Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 176 Can't wait to be a thief (please subscribe!)

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Jeju Prefecture, Xiaoyao Building.

An old man in his fifties and two young men in their 20s were sitting by the window.

The old man sipped his tea absently, as if he was thinking about something.

The older youth kept looking at the government office opposite.

The young man who was younger could bear it no matter what, he couldn't help but said: "Father, why don't you go to take office, but bring me and brother to sit here?"

The old man, that is, Zhang Shuye, the new governor of Jeju Prefecture, withdrew his thoughts, and instead of answering his younger son, he asked his elder son, "Bo Fen, do you know what it means to be a father?"

Bofen, Zhang Shuye's eldest son Zhang Bofen, said: "Since we entered the territory of Jeju Prefecture, most of the people we met along the way said Li Yan's good things about that bandit, and some wanted to go and get rid of that bandit, dad. You must be trying to figure out why this is happening?"

Zhang Shuye nodded, then shook his head and said, "Yes, not right."

Zhang Bofen asked: "What's wrong?"

Zhang Shuye said: "What you said, I have already made some judgments as a father. It is nothing more than land annexation that makes the poor people lose their way of life, and the rebels let them see some bubble-like hope, so they get close to the rebels. .”

Zhang Zhongxiong, Zhang Shuye's youngest son, looked at Zhang Shuye expectantly and asked, "Father, do you have a way to solve this problem completely?"

The land policy of "not suppressing mergers" implemented by the Song Dynasty promoted social development to a certain extent, but it also led to sharp contradictions between the landlord class and the peasants.

The so-called land annexation is actually a phenomenon in which the power class, which accounts for a minority of the population, takes advantage of its dominant position to acquire a large amount of land in the hands of farmers through purchases, coaxing, coercion, etc., resulting in a high degree of land concentration.

The consequence of this phenomenon is that farmers who lost their land have to depend on the land owners and be exploited and oppressed by them.

The long-term accumulation of contradictions often leads to civil upheavals and even uprisings, and in severe cases, it can even lead to the collapse of the existing regime.

The land conflict in the Song Dynasty was the most acute among all dynasties.

This has its unique historical background:

First of all, after Zhao Kuangyin came to power, he summed up the lessons of the fall of the Tang Dynasty and believed that the strength of local military chiefs should be weakened. Therefore, he deprived Shi Shouxin and other founding generals of their military command power through the famous "drinking wine to release military power" and other means.As compensation, Zhao Kuangyin always took a laissez-faire attitude towards the wanton possession of land by these senior officials.

Second, the Song Dynasty followed the two-tax system adopted in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and taxed land rather than population.In this way, the land merger not only does not affect the government's revenue, but reduces the difficulty of tax collection.Therefore, suppressing mergers will not bring much benefit to the government in the short term.Moreover, Zhao Kuangyin, who formulated this policy, believes that no matter how rich the annexer is, as long as it is within the territory of the Song Dynasty, it will eventually be owned by the state through taxation.

Thirdly, agricultural productivity developed rapidly in the Song Dynasty, and the commodity economy flourished unprecedentedly. Under this economically developed situation, land would naturally be involved in the market as a commodity.

In the Song Dynasty, the powerful class realized the possession of land mainly through the following channels:

[-]. Legal land transactions;

[-]. Deception - such as promises to landowners that they will be exempt from taxes;
[-]. Illegal lending and coercion—lending usury led to the bankruptcy of farmers, and took the opportunity to coerce farmers to surrender their land ownership.

The rich can occupy the land if they have wealth, and the rich can occupy the land, while the tiller and the poor can only bring their families to work for the rich.

The government of the Song Dynasty divided peasant households into "main households" and "customers". The main households owned a small amount of land and needed to pay taxes and maintain public order; while customers had no land and were not required to pay taxes.However, the class of big landlords is not subject to this classification in fact, and is also exempted from labor and taxation. The above-mentioned obligations are all borne by small farmers.

In short, the Song Dynasty implemented a land policy of "not suppressing mergers", allowing land to circulate freely in the market, resulting in a high degree of land concentration in the hands of the privileged class.

During Song Shenzong, Wang Anshi tried to change this situation through reforms, but was opposed by conservatives, and the reform ended in failure.

This is an extremely sharp contradiction, and it is also a contradiction that cannot be resolved for thousands of years. No matter who can solve this contradiction, it will definitely be famous forever.

Zhang Zhongxiong, who adores his father very much, very much hopes that his father Zhang Shuye is this person!
Zhang Shuye smiled bitterly and said, "Shenzong..."

Zhang Shuye wanted to say: Song Shenzong was so wise, and he supported Wang Anshi so much, but he failed in the end. How could I accomplish such a big thing with that foolish person today?
But when the words came to his lips, Zhang Shuye swallowed them back, and then changed the subject: "Have you noticed that when we entered Decheng, the people we met were quite different from the people we met all the way from Haizhou? "

Zhang Zhongxiong looked around and said, "Is there any? I don't think there is any difference between them."

Zhang Bofen hesitated for a moment, and said, "Father, you mean, they have a lot of smiles on their faces?"

Zhang Shuye didn't answer Zhang Bofen, but said to the waiter who just came over: "Little brother, sit down and have a chat."

Zhang Bofen took out two coins and pushed them to the waiter.

The waiter said wittily: "If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, the villain will know everything."

While saying this, the waiter put away the two coins and put them in his waist.

Zhang Shuye asked: "I heard that your place was ransacked by bandits from Liangshan some time ago, but it seems that we have never had such a thing..."

The shop waiter took out the two qian silver that he had just put away and put it on the table, then said: "Guest officer, if you call a Liangshan hero a bandit, then the villain can't accept your reward, and can't say a word to you."

When Zhang Zhongxiong heard this, he was furious, and immediately jumped up and scolded this unknown waiter!
But as soon as Zhang Zhongxiong's butt got off the bench, Zhang Shuye kicked Zhang Zhongxiong from below without any trace.

After glancing at Zhang Shuye, Zhang Zhongxiong sat back obediently.

At the same time, Zhang Bofen picked up the two coins, and then took out two coins and stuffed them into the waiter, and then said: "We just want to ask you about the Liangshan bandit... the Liangshan hero Regarding the matter of coming to this mansion to borrow food, the three of us, father and son, came from Haizhou and intend to settle in this mansion, and I just want to ask you, my second brother, how the public security situation is in this mansion, so we can decide whether to settle here or not."

The waiter looked at Zhang Shuye and his son suspiciously, but did not accept the money.

At this moment, someone suddenly asked, "What's going on?"

The waiter hurriedly said: "Shopkeeper, I...they say that the Liangshan hero is a bandit..."

The visitor scolded the waiter and said, "If you continue to argue with the guests whether Liang Shanbo's gang is a hero or a bandit, go home. I don't need people like you here."

The waiter opened his mouth, but in the end he could only say reluctantly: "Yes, the shopkeeper!"

The visitor said: "Go down, I'll greet the guests at this table." Then he cupped his hands at Zhang Shuye and his son, and said: "Hello, three guests, this villain is Han Bolong, the manager of our shop..."

……

(End of this chapter)