Qing Yao

Chapter 22 The County Magistrate Values ​​You
"Famous and high-quality products" and "well-known trademarks" are terms that have never existed in this era, but everyone can understand what they mean.

In Zhao An's previous life, these two titles were honorary titles awarded by the government to outstanding products.

However, this title became distorted later on. Anyone can get certification, and various fake associations have sprung up in China. The more formal ones can even hold an award ceremony for you, while the informal ones just require you to make a phone call or send a fax, and the certificate will be mailed to you once the money is received.

Not to mention the county's well-known trademark, we can even get you a nationally famous trademark.

If you want to go further, the United Nations can still provide you with a full set of certificates.

At first, it was packaging for products, then for companies, then for individuals, and then for officials.

Not to mention, there are quite a few officials among those who were deceived.

What is the reason? Isn’t it because people just like to have fame?

Of course, there are also some people who are truly unaware and think that their products or themselves have really won some award.

This is the benefit of information isolation.

When it comes to information isolation, the Qing Dynasty is number one in the past five thousand years. Who dares to say it is second?

When doing work, it is important to be objective and comprehensive. Although Zheng Quanli, the deputy head of the cloth-making guild, is cunning, what he says is not unreasonable.

If we charge inspection fees according to the standard set by Master Ji, which is 500 taels for small workshops and 1,000 taels for large workshops, I'm afraid a lot of small workshops will go bankrupt.

This is not the industrial age, and the workshops do not use assembly line production. They are all primitive manual models. Small workshops are family models where the whole family, young and old, work together. You can imagine the profit at the end of the year.

The county magistrate can ignore the lives of the people and even directly destroy the local economy for his own interests. Anyway, he is a county magistrate for a term of office, and he will not care about the flood after I am gone.

Zhao An still had some conscience, and when he saw that the county magistrate was going to mobilize the government's forces to "sanction" the people's clothing, and might even forcefully implement the inspection fee, which might result in loss of life, he thought carefully and decided to act as a "peacemaker".

Most people and mediators just try to persuade both sides, get them to make concessions, and reduce the inspection fee to a number that the guild can accept.

But if the guild accepts it, the county magistrate might not be happy about it.

The annual income of tens of thousands of taels becomes a few thousand taels in the blink of an eye. Who can afford it?

Based on the principle of seeking truth from facts, Zhao An boldly proposed an honor certification strategy. This can not only take care of the interests of both sides, but also highlight his own abilities. Why not do it?

For merchants, honorary titles certified by the government are definitely hot commodities, especially those large workshop owners who will inevitably flock to them and rush to pay money to bid for them.

It's a very simple truth. There is an official certification plaque for famous and high-quality products at the gate of Wang's Cloth Shop, but other shops don't have it. So will merchants come to Wang's shop to buy or to other shops?
Although doing so will also harm the interests of small workshop owners, they are themselves at the bottom of the industry, and their sales channels are mainly aimed at the rural poor, which does not conflict with the sales channels of large workshop owners. Even if there is a loss of profits, it is better than paying hundreds of taels to the government a year.

What's more, under the market model, most of the cloth produced by small workshops eventually flows to large workshop owners.

For example, in Zhao An’s previous life, a lake in Suzhou only produced 10,000 tons of crabs a year, but the actual sales volume was one million tons. Where did the extra 990,000 tons of crabs come from?

Where can it come from?

Those small pond owners who raise crabs in the surrounding area.

"Hmm?" The eyes of the county magistrate and Master Ji lit up at the same time. How come they couldn't think of such a good idea?
Yes, although we are not afraid of the Weaving Bureau, if the guilds are really instigated to form a group to boycott the county government, or even cause trouble in the county government, it will not be a good thing for the county magistrate.

After all, Ganquan County is a subordinate county. In addition to being the money bag of the higher-ups, there are also many mothers-in-law who control it.

If the matter gets out of hand, how could it not affect the county magistrate's reputation?
With Zhao An's idea of ​​using profits to induce workshop owners to pay money voluntarily, not only can the wallets be filled, but also conflicts between officials and businessmen can be avoided, and a good reputation for being flexible can be established. Which county magistrate would not be tempted!
But something even better is coming.

It has to be said that the person who can become a county magistrate is really a smart person. In just a few breaths, he not only fully understood the vast "financial prospects" behind the awarding of the honorary title, but County Magistrate Ding was even able to draw inferences from one instance.

He pondered for a moment, then said happily, "Since the certification title is granted by the government, then cloth makers and sellers can be granted it. Why can't other trades be granted it?"

The more he thought about it, the more right it seemed. He immediately made the decision: "I think all 360 trades in our county must have famous and high-quality products, and all must have well-known trademarks. Only in this way can we show that Ganquan County's products are genuine and of good value, and let merchants from all over the world know about our county's characteristics!"

"."

Zhao An admired the county magistrate from the bottom of his heart, who passed the imperial examination at the age of 47. If he were a dozen years younger, with his flexible brain, it would not be impossible for him to get a seat in the provincial government.

"County Master, please give me your opinion!"

Master Ji gave the highest praise to the county magistrate without hesitation. Although the matter went completely against his original plan, or even had nothing to do with it, the financial prospects it showed were magnificent, even overwhelming.

Zhao An was not jealous of the idea, but admired it even more.

It’s nothing else but Bole.

No matter how great the achievement is, it must first be attributed to him as the mentor.

There are many good horses, but there are few good horse trainers!

The county magistrate, already tempted by the prospect of making money, said solemnly, "This matter must be treated as a top priority in the county and must be handled by a dedicated team. Should it be handed over to the Household Affairs Office or the Lifang Office?"

The latter part of the question was obviously directed to Master Ji, not Zhao An.

"this?"

Master Ji was in a dilemma. This matter really touched upon his blind spot in knowledge. It had never been done in any dynasty, and there was no precedent to refer to. It had nothing to do with the Household Department or the Rites Department.

Seeing Master Ji's dilemma, County Magistrate Ding also realized that there was a mismatch between the responsibilities of the institutions. After thinking for a moment, he casually said, "Monks and Taoists have the Sangha Association to manage them, doctors have the Medical Department to manage them, and yin and yang studies have the Yin and Yang Department to manage them. The certification of businesses should be managed by the Certification Department."

"Certification Department?"

Master Ji frowned slightly and reminded that the imperial court had no such system and the county government had no such agency. It would be inappropriate to rashly set up a certification department.

"Just because the imperial court doesn't have it doesn't mean this county doesn't have it. In an emergency, we have to act accordingly. As long as we do something practical for the people, this county isn't afraid of outsiders' comments. I think we should just clear space in the government office to set up a certification department."

The county magistrate was a man of few words and a firm mind. He looked directly at Zhao An and said encouragingly, "You will be the ambassador of the Certification Department."

(End of this chapter)