latelenovela Chapter 172 Too difficult
Chapter 172 Too difficult
More than ten years later, when the dying Li Chang recalled this day, he only said that Chen Er was a benefactor to the Li family, because at that time Li Chang's second son, Li Chen, had indeed become a general, and even a major general in the Tiger Army.
“Then Lingzi is my colleague. Strictly speaking, I am also a member of the Tiger Legion,” Chen Er said with a smile. The fact that Li Chang was in the Tiger Legion immediately brought his family closer to Chen Er’s heart, making them his own personal guard.
"The commander is also a commander in the Tiger Legion, and now the general is passing through my Li Family Town. This is truly a blessing for the Li family!" Li Chang became very enthusiastic when he heard Chen Er say that he was also a member of the Tiger Legion. He immediately invited Chen Er to sit down and said that he would entertain Chen Er and his party.
Chen Er agreed after a slight delay, as he also wanted to learn more about the real situation of these lower-class families in order to provide a reference for future governance.
When Li Chang's son returned home to visit relatives, after hearing his father's account and considering the timeline, he immediately realized that the so-called Tiger Warrior Colonel was actually His Highness Prince Wei. Li Chang was even more excited after learning Chen Er's true identity. He kept the chair that Chen Er had made in his home as a family heirloom, because Li Chang always felt that Chen Er was a benefactor to their family.
After having dinner at Li Chang's house, Chen Er returned to his military camp. Once back in camp, Chen Er carefully considered the things Li Chang had told him during his meal at Li's house.
Chen Er was somewhat prepared for his upcoming arrival in Zhongshan City the next day. At the banquet, Li Chang told Chen Er about some of the problems faced by ordinary people, such as the issue of farming tools.
The problems of animal power and irrigation are issues that ordinary farmers face in their daily production. Li Chang kept praising King Wei, saying things like, "After King Wei came to power..."
Without the messy taxes, although there are still some corrupt officials, life is much better than before.
Li Chang said that although he was a landlord, his family didn't always eat white noodles every day. Most of the time, they ate white noodles mixed with coarse grains, and only had meat every few days. This kind of life was something that most ordinary people could not afford.
However, although their lives did not necessarily improve significantly after the King of Wei came to power, their lives had become quite good in the past year or two without the oppression.
At least the grain stored at home is two or three times more than before, and ordinary farmers can eat meat once or twice a month. In Lijia Town, which is close to the mountains, the lives of some hunters are even better.
"Yes, for these ordinary people, it's not enough to just get rid of oppression; they also need to have enough means of production. That's the most important thing for ordinary people."
Chen Er wrote on the paper that he was actually quite confident with the northern grasslands at his disposal. After today's experience, he planned to ask Xun You to make a plan after he returned. The plan was to have a breeding farm in each county under his jurisdiction within five years, which would be responsible for the breeding of cattle and horses, so that every village in the region would have enough cattle and horses to help with production.
"Yes, and we also need to speed up the improvement of agricultural tools." Tax revenue has reached its limit, so we must increase production to ensure more tax revenue. It's a two-way street, Chen Er thought to himself.
This trip to Lijia Town was very useful.
“Zilong, don’t just see the good things we see. After all, we’ve only seen a small part of the region, and these regions are located around the official roads, so their development is definitely faster. If we want to see the most authentic situation, we need to go to those more remote places. Jizhou is mostly plains, and the transportation is relatively good. When we go to the more southern regions, which are mostly mountainous, the situation will be different.”
Chen Er said to Zhao Yun, "As someone with experience from my previous life, I understand very well that poverty and development are extremely difficult things, as seen in China and those so-called developed countries on Earth in my previous life."
Poverty remains a very common phenomenon. Before Chen Er's time travel, despite the Chinese government's efforts to alleviate poverty, many areas were still in poverty, even though the standards for poverty differed between the two worlds.
However, this also shows that eliminating poverty is not an easy task. Therefore, Chen Er did not have too harsh requirements for his officials. He only wanted a relatively complete administrative system, and a clean and effective one. As for other things, he would deal with them later.
Chen Er consoled himself in this way. Zhao Yun pondered for a moment after hearing Chen Er's words, then looked up at Chen Er and said, "This humble general has learned something. I suppose this is why our lord no longer enters Zhongshan City."
“That’s right. Now that we know what we want to know, let’s deal with the other things after we return from the south. We can conduct more in-depth research on the way back.”
Chen Er nodded in agreement with Zhao Yun's speculation. Their main purpose was to head south, and they were only checking the initial situation. A more detailed investigation and private visit would be conducted after they met Liu Bei in the south and headed north.
The two men were talking very closely, but their horses continued to gallop alongside the lead cavalry, their conversation not hindering their progress at all.
After a journey of stops and starts, Chen Er and his party arrived in Jizhou City on January 16th. They met Tian Feng, who had not returned to Yuyang for the New Year. Tian Feng, who had been transferred to Jizhou by Chen Er, was concurrently serving as the governor in the latest local administrative system. The straightforward and blunt Chen Er directly applied the administrative official system from his previous life.
The highest-ranking position, the local secretary-general, remains unchanged for the time being. The others are the governor, county magistrate, county head, township head, and even the lowest-ranking village head, who are also in the local administrative system. Of course, in reality, the local government has no real control over the village head and township head levels.
Especially in more remote areas, the positions of township head and other officials are simply hereditary titles held by local gentry and influential figures. However, as long as they do not violate local policies, Chen Er currently has no way to change this situation.
Upon hearing that Zhao Yun had suddenly arrived in Jizhou City, Tian Feng was somewhat bewildered. Wasn't Zhao Yun always in the north? Why had he suddenly gone south, and with only a thousand cavalrymen? Out of politeness and respect for Zhao Yun, a cavalry lieutenant general, he put down his work and hurried back to his residence.
However, Tian Feng was stunned as soon as he entered the mansion. Why was Chen Er there too?