Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

At the next morning court session, the emperor announced that the court would jointly establish a charitable foundation with merchants to achieve mutual assistance between officials and businessmen and to help the people.

The whole hall was in uproar, and many people stood up and shouted, "Your Majesty, please think twice."

What status do merchants have? Why can they work together with officials? Isn't this lowering their status?

The emperor had expected this to happen, and said with a smile, "It's OK if it's not established, but I'm afraid that even if the fines of the ministers are increased tenfold, it still won't be enough. Which minister is willing to be the first to step forward and make up his share of the fine?"

The questioning words were met with a long silence.

The King of Hell began to call the roll: "Prime Minister Cui?"

Prime Minister Cui remained silent.

"Gadeber?"

Jia Debo's face was slightly grim, "Your Majesty, I am an old minister with clean hands..."

"Okay." The emperor had no time to listen to his bragging. "You always say that business makes money, and that merchants make money too easily, so you want to increase taxes on merchants. Now is the opportunity to make merchants pay, isn't it? In this case, why not?"

Suddenly, a brilliant idea came to Gadber.

Seeing that no one spoke, he was smug and stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I think that a charity tax can be added to the merchant taxes, and the tax money can be used for charity. In this way, merchants don't need to attend the meeting..."

"I think you want to be the Minister of Revenue!" The emperor slapped the back of the chair and glared.

Ji Benchang was singled out for no reason. Feeling aggrieved, he pointed at Jiadebo and angrily cursed: "Do you think all merchants are stupid? You increase taxes for them, and they will turn around and put the blame on the people. Who do you think will suffer then? It will be the people of my Great Zhou who will suffer! You are a black-hearted person, always coming up with bad ideas!"

Jiadebo was no match for Ji Benchang, and he did not dare to compete with him in the court.

After gritting his teeth for a long time, he swung his sleeves and joined the ranks, "Vulgar!"

"Bah!" Ji Benchang chased him and cursed: "You are so arrogant, if you are so arrogant, why donate more money! You just play with your pen every day, your pen is enough to feed the people for a lifetime!"

This sentence touched more than just Gadbo. In an instant, many officials in the hall lowered their heads even lower.

The emperor glanced across the hall, "Any of you who have any concerns? Feel free to speak up."

Ji Benchang took a breath and thought for a while, then stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I have a question."

Seeing that it was him who stepped out, the emperor looked relatively happy and said, "Speak."

Ji Benchang was very happy and said respectfully, "Since this foundation is jointly run by the court and merchants, both parties need to have a reputable person to convince the public. On the court side, I have a candidate in mind."

The emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at him for a while, "My dear minister, you are talking about yourself, right?"

Many people laughed secretly.

"I am innocent!" Ji Benchang said aggrievedly, "I am the Minister of Revenue, in charge of the Great Zhou treasury. If I manage the foundation, I am afraid it will attract criticism. Why would I nominate myself... I want to nominate Lord Shen, the Inspector of the Ministry of Works."

"No!" Jia Debo was so excited that he was busy refusing. After a while, he thought of a reason: "Your Majesty, Lord Shen will return to Liuyang Mansion soon, and I'm afraid he won't have time to manage the foundation."

All the officials looked at him with surprise.

How brave... Just after being scolded, he dares to stand up and sing against His Majesty.

Didn't he see the look on His Majesty's face?

The words "I want to choose Shen Zheng" were just a few steps away from being written on his face.

As expected, the emperor ignored Gadber's words, and even he himself was ignored by the emperor.

The emperor nodded and said, "The more capable, the more work. Since all the ministers have recommended Shen Qing, then let Shen Qing give it a try. The position of the merchant leader will also be decided by Shen Qing. I am tired, so I will leave the court."

All the officials dispersed in twos and threes, only Gadber remained standing there with a ferocious look on his face.

......

When the first rays of morning light shone on the land of Tongan County, the quiet dock seemed to have been powered on, and it became lively in an instant.

The boatmen and crew members walked out of the guesthouse in groups, stretching and chatting.

"This Tong'an Wharf is really worthy of its reputation. I've been sailing for so long, and this is the first time a wharf has provided us with a place to rest."

"Isn't it? In the past, we had to work all night long in the dark. Now we are in Tong'an County, which can give us a break."

"If you ask me, other docks should learn from this. Not only should they not work at night, but they should at least allow people to take turns to rest, right? You should have heard that at the beginning of last winter, two boatmen and a dockworker died of exhaustion at the Texas dock... Those lives are so cheap, they are not even worth a box of goods."

"This matter is the fault of the dock, but it can't be entirely blamed on the dock. Sometimes... people are holding a grudge in their hearts, and they just want to work harder, earn more, and make life easier for their families. But what kind of money is that? It's the life of a person!"

"Come on, come on, it's so early in the morning, don't talk about life or death."

The crew members stopped talking, linked their arms, and walked towards the shop area in the dock.

There was a special area in the wharf for opening various shops so that the crew could buy things when they disembarked. These shops were only rented to people from Tongan County, not outsiders, so many merchants from other places were very disappointed and repeatedly went to the Tongan County Government to ask for a shop to do business, but Xu Zhubu never gave in.

Now most of the shop has been rented out, a small part of it is already open for business, and the other large part is still being decorated.

Most of the shops that are open sell food.

A group of people stopped in front of the steamed bun shop.

The pier was still steamy in the early morning. When the steamed buns were opened, white mist swirled out, dispersing the steam and rushing into everyone's nostrils.

The boss held a wooden tong in his hand and asked enthusiastically, "What kind of buns would you like? Pork buns are three cents each, vegetarian buns are one cent each, and three are two cents each. We have shredded radish, shepherd's purse, and purslane."

"It smells like fresh noodles." One of them moved his nose and ordered, "Two meat ones, three vegetarian ones, one each. Do you have anything to drink?"

"The noodle soup is free. If you don't like noodle soup, you can try the bean soup in the shop next door." The boss smiled and pointed to the shop next door, and said, "I don't have enough variety. You have traveled a lot and have seen a lot. If there are any delicious buns with good fillings out there, please tell me about them and I'll try to tinker with them. If they taste good, you can have them next time you come!"

He thought that he could change the taste when his parents came back.

At this time last year, the adults loved eating his buns the most!

The crew members were amused: "Can we give suggestions based on taste?"

Seeing that the boss was enthusiastic and spoke in a pleasant manner, they couldn't help but suggest a few kinds of fillings.

“Red bean paste and brown sugar buns are not cheap outside, but they are sweet and not greasy, and they are delicious!”

"The bamboo shoots and pork buns are also good. The bamboo shoots should be tough, and they should be tender and crunchy when you bite them."

"There are also mutton buns, but they have a strong smell, so the ingredients must be matched carefully."

The boss' eyes lit up and he took notes.

After the crew members finished speaking, they shouted to the bean soup shop next door: "Madam, give me five bowls of bean soup! Hotter ones please."