Biochemical Martial Arts: Supreme Heavenly Venerate

His steps in implementing new policies were not large, yet each step was like treading on thin ice, extremely steady.

Zhang Tianchang cupped his hands: "I supervise Fuqing County entirely and dare not slack off. Now the whole county is like this, no one dares to defy your orders. As for other counties in Fuzhou, I have not delved deeply, but from what I've heard from passing merchants, it seems not too different."

He spoke with admiration: "The Duke's benevolence and love for the people are as clear as the sun and moon, hence his imposing presence. His words are firm as mountains, and his authority is as mighty as towering peaks, shaking both the court and the people, bringing the whole world to submission. Therefore, when you give an order, all officials obey, and no one in the entire nation dares to defy it."

Lin Hao listened to Zhang Tianchang's compliments and couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking that Zhang Tianchang had indeed matured over the three years he spent in the local administration.

His words were so refined, he must have read quite a few books.

"So, how much are eggs and buns in Fuqing County this year in Copper Coin? How is the rice price?"

By eggs, it means chicken eggs, as these prices best reflect the local price level and the standard of living.

Zhang Tianchang replied fluently: "When I left Fuqing County last month, an egg was priced at 2 coins, a meat bun at 3 coins, and rice was 100 coins per stone."

Lin Rui slightly nodded, thinking the prices in Fuqing County were quite reasonable.

Currently, one ounce of Magic Silver is priced at 1000 federal coins, which can also be exchanged for 1000 Copper Coins. Two coins are equivalent to two federal currency units.

However, the eggs on Sky Extreme Star are several times larger than the eggs in the Earth Federation, and a stone of rice in the Great Song is about 100 jin. With the Sky Pond war intensifying and the Great Song having conscripted 13 million troops and young adults from various places to participate in the war, it's quite impressive Fuqing County can maintain such price stability.

Lin Rui then inquired about 'how many Demon Transformations occurred in Fuqing County this year? What is the overall level?', 'How are the waterways and traffic? How is public security?', 'Is the Grand Canal unobstructed?', 'What are the freight rates for goods?', 'Is there any additional taxation at the local river toll?' and so on, all related to livelihood issues, leaving no detail unchecked.

Although Lin Rui had the Imperial City Department and the Security Bureau as two major intelligence channels to understand the situation of the Great Song's places and grassroots officials, he deeply understood that a superior must not listen to one-sided or biased opinions. It was essential to understand from multiple perspectives to grasp the true situation; otherwise, it would be easy to be deceived and make erroneous judgments.

Zhang Tianchang responded while secretly admiring, feeling more respect for his former younger brother.

In these times, having this Duke in charge is truly a blessing for the people.

Lin Rui then asked Zhuang Mingyue, also about various local livelihood issues within Zhuang Mingyue's jurisdiction, and whether local officials were honest or corrupt, whether the court's major policies were implemented properly, and whether there was any resistance.

Zhuang Mingyue smiled slightly: "The Duke greatly simplified the tax system, reducing the burden on the people. Initially, there was some grievance from local yamen, but later you simplified the official stipends and opened special supplies of Heavenly Demon businesses and armament, which compensated for their lost Silver Coins, so the vast majority of them are now extremely supportive and respectful towards you."

Before Lin Hao took office, the court provided various stipends and subsidies to officials.

In addition to regular salaries, there were official land, official salary rice, holiday rewards, Public Mission Money, Firewood Silver, Posthouse Subsidy, gratitude salary, ice tribute, charcoal tribute, and office money, among others. Additionally, there was a complex merit exchange system to exchange for various martial arts classics and Elixir provided by the court.

Lin Rui's governance aimed to simplify complexity, abolishing these stipends except for Public Mission Money and consolidating them into a monthly issuance of Magic Silver by the court.

This way, the court's issuance was straightforward, significantly increasing official incomes, and preventing some from exploiting the system.

Lin Rui also set aside a sum of Silver Coins to centrally purchase from Rui Fang Pharmaceuticals and the Sky Blue Group, using the court's merit exchange system to provide local officials with some grade 5 and below injections and some common S-grade or lower armament.

While these were just basic armament and medicines, they were things that ordinary grassroots officials could never access before.

Moreover, they were legal medicines and armament marked by the Divine Law Venerable and Divine Law Heavenly Girl! Now, local officials only needed to work diligently, achieve mid-to-high evaluations in performance appraisals, to exchange for a few through the court or purchase at cost price. Merely from reselling, they could earn considerable Silver Coins, so they naturally supported Lin Hao's new policies enthusiastically.

Lin Rui, upon hearing this, laughed freely: "What support and respect? It's just for the sake of money. If I dare to reduce their income by a penny, they will see me as a mortal enemy."

His policies were designed to win over the officials, stabilizing his position while reducing resistance to reforms, allowing him to further purify and correct the bureaucratic environment and eliminate deep-seated corruption.

He knew that without rectifying the Great Song's bureaucratic environment, any reform he attempted would be futile.

In fact, many of the Great Song's policies were quite excellent, originally intended to benefit the country and the people, and to revive the livelihood. However, at the local level, they were often met with compliance in appearance but defiance in practice by officials, sometimes even distorted for exploitation.

The policies intended to benefit the people were often turned into opportunities for officials to make profits, twisted into tools for further oppressing the people, ultimately becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back, leading to widespread public resentment.

Therefore, the scholars of the Tianji World also advocated governing with non-interference, finding it better than any policy to make few disturbances.