stubborn thief

Chapter 295 The Porter
On the second day of February in the fifth year of Chongzhen, Liu Chengzong was standing on the west bank of the Dadu River in a long robe, looking at the endless Shudi, feeling worried.

There is another month to sow, and he got enough seeds from Muyana, but there are not enough people to cultivate them.

No matter how smooth Zhang Yuanheng's work was, the Songpan Guard Banner Army would not be able to pass through the swamp until at least May, and it would probably take until that time to see results in recruiting Sichuan people by relying on merchants.

He has already made up his mind, if it doesn't work, he will accompany the guards to sow the cultivated land here, and when the people come, they will be leased to the people in the form of permanent tenants for cultivation.

When Liu Chengzong was worried, across the shallow Dadu River, he saw two huge figures on the opposite bank, stopping on the grassy beach.

The two figures are about ten feet tall, square and square, with sticks, which makes people look very surprised.

Liu Chengzong walked along the river bank for a while, only to realize that the two weird-looking guys were actually two porters who were resting with wooden furniture on their backs.

Because they seemed to have buns on their heads, he sent a team of cavalry across the Dadu River, which had not yet flooded, and invited them over.

The two porters were terrified. The first time they saw the horse soldiers crossing the river, they wanted to run, but their two legs could not run with four legs, so they had to pull out the wooden sticks supporting the goods to resist. Finally, they found that the wooden sticks could not beat the fast horses and light knives, so they were taken away. come over.

The two men were not tall, but their bodies were very strong, their clothes were thin and their skin was dark. When they came over, they prostrated themselves on the ground: "Sir, I don't know what crime the villain has committed?"

Hey, as soon as Liu Chengzong heard these words, he knew that the two of them had dealt with officials and soldiers a lot.

The term "chief officer" existed in the pre-Qin period, and it has long been a literal meaning. After the changes of the times, there are more titles for superior officials, and the word gradually sank into the army.

Except for subordinates directly under the Central Government who call Shangguan a senior officer, it is usually used to refer to soldiers who do not know their rank or official position.

"Don't be afraid, I'm Liu Chengzong. I've called you here just to ask questions, and I won't kill you." Liu Chengzong said: "What are your two names, where are you from, and where are you going with your things?"

The two looked at each other, both of them were at a loss for the unfamiliar name Liu Chengzong.

One of them said: "Villain Hu Xiao and Wang Dong are both porters in Mingshan County, Yazhou. They were hired to carry tables and chairs to Dajianlu. I hope that for your convenience, you will let us enter Lucheng."

"Famous mountain county in Yazhou." Liu Chengzong recalled Muya's map in his heart, and asked, "Is it more than 300 miles away from here? The furniture you carry doesn't look light, how many pounds does it weigh?"

"More than 200 catties." The two of them bent their backs slightly, and Hu Xiao, who spoke first, said flatteringly, "Not three hundred, more than 200 miles."

More than 200 catties, more than 200 miles.

Liu Chengzong looked at the two of them and asked, "How much money do you make for a trip?"

"Two qian, two qian per person." Hu Xiao glanced at Wang Dao, and said, "This kind of big job can happen two or three times a year. We also push wheelbarrows on weekdays, barely supporting our family."

Liu Chengzong nodded slowly. The two men were both strong and strong, but they were not soldiers.

There are also many types of people's strength. Those who are good at drawing bows have broad shoulders and broad backs. Those who are strong like this are usually door-to-door stature, and may even have hands behind their backs, with shoulders and hips the same width.

Their bodies really only have muscles and almost no fat. This type of body cannot tolerate hunger, or people with this type of body are themselves hungry.

Liu Chengzong needed such a strong man, so he said, "It costs two money for a trip, you two don't know how to farm?"

Hu Xiao and Wang Dao looked at each other, shook their heads and said, "We have rented out some fields, and the land can't support babies."

"The land in Sichuan is very good, but you can't afford to support your family?"

"Can't afford it, six or four cents of the rent, the harvest is given to the master first, and the rest is handed over to the court, then to the county government, and finally a pork leg and live chicken will be sent to the master's house during the holidays."

Hu Xiao shook his head and said, "Actually, it's harder than us earning enough money."

Liu Chengzong thought about Hu Xiao's words in his mind, and paid [-]% of his income to pay land tax and apportionment, and the harvest of the last mu of land would probably be less than [-]% in his hands.

Sichuan's land tax is notoriously heavy. The main point is that there is no Dingyin in Sichuan, because after the war in the early Yuan Dynasty, there were not one out of ten people in Sichuan, and it has always been a place with vast land and sparse population.

Therefore, Dingyin in Sichuan is directly incorporated into the land tax by the government, so the tax per mu of land is higher than that of other provinces.

Under this era background, despite the hard work and meager income, the expenditure can be reduced to the greatest extent. After all, the non-payment of land tax in Sichuan means that Ding Yin also does not have to pay.

With the increase and decrease, porters even earn more than tenants.

Liu Chengzong didn't speak for a while, and asked after a moment: "There are so many people like you among you. I mean people who don't have land and don't work as tenants."

Liu Chengzong didn't feel it himself, but Hu Xiao's words were actually very scary to Hu Xiao's ears.

This place is Changhexi, where the two saw some soldiers scattered in the fields, and after asking a few words, they asked if there were many people without land in their hometown.

What are the two of you thinking?
It is easy to have unfavorable associations, such as detaining their food, such as attacking Yazhou and letting them do internal response.

This point of time may be the time when people in Sichuan are most reluctant to serve as soldiers.

Unless there are extreme conditions like the severe drought in Shaanxi, everyone has his own ambitions, and it is very difficult for everyone to want to be a soldier and eat food... Besides, at this juncture of the Ming Dynasty, being a soldier may not be able to eat food.

Sichuan has been fighting for many years, and those who are willing to serve in the army have all joined the army. Those who have not yet joined the army, most of them have no such ambition.

Hu Xiao and Wang Dao didn't have such ambitions. When they heard Liu Chengzong's words, they seemed to want to keep them as soldiers, and their brains shook like rattles.

Liu Chengzong knew at a glance that the two had misunderstood, and said with a smile: "I didn't want to keep you two as soldiers. I saw that there is no land here. It is all familiar land. The harvest must be worse than that in Sichuan, but it is a lot, and there is no tax. , only half of the rent is charged, do you want to come and plant it?"

The two faced a dilemma: "This is the chieftain's land in the west of Changhe, is there a servant?"

"There are no servants. If I need you to work, I will hire a husband with money. I won't use corvees for nothing. You don't have to worry about safety."

As Liu Chengzong said, he patted the shoulders of the guards beside him: "When you come to this Xiantian, they are the ones who will protect you. No one dares to bully you among the chieftains around you. If something bad happens, I will explain it to you."

The two understood what they said, but looked at Liu Chengzong's expression, but they were a little scared... They were guessing Liu Chengzong's identity, and it sounded like they didn't take the chieftains around them seriously at all.

"My name is Liu Chengzong, from Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi. You should be able to find me when you return to Yazhou. I can solve any problems for you. There are familiar land and raw land waiting to be opened up. I will rent as much land as I can plant; I will accept as many people as there are people, and I will find farm cattle for the land, just one request."

Liu Chengzong said: "Hurry up, the seeds should be planted immediately, if no one comes, these good lands will be delayed."

When they heard that Liu Chengzong didn't intend to detain them here, but allowed them to return to Yazhou, the two of them felt a lot more relaxed, and only then did they begin to consider Liu Chengzong's proposal of renting land.

What is the most hated guy in an industry?It's like Liu Chengzong, who fights price wars without a bottom line.

Then the landlord who has been a great benevolent person for ten lifetimes can at most change the land rent to four tenants and six tenants, but the landlord cannot change the apportionment to the county government, nor can he change the land tax of the imperial court.

It's good to go to Liu Chengzong's place, that is, five-five, no tax, and as many tenants as you want, and the tenants will be given to cattle. This is simply impossible for landlords.

Even if the tenant has a rock in his head, he has to think carefully.

Although the conditions are excellent, after all, leaving home, there are too many things to consider.

Hu Xiao and Wang Dao bid farewell to Liu Chengzong, and carried the heavy furniture to Dajianlu. Liu Chengzong thought they were walking slowly, so he brought two mules and asked them to ride back, trying to bring them to him within a month. Come here and start farming.

The two returned to their hometown, received a silver bean from their employer, and after asking around, they found out what Liu Chengzong was doing.

The two of them found a family of relatives and dozens of footmen, set up a dragon gate formation, and chatted about where to go.

Some people say that Liu Chengzong is a traitor, you can't sue the officials, let the government go and catch Liu Chengzong, most of them will give you money.

Later, someone actually went to the county government of Mingshan County, Yazhou to sue the officials, but the county magistrate was so frightened that he trembled and arrested the complainant... This person looks like a big fool.

The master of a well-known mountain county, named Gao Yi, is from Northern Zhili, and he is very familiar with the chaos in Shaanxi.

Because when he was young, he had a good friend named Jiang Yingchang. The year Liu Chengzong broke Heshui County, Jiang Yingchang, the magistrate of Heshui County, wrote a letter to Gao Yi, mentioning the civil unrest in Shaanxi and Liu Chengzong's incident, and reminding him that if the current situation is unstable, the county Train the people to prepare for bandits.

At that time, Gao Yi wrote back to Jiang Yingchang with no worries, and even laughed at Jiang Yingchang. The famous mountain county where I work is not afraid of bandits at all, because there are all chieftains around me, and there are too many scary people.

Dong Bu Hanhu of Dongbu, Gao Jitai of Tianquan chieftain, and Yang Zhiming, the envoy of Liufan, are easy to get along with. If the peasant army crosses many barriers and hits him, no matter how many people are trained, it will be useless.

As a result, Liu Chengzong really came, and it was really a dream that came into reality.

The county magistrate was shocked by the news, so he deliberately called the two porters to the county government office to ask about the situation. Liu Chengzong was clearly in Qinghai, so why did he come to Sichuan.

Gao Yi, the magistrate, wasted no time and sent a yamen servant to look for the porters to report back, saying that they could not be found, not only the two porters, but all the porters and their families in the county could not be found, and the county lost hundreds of people.

This is very anxious for Gaozhi County, Mingshan County does not pay attention to training the people, even the third class of yamen servants, because they usually have few jobs, they don't recruit many, and even Ma Kuai can't make up a team when something happens.

Gao Yi had no choice but to borrow more than [-] boy servants from a few bookrunners with high surnames, and chase them all the way on a fast horse.

In the end, I never expected that the porter didn't chase him back, and the thirty or so horse-riding boy servants didn't come back either. This incident disturbed Kochi County, and he wanted to slap himself in the lobby of the yamen.

Why do you say meddling in this nosy business?It's all right, it's not a big deal to take some porters, but this is good, he owes the book office more than thirty horses, if he insists on paying it back, it will be three years for the county magistrate to do nothing.

Kochi County is definitely not a clean official, but it is not an excessively corrupt official. They should be diligent in doing what they should do, and shirk what they should not do.

Sometimes a good person, sometimes not a thing.

When it comes to family wealth, it is not ten thousand, but thirty or so horses can afford to pay for it... But there is a problem, Kochi County is a cultured and stylish official, and he never accepts real money.

At this moment, Gao Yi was so regretful that his intestines were green. When he needed money, he couldn't sell any of the piles of bottles and jars at home.

The top intelligence organization in the world is the old man and the old lady who bask in the sun in the evening. The old man is in charge of state affairs, and the old lady is in charge of interpersonal relations. The two swords are perfect, and the Jinyiwei of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty has to be a little bit behind.

Kochi County dares to make people sell the family's bottles and cans today, and the old men and women will spread the word to the neighbors tomorrow. Besides, thirty or so horses are indeed not a small amount, and he is reluctant to pay this money.

For this reason, Mingshan County specially sent three yamen servants to go to the west of Changhe in plain clothes, in the name of finding out the thief's situation.

In Gao Yi's mind, a set of fantasies about the future have been formed.

The vicious hungry people in Shaanxi are brainwashing and training Sichuan porters. They have issued knives, guns, sticks, axes, hooks and forks, and are about to attack the county seat.

But on the west bank of the Dadu River, what the porters and servants saw was completely different.

The thief leader named Liu Chengzong was not vicious, except that he was strong and powerful, and his conversation was no different from that of the scholars in the city. He deeply sympathized with their situation and welcomed them very much.

Taking advantage of the time when Hu Xiao and Wang Dao ran back to Yazhou, Liu Chengzong planned the raw and familiar land on the west bank of the Dadu River, and planned the contiguous land into small pieces of land.

Some places have less cultivated land and more raw land, so more land will be allocated; in other places, more cultivated land and less raw land will be allocated less land.

Everyone is divided according to households, even unmarried bachelors will also be allocated land belonging to one family, because Liu Chengzong said that if the land is settled, bachelors will naturally get married, and then they will be a family.

In order to encourage the people who had shared the land to grow more grain, Liu Chengzong took out the marshal Tongbao sent by Qianqian, and told them that the grain grown would be purchased by officials in Luhuo County or Dajianlu in season.

The price of grain changes with the weather. If there is no natural disaster, then one stone of grain can be exchanged for [-] yuan, or [-] yuan for [-] yuan.

These measures have greatly stabilized the hearts of the people in Sichuan who have just arrived.

But immediately afterwards, Liu Chengzong's guards, with the help of the Changhexi native soldiers, built a fortress on the west bank of the Dadu River in an area convenient for transportation, which made these people tense up again after they had just relieved.

The immigrants from Mingshan County felt at ease even before planting seeds in the field.

Because the staff for building the fortress has increased by three, acquaintances, the yamen servants sent by famous prefects to hunt them down.

　Good evening!I went back to my hometown yesterday to go to the grave. I was really tired when I came back. What I wrote was boring, so I deleted it and went to sleep.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)