Chapter 187 Ten warehouses and nine empty warehouses are shocking! (Here it comes! Second update)

Fang Yuanque was only sent out by the household department to inspect one of the roads. Almost half of the subordinate staff from the household department were sent out. The guard work was carried out by the strong men selected by Fan Wuji.

Zhang Heng is in charge of the house and ensures the normal operation of the house's affairs.

However, during these times, the subordinates were complaining a bit because the work intensity was really high.

For the household, the original routine work was indispensable. This part of the work was originally undertaken by hundreds of people, but now half of the people suddenly go on business, but things cannot be delayed, and can only be done by those who stay. The people in each household took on the responsibility, and the sudden increase in workload made everyone feel resentful.

Not only that, the extra work that Zhang Heng implemented was even more than the original administrative work, which made them overwhelmed.

If people are tired, they will naturally complain more. They dare not complain in front of Zhang Heng, but their complaints will inevitably reach Zhang Heng.

After Zhang Heng heard this, he understood quite a bit, and then asked Qiao Xinyou, who stayed behind in the household, to spread the word privately that everyone would be given a subsidy from the household's small treasury in the middle of this year. This calmed the internal complaints.

As for the source of funds for this small treasury, it was the proceeds from bribes collected by Fang Yuanque and others when they were out, which can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

As for whether it is moral or not, for Zhang Heng, it has never been a question that requires reflection.

This is his style of doing things.

He has always been very purposeful.

This time it is to save the famine, so we cannot start an anti-corruption trend. Otherwise, in the end, the work of famine relief will not be done well, and we will fall into political turmoil.

According to Zhang Heng's arrangement, it is necessary to ensure that all Changping warehouses are full. If officials involved in corruption are really investigated and punished, huge interest groups will be offended.

Once the interest groups are angered, their counterattack will definitely be very fierce. Not to mention that Zhang Heng cannot handle it, and may even implicate Zeng Gongliang, Jia Changchao and others.

Of course, eradicating corrupt officials will make people feel very happy, but what about the people who will starve to death by then?

Once things develop like this, when Zhang Heng steps down, who will implement the 12 Articles of Famine Policy? All the victims in the world will have to starve to death.

Regarding things like famine, there are probably only a few strokes in the history books, something like "There was a severe drought in the seventh year of Qingli, there was no food harvest, and people ate each other." In just one sentence, it can be regarded as explaining the historical facts, but only by being in it Only people can understand the horror!

Compared with eradicating corrupt officials, Zhang Heng can naturally weigh the priorities.

Therefore, corrupt officials do not need to be held accountable for the time being. I only need you to refill the Changping warehouse for me.

In order to encourage the subordinates in the household to implement the 12 Famine Policies, there is no need to worry about asking for bribes as bonuses.

When Zhang Heng watched historical dramas in his previous life, it was sometimes difficult for him to understand the honest officials in them. They always hated evil and always adhered to their own principles, but they seemed not to pay much attention to the overall situation, and even ignored the overall situation, just for what he called insist on faith.

Probably they are worthy of admiration, but Zhang Heng does not appreciate them.

For Zhang Heng, right and wrong, black and white, are probably not that important. Human life is the most important.

But even so, Zhang Heng's heart still suffered a major impact.

Letters sent back from inspection teams from various places revealed the fact that there are very few Changping warehouses in various states and counties that can store grain in the prescribed amount. The corruption problem shocked even Zhang Heng, who was already prepared!

Zhang Heng made statistics and found that almost nine out of ten warehouses in various states and counties were empty!

In the letter, the inspection team reported the results of their work and also attached their reflections on what they saw and heard.

Fang Yuanque said in the letter: "...the dynasty has established a top-down, strict supervision and management system. This is originally a good thing, but the bureaucracy of the dynasty is supervised by superiors and the emperor.

Without the supervision of subordinates, a situation has gradually formed in which "officials are big and law is big, officials are small and law is small".

If this phenomenon provides all reliable conditions for the growth of corruption, then the era of profit and gain will naturally take advantage of this condition to make corruption rampant and corrupt officials wantonly plunder the people's wealth..."

Fang Yuanque's reflection shocked Zhang Heng.

Moreover, this is not the only reason why ten warehouses are often empty and nine are empty. Another group leader wrote to Zhang Heng and said so.

"...Although there are officials who want to take advantage of the opportunity to collect the goods, the county and the prefecture apply for some punishments and jails, and the prefectures apply for some punishments and jails for Sinong Temple, waiting for command and waiting for the reward. They have been involved for many months, and the time has been lost.

, grain is twice as expensive..."

This is a drawback of the warehousing system itself.

When buying grain and rice in Changping Cang, you often need to go through layers of approvals. You can only buy rice after all the approvals are completed. But at this time, you have lost the best opportunity to buy rice.

The procedures for buying grain and rice are complicated. Some officials are afraid of trouble and choose not to open warehouses. They neither collect grain nor sell grain. "Officials are lazy and tired of the trouble of buying grain."

During this inspection, it was discovered that the current situation of ten warehouses and nine empty warehouses was not entirely due to corruption, but also because the procedures were too long and complicated. Some local officials simply stopped purchasing rice grains!

And this situation is not rare, which brings a lot of trouble to Zhang Heng.

If it is because of the corruption of local officials, then the people sent by Zhang Heng can threaten them and ask them to fill up the Changping warehouse, which will be regarded as paying off their guilt. If the Changping warehouse is full and the disaster breaks out, then Changping

If the warehouse is filled with rice and grain, it can at least save many victims.

But now there are many changpingcang because officials are afraid of taking responsibility and did not purchase rice from the beginning. So they are at best derelict in their duties. It is impossible to threaten them to fill the changpingcang.

At this time, Zhang Heng gritted his teeth with hatred. He would rather have corrupt officials who were actively doing things than give them the opportunity to fill Changpingcang without being held accountable. But these officials who were not corrupt but did nothing really disturbed him.

deployment!

Zhang Heng adjusted quickly. He quickly put aside these emotions and made macro-scale adjustments based on the data obtained.

Zhang Heng went to the political hall to find Jia Changchao and reported to him the situation in Changpingcang. After hearing this, Jia Changchao became furious and frowned: "If this is the case, if there is a famine, many people will starve to death!

"

He frowned for a long time and said, "Ju Zheng, is there anything you can do?"

Zhang Heng nodded and said: "I have an idea, please help me go through the details."

Jia Changchao said quickly: "Tell me quickly."

Zhang Heng nodded and said: "That's what my disciple thinks. In fact, the severity of disasters varies from place to place. Some places are not even affected by disasters, and even have a bumper harvest."

Jia Changchao nodded. Although the Song Dynasty lost a lot of land, the remaining area was the most fertile and very vast. This was indeed the case.

“So, sometimes it’s not that there is no food, but that food from other places cannot be transported in time in a short period of time, resulting in famine.

Therefore, as long as we prepare in advance and store a large amount of food in the famine land, and then sell it when the famine occurs, countless people can survive."

Jia Changchao said in surprise: "Isn't this Changpingcang?"

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "Yes, it means almost the same thing, but the current fact is that such a large amount of stored grain is unbearable for the government alone, so I plan to let grain merchants supplement or even serve as the main force to transport the grain."

Go to a drought-stricken place and store it.”

Jia Changchao shook his head and said, "It's difficult!"

Zhang Heng nodded and said: "There are definitely difficulties, but you can't just do it just because it's difficult."

Jia Chang nodded and said, "Keep talking."

Zhang Heng said: "This plan is based on the fact that the government has no money, so it cooperates with powerful grain merchants in advance to purchase grain from the south and overseas, and then transports it to northern states and counties for hoarding, so that it can cope with famine situations.

However, there are also problems inside. First of all, the grain merchants of the Song Dynasty have a very keen sense of business opportunities. Even if we don't remind them, they will still realize that there will definitely be a famine this year. According to normal circumstances, they will definitely hoard a large amount of food.

It is most beneficial to them to wait until the price of food is highest to sell it.

Secondly, if this plan is followed, grain merchants will need to occupy a large amount of their funds to collect grain. If there is not a high enough profit, they will not be willing to invest a large amount of funds in it. After all, this matter is also very risky.

.

After all, what if the famine didn’t happen? When a large amount of new grain comes on the market, the grain they hoard will become old grain, and the risk is too great for them!”

Jia Changchao nodded vigorously when he heard this and said: "Yes, I just felt that something was wrong. It turns out that it is here, so how can you solve this problem?"

Zhang Heng said with a smile: "So, my disciple plans to propose a plan to them, which is to allow government and business cooperation this time.

We can communicate with grain bureaus in various places and ask them to purchase and store a certain amount of grain. When a famine occurs, they must ensure that they sell it at the price we give. Although the profit will not be particularly high, the amount is very large, and the total profit will be

It's a lot.

As for the risk, we can give them a guarantee. If there is no famine this year, these grains can be directly put into the Changping warehouse, and the government purchases Changping rice from them. In this way, they have no risk, and of course, the profit will not be high.

that is.

If they hoard by themselves, if the famine does not happen, they may lose all their money. Therefore, as long as they cooperate with us, they can safely and boldly store enough food, and the profits they can obtain will definitely be higher than what they can get by themselves.

Stock up on Cheetos without much risk.”
Chapter completed!