Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 235: Changing with each passing day
The salt industry in the capital was developing in full swing, and in Cangzhou, changes were taking place every day.

The prosperity of the Feng brand promoted the development of both water transport and sea transport from Cangzhou to the capital, and enabled a large number of Cangzhou people to find ways to make a living.

After the houses outside the city were completed, opportunities were everywhere.

On October 11, Cangzhou City made a preliminary inventory of the various funds recovered, including income from cotton and vegetables sold to Liaodong, and the salt industry, which totaled 30,000 taels, of which the salt industry accounted for the majority and had to be deposited into the national treasury.

However, Emperor Longyou knew that Yue Ling was going to implement the new law, so he did not ask him to submit the funds regularly, nor did he appoint a dedicated person to coordinate the whole matter. He continued to leave it to Yue Ling to handle. This was a tacit understanding between the monarch and his subjects.

On October 15, Cangzhou City completed the redrawing of the fish scale book. Cangzhou, including the eight surrounding counties, currently has a total of more than 7 million acres of arable land, of which only two or three tenths are still cultivated and have not been abandoned.

However, due to the implementation of the unified tax payment by officials and gentry, this year's tax revenue is still nearly 50,000 shi of grain, equivalent to nearly 10,000 taels of silver.

On October 20th, because the government treasury was full, a large amount of grain was purchased from other places and transported into the city continuously. Grain carts entered and left the city, with four parallel rows blocking the traffic for a while, which became a strange sight in Cangzhou City and attracted people along the way to stop and watch.

It was not until today that the people of Cangzhou City knew why Marquis Anjing built the road so wide. Perhaps Cangzhou will really become prosperous in the future.

On October 27, the income of Cangzhou government office had doubled, and the tax exemption of grain transport promoted the trade in Cangzhou. An Jinghou ordered to renovate the grain transport docks and build resting places for grain transport sailors and trackers in counties and towns along the coast of Cangzhou. An Jinghou named it "Grass Transport Guild Hall".

The Canal Transport Guild Hall provided accommodation for poor people traveling between the north and the south or shelter for homeless refugees. A night's food and drink cost only two cents. The operating model of a small amount of funding from the government and a large amount of voluntary donations was a special care for the increasing number of migrant workers who relied on the canal for their livelihood.

In the old days, migrant workers traveling north and south would work wherever the ship took them, and they had no concept of home at all. If their livelihood was not good or the work was done, they would disband and go their separate ways. For this group of people, it was not easy to have a hot meal, let alone a place to live.

When people were in trouble, they had the guild hall to protect them, and they were grateful for it. There were countless donors, and at one point, the government did not need to allocate funds before the guild hall was built.

After the establishment of the guild hall, it was widely praised, and more and more people were willing to trade in the north, which greatly promoted the circulation of goods between the north and the south.

The local shops in Cangzhou had such a wide variety of goods that people at that time called it the "Little Kyoto Market".

The states along the canal followed suit.

In early November, charity halls, relief halls, and pharmacies were set up in Cangzhou City to help the elderly, widows, women, children, and the sick in preparation for the winter. There were few homeless people in Cangzhou City. If a person with hands and feet was treated in a pharmacy and was healthy but still begged on the street, he would be a joke in the eyes of the people and would be driven out of the city spontaneously.

In mid-November, An Jinghou fulfilled his promise and built a free school in Cangzhou and its surrounding areas to teach children from poor families, and opened a salt industry school to allow children from poor families to attend without charging tuition. When re-establishing the provincial school, An Jinghou named it "Qingfeng Academy" and wrote a congratulatory message in person, "Worry about the worries of the world first, and be happy after the world is happy", and expressed his hope that one day it would be known as the two major provincial schools in the capital and the Imperial Academy.

Qingfeng Academy teaches three subjects: literature, science, and martial arts. In addition to the traditional imperial examinations of the Four Books and Five Classics, it also traces back to the source, seeks the six arts of a gentleman, and borrows the martial arts of Cangzhou to cultivate both literature and martial arts. Science is a new subject established by An Jinghou. It is oriented to solving real-life problems, supplemented by policy essays, and puts oneself in the shoes of others to solve problems, rather than superficially writing articles. It includes arithmetic, architecture, geography, technology, agronomy, medicine, etc. If you want to complete your studies, you need to take two of them.

All of a sudden, frustrated scholars heard the news and went to Cangzhou to seek jobs.

……

In the inner house of Cangzhou City,
No matter how things change outside, the inner house remains peaceful and quiet.

Winter is here, the heating in the house is turned on, and the heat is rolling.

However, the two girls in front of him were dressed in completely different clothes, which really made Yue Ling laugh.

Lin Daiyu was wearing a three-color double-breasted jacket, with a moon-white base and a cherry blossom pattern and royal blue edging. Inside was a light yellow bamboo-leaf cross-collared jacket, and on the lower body was a lake blue long skirt. Her outfit seemed to be autumn, and she wrapped herself tightly.

Xue Baochai, however, was wearing a light purple chiffon outer gown embroidered with chrysanthemums and bordered with pink. She wore a light yellow tube top underneath and a pink long skirt. She was dressed much cooler than Lin Daiyu, as if it were summer.

One is afraid of cold, the other is afraid of heat, the temperature in this room is really hard to control.

"Brother Yue, what are you laughing at?"

Lin Daiyu looked down at her own clothes, then at Xue Baochai who was fanning herself beside her. She didn't think there was anything wrong with them as they were all dressed normally.

Yue Ling shook his head and smiled, "It's okay, it's okay."

The three of them sat around a round table, and Lin Daiyu sat between them.

"Miss Xue, how is business in the capital now?"

Xue Baochai replied, "It's certainly not as hot as when it first opened, but the Shanxi merchants have already retreated and directly withdrew from the capital. The salt industry will not be a problem, and there will be stable profits every month in the future."

Yue Ling nodded, "The accounts must be clear. I want to give His Majesty a clear picture. How much salt tax money was misappropriated must be paid back in the end."

Xue Baochai sighed, "Salt is one of the most profitable businesses. As long as the Marquis is a little thoughtful, he can make tens of thousands of dollars every month. But now the Marquis does not share any profit, and does not sell salt permits without authorization. It is really admirable." There are so many places to make money in the salt industry. Not to mention those who embezzle and sell private salt, the tributes from the salt merchants alone are not a small amount every year.

Lin Ruhai was a man of integrity, but he made millions of taels of wealth by working in the country's largest Lianghuai Salt Field for more than ten years.

If Yue Ling was really greedy for money, it wouldn't be a small amount.

Yue Ling smiled and said, "Some people become officials for power, some for money, and some for fame, but I do not want any of these."

Xue Baochai looked over curiously, "What is the Marquis doing?"

Yue Ling sighed, "I am doing this for the country, for the people, and for my own conscience."

Xue Baochai nodded repeatedly, the admiration in her eyes almost bursting out.

Born into a merchant family, it was difficult for her to escape from the pursuit of profit. However, under Yue Ling's influence, she knew what pursuit was and her admiration for Yue Ling was beyond words.

Lin Daiyu, who was between the two of them, was also very moved by what Yue Ling said, but she was still a little unhappy being sandwiched between the two of them.

At the right time, Lin Daiyu secretly poked Yue Ling's thigh, frowned, and looked at Yue Ling sideways.

Yue Ling stroked her little hand and smiled, "Yes, that's not what I'm talking about today. Now the city wants to promote arithmetic as a major category in the academy, and in science, numbers are used a lot. So I thought of writing some symbols to replace these numbers to make it easier to write."

"In the old days, I read a counting method in a foreign book. The numerical symbols are very convenient. What do you think?"

As he spoke, Yue Ling wrote down ten numbers from 0 to 9 on a piece of paper and asked the two little girls to identify them first.

Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai both know how to look at accounts, and they are all very smart. They must know what Yue Ling said and where the trick is.

Lin Daiyu pointed to the second number and asked, "It only has one vertical line. Does it represent one?"

Yue Ling nodded, "Sister Lin is very smart, so this is what she meant."

Xue Baochai said, "Since this is one, then what about the numbers one to nine? I have seen this kind of symbol in some foreign books. Especially those who believe in some religion, they are very keen on praying and persuading people to join the religion."

"I have seen it, but I didn't know it meant numbers. It's much more convenient to write it this way."

"There is another number in front of the one. What is this?"

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes and guessed, "Since it is before one and it is just a hollow circle, it should mean zero, nothing."

Yue Ling nodded again, "Yes, that's what it means. It's the same as the decimal place in arithmetic. There needs to be an empty space to represent a number. For example, ten is a 1 plus a 0 here. In this way, any number can be represented."

Lin Daiyu nodded in response, "This method should be much more convenient."

Yue Ling added: "Secondly, we are now using the Longmen Account, which is divided into four items: income, payment, deposit, and payment. The difference between income and payment is equal to the difference between deposit and payment. Recording it in this way is just a simple record of numbers, and it is impossible to tell the current business situation of the store."

"In addition to having detailed items, there is another way. What I want to say is, 'There must be a debit for every credit, and the debit and credit must be equal.' The account only needs to be divided into debit and credit..."

Yue Ling never thought that the superficial accounting knowledge he once knew could be used here.

I still remember that high school classmate was so excited when he first came into contact with professional courses after entering college that I had to call him and talk for a long time about how profound and interesting the professional courses he had learned were.

Later I heard that he was beaten to a pulp because there was a discrepancy between the two accounts by one cent. I don't know if he is doing well now or whether he has gone to Tilanqiao for further studies.

In fact, Yue Ling did not fully understand the relevant knowledge of accounting, but fortunately, there were these two smart girls in the inner house.

Needless to say, Lin Daiyu is intelligent and insightful, and Xue Baochai has practical experience. After Yue Ling explained it once, they both realized the benefits of this method.

Then Yue Ling gave them a homework assignment, which was to write an instruction manual to explain the accounting method from the perspective of ordinary people.

Yue Ling wants to promote more advanced and effective things not only to salt merchants, but also to all walks of life.

(End of this chapter)