Sun Ce walked around the hall and came to the side hall. Zhang Hong and Yu Fan were standing side by side in the corridor. Hearing footsteps, he sorted out his clothes, greeted him, and saluted both of them. Sun Ce returned the gift and invited them to enter the hall together. Lu Ji and Gu Mu had already prepared a few strokes of ink, tea and snacks, and stood by and waited.

Gu Mu is Gu Yong's second son, Gu Shao's younger brother, two years older than Lu Ji, but Lu Ji's nephew. He entered the palace for a short time and asked Lu Ji for advice. He looked a little restrained and sprinkled some water when serving tea. Sun Ce didn't say anything and wiped it away. Gu Mu was a little surprised, but he also breathed a sigh of relief. He turned his head and smiled silently at Lu Ji.

Lu Ji was very calm and gave him an encouraging look, telling Gu Mu not to be too nervous. He followed Sun Ce for so long and knew that Sun Ce would not get angry about this little thing. Gu Mu relaxed a little, and his hands and feet became quicker.

After saying a few gossips, Sun Ce got to the point. "Zhang Xiang, Yu Xiang, how is the income and expenditure of Jiangdong this year?"

Zhang Hong is not humble either. "King, the autumn harvest has just ended, and counties are still counting. For Danyang and Wu County, which I learned, the situation is still good. Compared with last year, the grain output has increased by 20%, and the total income has increased by about 30%. However, the base is large now, and the growth rate is not as high as in the previous two years. There is another point, the population is increasing, and the consumption is also increasing. The growth rate of surplus has declined. The specific number has not yet come out, and it should be between 8 and 9%. I expect..." Zhang Hong paused. "The total surplus this year may not be ideal, and there will be a decrease of one to three."

“What is the main expense?”

"Military expenses. The total strength of each war zone is more than 175,000 men and more than 97,000 horses. In addition, the county soldiers of the counties, all the expenses have exceeded 70% of the income. After paying the official salary and the sacrifices of the county schools and the various halls, the students' expenses are not much left. The cavalry general has to spend another sum of money..."

After listening to Zhang Hong's brief report, Sun Ce turned to Yu Fan again and signaled him to explain the general situation. Yu Fan's report is very concise. This year's commercial tax revenue is basically the same as last year. There are two main problems: one is that Jiaozhou and Youzhou are in chaos, business has dropped sharply, and commercial tax has decreased, which has affected the total amount; the other is that after several years of rapid development, there has been a situation where supply is too high and demand is insufficient. In addition to military supplies, other industries have encountered problems such as unsalable sales, intensified competition, and price declines. He has been discussing with Mi Zhu and the people of the Chamber of Commerce recently, hoping to find a solution.

"Thank you two, it's not easy for you to be the boss."

Zhang Hong smiled. "The king said this, I am really ashamed of myself. Speaking of which, I am still inexperienced. Many methods seem very good, but it is very difficult to implement them. There are both problems that we are not considerate well and problems in counties. Even if we have read the books of sages, not everyone can do their duty. Passive and lazy affairs are common and difficult to deal with. If you really have to strictly follow the regulations, I am afraid that more than half of the people will be dismissed. Not only will the county prefectures and county courts be empty, but the Prime Minister's Office also has to be short of one-third of the staff."

"Is it so serious?"

Yu Fan smiled bitterly and said, "Zhang Xiang is kind to his subordinates, and the Prime Minister's Mansion is pretty good. This is even more difficult for me to make a plan. If I don't have an assessment, I will leave my post from time to time. Every day I see their listless appearance and want to fire them all."

"Are you asking too much?"

"It's not entirely." Zhang Hong said: "In fact, over the past year, Yu Xiang's temperament has slowed down a lot. At least I didn't hear him scolding people. The real crux of the matter is that after the pacification of Jizhou, the affairs have increased by nearly 30%. The number of current officials is insufficient, and even if overtime is overtime, it will be completed in time, which has caused some resentment in all the temples."

Sun Ce understood what Zhang Hong meant. He introduced refined management, which invisibly increased a lot of workload. The structure of each department was still in accordance with the previous configuration. There was insufficient staff and the work pressure was naturally high. When the workload was still within the scope of the endurance, increasing the salary could calm some of the resistance. When the workload increased to an unbearable level, increasing the salary would not solve the problem. The only way was to increase the staff.

Increasing personnel will not only increase expenditure, but also a very sensitive issue for Zhang Hong and Yu Fan. This involves institutional reform, specifically, personnel reform, how to select officials. At present, the officials in various prefectures and temples are still controlled by the heads of the temples themselves. The increase of subordinates is suspected of taking power, and no one dares to speak easily, so they can only raise it together. This is because they believe that Sun Ce is reasonable and is not the kind of suspicious master, otherwise it would be even more inappropriate to do so, and it would take a lot of extra verbal to lay the groundwork.

Sun Ce was not surprised. When economic reform reached a certain level, it would inevitably force political reform, which could not be transferred by human will. He had been mentally prepared for a long time, and the factual preparation was the first step of setting up the Government Affairs Hall, but it was not clear. Zhang Hong and Yu Fan were both smart people, and they should have seen this trick, so they did not rush to recruit talents, but instead presented the problem to him.

Personnel power is crucial. If it cannot be grasped, it will become a means for the magistrates and ministers to cultivate their private affairs. It will not be possible to not change. After discussing it with Sun Ce and Zhang Hong and Yu Fan, they decided to make this matter a formal issue and submit it to the court meeting. The departments will jointly discuss it. Yang Biao and Huang Wan, who are in charge of the affairs of the Government Affairs Hall, will come up with a plan first and discuss it together.

It is always very time-consuming to talk about official affairs. Before I knew it, half a day passed. Sun Ce kept Zhang Hong and Yu Fan for lunch. He continued to talk in the afternoon and summoned relevant officials from the Prime Minister's Office and the Prime Minister's Office from time to time to understand and analyze the specific issues and data. Fortunately, these departments are all in the palace, so they are close to each other and are convenient to come and go.

Sun Shangxiang took Xu Jie and a few Yulin Guards to quickly walk into the palace, and was about to go to the side hall when he saw Sun Yi sitting under the steps basking in the sun, closing his eyes, and was so comfortable that he couldn't help but feel curious. She walked over and kicked Sun Yi. Sun Yi opened his eyes, raised his hand, blocked the sunlight, looked at Sun Shangxiang, moved aside, and reached out to pat the stone steps he had just sat on.

"Little sister, sit here, it's hot here, it's cheaper."

Sun Shangxiang was not particular, so she sat down and arched Sun Yi with her elbow. "Why are you sitting here? Something went wrong and was punished by Brother Wang?"

"What are you talking nonsense?" Sun Yi glared. "I warn you, you are slandering your colleagues. Who am I? I don't know what Jing Xiang is, and there will be mistakes. But you..." Sun Yi's face changed and he lowered his voice. "You and Lu Xiaogui are together every day, and still have the intention to do serious things?"

"You are talking nonsense, who is together every day?" Sun Shangxiang raised it and knocked Sun Yi's forehead, his face red with shame. "Also, who is Lu Xiaogui? Who gave this nickname?"

"Gugugugu..." Sun Yi covered his mouth and smirked. "Don't that person in your family looks like a turtle? He looks slow and has no temper. He will not put anyone else when he catches a bite and must tear off a piece of meat. Besides, what's wrong with this name? The turtle lives long and the turtle of 80,000-year-old turtle."

"Shut up! Talking about serious matters, what are you doing here?" Sun Shangxiang glared at her eyes and pretended to be serious.

After all, in the palace, Sun Yi did not dare to be too arrogant. He muttered a few words in Sun Shangxiang's ear and told the situation again. He came to the palace to report on the military affairs of Xiangyang. As a result, Sun Ce and Zhang Hong and Yu had a talk for a whole morning and had not finished yet. He continued to talk in the afternoon. Seeing the officials from the two prime ministers coming and going, it was very likely that they would not be their turn today.

As Sun Yi spoke, Sun Shangxiang saw people coming and going in and out of the side palace, and she didn't doubt what Sun Yi said, but was a little anxious. She rushed over to report on military affairs. If she had known that Sun Ce was so busy, she wouldn't have rushed over in such a hurry.

"Oh, little sister, there is one thing I have to communicate with you first."

"What's up?"

"Brother Wang may have to split up."

"Split the family?" Sun Shangxiang was stunned for a moment, turned her head suddenly, stared at Sun Yi, and her voice suddenly became louder. "What family do you want to divide?"

"Don't glar at me, too..." Sun Yi scratched his head habitually. "Okay, this matter cannot be said to have nothing to do with me. It's all Aying's stupid woman." He told the story and finally asked: "If you really have a family, what are you going to do? Are you still following Brother Wang?"

"What are the differences? No, no," Sun Shangxiang roared. She was so anxious that her face turned red. She jumped up and kicked Sun Yi hard. "Go back and take care of your woman's broken mouth. If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense. What family is divided, what family is divided? As soon as Ah Weng left, you will have to divide your family. You two houses. You can go back to Fuchun to live." After saying that, without waiting for Sun Yi to speak, he turned around and ran towards the side hall.

Sun Yi was innocent, shrugged and spread his hands.

Xu Jie could hear clearly on the side. Seeing that Sun Shangxiang was about to break into the hall, he was startled and rushed over and hugged Sun Shangxiang. He then asked the female guards for help, covering his mouth and holding his legs, and bringing Sun Shangxiang aside. "Three Generals, what do you want to do?"

"What do I want to do? What do you think I want to do?" Sun Shangxiang's eyes turned red and she struggled hard.

"Did the king say you want to break up?"

"He...didn't he say it?"

"He just said he wanted to discuss the matter of dividing the family with the second general. He didn't have to divide the family."

"Oh, is there a difference...?"

"Of course there is a difference." Xu Jiepai patted his forehead and missed Lu Xun a little. If Lu Xun was in front of him, Sun Shangxiang would never be so impulsive. She quickly organized the language. "Three Generals, don't be anxious. You should be very clear about what the king is about to you brothers and sisters. How could he suddenly want to split up? This matter is not that simple. It may be that the king is joking, or it may be that the king has other plans, and the second general will have a wrong intention. No matter what, you can't go to see the king before you figure it out."

Sun Shangxiang looked at Xu Jie and after a moment, "Then what should I do?"

"Go to find Mrs. Cao first and see what the king said at that time."
Chapter completed!