allonlinenovel Chapter 159 I'll break your legs!
Chapter 159 I'll break your legs!
The essence of medical insurance is, frankly speaking, similar to the system created by Charles Ponzi. Both are essentially a Ponzi scheme of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The difference is that Charles Ponzi's scheme eventually collapsed due to excessive deficits, while medical insurance can be backed up by county governments or the entire Ming Dynasty.
What if, just what if someone in the Ming Dynasty discovered the brilliance of this method, modified it, and then used it to harm the people?
No, that's not right. Didn't Wang Qiong already get the Four Pillars Register? He had the clinics and pharmacies use it to make their accounts and reconcile them with the county government's accounts. He also had the barefoot doctors in each community and village make their own accounts. By reconciling the accounts, the probability of problems could be reduced, right?
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty court had Emperor Zhu Chongba, Li Shanchang, and Liu Bowen. These intelligent people could certainly see the benefits and hidden dangers behind medical insurance, and of course they could come up with corresponding solutions. I, Yang, am just a seventh-rank official. Why should I think about such messy things?
However, after some deliberation, Magistrate Yang ultimately decided to abandon the idea of establishing a medical insurance system.
Although medical insurance is the only opportunity for ordinary people to benefit from the government, whether the people will accept it is another matter. It would be better to first honestly follow Emperor Zhu Chongba's idea to establish the Huimin Pharmacy, and then slowly develop other welfare programs.
Having made up his mind, Magistrate Yang took the lame man directly to the Confucian Temple.
This was, in fact, the third time Magistrate Yang had visited the Confucian Temple.
This is my first time visiting the Confucian Temple, to see how many parts of it need repair.
The second time I came to the Confucian Temple was when I asked the children from various communities to come to the temple to study, which was the first day of school.
This time, Magistrate Yang came to the Confucian Temple for two reasons: first, to see if the relatives of Liu Hongchang and Master Geng were teaching seriously and whether they were mixing in their own ideas during the teaching process; and second, to find Liu Thirty-Two and other village heads and elders.
Leading the lame Wu all the way to the front courtyard of Minglun Hall, the first thing that caught the eye was the eight chimneys on the top of the two rooms on the left and right of Minglun Hall, which were constantly emitting smoke.
Seeing the magnificent sight of eight chimneys billowing smoke, Limpy Wu couldn't help but laugh and said, "Your Excellency, who else would put up four chimneys in one room? But the school has four chimneys in one room, and eight in two rooms. They must burn dozens of honeycomb briquettes every day."
Magistrate Yang turned and glared at Lame Five. "Why don't you, Lame Five, think of a way to solve the problem of the house being too cold?"
Limpy Wu immediately stopped laughing. Magistrate Yang snorted and led Limpy Wu toward the room on the west side of Minglun Hall.
"At the beginning of life, man is inherently good; at the beginning of life, man is inherently good."
Arriving at the door of the west room of Minglun Hall, listening to the reading voices coming from inside, and looking at the scene inside, Magistrate Yang couldn't help but smile, feeling slightly dazed.
On the east wall of the house hung a black wooden board with the first few lines of the Three Character Classic written on it. Liu Han, a distant cousin of Liu Hongchang, was wearing a blue long gown, holding a book in his left hand and a piece of chalk made of plaster in his right hand. He was walking back and forth in the Minglun Hall, reciting the Three Character Classic while swaying his head.
A group of children around ten years old sat scattered around the room. Whenever Liu Han read a line from the Three Character Classic, the children would sway their heads and repeat it. Each of the children had a small blackboard on the table in front of them, just like the large blackboard on the east side of the room, all made of wood painted black.
There was nothing that could be done about it, because the paper mills in Ningyang County had not yet started operating, and Magistrate Yang himself was still in a situation where he was using sticks or clods of earth to solve local problems. Naturally, there was no way he could provide paper and pens for these students. Everything had to be done according to local conditions.
Magistrate Yang smiled again and led the lame man to another room on the east side.
"Listen carefully, everyone. This character is pronounced 'dong,' 'de weng qie.' Come on, everyone, repeat after me: 'De weng~dong! Shandong!'"
Immediately afterward, another roar rang out: "Liu Ergou! Wipe your snot! This is the academy, the academy! You're really infuriating me!"
Magistrate Yang suppressed the urge to burst into laughter and turned to walk towards the backyard of the Confucian Temple.
The students taught by Liu Han were better, after all, they were all around ten years old, with the oldest being sixteen. But in that classroom, Geng Er, the cousin of Master Geng, was teaching a group of little brats between seven and ten years old. The slightly older ones were alright, but the seven- or eight-year-olds were at the age where they were wiping their noses with their sleeves. No wonder Geng Er was so angry.
However, after laughing, Magistrate Yang felt somewhat displeased.
In the entire Ningyang County, with its more than 500 households, there are only about 100 children aged 7 to 16, which isn't even enough to fill two classrooms.
When school resumes next fall, there will only be about twenty seven-year-old kids left, so there won't even be a need to divide them into classes.
motherfucker.
With just a few children, when will we be able to train enough cattle and horses to work for me?
Magistrate Yang cursed as he walked to a room on the west side of the backyard.
The animals sitting in this room are real cattle and horses, and there are a total of twenty-four of them who were forcibly taken by Magistrate Yang to learn to read.
Magistrate Yang pushed open the door and went inside. He smiled at the group of village heads and wardens who were scratching their heads and asked, "How is it? Has anyone already learned a thousand characters? The big fat pigs in the farm have been prepared for you. Whether you can eat meat before the New Year depends entirely on yourselves."
Liu Thirty-Two thought to himself, "We people have a hard time even counting a thousand characters, let alone recognizing a thousand?"
Sir, you really think too highly of us!
Seeing the various expressions on the faces of the village heads and wardens, Magistrate Yang did not press further. Instead, he smiled and said, "I have come to see you to discuss a few matters."
"First, there are a total of 23 widowed and childless people in your eight communities and sixteen villages who are about to turn sixty. You should send these elderly people to the county so that the county can arrange for people to take care of them."
"It will be the same from now on. Every year, we will collect statistics on which community or neighborhood has elderly people who are over sixty years old and have no children. When they are about to turn sixty, I will ask you to send them over."
"Secondly, His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince have sent two imperial physicians and some medicinal herbs to our Ningyang County. I have had them open a clinic. When you return, remember to tell the people in each village that if they have a headache or fever, they should go to the clinic for treatment. His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince said that if you don't have money, you can pay in advance, but you can't keep putting it off."
"But there's one thing I need to make clear to you beforehand: if anyone has money at home but still owes the clinic money and won't pay it back, I'll throw them in jail and they'll be released when they pay it all back."
"Don't forget, I figured out all the ways you make money. I know exactly how much money each of you can earn. If you dare to try anything funny in front of me, I'll break your legs."
"Did you all understand?"
As soon as Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, the group of club presidents and village chiefs immediately bowed in agreement.
Who's stupid? If you really owe the clinic money and don't pay it back, will they still treat you next time you go to the clinic?
If they refuse to treat you, wouldn't a minor illness turn into a major one, and a major illness lead to death?
Besides, how can you easily offend a doctor?
……
After telling the village heads and elders about the almshouse and the Huimin Pharmacy, Magistrate Yang leisurely returned to the county office.
At this moment, inside the Ningyang County government office, the two brothers, Chang Mao and Chang Sheng, were practically going crazy with frustration.
Upon seeing Magistrate Yang, the two brothers rushed forward to greet him. Chang Sheng exclaimed, "Brother Yang, you're finally back! If you hadn't come back, we two brothers would have suffocated in this county office!"
Magistrate Yang glanced at the two brothers with great curiosity and asked, "Why don't you two gentlemen go for a walk in the streets? There wasn't much to see in the county town when you came last time, but now, many new shops have opened in the streets of the county town, and there are also many strange and wonderful little trinkets."
Chang Sheng said with a helpless expression, "My dear brother Yang, what strange and unusual trinkets haven't we seen? What kind of shops haven't we been to? We just want to find a teahouse to listen to storytelling and drink tea, or perhaps find a..."
Chang Mao quickly interrupted Chang Sheng, laughing, "Brother Yang, please don't be offended. My brother and I just want to find a teahouse to drink tea and listen to storytelling. That's all, nothing else."
Magistrate Yang led the two men to the main hall in the backyard. After they sat down, he stroked his chin and said, "What you two gentlemen said has reminded me that Ningyang County is still just a small county and lacks teahouses and taverns."
Chang Mao nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right, without these things, those big merchants won't find anything to do in the county. How can Brother Yang keep them here to do business?"
Chang Mao is right.
Without all sorts of chaotic entertainment options, Ningyang County might attract a large number of merchants looking to make money, but it would be difficult to keep them there.
Because the needs of merchants and ordinary people are completely different.
Ordinary people need a stable life, while merchants pursue pleasure while also pursuing profits.
The question is, what kind of entertainment projects can Ningyang County come up with now?
Brothels are definitely out of the question. Once the door to brothels is opened, Ningyang County, which was originally known for its simple and honest people, may quickly degenerate into a different kind of simple and honest society. All sorts of shady professions, such as human trafficking, may also emerge. Therefore, this door must absolutely not be opened.