July 18th of the 11th year of Shenwu in the Ming Dynasty (all dates in this article are lunar calendars). Due to the influence of the weather in the Little Ice River, the weather was already very cold in late autumn. In addition, ordinary people in this era do not have such rich foods, and their ability to defend against cold is very poor, so people have already put on cotton coats on the street.

At the post station outside Yongding Gate in the outer city of Beijing, a group of people were leading the crown prince Zhu Hai to see off for the King of Yan Zhu Yuan who was heading south.

Zhu Yuan is an imperial envoy and is also a prince. As the crown prince and eldest brother, Zhu Hai naturally wants to see him off, although the two brothers have broken up.

Zhu Hai naturally couldn't show too much disgust of this brother in front of outsiders. Zhu Hai stepped forward and held Zhu Yuan's hand and said, "Fourth brother, this is your first time going out, and you are carrying the heavy responsibility of your father. You must pay attention to your health. The eldest brother heard that Henan is very chaotic, so don't leave the protection of the guards, you must come back safely!"

Zhu Yuan also looked like he was respectful and held the prince's hand and said, "Don't worry, brother, brother, I must obey the prince's words, and must investigate the matters in Henan clearly and give an explanation to the people of Henan!"

After the performance of the two, they each returned to their own carriages. Zhu Hai returned to the palace and continued to study. Zhu Yuan boarded his carriage and went south to Henan with the escort of the imperial guards.

Although the country's war is over, there are still a large number of bandits in the north, especially Henan, which is a place in Zhongzhou, where bandits are everywhere. In order to protect the safety of his son, Zhu Hongsan specially transferred a battalion of 300 people from the Imperial Guards to be responsible for the protection work, and also sent 200 Jinyiwei to accompany him, so Zhu Yuan and his group had more than 700 people, which was really awesome.

After Zhu Yuan bid farewell to the prince, he first asked his teacher Yu Chenglong to get on the car, and then he respectfully got on the car. As the teacher of the King of Yan, Yu Chenglong was also a de facto imperial envoy, so he was second only to the King of Yan in this team, so he also owned his own separate carriage.

The route chosen for going south this time was the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway in later generations. However, there was no transportation tool with a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour in the Ming Dynasty, so the journey from Beijing to Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan took one month.

The team rested in Fangshan County, Shuntian Prefecture on the first day. The magistrate here had already received news that the imperial envoy was coming, so he cleaned the city post station to accommodate the imperial envoy.

When they arrived at the entrance of the inn, King Yan Zhu Yuan came down to take a look around. The inn was not large in size, with only a dozen rooms. It seemed that not everyone could have rooms.

Zhu Yuan looked at the Fangshan County Magistrate who was accompanying him and asked, "Are you the Fangshan County Magistrate?"

The county magistrate was in his forties. He heard the young imperial envoy ask him and quickly bowed and replied: "Return to the imperial envoy, the official is Xu Youdao, Fangshan County!"

Zhu Yuan nodded: "Is your inn so big? We have more than 700 people, so we can't stay here!"

Xu Youdao said, "Mr. I have no choice. Fangshan County has a small population and there is only one post station in the county. If you don't, please ask the subordinates of the imperial envoy to camp at the lieutenant schoolyard!"

When Zhu Yuan heard that his people were going to camp in the wild, he said angrily: "Fuck you, let me go camp in the king? Pour your county government out and let my people live!"

When Xu Youdao heard the imperial envoy say this, he quickly said with a sad face: "Sir, even the officials poured out the county government office, it is not enough to live! Fangshan County Government office was built by Jiajing for ten years. It has been more than a hundred years since it was disrepaired, and there are not so many rooms!"

When Zhu Yuan heard the county magistrate crying poor, he didn't believe it, so he took the county magistrate to the county government office in the county to watch. When Zhu Yuan arrived at the county government office, he found that the county magistrate Xu Youdao did not lie. Fangshan County Government was really dilapidated. The three steps at the door were gone, and the rammed earth from the foundation had leaked out. The paint of the two pillars at the gate had fallen, and one of the pillars was still interrupted, and there was no way to support them with a few sticks.

The plaques on the county government gate were mottled, and only the two words of the county government were vaguely visible. Looking inside the county government gate, it was dilapidated. The red bricks on the ground were mostly missing, and the ground was filled with pits and soil. Several half-dead yamen runners stood at the door. When they saw the county magistrate come back, they knelt down and kowtowed.

Zhu Yuan was born in a wealthy family and this was the first time he had seen such a beggar-like county yard. In his impression, the government yards were all high-ranking families, and there were mighty yamen runners standing at the door. They grimaced when they saw outsiders coming, as if they were evil. But the county yard in front of him was a good thing. If the plaque on the Fangshan County yard at the door was removed, it would be a land temple that had been disrepaired for a long time.

Zhu Yuan pointed to the county government and asked, "Xu Youdao, is this your county government? Are you working in this broken place?"

Xu Youdao said with a frown: "Sir, that's exactly what it is!"

"No, I have heard in the capital that a seventh-rank county magistrate has a salary of 1,200 silver dollars per year. Why do you live like a poor man?"

"Sir, the salary is paid in full, but the money is to be paid to the senior officials, including the sedan chairmen, followers, and idle officials, so 1,200 silver dollars will be enough!"

Zhu Yuan frowned when he heard Xu Youdao say this, "Xu Youdao, don't you think I am young. My father had already ordered in Guangzhou that the salary of all the clerks in the county will be paid by the state!"

Only then did Xu Youdao realize that the young imperial envoy in front of him was the emperor's prince, but Xu Youdao's official position was small, so he didn't dare to ask why the imperial envoy was changed to a prince. Now, he heard the imperial envoy ask him and he was immediately complaining.

"I don't know that there are only 65 people in the county who have the state financial allocation, but Fangshan is located in a major capital, with heavy labor service every year. At the same time, food and wages are collected and local affairs are also required. Apart from the county magistrate, chief clerk, dictionary, three squad heads, six-room clerks, and three ranks, there are only 49 people left. It's not enough. There is no way to hire more than 100 people in the county, including Baiyi."

When Zhu Yuan heard that Fangshan County was so small, he had to hire more than 100 tutors himself. Where did the money come from?

"The state will not allocate money to you, nor will it be allowed to collect fire and waste. Where did these hiring workers come from?" Zhu Yuan did not know anything. Before he started this time, he also found someone to make up for local financial knowledge. He knew that since his father implemented the new policy, the largest fire and waste in local finance was gone. Now Fangshan County still has money to hire people by itself, so there must be other inputs.

Xu Youdao looked at Zhu Yuan. He didn't want to talk about this, but the imperial envoy asked about it. Xu Youdao just told the truth.

"The imperial envoy, the country is not allowed to charge fire consumption, but the county still needs to operate it. There is no way to borrow money from local big customers!"

"Borrow money? Your county government is so poor that someone will lend you money?"

When Xu Youdao saw Zhu Yuan getting angry, he lowered his head and didn't say anything. Yu Chenglong was around for a long time. Although he didn't understand the administrative operation of the county government, he still knew some of the bad rules among the people.

Yu Chenglong came to Zhu Yuan and whispered: "Prince, although it is not allowed to consume the fire, the county still needs to collect taxes. Therefore, when the county is short of money, it will borrow money and mortgage the right to collect taxes to the large households. Anyway, the county only cares about the amount, and it is enough if the money is enough. As for whom it collects, it will not be under the jurisdiction of the county."

When Zhu Yuan heard this, he was fine. In the new national policy, tax collection is based on land. Now Fangshan County is good, and the right to collect taxes is mortgaged to individuals. Wouldn't this impose the taxes originally collected by the whole people on those little people who have no power?

Just as Zhu Yuan was about to get angry, he saw Yu Chenglong using colors to him and signaled himself not to care. Zhu Yuan saw that Yu Chenglong had something to say, just suppress his anger, pulled Yu Chenglong aside, and then asked in a low voice: "Teacher, do you have something to say to the students!"

Yu Chenglong whispered: "Prince, Fangshan County is not an individual case. It can be said that this is the case in the whole world. In addition, the prince's errand this time was a corruption case in Henan. Fangshan is under the jurisdiction of Zhili, and it should be under the jurisdiction of the prince if it is not!"

"But teacher, are you just watching Fangshan County misinterpret the court's laws in this way?"

Yu Chenglong sighed and said, "Your Majesty, in fact, this cannot be blamed on Fangshan County. The former Ming county-level taxes left 10% for the same level every year to be used for the annual cost of the county government. However, in the Wanli period, all taxes were collected at the beginning and then applied for allocation according to the annual cost. However, it is easy to pay, and it is difficult to allocate them. Therefore, these magistrates had to collect 10% to 20% of the taxes every year for the operation of the county government. After five years of Chongzhen, they began to collect 100% to 20% of the taxes. The northern counties could not collect them, so they had no choice but to hand over the tax revenue to professional tax collectors to collect them, and implemented a tax-packing system. But when the money was collected, the northern provinces were all full of war."

"Teacher, didn't my father abolish the three major salaries in Guangdong?"

"Prince, it is easy to abolish it but difficult to implement it. The tax-packing system has been implemented for many years, and there are a number of vested interest groups everywhere. It is not a matter of a flash to completely abolish it."

Zhu Yuan sighed when he heard Yu Chenglong say this and said, "Teacher, you have encountered a problem just how far away from the capital. So do you think the problem in Henan is even more serious than that in Fangshan?"

"Prince, because the water in Henan is too deep, the prince needs to read more and ask less when he arrives in Henan. We just need to report the truth to Your Majesty. How to decide is Your Majesty's business!"

Zhu Yuan is only fifteen years old now, and is still in a state of angry youth who serves the country and the people. He has not been assimilated by this society and officialdom. Now he is very dissatisfied with what Yu Chenglong said.

"Teacher, but my father said he wanted to give an explanation to the people of Henan. Should we go and check it out and go back to Beijing?"

Yu Chenglong smiled bitterly when he heard Zhu Yuan say this: "Prince, this has been like this from ancient times to the present. The officialdom is like the Yellow River, and it will never become a pool of clear water."
Chapter completed!