Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Since the Emperor had spoken, Yang Fengfan led the way, taking everyone to look around.

Speaking of Pingwan County's development, even he was often surprised.

He had previously been in the Hanlin Academy and lacked practical experience, so he had not taken the power of commerce seriously.

But the facts had already proven everything, and now was the time to report his achievements!

"What is the current population of Pingwan County?" Emperor Jing asked.

"Your Majesty, the population of Pingwan County today is more than three times what it was when I took office, reaching a massive 180,000."

Li Yansong and the others exchanged glances, no wonder it was so chaotic, it turned out that there were as many as 180,000 people in Pingwan County?

Many medium and large counties could actually reach such a population, but judging from the scale of the outer city walls and the previous impressions, Pingwan County did not seem to have such strength.

Seventy to eighty thousand would be a lot!

"Oh? Why has the population grown so rapidly?"

"Since taking office, I have fully implemented the pro-business policies set by the court. Many document procedures were abolished, and many merchants came flocking. Moreover, because it is convenient to do business here and the roads are smooth, they set up workshops here and then hired a large number of workers."

"This has attracted many people to come and work."

"Later, more and more merchants came here, and competition formed between them. Wages continued to rise, which in turn attracted more people, and later, the benefits became higher and higher."

"The craftsmen from other counties and villages nearby heard that they only had to work from Si hour to Hai hour here, six days a week with one day off, and could earn at least two taels of silver a month. They all rushed to seek work, and it is still the case today, with the population still increasing."

Fang Zheng nodded in approval, the treatment was indeed good.

Working from Si hour to Hai hour, six days a week with one day off, this was journalist-level treatment!

For the ancients, 996 was pure bliss! Where did they get a six-day work week before?

"Not only that, but some people have also seen business opportunities and started setting up stalls on the streets to sell food. These things seem inconspicuous and have small profits, but I have personally inquired and found that the income of a small stall can be as high as five or six taels of silver a month, which is really amazing!"

"But it is also really tiring, with almost no free time."

Five or six taels a month, that was simply a hidden millionaire among the people!

Xu Wenshu secretly clicked his tongue in the crowd. He was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and naturally knew more about commercial affairs.

However, it seemed that such a harvest could only be achieved by relying on a large and dense population of laborers.

"The commerce here is thriving, so how do you solve the problem of officials exploiting merchants? This is a hidden danger in many other places," Xu Wenshu asked.

Yang Fengfan smiled slightly: "This part comes from the strict discipline of the yamen, and the other part relies on the Embroidered Uniform Guards that Master Fang sent here in the first place."

"There is an Embroidered Uniform Guard garrison in Pingwan County, specializing in dealing with officials secretly extorting merchants. After several rounds of heavy punishment, the previous atmosphere of despising merchants has been greatly reduced."

"Moreover, if a merchant has a grievance, they can directly report it to the Embroidered Uniform Guard garrison. After a long time, no one dares to touch this nerve."

Xu Wenshu asked in surprise: "Merchants dare to report officials?"

"Of course, they dare. There is a public latrine near the Embroidered Uniform Guard garrison. There is a mailbox in the latrine. As long as someone drops an anonymous letter, the Embroidered Uniform Guards will handle it afterwards."

Emperor Jing felt a little amused.

Anonymous letter reporting, the mailbox is set up in the latrine, so you don't have to worry about someone retaliating.

"Did you set up this set of Embroidered Uniform Guards?" Emperor Jing asked Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng nodded: "That's right. If officials bully the people, the people have no means of retaliation. Their only tool is to defend their dignity with the law. The Embroidered Uniform Guards are the sword in Your Majesty's hand, and naturally they are also a sharp weapon to protect the law and protect the people. If the law does not exist, the rise of merchants cannot be discussed."

"Secondly, I am also afraid that the people are timid and afraid of trouble. Even if there is legal protection, they dare not stand up for their own justice, so I thought of this method. You can't have someone staring at who is dropping an anonymous letter in a few latrines every day, right?"

"After a long time, the people will know that the law is in their hearts, and this method can be abandoned. I believe that in the future, an environment will be formed where everyone follows and abides by the law, and the people can openly and justly protect their rights."

Emperor Jing nodded in approval, very satisfied in his heart.

The old ministers such as Li Yansong were also slightly admired.

Fang Zheng was annoying, but he was really good at handling affairs!

Xu Wenshu asked: "Then why doesn't the capital have this set?"

Fang Zheng cupped his hands and said loudly: "Your Majesty is in the capital, under the feet of the Son of Heaven, the sage illuminates everything, the world is bright and clear, all sins will be brought to justice, isn't it superfluous to do this in the capital?!"

Xu Wenshu's old face collapsed, and he slandered in his heart.

I shouldn't have asked you, you dog, you seize every opportunity to flatter me!

Li Yansong pondered: "But... Pingwan County is absorbing the surrounding population so frantically, I'm afraid that the abandonment of farmland has become a problem, right?"

Speaking of abandonment, the atmosphere began to become a little heavy.

It was about the major issue of grain, no matter how rich you are, this is the foundation of the country!

However, Yang Fengfan did not panic at all and smiled: "What Lord Li said is reasonable. Pingwan County is absorbing the strong laborers from the surrounding areas, and the old, sick, and disabled are left at home. At first, I had such concerns."

"But later I found that when these people had money, they would actively buy livestock and send them back home. In this way, the situation of insufficient labor was quickly alleviated, and the abandonment of farmland was out of the question. This ox is much more useful than a person."

"We just conquered the Jin Kingdom, and their pastures can be used to feed our cattle... so this is not a problem," Fang Zheng reminded in a low voice.

Everyone was greatly relieved, it seemed that the most worrying situation did not exist, that was good.

"You continue to speak," Emperor Jing said.

Yang Fengfan said: "In addition to the prosperity of commerce and industry, Pingwan County's greatest achievement is education."

"In two years, the entire Pingwan County has added thirty-two schools."

Thirty-two? Everyone was greatly shocked.

"How is that possible? Were these all built with tax money?" Someone exclaimed.

It was too amazing to add more than thirty schools in two years!

"Half of them were built with money from the county, and the other part was funded by merchants."

"Merchants also care about education?" Li Yansong accidentally pulled off his beard.

"Of course! Many people here bring their children with them. They are usually busy with work and have no time to raise them, and it is easy to be distracted when working. The county government learned about this situation and began to lead merchants to build schools for those children."

"And some of these schools are prepared for working people... In fact, many jobs require literate people, but such people are often extremely lacking, so a university hall was built to specifically teach literacy, and you can also learn the way of sages."

"Now there are many motivated people who are willing to spend some money to go to the university hall to study and learn to read in their spare time, in order to increase their income in the future."

The ministers were in an uproar and fell into discussion.

"Incredible! Incredible!" Li Yansong murmured.

They had never heard of such achievements... The ideals that scholars had in mind were easily realized by merchants?

Yang Fengfan was already extremely proud in his heart, but suddenly he saw Fang Zheng winking at him, and suddenly remembered something.

That's right, the county also arranged a school project specifically for His Majesty to cut the ribbon.

Now was the time to add icing on the cake!

Yang Fengfan cupped his fist: "Your Majesty! In order to cope with future changes, the county has funded the construction of the largest school, which can accommodate as many as three thousand people! It has a cafeteria, dormitory, and library, and children from five to fifteen years old can study in one school. The most important thing is that the tuition is extremely low, striving to allow every school-age student to have books to read."

"This school has been widely praised by the people in the city since its construction. The people in the neighborhood are grateful for the kindness of the court, and everyone says that Your Majesty loves the people like his own children and cares about the people, so they have specially given this school a very good name..."

The ministers were all smiles, and Emperor Jing was even more delighted: "What's the name?"

"Gratitude School!"