In a blink of an eye, it was April of the fifth year of Jiayou. Fan Ning had been in charge of Kunzhou for four years. His term of office had expired in February. If nothing unexpected happens, his deputy Yu Xiaonian will take over as the governor. This is the candidate recommended by Fan Ning to the court and has been recognized by Zhizhengtang.

However, if the court has not issued a transfer order and a formal appointment letter, he has to continue working in Kunzhou.

Spring in Kunzhou is one month later than that in the Song Dynasty, and it has a bit of the smell of "the fragrance of the world is gone in April, and the peach blossoms in the mountain temples are blooming."

In early April, the Kunbei grassland is full of blooming wild flowers, colorful and colorful, making the pasture particularly pleasing to the eye.

Twenty miles west of Bailongchuan, here is the only natural unfreezing port in the north of Kunzhou. The other side of the strait is Jingzhou. Two years ago, when the third batch of immigrants arrived in Kunzhou, five hundred of them were resettled here, forming a large town called Kunbei Town. At the beginning of this year, the approval documents of Jin County finally came down, and Kunbei Town was officially renamed Jin County.

In fact, in the past year, this big town is no different from the county. One side facing the sea and two meters wide artificial canals were dug on three sides. In name, it was prevented from invading the town, but in fact it was an invisible city wall.

When the approval for the county construction was released, these artificial canals became natural moats, and four walls were built, and the county town was formed.

Ten thousand Japanese workers are building city walls. They are newcomers recruited last fall. After three years of labor, the first batch of Japanese workers have finished their contracts and returned with a full load. Almost everyone has received more than 40 taels of silver. Many people, together with various rewards, have also received fifty taels of silver. After returning, they can buy a large piece of land and become rich peasants.

However, a thousand Japanese girls recruited at the same time were basically married to Kunzhou. In addition to marrying soldiers, many people also married farmers, and most of them had children. In addition to their general petite figures, their speech, clothing and living habits were no different from ordinary women in the Song Dynasty.

So last fall, Kunzhou introduced a second batch of 1,000 Japanese girls. They were mainly engaged in harbor fish drying and business, and most of them were hired by various stores. This is also a major feature of Kunzhou. Kunzhou does not allow Japanese men to engage in business and service industries, so Japanese women are basically used as partners in each store in the three major counties.

Compared to drying fish, these girls are more willing to engage in business. The reason is very simple. Engaging in business can help you learn Chinese better. Even if you don’t stay in Kunzhou, you can still find a good job in the Song Dynasty and finally stay in the Song Dynasty.

This is just like Hu Ji yearned for Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty, and Japanese women in the Song Dynasty all yearned for going to the most prosperous Tokyo Bianliang in the world.

Fan Ning arrived in Jin County for inspection two days ago. Jin County directly copied Tang County. The city wall would be 18 miles in circumference, with three vertical and three horizontal lines in the city, with a total of six streets. The street layout is very neat and can accommodate one thousand households. There is no excessive use of wooden houses, but it is built into brick and tile houses in one step. Each house covers two acres of land, with a large house and a large yard.

Unlike Tang County and Han County, Jin County has no rural areas, mainly because it is too cold in winter and is covered with thick snow, making it inconvenient to live in the countryside.

In order to encourage the people to live in Jin County, the Kunzhou government also gave many preferential conditions, such as large residential land, and double the land. Each household in Jin County can allocate four hectares of land, but there is no wheat planting here, but black beans are planted specifically for supplying it to the pastures.

The generous conditions can certainly attract many people to settle down. The number of people in Jin County has increased from the initial 500 households to 800 households, and more than 4,000 people. Basically, they make a living by farming and logging in Jingzhou. The generous conditions are enough to allow the people to live a life of food and clothing without worries.

The first county magistrate of Jin County was Li Dashou. He was also lucky. He was assigned to Jingzhou before. He was very down-to-earth in his work and spent a year and a half to conduct a comprehensive survey of Jingzhou. Although the application for establishing a military city in Kunzhou was not approved by Zhizhengtang for a long time, mainly because he was worried that it would cause dissatisfaction in the Liao Kingdom, Li Dashou was lucky in disguise. The Ministry of Personnel was quite guilty of him and appointed him as the first county magistrate of Jin County.

"This is the county school!"

Li Dashou pointed to a newly completed building and said to Fan Ning: "There are currently five professors and 230 students in the county. I also have to come here to teach students every month, at least three classes a month."

Education is the foundation of the founding of the Song Dynasty, and Kunzhou is no exception. Four years ago, Kunzhou established schools and primary schools in Tang County. Last year, Tang County and Han County established county schools at the same time. Kunzhou also established provincial schools. Dozens of professors were hired from the Song Dynasty to teach in Kunzhou. More than a thousand children have enrolled. At the beginning of this year, a female school was established to teach girls' reading.

At this time, the county government office in Jin County had not been repaired, but the county school had already begun to operate. This is what Fan Ning admired Li Dashou very much. Li Dashou was undoubtedly wise and foolish. He was willing to suffer losses in small places, including managing Japanese laborers and going to Jingzhou to survey, but he was never vague on the issue of principle.

Fan Ning walked around the county school and asked again: "How is the gold digging situation in Jingzhou?"

Last fall, dozens of young people from Jin County went to the Caojiahe section of Bailongchuan to hunt for gold and clashed with Cao's guard soldiers. Five young people were beaten and injured. This incident triggered protests from the people of Jin County. Hundreds of people from Jin County ran to Bailongchuan to protest, causing the Caojia Jintian to be suspended for one month. Finally, Fan Ning came to mediate in person. As the cold winter approached, the two sides barely reached an agreement. The Caojia Gold Mine compensated each of the injured 300 stagnant coins, and the people of Jin County also agreed not to go to Bailongchuan to make trouble.

Although the situation has subsided because of the arrival of winter, the people of Jin County are still unstoppable for gold. This is also Fan Ning’s most concerned issue. In April, major gold fields have begun to collect gold again. Will it trigger a new round of gold rush conflict?

Fan Ning never expects the people of Jin County to abide by the agreement reached last year. Anyway, they will be compensated if they are injured. Maybe the people of Jin County will continue to move forward. This is the real reason why Fan Ning came to Jin County for inspection soon after spring.

"I have a solution to my humble position, but I don't know if it works?" Li Dashou hesitated for a moment.

Fan Ning was excited and asked quickly: "What are the solutions you said?"

"It is better to consider humble positions than to block them and lead the people's willingness to find gold elsewhere."

"So do you have any specific plans?"

Li Dashou nodded, "I am wondering, can I stop logging in Jingzhou and try gold instead in Jingzhou?"

Fanning thought for a while and said, "This is indeed a different approach. It is feasible, but Jingzhou must have gold first. Have you considered this issue?"

"I know that when I was exploring Jingzhou, I found many rivers rich in gold sand. Among them, the river closest to Kunzhou is fifty miles north of Jingzhou's military camp. The river is not long, only more than forty miles. Beizhi wants to open this river to make gold for the people of Jin County."

Fanning pondered for a long time and said, "You write a written report and if it is feasible, the state government will approve it."

Li Dashou was overjoyed and asked the people of Jin County to go to Jingzhou to hunt for gold. He did not have this power. Arrangement of the people of Jin County to go to Jingzhou to log wood was decided by the state yamen, so changing to gold hunting must also be decided by the state yamen.

He took out a report and handed it to Fanning with both hands. Fanning was stunned and laughed out loudly, "Okay, Li Dashou, I've dug a hole long ago, just wait for me to jump down, right?"

Li Dashou scratched his head embarrassedly, "I have been thinking about this for a winter, so writing a report is certainly no problem."

"Okay! I'll give this a special approval for you, given that you still know you want to report to the state yamen."

The prefecture government has its own set of procedures for doing things, first and second trials, and it is the prefect's turn to approve it. However, if the situation is special, the prefect can also directly approve it without going through the process.

Of course, Fan Ning would not easily break the rules of the government office. But he knew in his heart that it was mid-spring, and the people of Jin County would go to Bailongchuan to hunt for gold anytime and anywhere. There was really no time to delay this matter, so he could only follow the special approval path.

Fanning read the report and directly approved the gold dig application.

"It should be implemented as soon as possible, the faster the better, do you understand?"

"I understand, let the news be released today."

"Wait a minute!"

Fan Ning said to Li Dashou again solemnly: "You have to tell the people that gold hunting is OK, but you can't mistakenly cultivate and sow. If there is no black bean harvest in autumn, there will be no food next year. You can buy it and sell it if you use gold."

"I understand, but in fact, everyone knows that you can't buy items with gold and silver, you can only store them."

This is actually the rule of the Song Dynasty. Gold and silver can only be stored and stored, and cannot be circulated on the market. When it is to be used, you must first go to the money shop to exchange it for copper coins. However, the regulations are regulations, but it is actually difficult to prohibit them. Who would not charge them if you use the money to spend in restaurants?

Therefore, this regulation is basically in name only, but it can be strictly implemented in Kunzhou. No shop is allowed to collect gold and silver, and can only use copper coins. Violators will be expelled from Kunzhou. This is also to ensure that the people can live with peace of mind and not be crazy about gold and silver. They all go to find gold and silver and cannot use gold and silver. Over time, everyone is not very interested in gold and silver.

In fact, the people of Han County had a gold rush, and later found that gold rush was not very meaningful. The trend quickly subsided, and the same was true for the people of Jin County. Although they are obsessed with gold now, they soon discovered that it is not worth the cost to go shopping for gold. The gold they bought cannot improve their lives. Instead, it takes up too much time and reduces their living standards.

This is an obvious thing. The cut amber wood can be exchanged for money when sold to the government, but the purchase price of gold government is extremely low, far lower than the price of amber wood. Stores and money shops dare not collect it. In the end, the lack of copper coins at home will cause problems, and firewood, rice, oil and salt will become problems. Over time, who is willing to go to find gold?
Chapter completed!