Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Fang Zheng raised his head and immediately saw three pairs of eyes fixed on him, so he quickly chuckled.

"Eat! What are you all looking at me for?"

"Heavenly Thunder! Heavenly Thunder!" Li Yuanzhao exclaimed excitedly.

"There's no Heavenly Thunder! Don't believe in supernatural tales of gods and ghosts. Let's eat, everyone! After the meal, I, your official, will personally take Young Master Li on a tour of my Taoyuan's beautiful scenery!"

Although the expression on Fang Zheng's face was relaxed, his mood was somewhat heavy.

That damned Lao Li! If he hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have so many worries!

Ever since I transmigrated here, all I've been doing is disaster relief! I finally had two years of peace, and now I have to do disaster relief again!?

Emperor Jing looked at Fang Zheng with scrutiny in his eyes, then continued eating in silence.

For a moment, the dining table fell silent, and no one spoke.

After the meal, the four of them walked out of Qingchang Tower, and tacitly, no one mentioned the Jianjiang flood again.

Seeing that things were a bit awkward, Fang Zheng smiled and said, "Everyone's last visit was just a brief, superficial look."

"Today, I, your official, happen to be free, and since the esteemed young master is here as well, I will personally take the three of you to take a closer look at Taoyuan County."

"If you see anything you like, feel free to buy it. You might even discover some new business opportunities!"

Emperor Jing also suppressed his worries and asked curiously, "Magistrate Fang, Li has two questions that have always puzzled me, and I would like to ask Magistrate Fang to enlighten me."

"Please speak."

"First, why would Taoyuan County not keep such a profitable opportunity for itself and instead hand it over to Li?"

"Second, Li has traveled all over the country, and has never seen an official as courteous to merchants as Magistrate Fang. Why is that?"

In fact, Emperor Jing had wanted to ask these two questions on his last visit, but he had been too rushed.

In this day and age, merchants are considered a lowly profession, and no one looks up to them. Fang Zheng's attitude is truly rare, and he doesn't put on any airs.

"Haha! Lao Li has a good eye! It's simply because I'm such a warm-hearted person!"

Emperor Jing: "................"

You're really shameless, aren't you! Guo Tianyang curled his lips in disdain.

Fang Zheng continued, "The reason I gave it to you is simply because there are too few people in Taoyuan County who are educated and understand reason. I can still take care of things within Taoyuan County, but if they go to other places, I'm afraid they'll be eaten alive!"

"Secondly, the importance of merchants is no less than that of scholars, farmers, and artisans. Lao Li, you should understand this principle as well!"

"It's like rice, which is only worth a few copper coins in the hands of farmers, but if it's taken to this county and brewed into Peach Blossom Fan Wine, its value can increase a hundredfold!"

"It's also like the porcelain you sell. Porcelain from the south can be transported to the north and its value can double!"

"This all depends on the flow of merchants. This is called resource allocation! Only when resources are properly allocated can everything be used to its maximum value, so tell me, are merchants important or not?"

"Because Taoyuan County has been forgotten by the imperial court for a long time, the positions of Vice Magistrate and Registrar are still vacant, so the system has been slightly adjusted. This has also led to Taoyuan County's emphasis on commerce. Although the outside world looks down on merchants, Taoyuan County definitely doesn't have that attitude!"

"We are building a batch of small buildings on the south side of Taoyuan County. Are you interested in getting one? If you don't have enough silver, this county can even provide loans!"

"I can't guarantee anything else, but Taoyuan County is definitely the best choice for living and retirement!"

Seize the opportunity to get Lao Li to buy a house in Taoyuan County and try to tie him to Taoyuan County. Fang Shao's little abacus was clicking away.

Every word was about selling things. What kind of official are you?

Guo Tianyang said indignantly, "Merchants don't produce anything. If we encourage merchants, wouldn't the world be in chaos if everyone went into business?"

"Huh?" Fang Zheng was stunned.

Aren't you a merchant yourself? Whose side are you on?

Seeing that Fang Zheng's expression was a bit awkward, Guo Tianyang realized that he had said the wrong thing and quickly tried to make amends, "This has always been the case since ancient times!"

Fang Zheng sneered, "Since ancient times, people have used silk and tortoise shells to write. Why are you still using paper?"

"Since ancient times, people have used slash-and-burn agriculture. Why are we using plows and oxen now?"

"Is everything from ancient times correct? Is sticking to the old ways correct? If everyone in the world went into business, the world would be in chaos. Wouldn't the world be in chaos if everyone were a scholar?"

"Not everyone has the ability to study, and not everyone has the ability to be a merchant."

"Can't a person both farm and be a merchant, both study and farm? Is that contradictory?"

"Lao Guo! You're a businessman, but your mind is too rigid!"

"Why is Taoyuan County so wealthy? It's because everyone in the world looks down on merchants, but this county values them. That's why Taoyuan County is what it is today!"

Guo Tianyang's face turned red, "If there are more merchants, there will be fewer people and time for farming. There's already not enough food in the world. If it's really as you say, wouldn't there be starvation everywhere!"

"Lao Li! This accountant of yours is rebellious! He looks down on you!"

Fang Zheng was too lazy to pay attention to him and directly complained to Emperor Jing.

What this sarcastic guy said actually made sense. Agriculture is the foundation of everything. Currently, agriculture is indeed not developed, and there are no high-yield crops like potatoes. Taoyuan County is essentially developing by frantically extracting resources from other regions. However, as the magistrate of Taoyuan County, Fang Zheng had to stand up for it! Otherwise, where would he put his face in the future? Would anyone dare to shout at him?!

"Ah! This... I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!" Guo Tianyang's face was flushed, and he quickly waved his hand to deny it.

Emperor Jing quickly smoothed things over and said seriously, "Guo Da is indeed being rude. I will discipline him properly when we return!"

Guo Tianyang immediately looked as aggrieved as a little wife.

Damn it!! This is not going according to plan! He actually managed to pass the buck to me!

Li Yuanzhao was overjoyed and almost couldn't help but clap his hands.

Interesting! Too interesting! This Fang Zheng is indeed a wonderful person!

Not only does he sympathize with me, but he also knows how to argue.

It would be great if there was such an interesting person in the palace.

Those masters just give me lectures with a straight face!

The group continued walking down the street. People kept greeting Fang Zheng, while Guo Tianyang kept a straight face and didn't say a word. He had already made up his mind that he would never say another word as long as Fang Zheng was around!

Li Yuanzhao kept looking around, and suddenly spotted a book stall.

Thinking of the books his father was going to burn when he got back, he couldn't help but feel tempted.

He might as well buy a couple while he had the chance! Those miscellaneous books of his were hard-earned, bought back from the people by Liu Jin.

If they were all burned, wouldn't he have nothing to read?!

So he quickly ran to the book stall, while Fang Zheng and the others ignored him and continued chatting.

Li Yuanzhao ran to the book stall and casually picked up a book, then his eyes immediately widened.

He had read a lot of miscellaneous books, but this was the first time he had seen a book with such a fresh and refined title.

The title of the book was clearly written: "Magistrate Fang's Great Battle Against Thanos"

"Boss! What's this book about?"

The book stall owner was delighted to see a stranger, "You must be from out of town! You don't even know this? You should buy a copy and take it back to read!"

"This book tells the story of how Thanos, a demon from beyond the realm, invaded Jing, and Magistrate Fang collected seven Infinity Stones to present to the Emperor, who then sent troops to exterminate the demon."

"It's so exciting! Fifty copper coins a copy!"

"Ah? Thanos? What are Infinity Stones?" Li Yuanzhao was dumbfounded. Why didn't I know about this!

Did my father even fight against demons from beyond the realm?

Just then, the others caught up.

Fang Zheng peeked over his shoulder and saw the title, his face turning red as he couldn't help but rub his nose.

He thought to himself, which bastard wrote the story I made up for the children into a book!

It seems I need to manage the cultural industry of Taoyuan County!

Emperor Jing couldn't help but smile when he saw the title.

Li Yuanzhao opened the book and glanced at it, disdainfully saying, "There's actually such a book! It's all written in vernacular, what a waste of paper!"

Then he casually grabbed a few more books from the pile, such as "Young A Qiu", "The Knight of the Martial World", and "The Golden Magistrate".

After reading a few books, Li Yuanzhao wondered, "Why are they all in vernacular! How strange!"

Emperor Jing couldn't help but look sideways, and sure enough, it was so: "Magistrate Fang! Does everyone in Taoyuan County publish books? They're all written in vernacular."

In this era, books are basically all written in classical Chinese. Writing books in vernacular is simply considered a low-class thing by scholars, and they must criticize it. So Fang Zheng didn't find it strange that the two of them had this question.

Fang Zheng explained, "That's right! As long as you pay, the printing house in Taoyuan County can publish books for you! As for this vernacular, there aren't many scholars in Taoyuan County. It's already not easy to be able to read!"

"It's great to have books to read, and it's good to learn more words. Those obscure things are meaningless!"

Li Yuanzhao retorted, "It's so crude! It's simply a waste of paper!!"

Fang Zheng smiled and wasn't annoyed. This is the limitation of thinking, like old-fashioned rockers looking down on young hipsters.

But time will give the answer.

"How is vernacular crude? What is a good book? A good book is one that the people can understand and find useful."

"If I were to print the Four Books and Five Classics for them, it would only increase the people's troubles. If they are interested in learning, they will naturally seek out more profound books."

"A few years ago, the people of Taoyuan were still refugees. The number of people in the entire county who could read could be counted on one hand. Now, most people are willing to read these leisure books in their spare time. Do you think that's good or bad?"

Li Yuanzhao looked unconvinced: "Of course it's not good! Such crude writing will only pollute people's eyes. Besides, the content that could be explained clearly in a few words is written so long in vernacular!"

Fang Zheng smiled slightly: "Besides being simple and easy to understand, the large number of words is also one of its advantages!"

"My nature is such that I am addicted to beautiful lines, and I will not rest until my words are startling." If this poem were written in vernacular Chinese, it would be: 'Throughout my life, I have enjoyed meticulously pondering and painstakingly searching for good lines of poetry. If the language of the poem does not reach a startling level, I will never give up.'"

"Look! The original fourteen characters have become thirty-nine characters in the vernacular. That's an increase of twenty-five characters!"

"If one sentence can add twenty-five characters, then converting an entire book from classical Chinese to vernacular Chinese would probably double its length!"

"Which means that if this official wants to print a book, I would need twice the ink and paper, and the scale of the printing house would also double!"

"As a result, the number of workers hired would also double! Following that, the number of artisans making ink and paper would also have to double! And the people providing the raw materials would also have to increase accordingly!"

"In the end, the common people who buy books will not only get books that are easy to understand but also more opportunities to earn money through employment!"

"Tell me, is that good or not?"

Li Yuanzhao gaped, speechless, but he still felt that something was wrong!

Emperor Jing also looked at Fang Zheng with a strange expression. He felt that his mind was a bit confused now!

The most frustrated person was Guo Tianyang.

Damn Fang Zheng! How does he have so many devious tricks! The Crown Prince and His Majesty have been fooled again! Damn it!

......