Chapter 8 Politics (I)

Two plain candles, three wisps of faint fragrance, a bucket of turbid wine, and the western flowers are round. The governor of Peking Guo Pu celebrates the starry sky in the north. It is the end of the moon, and there is no moon in the sky, and the milky white Milky Way lies across the sky like fog. The tears flash in Guo Pu's eyes, but they cannot penetrate the dark night color.

"Brother, go, no matter which one is you," he raised his wine glass to the several meteors that crossed the sky. As if responding to his words, the meteor brilliantly cut a golden trace in the night sky.

He became a chief official in the border area in less than fifty years, and ten years of time seemed like a dream. Five years ago, Guo Pu himself was just a wild county magistrate who had never been promoted, and Li Ling was just a small captain. He drank and talked with Wu'anguo, Wang Hao, Li Shanping and others, and lived a simple and happy life. Without the glory and glitz of the officialdom, there was no need to pay too high a price for this glory and glitz.

In the misty blue smoke, Li Ling's somewhat dull appearance was lifelike. Behind him, Wang Feiyu, who was always smiling, stood. Two good brothers had already paid the price of their lives. I wonder how many people would sacrifice in conflict. Can the equality pursued by Wu'anguo really be realized?

"Master, be careful of catching a cold." Mrs. Guo was worried about her husband and tiptoed out and covered a cloak on Guo Pu's shoulder. Now Guo Pu is the head of administrative departments of four provinces and is no longer subject to restrictions prohibiting the carrying of family members. The couple can finally be reunited.

"I understand, go to bed first. I will sacrifice to Brother Li, and then rest." Guo Pu smiled at his wife and sighed in regret at the night sky.

"In fact, Uncle Li also seeks kindness and is kindness. He dies so well. You don't have to be too sad." The wife gently guided Guo Pu. She was also born in a scholarly family and was familiar with the stories of loyalty and righteousness in ancient and modern times. In the story, she sacrificed her life for the country and returned with a horse and a corpse. She is already the perfect destination for the general.

If that was true, Li Ling would be able to rest in peace even if he died. Guo Pu smiled bitterly and stopped talking to his wife. It would be best not to take things in the officialdom home. He raised his hand to help the wife sort out a few strands of hair in her ears, and asked with concern: "Where is Feng'er, are you asleep?"

The lady was eager to pull him back from her grief and said softly: "I have already fallen asleep. I have learned Latin from Muhammad for an hour during the day. I am tired. This child is now fascinated by the outside world and wishes he can fly away now. After a few years, his wings are hard, and I guess his family will not be able to keep him." She is a wealthy family in Huaiyang, and her behavior has a Jiangnan charm. When talking about her children, her eyes are full of gentleness.

"Let him go. Reading thousands of books is better than traveling thousands of miles. Only by understanding this land can you talk about managing this land." Guo Pu slowly spread his eyebrows, took his wife's sleeve and walked out of the garden. The family members who were serving outside came forward quickly and sorted out the things on the table. Li Ling's heroic soul returned in the middle of the night, and could still sit down and drink.

Li Ling was still a soldier after all. He didn't know the hardships of government. In the end, he didn't understand why General Feng was increasingly disliked him. While leaning his head gently on Guo Pu's shoulder and walking towards the backyard, Mrs. Guo secretly thought that Guo Pu would not tell her about the officialdom, but with her intelligence and family background, how could she not guess the rules of the officialdom? In recent years, no matter whether Guo Pu was a small county magistrate, he would not be promoted for several years, or a prefect of the local prefect or a provincial governor, his heart was always concerned about this scholar who was a little crazy donating, not the black veil on his head.

If Li Ling had not changed the transportation management methods of military rations without authorization, would he be scolded by General Feng? Mrs. Guo did not need to ask Guo Pu to get the answer. Huaiyang people operated more salt and grain transportation. Since the opening of the Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty, it has been several dynasties and has been working for many generations. She also knew some of the key points, such as sifting, squirting, open and secret buckle, floating and collecting hukou noodles, etc. After hearing this, she had heard of countless times. Li Ling's seemingly simple reform method was happy with Zhu Yuanzhang, but she didn't know how many people they violated. Even if Guo Pu was in the same position as Li Ling, he might not dare to do this directly. He was familiar with the unspoken rules of the officialdom and would definitely detour and minimize the harm.

After so many years of transporting military rations, the people and the officials and officials have already had a set of rules of mutual peace. Most of the so-called consumption on the road is to maintain the normal operation of this rule. Among them, how much blood should the people be, how much benefits officials at all levels have from it, and how high the generals who collect the grain finally have all formed a tacit understanding. Feng Sheng's original intention of arranging Li Ling to manage military rations was nothing more than giving him a fatty meal, including rewards and win over. Li Ling broke the rules without doing anything in private. Who can tolerate it?

Like the grain transport, this military ration cannot be calculated based on the amount of goods arrived. Once the calculation method changes, the officials will no longer have the excuse of "floating collection" by road loss, and the more swords the farmers will lose the justification. The merchants organize the transportation rather than the government assigns the people to strong people, so that the local governments can collect less "deposit money" (the alcoholic note: to avoid the benefits of carrying grain transport tasks to the government during the busy farming period). From the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Wensong and even the Mongolian Dayuan, how many idle people, notches, and so-called honest officials fell on this. Compared with those officials, Li Ling died in the battlefield due to humiliation, and his fate was much more decent.

Thinking of this, Mrs. Guo couldn't help but have a cold war. Guo Pu felt his wife's weakness and took off the cloak from herself to cover her weak shoulders.

"Master, our Feng'er has no intention of fame and fortune. She has always liked to travel around. I think the Guo family has you, a noble man, who is enough to shine for three generations, so don't force him." Mrs. Guo raised her head and looked at her husband with clear eyes to pray.

"Yes, enough, the children naturally have their choices, as long as they don't harm the truth," Guo Pu looked at his wife's eyes and answered with some affection.

When I was young, I sought a title of marquis for thousands of miles. So what if I was a marquis? If I was poor, I would be able to protect myself. If I was prosperous, I would help the world. But do you really need to help the world? The world is no longer the world when I was young, and children should have more life choices. Guo Pu is sometimes tired and really wants to put down his ambitions and go back to be an idle person. The bass in his hometown is stewed. But the concept of equality mentioned by Wu Anguo often burns in his heart so that he can't sleep.

"Officials do not disturb the people, but the people can be at peace." Although he is a famous scholar, Guo Pu even praised Huang-Lao's art in his governance, believing that being able to govern is the best official. The so-called official government, as the great scholar Bo Wenyuan said, has no more than three responsibilities. If you do too much, it is better not to do it. The three responsibilities that the government should do now are: First, protect national security and prevent it from being violated by foreign countries; Second, protect the personal safety of the people and prevent it from being harmed and oppressed by others, especially the oppressed by corrupt officials; Third, build and maintain certain public welfare undertakings and public facilities that private individuals cannot or are unwilling to do.

Although the war in the north is tight, Guo Pu is not very worried about the outcome of the war. He and Wu'anguo resisted tens of thousands of cavalry with 800 heroes, and had already trained his courage. Moreover, the gateway to the north, Daning, was still in the hands of the Ming army. He Qingbo Zhang Yi was ordered to lead his army out of the customs to support Puying, and Tang He's Andong army also moved west from Jinzhou and other places. Even if the Mongols dared to bypass Daning, Guo Pu felt fearless. At worst, he could form a rural bravery. When he had the last experience to defend his own property, the people in the Beijing area no longer needed the government to mobilize.

The most important thing now is to protect the brothers of that year and not let them lose any more. Otherwise, before the power in Peking formed a scale, the heroes of that year had been sacrificed. Guo Pu believed that he could not compare with Wu'anguo, and he could take various opportunities to spread the seeds of new learning. He was familiar with the government and could do it to use the various rules inside to protect the fire that was scattered everywhere until these fires could burn independently.

The candle in the bedroom suddenly jumped, and Mrs. Guo took off the glass lampshade, picked up scissors and cut off the burned candle flowers. It was late at night, and she was used to serving her husband silently with various affairs. Guo Pu did not speak, and she did not disturb her. From the flower hair of her husband who had born early, she also knew that this governor in charge of government affairs in four provinces was not easy to be a good person. It was her duty to make her husband worry less. Guo Pu was a person who knew the warmth and coldness. She had been away for so many years and had only married a concubine that had long died. She was not a jealous woman, but her husband no longer took a concubine, which was clearly the thought of

In the relationship between husband and wife for many years, she is not a fool, and can feel her husband's affection for herself. This well-educated husband is not like the so-called celebrities in his hometown. He is a sincere Confucian scholar. The people in his hometown are ambitious, greedy and debauchery. Those people are not only hateful because of their bad habits, but what makes people most disgusting is that their bad habits are completely opposite to the morals they talk about in daily life. At the same time, because these bad habits are so opposite to each other, things that can coexist only in people with very strange nature can be calmly concealed under their elegant appearance.

"Man'er, how many stocks I have managed to you last year?" In the bedroom, Guo Pu did not have to avoid his servants and whispered to his wife's name.

The lady was stunned for a moment, a faint flushed flew on her face, and she replied clearly: "There are still about 140,000 taels of stocks. At the beginning of the year, I sold the remaining 100,000 taels to exchange for gold. I always have to leave some hard things at home. Seeing the stocks turning upwards every day, I felt mysterious. In spring, I proposed 30,000 taels of silver to be invested in 10,000 to Feng Ziming and Xiao Shao according to your arrangement, and there are 20,000 subsidies for you to welcome and send past officials. Why, my husband has spent another expense?"

"Long live the order to rename the four auxiliary officials of 'Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter' to Grand Secretary', and establish a cabinet in analogy with the Song Dynasty system. Local governments must give some small gifts to express," Guo Pu explained with a smile.

"Isn't it just changing the name? It's necessary to be so arrogant." Mrs. Guo was a little disdainful. The Grand Secretary was just a fifth-rank civil servant, and he was much smaller than a governor like Guo Pu. This big official gave gifts to the little official. He said this, and he quickly opened an inconspicuous nanmu box at the corner of the bed and took out a stack of silver notes.

"What do you think we can give? You can't just send money like others. These senior officials are scholars, unlike my Ministry of Revenue, who was the Ministry of Revenue, who only asked for yellow and white goods." Regarding gifts, Guo Pu was not very good at giving gifts. In the past, they always gave new things to high-ranking officials in Beijing under the name of trying new goods. Factory owners often brought gifts to Guo Pu and asked them to give them up. According to Wu'anguo, these people are free advertisements. Now there are some daily tricks in Peking, and the big bosses in Beijing have them at home, so it's really hard to pick gifts. His family was now the head of the Ministry of Revenue a hundred years ago. When he inspected the place, he looked down on everything. Finally, he shaved some silver notes on Xu Jibiao number before leaving, losing all the face of the officials.

Mrs. Guo tilted her head and thought for a while, and said, "I'll look at the diamond glasses. That thing looks elegant. Didn't someone else advertised to you last time and still have a few sides that were unwilling to give? Several 'ge masters' were walking in front of the imperial court, and their clothes were untidy. The small mirror could be kept in their pockets and taken out at any time to see if there were any mistakes."

"Okay, tomorrow I will ask the butler to take out the mirror and send someone to take it carefully. Such a valuable thing was originally intended to be useful." Guo Pu nodded and said yes.

"This is also very useful, so that they can't complain about the new policy of Peking in front of the emperor. If the emperor's ears become soft one day, it will be trouble."

"No, the emperor is wise and will not weigh the pros and cons, and it is better to give them a gift. It is inevitable that there will be useful things in the future. Wang Hao and Zhengwu are all under others, so they have to leave a way for them." Guo Pu was very confident about Zhu Yuanzhang. Although this emperor was a little cruel, he could not be considered a foolish monarch in any case. His deep social experience allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to see the long-term impact of a policy more than his assistants in most of the time.

"When everything goes smoothly, you will not. When you are proud, you need to be frustrated." Mrs. Guo packed the banknotes and advised her husband quietly. "Don't think that my wife's knowledge is short-sighted. I think the stocks in Peking this year are not right. I am with the wife's family. The one they talked about the most now is stocks. Since Mingdi Building specially set up a female family room, and the arithmetic Hongxiu and several other women were responsible for greeting the female guests, they ran to the stock market when they were fine. I heard that the carriages that pick up and drop off female family members can be discharged half a mile every day. Everyone bought them, but in the end there was not that much. Isn't this a bit intentional lie? As for the current Heat, there is really going to make a mistake. I wonder how many people are going to lose their money."

"Man'er, thank you really, it's my blessing to marry you." Guo Pu looked at his wife lovingly, with sincerity in his tone. It was not that he didn't know the short-selling problem of stocks, but mainly because he was busy dealing with the chaos and distracting of the people in Gaoli during this period. Besides, he didn't know much about stocks. Li Shanping was stronger in this regard, but Li Shanping was so tired that he didn't even have the time to solve the problem of the arms supply ahead. He should be very cautious when dealing with stocks. Now people who come to Peking to buy stocks hide their dragons and crouch their tigers, but if they are not careful, they won't know if they are not careful.

Which gods will touch the interests of the gods and bring greater harm to the new policy as a whole. There are few businesses in Peking who are not involved in stocks. Several of them simply resell the hard-won industries to Zhang Wu, Xu Zhichen, and Chen Xing, who are dedicated to playing stocks. It can be said that even the children selling newspapers and taxi drivers driving carriages are talking about stocks. Two days ago, Zhang Zhengwen complained that the workers in the factory were uneasy to work, and actually asked the foreman to install blackboards in a conspicuous position, and announced the prices of hot stocks twice a day.

Stock markets are too abnormal now. Almost everyone finds that they are abnormal, but all those who love to play stocks are investing the money they have earned like gamblers, and no one wants to stop. The stock mate from the south cleverly tells the people about the benefits of stock trading over and over again on the streets, in the countryside, in front of hundreds of teahouses and restaurants in Quanbeiping, and reselling the stocks purchased by the boss's company to those who want to make a fortune but cannot enter the market. Salesmen receive high fees from each transaction, and the boss's business also makes profits from it. Everyone remembers the benefits, but no one mentions the word "risk".

"It's been so many years, and I'm still talking about it." Mrs. Guo gave her husband a sweet return and said, "I'm worried that if something goes wrong, someone will take the blame."

Guo Pu understood what his wife was worried about, and now he was staring at Peking not only with the emperor. He, the governor, was sitting on the top of a pile of fire, and could be bombed into the sky at any time. Since last year, due to the large amount of cotton planting, the price of grain has increased. It is not bad for Peking. Tianjin Customs, under the call of Guo Pu, strictly investigated the port ships and was not allowed to sell grain. Cao Zhen also organized merchant ships to purchase rice from Goryeo and Chameng. Finally, the problem of problems was not big, and Guo Pu was so busy that he was already in a hurry. This year, the problem of Goryeo refugees' chaos has not yet been settled, and the stock problem has also caused him a headache.

"Let's go find Li Shanping tomorrow. I'll discuss it with him. Fortunately, the stock market is closed in the next two days." Guo Pu stood up tiredly, looking out the window through the glass window. If Li Shanping hadn't proposed to produce large-scale canned fish in the coastal areas of Tianjin last time, maybe there would be a famine. He could manage the four provinces under his control, but he could not manage Shandong and Hebei. I hope the harvest will be good this year, and God will be merciful. Now that the grain is expensive, the textile industry in Peking has also begun to turn to wool, so there shouldn't be so many people growing cotton.

At this time, the lights outside the window were bright. Through the windows of the small building, Guo Pu could see the noisy night in Peking. This was a city that never sleeps. Workers who had finished their evening shift were gathering in a tavern on the roadside, using spirits to relieve the fatigue of the day.

He could not see the transactions covered by the night. In a restaurant with a not-so-busy business, several gorgeously dressed guests took out their precious stone bead abacus and pounded them. A dwarf who was not much taller than a stool, muttering in dialects that others could not understand. One of the gorgeously dressed Han people kept nodding at the dwarf, and from time to time a very decent answer appeared from his mouth; "Hi, Hii."

Note from the Drunkard: Book friends who support "Ming" please vote for me. Your support is my motivation for updating.

1. For readers who are interested in the management of canal transportation, please refer to Mr. Wu Si's related work "Hidden Order".

2. For stock management issues, please refer to the stock crisis in the United States in the 1920s and the formulation of management rules and the "National Articles"
Chapter completed!