Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 299 New Year's Banquet
It was also a New Year's banquet where rewards were given according to merit, but in the Jinling General's Mansion, there was great joy. Except for some departments with poor performance that looked worried, and some of the second-ranked ones who looked upset, the atmosphere was peaceful.
At this time, Bai Tu had just received the news from Chen Gong in Jingnan that Chen Gong would take 10,000 young and strong Shanyue men to stay in Jingnan temporarily, and would return to Zhangling after March. This gave Bai Tu more confidence.
In contrast, Xu Du had just received the "good news" that the General's Mansion had defeated Fuyang and surrendered Yuan Yao in Shouchun, and he was already getting restless, but he didn't know that Jingnan had also made some progress!
Previously, the Shanyue tribes had been in turmoil because the elite members of the Hook Snake and Ming Snake tribes had been completely killed.
After the warriors of other tribes retreated in scattered groups, they began to covet the territories of the Hook Snake and Ming Snake tribes and Yue Ji. At this time, the remaining forces of the two tribes could hardly protect themselves, let alone subdue other tribes.
The two headhunters who stayed behind sought help from the General's Mansion.
In order not to disappoint the advanced Shanyue groups that had "surrendered" to the General's Mansion, Bai Tu had previously sent people to intervene and mediate, and even directly dispatched troops to the garrisons of the two tribes, so the other tribes did not act rashly for a while.
At the same time, Bai Tu was also worried about Chen Gong for a while...
Seeing Chen Gong's report at this time, Bai Tu was completely relieved. Not only was Chen Gong fine, but also half of the elite troops of the two divisions were still left.
In this way, Bai Tu will be more confident among the Shanyue, and then... "divide the troops into two groups" - the women and children who lack young and strong people to protect them, and the young and strong people who lack logistics and leaders, can all be taken advantage of... ahem, they can be targets for humanitarian rescue.
The General's Mansion sent troops to station in the Hook Snake and Ming Snake tribes as their "saviors" and "pillars". Naturally, they could help them choose a new leader out of humanitarianism. On the other hand, Chen Gong in Jingnan was also the "savior" and "financier" of half of the Shanyue elite who were leaderless. Three months was enough for Chen Gong to completely win them over.
If three months is not enough, you can take them to seek revenge on the Xiu Snake Tribe, adapt to Chen Gong's command, and go home later - home is protected by the General's Mansion, so you don't have to worry!
When the remaining half of the young and strong people who obey Chen Gong's orders come back and join the main family that relies heavily on the General's Mansion, Ming Snake and Hook Snake can basically change their surnames to Bai, and the two tribes can at least recover the most basic vitality. The General's Mansion does not have to worry about being stuck in a quagmire if it rashly intervenes in the internal strife of Shanyue.
The Wuxi people have the Shamoke on one side, and the Shanyue people have the Mingshe and Goushe tribes on the other side. The promotion of cultural integration is just around the corner.
As for the people of the Snake Cultivation Tribe, the women and children who stayed behind had all left the village and no one knew where they had hidden. After all, even the Shanyue people did not have complete control over the mountains in the south.
The Snake Repairing Tribe was clearly well prepared, and... judging from some clues, they might even be heading .
As for the elite troops led by their leader Wangkong, they were previously released into Jingnan by Mohuken. Chen Gong and Shamoke did not know what he was planning.
In addition to the three armies that entered Jingzhou and the navy that expanded the sea routes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Works also won a lot of praise at the New Year's meeting.
Not to mention how many new gadgets the Ministry of Works has come up with, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which is in charge of civil engineering projects, also has a clear list of how many dikes it has built, how many bridges it has built, how much river silt it has cleared, and how many new keel water wheels and waterwheels it has built this year.
After all, every quarter, we have to go down to the counties to inspect progress and evaluate performance. Wanminshu and the like are not popular at all. After only actual performance is used as the judging standard, it is obvious that there is still potential to be tapped in various places.
Of course, the efforts of the Ministry of Revenue were also behind this. After all, it was only by distributing large amounts of Wuzhu coins and grain that various places were able to move forward.
It’s just that a large part of the money and grain from the Ministry of Revenue is also the profit from salt and iron, and a large part of the credit is also from the Ministry of Works, so it doesn’t seem very noticeable.
And thanks to the Privy Council...
If the General's Mansion also maintained a very high ratio of military to civilians like other princes, it is obvious that the people would not have the energy to do these things.
In short, starting from the increase in grain production, to the use of salt and iron to effectively collect the head (salt) tax, it ensured that the general's office had money and grain. In addition, the increase in steel production and the popularization of new equipment gave the Privy Council the confidence to reduce the number of conscriptions, so that the people would not be weakened by overdrawing manpower...
During this period, the reserve force provided by the Ministry of Rites' selection examinations and recruitment halls, as well as the village and county schools, was also an important guarantee.
With everyone's joint efforts, we have squeezed out these canals, these dredging projects, large areas of water wheels that are currently used for irrigation and can be used to develop water power in the future, as well as the breeding of oxen and pigs.
Bai Tu even wrote inscriptions for each department's toast at the New Year's Eve banquet...but Wang Lang was a little autistic.
Wang Lang, who was left at the end, was not blamed too much, or rather... according to the performance appraisal system, Wang Lang's Ministry of Justice had suffered enough this year, and there was no need to blame him further.
On the contrary, Bai Tu recognized Wang Lang's innovative ideas, admitted that the current work of the Ministry of Justice was difficult, and attributed the responsibility to his own haste. At the same time, what disappointed and puzzled some people was that... Bai Tu finally fell into "expectation" for Wang Lang.
He personally endorsed Wang Lang's new legal reform, supported Wang Lang to continue to face challenges, and especially mentioned the workshop.
Because Yangzhou, especially the two important centers of Jinling and Shouchun, began to emerge in large numbers, the number of hired workers, although still small compared with farmers, and a large part of them were "part-time workers" during the slack season, was indeed an expanding group.
Bai Tu also ordered the Ministry of Justice to visit workshops frequently and to develop new adaptive laws for new groups.
For example, when it comes to working hours, we must have the courage to regulate them in the form of laws, with no more than six hours a day and no less than two days off work a month.
There are also regulations on the workshop working environment, as well as how to divide responsibilities in the event of illness or injury during work, which must be issued and implemented as soon as possible.
He even went so far as to instruct the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Industry to include the employment situation of a workshop as one of the criteria for evaluating cooperation. For workshops that violate the core concept of "benevolence and love for others", they will not only be sanctioned by the Ministry of Justice, but will also be put on the blacklist of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Industry.
Perhaps some people would complain about the General's Mansion's "meddling". After all, the workshops nowadays are all run by wealthy and powerful families, and most of the so-called employees are not hired, but already have servants...it's just that the indenture is not recognized by the General's Mansion now.
However, according to statistics from the Ministry of Households, although the workshops seemed to be springing up everywhere, more than 70% of their productivity actually served the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Industry.
Therefore, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Industry started to cooperate in management directly, and no one dared to object, otherwise there would be no orders even if the workshop was opened.
Of course, a big part of the reason is...
Unlike modern Western capitalists, aristocratic families need to connect with their fellow villagers to maintain their popularity.
They prefer to "kidnap" villagers to use as bargaining chips when confronting the government, to absorb nutrients and strengthen themselves in a long-term manner, rather than relying on cooperating with the government, skinning and boneing the people, and pursuing rapid accumulation. They need to be popular and talented to rule the world together with the court, otherwise they will just be a meal for the court.
Except for a small number of hired refugees who were treated as disposable consumables , the desire of the wealthy families to exploit domestic slaves and villagers was not as crazy as that of the capitalists.
If the refugees in the General's Mansion are not properly resettled, they will be held accountable. Their number is very small...
What the Ministry of Justice needs to do is just to nip the problem in the bud. After all, if things are left alone, changes will only happen sooner or later. However, it is not considered going against the trend at the moment. Although it will be disliked, the resistance is not huge. It is not as difficult as the criminal prosecution reform .
"I'll be looking forward to working with you all next year. Let's drink to you." Bai Tu raised his glass and said.
