"Oops, you guys posted it crookedly, move it further to the left!"
"..."
Zhao Zhenfang wandered around the courtyard, instructing the servants to post Spring Festival couplets on every door.
Pan Qimei is also busy. She has learned many pastry methods this year and has been making New Year snacks by herself these days.
As for Fei Rulan, she was writing Spring Festival couplets at random.
Spring couplets have been around for a long time, but they used to be hung on wooden signs. It was only in the Ming Dynasty that they began to be written on red paper. It seems that the place of origin is Nanjing.
This is the first Spring Festival after moving to Nanjing. After the Chinese New Year, Zhao Han will proclaim himself the King of Wu. The agencies under the Dudu Mansion will also change their names accordingly, and some departments need to be expanded or adjusted.
King Wu is just the title of the king, and the future title of the country has not yet been determined.
"Husband, please write one too and hang it at the door." Fei Rulan came over with a pen and paper.
Zhao Han picked up the brush, but heard the guard report at the door: "Commander, Mrs. Qin is here."
"Invite them in."
Zhao Han did not deliberately show courtesy to the corporal. He knew that Qin Liangyu was visiting Nanjing yesterday.
Qin Liangyu took her grandson through the hall and saw no groups of servants along the way. This made her a little surprised, but she also felt that it was reasonable. It seemed that this was how Zhao Han's house should be.
Arriving at the inner courtyard, Zhao Han was writing Spring Festival couplets.
After waiting for Zhao Han to write, Qin Liangyu handed over his hand and said, "I have met Governor Zhao."
Zhao Han put down his brush: "Mrs. Qin, I have long admired your name!"
Fei Rulan stood beside her husband, bent down and gave Qin Liangyu a blessing ceremony.
Zhao Han said with a smile: "I have just written a Spring Festival couplet, and I would like to ask Mrs. Qin to taste it."
Qin Liangyu took two steps forward and read: "After a hundred years, the heaven and earth have regained their vitality, and the mountains and rivers have become peaceful, and the country is peaceful and the people are safe. Good Spring Festival couplets, good spirit!"
After setting up chairs and everyone sitting around, Fei Rulan brought some snacks to entertain, and asked Xiyue to make a pot of tea.
Zhao Han asked: "Can Mrs. Qin still get used to living in Nanjing?"
"Everything is fine." Qin Liangyu replied.
Zhao Han smiled and asked: "What do you think of Nanjing?"
“Excellent!”
Neither party went straight to the topic. Qin Liangyu asked casually: "Why do those low-rent houses belong to the tenants after being leased for thirty years?"
"Since it is rented out, no one will be willing to move out unless they are forced to evict. If it can be forced to evict, there may be no chaos in Nanjing, but chaos will inevitably occur in other cities," Zhao Han said with a smile, "In this case, the people will be out of trouble."
After ten years of rent, the government barely recovers the construction cost, so what if the old houses are given to the people?"
Qin Liangyu praised: "The governor has thought deeply."
Zhao Han continued: "The same is true for dividing land. Now it can be divided into individual names. The longer the time goes by, the harder it is to figure it out. Thirty or fifty years have passed, and after one or two generations, the land must belong to a certain household. The more the government becomes
The more it is subdivided, the more trouble there will be. At that time, we can only make adjustments to stipulate that a certain household's land holdings cannot exceed a certain amount, and a household's population cannot exceed a certain amount."
Qin Liangyu didn't want to understand: "As long as the government controls household registration and field registration, why can't they tell the difference?"
Zhao Han explained: "The daughter of a certain family has fields in her name. She cannot take them away after she gets married. These fields can only be attributed to a certain household. The government can forcefully intervene, but they can't control it at all. Otherwise, they can take care of it every day."
Officials are exhausted. Another thing is that if a man from a certain family goes out to work as an official or do business, and moves his household registration after many years, the land in his name will definitely be left to his family. One family or two will definitely be able to take it back. This happens everywhere in the country.
How to deal with this phenomenon?”
In ancient times, there were no computers, and the efficiency of the government was very low. When such things happened, it became impossible to stop them.
As the saying goes, you can't take back what you give out.
If you want to recover it, you have to expand the number of officials, and administrative costs will skyrocket.
Zhao Han did not dare to build the housing for officials in various cities too well. They were only slightly more luxurious than low-rent housing.
This is learning from the experience and lessons of Ming Dynasty!
After Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, he built many officials' residences, which were also given to officials to live in, and would be taken back after the officials retired.
As a result, within a few decades, the officials in the capital had no place to live.
Because more and more officials, after being allocated a house, will not hand over the house even if they die, let alone retire.
Therefore, from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the houses where officials in the capital lived were either rewarded by the emperor, purchased by themselves, or rented with money.
Given the high housing prices in Beijing, if Beijing officials are not corrupt, after paying the rent every month, their wages can barely get by. Please, maids and servants, please don't even think so.
Zhao Han wants to build some buildings in every city for officials to live in for free. Note that they can live for free without paying rent!
If you are transferred to another place, your house will be returned. If you do not return, you will be dismissed.
After retirement, the house will be returned. If the house is not returned, the three generations of children and grandchildren will be disqualified from being officials, because officials have household registration and houses in their hometowns.
This policy seems harsh, and it is estimated that its duration will be limited. A few decades after Zhao Han's death, officials may occupy houses.
Therefore, officials' buildings cannot be repaired too well.
But it must be much better than low-rent housing, otherwise it will dampen the enthusiasm of officials.
The standard of official housing is two bedrooms and one living room.
Low-rent housing only has one room, and the whole family of the poor is squeezed into one room!
To be honest, curbing corruption is a big problem.
Although Zhao Han's salary for officials was much higher than that of Ming Dynasty, it could not satisfy their desire to have hordes of servants. This was a matter of course in ancient times. It seemed that an official should have many servants.
Qin Liangyu and Zhao Han chatted very harmoniously, from garrison to officials, and from officials to people's livelihood.
Qin Liangyu suddenly said: "I saw a kind of panniang candy in Nanjing, which is made from sweet potatoes. I heard that the yield of sweet potatoes is very high, so why don't you choose the land?"
"Hasn't Shidong been introduced yet?" Zhao Han asked.
“Only corn (maize) has been introduced, and sometimes sorghum is also grown,” Qin Liangyu sighed. “There is a lot of land in Shili Mountain, and there is not much land that can grow rice. The lives of the local people are very difficult. Shili is pretty good, and these young people
The Xuanfu Division of Youyang next to it is hard to describe. It was already very poor, but the chieftains also imposed excessive taxes, which even aroused riots among the native people in the past few years."
Zhao Han said: "This kind of chieftain must be severely punished."
Qin Liangyu knows how to punish severely. Yesterday she asked about the fate of Nanjing Xungui.
The elderly were all put to death, the young men were scattered and thrown into various mines, and the women were married to single men who immigrated to the north. If they had children, they were taken by their biological mothers and remarried.
The methods are very cruel and do not waste human resources.
Qin Liangyu asked: "Can you give me some sweet potato seeds, and I can bring back the stone to introduce the seeds?"
"This is naturally feasible," Zhao Han said. "Choose those big sweet potatoes as potato seeds. When buried in the ground, they will sprout and grow vines. Then cut the vines and plant them, and you can plant dozens of acres of sweet potato fields in a year. In a few years, there will be
It can be extended to the entire Shidui."
Qin Liangyu smiled and said: "Unexpectedly, the governor is also proficient in farming."
Zhao Han waved his hand and said: "I only know a general idea. When the old lady returns, I will send a few old farmers who are proficient in sweet potato cultivation to follow. The old farmers have the final say on these details."
Ma Wanli sat nearby and listened, so anxious that he wanted to scratch his head.
Grandma and Governor Zhao were both important people, but they chatted enthusiastically about farming, even for half an hour. Not only the introduction of sweet potatoes, but also how to reclaim barren hills, how to improve the soil in barren land, and how to organize people to build water conservancy projects.
What about the Northern Expedition?
What about killing Tatars?
Where is the prince and princess?
What will be the future arrangements for Shili Tusi?
"Husband, Madam, General Ma, please come in for dinner." Fei Rulan came over with a smile.
Everyone moved to the dining room, and Zhao Han poured wine for Qin Liangyu himself.
"Old madam, I never drink alcohol, so today I'll just get drunk with the old madam." Zhao Han said with a smile.
Qin Liangyu smiled and said, "I'm old and can't drink as much as I did when I was young."
Zhao Han said: "It's up to you, I'll give the old lady a drink first!"
As the Chinese New Year approaches, officials have a holiday, and Zhao Han also puts aside his mundane duties to rest.
The officials under Zhao Han's rule were not harsh. Not only were their salaries higher than those in the Ming Dynasty, but they also had more holidays than those in the Ming Dynasty.
The holiday lasts from the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month to the third day of the first lunar month.
There is a three-day holiday for the Lantern Festival.
Qingming Festival, Shangsi Festival, and Cold Food Festival were combined into one in the Ming Dynasty, adding up to a three-day holiday.
Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, and Winter Solstice each have three days off.
There is one day off every ten days, with rest on the ninth, nineteenth and twenty-ninth day of the lunar month. As the saying goes, one day off every ten days.
It is very user-friendly and allows officials time to relax.
During the holidays, just like the Ming Dynasty, one or two people from each department must be left on duty.
Of course, the front line can't rest, and neither can those in charge of immigration.
After two cups of rice wine, Qin Liangyu pointed at Ma Wanli: "My grandson has been studying since he was a child and is proficient in bow and horse. He is determined to avenge the Tatars. Can he be a pawn in the governor's army?"
"Brother Ma is a versatile man in both civil and military affairs, how can he be reduced to being a pawn?" Zhao Han said with a smile, "I just want to expand the cavalry. If Brother Ma is willing, he can be the cavalry sentry commander."
Qin Liangyu said: "I know that the rules of the Datong Army are strict. Officers must be promoted based on merit. Just let him be a pawn."
Zhao Han shook his head: "The Datong Army is short of cavalry officers. Brother Ma is already aggrieved as the sentry commander. For the time being, he can only command a hundred cavalry. When the war horses multiply and the army is expanded again in the future, Brother Ma can command three to five thousand cavalry.
also."
"Thank you, Captain!" Ma Wanli was very excited.
Although he had practiced arching and horse training since he was a child, Shi Ding did not have a large-scale cavalry at all.
When Ma Wanli thought about commanding elite cavalry, running across the battlefield, and being invincible, he felt very happy.
Suddenly, Ma Wanli couldn't help but ask: "The governor is so young, how dare you ask Gui Geng?"
"Almost twenty-three years old." Zhao Han smiled.
Ma Wanli was speechless. He was one year older than Zhao Han.
Qin Liangyu was also a little surprised, but he did not dwell on it and asked, "Where are the prince and princess?"
Zhao Han said: "I went to study. I ate at the school at noon and at home in the evening. They ate with me every day."
"That's it." Qin Liangyu was completely relieved.
The two parties did not talk about surrender at all, let alone the treatment after surrender. It seemed that talking about those things was redundant.
(Explain that a small building with three or four floors does not use much steel, or even no concrete. Even if it is used, it will only be poured in one circle at the transition of each floor. As for the frame structure, it emerged after the 21st century.)