Chapter 962: Do as the Romans do

Chapter 962: Do as the Romans do

  Chapter 962 Do as the Romans do

  Just returned to Guangzhou, the first meeting ended soon.

  Today, a group of principal officials from Lingnan came to meet Qin Lang and get to know each other. We will not discuss specific matters for the time being.

  After the meeting, Qin Lang also rejected the proposal to have a big banquet, and directly took everyone to the Jinglue Mansion Yamen for dine-in.

  The lunch in the cafeteria is actually quite rich. The standard four dishes and one soup, with fish and meat, a combination of meat and vegetables, is nutritious and healthy. The cook is specially brought from Chang'an, and the food is quite suitable for everyone's appetite.

  Boiled chicken, fish head tofu, boiled shrimp, radish and beef brisket, and seaweed egg soup.

   "Is today's dish beyond the standard?"

  Qin Lang couldn't help laughing while looking at the dishes served.

  The fat cook hurriedly said, "Fish and shrimp are cheap."

  Guangzhou is a large port, and fish and shrimp are really cheap. Fresh fish and shrimp are much cheaper than pork, beef, chicken and duck. Even beef is far cheaper in Guangzhou than in the Central Plains.

Especially buffalo meat is cheaper. A large number of buffaloes from Guangxi are transported to Guangdong and other places for sale. It is not included in the slaughter limit of farm cattle.

  Qin Lang prefers to eat yellow cattle.

   "Is this stewed beef brisket and radish a yellow ox or a buffalo?"

   "The grass-eating cattle in the mountains over there in Luodou Cave, and they are old cattle, taste very good."

The yellow beef raised in the mountains is more tender than the buffalo meat, but the old yellow cattle are more delicious than the young yellow cattle. The beef brisket of the old yellow cattle is used to stew white radish, which is a must. It is soft and not dry. The layer of gluten oil can make the meat more tender, and it is neutralized by the radish, without any fishy smell.

People in Chang'an prefer to eat mutton, which is the best meat. However, in Guangzhou, south of Lingnan, it is not easy to eat mutton, and the cost is very high. Therefore, in the canteen of the Jinglue government office, mutton is not eaten every day, and more people still eat it. Fish and shrimp, then chicken and duck, and then pig and cattle.

  The cooks from Chang'an also skillfully use local special ingredients quickly to make delicious food.

  The dishes in the canteen of Jinglue Mansion are now famous in Guangzhou. Many people come to Jinglue Mansion to do business and want to have a meal.

   "The two senior supervisors don't know if they are used to the seafood here in Guangzhou. There is no sheep slaughtered in the canteen today, and the hospitality is not good enough."

  Gao Jifu was very satisfied with the four dishes and one soup in front of him. The meal system was divided, and the portion of each dish was not much, but it was very delicate.

   "Do as the Romans do, besides, it is not easy to eat such fresh seafood in Chang'an, and Chang'an seafood is much more expensive than mutton. Even the Shitan sheep shipped from Yanzhou is not as good as Guangdong seafood."

In Guangdong, seafood is very cheap, even if it is very fresh seafood, it is not expensive, because it is close to the sea, and seafood is not easy to preserve, especially in summer, if it cannot be sold in time, it will stink, or it can only be dried up.

   It is not easy to store and transport, so seafood is subject to many restrictions, so it is also cheap to sell.

Seafood that can be transported to Chang'an is not easy, especially if you want fresh ones, you have to use a special copper box ice mirror, which is filled with ice cubes, and the fast horse delivery, non-stop relay delivery all the way, the outer refrigerator has to Constantly changing to ensure that the ice will not melt, so it took five days to arrive in Chang'an.

  The seafood inside is still fresh, but it is a chilled product.

   The cost of real live fresh food is even higher, so there is a large seafood restaurant in Chang'an, but the price of seafood inside is really affordable for the rich or expensive.

For officials like Gao Jifu in Chang'an, when he was a member of Zhongshushe, he didn't dare to spend his salary alone. He is a son of a famous Gao family in Bohai, his uncle is also a prime minister, and his family is rich. It's only two times, and it has to be a treat.

  Gao Feng was a native of Lingnan when he was young, and he is more familiar with seafood from his hometown.

   "Tomorrow, I will send someone to find a few Dong Xing Ban to steam, and then I will order some double-headed abalone and big lobster."

Qin Lang stopped the fat cook, "These things are not cheap even in Guangzhou Port. We have regulations on food prices in the government canteens here. Don't engage in these extravagant things. It won't affect you well. If you really can If we get these good things, we can directly buy them for the officials who want them, and we will buy them with our own money.”

   "Are you still eating in the cafeteria at night?" Fat Chef asked, "If I'm going to eat at night, I'm going to roast a suckling pig, then a roast goose, and then I'll make honey-glazed char siu and fish maw..."

   Reported a bunch of specialty dishes in one breath.

   "After the office breaks up in the afternoon, we will go home separately. There is no need to cook. For lunch at noon tomorrow, you can ask the two supervisors and the other envoys to see what everyone wants to eat."

The fat chef immediately recommended to everyone the signature dishes of the cafeteria, such as cucumber slices, pickled blood clams, creamy crab and fresh shrimp porridge, nine-bellied fish with pickled cabbage, fried sea melon seeds with mint, flame white snail jade, live roasted abalone, and hibiscus vermicelli. Fried prawns, steamed scallops with hibiscus vermicelli...

   There are even roast beef head with abalone, fried foie gras with abalone sauce and so on.

   "Keep it simple, don't use too expensive ingredients for cooking, don't want shark fin, bird's nest, abalone and lobster, just keep it simple."

  Gao Jifu is quite principled.

  The cook stepped back.

  Everyone eats the food in front of them, and they also talk about work while eating. This is also an important advantage of dining in the cafeteria, which can be regarded as a dinner party.

  During lunchtime, subordinates usually take the opportunity to come over to report to their superiors and ask for instructions on work, chat while eating, and occasionally colleagues will discuss and discuss some things, which is equivalent to a simple meeting.

  Qin Lang now travels to Lingnan, travels through nine prefectures, and also serves as the governor of Guangzhou and Zhennan and the governor of Guangzhou and Jiaozhou. He is now equivalent to those governors and governors in the late Qing Dynasty.

  Military, political and financial powers are concentrated in one body.

  The four envoys of Zhidu, Yingtian, Zhuanyun, and Yantie are deputy posts, and the four envoys of the three majors also obey his orders, not to mention the following state-level governors, joining the army, etc.

  Lingnan's current organizational structure is actually quite stable, with a pyramid-shaped structure and clear powers and responsibilities. Qin Lang is actually representing the imperial court and exercising many powers that should have been in the imperial court's central government.

But the emperor also said earlier that the remoteness is difficult to control, and the situation in Lingnan is very complicated now, so it is necessary for an important minister to guard and deal with the situation in a timely manner, instead of reporting everything to the court, delaying time and delaying the military situation. wait.

This power was clearly stated by the emperor, so the envoys and the envoys are all Qin Lang's subordinates. Everyone knows that they must listen to Qin Lang. Even when the two supervisors met, they didn't want to suppress Qin Lang. The meaning of Lang Yitou.

   The meal was very pleasant, and the chat was very relaxed.

  Qin Lang’s words reveal a very clear meaning. If we work together to get things done and revitalize Lingnan, we will all be meritorious officials. Whether it is performance appraisal or welfare benefits, we will not be bad.

He Qin Lang ruled Lingnan, the first is to appease the barbarians, and he is determined to suppress those rebellious barbarians. Change the soil and return to the stream.

  Of course, in these processes, they still have an important task, which is to develop the economy. To put it bluntly, it is to make money. To put it bluntly, it is to improve people's livelihood.

  No matter what position you hold in Lingnan, whether you are the envoys at the prefectural level in Lingnan, or the fourth envoy at the Taoist level, even if you are an official at the state level and county level, you have to work together around these goals.

  Everyone performs their duties.

  Good work will be rewarded, and bad work will be punished. If he refuses to work together, Qin Lang doesn't need such a person to stay in Lingnan, he will send him away directly.

   After lunch, Qin Lang sent an envelope to the two supervisors and the four envoys, but inside was a lot of money, and the accompanying letter clearly stated that it was public funds.

  It is the settling allowance prepared by the Economic and Strategic Envoy's government office for several officials who have just arrived, 80,000 per person.

Eight hundred guan is not a small number, but Qin Lang said, everyone came to the remote Lingnan to be an official from the prosperous Chang'an in the Central Plains, and everything had to be resettled. sum of money.

   Not only these chiefs have them, but all other officials transferred from the Central Plains, even the local recruited officials also enjoy such a settling allowance according to their grades.

  The highest level is one thousand guan, and the lowest level is ten thousand.

  As for the source of this money, it is also the official money of the Economic and Political Bureau.

   To put it bluntly, it is the money in the small treasury. The small treasury is very rich, so the benefits are also better.

In addition to the settling-in expenses, the Economic and Strategy Office will also prepare official residences for newly appointed officials. Basically, officials with ranks all have official residence arrangements, and enjoy official residences of corresponding sizes according to their grades, while foreign officials and officials , there are also dormitory arrangements, all of which are free of charge.

   Even according to the rank of officials, they can also enjoy a corresponding number of servants and followers. These are also hired by the government and officials can use them for free.

  Breakfast and lunch are provided free of charge in the yamen cafeteria. In addition, there is a monthly meal supplement, which is regarded as supplementary dinner money. The rest of the salary, tea, etc. are all available.

  In short, it is completely comparable to the welfare benefits of Chang'an officials, and even more generous.

  For example, other officials’ jobs are also available in Lingnan. The government rents out the jobs and recruits tenants. Don't worry about it, just wait for the profit.

  If you work in a place other than Canton, there are additional subsidies, and if you work in remote counties and townships, the subsidies are even more.

Anyway, what Qin Lang said is that although Lingnan is still relatively biased, it is relatively rich financially, so he treats everyone more generously, creates better conditions, and solves the worries of the officials, so that everyone can devote themselves to their work. .

  Even Qin Lang established a Yanglian Fund, which was a special fund.

   It is used to give a monthly pension to the officials in each position. This amount of money is quite a lot, and it is a very good welfare.

   I gave you this money, so don’t stretch out your hands indiscriminately.

  If anyone takes bribes, etc. again, then Qin Lang will not be polite.

  This is also a unique feature of Qin Lang. Other officials may have emphasized the prohibition of corruption, etc., but Qin Lang not only prohibited corruption, but actually gave a sum of money to support his honesty.

   It has indeed improved the welfare of officials and increased their income. If you have money, you are not allowed to be greedy anymore.

Not only the officials, he even took the initiative to increase the income of all the subordinates in Lingnan, not only the few poor economic officials in the imperial government, but the economic officials are those officials with a establishment, the number is very small, these People have money and food, but they are very few.

  Normally speaking, such a small amount of economic and administrative officials and such a small amount of money and food cannot maintain the operation of the yamen at all, and that amount of money and food cannot support the officials and their families cannot satisfy their mouths. So the government is actually letting them solve the income problem by themselves. In fact, it is letting them use their power to seek rent and make money.

   This is something that everyone knew well before.

But Qin Lang does not allow this kind of thing to continue now. He expands the management system and assigns staff according to the number of posts that are really needed. In addition, he also adds a large number of contract workers as a supplement. Whether it is a formal contract or a temporary contract worker, the salary has indeed been raised to The level that should be there, with this salary, can support the family, and even the income level can be above the local average.

   Coupled with some benefits and bonuses, the subordinate staff can live well without being greedy or taking them.

  That's why Qin Lang strictly forbids the previous behaviors of taking cards, even all kinds of extortion, random extra assignments, etc., and has a special inspection team to inspect and inspect.

  Everything is on the bright side.

Although on the surface, Lingnan's expenditures have increased a lot at once, the benefits of officials and subordinates have increased, and even the increase in salaries, money and food has greatly increased fiscal expenditures, but in fact these are all on the surface. It's all controllable.

  The black holes that used to be bottomless had an astonishing loss every year, but they all became an ignorant waste.

   Even these subordinate officials ate one end of the public house, and then ate one end of the common people's merchants, eating both ends. The public treasury was short-lived.

   Not only that, Qin Lang even for the first time in the south of the Five Ridges conducted assessments on subordinate staff in full accordance with the official law.

   And set up nine ranks and eighteen ranks for the subordinate staff. According to the assessment method, the subordinate staff will be evaluated and graded, and then promoted or demoted.

  As long as they perform well, work hard and have talent, it is possible for low-level subordinates to break through the barriers of the Qing Dynasty and become an official.

After Qin Langzuo asked the imperial court for approval, he implemented the system of township chiefs in Lingnan. It turned out that Tang Dynasty used five li as a township. Although there was a township-level administrative unit, there was no administrative organization. Only the five village chiefs took turns to preside over the affairs of the township and assist them. The county manages the township.

  Now Qin Lang directly set up the township office in the township, appointed the township head, and stipulated that the township head should be a ninth-rank official.

  Below the head of the township, there is also a patrol inspector under the ninth rank, who is responsible for anti-smuggling, arresting theft, and maintaining law and order. In addition, six classes were set up in imitation of the six houses in the county. Each class had a foreign official, called household history, industrial history, etc., each responsible for a piece of affairs, assisting the township head, and each Lizheng was in charge of Baojia in each village in the village.

  The economic system has been given, the money and grain have been increased, and there are even post allowances, the post’s maintenance money, and the treatment has been greatly improved, but Qin Lang has also clarified their respective responsibilities and strictly disciplined them. They will severely crack down on corruption, extortion, bribery, and power for personal gain.

  If you want to do practical things, you must first create a team that dares to fight, can rush, and can work together. If a team only thinks about self-interest all day long, how can it have the ability to execute.

  Especially at the moment when Lingnan is comprehensively reforming the native land, it needs a team that can convince the people, especially the barbarians. Otherwise, no matter how good the policy is, it may be turned into a bad government by these treacherous subordinates.

"If you encounter any difficulties, whether it is work or life, you can come to me directly, and I will help you solve it. You can take this money at ease, but I also put my ugly words first. It should be taken You keep the money, but you shouldn’t take the money, and don’t stretch out your hands, don’t lose your great future because of a small loss and a little money!”

  (end of this chapter)