that Tian often has many sons and grandsons, so every county in more than ten cities in Jiaodong has fields. During the Tian Qi period, these clans controlled the interests of the lakes, mountains and seas from far away, and they were as rich as the enemy. Although now, although Even though it was taken back by the government, they were unwilling to do so. There were countless people who secretly cooked salt, felled trees, fished and hunted. This was to steal the country's interests."

Chen Ping raised his palms and praised: "There is a saying in the Cang Law that if more than three mouse holes are found in the granary, the relevant officials will be punished, because the government's food cannot be allowed to be stolen by rats. In the eyes of your majesty, the lakes, mountains and seas are all beautiful." Profits are like grain in the barn, and those who sell private salt are rats in the barn! How can we be merciful to them?"

He was right. The punishment for frying and selling illicit salt in the Qin Dynasty was extremely severe. Once discovered, the prisoner would be "cut off his left toe" and cut off the big toe of his left foot. Unfortunately, the profit was too high, so the ban was repeated.

However, not all Zhutian can have a relationship with private salt. For example, the Jimo Tian family is very cautious, and it is difficult for Heifu to find out what they have.

"If you want to impose a crime, why bother? Your Majesty wants to govern the fields, there is no need to find a reason, just the fact that they are the Tian Qi Duke is enough..."

Heifu is very flexible. He has already found good accusations for Zhu Tian: blocking the recommendation path, deceiving the superiors and deceiving the inferiors, inciting Confucian scholars and common people to confront the government, and even colluding with overseas anti-Qin forces, funding and delivering information to the rebels. . Some powerful people, such as the Jimo Tian family, also loaned money to the people to express their gratitude to the head of Guizhou, with ulterior motives!

Heifu's suggestion is very simple. Use the power of the Eastern Patrol to uproot the fields and move them to Guanzhong!

He raised the wine and said with a smile: "This is a quick way to cut through the mess!"

Zhutian was so intertwined that it was really difficult to deal with one of them. Heifu only killed the leader of the Yeyitian clan to intimidate Zhutian, and then held back to prevent them from jumping over the wall in a hurry.

He stayed until the emperor made an eastward tour, and then used the power of the fox to drive them all away!

Heifu's plan was that when the emperor left Jiaodong, there would be no more farmland in Jiaodong, and the vacant land could be used to continue to recruit Lu Zuo and farm laborers for farming.

Only then can his real plan to govern the county be officially launched...

"Ping Shen believes in the county governor's policy."

Chen Ping said: "To govern the rich and powerful, one should use force, but to govern the people, one should use gentleness and gentleness."

Speaking of this, he hesitated to speak.

Heifu noticed the thoughts of his chief adviser: "What did you hear?"

Chen Ping replied: "I heard that during the secret period, the prince and his brother-in-law (Zhang Cang) presented a new method of drying salt to your Majesty, but the brother-in-law also insisted on imposing heavy taxes on official salt to compensate for the shortfall of the Shaofu. .”

Heifu knew that Chen Ping seemed to have a different view on this. He always encouraged his subordinates to express their opinions, so he smiled and said:

"There are no outsiders here, and what you say will not reach Zhang Xian'er. If you have any ideas, just say it!"

"only."

Chen Ping bowed and began to explain his views: "Ping comes from a humble background and knows that it is not easy to eat salt in Guizhou."

He calculated for Heifu: "A family of five must eat at least 15 liters of salt a month, which is one and a half buckets. There are six million households in the world and more than 30 million people, so one million stones of salt are needed, but As far as I know, the salt production in Haibin, Bashu, beyond the Great Wall, and Hedong in the whole world is only six to seven hundred thousand shi. Even if the county governor's salt-drying method spreads throughout Jiaodong, it will only be able to produce an additional 100,000 shi, which is a drop in the bucket."

There is still a salt shortage of 300,000 kilograms in the world, which means that many people in the world do not eat enough salt, or even do not eat salt at all...

This is calculated on average. In fact, just like wealth, there is a lot of salt concentrated in the hands of a few people. The rich and powerful nobles had countless meats salted in their homes, including ham and salted fish, but the poor were worried about not having enough salt to eat and not having the energy to work.

"This is especially true in the Central Plains. Whether it is Hedong salt or Yanqi sea salt, it is as expensive as molasses when sold to Liangdi."

Speaking of this, Chen Ping feels sad. Although his family is poor, it is not the most miserable. In Yangwu County, some families cannot afford official salt, nor can they afford private salt. What should they do? I was desperate, so I had to use soil from pig pens and dry latrine walls to boil salt.

They went to dig up the soil for the wall, broke the soil into pieces, and soaked it in water. After a few days, they filtered out the brine for soaking the soil with a cloth and boiled it in a pot. After the water dried, what was left in the pot was saltpeter. Salt.

This kind of nitrate tastes a bit bitter and can cause poisoning if you eat too much, but it can save you in an emergency. Over time, some knowledge has been produced at the bottom: combining salty soil with sour or bitter soil, the salt boiled in this way is of better quality than the salt boiled with only one taste of soil...

Just listening to it made me feel sad. Chen Ping was more restrained and did not talk about the more disgusting "urine salt and fecal salt".

These local salts can only last for a while. After eating, it will take another seven or eight days, or even a month to eat the last salt. As a result, the people are not old, but their hair turns white, their limbs are weak, their bodies are swollen, and they have all kinds of strange diseases. One after another.

Now that Jiaodong has a salt-drying method, it has increased salt production and reduced costs. In Chen Ping's view, this was a good opportunity to bring down the price of salt and make salt affordable to more people.

But with Zhang Cang's strategy of "taking it from the invisible", no matter how much salt is produced, the government will probably not lower the monopoly salt price by a cent!

Every time Chen Ping said something, Heifu's expression became more solemn. Nanjun was relatively lucky. It was located in the lower reaches of Bashu. The Yangtze River continuously transported salt from Bashu wells to Anlu. Even if the poor cannot afford it, they can still rely on the flesh and blood of aquatic animals in Yunmengze to replenish salt, so salt deficiency diseases are not common.

But in the Central Plains, a country with many people and little land, this situation is indeed very serious.

After Chen Ping finished speaking, he bowed to Mr. Hei and said: "My subordinates once heard that the salt ponds in the east of the river had been mined as early as the time of Yu and Shun. The locals sang, "The south wind is blowing, it can relieve the anger of our people. When the south wind blows, it will , it can enrich our people’s wealth..."

"I hope that the commander-in-chief can make this 'South Wind', which will not only bring wealth to the country, but also relieve the people's anger!"

Chen Ping has his own ideals. He hopes that if he can one day conquer the world, he will slaughter the meat equally for the people according to everyone's status and needs, just like the Li Zhongshe sacrifice. But even the poorest people can't. Can get a small piece.

He is still far away from that position, so he pins this ideal on the black husband he serves.

But after he finished speaking, he felt a little frightened. What Chen Ping said today was a bit too much to seek his own political power, so he quickly apologized in fear.

"Get up, get up quickly."

Instead of being annoyed, Hei Fu felt relieved.

This is the other side of Chen Ping. Although he enjoys intrigues and plots, and is merciless in helping Heifu deal with his enemies, when it comes to running the county, he has always preferred Huang Lao's "ruling by inaction".

"I am also fond of Mr. Huang, Chen Ping. This mantra of yours is indeed not just talk. Very good. If you are poor, you can be good for yourself. If you are rich, you can help the world. This is the ambition that a scholar should have!"

He helped Chen Ping up and sighed: "It's just that you and I were both heads of Guizhou in the past. If you haven't forgotten your origin, why should I forget it?"

Heifu's original intention of letting people study the salt-drying method at the beach was not to please Qin Shihuang, nor simply to increase income for the court, but to make everyone in the world like the "Southern Wind" that Chen Ping hoped he would do. Rich or poor, everyone deserves salt!

This is probably the minimum standard, which is called "poverty alleviation". After that, the ideal state in which people in their 70s have food and clothing, and the people are neither hungry nor cold, can be called "moderately prosperous."

But now, most of the people in the world cannot even meet the minimum standard of survival.

But there is no other way. Before helping the world, we must first save the world.

Heifu said: "Now it is just drying salt in Jiaodong, which is still a drop in the bucket. But when the method of drying salt is spread to the East China Sea, Kuaiji, and even Lingnan and Yue, sooner or later I will make everyone in the world eat salt! But now, The most terrible thing is that the imperial court spends more money than it earns and continues to collect royalties. "

Heifu also discussed with Zhang Cang, and they agreed that if this continues, something big will happen. Now we can only use salt tax and gold mines to fill the gap and put this bad government to rest!

Chen Ping nodded. He was a pragmatic person and agreed with Heifu's reasons. However, he had something in his heart that he wanted to express today.

"Your Majesty, the levy of the mouth tax is just drinking poison to quench thirst. Why not impose a heavy tax on salt?"

Heifu suddenly turned his head and looked at Chen Ping: "What do you mean by this?"

"Whether it is in Nanjun, Beidi or Jiaodong, what the Junjun has done in recent years, whether it is the method of composting and retting, the water cone waterwheel, wool spinning, sun-drying salt, and gold mining, are all open source things. However, this Da Qin The problems and bad government policies cannot be solved by open source..."

Chen Ping raised his head and said to Heifu: "Today Ping is bold to say that Da Qin is now like a big car passing by on the path, always bumpy. The most important thing to do at this time is, It’s not about strengthening the wheels and axles, it’s about stopping and letting the tens of millions of people pulling the carts take a breath!”