Chapter 1299: Selling Official Positions

Liuye and the others had no choice but to go to their new home; fortunately, they knew where the new home was because Chengqie had taken them there before. It was just that taking so many Slaves around was a bit too conspicuous, and before long, the news had almost spread throughout all of Huaxia City.

Those Nobles also learned that Chengqie had brought back an astonishing number of Slaves from the Suiren clan. A portion of them were wedding gifts for Changle, and the rest, it was estimated, were for Chengqie to trade away himself. After all, everyone knew that the Chengqie family did not have a stable business of their own in Huaxia City, and none of the brothers and sisters had jobs; they were all consuming, only taking in and never putting out. This did not quite match the temperament of one of the greatest Nobles in Huaxia, so it certainly would not do.

Therefore, some Nobles had already made plans to buy some Slaves from Chengqie to use, as the Slaves in their own households were still too few. Furthermore, servants in Huaxia were truly in such high demand that even the Nobles above did not have enough, making it very difficult for these Nobles below them to get a turn.

Those with the same idea were the Landlords. Those Landlords in the towns possessed vast amounts of land and huge courtyards, but because of their status, it was difficult for them to purchase servants, so they had to do many things themselves. It was only by marrying enough women that they could manage the messy and trivial matters of the household.

However, there were certainly some things that were better done by Slaves. Hiring tenant farmers was possible, but for some tasks, people were not necessarily willing to do them for you. Everyone was equal; it was just that you were wealthier than me, so I could not do things for you that would demean my status, only normal work.

Therefore, some Landlords in the towns, who were even wealthier than the Nobles, were already eyeing Chengqie's Slaves like tigers watching their prey. Of course, Baifeng would never forget these fat sheep.

The emergence of Landlords was inevitable, because once private land ownership appeared, there would certainly be some people capable of occupying more land. Baifeng would not interfere now, because at present, Landlords were beneficial to the development of Huaxia.

Large-scale land reclamation and the accumulation of massive wealth could also attract ordinary people to strive, because everyone was of the same class; if you could obtain so much land and so much grain, then I could too.

As for the Nobles, it was better to limit them from expanding their private land and just let them cultivate their own fiefs well. If Nobles had land and had the people on that land, it might cause some trouble; after all, they had already completed a change in class.

These Landlords could pay a large amount of taxes every year, so Baifeng's level of attention toward them was still very high. Some things, because they had to demonstrate class, could not be purchased by people without Noble status, which shut these grain-rich Landlords out. Even when Changle got married, they were not qualified to send gifts, and Baifeng did not allow commoners to send gifts either.

This resulted in their grain truly being stored in their hands, unable to be used at all. Over time, it would only rot and benefit the rats, so Baifeng naturally had to think of a way to extract the grain from their hands.

How to extract it was a very delicate matter. Letting them buy a Nobility title with grain was impossible; Nobility titles had to be earned through merit to highlight their preciousness.

But were there not other ways? That was to first give them some political status, allowing them to participate in politics and discuss government affairs. This policy would begin to be implemented starting this year.

In addition to officials, the grand assembly had to have representatives from all walks of life. Among them, these Landlords, as long as they exceeded the stipulated tax payment quota, would be qualified to attend the assembly. After all, a group of major taxpayers was still very important to a country and to a city. For some matters, listening to their opinions and taking their interests into account to some extent was necessary.

Another thing was to give them real status, allowing them to reach the threshold for purchasing luxury goods, but it was only a threshold; they could not mingle in the circles of the Nobles, and they could not enjoy certain privileges.

This method was donating for an official position, but not for any other department; Baifeng would only open up the Hospital and School departments.

First, it was to let them participate in the construction of Hospitals and Schools, letting them provide grain. After the construction was completed, they would still have to continue to invest grain and invest their own land. At the same time, because of their contributions, they could be given an idle title such as Honorary Principal, Dean, or Administrative Principal or Dean.

Because you were not a professional, you could not participate in management and development. Although you could participate, you had no decision-making power. If you did not want an honorary title, then you would be given a substantive Deputy Dean position, but you would still be sidelined by the head; things would not pass through your hands when being handled, but having a substantive position sounded better.

If you wanted to maintain your official position, then you had to continue to invest year after year, occasionally carry out renovations, or develop branch schools or branch hospitals, investing grain yourself in the Village.

You could also pay the staff yourself; Huaxia City would provide a portion, and you would provide a portion. If these investments were still not enough, then establish a scholarship or something, giving rewards and support to excellent students or relatively poor students every year. If you did good deeds, perhaps everyone would recognize your status even more.

But no matter how much you gave, you would not be given real power, unless under your influence and support, you could truly make a local Hospital or School run impressively; then Baifeng would not mind giving a capable person a position.

A fake official position without real power could be exchanged for grain. Nobility titles could not, and Baifeng would not take all this grain into his own hands, as that would have a bad influence. But if they were directly made to invest money into medical care and education, that would be a great thing for everyone.

Another thing was that Baifeng wanted to start two departments from this year: a Nursing Home and an Orphanage.

For the Nursing Home, because there were more and more elderly people in Huaxia now, although there were also many young people and they did not abandon the elderly, because of work reasons, they did not have that much time to take care of the elderly. So Baifeng planned to directly build several Nursing Homes in a centralized manner. The state would invest a portion of the grain, and the young people who were willing to send their elderly over would give some. Using this grain, they would then hire people specifically to take care of the elderly.

It could even be profitable in the later stages, because this was not a purely welfare institution, and it could also solve the employment problems of a large number of young people.