Chapter Thirty-Nine: Rectifying Lingzhou

  "Housekeeper,"

  Li Zheng smiled and looked at Zhou Fei, saying: "I happen to have some business with you here, originally I was going to find time to go to Fu Shi Weng Fortress next, but since the manager is here now, it saves me a trip."

  "The master has fallen!"

  Zhou Fei's words left Li Zhong stunned and at a loss for what to say.

  Master?

  In an instant, Li Zhēng came to his senses.

  It's also true that Nu Luo has already told Zhang Shan and others about his pre-appointment as the Protector of the Western Regions, so there is no reason for him not to mention the matter of Fu Xie bestowing property.

  Looking at Zhou Fei's performance this week and thinking about the changes in the county government office, I suppose Zhou Lin and others have already handled things properly?

  Li Zhong turned his gaze towards Zhou Lin at this point.

  Zhou Lin smiled calmly and bowed, saying: "I wish the master to redeem his sins. After I received the news from Nuo Luo's mouth, I wanted to give the master a surprise, so I took the lead and got things done before the master."

  Li Zhēng heard this and thought for a moment, then smiled and said: "Not bad, not bad."

  Zhang Shan and Zhou Lin couldn't help but let out a slight sigh of relief in their hearts.

  At first, when they decided to do these things, several people were excited and didn't think too much. But after doing it, they thought that their behavior seemed to have crossed the line. Since ancient times, only masters have been in charge of servants at home, where have servants dared to take the initiative to serve their masters?

  If you encounter a psychologically sensitive homeowner, they will all be unhappy and leave with a bad taste in their mouth. Although, they are also kind-hearted.

  When Li Zhēng realized this situation, he also felt a bit uncomfortable in his heart.

  It's nothing to just renovate the mansion. Small matters can be handled by the house slaves themselves, but big things must be decided by Li Jing himself. As for the Fu family's property, that's not a small matter, it's a huge pie far beyond Li Jing's own industry, an important part of Li Jing's complete control over Lingzhou!

  No matter whether there are any mistakes in this, for a superior, this is beyond his control and is intolerable.

  But in an instant, Li Zhong felt a little better.

  The actions of those under him, although excessive, ultimately still consider the interests of this lord. To share worries for the lord is fundamentally not wrong.

  Furthermore, Li Zhēn thought that his true foundation was actually the system in his mind, and secondly, it was the Divine State Grassland. As for Líng State County, to be honest, it didn't count as anything.

  It's okay if they don't get punished, but we can't let them off without teaching them a lesson, or else similar things will happen again in the future.

  Li Zhong's smile on his face quickly converged, seeing this, the people in the hall hurriedly sat up straight.

  "This time we have gained a lot, and you all have made contributions."

  Li Zhēn paused for a moment and said: "I have decided that before the imperial court sends a new county magistrate, Zhou Féi will take charge of the government affairs of Líng State!"

  As soon as these words came out, the faces of the people below immediately became colorful.

  Before they could react, Li Zhēng continued: "Zhōu Lín is still in charge of the Shen Zhou Grassland Trade Caravan's affairs, quickly expand its influence and increase the grasslands' underlying strength."

  "Tomorrow, Wang Lao Hu will follow me back to Cao Chang, and Xu Xiao Jiu will be transferred to Ling Zhou to take charge of new soldier training."

  "Bai Lang is in charge of military affairs in Lingzhou, with Zhang Shan as his deputy. Xu Xiaojiu is in charge of training new soldiers, with Nuo Luo as his deputy."

  With this series of appointments, everyone in the hall was tight-lipped and didn't dare speak.

  People like Zhou Fei, who had just become slaves of the Li family, became county heads. Zhang Shan and other old men only served as deputies to others.

  This made them somewhat unacceptable for a while.

  Li Zhong just gave them a small lesson, to let them understand what should be done and what shouldn't be done. To strangle this budding behavior in the cradle!

  As for appointing Zhou Fei to take charge of Lingzhou's government affairs, Li Zhong had his own considerations.

  If it weren't for this matter, Li Zhēng would have put Zhou Lin in this position. No one else under Li Zhēng has the ability to do so, only Zhou Lin.

  However, Zhou Fei is now also his own person, and Li Zhong has also had a few dealings with Zhou Fei. Moreover, Li Zhong believes that Zhou Fei has the ability to do so.

  "Alright, the appointment ends here."

  "You mustn't have any complaints, nor can you slack off. Do what needs to be done. I remember your merits and your mistakes."

  Everyone bowed their heads in unison.

  "There are many things about Lingzhou that I am dissatisfied with, so remember what I'm going to say next, Zhou Fei."

  Li Zhong said to Zhou Fei: "From now on, you are the chief administrative officer of Lingzhou. The first problem to be solved is the issue of population and land."

  "First of all, you must make a thorough count of the population and households in Lingzhou. Although Zhou Lin and others have done it once, I believe that many are hidden among the wealthy and powerful families."

  "After the population is properly settled, it should be divided by category. For all farmers and common people, everyone should have their own land, ensuring that no vagrants are produced in Lingzhou. As for the land, it can be allocated from the fields donated to me by the Fu family; if not enough, new land can be reclaimed."

  "Secondly, it is taxation. All miscellaneous taxes are abolished, the agricultural tax for ordinary people and farmers is set at 30%, commercial tax for shops and traders is set at 20%, the agricultural tax will be officially implemented from next year, and the commercial tax will be implemented immediately."

  "There will definitely be great resistance in terms of taxation, but don't worry, if there are those who refuse to comply, either let them leave Lingzhou or notify the White Wolf to take up arms!"

  "Notify all people in Lingzhou, taxes generated from agriculture and commerce, except for military use, the remaining part will be used for various public facilities in Lingzhou as well as public welfare undertakings such as education and medical care."

  "Furthermore, the entire Lingzhou's traffic problem must also be solved. The various roads within Lingzhou City should be kept unblocked, and the roads from Lingzhou City to the towns and villages under its jurisdiction should also be repaired."

  "Finally, there is the issue of sanitation. In Lingzhou City, good hygiene must be maintained, and the garbage and manure from cows and horses that fill the streets must be disposed of properly. Then, sewers must be built, and the various wastewater produced in Lingzhou City is prohibited from being dumped on the streets, it must be allowed to flow smoothly out of the city through the sewers."

  Zhou Fei listened and silently memorized several things in her heart, planning to write them down after the meeting so she wouldn't forget.

  At the same time, he raised several questions.

  "Your Majesty, I have several questions."

  "First of all, it's about census. Among the powerful and wealthy households, there must be some hidden ones, such as private soldiers, slaves and tenant farmers. If they are blocked, what should their subordinates do?"

  "Secondly, it is the allocation of land, how much should each household or person get? Should the towns and villages under Lingzhou also follow the same standard?"

  "Thirdly, there is the issue of taxation. The agricultural tax rate is three percent, and it would be reasonable to abolish miscellaneous taxes and levies. However, this might go against the imperial court's regulations. As for commercial taxes, which include market taxes and excise taxes, the tax rates have always been very low, generally not exceeding twenty percent or two percent; isn't a rate of two percent too high?"

  "Fourthly, where does the labor for building roads come from?"

  "Fifthly, what is this thing called a sewer? Clearing the garbage and dung of cattle and horses from the streets, do we need to establish a new administrative department?"

  Li Zhēng listened to Zhou Féi's question and felt a surge of joy in his heart.

  This week Fei is indeed quite capable, the questions he raised are all directly related to the key issues.

  "For the uncooperative wealthy households, just find White Wolf and that's it. As for how to do it, you figure it out. As for the land issue... this way, each household's basic landholding is set at 10 mu, with four people as the base. For every additional person, add five mu."

  "As for taxes..." Li Zhēng trailed off, lost in thought.

  According to Zhou Fei, there were no major issues with the agricultural tax. However, when it came to business taxes, the differences were significant. Li Zhong didn't expect that the business tax rate in this era would be so low, not exceeding 5%. After some thought, he roughly understood the situation.

  First, the business of this era is not prosperous enough. Second, many commercial activities, especially those related to transportation, are too costly - there were no railways or highways in this era, nor large-scale transportation machinery.

  In this way, it is reasonable that the commercial tax collected is so low.

  "Well, I don't understand the situation. Let's set the business tax at 20% for now, which is half of the usual rate. As for the agricultural tax, you don't have to worry about it disrupting the imperial court's rules. This is a special case, and besides, Liangzhou is already in this state, and the imperial court won't have time to deal with it in the short term."

  "The labor force needed for road construction can be combined with the displaced refugees and commoners who have lost their land - it's not the time for sowing, nor is it possible to distribute land to them. It's better to use labor instead of relief, and let them survive while building roads. As for the grain and money needed, they will be extracted from the property donated by the Fu family. If it's not enough, we can raise funds from the wealthy households in the city, just say that I, Li Zheng, borrowed from them."

  "As for cleaning up the dirt in the city, a special department should be established to recruit some workers, pay them wages, and let them be responsible for clearing it up every day."

  Then Li Zhuang repeated the concept of drainage ditch again, and Zhou Fei pondered for a while before retreating in defeat.

  After finishing the government affairs arrangement, Li Zhēn conveyed his words and gave instructions to Bái Láng on military matters.

  Firstly, quickly train the newly recruited 3,000 new soldiers and then take them out to practice fighting against bandits and mountain thieves. At the same time, clean up the security situation within the borders of Lingzhou.

  Secondly, the elite who participated in this battle cannot slack off. They can specifically target and deal with the thorny bandits within the borders, while also dividing a part of their forces to extend their influence to the northern Hetao grasslands. Even if they can't do anything about the Xiongnu people on the grasslands in the short term, they need to get a clear understanding of the distribution of Xiongnu power in the north. Of course, this needs to be done covertly.

  Thirdly, several light cavalry units should be sent out to patrol around Lingzhou, paying close attention to the movements of Han Sui's rebel army at all times, ensuring that our side can grasp the situation in case war breaks out.

  Military affairs are just that many, Li Zhēng instructed very detailed, White Wolf and several others did not dare to slack off, carefully remembered in their hearts.

  Next is the business issue in charge of Zhou Lin.

  The merchant caravan of Shen Zhou Ranch must expand its influence as soon as possible.

  In Li Zhong's plan, the role of the merchant group was not only to make money, but also to take on the important task of intelligence gathering - collecting all favorable and unfavorable information from various places and quickly passing it on to Li Zhong.

  So the wider the business trade of Shen Zhou Grassland is affected, the more beneficial it will be for Li Zhong.

  Everything was arranged properly, and Li Zhong again let Zhou Lin go to inform the wealthy and powerful households in the city, asking them to gather at the mansion that night, only then did he dismiss everyone.

  Before the dinner party began, Li Zhēng also gathered the management team of Língzhōu County, who had been attracted by the recruitment order more than ten days ago and entered the management team of Língzhōu. He roughly understood the situation and encouraged them a bit before dismissing them.

  The current management of Lingzhou, except for those who have a close relationship with Li Zhong, are not worth his serious attention.

  At the next banquet, all the powerful men of Lingzhou were present. In front of these powerful men, Li Jing first told them about his great victory over Han Xi, rescuing Fu Jia and obtaining the wealth bestowed upon him by Fu Jia, as well as being appointed as the Protector of the Qiang, which shocked those who had been sitting on the fence.

  He then went on to talk about plans for population statistics, taxation and reforming Lingzhou, expressing a tough attitude.

  But even so, among the powerful people present, only a few expressed their support, while the vast majority remained silent.

  Li Zhong had already anticipated their performance. Knowing that these people wouldn't shed a tear until they saw the coffin, and were unwilling to give up any benefits, he didn't say much more, figuring they would have their chance to cry later.

  Throughout this entire banquet, that Li Bo Ran, the old man, didn't show any expression, and only spoke a few words. Even Li Zheng couldn't quite understand what was on his mind.

  But it doesn't matter, under the great trend, no one can stop it. And in Lingzhou, Li Zhong is now the trend!