NABC Page 105
Page 105
Lin Jishun finished the wine in his bowl: "As long as you don't violate the law or do anything immoral, I, Lin Jishun, will stand with you on the other side."
Old Zhang reached out and patted Lin Jishun on the shoulder: "Don't worry, brother, I'm forty-eight years old this year, I'm practically buried in the ground. Even if you wanted to do those filthy things, I wouldn't dare."
I have a family to support, and my biggest dream in this life is to try and avoid becoming a mere seventh-rank county magistrate, so I can leave something for my children in the future.
Lin Jishun didn't say anything, but continued pouring wine. But Old Zhang could tell from his attitude that it was enough. Between men, sometimes a single glance is enough to decide many important matters. Those who pound their chests and shout loudly are often unreliable.
After establishing a closer relationship, Lin Jishun didn't stand on ceremony: "Old Zhang, you have to make the decision to resolve the issue of our Meihua Town government's unpaid wages, and also get me a larger share of this year's education funding."
So many children can't go to school and are essentially illiterate. As the town mayor, I'm very worried.
Old Zhang lowered his voice: "There are policies from above and countermeasures from below. Last month, I went to a meeting in the province, and the director of the education department said that some families with children who have a strong desire to go to school can pay for their own education, but it can't be too outrageous."
The higher-ups secretly set a standard: 150 jin of grain per school year; more is not allowed, and less will not be accepted.
"With so many corrupt officials arrested this year, the higher-ups certainly won't keep all the spoils. It'll most likely be a 30/70 split, which will probably result in a significant surplus in the treasury. Once it reaches the county level, I'll find a way to help you."
"But you have to help me out too. Whether I can climb up the ladder depends on whether you, my little brother, put in the effort!"
Upon hearing that his problem was solved, Lin Jishun slammed his fist on the table and said to Lao Zhang's request, "Tell me, I'll do anything I can, and I'll find a way to do anything I can't!"
Old Zhang began by saying, "This year, the central government issued regulations for the assessment of officials, and the Ministry of Personnel stipulated four core areas: education, industry, agriculture, and economy."
"If these four points are met and the requirements from above are met, then a promotion is guaranteed. Everyone is involved in education; I can only try to come up with more ideas."
Agriculture is out of the question, but industry and the economy still have potential. The paper mill and shipyard in the county were established under my leadership.
"Your Meihua Town has always had a thriving tea industry. Do you think there's any potential there?"
Lin Jishun was just in time to have a good opportunity, so he told them everything about the landlord in Meihua Town selling land, the tea merchants wanting to buy land to expand their tea factory, and the bank loan.
Old Zhang was overjoyed upon hearing this: "Brother, you can tell them not to go through all that trouble. The landlord can just use the land as shares, and the tea merchants can continue to take out loans. I'll help them sort it out."
"Since the tea factory is going to be built, let's go all out! As long as I'm in Hua'an County, I'll guarantee your success. Go for it!"
Lin Jishun originally thought he would have to run around all day, but he didn't expect that Lao Zhang would take care of everything for him. It really is easy to get things done when you have someone in power.
The meal lasted until 2 p.m., and since Old Zhang still had to go to the dock to keep an eye on things, Lin Jishun didn't want to disturb him any longer and prepared to head home.
The two went to the dock. Lin Jishun waited for the ship to return, while Lao Zhang kept an eye on unloading the supplies. The steel bars on the ship were urgently needed for bridge and road construction. Now the provincial government was checking for omissions and trying desperately to make up for the infrastructure projects that were owed last year.
Those fertilizers are also essential supplies for spring plowing in the county. They are not easy to store, and especially cannot get wet, so Lao Zhang has to keep an eye on them.
Old Zhang complained to Lin Jishun, "I'm receiving an eighth-rank salary but doing the work of a seventh-rank official. It's really tough!"
"Why don't you just come to the county and lend me a hand?"
Lin Jishun quickly shook his head. He had only been the town mayor for half a year and was just beginning to feel the power. He was doing a good job as the head of the town, so why would he want to come to your county to be a subordinate?
The two chatted for a while, and when the boat arrived, Lin Jishun took his leave.
No matter what happens at higher levels, he is still the mayor of Plum Blossom Town. He can't control the political upheavals at the top; he can only manage his small Plum Blossom Town. He is content as long as it prospers every day.
Chapter 178 Aftershocks
In Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, Zhang Xinghua is currently overseeing the city in his capacity as the Minister of the Central Supervisory Commission.
Originally, an inspection team was sent to investigate. At that time, they found that two million was not in accordance with the accounts. Although the matter was big, it did not reach the point where a central minister had to personally intervene.
However, after the inspection team went down, the governor of Hunan Province was forced to resign, the vice governor was escorted to the capital, and the amount of embezzled funds increased, making the hole bigger and bigger.
Zhang Xinghua could no longer sit still and had no choice but to personally go to Changsha to take charge.
With both the top leader and the second-in-command gone, Hunan Province lost its backbone, and many things could not be carried out. Therefore, Zhang Xinghua could only act as the governor in his capacity as the central minister, and first stabilize the administration.
This can be considered a case of a high position being assigned to a low-ranking position. It's equivalent to the former Minister of Rites being sent to a local area to serve as a provincial governor. However, this was actually Zhao Yan's idea.
Otherwise, no one else could easily command Zhang Xinghua, the central minister. Zhao Yan's meaning was very clear: he wanted Zhang Xinghua to settle down and reflect.
This kid has been quite a troublemaker lately, making a lot of moves, but it's not obvious on the surface that he did them. He can fool others, but he can't fool his master, Zhao Yan.
Zhao Yan knew his apprentice well. On the surface, he strongly supported Wang Dingyun and was a mainstay of the radical nationalist camp, but Zhang Xinghua himself had many ulterior motives.
Wang Dingyun, the nominal leader of the radical faction, was far away in the Northwest. Zhang Xinghua was the de facto leader of the faction, and the pressure was all borne by Wang Dingyun in the Northwest. Most of the faction's influence was taken over by Zhang Xinghua.
Zhao Yan felt that continuing like this would be unfair to Wang Dingyun, so he sent Zhang Xinghua to Hunan to handle the aftermath and let him work there for a while to see how things went.
Zhang Xinghua has been working in the central government for a long time, and it's easy for him to become arrogant and out of touch with the hardships of ordinary people. Zhao Yan is very worried about this.
Zhang Xinghua was indeed a smart man. Zhao Yan didn't say anything, but just asked him to go to Hunan to handle the aftermath. Zhang Xinghua understood the rest on his own.
After arriving in Hunan, Zhang Xinghua handed over the task of cleaning up the ill-gotten gains of corrupt officials to the inspection team, while he himself went to the provincial government to sort out the delayed government affairs in Hunan.
As a new broom sweeps clean, after taking charge of the provincial government, he immediately reiterated and emphasized the regulations for central government review and evaluation of officials, highlighting the four elements of "education, agriculture, industry, and economy".
There were no ambiguities; it was straightforward: all officials were told what they needed to pay attention to, what their priorities were, and what they should focus on.
Then Zhang Xinghua reorganized and adjusted the finances, reviewed all the infrastructure projects that had been delayed last year due to Vice Governor Zhai, held meetings non-stop to make arrangements, and restarted these infrastructure projects.
Originally, the confiscated illicit funds and assets were supposed to be split 30/70, with the majority going to the central treasury. However, Zhang Xinghua decided to retain them all for the development of the province.
Yu Jingqian, the central finance minister, was very unhappy. One-third of the embezzled funds came from the embezzled public funds of the republic, and the majority of the remaining funds came from corruption during the Qing Dynasty. This time, they were all wiped out.
It's understandable that Hunan Province kept the embezzled funds allocated by the Republican government to continue its work, but it's somewhat unreasonable that you kept all the confiscated funds from the previous dynasty.
However, due to Zhang Xinghua's rank and status, Yu Jingqian could only write a document to complain to Zhao Yan. What was Zhao Yan's reaction after receiving the document? Of course, he kept it and did not issue it!
What's wrong with leaving some money for your own apprentice to do important things?
Yu Jingqian was furious. This was two or three million yuan of embezzled funds, and the central government was short of money too!
Thus, after a major upheaval in Hunan's officialdom, the province was surprised to find that its finances had suddenly become much better. Not only were the deficits caused by corruption covered, but there were even profits.
The provincial government suddenly received an extra four million yuan and a large amount of land and real estate of roughly the same value. All the previously owed wages and payments to various localities could be paid in full, and there was even a surplus to use for other purposes.
Zhang Xinghua showed no mercy and couldn't stand having money on the books, so he immediately launched a series of vanity projects.
Firstly, in education, Zhang Xinghua allocated 150,000 yuan to the Education Department to establish Yuelu University of Science and Technology, which was to be renovated and expanded on the basis of Yuelu Academy, in order to save money to accomplish major tasks.
The new Hunan University will be the top university in Hunan Province and the first locally established higher education institution outside of the capital.
Zhang Xinghua emphasized the word "science and engineering," instructing officials from the Education Department to find ways to recruit teachers nationwide and hire professors abroad, transforming the new Hunan University of Science and Technology from a mere academy focused on classical studies into a modern university of science and engineering, providing talent for the development of Hunan Province.
In agriculture, Zhang Xinghua continued to promote high-value-added and intensive agriculture, adopting high-value-added practices on fragmented land in mountainous areas and intensive farming on large tracts of farmland in the Dongting Lake Plain.
Simply put, the idea is to stop messing with the land in the mountains. The cost of planting there is already incredibly high, and they're still growing grains. Instead, they should use it to grow cash crops, and the surplus labor force should be forced out of the mountains and into the cities as industrialized labor.
Plains areas, which are suitable for cultivation and have low planting costs, still bear the heavy responsibility of producing grain.
The reason why Zhao Yan dared to declare that the problem of food and clothing would be initially solved during the First Five-Year Plan period and that no one in China would starve to death was because after the central government coordinated the overall situation, it was found that China's food pressure was there, but not great!
The reason why there were so many starving people during the Qing Dynasty was because the distribution of labor was completely unbalanced. Farmers worked themselves to the bone to grow crops and pay taxes, but they could hardly get a full meal all year round.
The Manchu imperial family worked themselves to the bone to build palaces and the Yuanmingyuan. The Yuanmingyuan alone cost nearly a billion taels of silver, which is equivalent to a huge amount of grain and blood.
Then there were the Manchu nobles, who did nothing but live off the ironclad harvest of crops. The Manchu royal family and nobility consumed no less than those of the Ming Dynasty.
A vast amount of precious social wealth and resources are wasted on useless things. The wealth created by 99 percent of the people working themselves to the bone is squandered by a tiny minority of 1 percent of parasites who do absolutely nothing on palaces, gardens, bird-walking, and cricket-fighting!
After the Republican government came to power, all these meaningless expenditures were cut off, and those who used to live off the government's stipends were sent to reformatories.
With such a significant reduction in burdens, the pressure on various regions has eased considerably, and the distribution of social labor production value has become much fairer.
Without shedding these burdens, Zhao Yan wouldn't dare issue a decree exempting each person from ten acres of land from taxes, let alone claim that the goal of solving basic needs in five years would be achieved.
The truth is that the labor and efforts of the Chinese people are enough to make them well-fed and clothed. Their hard work and sweat are more than enough to feed and clothe them. It all depends on how much the government takes from them. If the government takes too much, then there will definitely be starving people everywhere.
If the higher authorities exercise a little restraint, while it may not be possible to guarantee that everyone will have enough white rice for every meal, at least no one will starve.
But if a million "nations" suddenly appeared above them, doing nothing but drawing salaries all day, the emperor and his mother would spend tens of millions of taels of silver every year to repair palaces and gardens.
When an emperor, prince, or empress dowager dies, the funeral expenses can easily reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver, and reparations must also be paid to foreigners. Under such circumstances, even if ordinary people worked themselves to death, they still couldn't afford such extravagance.
Putting aside everything else, the million Manchus were supported by the government's guaranteed employment, which was equivalent to the country supporting a million-strong army that was not engaged in production year-round. However, this army could not fight or do any work, making it a pure liability!
Besides the Manchu bannermen who lived off the government's stipends, let's not forget the imperial clan! The imperial genealogy records of the Qing dynasty show that there were over 100,000 members of the imperial clan. These people ate even more and used even more powerful resources!
After these despicable creatures were "reformed" by Zhao Yan, the newly established republic was like a prisoner freed from shackles, experiencing unprecedented relaxation.
Most importantly, the central government's strategy for the development of Northeast China has entered its climax. In another two years, the arable land and grain output in Northeast China will experience explosive growth. With the development of sea and rail transport, the extraordinary phenomenon of transporting grain from the north to the south may appear in the future!
Zhan Tianyou, the Minister of Transportation who is currently in charge of the Northeast Development Strategy, is full of confidence and has made the bold statement, "Give me another million reform camps, and I will build the Northeast into the Jiangnan region!"
Zhao Yan is not particularly worried about China's future food security, as China has enough arable land to feed a billion people, and fertilizer projects are being actively promoted.
Some might ask, what if Zhao Yan can't feed over a billion people in the future? That would be even easier to solve. If over a billion people go hungry, the people who should be most worried are not Zhao Yan, but other countries!
Getting back to the main point, Zhang Xinghua, a bigwig well-versed in central national policies, has been in charge of Hunan and has made great efforts to promote education and agriculture.
At the industrial level, Zhang Xinghua did not invest heavily in state-owned assets. Instead, he took a different approach and poured money into infrastructure construction. In addition to continuing to invest in the infrastructure funds owed from the past, he also issued infrastructure bonds in the name of the provincial government and vigorously raised infrastructure funds from the private sector.
It is expected that national highways connecting cities and districts at all levels will be built successively within the province. Then, foreign dredgers and other equipment will be introduced to dredge the Xiangjiang River, Dongting Lake, and the Yangtze River, and thoroughly improve transportation on both sides of the waterway.
Then, multiple thermal power plants, water supply plants, and other infrastructure facilities will be built within the province. Once these facilities are complete, the government will not need to encourage them; the private sector will spontaneously begin to build and develop industries.
Because whether it's water transport, highways, railways, power plants, or water supply plants, the biggest customers of these facilities are industrial systems.
Yes, you heard right. You might think that highways, railways, power stations, and water plants—these civilian infrastructure facilities—are primarily for ordinary households, but that's not actually the case.
The largest users of railway and highway transport capacity are not passenger transport, but freight transport; and the largest users of electricity and water are not ordinary households, but factories and enterprises.
The income of ordinary Chinese people today cannot afford tap water and light bulbs, and the vast majority of people cannot afford train and boat tickets, but the industrial sector can afford them.
Once education, agriculture, and industry are developed, the remaining economy will naturally be revitalized. I've never heard of a place with advanced education, bumper harvests, and a strong industry, but a weak economy.
Zhang Xinghua, by following Zhao Yan closely, also learned a lot of real skills from him.
After arriving in Hunan, he didn't feel like he was being exiled at all. Instead, he felt like a fish returning to the sea and a bird soaring to the sky. Being in charge of a region was much more interesting than staying in the Ministry of Supervision and sending inspection teams around to scare people all day.
Although the difference in authority was huge, the sense of accomplishment was soaring.
But Zhang Xinghua also knew that some of the things he did were taboo. Other ordinary provincial governors would not dare to do such things, no matter how bold they were. Only he dared to do it.
It's because there's a teacher on top of him helping him carry it!
Would any other provincial governor dare to break the rules and embezzle millions of yuan in bribes? Would any other provincial governor dare to overstep their authority and issue local bonds privately? They wouldn't even dare to dream of it!
At this moment, although Zhao Yan was able to withstand the pressure, he still couldn't help but have a headache.
Chapter 179 Hiding Gold in the Capital
At dawn, Zhao Yan was eating a steamed bun with a cup of soy milk in his hand, while continuing to review documents from various provinces. However, after looking for a long time, he still couldn't find any more of those stubborn guys from Hunan Province.
After taking another sip of soy milk, Zhao Yan frowned: "Why is the soy milk so bland today? Has the imperial kitchen run out of sugar?"
"And we've been eating steamed buns for a week now. Last week we had vermicelli buns, and last month we had meat buns!"
"Does the imperial kitchen cook dare to embezzle my food allowance?"
Zhao Yan kept grumbling, and Wu Xia, who was holding a child, scolded him: "You should be grateful that you have anything to eat. You cut the food allowance of the imperial kitchen by 70%, do you still want to eat fish and meat?"
Zhao Yan shrank back and muttered, "Does that mean I have to drink soy milk and eat steamed buns? I'm still the head of state, I'm just putting on a show, do you think those people in the imperial kitchen would actually do that to me?"
Wu Xia said, "You're the only one with food expenses, but there are five of us to eat! It's 100 yuan a month. I need to make old hen soup to help me produce milk for my baby, and Zijian needs to eat more meat as he grows."
How can you, an adult, snatch food from a child's mouth?
The Zhao family consists of five people, but only Zhao Yan, as the head of state, is entitled to a food allowance, which is the maximum amount of one hundred yuan per month.
A family of five should have enough to eat on a monthly budget of 100 yuan. However, last month, Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces experienced a spring drought, and the Ministry of Finance was short of funds for disaster relief. Zhao Yan then ordered a one-third reduction in office expenses at the Forbidden City and a 70% cut in food expenses for all departments.
Zhao Yan's food expenses were also reduced to thirty yuan per month. After all, he had made the announcement, and if he didn't reduce it himself, no one else would either.
They managed to squeeze out over 100,000 people from the Forbidden City, leaving the head of state to eat only steamed buns. After all, Wu Xia was in charge of Zhao Yan's meals, ensuring he had the best food and drink every day. The children had to be prioritized before Zhao Yan.
This is a typical case of someone who only cares about family and doesn't care about politics, but Zhao Yan couldn't do anything about it; as long as she was fed, that was fine.
But before the breakfast incident had even subsided, Zhang Mingqi and Yu Jingqian arrived together, clearly there to cause trouble.
Wu Xia left with her child as usual, while Zhao Yan sat upright, waiting for the other person to speak.
Zhang Mingqi fired the first shot: "Your Excellency, is your apprentice planning to quit being a minister and become a provincial governor instead?"
Zhao Yan raised his hand and said, "Old Zhang, sit down first. Sit down and talk slowly, don't rush!"
Zhang Mingqi saw the soy milk on the table and, without any hesitation, gulped down the whole pot of soy milk that Zhao Yan hadn't even had a chance to drink. At the Prime Minister's Office, all they could drink for breakfast now was cold boiled water.
Zhang Mingqi wiped his mouth and continued, "Your Excellency, Hunan Province is my old territory. Logically speaking, the governor should be selected by my Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Personnel, and then the decision should be made by you in a meeting, right?"
Zhang Mingqi was senior enough that he didn't hold back when he spoke, always referring to his old territories and skipping all formalities.
Finance Minister Yu Jingqian, standing to the side, raised an eyebrow, his face full of envy. He couldn't even do anything to Zhang Xinghua, Zhao Yan's apprentice, let alone face his master Zhao Yan directly.
Zhao Yan laughed and said, "I just want Xiao Zhang to go down there and get some experience. He'll be moved to a new position after two years of training. What's the rush? It's not like he's going to stay here forever."
"Besides, Zhang is doing a pretty good job, isn't he? He's doing quite well."
Zhao Yan gave him plenty of face, after all, Zhang Mingqi was originally the governor of Hunan, and after rising through the ranks to become the premier of the Republic, he still did not relinquish his power.