Fu Lang Called Me Home For Dinner

93

    In the afternoon, Du Heng picked up the county account sent by Jiang Zuowu and flipped through it. The more he flipped, the more he had a headache, and he ate five bowls of strong tea all afternoon.

    Qiuyang County is a bad debt. Although he had expected that it would be a bad debt, he didn't expect it to be so bad.

    Now there is only less than two hundred taels of silver in the public account. In such a large Qiuyang County, this little money can be used in the account. It is not as good as a small and well-off merchant family with a shop.

    This idea of ​​money is not even enough to pay a monthly salary to more than 100 officials in office.

    It's fine if there is no money in the accounts. It is well known that Qiuyang County is poor.

    A few years ago, the county was hit by a drought and even borrowed two thousand taels of silver from the court to help the victims. Du Heng remembered that the county did not provide much relief in the past, otherwise there would not be a large number of victims leaving the county to beg for food in other places.

    Relief victims may not be able to get relief, left and right are borrowed money and have no more. Over the years, they have stretched out their hands to borrow more or less, and now they owe the court more than 6,000 taels of silver.

    Du Heng was very angry when he saw that twenty or thirty letters of payment reminders from the government office had accumulated and were stored together with the accounts.

    The county government has a lot of expenses, not to mention supporting a group of officials, it also distributes monthly silver to scholars and juren, repairs county facilities, holds sacrificial ceremonies, helps the poor, etc. In short, money is needed everywhere, but every county To do something, the county treasury had to shake again.

    The income of the county government mainly depends on land property, population, taxation, business tax, etc., and there are many names of income, but 60% of the income must be turned over to the imperial court, and the remaining 40% can be reserved for the county.

    Since Qiuyang County was affected by the disaster, the population has decreased, the grain production is not much, and the businesses are not doing well. They have left their hometowns one by one, so that the land production tax and commercial tax received by the county government have dropped sharply.

    There was not enough money in the county government account, and he was afraid that the imperial court would protect the cinnabar hat, so he had to increase the collection of taxes to meet the imperial court.

    The common people farmed steadily, and it became more and more difficult for merchants to earn a living. Most of them were oppressed and became bandits and thieves, or merchants who sold their shops and went away to make a living.

    This is a vicious circle, getting poorer and poorer and causing today's scene.

    Du Heng knew that it would not be a one-day effort to change all of this. The predicament that had accumulated for many years could not be changed just by saying it. If you are afraid, it is best to humbly ask him how to stabilize the situation.

    During the two days of rest, he did not lie down at home to rest, and inquired a lot about the county government.

    It is said that Jiang Zuowu was originally interested in the post of county magistrate. He has been in Qiuyang County for less than five years. After the general election, he does not need to be transferred. After the previous county magistrate was demoted, he took the exam. However, he failed to be promoted to magistrate in the evaluation. , I was very depressed and injustice.