Chapter 159: Great kindness to the people, small kindness to the country

Author: Ximen Yangzhou

Chapter 159: Great kindness to the people, small kindness to the country

Sun Ce withdrew his troops and Hefei was lifted from the wartime status.

The various government offices and camps in the city were like the vegetable markets on weekends. They were suddenly extremely busy, especially Lu Su's chief clerk's office.

The post-war loss inventory, merit registration, status assessment of new refugees, statistical distribution of relief grains, etc. are all centralized and handled by the Chief Registrar's Office.

When Long Xiang arrived at the chief clerk's house, Lu Su was still busy verifying the expenses with the clerks.

The moment he saw Long Xiang, Lu Su pointed at him and greeted him.

"Yun Qi? If you don't come, I will go look for you."

"Oh? Zijing has something to do with me?"

Lu Su nodded solemnly: "More than ten thousand refugees have come to Lujiang, and half of them are craftsmen. Do you know what this means?"

"Isn't it a good thing? These craftsmen are involved in all walks of life. As long as they are well guided and used, Hefei can basically be self-sufficient. To be honest, I am more worried about the flow of businessmen. Maybe they will be like Deng Dang again." Long Xiang frowned.

.

Lu Su shook his head and sighed: "Yunqi only sees the benefits of craftsmanship, but does not see the risks involved."

"Craftsmen build cities and improve lives. How can they still be at risk?" Long Xiang was extremely surprised.

Lu Su explained bitterly: "Yuan Shu originally raised so many craftsmen because he had a population of one million in Huainan. Hefei now has less than 70,000 people. Counting the more than 3,000 people in the craftsman camp, the number of craftsmen in Hefei now accounts for the total number of craftsmen."

If you have more than 10%, you can’t afford it if it continues.”

Long Xiang swallowed his saliva and asked in a low voice: "Hefei has collected some grain in the past two years, and Zheng Bao has collected a lot of grain."

"No matter how much grain is stored in Hefei, it will eventually run out if it cannot make ends meet, so we need to prepare for a rainy day."

"How long will the grain currently stored in the official warehouse be enough?"

"Two years at most."

"So fast?"

"With a large number of people, food will be consumed quickly, especially if there is a sudden influx of a large number of refugees. Even if they can farm immediately, it will take several months to harvest food. Many of these advances will not be recouped."

Long Xiang adheres to the good habit of storing food to bear risks, just like the Chinese people like to save money.

When he found out that his savings were only enough for two years, Long Xiang suddenly felt a little nervous, worried about a major famine and war. Two years was quite fast.

"What Zijing means is"

Long Xiang looked at Lu Su and hesitated to speak.

Lu Su stroked his beard and remonstrated: "As the saying goes, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure is the most important thing in the front. Hefei is adjacent to the fertilized land. In the past, there was Shouchun Yuan Shu in the north and Chaohu Zhengbao in the south. In order to weaken the existence of Hefei, only in the lower reaches

Small area farming;

Now that Yuan Shu and Zheng Bao are both dead, it is time to make use of the fertile soil on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. We can take advantage of this slack period to reclaim wasteland and plant seeds next year."

"good."

Long Xiang nodded in affirmation, then asked: "What about reducing expenditures?"

Lu Su continued to add: "Reducing expenditure is naturally a matter of reasonable planning, and only gradual progress can be sustained. Is there a limit to Hefei's acceptance of refugees? We can't accept them endlessly, right?

Hefei's accommodation is limited. In addition, should the distribution ratio of farm income be adjusted again? It leaves too much for the people."

"A city as big as Hefei can accommodate 100,000 people, but now it only has less than 70,000. In addition, I don't recommend raising taxes. Without the support of the people in Guizhou, how can we maintain it so easily? Don't talk about them.

When delivering food and goods during wartime, just strictly observing order and obeying orders is already very good." Long Xiang gave a different opinion.

Lu Su explained bitterly: "Wan County was captured by Sun Ce in two days, but Hefei blocked Sun Ce. Hefei will definitely become the first choice for nearby refugees. Do you think 100,000 people will wait for a long time? We'd better think long-term; low taxes

Although endowments and policies that benefit the people can quickly gain people's support, they are difficult to sustain and are not good for the country."

"As the saying goes, there is great strength in numbers. How can we refuse someone who comes to invest? If there is no room in the city, we can let the newcomers live outside the city. If it is not possible, why not build a new city? Zijing just said that low taxes cannot last long, and it is not good for the country. Why?

untie?"

Long Xiang looked like he was asking for advice. He wanted to hear what the ancients thought.

In the world before Longxiang, some experts said that high housing prices were not conducive to young people's struggle. They thought that Lu Su's argument seemed somewhat similar.

Lu Su explained: "Feeding the people with low taxes is a great good for the people, but a small good for the country. There are three reasons. First, if the people are rich and the country is poor, they will be coveted by foreign countries, and war disasters will continue;

If the people have more than enough, they will be lazy. When they are poor, they will be orderly. When they are rich, they will be cunning. This is the nature of self-interest.

The three rich people are greedy for life. When they were poor, they could die for a meal, but when they were rich, why would they give up their waists for a fight of rice? No matter how high the popularity of the people was at that time, who would still be willing to fight in battle? "

Long Xiang confidently replied: "If the tax is too low, it won't work, but if it is too high, there is no hope for the people. Let's just strike a balance. At present, Hefei is divided equally between the government and the people. It doesn't matter if we let the people keep more for the time being. We can exchange it back in other ways."

For example, bricks, cement, houses, furniture, etc., all the things that the people need are made into government-run products like salt and iron; as long as we continue to raise the expectations of the people, there will be no surplus food for laziness and greed, nor will there be

Let the country become poor."

"Then it depends on the ability of the politician."

Lu Su carefully recalled everything in Hefei. Long Xiang seemed to be implementing his ideas, so he stopped abruptly in the middle of the conversation.

Long Xiang pointed at Lu Su and said with a smile: "I have Zijing to help me, so what should I be afraid of?"

Lu Su shook his head and showed two fingers. He seemed to be telling the other party that he had less than two years left and hoped that Long Xiang would not rely too much on him.

Long Xiang's face suddenly turned serious and he whispered: "I will always remember our three-year appointment. Now take me to a secret place. I have something very important to tell you."

"Well, come with me when the clouds rise."

Seeing how solemn Long Xiang was, Lu Su immediately led the way to an empty room.

"What happened?"

Lu Su closed the door and couldn't help but ask.

Long Xiang took out the copied copy of the 'Edict on Clothes and Belts' from his arms, handed it to Lu Su and said mysteriously: "Zijing, take a look at this first."

"Um?"

Lu Su took the silk book with both hands and immediately began to browse the contents of the book. The first word at the beginning shocked him.

"I have heard that in the relationship between human relations, father and son come first; in the distinction between respect and inferiority, the king and his ministers are the most important. Recently, powerful ministers are thieves. They come out of the pavilion and talk about the rank of assistants. They are really committing the crime of deception."

"This is"

Lu Su was so shocked that he couldn't speak. The silk book was clearly an edict from the emperor and was entrusted to an important minister. How could it appear in Long Xiang's hands?

Long Xiang leaned next to Lu Su and explained in a low voice: "This silk is a copy. The original was written with the blood of Your Majesty's finger. It was hidden in the jade belt and hidden from Cao's thieves. Uncle Dong Guo took it out of the forbidden palace."

"Then why"

At this time, Lu Su heard the name of his uncle and mistakenly thought that Dong Cheng was the master of Longxiang, but he thought it was unlikely, so he did not ask directly.

Long Xiang said seriously: "Zijing asked me before, who is the Ming Lord in my heart? I think I can give you the answer now. The emperor's blood edict is on him now. He escaped from Xudu on the pretext of intercepting Yuan Shu a few months ago. He

He is General Zuo of the Han Dynasty, Marquis Ting of Yicheng, who leads the Yuzhou Shepherd."

"Liu Xuande!"

Lu Su shouted the last three words and immediately covered his mouth with both hands, his clear eyes filled with surprise.
Chapter completed!