Let’s talk about Lin Chunhong taking Zhang Daohan and Zhu Zhiyu from Songzi County to inspect, and did not take a car. He was accompanied by a group of guards and walked while watching. The streets and alleys of Bailizhou were quite prosperous. On the streets, there were traffic, four-wheeled carriages, two-wheeled ox carriages, and porters were filled with roads, which were very crowded. The neighing sounds of horses and the shouts of the coachman were mixed together, which was extremely noisy, completely overturning the quiet and orderly tradition of the Ming Dynasty town.

Living on the street is absolutely not comfortable, and it is not much better in the alley. In addition to regular shops, there are also vendors setting up stalls and bargaining sounds one after another, and even mixed with quarrels between people. Compared with the noise on the street, it is even better than that.

Lin Chunhong, Zhang Daohan and Zhu Zhiyu listened to these noises without any disgust and felt extremely proud. After all, the shops and passing vehicles here mean taxes and can collect silver coins. Who would hate these noises?

Most people on the roadside knew Lin Chunhong. When they saw him coming, they bowed and bowed. Lin Chunhong kept nodding and returning the greeting. After returning from the north to Zhijiang, Lin Chunhong would take time to go around the streets and alleys to explore the people's sentiments. The people in Bailizhou and Zhijiang County gradually got used to this, and some bold people would even make harmless jokes with him to make people laugh happily.

Under Lin Chunhong's practice, Bangtai's big and small chief managers, general managers, directors, and chief officials all walked out of the attic and quickly became familiar with the people around him. The relationship was quite harmonious.

To put it in the bad terms, if the executives of Bangtaizhong stood up in the ridge of fields, they still couldn't escape the nature of mud legs. To put it in the good terms, they were close to the people. Lin Chunhong didn't mind the outside comments, just did his own thing and chatted with the people every day.

The group was walking and stopping, and suddenly an old man in his forties or fifties appeared in front of him, holding a piece of paper in his hand, shouting for injustice. The guards reacted very quickly and immediately scattered around Lin Chunhong, Zhang Daohan and Zhu Zhiyu, separated the old man and looked at the crowd next to him with caution.

The old man knelt down on the ground with a plop, and cried with tears in his eyes: "I ask the general to make the decision for the little people. Yang Damao's farmland in Yangjiahe Village crossed the boundary. The little people were dissatisfied and argued with him. Yang Damao actually beat the little people with his relatives... The general is making the decision for the little people..."

The crying alarmed the crowd, and the crowd gathered around and pointed curiously.

Lin Chunhong frowned. How could he make a big deal to the point of complaining? Zhu Zhiyu put his mouth close to Lin Chunhong's ears and whispered: "This old man is a regular visitor of the Zhijiang Supervision Department. The Supervision Department has put Yang Damao in jail for two days and ordered him to compensate for the drug costs. The old man is still dissatisfied and complains frequently."

He is actually a lunatic!

Lin Chunhong was very displeased as he watched the crowd gathering more and more, and said to Ning Dian: "Take his paper, take the people away first, and then send them to Zhijiang Supervision Office!"

After saying that, he came forward in person and comforted loudly: "Old man, don't feel uncomfortable. The Supervision Office should give you justice!" Then, without saying anything, he pulled up the old man who could not kneel down and handed it to Ning Dian.

The group pulled the old man away and left the crowd, leaving only the crowd of people talking:

"Just a lunatic, what should the general do?"

"What, the general ignored it. You are not going to send it to the Supervision Office?"

"Yes, if you complain, you should go to the Supervision Department. This is called performing your own duties..."

...

After arriving at the Zhongshu Mansion, Lin Chunhong was still unhappy and said to Zhang Daohan and Zhu Zhiyu: "There are not many personnel in the Supervision Office, and their energy is still involved in such madmen. How to do things? Compared with local governments, the cost of complaining here is still too low."

Zhang Daohan and Zhu Zhiyu said in surprise: "The cost of complaint?"

"As the saying goes, "Official word is open, and if you have any right or not, don't come in. If you have no choice, the people are afraid, and usually the government will not complain. Besides, the important indicator of performance evaluation in governments in various places is the number of cases. Local bureaucrats are extremely disgusted with the people who report first, for fear of affecting their promotion. In this case, who dares to complain with trivial matters?"

Lin Chunhong paused and continued, "We should not only not stop it, but also encourage the people to complain to the Supervision Office. In addition, the affairs are fair, so the people naturally flock to the crowd. This cost is too low."

Zhu Zhiyu nodded and said, "This does hinder education..."

Lin Chunhong seemed not to hear Zhu Zhiyu's words, and he pondered: "It is better to pay fifty silver coins as deposit after the final trial of the two levels, if you want to continue complaining, you should pay fifty silver coins as deposit. After losing the case, the deposit will be confiscated. This will keep today's madman out!"

Zhang Daohan retorted without thinking: "How can the supervisory, legislation and judicial responsibilities be used to block the people with silver coins? Once this mouth opens, there will be endless troubles. I am afraid that the supervisory office will not find a clean place in the future."

Zhu Zhiyu also said: "Zhang's words are very reasonable. It is better to do this. After the final trial at the two levels, if you still want to complain, let the village archer captain and the warehouse director jointly provide protection, you can continue to accept the case."

Lin Chunhong pondered for a moment, nodded and praised: "This method is very good. Please tell Supervisor Li, try it first, and see the effect."

After saying that, Lin Chunhong sighed: "It's really troublesome to deal with this internal affairs. The most critical land issue is still unclear. It's all a bunch of trivial matters. The land redemption plan I set before was too slow. When will it be like this?"

Zhu Zhiyu said: "Control the four places, archers and cargo warehouses are enough, but to completely release the people's strength in the four places, the land issue cannot be avoided. Now the imperial court does not collect much taxes, and all kinds of labor have been cleared out by us. The most important thing is that the land rent and tax are too high now, and the tenants are working hard for a year, so it would be good if they can fill their stomachs..."

Lin Chunhong said with hatred: "These tyrants and evil gentry are short-sighted and only stare at the land, and they can't see that the investment workshop makes more money! They don't sell the land at any price, and their vision is not as good as King Hui..."

As he was talking, he suddenly received a notice that the Chief Secretary of the Prince Hui's Mansion asked for a visit.

Lin Chunhong was overjoyed: "Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive, and King Hui is here again... Let him wait..."

The directors of the warehouses in each village kept writing what they saw and heard into reports, gathered them at Xingzhishu Hall, and after sorting them out, they were placed on the desks of Lin Chunhong and the envoys. Based on these intuitive materials, Lin Chunhong and the envoys all agreed that the crux of the Ming Dynasty lies in land. If the land problem is not solved, the Ming Dynasty will not avoid the fate of destruction no matter what.

Lin Chunhong and the envoys often discussed land issues, and they reached some consensus: First of all, the taxes of the court were not high, especially the commercial tax, which was pitifully low, and only 30 taxes were one, which was far lower than the 10% commercial tax levied by Bangtai. The fundamental reason why the Ming Dynasty's taxes were worse than one year was that there were less and less land available for tax collection: more and more kings were enthroned in various places, and their land did not have to be paid; more and more gentry were granted tax exemption privileges; in order to evade taxes, the majority of self-cultivated farmers named the land in the name of privileged gentry.

Secondly, the farmers are still under the heads of corvee. The farmers are serving continuously every year, and while serving, they are exploited by clerks from all over the country.

At the same time, Bangtai believes that if the land problem cannot be effectively solved in Jingzhou, Yiling and Kuizhou, Bangtai will sooner or later be destroyed in the dust of history.

The facts were also in front of us. When Bangtai took over the land from King Hui, the farmers immediately burst out with a passion for production. The grain stored in the often closed warehouse reached 400,000 stones in just four years.

Lin Chunhong slapped the official document with a palm and said firmly to Zhu Zhiyu and Zhang Daohan: "Even if the blood flows into a river in all places, up to 50% of the rent and taxes will be abolished!"

Zhu Zhiyu was very excited. As an orthodox Confucian scholar, his ultimate dream was to be harmonious in the world, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the important indicator of harmony in the world was equal land. At the beginning, the reason why Zhu Zhiyu devoted himself to Lin Chunhong was that he saw that Zhijiang's land policy was in line with his ideals. "The example of King Hui can be followed, but it's a pity that only 200,000 acres of fertile land in Zhijiang would have to pay more than 100,000 taels of silver to King Hui in a year. If the land in the four places followed this example, wouldn't we have to pay millions of taels of silver a year? This is far beyond our ability to bear!"

Lin Chunhong said: "At the time, we were weak and had to do this bad strategy, which made King Hui take a big advantage! How could this strategy be a way for all ages? Now I am a little reluctant to even have more than 100,000 taels of silver!"

Zhu Zhiyu and Zhang Daohan were stunned and asked, "What are the tricks of the general? Can you obtain land without paying the bank?"

"Take three steps, the first step is to exchange land for equity; the second step is to force purchase from a low price; the third step is to confiscate it directly!" Lin Chunhong's tone was firm and his speaking speed was very fast, obviously after careful consideration.

Zhu Zhiyu and Zhang Daohan were shocked and opposed in unison: "General, this strategy is absolutely not feasible! Once this strategy is released, there will be chaos in the world!"

Lin Chunhong sneered: "The world is in chaos? I don't think so. We have given the gentry enough opportunities! If they insist on toasting and not eating the fine, then we don't have to be polite!"

Zhang Daohan was worried. Over the years, Zhang Mingqiao jumped around in Jingzhou, relied on the Bangtai business to accumulate a lot of money, and purchased more than 70,000 acres of fertile land in the public security and Shishou counties, which was the number one landlord in Jingzhou. He couldn't help but suspect that Lin Chunhong's spearhead was pointed at him, hoping to further suppress him after the tax evasion incident.

He was deeply afraid that Lin Chunhong would suspect that he opposed the three-step strategy because of his selfishness. He considered it over and over again and decided to support Lin Chunhong's decision.

Alas, once you have selfish thoughts, the decisions you make always deviate from facts and reason!

Zhang Daohan bowed and said, "Three steps have given the gentry enough time to respond, and it will not arouse strong opposition. But where can we buy any money-making workshops for sale now?"

As soon as Zhang Daohan finished speaking, Zhu Zhiyu looked at Zhang Daohan incredibly: He was still verbally opposed, so why did he turn immediately?

Zhu Zhiyu had no time to think deeply about why Zhang Daohan was like this, and advised him worriedly: "General, don't you hear that one prospers and one loss are all detrimental? Most of the gentry in Jingzhou and other places have a connection with important officials of the court, and local officials in various places have broken connections. Once officials and gentry die in various places die in rabbits and foxes, they will inevitably attack Bangtai. How can Bangtai bear it?"

Lin Chunhong smiled and said, "No, the strategic direction is like this, and the way of doing things can be adapted..."

After saying that, he stretched out his right hand and pointed his fingers one by one, allowing Zhu Zhiyu to put his heart back into his stomach. Finally, Zhu Zhiyu said: "I would rather be slower than be too rush. Taking a step, stopping, and taking a look is a perfect solution!"

Lin Chunhong convinced Zhang Daohan and Zhu Zhiyu, and was in a good mood. He laughed and said, "It is very good to plan the country! Immediately convene all the envoys of the cabinet and the heads of various departments to discuss. As for the chief of the Prince Hui's mansion... let him wait a few more days, and these things must be started with King Hui."

...

When Guo Mingyan received Lin Chunhong's summoning order, he immediately rushed back to Bailizhou from Daning County. Before the enlarged meeting of the Pavilion was held, he was summoned by Lin Chunhong alone. After some conversation, Guo Mingyan felt extremely bitter. Although Lin Chunhong had already told him that the Bangtai Business Company would be split and sold sooner or later, he really did not expect that this day would come so early.

Guo Mingyan felt that he was almost breathless and bit his lip and said, "The business name is still very weak, it is split too early and its strength is dispersed. How to deal with the step-by-step pressing of Hui merchants?"

Lin Chunhong realized that Guo Mingyan's cognition was still different from his plan. He explained: "I wonder if Guo Muzhi noticed that the world workshop can be roughly divided into two categories. One is the production of some daily necessities, which is closely related to the lives of ordinary people. Let's call it a light workshop; the other is the workshops that produce tool types, such as mining, steelmaking, shipbuilding, waterwheel, windmill, forging parts, etc., which we call it a heavy workshop. Now inside the business, such as cotton fabric workshop, cotton oil workshop, and wool workshop, these should be called light workshops. What we need to sell is a light workshop. As for the Municipal Department, except for the warehouses outside Bangtai, they can be sold..."

"What about the Ministry of Transport?"

"Of course, the Ministry of Transport cannot sell it. The fiber routes, docks, roads under the Ministry of Transport, and these lifelines involving the survival of the business will never be affected by others!"

"The general means... the business will focus on heavy workshops in the future and completely let go of market circulation and light workshops?"

Lin Chunhong nodded and said, "That is, the machines and transportation tools of the light workshop are produced by the heavy workshop. No matter how other businesses make trouble, their destiny is still controlled by us."

Guo Mingyan then fully understood Lin Chunhong’s plan, and breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “It’s a pity that some of the most profitable industries have been released. Now there is insufficient iron ore. Relying on heavy workshops alone, the business may lose money!”

Lin Chunhong laughed and said, "Guo Mu was worried. In the past, the light workshop belonged to the business and the machines were provided for free. From now on, these machines are all vague money. How can the heavy workshop lose money?"
Chapter completed!