Chapter 53 The Way of Lightness and Heaviness Because of different identities, the intensity of each action will naturally be different. If Tian Ze was just a county magistrate, Mi Zhu would probably just be touched and then politely refuse. However, Tian Ze is now the governor of a county, and he is a young, promising, talented and promising governor. In the eyes of people of this era, with Tian Ze's current position and performance, it would be no problem for him to at least be ranked among the Nine Ministers. These words are enough to make ordinary people die for it. At this time when the imperial power had not yet been shaken, the status gap between Tian Ze and Mi Zhu was like the difference between heaven and earth. Under normal circumstances, Mi Zhu could hardly even get into the door, let alone sit at the table. After all, in the Han Dynasty, if merchants did not have a family background to rely on, they would be like fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered, at the mercy of others. Tian Ze helped Mi Zhu up with both hands and said in a deep voice: "Zi Zhong, please stand up. Don't be too happy too soon. This burden is not light!" It's not easy to be an official under Tian Ze. The administrative efficiency of this era was extremely low, and too much emphasis was placed on governing by doing nothing, making the work of officials relatively easy.
How could Tian Ze allow this situation to exist? If he wanted to strengthen his rule over his subordinates, he had to increase the workload. After adequate staffing and salaries were paid, we decisively simplified the management system of later generations in light of the actual situation and put it into use, assigning various tasks and assessment indicators. Regular summaries and dispatches are carried out, with senior members sharing their experiences and junior members expressing their opinions. Those with outstanding achievements are promoted and rewarded, while those who talk big but do nothing are punished and demoted. Many Confucian scholars who were proud of their talents resigned from their posts in anger after Tian Ze had finally recruited them to Liaodong, which made Tian Ze's reputation even worse. However, Tian Ze was no longer bothered by his notoriety and only hoped to achieve effective governance and make Liaodong prosperous. Now it is a county, plus the vassal state of Liaodong, with 17 counties. The tasks in all places are extremely heavy, especially now that each department is just starting out. There are constant problems and difficulties, and the county magistrates and county heads are almost too busy to do anything. In terms of meeting affairs alone, they have to spend two or three days every month coming to Xiangping for meetings, and then hold another meeting to assign tasks, and spend several days coordinating with subordinate departments and villages. At first, Chen Gong was reluctant to trouble his officials in this way, but after Tian Ze's suggestion and actual verification, he quickly realized the necessity of holding meetings and summarizing the arrangements. From then on, without Tian Ze saying anything, Chen Gong decisively increased the frequency of meetings to the extreme. Due to the inconvenience of transportation in this era, in order to improve efficiency, Chen Gong directly arranged some retired soldiers in each county and established a special carriage and horse department. One of the important tasks was to pick up and drop off officials from various counties and villages to attend the meeting. Since the distances between counties are long, it is quite difficult to hold meetings, so each meeting is full of useful information and can last the entire day. Tian Ze was fortunate enough to attend a meeting once. The countless data, questions, place names, and terms gave him a splitting headache and made him drowsy. Chen Gong and others were extremely serious. They were able to fully absorb and understand everything, identify key problems and propose countermeasures, and knew the conditions of each county like the back of their hand. After experiencing this a few times, Tian Ze became firm in his thinking. Being an official, especially in charge of a region, was not something he could handle. He had dozens of departments, more than a dozen counties, and hundreds of villages under him. Just listening to the meetings made his scalp tingle and he felt drowsy. It would be more practical for him to go out for a walk and take a look, and come up with some ideas as he thinks. Mi Zhu doesn't care about these. To him, having such an opportunity is a godsend. The Mi family's ancestral graves must be filled with smoke. He would be willing to do so even if he died of exhaustion while in office.
Especially when it comes to business management, he has absolute confidence. Among the several wealthy merchants of the time, although he was not the largest, he was also one of the top merchants. Moreover, he was one of the few wealthy merchants who did not have the support of a noble family. If he had not worried about being coveted, it would not have been difficult for him to become the largest businessman if he had given it his all. Now that he finally has a chance to display his talents, he naturally won't miss it. "Don't worry, my lord. I will do my best until my death!" Mi Zhu said with a firm look. Tian Ze could understand Mi Zhu's feelings. He patted Mi Zhu's shoulder calmly, and a stream of spiritual energy quietly and silently entered his mind. Mi Zhu only felt a slight cool feeling spreading throughout his body, and he immediately felt refreshed, but he did not notice anything unusual. As a cultivator, Tian Ze's methods are not limited to spells such as the Soil Moistening Spell. However, due to the limitations of the laws of nature in this world, many spells are difficult to perform. However, for those who truly devote themselves to his work, the Heavenly Dao of this world will relax certain boundaries and allow Tian Ze to inject some spiritual energy into them. For civil officials, the greatest effect of these spiritual energies is that they can keep their minds clear and are beneficial to their physical health. For military generals, these spiritual energies can stimulate their strength, repair hidden injuries, and alleviate their irritability. For Tian Ze, these spiritual energies can not only help him better sense these important ministers, but can also be used as a backup at critical moments. Therefore, Tian Ze had great trust in the civil and military officials under his command and was not worried about betrayal. After confirming that Mi Zhu had become his own man, Tian Ze took out a booklet from his bosom and handed it over. "This is!" Mi Zhu looked at the three words "Light and Heavy Studies" on the book and couldn't help but widen his eyes. The source of business ethics is the study of weights and thins. Mi Zhu, whose family has been engaged in business for generations, has naturally heard of its name. "My lord, you actually have a book on the study of lightness and heaviness!" Tian Ze smiled calmly. The Wuzhong Tian family is the descendant of the Tian Qi family during the Warring States Period. Their ancestors were once wealthy, and they were one of the top families in Youzhou, where aristocratic families were relatively rare. There used to be a hundred schools of thought in the Jixia Academy, and there were countless precious books. Despite going through many changes, some of them were still secretly preserved by the Tian family. The contemporary patriarch of the Tian family thinks highly of Tian Ze. After Tian Ze was appointed governor of Liaodong, he increased his support and made a large number of classics available to Tian Ze, including this book "Light and Heavy Studies". Tian Ze had read it before. The content was probably recorded by Tian's descendants based on their memories. It was incomplete and unsystematic. However, he was stunned by the advanced ideas in the text, which were quite similar to many ideas in later generations. Especially the part about Guan Zhong, which made Tian Ze stunned. Currency war, commercial enrichment, work-for-relief, inflation, state regulation, market regulation, economic diversion, price stabilization, foreign trade... Tian Ze once suspected that he was a big shot from the future who traveled through time. Moreover, this is just the tip of the iceberg of his talent. His core ideas of putting people first and governing by combining morality and law, as well as his achievements in administrative reform, personnel appointments, political propositions, military diplomacy, are all amazing. The imperial examination system, materialism, state-run salt and iron industries, respecting the king and expelling the barbarians, and sustainable development can all be seen in the prototype of Guan Zhong.
After reading the books he wrote, Tian Ze couldn't help but sigh. No wonder Duke Huan of Qi was able to dominate the world. With such a big man leading the way, anyone could win without any effort as long as they obeyed. With such a good example before him, Tian Ze naturally did not dare to teach others his own way. He just added some ideas on economic theory, money houses, etc., and integrated them into this book "The Study of Light and Heavy". "Zi Zhong, this book is extremely important. You must study it carefully, especially the content about money houses in the back." Tian Ze said solemnly. "Before that, I set up money houses in Wen County and several counties near Xuzhou and Qingzhou that attracted refugees. This greatly facilitated trade for merchants, and I have accumulated credibility bit by bit over the years." "Nowadays, some people in Liaodong have become accustomed to the existence of paper money such as Liaodong currency. Many merchants who frequently travel to Liaodong have also begun to choose to deposit their money in money houses and use checks because copper coins are inconvenient to carry." "This is a good start. However, now is not the time to promote paper money. The court does not allow it yet, but you must also be prepared." "Next, you need to promote the use of checks throughout Liaodong as soon as possible. At the same time, for the hidden villages in Liaodong, you need to make Liaodong currency completely equivalent to copper coins, and continue to accumulate them to form credibility..." "In addition, we need to start planning border trade with the Xianbei and Liao merchants..." Tian Ze told Mi Zhu about his ideas bit by bit. He had mentioned these things to Jia Xu before, but Jia Xu was not well versed in business affairs. Although he could understand the principles, it was still difficult for him to change his ideas. Mi Zhu, who came from a merchant family, understood Tian Ze's intention quickly, and quickly innovated and put forward some ideas of his own. The two chatted for half a day. The sun gradually set in the west, stretching their shadows very long. While gaining another loyal follower, Tian Ze couldn't help but feel that the trip was worthwhile. Mi Zhu is indeed the best candidate to be in charge of the Ministry of Commerce. He has talent, ability, capital and character. Afterwards, Tian Ze took Mi Zhu back to the prefectural government to hand over the task to Jia Xu. Jia Xu had already known about this, and felt relieved after confirming that he had landed. Finally I can just do my old job. He was cautious and lazy by nature and did not like to take power. Over the years, he had been kept hanging by Tian Ze's pie in the sky and had been working like a slave, and was already exhausted both physically and mentally. Now Tian Ze’s big plan has finally come true, and he has completely gotten rid of his last burden. Facing Jia Xu's extremely complicated gaze, Tian Ze scratched his head guiltily. I am not exploiting my subordinates, but cultivating them with good intentions. Jia Xu should be able to understand this. (End of this chapter)