The best county magistrate

"Can a chicken and a rabbit share a cage with math skills?" Yang Xuanchen asked.

Zhao Xue snorted and couldn't help but put a little more force on her hands, "This kind of problem will be solved when you are ten years old."

"Master, can you do it? Do you have any more difficult math problems?"

Fortunately, Yang Xuanchen didn't have the habit of growing a beard, otherwise he would have been blown away by his beard.

"Don't be proud!"

"Go get some pen and ink. I'll give you some difficult questions. If you can solve them, I'll take you to Liujia Village to see the salt fields tomorrow."

Zhao Xuemei's heart bubbling when she heard that she could go out for a walk after completing the questions, and that it was the only sea salt drying factory in Dayan.

After a while, five math problems appeared on the paper.

The first question was not very difficult. Zhao Xue got the answer right by just relying on mental arithmetic to find the average.

She glanced at the old god Yang Xuanchen with a disdainful look, and said to herself: Is this the level?

Then the second question made her dumbfounded. Yang Xuanchen asked a classic Math Olympiad question for primary school students, crab, dragonfly and praying mantis.

Zhao Xue frowned and took a stick of incense to figure it out.

Then starting with the third question, she just read the question once and then gave up because she couldn't understand the meaning of the question.

"Master...this is too difficult."

"I don't know how to count things. The problem of overflow and underflow is no longer a problem for me. Even the best teacher in the academy doesn't dare to say he can beat me."

"Why do I feel like a three-year-old child when I get to you?"

Yang Xuanchen burst into laughter upon hearing this.

She would definitely not be able to solve the third question, because this question is not just as simple as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

"Starting from the third question is what is really useful to you."

Yang Xuanchen pointed to the third question and said slowly: "The total amount of money people spend on food purchases and family income can well reflect whether their lives are rich."

"I sent people to sample the income and expenditure of nearly 10,000 households from different classes and industries in Qingshui County."

"This question requires statistics, weighting, and averaging to calculate a coefficient."

His words seemed to open a window for Zhao Xue in mathematics and people's livelihood.

She sat at the table with her chin in her hands, looking at Yang Xuanchen without blinking, remembering every word he said in her heart.

"Based on the current situation, people can be divided into poor, subsistence, well-off and wealthy."

"I named this algorithm Engel...well, happiness index."

"If the number is below 30, it means that the family is wealthy, and if it is above 60, it means that their life is not easy and they may not have enough to eat."

At this time, Zhao Xue asked, "What's the point of calculating all this?"

Yang Xuanchen glared at her and continued: "Of course it makes sense!"

"Currently, officials often judge whether people are living well or not based on their clothing and posture."

"Because they don't have time to visit door-to-door and penetrate into people's lives."

"It will naturally lead to one-sidedness in governance, and often many policies will become useless."

Speaking of this, he smiled proudly, "The people of Qingshui County can be prosperous, and everyone has work to do and every family has food to eat, relying on these data."

"Since a capable official came to the yamen's household, I asked him to compile various statistics on a quarterly, half-year, and annual basis."

"Through the calculation and deduction of data, I can know whether the people are living well or not without leaving home."

As he spoke, Yang Xuanchen calculated the numbers in the third question using modern mathematics.

Looking at the numbers on the paper, Zhao Xue was thoughtful, and then asked her doubts.

"Master, what does this forty-nine represent?"

"Does it represent the well-off life you just mentioned?"

Yang Xuanchen took a deep look at her, with a happy smile on his face.

You can teach me, this girl is really talented in this area, she can understand the key just by saying it once.

"You are right, but not entirely."

Zhao Xue frowned again when she heard this, "Isn't that right?"

"Yes, this number is an average calculated by collecting data from nearly 10,000 households, which shows that the entire Qingshui County has reached a moderately prosperous level."

"However, this is just an average, and there are many low-income families who are averaged out."

“Not only have they not achieved moderate prosperity, it is even more appropriate to describe them as poor.”

Yang Xuanchen's words made Zhao Xue confused.

She even suspected that he was deceiving her and did not teach her his real skills. He just talked about it with some numbers, but in fact it had no effect.

But what he said seemed to make sense, and he didn't find any point to refute.

At this time, Yang Xuanchen also saw the distrust in her eyes, but instead of being angry, he was extremely happy.

"Nothing in the world is fair. This is true for the people, and so is it for you and me!"

"No matter how talented I am, I still can't balance a bowl of water."

"Therefore, there will always be rich people and there will always be poor people."

"What I can do is to make most people live a good life."

Speaking of this, Yang Xuanchen knocked on the table and pulled Zhao Xue back, who was in a daze.

Then Yang Xuanchen handed a thick booklet to Zhao Xue.

"Open it and take a look."

"This is the statistics of people in Qingshui County based on household statistics."

“It’s clear at a glance who’s rich and who’s poor.”

"I don't care whether they have any savings, I only care about how much they earn and how much they spend."

"It can also be said that these data can reflect whether the policies I implement are suitable for the people of Qingshui County."

Zhao Xue quickly flipped through the entire booklet.

If these figures were placed in the past, she would definitely sneer at them and say that statistics are a waste of time.

As Yang Xuanchen said, she judged whether the people in the capital were living well or not based on their clothing and posture.

Officials in the capital, and even officials in various states, have not collected statistics on the people like him.

Often officials only find out that their policies are inappropriate one, two or even many years after they are issued, and then make mistakes again and again.

"Master, according to what you said, these data are calculated on a quarterly, half-year, etc. basis."

"Can you use these numbers to discover the shortcomings of the policy in a very short period of time?"

"And then constantly adjust the policies implemented so that they can be implemented to benefit the people?"

Yang Xuanchen nodded heavily, with an even bigger smile on his face.

What a gift!

It's a pity that she is a girl. If she were a boy, the Great Yan Dynasty would definitely have an emperor who was good at governing the country.

"You're right!"

"Qingshui County cannot be what it is today without these simple numbers."

"You must understand why the imperial power does not extend to the county."

"In Qingshui County, I am like a local emperor, holding the highest power."

"Any of my policies are related to people's livelihood. To put it bluntly, I control people's life and death."

Having said this, Yang Xuanchen stood up with his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky outside the house at a forty-five degree angle, with determination in his eyes.

The sunlight shone on his body, seemingly opening up layers of halo, making Zhao Xue unable to open his eyes.

"As a parent official, it is my lifelong pursuit to be the master of the people and enable them to live a prosperous life."

"I once made an oath to set my heart for heaven and earth, and my destiny for the people!"

"Inherit the unique knowledge for the past saints and create peace for all generations!"

"..."

Zhao Xue didn't listen to the rest of the words. She sat there quietly and stared at his back.

Time stopped at this moment, as if a mysterious force caused her heartbeat to pause briefly.

Then, a dazzling light bloomed in her eyes.

If you were not an official, that would be great, I could marry you!