Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 351 Playing a Big Game

Sun Yuanhua asked, "General, what is your intention in summoning the county magistrate here?"

Yan Guang guessed: "I guess the general wants the county magistrate to manage the new city of Lingao. He is the local magistrate, so this is his duty. We sidelined him before because we were worried he would ruin our plans. Now that the situation is settled, the entire Lingao County is well-managed and he can't cause any trouble. He has no better choice than to rely on the Qiongzhou Camp and serve the general."

Liu Ye praised, "Mr. Yan is absolutely right. Times have changed. Three years ago, the Qiongzhou Camp was still weak and we had to sideline him. Now that the Qiongzhou Camp has gained momentum, we can consider having him work for us. Moreover, he has a good attitude now, he understands his place, and his relationship with us is quite harmonious. He even betrayed the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so he has shown his loyalty and is practically one of us. Right now, we have a huge shortage of management talent and don't have enough manpower to handle this matter. We can only try someone like the county magistrate. After all, he has been a county magistrate for many years. With some experience, he might be able to become a useful person."

Yan Guang suggested, "In that case, we can allocate any surplus funds to him to continue supporting him."

“Master Qian?” Liu Ye thought for a moment and nodded. “That’s feasible. It would be a waste for Qian Youyu to stay in the army as a clerk, but he doesn’t know how to fight or manage a factory. Assisting the county magistrate in returning to his old profession would be a good use of his talents.”

As they were talking, the county magistrate was brought in by Li Fu. He asked cautiously, "May I ask what business the general has with me?"

Liu Ye greeted him politely, "The county magistrate has arrived. Please have a seat. There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

The county magistrate only dared to sit on one side, but upon hearing Liu Ye's words, he immediately stood up again, replying with trepidation, "General, please give me your orders. Talking about discussing things is simply too much for me!"

Sun Yuanhua sighed inwardly. This was the local official of a county under the Ming Dynasty. In front of Liu Ye, he was like a mouse before a cat, abandoning all scholarly integrity and official decorum. Recalling Lu Gengyu's experience, he was secretly astonished. It turned out that, unknowingly, the Qiongzhou Camp had grown into an entity that the entire Qiongzhou officialdom could only look up to. The prefect dared not provoke it, and the county magistrate feared it like a tiger.

Liu Ye said, "You are the magistrate of this county, so don't be so reserved. Actually, the matter is quite simple. After the opening of the customs in Bofu, the number of outsiders in Lingao has increased dramatically. They are a mixed bag, and the county government must take charge of them. However, we can't follow your old rules."

The county magistrate was secretly delighted. Was this the prelude to returning power? He had waited bitterly for three years; it seemed his suffering was finally over. He still asked respectfully, "General, if we don't follow the old rules, then what should we do?"

Liu Ye pondered for a long time and said, "I've actually thought about this matter for a long time. On the one hand, we must encourage merchants from other places to come to Bofu to pay taxes. On the other hand, there are too many people from other places, and their quality varies. If we don't manage them strictly, it will be a major hidden danger to the security of the entire Lingao. For example, just now, someone pretended to be a beggar to assassinate me. If he succeeded, he would just disappear into a crowded place. Where would we catch him?"

The county magistrate, filled with righteous indignation, said, "How dare someone assassinate the general? They must have a death wish!"

Liu Ye waved his hand: "The matter is over, let's not talk about it anymore. My idea is to divide all the people in Lingao into local residents and migrant workers, and issue them residence permits and temporary residence permits respectively. Everyone must have a permit. Those who are homeless without permits or unwilling to apply for permits should be arrested, beaten, and locked up at the county government office."

The county magistrate asked in surprise, "I only know that in this dynasty, a travel permit is issued for travel, but I have never heard of residence permits and temporary residence permits before."

In fact, the residence permit and temporary residence permit that Liu Ye mentioned are simply plagiarisms of the management model of ID cards from later generations. If everyone received a certificate similar to an ID card from later generations, it would not only effectively manage the people within the territory, but also leave no place for those who sneak in. However, this would be a huge undertaking.

Sun Yuanhua asked, "If it's just about managing people, the county government has a register of households, the city has a baojia system, and the countryside has a lizhang system. Why do we need this residence permit?"

Liu Ye replied, "The fish-scale register is an old thing, everyone knows that, it's completely useless. Two years ago when we were clearing out 'hidden fields,' if we relied on the fish-scale register, we couldn't find a single acre. As for the baojia and lizhang (village heads), their management is too crude and doesn't achieve what I want. We issue residence permits to local residents, verifying their address, gender, and age, and then carefully filling them out. This way, we can clearly see how many people are under our jurisdiction, and how many are of each age group. We issue temporary residence permits to migrant workers, and anyone caught without a permit is detained. In this way, everyone is under our surveillance, and if anyone is stealing or plotting something, they simply can't hide."

Sun Yuanhua frowned and said, "This matter requires a lot of manpower and resources—just finding out the information of all the people under our jurisdiction is a troublesome task. If it's just to prevent petty thieves, it's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and it's not worth the effort."

"That's right. To ensure the accuracy of the residence permit information, we can't rely solely on the words and pen of clerks; a census is necessary. In other words, the county magistrate must organize a team to conduct door-to-door surveys and registrations of all residents. The household registration information must be kept on file, and then certificates will be made and distributed based on this information. If there aren't enough people, we can hire literate and honest scholars to help. Don't be afraid to spend money; anything that can be done with money is not a problem. If that still doesn't work, we can transfer clerks from the neighboring counties of Chengmai and Danzhou to help."

The county magistrate was speechless. Only the wealthy and powerful Qiongzhou garrison could afford such a grand gesture. Moreover, he casually mentioned drawing clerks from neighboring prefectures and counties—it should be noted that counties were on equal footing and independent of each other. Drawing personnel from other county offices was unprecedented, at least in this dynasty. Such a thing, which went against the norms of officialdom, sounded perfectly natural coming from Liu Ye's mouth. The county magistrate even felt a sense of excitement, as if he were riding on the coattails of a powerful figure.

"As for Mr. Sun's concern that doing this might be counterproductive, that's not a problem either," Liu Ye explained. "The reason I'm putting so much effort into this is to play a long game; preventing petty criminals is just a side effect. From now on, within the jurisdiction of Qiongzhou Camp, whether it's enrolling in school, farming, working, doing business, joining the army, or becoming an official, everyone will need a residence permit and will not have a history of criminal activity to be eligible. Otherwise, they will be prohibited from enrolling in school, renting land, working in factories, opening shops, or joining the army. As for becoming an official, this doesn't refer to an official position in the imperial court, but rather to positions like stewards within our Qiongzhou Camp."

Yan Guang clapped his hands and cheered: "I understand. The general's intention is to control the people under his rule through this method, from all levels of industry, agriculture, education and commerce. Only those who obey the rule and management of Qiongzhou Camp can live a comfortable life. Otherwise, they will encounter obstacles everywhere and find it difficult to move forward. In the long run, all the people under the rule of Qiongzhou Camp will only know the general and not the court and the emperor."