Chapter 331 Negotiations
Yang Menglong hesitated again and again, and said: "I don't think this is a good idea. Phosphate fertilizer is a good thing, but the production is also very polluting. If the sewage is not treated, there will be serious problems. I still think that production should be concentrated Phosphate mines in Tongbai Mountain have been mined and will soon be put into production. Phosphate mines in Wuyang Mine are also being mined one after another. The phosphate fertilizers produced by these two phosphate fertilizer factories are supplied to four counties including Tongbai, Biyang, Wuyang and Yexian. , and then build a large-scale phosphate fertilizer processing plant in Nanyang using the phosphate rock transported from the Jingxiang area to supply the remaining nine counties, which will be more efficient and easier to treat sewage."

Fang Yizhi thought for a while and said, "It's fine. However, it will take a lot of trouble for the counties to transport the phosphate fertilizer back..."

Yang Menglong said: "So we need to build roads! If you want to get rich, build roads first, and if you want to marry a wife, raise pigs first. Children all know this! Build a cement road that can pass four carriages in parallel and run through various counties in Nanyang. In this way, phosphate fertilizer must be transported Wouldn’t it be much more convenient to go to various counties?”

The officials were taken aback: "How much will it cost to build... such a long concrete road?"

Yang Menglong said: "It doesn't cost much. Things that can be done with cement, sand, and stones are nothing! I pay for the cement. As for the sand and labor, each county pays itself. It's nothing more than leveling the roadbed, and then It’s nothing difficult to just pour the cement slurry on it and flatten it. Let me tell you, this cement road will not break for 200 years after it is repaired. If you calculate it carefully, is it much cheaper than a dirt road?”

Everyone seriously calculated, hey, this is really the case!They have seen the benefits of the cement road. The road surface is flat and hard, and it will not turn over even under heavy rain. It is really easy to walk. With such a road, the transportation is much more convenient. In the last 200 years, where can I find such a good thing!
Zhu Yujian said: "If cement roads can be built in the whole Nanyang territory, that would be great. I would like to donate 5000 taels of silver as wages!"

Yang Menglong gave him a thumbs up: "Your Majesty is really generous, okay, that's it!"

This guy is really happy to ask for other people's money. Although Fang Yizhi and the county magistrates felt that it was inappropriate for the vassal king to intervene in local affairs, they did not refuse. After all, it was several thousand taels of silver. His blood and sweat has supported eight generations of Tang kings, so it is reasonable to get some rewards.

Yang Menglong also proposed that he needed a horse farm to raise his war horses.In the battle of Daling River, Wuyang Guard captured more than 600 war horses, and exchanged them for more than 500 horses from Wu Xiang with military merits. Including the original war horses, they already had nearly [-] war horses. This is quite a scary situation. The cost of raising so many war horses is very high.Wuyang definitely can't raise so many war horses, he will have to find several horse farms.As soon as they heard that horses were to be raised, all the county magistrates shuddered and became silent.Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, horse administration has also been attached great importance to. The specific method is to foster a mare to the people's homes. Every year, the people will hand over a foal to the government until the mare dies. It’s really cheating. Who can guarantee that the mare can give birth to calves every year and that each calf can grow up healthily?Note that the government will not provide any subsidies or rewards to horse farmers. If you raise horses well, it is your duty. If you raise horses poorly, you will be punished until you lose all your money!Such bizarre horse policies make the common people miserable. The cost of raising horses alone is unaffordable for a family. When a mare fails to give birth or a foal dies of illness, they can only sell their houses, fields, and even their children to exchange money to make up for the loss. .Although Zhu Yuanzhang's horse policy prepared a large number of war horses for the Ming Dynasty, it also made the people miserable, and in the end even forced the people to rise up and rebel. No matter how good the original intention of the policy was, if it was blindly exploited during the implementation process, it would eventually end in failure. It will turn into a terrible disaster.By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, as public dissatisfaction boiled, horse farmers fled in large numbers. The Ming Dynasty's horse administration was no longer sustainable, and this policy had to be abolished.Henan is an area hardest hit by horse politics. When it comes to raising horses, both officials and people have lingering fears. Now that Yang Menglong wants to raise horses again, of course they will not look good on him.

Yang Menglong knew that they had misunderstood when he saw everyone's expressions, and quickly said: "Don't think wrongly, I just want a horse farm and a training base for war horses. As for the horse feed, we will produce it ourselves. I will spend money to buy from the local area, and will not take advantage of you."

The county magistrates breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they didn't mention Taizu's tricks, everything would be easy to discuss.In fact, Nanyang also implemented a horse policy, providing hundreds of horses to the court every year, which made the people of Nanyang miserable. Later, the horse policy was abolished, but the horse farm still exists. This is a government asset and no one dares to touch it. Just give it to Yang Menglong.Everyone was at a loss and quickly circled three horse farms, enough to raise four thousand war horses.

These are all small things, military expenditure is the big issue.For the past two years, Yang Menglong has been raising Wuyang elite soldiers with his own money. For the court, this is a good thing and a bad thing.The good thing is that it saves a lot of expenses, but the bad thing... This means that the influence of the imperial court on the Wuyang elite soldiers is about zero, and the civil servant group's restriction on the Wuyang elite soldiers is also about zero. In the long run, this is definitely not a good thing—— These thousands of soldiers will become Yang Menglong's personal soldiers.Fang Yizhi suggested that Yang Menglong should stop subsidizing military expenses out of his own pocket, and let the imperial court pay the Wuyang elite soldiers. Before he finished speaking, Yang Menglong rolled his eyes: "Let the imperial court distribute the food and salaries? My God, Now the treasury is so poor that it can starve to death, so let them distribute food and wages, and my thousands of soldiers will starve to death!"

Fang Yizhi said: "Although the imperial court's finances are tight now, it will improve sooner or later! What you are doing now is not good for you, nor for the imperial court..."

Yang Menglong said: "There will be no improvement, it will only get worse and worse!" If he remembers correctly, in the next ten years, the Ming Dynasty will get worse every year. They emerged one after another, and finally sounded the death knell of the Ming Dynasty.Waiting for the imperial court to pay Wuyang elite soldiers?Believe it or not, they dare to wait a year or two before paying a month's salary?

The county magistrates also felt that it would not be a good thing for Yang Menglong to fully control the food and salary supply of Wuyang's elite soldiers, so they joined the ranks of fighting for reason, and the two sides had a long and fierce debate.In the end, Yang Menglong made a compromise: [-]-[-], he will pay half of the military expenses, and the treasury will pay half.Considering that Nanyang Mansion's finances are only slightly in surplus, and the cost of military supplies for thousands of elite soldiers is a very heavy burden on the treasury, Fang Yizhi reluctantly agrees to a [-]-[-] split. Big hat, huh?
More fiercely contested administrative reform.Yang Menglong insisted on changing. He thought that if Nanyang's big and small affairs were handled according to the current frighteningly rigid system, it would be pointless for him to participate, and he might as well close the door and play by himself.His proposal was to build a conference building in Nanyang Prefecture, and regularly convene county magistrates from all counties to hold meetings every year. Everyone in the thirteen counties of Nanyang Prefecture will discuss and handle affairs, and the government will allocate resources uniformly according to the actual situation.If there are any projects such as paving roads, repairing bridges and reclaiming wasteland in each county, they must make a detailed budget application, and the government will allocate funds to repair it. Note that it is a detailed budget application, not a flowery article!He was fed up with those flashy articles that he didn't know what he was talking about after reading for a long time.This one is a challenge for everyone. Since ancient times, local officials only manage their own county and don’t have to worry about other things. It is a rare good to pay the full amount of taxes on time and avoid any strange injustices. Officials, but the magistrate is only responsible for supervising the work of those county magistrates, trying a few cases by the way, and running to the county to fight the autumn wind when there is nothing to do. After dealing with it, who would have thought that everyone would sit together and treat the whole mansion as a whole, and communicate with each other?Who would have thought that the resources in the hands of the highest officials in one place would be allocated in a unified manner?
Fang Yizhi had a look of embarrassment on his face: "This... I am afraid it is not in line with the imperial court's system?"

Yang Menglong said: "If you copy the imperial court's system in everything, do you still need me? You can play by yourself! Local characteristics, local characteristics! Do you understand? Local characteristics are very important!"

Zhang Tong said: "This is certainly good, but I'm afraid it will anger the court..."

Yang Menglong said: "As long as we pay taxes in full and on time, why should they control us?"

This guy has maintained contempt for the court from the beginning to the end, and he doesn't pay attention to the set of rules that the Ming Dynasty has used for more than 200 years. This makes everyone here a little uncomfortable. After all, what they have accepted since childhood "Education, to acquire literary and martial arts, to dedicate to the emperor's family, this is a deeply rooted concept.But then again, as long as they pay their taxes on time and in full, don't rebel, and don't make things deviant, the court generally can't control them—it's too late to coax them!Of course, it's unknown whether they will be "rebelled". After all, this is a very fucking era, isn't it?

Yang Menglong continued to analyze the benefits of doing so: not only can the allocation of resources be optimized, but also the influence on the local area can be strengthened.The imperial power did not go to the countryside, and the local affairs were completely controlled by the squires, so it was difficult for the government to intervene. This was because the squires completely controlled the local resources, and the county officials could not compete with them at all.But if there is a unified organization to allocate resources, the resources in the hands of county magistrates will be greatly increased, and it will be so difficult to crush those squires to death!What they said made everyone nod their heads again and again, obviously they were not less angry with those squires, if they could get rid of the constraints of those squires, of course they would be very happy.

It's just that these guys didn't realize that if they followed what Yang Menglong said, Nanyang would become a country within a country...

……

Everyone chatted while eating, the food was heated several times, and several bottles of wine were drank. The meal was not finished until midnight.Everything that needs to be discussed has been discussed, and everyone has basically reached an agreement. Fang Yizhi is quite satisfied with this. Thank God, he finally got this guy to Fucheng!
"Over there in Luoyang, what are you going to do with it?"

At the end of the song, Fang Yizhi suddenly raised such a question.

Yang Menglong shrugged and said: "It depends on the situation. If the Luoyang officials are aggressive, I will transplant the Nanyang model to Luoyang. If they don't have this aggressiveness, forget it. I will manage the guards in Luoyang to complete the task." .”

(End of this chapter)

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