OBS Chapter 389 The fat sheep I've been longing for has arrived!
Chapter 389 The fat sheep I've been longing for has arrived!
While Yang Shaofeng was idly pondering how to squeeze some more cattle and horses out of Lao Zhu, he smiled and instructed Xu Jingyu, "This time, there are more than six hundred officials returning to Penglai with me. Make sure they are settled in properly."
Xu Jingyu was slightly taken aback and asked, "More than six hundred officials?"
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "There are five county magistrates, more than fifty county magistrates, several dozen prefects, and more than a dozen prefects."
Xu Jingyu immediately put on a mournful face and said, "Your Highness, please don't be making fun of me by deposing me, this...this..."
Yang Shaofeng laughed and said, "Let's settle them on the construction site in the city. They'll have food to eat, clothes to wear, and hard labor to do. That way, they can become good officials in the fourth year of Hongwu's reign."
"Furthermore, in a while there may be more than two thousand gentry and their relatives from Jiangnan. These people will also be sent to do hard labor, and they will all be settled in your Penglai County."
Upon hearing Yang Shaofeng's words, Xu Jingyu's face immediately lit up.
"Rest assured, Your Highness, I will make sure they are all settled in properly."
Xu Jingyu initially agreed with a beaming smile, but then changed the subject, returning to the topic of cattle and horses: "Your Highness, could you perhaps allocate a few more of those cattle and horses to Penglai County?"
Yang Shaofeng looked Xu Jingyu up and down and asked, "Why?"
Xu Jingyu chuckled awkwardly and replied, "I was thinking that with spring plowing just around the corner, wouldn't it be more convenient for the people to plow the fields if we had a few more oxen and horses?"
"Moreover, Physician Wang said that a dock should be built at Penglai Pavilion in the future to facilitate the docking of ships coming and going."
"I was thinking that since we are going to build a dock, we will definitely need to transport a lot of materials, so I thought I would ask for more cattle and horses."
Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "We'll talk about it later after I've seen the household registration records of Dengzhou Prefecture."
Seeing that he hadn't managed to get a few cattle and horses right away, Xu Jingyu rolled his eyes and chuckled twice, saying, "How about we send a few of those Korean laborers to Penglai County?"
Yang Shaofeng stopped in his tracks, looked at Xu Jingyu, and asked, "What exactly happened?"
With a fawning smile, Xu Jingyu cupped his hands and replied, "Your Highness, isn't it because Penglai is facing a severe shortage of manpower due to the need to build both docks and workshops?"
Upon hearing Xu Jingyu's statement, Yang Shaofeng immediately burst into laughter.
Are you short-staffed?
We're short-staffed!
For officials, the number of people is not just a matter of their official positions.
To put it simply, the larger the population, the more taxes will be levied.
And it wasn't just land tax and poll tax.
With more people, vendors have more room to survive.
The presence of merchants meant that officials could collect commercial taxes.
According to the rule that 70% of the tax revenue was escorted to the capital and 30% remained in the local areas, the amount of tax revenue directly affected how much money officials had at their disposal.
The amount of money available for use indirectly relates to how much officials can pocket.
Give the simplest example.
Xu Jingyu needed to repair the Confucian Temple, which required a large number of bricks.
It just so happens that one of Xu Jingyu's fellow villagers owns a brick kiln in Penglai County.
Does that mean things will fall into place naturally from there?
This includes Yang Shaofeng.
Although Yang Shaofeng didn't use the designated supplier system when he was in Ningyang County, he initially set up the workshop with his own money and took a share of the profits.
This method of receiving dividends every year is indeed rather simple and crude, unlike more sophisticated methods such as designating supply units. However, for the officials in the early years of the Hongwu reign, this method was actually safer.
At this time, Emperor Zhu only required officials not to be cruel to the people, and did not stipulate that officials could not receive bonuses.
What happened next is quite obvious.
Ningyang County has many workshops, so it naturally needs a lot of manpower, which is why Yang Shaofeng keeps complaining about a shortage of manpower.
Xu Jingyu probably saw the benefits that setting up workshops could bring to Penglai County, but he also discovered the shortage of manpower, so he thought of bringing more Korean laborers to Penglai County.
Yang Shaofeng smiled and said to Xu Jingyu, "Whether we can send more laborers to Penglai depends mainly on how many laborers the Koreans come over."
After a slight pause, Yang Shaofeng looked at Xu Jingyu and asked, "How are those workshops you set up doing? Don't let them be unable to meet the demand when the market opens."
Xu Jingyu immediately cupped his hands and replied, "Your Highness, rest assured, those workshops mostly employ female workers, so it will neither delay spring plowing nor supply the market."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement, then changed the subject, saying, "I estimate that in another ten days to half a month, the fruit tree seedlings that our Shandong Provincial Councilor Wang helped find in Jiangnan should be delivered."
"Have you dug all the tree pits I asked you to dig in advance?"
“They’ve already dug the pits in Zhaoyuan and Laiyang.”
“Your Penglai County is attached to the prefectural city. If Penglai County lags behind Zhaoyuan and Laiyang, I will not have much face to show for it.”
Xu Jingyu cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, all the tree pits have been dug."
"Furthermore, I specifically asked the people which places are suitable for planting fruit trees, and what kinds of fruit trees are suitable for planting there."
"Once the fruit tree saplings arrive, I will lead the people to plant them directly."
The group walked forward while talking, and slowly arrived at the newly built Dengzhou Prefectural Government Office.
Yang Shaofeng turned to look at Wang Shaoyu and asked, "Did we overstep the bounds?"
Wang Shaoyu smiled and replied, "Your Highness, rest assured, there is no overstepping of the rules."
"The reason why our Dengzhou Prefecture government office looks better than the Jinan Prefecture government office is because the Jinan Prefecture government office was built earlier and many parts do not conform to regulations, while our Dengzhou Prefecture government office strictly follows the regulations."
Isn't it normal that the Dengzhou prefectural government office was built better than the Jinan prefectural government office?
After all, the city walls of Dengzhou Prefecture were even more impressive than those of Jinan Prefecture.
However, even after building such an impressive Dengzhou city and Dengzhou prefectural government office, Wang Shaoyu still felt somewhat regretful.
The prince consort is too honest and upright.
In fact, if things were done according to regulations, Yang Shaofeng could have built a prince consort's mansion in Dengzhou Prefecture, with the regulations only slightly lower than those of a prince's mansion.
The problem was that Yang Shaofeng had no intention of building a mansion for the son-in-law; he was determined to live in the backyard of the government office. This left Wang Shaoyu feeling regretful that he had a lot of talent but nowhere to use it.
Just as Wang Shaoyu was filled with regret, the head of the express yamen of Penglai County hurriedly arrived in front of the prefectural government office and bowed to Xu Jingyu, saying, "Your Excellency, there are several Koreans who say they are looking for the Prince Consort."
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback and asked, "Are there some Koreans looking for me?"
Hiss~ This isn’t some kind of stick, this is the fat sheep I’ve been longing for!