Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 196 Something big happened! (6K big chapter!)

Su Yun was about to ask for more details when a clerk came hurriedly and said, "Master Deng, the governor wants you to come over to discuss matters."

Deng Qi looked at Su Yun, who hesitated for a moment and said, "Let's go together!"

The three of them hurried to the detention hall. When Li Qingchen saw Su Yun, his face was not very good. He said, "President Su, you came at the right time. I just want to discuss something with you."

Su Yun nodded and said, "Please speak, Your Excellency."

Li Qingchen said: "The mobs in Cai Village beside Huimin River attacked with weapons and killed and injured the laborers we brought to clean up Huimin River. I will definitely not let these mobs off.

Judge Su, gather the yamen runners, let's go together and arrest the leader of Cai Village and punish him, otherwise the villagers of other villages will follow suit and there will be no need to manage the Huimin River!"

Su Yun frowned and said, "How could it have come to this? I still think we should proceed step by step..."

"President Su! The rainy season is approaching, and we don't have that much time to proceed step by step!

These rioters ignored the lives of millions of people upstream and downstream and only cared about themselves, blocking the river to raise fish and grow lotus roots.

If there is a flood, millions of people upstream and downstream will suffer. If it even submerges the city of Bianjing, neither you nor I can bear the responsibility!"

Su Yun nodded and said, "Cleaning up the Huimin River is of course imperative, and I agree with it and fully support it, but there are actually more gentle ways to advance it.

For example, if we give the people some time to collect the fish in the pond and dig up the lotus roots, this can at least reduce the losses.”

Li Qingchen said with a straight face: "Could it be that I didn't let them collect the garbage? As soon as they heard that they were going to clean it up, they immediately gathered together as a mob and tried to drive us away aggressively!
I just don’t believe it. Our great Song Dynasty is so peaceful and prosperous that it can still be bullied by these scoundrels!

Judge Su, are you going or not? If not, just stay in the yamen. I will take my people and go there myself!

If the yamen runners are not capable of this, I will call in the imperial guards. I really don’t believe that the people can fight against the officials!”

Su Yun sighed and said, "Your Excellency, you can stay in the government office and let me handle this matter."

Li Qingchen glanced at Su Yun and asked, "What does Su Tongpan plan to do?"

Su Yun said: "Of course, we should persuade them kindly, discuss it carefully, and solve this matter in a way that everyone can accept.

Mr. Fu, don't worry, I will definitely clean up the Huimin River before the rainy season."

Li Qingchen sneered at the words and said, "Persuade with kind words? Do you think I have never persuaded with kind words? Do you think I am the kind of person who is arrogant and unreasonable?

I have tried to persuade them and even talked to the elders in their village, but it's no use!
These mobs even proposed that if we wanted to demolish it, Nan Ya must compensate them for their losses!

This is outrageous! They were the ones who clearly occupied the river, but in the end they were considered to be right.

They should have demolished it themselves. We at Nan Ya have done our best. As long as they are willing, we will bring the laborers to demolish it.

Even so, they dared to gather a mob to beat and kill our civilians. They are really rebellious! They are really rebellious!
Okay, Judge Su, if you don’t want to go with me, just stay in the Southern Court. I will handle this matter myself.

Chief Deng, gather the yamen runners and follow me. Remember to bring your weapons. Open the armory and distribute spears, bows and arrows!
I want to see if they dare to be so arrogant in front of spears and bows and arrows!"

Deng Qi looked at Su Yun, and Su Yun shook his head.

Deng Qi lowered his eyes, as if he didn't hear what Li Qingchen said.

Li Qingchen stared at Deng Qi and said angrily, "Master Deng! Who is in charge of the Southern Court? How dare you disobey my orders? Do you believe that I can remove your official hat with just one impeachment letter?"

Deng Qi bowed slightly.

Su Yun sighed and said, "Your Excellency, I suggest that you should not escalate the conflict. As the saying goes, the law cannot punish the masses. The people in Cai Village are entangled in a group. This matter should be handled slowly. Otherwise, if it provokes a civil uprising, you will have a hard time explaining it to the government.

How about this, you go and clean up other river sections first, and let me go and persuade the Caicun section, and I will definitely solve it before the rainy season. What do you think?"

Li Qingchen sneered, "It doesn't matter. This matter is under my control. You just need to take care of the internal affairs and logistics. Deng Qi, will you follow me?"

Deng Qi bowed and said, "Your Excellency, you should listen to Jianzhou's advice. If you really want to..."

"Asshole! I am the prefect, and you, a soldier of humble origin, cannot persuade me. Since you don't obey my orders, wait for me to report you. Without you, can I command others? What a joke!"

Li Qingchen walked away, leaving Su Yun and Deng Qi looking at each other in bewilderment.

Deng Qi said, "Jianzhou, what should we do? Li Qingchen has bypassed me directly, and others dare not go against the prefect's order."

Su Yun frowned. He really didn't expect Li Qingchen to be so stubborn. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. Yes.

What Li Qingchen just said was called, [This matter is under the charge of me, you just need to be responsible for the internal affairs and logistics].

Is Li Qingchen afraid that he will steal his credit?
Haha, it seems that’s the case.

Li Qingchen and his men clashed with the villagers of Caicun, resulting in numerous casualties. If I bring my men there and resolve the matter, who will get the credit for cleaning up the Huimin River then?

Although it was Li Qingchen who initiated it, Li Qingchen himself messed things up and had to clean up the mess himself, so doesn't that make him the one who made the contribution?

Therefore, Li Qingchen simply went with the flow and thought of using force to subdue the villagers of Caicun and push the matter through to the end.

And once this plan succeeds, Li Qingchen will become Li Qingtian, a man who is not afraid of violence and is dedicated to serving the people!

After all, the villagers of Caicun are really not in the right in this matter.

Since Bao Zheng cleaned up the Huimin River more than 20 years ago, the court has repeatedly issued orders not to block the Huimin River. Song Renzong also issued an edict: "People living by the Huimin River are not allowed to enclose ponds to raise fish, build pavilions and terraces, and block the river. Violators will be severely punished!"

The villagers of Caicun dared to build ponds to raise fish and grow lotus roots despite repeated warnings. This is indeed unreasonable. Now they are in conflict with the yamen runners and laborers who are cleaning up the Huimin River. To call them a mob is not really a slander.

Su Yun thought for a moment and said, "Let him be. I will write a letter to the government to report this matter. You should also write a letter to remove yourself from this matter. As for the matter of managing Huimin River, we should not get involved. Let them make trouble!"

Deng Qi breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Su Yun would go against Li Qingchen. This was good. Su Yun was the Tongpan and couldn't persuade the prefect, so he could write a letter to report to the emperor. There was no problem with him not obeying orders.

As for what kind of trouble Li Qingchen might cause, it has nothing to do with him.

As the Tongpan (general) of Kaifeng Prefecture, Su Yun's memorial soon reached Zhao Xu's desk.

Su Yun explained the whole story in his memorial, and also wrote down his cooperation in the management of Huimin River. This was to show Zhao Xu:

I did not compromise on what you asked me to do and did it with my full support, but I don't agree with Magistrate Li's way of doing things.

I have advised him, but Magistrate Li won't listen. So I can only stay out of it and report to you.

After reading it, Zhao Xu frowned slightly and called Sun Sigong to ask, "What's going on with the villagers of Cai Village?"

Sun Sigong said quickly: "Cai Village is a large village on the south side of Huimin River. All the people in the village have the surname Cai. The Cai family has lived and multiplied in Cai Village for nearly a thousand years. They are a large family, so they act quite domineeringly.

The most critical part of the Huimin River management this time is the Caicun section. This area is basically occupied by the villagers of Caicun, so that the 80-zhang-wide river surface is squeezed to only 40-zhang wide, and in some places it is even less than 10-zhang wide.

Especially at the fork where Caihe River enters Bianshui River, the lotus pond occupied by the river makes the narrowest part of Caihe River only seven feet wide. The water of Caihe River is blocked as soon as it flows here. Once the rainy season comes, the river water will rush here and will flow back into the city.

A few days ago, Magistrate Li led people to clean up the fish pond and lotus pond, but was besieged by villagers from Cai Village. The two sides clashed, resulting in four deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Is there any problem with Li Qing handling this matter?"

Sun Sigong said, "It's not a big problem. It's not right for the villagers of Caicun to occupy the river. The court has repeatedly warned against occupying the river, but the villagers of Caicun still occupied it. It's reasonable for the Southern Court to organize people to clean it up now."

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Su Yun wrote to the emperor saying that Li Qing's treatment was too harsh and could easily lead to a popular uprising. What do you think?"

Sun Sigong smiled and said, "I dare not comment on this. I can only say that everyone has a different way of dealing with problems."

Zhao Xu laughed and said, "You old slave, why are you playing tricks on me?"

Sun Sigong smiled and said, "I am just an eunuch, how dare I say anything about this? However, the officials of our Song Dynasty have always loved the people like their own children. Even when building a palace, they had to consider whether it would occupy the houses of the people. Once the people protested, they would stop the construction immediately.

Of course, the villagers of Caicun did something wrong in this matter, and some of them were even a little rude. There is nothing wrong with the way Magistrate Li responded.

However, as Mr. Su said, this approach is likely to provoke civil unrest, so it might be better to do it in a gentler way."

Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Well, it seems that there is nothing wrong with the ideas of both Li Zhifu and Su Yun. Let's wait and see."

Zhao Xu put Su Yun's letter aside and dealt with other matters.

After Su Yun submitted the letter, he did not hear any news, but he had expected this.

The problem with Li Qingchen's approach was not seen as a problem by the rulers and ministers of the Song Dynasty.

Although the rulers and ministers of the Song Dynasty always talked about ruling the country with filial piety and loving the people like their own children, when it came to domestic issues, both civil officials and military generals were not gentle at all in suppressing civil unrest. According to statistics from later generations, there were more than 400 large-scale civil unrests during the Song Dynasty, but none of them succeeded.

Some people say that the best way out for the people of the Song Dynasty was to rebel, because the Song Dynasty would recruit them, so once they rebelled they could enter the system.

Hehe, those who can be recruited are those who the local government cannot encircle and suppress, and the cost is too high, so they choose to recruit. Most of the civil uprisings were put down at the beginning.

Every time a civil uprising was suppressed, countless people lost their heads.

Do you think that the Song Dynasty was prosperous and civilized, so there would be no killing?

The villagers of Caicun dared to surround the government office and even caused casualties. The reason was that they occupied the river channel, causing the city of Bianjing to be flooded repeatedly. This behavior was indeed quite bad. There was actually nothing wrong with Li Qingchen's approach.

So Su Yun did not force himself to step out, but just wrote a letter to stay out of the matter. This way, even if they beat him to death, it would have nothing to do with him.

After Su Yun submitted the book, he focused his attention on Liao Chongli's transformation of the warehouse and treasury affairs.

Only when you don’t manage a household do you know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are.

The post of Tongpan was in charge of financial and grain affairs, and he was considered the chief steward of the prefecture. Now that the left and right offices had been abolished by Su Yun, Su Yun had no choice but to take up the burden.

But there are too many cockroaches and rats in this house. If I don’t clean it up, I’m afraid that a pot of porridge that I’ve cooked well could be spoiled by a rat dropping.

Liao Chongli is indeed a piece of gold. He seemed to be no different from other officials before, except that he was more popular.

But after Su Yun put him in the position of leader of the cost reduction and efficiency improvement team, he began to shine and soon completed the transformation of procurement, review and other tasks within Nan Ya.

But with Su Yun in charge of the Southern Yamen, he had not actually been able to truly demonstrate his talents. What really made him shine was his first blow to the warehouse treasury staff.

The first blow that Liao Chongli struck at the warehouse and store management was aimed at the building and store management.

Speaking of warehouse management, it is actually a very large system. How should I put it? It is a bit similar to the state-owned enterprises of later generations.

What are the warehouse and treasury affairs under Kaifeng Prefecture?
The Changping warehouse, the contract yard, the repair yard, the withdrawal yard, the mortgage warehouse, the Changping warehouse, the Huiyi warehouse, the diplomatic treasury, the diplomatic wine warehouse, the diplomatic vinegar warehouse, the building store affairs, the capital tax affairs, the maritime affairs, the price stabilization affairs, etc., these are all!
Although the Changping Warehouse was used for grain storage and famine preparedness, it was more like a commercial investment institution. Local governments often used the Changping money as capital, invested in the lending industry, and collected interest.

The Rewards and Awards Warehouse, the Ambassador's Money Warehouse, the Ambassador's Wine Warehouse, and the Ambassador's Vinegar Warehouse were not only warehouses for storing government supplies, but also commercial institutions that used national supplies as capital.

The Northwest Army used the capital of the Northwest Public Envoy Treasury, the Reward Treasury, the Border Defense Treasury, the Huiyi Treasury, etc. to lend money, and could collect more than 116 million strings of interest each year;
During the Tiansheng period, the northwest embassy's wine warehouse "bought more than 180 strings of raw wine every day, and the same number of boiled wine. The rate was 300 strings per day, 9,000 strings per month, and more than 100,000 strings per year."

As for institutions named "field" such as repair field and extraction field, most of them are handicraft workshops and commodity trading markets run by local governments.

There are also some economic departments named after "Wu", such as Shibowu, which is the agency for managing import and export trade, similar to the current customs;
The Stabilization Bureau is equivalent to a state-run commodity wholesale company; the Metropolitan Taxation Bureau is the tax authority that collects commercial taxes.

The government also set up public housing management departments in the capital and various prefectures and counties to be responsible for the leasing, management and maintenance of government public housing, which is the business of building and store management.

Tokyo's building and store management department has more than 20,000 public housing units under its jurisdiction and has a "building and store management department" who is equivalent to the general manager.
There are three or four "hookers", equivalent to deputy general managers;
There are 40 to 50 "house-looting officials" who are equivalent to business managers and are responsible for renting and collecting rent;
There are also 500 "repair and construction commanders" (maintenance workers). There is a duty system for store and house affairs, and a person in charge must be on duty every night.

For all unrented empty houses, someone was assigned to guard them every day, and the "official who collected the house money" would post "rental notices" (which were later rental advertisements) to recruit people to rent the houses - it was clearly a super-large-scale "property company".

These were the scales achieved after the imperial court took away many highly profitable industries following the Xining Reforms.

The reason why Su Yun wanted to make some arrangements for the warehouse and treasury affairs was because the scale of these industries was not small, but after paying the fixed amount of tribute with the profits every year, the money left for the Southern Yamen was actually a bit insufficient?

With so many companies, they can't even support the thousand or so people in Nan Ya. Isn't this weird?
Therefore, either the people in these companies are all good-for-nothings, or they are all corrupt officials. No matter which one it is, Su Yun has to clean it up carefully.

Liao Chongli's first move was to target Loudianwu because its business was not very sensitive. It was just a large state-owned real estate company and would not involve many sensitive matters.

My goodness, after checking, I found that the entire store management was a complete mess.

Not to mention the high-level leaders such as the store and house affairs officials and the escort officials, just look at the officials who plunder the house fees and even the construction commanders who can make money.

On paper, the houses were not rented out. When Liao Chongli took people to investigate, they found that they had been rented out long ago. It turned out that the officials who plundered the house fees had secretly rented out the houses in the building and store affairs, and they embezzled all the rent.

Oh, not all of it was pocketed by them. Most of it would be provided to the high-level leaders such as the store management and the escort officers.

The annual maintenance costs of these houses are also a huge sum of money, which they also embezzled.

As for how the construction commander negotiated for money, he fabricated some non-existent repair records and appropriated the repair costs for himself.

As a result, not only is there no rental income, but the building management also has to spend a lot of money on repairs every year.

As a result, in the city of Bianliang where every inch of land was valuable, the building and store administration with more than 20,000 public housing units only paid over 10,000 guan of so-called surplus every year!
According to Liao Chongli's calculations, the average annual rent for each public housing unit was 12 guan (string of cash). There were a total of more than 25,000 public housing units, and the total annual rental income was as high as 300,000 guan (string of cash).

However, the store business only turned over more than 10,000 strings of cash in so-called surplus every year!
Liao Chongli did some calculations and found that after deducting the salaries and commissions paid to the store employees and necessary expenses of 150,000 guan, there was a profit of at least 150,000 guan.

In the end, only more than 10,000 strings of cash were handed over, which means that at least 130,000 strings of cash were embezzled.

As soon as Liao Chongli reported the data, Su Yun immediately sent people to control the high-level leaders such as the store and house affairs, the escort officials, and the officials who plundered the house money and got married. This investigation was really shocking.

The wealth of that business man was as rich as that of a wealthy businessman. The house he lived in was actually a large mansion with five courtyards. The decoration inside was even more astonishing.

There is nothing much to say. We should investigate and search their property.

After a search and confiscation of property, it was found that there was a whopping 300,000 strings of cash, as well as 500,000 strings of fixed assets such as real estate and shops!
After Su Yun got the account book, he shook his head repeatedly.

When a country reaches its mid-term stage, it will face such problems: one is land annexation, and the other is official corruption.

It was just a small store, but over the past few decades, more than millions of strings of state assets were embezzled by these people. Other warehouses, such as the Changping warehouse, the contract warehouse, the repair warehouse, the withdrawal warehouse, the pawnshop, the Changping warehouse, etc., were probably all rotten.

Therefore, officials were rich enough to rival a country, but the national treasury was empty, and it became the norm that income was not enough to cover expenditures year after year.

Su Yun couldn't take care of so many things. He could only take care of things within his responsibilities.

However, this time Su Yun's brows were slightly relaxed. Three hundred thousand cash entered the treasury at once, and the Southern Court could have a prosperous year this year.

As for the shops and properties worth hundreds of thousands of strings of cash, they were included in the building and store business and rented out.

Liao Chongli became famous in one battle.

People in the Southern Court were hostile to Liao Chongli at the beginning. After all, he blocked many people's financial paths.

But at this moment, Liao Chongli brought hundreds of thousands of cash to the treasury, and most of the officials immediately praised Liao Chongli.

After all, for most officials, there is no way for them to benefit from the internal purchases of the Southern Yamen. Only a small number of people who are in charge of this power have the opportunity to make money.

But there is money in the treasury, so the monthly salary can be paid on time and in full, and there is money during the New Year holidays to distribute various benefits such as rice, flour, oil, tea, etc., which is the most cost-effective for them.

Of course, the greatest praise was given to Su Yun, the Tongpan.

Su Tongpan sent both the left and right halls to the Dali Temple at once, which made everyone afraid, but now the Tongpan Hall under the leadership of Su Tongpan began to rectify the warehouse affairs.

It’s only the first round, but it will fill the treasury, and everyone’s life will be better from now on.

Su Yun doesn't care much about these false reputations. These people only care about things that benefit them.

Today they will praise you for bringing them benefits, and tomorrow they will slander you for harming their interests.

Su Yun’s focus is still on layout.

Confiscating property is just an additional benefit. What Su Yun cares more about is the business of the building and the store itself.

As a result of the raid, most of the people working in the building and store were sent to jail. Rats, cockroaches, and flies were killed, and they also had to raise some cattle, sheep, chickens, and dogs.

Su Yun promoted some capable clerks to take charge of the building and store affairs and reorganize the business of the building and store affairs.

In fact, the rental rate of buildings in building stores is basically 80%, and the vacancy rate is only more than 10%.

Now that new management has been appointed, the rent of this building and the shop alone can provide the Southern Court with a profit of at least nearly 100,000 strings of cash each year.

Su Yun received good news frequently, but Li Qingchen hit a wall.

Li Qingchen thought that if he had the yamen runners bring swords, guns, bows and arrows, he could scare off the Caicun people. However, the Caicun people had been thriving on the Huimin River for nearly a thousand years, with a population of tens of thousands. They just moved out and did not live in Caicun.

The Cai clan leader shouted and immediately gathered thousands of young and strong men to directly block the Huimin River!

This is really a big deal!

(End of this chapter)