The best county magistrate

In the following days, the county's environmental sanitation improvement work was implemented in great detail, and obvious changes were seen on the streets in just a few days.

At the same time, Yang Xuanchen was not idle either.

Taking advantage of the fact that the salt in the county government's warehouse was taken away by Yan Chenghai, plus the silver rewarded by Emperor Jianwen, the Qingshui County government ushered in a major transformation.

Considering that the county government office does not yet have a chief registrar and a county magistrate, their offices, as well as the cabinets and warehouses, were moved to the open space in the front yard of Xihua Hall, and several rooms were built in succession.

One-third of the entire county government land was used to build warehouses, and even the tax warehouse was moved there.

If it weren't for the fact that there would be more government officials to recruit in the future, Yang Xuanchen would have wanted to convert the open space in the official residence into a warehouse.

One day at the end of April, Liu Si and the villagers from Liujia Village delivered a newly made batch of sea salt.

Yang Xuanchen had nothing to do and personally directed the unloading, transportation and storage.

After working for a long time, Yang Xuanchen saw Liu Si wearing a pair of bright new clothes. Yang Xuanchen said with a smile: "Fourth brother has been doing well recently. This outfit looks good."

"Hehe, it's all thanks to the master that our Liujia Village is rich."

"When the white money was distributed to everyone a while ago, the scene... tsk tsk."

Liu Sicheng saluted Yang Xuanchen sincerely, and then called to the villagers to bring a cart covered with thick cloth.

"Master, several elders in my village and my father have discussed it. From now on, 20% of the salt money in our village will be yours."

As he spoke, he opened the thick cloth and revealed the silver ingot.

Yang Xuanchen was shocked by him, his eyes widened, he glanced at the money and then at Liu Si for a while, "Fourth brother, this is all the hard earned money of the villagers, I can't bear it."

After hearing this, Liu Si knelt on the ground and said gratefully: "Master, please don't do this. My father gave me a death order and told me not to return to the village if you don't accept it."

"He also warned me that if I couldn't convince the master, he wouldn't help me go to Ningqing Township to propose marriage."

"Please take pity on me. I'm already twenty-two years old and I haven't married yet..."

After talking a lot, Yang Xuanchen finally asked Liu Si to push the money into the tax treasury.

"Fourth brother, let's do this. I accept the kindness of the folks, but 20% is too much. You go back and talk to the village chief. I can take 10%."

"Based on the current scale of the Liujiacun salt field, I estimate that by the end of the year, we will have 3,000 acres of land."

"No matter how much land there is, I'm afraid everyone won't be able to use it."

"Think about it, the imperial court came to collect salt, and after paying taxes, the output was close to 6,000 taels a day, which means that in a year..."

"I don't do anything, I just get 10% of the dividends. I can say that I can collect 200,000 taels a year at least, but it's still too much."

Since the salt fields in Liujia Village were cultivated by salt farmers themselves, the imperial court gave them special preferential treatment.

However, the salt tax was still very high. The court collected 90% of the salt. Of the 90% of the salt taken away, only 10% was given in cash, which was ten cents per catty, which was far lower than the current selling price of thirty cents per catty.

The other 10% is freely distributed by salt farmers. If it is sold externally, it can only be sold to serious salt merchants with salt sources.

If you are caught selling privately, you will be punished with imprisonment.

Liu Si had no idea about money. He only knew that since Yang Xuanchen taught them how to dry salt, Liujia Village had never gone hungry again during these days.

All the villagers in Liujia Village were extremely grateful to the county magistrate, and some families even promised to give Yang Xuanchen half of their money.

Liu Si originally thought that the 20% given to him was already very low. Unexpectedly, Yang Xuanchen was not ready to take it, so he reluctantly agreed to take 10% after some hard talking.

Such behavior made Liu Si feel even more grateful to Yang Xuanchen.

"May the gods in the sky and the Dragon King in the sea keep you safe. We all have to burn incense and make offerings, either by killing pigs and cows or by sacrificing our youngest daughter."

"The ability to produce salt in Liujiacun is all thanks to the master. Now you only want 10% of the dividend. I feel bad about it, and so do the fellow villagers."

"I haven't read a book, and I can't speak nice words. Please accept Liu Siyi's respect."

As he said this, Liu Si knelt on the ground and kowtowed nine times. The villagers in Liujia Village also knelt down and kowtowed with Liu Si, shouting "Blessed Lord, Great Lord".

Yang Xuanchen helped Liu Si up and wiped the dust off his new clothes, "Fourth brother, have you ever thought about what to do with the remaining 10% of salt?"

Liu Si shook his head and smiled honestly, "Back to you, sir, my father said that most of the salt must be sold."

"But we were both fishermen before, how could we do business..."

Yang Xuanchen touched his chin and thought for a moment, "How about setting up a trading house in Liujiacun specifically to sell salt?"

"You can calculate by yourself which family owns how many shares, and then select an owner to be responsible for dealing with the sale of salt to me."

Then, Yang Xuanchen expressed his thoughts in front of all the villagers of Liujia Village in the county government.

The villagers were ignorant. They only knew that the county magistrate not only taught them how to make salt, but also helped them sell salt and become rich. They clamored in the yamen and returned to the village to build an ancestral hall for Yang Xuanchen to enshrine his immortality tablet.

Liu Si, on the other hand, listened to Yang Xuanchen's words seriously. For example, the owner of the business firm in Liujiacun changed every few years, and everyone took turns to avoid one company becoming dominant.

Another example is that there are five top managers under the boss, and these people can vote to deny some of the boss's decisions.

"Master, it's getting late. I'll tell my father when I get back. I'll come back to the Yamen in a few days when I have the results."

After sending away the villagers of Liujia Village, Yang Xuanchen called Zhang Quandan, the government official from the workshop, over, "Quandan, as you can see, our county government still has some ways to go in Liujia Village."

"These villagers may have to send salt to the county government every few days in the future. I want you to do two things."

"The first thing is to build a road from Liujia Village that is wider and more solid than the official road."

"The second thing is to go to Linjiang City and order some delivery carriages. The kind that can carry a thousand pounds per carriage."

Zhang Quandan was originally a carpenter in the county and was good at building and repairing houses. He was an honest man and could read and write. When he heard that the county government was recruiting people, he volunteered and was admitted.

He directed Liu Fang of Jinzhi Company to build the toilets in the county according to the drawings drawn by Yang Xuanchen. Not only were they well built, but he also beautified them in a unique way.

After Yang Xuanchen inspected them, he and Liu Fang were rewarded with more than ten taels of silver.

Hearing that he had come to work again, Zhang Quandan was full of energy, "Master, I promise to complete the task, but where will the money come from?"

"Are you looking for Guo Baoquan from the household?"

Yang Xuanchen pointed to the cart of silver ingots in the tax treasury and said with a smile: "Don't look for Lao Guo. There is no money in the yamen. Use these."

Looking at a cart full of white money, Zhang Quandan was stunned, "Master, isn't this the money Liujiacun gave you? Isn't this inappropriate?"

"If there's anything inappropriate, just use it. Don't force me."

Yang Xuanchen patted Zhang Quandan on the shoulder and continued: "This is just a lot of money. It is far from enough to build roads. You need to repair the dirt roads for me first."

"We'll build the cement road later."

There is nothing wrong with building dirt roads, but what the hell is building cement roads?

Zhang Quandan didn't dare to ask any more questions. He took some money and went to arrange the road construction in a hurry.

Yang Xuanchen, on the other hand, was thinking about which caravan would be the first to come to Qingshui County to collect salt.