Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 70 Gradually expanding influence
Chen Qingsi rubbed her slightly sore brain.

Since the incident of Qianjia Xiuyamen, Chen Qingsi's prestige for benevolence began to spread from Qingxi County to all directions.

He himself clearly felt that the county's population was exploding.

Chen Shuozhen's rebellion had basically subsided. Except for the relatives of Chen Shuozhen, Zhang Shuyin, and Tong Wenbao, the imperial court refused to hold anyone else accountable, such as the defeated soldiers and the absconding small leaders.

Chen Qingsi also set two rules based on this point: one is for the original population of Qingxi County. As long as the owner of the land returns with proof, the original fields and houses will be returned in full; if the owner returns in May, the original Half of the land will be returned; after one year, one-third will be returned; after two years, it will belong to the court and will not be returned.

Another one is to attract deserters hiding in the mountains: all refugees with illegal households can register with the county government to register and register, and the county government will distribute houses and fields. The head of the household must pay additional grain taxes corresponding to the land earned every year, and they must live there for three years. The house belongs to the head of the household, and the land returns to the head of the household after five years.During this period, the county government is not allowed to take back the houses and fields for any reason. If the head of the household is also lazy, the county government has the right to take back the fields and houses.

With such a generous policy, it is inevitable that the refugees hiding in the mountains who are struggling to survive will choose to return.

But it’s hard to say whether they are really refugees or people from other counties who admire Chen Qingsi’s sagacity as the magistrate of Qianjiaya County and brought their families to seek refuge.

Everyone was taking advantage, and Chen Qingsi was enjoying it and didn't bother to care about it.

But now they are bringing half a village and hundreds of people to join them, which is a bit too much.

If you look too ugly, you will get angry.

Chen Qingsi thought for a while and said, "Let them send a few representatives in."

He has never been one to shirk responsibility. Now that something has happened, it must be resolved.

After a while, two people, one old and one strong, walked into the county government office.

The two of them bowed and said hello to Chen Qingsi respectfully.

"Fo Qing, a common man, and Mi Bo, a common man, have met County Magistrate Chen..."

Chen Qingsi first signaled them to get up, and then said: "What happened in your village? To tell the truth, don't fool me with the news about the diversion of the stream. It is true that Sui'an County and Qingxi County use streams as their boundaries, but the state It is clearly recorded in the government annals that Ma Jin Village is under the control of Sui'an County. Even if the county boundaries are unclear, the ownership of the village is unquestionable."

The answer was the old Fu Qing. He said with a grimace and a bit of pleading: "County Magistrate Chen, the grassroots have nothing to do. The grassroots are the former village leaders of Majin Village. After the Sui'an County Magistrate took office last year, he appointed the village chief Bao Yi, a wealthy family, became the village leader. Bao Yi acted in the village and only took care of the Bao family, and was extremely repulsive to us with foreign surnames. Good fields and land were all distributed to the Bao family, and people with our foreign surnames were naturally inferior in the village. The opening of canals in the winter was even more serious. It’s too much. In order to save labor, we only maintain the canals next to Bao’s family, turning our paddy fields into dry fields.”

"I heard that County Magistrate Chen was benevolent and righteous, and that everyone in the county loved him. Thousands of people built yamen. We really had no choice, so we chose to vote with our whole family. We sincerely asked Magistrate Chen to take him in."

Mipo begged: "The magistrate of Sui'an County only protects a few wealthy villages in the surrounding areas, and pays no attention to poor villages like us. We, the untouchables, cannot survive without asking to live in the county. The surrounding abandoned villages, Just arrange it as you like.”

Chen Qingsi remained silent, as he expected the situation in Sui'an County.

Sui'an County is also under the jurisdiction of Muzhou. It was the first state capital captured by Chen Shuozhen and one of the most severely affected cities and counties, second only to Qingxi County.

Faced with the dilapidated situation, the magistrate of Sui'an County chose the opposite approach to Chen Qingsi.

The magistrate of Sui'an County did not do anything personally. Instead, he attracted the remaining squires in the county and continued to use the squire's method of managing the people to stabilize the situation in Sui'an County.

The biggest advantage of this method is that it works quickly. The squire has a certain prestige and wealth, and the county magistrate can easily control the entire county.Of course, there are also disadvantages. The squire pays more attention to the development of the family. The benefits are given to his own people first and then distributed to others.According to normal logic, the squires eat meat and the common people drink soup.

But the current situation is that the squire can only drink soup himself, and naturally has no time to take care of the people with other surnames.

Chen Qingsi thought for a while: "In this case, let's stay for now!"

Fu Qing and Mi Bo originally thought that Chen Qingsi would refuse, but after listening to Tian Lai's words, they kowtowed to the ground excitedly.

Fu Qing immediately burst into tears: "County Magistrate Chen has been so kind and kind, but we, the common people, have nothing to repay."

The same is true for Mi Bo. They came out in such a desperate manner because they heard about the incident of Qianjia Xiu Yamen in Qingxi County and came here for Chen Qingsi's reputation.

If Chen Qingsi sends them back, there will really be no way out.

"Get up! I hate this the most..."

Chen Qingsi stood up, helped the two of them, and said comfortingly: "You go down first, I will discuss it for a while, and I will take someone to arrange a place for you to live in later."

After Fu Qing and Mi Bo retreated, Jiang Chen looked worried and said, "Wouldn't this be bad? What they said may not be true."

Chen Qingsi said: "I don't believe everything they say, but I also know that they should be roughly the same, but there are some things hidden in the rhetoric. For example, the other party's Muramasa may not be as sinister as they say... It's just a bad situation. In this way, the village only has so few resources and only so much soup. If the squire favors his side, the other side will get nothing. The squire has no choice, and they have no choice. No matter what, they believe it. This officer is the only one who would take such a desperate approach. There is nothing wrong with people pursuing survival. It would be too heartless to drive them back and face Muramasa who is tearing his face."

Jiang Chen looked solemn and said: "My subordinates admire County Magistrate Chen's benevolence. But my subordinates still feel that it is not good for us to offend the magistrate of the neighboring county for this. Sui'an County is located upstream of Qingxi County, and She County wants to Passing through our county, one must pass through Sui'an. If Sui'an makes things difficult for merchants along the way, it will have a great impact on the rejuvenation of the county."

Chen Qingsi stretched out his palm and shook it, as if everything was under control, and said calmly: "The normal situation is so correct, but just by changing the words, the magistrate of Sui'an County owes us a favor."

He didn't explain that much to Jiang Chen. As a Shangguan, he had to have some sense of mystery.

Jiang Chen has been following Chen Qingsi for a while and knows his Shangguan's temper. He is convinced of his methods and won't say anything anymore.

Chen Qingsi ordered: "Go and arrange for them to live in their homes, and arrange for the distribution of fields as soon as possible to catch up with this year's spring plowing. Arrange for the elderly to be sent to a nursing home, and instruct Shi Wuzi to prepare more silkworm chrysalis. For the elderly, It’s most suitable for raising silkworms.”

Chen Qingsi ignored Jiang Chen and began to write a letter to the magistrate of Sui'an County.

He didn't know the county magistrate of Sui'an County, but he could become the county magistrate of Sui'an County, and his situation was almost the same as him. They were both existences with no identity background.

Even if their ambitions are dampened by reality, these people still cherish their wings.

Hundreds of people fled. This was a catastrophic event.

Being generous and sheltering to prevent the situation from spreading are the same thing, but they have completely different results.

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(End of this chapter)