A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 383
Daqian has a large population, and the land of Zhuxia is becoming more and more crowded. According to this era, each household has fifty to one hundred acres of farmland. In recent years, the young adults who have grown up have not enough farmland to allocate.

Each household was allocated fifty to one hundred acres of farmland, mainly because the food output in this era was not high. Fertile farmland had two to three shi of land, and ordinary fields were more than one dan. Without dozens of acres of farmland, ordinary people simply could not afford to feed their families.

And even if the land is divided, as the population grows, there will still be a situation where there is no land to divide.

Although the migrating powerful people have obtained a lot of land now, it can only save them for a short time. After the land is distributed, they will be in this situation again.

After Wang Jing discussed with Zhang Liang, Xiao He and others, he felt that it was still necessary to relocate the people on a large scale.Migrate the population from the Central Plains to areas with low population density such as Hexi, Liaodong, and the Western Regions.

Moving people is never an easy task. It is difficult to leave one's homeland, and people are humbled when they leave their hometown. This is not just an excuse.In this era, people would not easily leave their homeland unless they were fleeing a major disaster or were exiled by the court.

Wang Jing moved a large number of powerful and wealthy families to the four counties of Hexi Province. Basically, these wealthy families were convicted of this crime, and the original big family was also dismantled by the court.

At the same time, an edict was issued to persuade people who did not have farmland to migrate.Anyone who agrees to move can get two hundred acres of farmland, tax exemption for three years, and half tax for three years.

At first, many people were very excited when they heard that the two hundred acres of farmland were divided, and they came to ask where they were moving to. However, after learning that it was farmland in the four counties of Hexi, most people were unwilling to go, and only a few Fewer people are willing to go.

Wang Jing was very worried when he saw the report sent from below.Forced relocation is also possible, but doing so can easily lead to confrontation between the people and the court.

Even after forced migration, a large number of people will flee, unless Wang Jing decides to spend a lot of manpower to monitor them.

Once this is done, there will be confrontation between the court and the local people for at least three to five years. Although they will not rebel, it will be much more difficult for the court to manage. Wang Jing does not intend to do this unless it is a last resort.

"The people don't want to migrate, what should we do?" Wang Jing frowned as he looked at the report in his hand.

Seeing Jiang Shuo, the personal servant who was busy next to him, Wang Jing suddenly said: "Jiang Shuo, if you were one of those common people, would you like to go to the four counties of Hexi Province if you are given two hundred acres of land?"

"Your Majesty, I don't want to do this." Jiang Shuo, the personal chamberlain, shook his head.

"Why is this? Two hundred acres of land is twice as much as in the Central Plains. Why don't you want to go?" Wang Jing asked.

Jiang Shuo said: "Your Majesty, although two hundred acres of land is a lot, it is too far away. What's more, he can't cultivate such a large amount of land. After six years, he will still have to pay taxes on two hundred acres."

Wang Jing nodded, taking it for granted that a strong man could not cultivate two hundred acres of farmland even to death.

"Then do you have a way to make those people willing to move to the four counties in Hexi?" Wang Jing asked.

"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, people die for wealth and birds die for food. It is better to increase the reward." Jiang Shuo said.

"Increase rewards? Although the imperial court is rich, it cannot spend a lot of money to reward the hundreds of thousands of people who migrated." Wang Jing said.

At least 30 people from the four counties in Hexi must be relocated. With so many people paying for it, the court would be unable to bear it.

"Your Majesty, you can try another way." Jiang Shuo continued:
"You can order that the people who sign up in the first three days and are willing to go to the four counties of Hexi will be given one hundred acres of land, a cattle, and various iron farm tools and grain.

Then in the next three days, people who are willing to sign up to go to the four counties in Hexi can be allocated one hundred acres of land, one cattle, and food.

In the next three days, the people willing to sign up to go to the four counties of Hexi only have one hundred acres of land and food.To put it simply, the earlier you agree, the more rewards you will get, and the later you agree, the less rewards you will get.

In this way, the court could move a large number of people without spending much money. "

Wang Jing thought for a moment and immediately understood that this was definitely a good method. This method can be said to be an insight into human nature.As the saying goes, we don’t worry about scarcity but inequality.

If they see that the people in front have cattle, farm equipment and fields, but the people behind them do not, they will rush to sign up.

"Jiang Shuo, your method is indeed good. I will leave the matter of relocating the people to you. Are you willing to give it a try?" Wang Jing said.

Jiang Shuo was overjoyed. You should know that as a chamberlain, he had no chance to take power. Now he actually has the opportunity to participate in state affairs. This is his opportunity. He immediately bowed down and said: "My minister Jiang Shuo, I am willing to share your worries for your majesty."

"Okay!" Wang Jing said with a smile: "Today I will appoint you as the Governor of Immigration, responsible for immigration affairs. The nine ministers of the imperial court will cooperate with you and will not refuse. If you can complete the immigration matter, I will not hesitate to reward you!"

"I will definitely do my best to repay Your Majesty!" Jiang Shuo thanked him again.

Wang Jing's edict was issued, and the court in the outer court was in an uproar. After all, Wang Jing openly appointed a high-ranking eunuch and asked Jiu Qing to cooperate, which was difficult for them to accept.

However, Wang Jing's prestige was growing day by day, and no one dared to openly disobey the edict.However, many ministers wrote letters to persuade Wang Jing to take back his appointment, but Wang Jing directly retorted: "It's okay if you don't appoint him, then you can come and immigrate!" These officials were dumbfounded after hearing this. They couldn't do it. If If you can do this, why don't you let Wang Jing send an eunuch to preside over important events?
All the courtiers looked at each other. They wanted to say that they couldn't do it, but they didn't dare to say it.

"Just shut up if you can't!" Wang Jing glared at them fiercely.

After being appointed, Jiang Shuo immediately took people to other states and counties in the Central Plains without stopping.

The first place Jiang Shuo went to was Yingchuan County. Yingchuan County is located in the Central Plains and has a prosperous population. It has long been a situation of more people and less land.Even if the imperial court moved many powerful people, it was far from enough to distribute to the people.

Jiang Shuo plans to start here.

As soon as he arrived in Yingchuan County, Jiang Shuo did not let the government announce it directly. Instead, he went to check with the people in person. After confirming that there were indeed a large number of landless people here, he secretly found two people and gave them benefits. The two acted in a play with him.

After everything was ready, Jiang Shuo came to the county magistrate's house and asked the magistrate to publish the list according to his wishes.

"Governor Jiang, one family is given a hundred acres of land, as well as cattle, farm tools, grain and salt. Isn't this too much?" The county governor was confused.

"Don't worry, Sheriff, these things are all approved by His Majesty, and they won't cost too much." Jiang Shuo said with a smile.

Seeing Jiang Shuo's insistence, the county guard had no choice but to agree.

Soon there were officials in the county governor's mansion to put up notices, and soon a large number of people came to watch. The officials nearby also began to read the notices out loud.

"You want to recruit people to move to the four counties in Hexi?"

"Third brother, where are the four counties in Hexi? Are they far away?"

"The four counties in Hexi are quite far apart. They are one or two thousand miles to the northwest. Further north are the Huns!"

"It's so far away, and there are still Huns? Don't go, don't go!"

"What are you afraid of? The Huns have been beaten away long ago. They just have to migrate two thousand miles away. Isn't this exile? I won't go even if I die!"

"Are you willing to go to the four counties in Hexi to distribute an ox to each person? As well as farm tools, salt, and grain. Are they real or fake?"

“Such a generous reward, I’m afraid it’s not fake!”

"It's not like they deceived us and left us with nothing! Anyway, we won't even be able to come back because we're not familiar with the place where we live!"

"Yes, they are trying to trick us!"

Before the notice, many people were talking about it. Instead of being moved when they saw the generous reward on the notice, they felt that it was a lie.

Although the notice had been published and even the surrounding villages had received the news, no one dared to come forward to sign up.

The same happened the next day, and in the evening of the third day, two people hesitated for a while and finally went to the government office to register.

The people watching the excitement all tried to dissuade them from going, saying this was a lie. After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, the two of them walked out of the government office holding a cow, and the cow had food hanging on it. , salt and iron farm tools.

After seeing that the two people had actually received the things, everyone around them was in an uproar and asked: "Brother Quan, are your cows and tools really given by the government?"

The man said excitedly: "Really, when I entered, I said I signed up to go to the four counties in Hexi, but the government actually gave me cattle, iron farm tools, salt and grain. You see, Brother Li is just like me, he has it too!"

After hearing the two men's admission, the people around them immediately exploded and rushed towards the government office.But before they could rush to the gate, they saw that the guard had already closed the gate and shouted: "The office is closed today. Those who want to sign up should hurry up tomorrow!"

He said that no matter how much the people outside cried and begged, these officers still closed the door.

After seeing this situation, many people ran home without delay to inform their relatives.

The news that the government had actually distributed farm cattle spread quickly, and the people outside the city were eager to try it. Even many people whose families had allocated farmland planned to try it tomorrow.If they were really given cattle for farming, they would give up the fields here and go to the four counties in Hexi.

In the farming era, a farming ox played a huge role.

(End of this chapter)