1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 87

The Meihua Town government has a total of seven people: in addition to the town mayor Lin Jishun, there is a deputy town mayor, a treasurer, a clerk, a liaison officer, an agricultural officer, and a police officer.

This small group of people formed the structure of the Meihua Town government. Every day at mealtimes, they would sit around an eight-immortal table, with Lin Jishun sitting in one main seat and the other two sitting side by side.

When it was time to eat, Lin Jishun didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up his bowl and filled it to the brim with mixed grain rice. The others followed suit.

Only the cunning police officers filled only half a bowl at first, waiting to finish it quickly so they could fill a second bowl to be full.

The two dishes on the table were almost gone in the first minute, and everyone quickly shoveled at them and then hurriedly served themselves rice.

Lin Jishun had discovered several hidden agendas during a single meal, and he deeply missed his wonderful military days.

Unfortunately, he was disabled and could not continue his military service, so he had no choice but to accept the assignment to become the town mayor, a job that was not very fulfilling.

The current job assignments and benefits for military personnel are not seen as a benefit, but rather as a last resort. Those with the ability would not become civil servants, and even going into business after retirement would be more enjoyable than being a low-level civil servant.

There was no other reason than that the treatment was so poor. Others might not know the ins and outs, but the military certainly did.

Currently, the lowest-ranking private in the military receives a monthly salary of five yuan, not including combat allowances and border area allowances, and also includes food and lodging.

But it's different for civil servants. A newly hired ninth-level clerk only earns three yuan a month, and even he, the town mayor, only earns seven yuan a month.

Other additional benefits depend entirely on the province's financial strength. In some poor areas, even basic wages are a problem, but even wealthy areas cannot provide many benefits.

On the contrary, civil servants have a lot of things to do, and their work is very complicated. Local tax collection, economic development, people's livelihood, conflict mediation, public security management, and education are all government matters.

Before we'd even finished our meal, people from town came. They said a village down below was embroiled in a dispute over trees on the mountain and they needed someone from town to settle the matter.

Upon hearing that it was another trivial matter, Lin Jishun immediately questioned, "Are the village elders just sitting around doing nothing? Do they need the town to send someone for such a small thing?"

The man explained, "They're not from the same village. Villagers from both villages are fighting, and both groups have weapons and are about to start a brawl. The town should send people quickly, or it could turn into a murder!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Jishun said helplessly, "Old Wu, hurry up and go there, take a gun, we can't let them start fighting."

Police officer Wu Daliang, who was eating, was at a loss. He could only quickly swallow the last mouthful of mixed grain rice without even chewing it twice. Then he picked up the Hanyang rifle next to the statue of the Earth God and went out to mediate the dispute.

After finishing his meal, Lin Jishun returned to his drafty office and began processing the population data and farmland area reported by various villages, preparing to compile them into documents and send them to the county.

The accountant helped organize these things, but no one else could really help because they couldn't count and were prone to making mistakes, which could easily lead to problems.

Fortunately, Lin Jishun had studied mathematics with the artillerymen in the army, so he could still manage addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within four digits. After more than an hour of sorting, the population and land data of each village were registered.

After catching his breath, Lin Jishun saw the liaison officer and the deputy mayor sunbathing in the yard and immediately shouted angrily, "Still dawdling here?"

"Have you completed the task of popularizing citizen ID cards assigned by the county? How are the preparations for the autumn harvest going? Have you finished preparing the tax data forms?"

“All you do all day long is work, and I have to whip you all. If I were in the army, I would have skinned you alive!”

Amid Lin Jishun's cursing, the deputy mayor quickly led his liaison officer, along with some documents and forms, to the countryside.

The town government's top priority right now is to promote citizen ID card registration. We can postpone it for minors and female citizens, but adult male citizens cannot vote without ID cards, so we must expedite the process.

The central government has held a meeting and decided to add one local committee member from each province to serve on the central government's highest governing council, but the higher authorities have stipulated that the appointment must be by popular vote.

In order to be appointed, a local committee member in a province needs to be voted on by at least 30 percent of the male voters in the province. However, not 30 percent of adult men in the locality have obtained ID cards, and without an ID card, they are not eligible to vote.

Faced with numerous difficulties, the provincial government lowered the standard to one million votes. As long as one receives more than one million votes, one can be elected as a local committee member of Hunan Province and enter the central government.

But which poor, ordinary person would be willing to spend a huge sum of six cents to get an ID card, just to vote for a complete stranger?

This is simply a case of people having nothing better to do than be bored. The common people are not happy about it at all and instead see it as a disguised poll tax!

A 60-cent document fee is something city dwellers would think twice about, but for ordinary people in rural areas, it's out of the question—they definitely wouldn't do it.

The provincial government and the Civil Affairs Bureau negotiated to see if they could waive some of the fees, but the Civil Affairs Bureau firmly refused, saying that citizens' ID cards need to be photographed, and the documents are made of leather, with waterproof and durable paper.

The cost alone is 60 cents. Does that mean the Civil Affairs Bureau is going to pay for issuing certificates to ordinary people out of its own pocket? Nobody can afford that.

It's said that the provincial government sold the local committee member slots to a wealthy businessman who was willing to pay 600,000 yuan to issue voting certificates to the voters. But whether the businessman actually paid the money, or where it went after he paid it, nobody knows.

Anyway, the higher-ups keep putting pressure on the grassroots, urging them to quickly mobilize the people to get the certificates.

Lin Jishun was also anxious and frustrated. He had more than just urging citizens to apply for ID cards; there were other major issues on his plate.

The first thing to do is the autumn harvest and the collection of autumn taxes. This is relatively easy to handle. Although the people in rural Hunan are generally domineering, they will not resist paying taxes for farming. This has been the way it has been for thousands of years.

Moreover, the Republican government exempted farmers from agricultural taxes on land less than fifty acres, so the government only needed to keep an eye on the taxes of those landlords, which was much simpler.

Lin Jishun's most pressing task right now is popularizing education. If he doesn't handle this well, he'll definitely be in trouble by the end of the year!

The four key elements for evaluating the performance of governments at all levels are industry, economy, taxation, and education.

Industry and economy are practically non-existent in a mountainous area like Meihua Town; a little bit is enough. But taxation and education are not to be taken lightly.

Lin Jishun's biggest concern was the popularization of education. It is said that during a meeting at the central government, some bastard came up with a four-year compulsory education system and wanted to force all school-age children to receive four years of compulsory education.

This year, the province set a standard of 40% for the local population to achieve this goal, but this small town doesn't even have a private school, let alone a regular school. Where can Lin Jishun go to promote education?

The worst part is that the higher-ups still haven't allocated any funds. They've been shouting slogans all the time, but in reality, they haven't given any money!

The top leadership discussed and decided on relevant education development during the Five-Year Plan meeting, which resulted in a four-year compulsory education system—a very cunning and opportunistic decision.

Because the basic education system established by the higher authorities is six years of primary school, three years of junior high school, three years of senior high school, and three years of university. Students enter school at age six and are considered adults at age eighteen after completing senior high school.

Compulsory education is exactly four years long. After four years of study, children have a basic understanding of and exposure to written language. During the four years of compulsory education, the government covers all the costs.

But four years later, the government washes its hands of the matter, leaving students and parents in a dilemma. Studying is expensive, but not studying feels like a waste. Since they've already studied for four years, what's two more? At least they can get a primary school diploma.

But even with this four-year compulsory education program, the government is still slow to allocate funds.

Lin Jishun has almost finished the preliminary work and investigation on compulsory education.

The entire Meihua Town has a population of approximately 21,400. There are also some people living deep in the mountains and forests whose numbers are impossible to count, but the total number would not exceed 23,000.

There are approximately 4,100 school-age children aged six to fourteen, and most families have quite a few children.

Six-year-olds are just starting school, and fourteen-year-olds are adults after completing four years of compulsory education. As for minors over fourteen, they should just be farmers and stop thinking about all that nonsense.

The central government stipulates that compulsory education should be universal, but it is impossible to achieve universal coverage at the grassroots level. At the provincial level, it is cut by more than half, and the standard set is "double four": four years of compulsory education with a 40% enrollment rate.

Even if it's 40%, that's still over 1,600 students enrolled. Centralized schooling is impossible; there aren't the conditions or facilities to gather over 1,000 children together. The only option is decentralized schooling, with each village building its own primary school, and the town deciding based on the situation. If conditions allow, they'll build both a primary and a secondary school; if not, the town will just build one primary school.

All the villages received the notice and heard that the government was spending money to teach their children to read and write. The villagers all agreed wholeheartedly. Although they were illiterate, their lack of knowledge did not prevent them from admiring knowledge.

Moreover, sending children aged six to fourteen to school would not result in a significant loss of labor for the family. Ordinary people did not dare to dream that their children could become scholars or officials, but at least they were not blind.

If the son studies for four years now, the grandson may study for six years in the future, and so on, generation after generation, accumulating knowledge and skills until eventually a scholar emerges who can rise to the top.

The twenty-eight villages under Meihua Town have all cleared out their school buildings. It is definitely impossible to build twenty-eight primary schools. Lin Jishun plans to build only three primary schools, with the nearby villages sharing one primary school.

Lin Jishun didn't know how many people the higher-ups would send or how much money they would give, so he only prepared the sites for three primary schools. He thought that since the higher-ups were making such a big show of it, they would have to give some people and some money to actually implement it.

The villagers were all eagerly anticipating the arrival of Lin Jishun as the mayor of Meihua Town. The reason he gained some influence in the surrounding area within just half a month and was accepted by the villagers was because he had actually accomplished some practical things.

In particular, the promise to build a school for the town has been made so boldly that everyone remembers it and comes to urge him every few days.

Lin Jishun was now feeling uneasy, wondering when the higher-ups would finally allocate funds and send people over. He had already made a bold promise, and if he couldn't deliver on it soon, the villagers wouldn't say anything, after all, the people couldn't fight against the officials.

But in their hearts, they would never trust the town government or Lin Jishun again. They would only treat him as a braggart and make fun of him. People who can't keep their word, even if they are town mayors, will not be respected. Farmers are just ignorant, not stupid.

Chapter 152 How can we manage with so little money?

Two days later, Lin Jishun finally received support from his superiors.

The head of the county's education department, along with several bewildered new civil servants, each carrying a large wooden box on their shoulders, arrived at Meihua Town by boat.

Meihua Town relies mainly on water transportation, as it is situated by mountains and water, and the main mode of travel is by boat.

The head of the education department and several new employees arrived abruptly at the dock without prior notice when they disembarked.

There was no lunch prepared in Meihua Town, so Lin Jishun and the others had to entertain the people from the county on an empty stomach.

The head of the education section was theoretically on the same level as Lin Jishun, but since he came from the county, Lin Jishun gritted his teeth and gave them his lunch, after all, they were guests.

Old Zhang, the head of the Education Section, was originally just a clerk in the county government. His family had been low-ranking officials for generations. In the end, he benefited from the new republican policies and was promoted from a low-ranking official to a formal national civil servant. It took him more than two years to climb from clerk to staff member.

It is said that because Lao Zhang is very familiar with the situation in the county, and is well-versed in the local geography and culture, as well as the tax population, he is quite knowledgeable. The higher-ups value him highly, and he is very likely to be promoted to deputy county head soon.

However, this Section Chief Zhang also had some minor flaws. He liked to take advantage of others and would try to get something for himself wherever he went. Even if his subordinates didn't offer him anything, he would find a way to do it himself.

For example, right now, Section Chief Zhang has unceremoniously devoured the lunch of seven staff members from the Meihua Town government.

The five newcomers he brought were also very unceremonious, as if they hadn't even had breakfast and had come specifically to eat in the countryside.

Finally, having no other choice, Lin Jishun gritted his teeth, took out money from a fellow villager's house, grabbed a chicken, bought half a jin of loose liquor, and served it on the table, which finally satisfied Section Chief Zhang's appetite.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Section Chief Zhang didn't linger any longer. While picking his teeth, he said, "Mayor Lin, don't worry about it. This meal wasn't a waste of your money."

"Come here, let me introduce you. These five outstanding individuals all passed the national civil service exam this year with excellent results. The county government, seeing the difficult task of popularizing education in Meihua Town, transferred five of you here at once."

"They are all exceptional talents, very capable!"

Lin Jishun was stunned. Of the five people that Section Chief Zhang brought, two had gray hair and were probably over forty years old. He thought they were laborers that Section Chief Zhang had hired on the way!

The other two were so young they were almost unbelievable; they didn't even have any facial hair. If Section Chief Zhang hadn't introduced them, everyone would have thought they were his nephews or cousins ​​who had come to broaden their horizons.

Only the last one looked more composed. He was of a suitable age, dressed in simple clothes, and resembled a civil servant.

Upon hearing that these five people were teachers sent by their superiors to support their efforts in promoting compulsory education, Lin Jishun flew into a rage: "Old Zhang, this is outrageous! You've consumed the wine and the chicken, and you've used up the food budget for the next three days in Meihua Town!"

And this is what you give me? Plum Blossom Town has a population of over 20,000, and you only have five teachers? The oldest one could be the youngest's grandfather!

"You old bastard, you think I don't have a temper? Spit out the wine and give the chicken back to me!"

Lin Jishun, a former soldier, got angry and grabbed Section Chief Zhang by the collar, raising his fist to retaliate, but fortunately, the deputy mayor and police officers nearby quickly pulled him back.

"Mayor Lin, there's no use in you shouting and threatening me here. This year, more than seventy people came from the county, and the county government didn't keep a single one of them. They were all sent down to various towns!"

Other towns only received two new recruits this year, but I sent five to you, which is already quite good!

"Don't be ungrateful. Although there is a big age difference, we are both literate and can write and calculate!"

"If you're not willing, I'll change it for you, to someone you like, but I'll only send two people over at most!"

Section Chief Zhang was completely unafraid, and even hoped to take a punch. If Lin Jishun swung that punch, he would have to stay in Meihua Town for dinner and have another chicken!

This year, more than 8,540 candidates took the exam in Hunan Province, and 8,075 were admitted, with an admission rate exceeding 90%. In addition, more than 3,000 scholars and graduates from the original imperial examination talent pool of the Qing Dynasty were recruited, bringing the total number to 11,000.

This number seems like a lot, but for such a large administrative body as Hunan Province, it's just a drop in the ocean.

The province acted first, keeping the top select few from this year's group within the provincial and Changsha municipal governments.

Then the cities below screened the remaining people again, selecting the best from the shortest, and picked out quite a few more.

In the end, there were more than seventy misfits in the county, but they were still usable people. This time, the county didn't dare to continue to select, and there was no other choice, so they were all assigned to the township level.

Because Meihua Town has a large population and a large jurisdiction, Section Chief Zhang specially arranged for five new people to come over. Although their quality varied, the number was the highest possible.

The focus now on grassroots townships is not on the quality of personnel, but on the quantity. The priority is to get the organization up and running before pursuing efficiency and results.

Although Section Chief Zhang enjoys taking advantage of others in daily life, he doesn't dare to be careless when it comes to important matters; otherwise, he wouldn't be a popular candidate for deputy county head.

Lin Jishun was still very dissatisfied: "What can five people do? Meihua Town has 28 villages and more than 20,000 people. At least three village primary schools and one town primary school need to be built."

There are at least four schools, but only five people came. How are they going to be distributed?

“I was hoping that the county could transfer a dozen or twenty people to help this year. The town government is also short-staffed. Look, the town's police station only has one officer holding it up right now.”

Every time something needs to be done, the entire town government staff has to come out, except for one person left on duty!

"It's not that I, Lin Jishun, am being melodramatic or complaining, it's just that there's no one to do the work!"

After hearing this, Section Chief Zhang showed no mercy: "You're dreaming! You want to transfer twenty people over? Why don't you just move the entire county government here?"

"The imperial grain supply is limited. Right now, everyone is just surviving on rice gruel. We can only talk about nourishing people when we can cook dry rice!"

Section Chief Zhang, though not a high-ranking official, had unique insights into government affairs. He had also read the civil service recruitment documents for this year, and found that only a few hundred thousand people were being recruited nationwide. The conditions offered were simply too poor, with a basic salary of only three yuan and fifty cents for new employees. Expecting well-read elites to work for you for such a small amount of money was asking the impossible.

The central government also did not allocate additional funds, and the salaries of newly recruited civil servants had to be paid by the local provincial governments. After the tax-sharing system was implemented, the central government became increasingly stingy.

The provincial finance department has an extra 10,000 civil servants every month. After accounting for their food, drink, accommodation, and salaries, the monthly expenditure is at least 70,000 to 80,000 yuan. If year-end bonuses are included, the annual expenditure can easily exceed one million yuan.

Even the provincial governor is worried sick, and you, a town mayor, want to make exorbitant demands? That's just wishful thinking.

Unable to argue with Section Chief Zhang, Lin Jishun could only put on a stern face and extend his hand towards Section Chief Zhang: "If we don't have enough people, what about the money? There should be some funding allocated, no matter how much."

Upon hearing this, Section Chief Zhang's face showed a hint of embarrassment. He pulled out a thick envelope from his pocket: "It's all here!"

Lin Jishun saw the thickness of the envelope, and his expression immediately improved. It was good to receive more money.

The envelope containing the grant was at least an inch thick, tightly sealed, and quite heavy; it must have contained over a thousand dollars.

In front of Section Chief Zhang, Lin Jishun used a knife to pry open the sealing wax seal of the allocation envelope. This was also a procedural requirement; nowadays, when allocating funds between superiors and subordinates, small amounts are always brought over in envelopes.

The envelope must be stamped with sealing wax from the superior funding unit. Both the county government and the finance department must have it. The sealing wax must be flawless before it is handed over; otherwise, it is a dereliction of duty.

Lin Jishun opened the envelope and reached inside with great joy. The other staff members of Meihua Town Government were also full of anticipation. The education funding was so generous that there might even be a lot left over to subsidize other government affairs in the town.

But when Lin Jishun took out all the banknotes, everyone was dumbfounded!