Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Chapter 339

Dai County, the Spring and Autumn Period belonged to the Jin Dynasty, and the Warring States Period returned to Zhao. According to the danger of mountains and rivers, it was an important place for military strategists.

In short, Hedong is the root of Li Tang, while Daizhou is the gateway of Hedong, and Dai County is the gateway of Daizhou. Its importance is self-evident.

But the fact is that Li Shanzhi walked around the city and even went to a small town not far away, passing five or six villages... A sense of familiarity grew in his heart.

Both sides of the official road were a bit better, and most of the various crops were about to be harvested, but Li Shan walked on the side road and glanced forward, the fields beside the road were sparse, and there were not even any people in sight.

Turning over and getting off the horse, Li Shan walked into the field regardless of the still wet soil, squatted down to take a closer look, grabbed a handful of soil and squeezed it, and couldn't help sighing.

"What's this?"

Li Shan threw down the soil, straightened up and shook his head, "Although it is not a top-class field, it is also a good field, but it is so barren."

Ma Zhou was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then said: "Dai County has experienced many wars. Farmers were either coerced into the army, or recruited by the government soldiers, or kept in corvée, or fled south to avoid disaster..."

On the way of traveling today, Li Shan saw with his own eyes that although the city was dilapidated, it was still a little better. Outside the city, there were hardly any young people in the villages, and most of them were old people, women, and children.

Lonely old people, left-behind children, abandoned fertile fields... How can this not make Li Shan feel emotional. In his previous life, he started as a young child and completely experienced the transformation of the countryside from the smell of chickens and dogs to the fertile fields full of weeds.

"This dynasty set up the Zhechong Mansion, and the number of Zhechong Mansions in Hedong Road is second only to Guannei Road. There are 140 seven mansions in total, and Dai County occupies four of them." Ma Zhou explained: "But Dai County has experienced many wars and suffered heavy casualties. Now The total strength of the four prefectures is no more than [-]."

Logically speaking, Zhechong Mansion is divided into upper, middle and lower mansions, the upper one has a thousand people, the middle one has a thousand people, and the lower one has eight hundred people, but now the four prefectures in Daixian County have a total of only two thousand people, and an average of one mansion is only 500 people.

Moreover, the frequent battles in Daixian County and the replacement of the soldiers after the death of the government soldiers must also be taken into account.

"The Dai County government soldiers are all in Yanmen now." Du Xiao reminded in a low voice.

Ma Zhou glanced, "That's not all. Today's investigation revealed that Dai County's corvee is extremely heavy. The Duke of Jiangxia conquered the peasants half a month ago to prepare for the war against the Turks, and they have not yet released them."

Du Xiao replied, "According to the system, the corvee year is [-] days, plus [-] days can be tax-free."

"The autumn harvest is just around the corner, and the Turks have arrived in Shuozhou. Jiangxia County Guild will release the peasants to prepare for the autumn harvest?"

Listening to the argument between the two behind him, Li Shan remained silent, and walked around in a big circle. It is obvious that the biggest problem in Dai County today is the lack of population.

There are frequent wars and frequent attacks from the Turks... Last year, Jieli Khan led an army of more than [-] troops and almost penetrated the entire Hedong Road. The first thing to do was to break through Yanmen, and Dai County was naturally the hardest hit place.

Because of this, a large number of farmers fled, or fled south to avoid disaster, or were captured by Turks as slaves, and their fields were abandoned... The whole Dai County is like an old man who has no porridge and rice, and is also suffering from serious illness. elder.

Li Shan couldn't help but smile wryly. In Chang'an, he can talk about the general trend of the world, but when it comes to a specific place, he has thousands of clues, and his brain is confused...I can't cast beans into soldiers!

The population is insufficient, and what you can do is very limited.

Not to mention other things, just to set up a brick factory requires a lot of young and strong labor... Now that the farming is busy, there are not many young and strong in the fields.

Li Shan could bear the rush of war and the destruction of the county government, but he couldn't bear the shortage of population.

A group of people drove their horses back to the city slowly. Li Shan was frowning and thinking hard all the time. He inadvertently raised his head and saw the dilapidated county government. Sparse weeds.

Not only has the county magistrate been vacant for a long time in Dai County, but he doesn't even have assistant officials. There are only a few local officials who are putting on airs.

Thinking of this, Li Shan hesitated and turned around to explain, "Brother Du, I will go to Yanmen tomorrow to inquire. I don't know if Duke Jiangxia sent troops..."

Du Xiao responded and saw Ma Zhou roll his eyes.

"The horses must be ready." Ma Zhou said to Wang Junhao who was at the side: "No way, this time I have to flee all the way south again."

Li Shan ignored Ma Zhou's ridicule and turned his head around. Logically speaking, the vicinity of the county government should be the most prosperous area in a county. After all, the towns in the early Tang Dynasty could only be centered on political institutions and aristocratic families, not Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, an economic core may emerge.

However, Dai County does not have that kind of well-known aristocratic family in the country, not even a powerful family that resounds across the river and even dominates the county.

But now, the vicinity of the county government office is in dilapidated condition, and there are not many buildings that can be seen.

Li Shan was really not in the mood to watch it again, so he went back to the post house... Although there is no famous family in Dai County, it means that the power and responsibility of the county magistrate are rarely hindered, and Baili Hou can really control Baili.

But the population is so underpopulated that Li Gaoqian snatched away the few young adults!

After washing up casually, Li Shan and Ma Zhou sat facing each other, with only two or three small dishes on the table.

Striving to smooth out his frown, Li Shanqiang said with a smile: "Before leaving, Brother Siyi mentioned that there is a huge gap in the county's taxes and taxes. If it is counted as corvee..."

Ma Zhou interrupted with a wry smile: "Adding 25 days to the year is halved, and adding [-] days can be exempted... I have already asked, this year's corvee has not reached [-] days."

Li Shan's cheeks twitched, too, last year the Turkic pierced through the Hedong Road, the Turkic basically did nothing in the first half of this year, in July Gao Manzheng suddenly voted for Tang, the loss of Mayi, the Turkic did not dare to rashly invade.

Due to the change in the situation, the Turks have not yet invaded Hedong, so this year's corvee is not heavy.

Ma Zhou glanced at Li Shan, Ling Jing bestowed the word Huairen, but his eyes were vicious.

Ma Zhou had already noticed that what Li Shan was most worried about now was that the young and strong would be stationed in Yanmen for the government soldiers or sent out to serve in corvee, which would lead to a shortage of young and strong and make it difficult to harvest in autumn.

But this is a knot that no one can untie.

The Turks usually come in summer and autumn, and these two seasons are also the harvest seasons for farmers. Winter wheat is harvested in summer, and hemp and millet are likely to be harvested in summer and autumn, and these are the main targets of the Turkic soldiers.

Ma Zhou's thoughts drifted farther and farther, thinking about what the opposite person has experienced... Good writing, good planning, long-term vision, superb medical skills, that's all. no stranger.

"Take your time." Ma Zhou persuaded, "Since the Daye years of the former Sui Dynasty, Dai County has been fighting frequently... It was still Yanmen County at that time."

Li Shan nodded and said, "I heard that Emperor Yang was besieged at Yanmen."

Ma Zhou sneered and said, "Emperor Yang beheaded Shishu Huxi in order to frighten the Turks. Unexpectedly, Shibi Khan led his troops to make a surprise attack. There were 41 towns in Yanmen County, but Yuyanmen and Nao County were not captured. If it wasn't for Princess Yicheng, Already defeated and dead."

"Houhedong Chen Xiaoyi was appointed as the governor of Yanmen County. This man was clean and self-sufficient, and he was a famous minister. He was outnumbered and defeated by Liu Wuzhou, the captain of Yingyang in Mayi."

Li Shan smiled wryly. He started tossing around before Emperor Sui Yang went south to Jiangdu, and it hasn't stopped until now... No wonder Dai County looks like this now.

What a mess!

"However, Chen Xiaoyi's tricks are vicious. That day Yanmen Qianjun Yang Changren and Dai County Magistrate Wang really wanted to welcome Liu Wuzhou into Daizhou, but Chen Xiaoyi found out that more than a thousand heads of the two clans fell to the ground. The whole county was shocked and no one dared to oppose."

This matter was mentioned by Li Shan when he went to bid farewell to Wei Zheng before his departure. The Yang family and the Wang family are both rich families in Daizhou, and Chen Xiaoyi's entire family was killed... This is also a major reason why there are few wealthy families in Daizhou today.

One bad thing is that the whole family will suffer bad luck, who wants to try?

In Dai County, there are no powerful families to intervene, but they only rule the roost by force... Li Shan thought in his heart, can he find a new path?
(End of this chapter)