Chapter 266 Three Cobblers
After Zhao Feiyan denied her mother's belief with one sentence, she slapped the yawn from her mouth and said that she wanted to take a bath and rest, as she had to lead the teachers and students of the prefectural school to Jiading in the south tomorrow.
Kuang Sisi looked at her innocent daughter helplessly, thinking about how to make Zhao Yulin marry her good girl as soon as possible.
At the dock south of the city, Yang Daquan and the eloquent team from Lin'an were still drinking. These people had intended to use their eloquence to create momentum in Western Shu and make Zhao Yulin bow down to the imperial power of Lin'an, but they did not expect that the situation in Western Shu had changed dramatically.
Moreover, Zhao Qier did not play according to their routine and refused to reason with them at all.
When everyone saw the person who stood out this time, Professor Zeng Wudao of the provincial school felt so uncomfortable. Although the swelling on this person's mouth had gone down, it was still covered with scars. His buttocks were beaten to a pulp by fifty strokes of the stick, and the scars had just formed. He could only eat while standing.
A gentleman should use his mouth instead of his fists, but Zhao Qier wanted to kill people as soon as he opened his mouth and hit people as soon as he raised his hand. Their verbal attacks were completely useless.
Zeng Wudao was like a greedy cat when he saw them drinking the charmingly fragrant Wu Gu Feng. He wanted to eat it very much, but his mouth was full of wounds. Not to mention drinking, he would cry out in pain if he got a little bit of wine on it.
He was so angry that he spoke out with difficulty and viciously: When I return to Lin'an, I must be a loyal servant of Prime Minister Shi, and I would be a dishonest person if I don't kill Zhao Qi'er.
Yang Daquan was full of confidence when he first received the order. But when he arrived in Chengdu and found that the officials were living a more comfortable life than when the emperor was in power, he knew that the difficulty was high. Then, the riot he carefully planned in the prefectural school was easily dealt with by Zhao Yulin, and he almost got beaten with a hundred sticks, which made him feel even more guilty.
Some people say that those who come to Shu to seek official positions have an easy life, as Zhao Qier directly pays them salaries. They all hang around the government office like pugs.
Here, we are running out of money, right?
Yang Daquan's servant said that when he went out, he asked for 1,000 taels of travel expenses from the prime minister, and Lord Yang also brought 200 taels of his own, so now he only has 300 taels left.
In fact, Yang Daquan was a corrupt official. Not only did he not add a tael, but he also withheld 200 taels for household expenses when he left. He drank the wine in his glass and asked people to go on board to rest. Everyone started walking towards a cargo ship at the dock.
When the passenger ships at the dock heard that this group of people came from Lin'an to cause trouble, they refused to carry them. It was not until Inspector Jiang Ligang came personally to greet them that the group was able to catch a cargo ship bound for Kuizhou.
At daybreak, Zhao Yulin arrived at the South Gate Wharf and waited to send Zhao Feiyan south. The teachers and students of the prefectural school were on ten military ships. He gave his official ship to Zhao Feiyan for use and also equipped her with a guard of thirty people.
Ma Linger asked her maid to bring a box and said there was some money in it. If it was not enough, she could use it at the cooperatives along the way. Si Niang had issued the documents.
The little girl was very happy. She boarded the boat happily and waved goodbye.
The two did not go back until the boat was out of sight. Ma Ling said, "Let's get married, right? Sooner or later, we'll have to get married."
Zhao Yulin said, "Why are you in such a hurry? We are in Chengdu. We need to show it to the people, so that everyone knows that we care about the princess." The small court in Jiangdong is still turmoil, and he doesn't want to be associated with the saying that the royal family ascended the throne and wore a yellow robe.
The woman leaned against him more and more closely as the carriage swayed, muttering that he was too taboo and that the higher the official one became, the more tiring his life became.
He smiled and said that there were too many women and men couldn't handle it, which was tiring.
Ma Ling pinched his waist and said that all men are bad, they are not good at taking advantage of others. The couple went crazy in the carriage.
Soon they arrived at the government office. Zhao Yulin tidied up his clothes and got off the carriage, helping Ma Ling'er down. Immediately, a clerk came and asked them both to go to the back hall, as Mr. Ding had something to discuss.
Why does Zhao Yulin feel that the old man likes republican affairs?
They walked into the small flower hall at the back and Cao Youwen arrived.
Mr. Ding laughed and said that the weather was warm, so let's have tea and talk in the flower hall.
Zhao Yulin nodded and went to sit down. He saw that Ma Ling's seat was also set up next to him. Ma Ling'er found it and took the table card to sit down next to Hua Yue, saying thank you to everyone. She would rather sit with Master Hua to discuss matters.
Zhao Yulin liked his woman very much because she was sensible. He took a sip of tea and asked the old man what he wanted to arrange.
The old man said with a smile that he had discussed the school affairs yesterday, and thought that the expenses were huge, so he had to discuss it with you. This old man was interesting. He wanted to do it, but he was afraid that people would say he was arbitrary, so he wanted Zhao Yulin to take the blame.
He didn't care. He already had a lot of problems, so this one wouldn't be another.
After having tea, Zhao Yulin said that the envoy and the professor Wu Lao from the prefectural school had gone to study abroad. Isn't it inappropriate for us to discuss academic matters?
The old man smiled and said it was okay, it was okay, and he just wanted to talk about how to build his own thatched cottage.
His Thatched Cottage University?
Damn, this hat is too big.
Zhao Yulin almost spit out the water he had drunk. He stared at Ding Gong in a daze.
The old man spoke with great interest: Young man Yulin planned a large thatched cottage school for me yesterday. I agree with it very much. Gentlemen, please listen and discuss it.
Zhao Yulin had already been put on the fire, so just say it.
He said: In recent years, in order to resist the invasion from the north, we have collected taxes year after year to maintain the expenses of the court and deal with border troubles, so the expenses for academic affairs have been much less, and we owe a lot of debts.
Recently, he and Ding Gong inspected the prefectural schools and found that most of the buildings in the prefectural schools were in disrepair. The Sichuan-Shaanxi Administration Office already had eight prefectures under its jurisdiction, and the existing prefectural schools could not meet the needs of students. Therefore, he proposed to set up official schools in the four gates of Chengdu and build , named Caotang University.
Zhao Yulin further enriched yesterday's idea like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube and then poured it out. When Hua Yue heard that a one-time allocation of one million yuan was required, he said nervously that the amount of money for redeeming the land was already a huge expense, and it might be difficult to continue to build a school.
No one spoke.
Without money, everything you do will be in vain.
Zhao Yulin said that a huge amount of dirty silver was confiscated and invested. He asked Lao Cao if the silver was not enough to redeem the land?
Isn't it said that the land should be redeemed at the market price, and officials' land should be redeemed at an 80% discount?
Cao Youwen said that according to preliminary statistics, even if the redemption price was 20% off, it would still require a huge amount of money to complete the land acquisition in Chengdu.
He nodded, thinking that he had underestimated the price. He didn't want to talk about so much useless things, saying that the price of land should be determined based on the market price six months ago, and a group of people should be selected from the garrison to investigate the actual price of land, and resolutely block the price increase.
The amount of silver will be based on the reserved funds in the treasury. We’ll start by collecting it from the surrounding areas of Chengdu. If there is no more silver, we can collect it next year. How do you think?
Lao Cao thought this was a good idea, he could buy as much land as he had money.
Ma Ling said there was another thing here, which was the actual number of acres of land. They found that the number of acres of land used for paying grain and taxes did not match the number of acres of land redeemed. Some officials had far more land in their hands than the amount of land used for paying grain and taxes.
Lao Cao said that he was just about to talk about this matter, and the judicial and supervisory departments should jointly investigate these acts of tax evasion and severely punish these rats.
Zhao Yulin felt that the situation was becoming increasingly complicated and reminded Lao Cao to be cautious in his response.
Lao Cao said in a cold voice that officials must hand over their land at a 20% discount, otherwise they would be dismissed and go home to raise their children. Those who falsely reported the number of acres of land would be punished according to law, and those who committed serious crimes would be beheaded.
Like Zhao Yulin, he came back from the battlefield and hated these traitors the most.
Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhao Yulin smiled and said that the money for building Caotang University could be paid from the military funds received last year, was that okay?
Ma Ling reported with a smile: "Yes, the financial situation of the Shenwei Army has greatly improved after receiving the military funds from the Zhizhisi last year." She went back and arranged for Fengyuan Prison in Jiazhou to allocate one million strings of new silver coins to the Xueshisi for backup.
Mr. Ding was very happy to hear that there was money. He smiled and said, "That's great, that's great."
Lao Cao said worriedly that the Mongolian army was gathering in Guanzhong and there would be a major war in the future, so we had to prepare for it.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that a storm was brewing and everyone should keep a close eye on it and do what they should do.
After everyone left, Zhao Yulin told Lao Cao that he had to go, and that the family would depend on him and Mr. Ding to support it.
The old man looked at Zhao Yulin with a bit of reluctance, because he liked him to stir up trouble and talk about things, and every time he hit the old man's point. Such meetings were very fresh and successful, and you could see that things were being pushed forward quickly.
Lao Cao still wants to go to the border and is too lazy to deal with these trivial matters in the court.
Zhao Yulin asked with a smile, "How can a general go to war while young people stay at home?" Besides, buying land is a tough battle, and it would be a great achievement if the general won.
Lao Cao asked him seriously, how much of the military funds he took last year could he use to redeem the land? He wanted to subdue these landlords, big and small.
Zhao Yulin smiled and told him to ask Ma Ling and Cao E. Didn't his little daughter also work in finance? He told him not to be afraid.
Zhao Yulin was worried that if the land reform in Chengdu was too hasty, it would cause a strong backlash from the big landlords. He suggested to Lao Cao that the land around Chengdu should be improved this year. In places like Wenjiang, as long as the river was repaired and ditches were dug, large areas of river beaches and wetlands could be reclaimed, which were all excellent farmland.
If we expand the inland water of Dujiangyan and divert it there, those land tenants will definitely move to the fields with low rent and good drainage and irrigation. In this way, the land rents of the big landlords in Dayi and Qionglai will not be high, and it will be easy for us to redeem them.
Lao Cao's eyes suddenly lit up and he was in a good mood. He praised Zhao Yulin for having a solution.
Mr. Ding also praised his idea, and said happily that in the future all counties that have completed land redemption will arrange for farm canal improvement and land reclamation and excavation. Why don't those people voluntarily hand over their land?
Haha, three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang.
The next day, Zhao Yulin set out at dawn and headed straight for Dujiangyan. He hadn't heard from Yangjin for a while, so he planned to go to Hanzhong via Baoning.
At the Jiading wharf, Yang Daquan met the Chengdu Fuxue fleet again.
A few days ago, before they set sail, they saw teachers and students from the prefectural school boarding the warship one after another, and Zhao Qier actually saw them off in person.
