The most arrogant in history

Chapter 607: Gambling leads to theft, and adultery leads to murder.

Ye Kun nodded:

"I have decided to cut off the scientific research in Luoyang. Future scientific research will be concentrated in Zhuo County. As for other investments, the court will cover them, so you don't have to worry.

As the core of the Central Plains, Luoyang's fiscal revenue and population will increase significantly in the future. Especially after the opening of the Grand Canal, the contribution to Luoyang will be immediate.

In the future, we will have a railway connecting Luoyang and Zhuojun. At that time, Luoyang's prosperity will reach a new peak."

Xue Changfeng smiled and said, "Your Majesty is a man of great talent and vision, unprecedented and unparalleled!"

"This is also the result of the joint efforts of all the adults. I just made some suggestions. It's not that great."

Ye Kun waved his hand and asked, "How is the living standard of the people in Luoyang now? Are there people suffering from hunger and cold?"

Xue Changfeng said: "The people in Luoyang City live a very rich life. Almost every family eats white rice and fine noodles, and wine, meat and eggs are also common items on the table. People in the suburbs have a harder life, but they have no problem with food and clothing. In the city, beggars have not been seen for a long time.

Because once we see beggars, we send them to orphanages. For adult beggars, we send them to volunteer camps, where they work and eat.”

"Volunteer camp?" Ye Kun was a little surprised and asked with a smile, "Is this volunteer camp the first of its kind in Luoyang?"

Xue Changfeng nodded: "I proposed to build it, it's right in the coal yard. We sent all those beggars to the coal yard and asked them to make honeycomb coal in exchange for three meals a day. But some lazy people would rather beg than work."

“How do you deal with these people?”

"I let them work for a month, then give them travel expenses and send them back home. If they come back to beg, I extend their labor period. There is no other way to deal with those lazy people."

“This is a good idea and can be promoted nationwide.”

Ye Kun smiled and said to Sang Buyi, "There are some idle lazy people and gamblers in many towns and villages. We should also force them to work."

Sang Buyi clasped his fists and said, "In the past few years, we have vigorously cleaned up gambling houses in various places. We have arrested more than 100,000 gamblers and sent them to labor camps for reform. The effect is not bad. There are fewer gamblers among the people.

Occasionally, there are people playing poker or mahjong, but the stakes are very small, so it is difficult for us to punish them."

In fact, gamblers among the people were also influenced by the palace.

Mahjong and poker were invented by Ye Kun, and then spread from the palace to the officials and aristocratic classes, and then to the common people.

Nowadays, many people play poker and mahjong.

Sang Buyi and He Kangju had some objections to this, but they did not dare to say it in front of Ye Kun.

Ye Kun smiled bitterly and said, "The popularity of poker and mahjong is my fault. At the beginning, I just wanted to entertain everyone, but I didn't expect that it would encourage gambling among the people..."

There is also an old gambler in the palace, that is Madam Hongyun.

This guy was addicted to mahjong and poker, almost to the point of neglecting sleep and eating. He made a lot of noise in the palace all day long and invited people to gamble.

Sang Buyi smiled and said, "It's okay to have fun occasionally, as long as you don't get addicted to it."

"Gambling leads to theft, and adultery leads to murder. Gambling is never a good thing."

Ye Kun sighed: "So, we need to develop healthy entertainment activities among the people to attract everyone's attention. At the same time, during the slack season, we need to organize the people to build roads and reservoirs nearby so that they won't be too idle."

Xue Changfeng reported: "Luoyang counties and towns have been building roads and water conservancy projects nearby. After I was transferred to Luoyang, I slightly increased the annual road construction task. Now, Luoyang counties have hundreds of roads and highways built every year, as well as some small ponds and dams."

Ye Kun nodded, and instructed Qin Chou and Xue Changfeng: "Locusts often plague the Central Plains. We must strengthen investigation and research, establish an early warning mechanism, and formulate measures to control locusts."

Qin Chou nodded: "We now have experts in locust prevention and control. According to the experience summarized by the emperor, locusts will appear after a severe flood followed by a severe drought. We follow this rule and clean up the water in various places in the spring whenever such a situation occurs. In recent years, there has indeed been no large-scale locust plague."

Floods, droughts and locust plagues were natural disasters that could not be overcome in ancient times.

However, over the years, Ye Kun has strengthened agricultural management, the division of responsibilities has been clear, and local officials have been cautious, which has greatly reduced the impact of natural disasters.

This is also Qin Chou's credit, he managed the Ministry of Agriculture in an orderly manner.

The Agricultural Research Institute has also developed some drugs for preventing and controlling locusts, and has conducted experiments on preventing and controlling locusts using natural materials such as mugwort and neem oil.

In terms of crop cultivation, some adjustments have also been taken in areas prone to locust plagues, including increasing the soybean planting area and controlling the rice planting area.

In the warehouses of counties and prefectures across the country, there are various tools for preventing and controlling locusts, so they can respond to emergencies at any time.

The next morning, Ye Kun took Sang Buzhi and Xue Changfeng, dressed lightly, to inspect the business and people's living conditions in Luoyang City.

After several years of expansion, Luoyang now has a larger population, reaching more than 400,000.

The people live a rich and energetic life.

There is also the Han Bank in Luoyang City, which mainly issues currency, accepts deposits from the people, and accepts loans from the people who mortgage their real estate.

Ye Kun and Wu Qiong checked the profits of Luoyang Dahan Bank and were surprised to find that Luoyang Bank's net profit exceeded 350,000 taels of silver last year!

This means that every Luoyang citizen contributed almost one or two taels of silver to the bank.

Ye Kun looked at the report and asked Wu Qiong: "Is the profit of our Luoyang Bank too big?"

Wu Qiong smiled and said, "This profit is not big at all. We followed the emperor's advice and the annual interest rate of the loan is 12%, which is already very low. You know, in the past, the annual interest rate of private lending was 60%, which was normal.

And our annual interest rate on deposits is 7%. We only make 5 points out of it.”

"Well, as long as the people can accept it." Ye Kun nodded and suggested:

"We can also increase the scale of loans appropriately and open up loans to people in the suburbs. Banks in Luoyang have done well, and we can set up pilot projects in counties under our jurisdiction and further promote them. We must further crack down on private usury."

Private usury is a scourge.

If left unchecked, the rate of inequality between the rich and the poor will accelerate.

The Ministry of Finance and Taxation and the Ministry of Justice have carried out several special operations to crack down on usury, seized and arrested some lenders, and the situation has improved a lot.

Wu Qiong smiled and said, "In fact, the banks in Yizhou are doing better and making higher profits. Last year, they turned in a profit of 1.05 million taels of silver. Your Majesty, I think the conditions for promoting state-owned banks nationwide are ripe."

Currently, only banks in Luoyang and Chengdu are conducting pilot projects.

There were no banks in Zhuojun, Jinling, Chang'an and other places, only finance and taxation departments.

Ye Kun asked: "If the bank promotes it nationwide, how much more tax revenue can be collected in a year?"