I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 143 The Price of Scientific and Technological Progress

Queen He likes Tang Wan very much, but does she want Tang Wan to be the crown princess? She wasn't sure.

There were three sons in the Tang Wan family, and their backgrounds were much higher than those of the He family.

In the past, Queen He was naturally indifferent to the two founding generals of the He family. But now that He Jin has lost power, even if He Miao takes over, Queen He can't help but want to take precautions for a rainy day.

Now, Queen He has a better candidate in mind.

She knew this man, his status was very suitable, and he had some connections with Liu Bian.

Queen He paid attention to Liu Bian when she wanted to eat different flavors of food during her illness.

That's right, it was Liu Bian's teacher, Cai Yan, the daughter of the famous scholar Cai Yong.

Compared with the Tang family in Nanyang, the Cai family has the biggest advantage.

Cai Yong had no children.

Even if an adopted heir can be the same as a parent-child, in fact everyone knows that the two are different after all.

Cai Yong's family was not bad. His grandfather had been a county magistrate. Although his father had never been an official, he was called Zhending Gong after his death and was quite prestigious in the local area.

Like Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi, the most famous people in their clan are themselves.

Cai Yong was well-known, but not a man who fought for power. Empress He was not too worried about him competing with He Miao.

Of course, for Queen He, the most important thing is Liu Bian's opinion, and even who will give birth to her eldest grandson first in the future. Liu Bian, on the other hand, had no special attitude towards Tang Wan.

At Liu Bian's age, there was no rush to settle for a crown princess, but at least she would not let the person she liked get married.

For Empress Dowager Dong, although the two maintained a fragile peace due to Emperor Ling's illness, the conflict was never truly resolved.

She didn't know much about Cai Yan, but she knew that Tang Wan was very close to Queen He, which meant not getting close to her.

She has asked Dong Zhong to find a suitable woman from the Dong clan.

……

Hanoi County, Heyang County.

Mao Fang worked as a tour guide in the countryside here, and it was easy for him to get started as he was once a minor official in the county governor's office. Moreover, he has a good personality and can stick to the bottom line. With the label of being a high-ranking student, he quickly prospered in the local area.

Chen Rong, who had helped him a lot, was also transferred from Luoyang as he wished, to the township next door to Mao Fang.

Therefore, Mao Fang would get together with Chen Rong when he had free time, and ask questions about Confucian classics.

It's October, and the busy farming season has passed. The wealthy households who have the means have begun to make wine and prepare dried meat for the winter. But for some people, even surviving the winter is a problem.

Mao Fang finally had time to visit Chen Rong again.

With the newly bought dried meat and a jar of turbid wine with his monthly salary, Mao Fang also borrowed his colleague's donkey to pull the cart, not forgetting to share some dried meat with him, and then he set off leisurely.

Not long after he set out, he saw a few people sitting on the roadside sighing. When he got closer, he saw that they were people he knew, and their home was not far away.

In Mao Fang's impression, the conditions of these people are very similar. They have acres of land, but not much, which is not enough to bear taxes and support their families, so they all work for large households to earn some money during busy farming periods.

He stopped the donkey cart and asked: "When you came back, why didn't you go home instead of sighing here? Could it be that you were bullied outside?"

Seeing that several people still looked depressed, Mao Fang emphasized: "If you are really bullied outside, just tell me, and I, Mao Fang, will uphold justice for you and others!"

"No..." one of them said. But Mao Fang could see that something was going on, otherwise why would he approach the house without entering? Of course he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

After repeated questioning, another man with a sad face said angrily——

"It's all your fault...if you guys hadn't pushed the plow. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been unable to find any work in the past two months. The money we earned was not enough to bring food. Alas...how should we cope with this? My family told me... we have to sell the land again next year, and if we sell it again, it will be gone!"

Because Mao Zedong always had a good temper, farmers dared to get angry at him.

But after getting angry, the man regretted it and realized that Mao Fang's identity could make him less kind. He was afraid that Mao Fang would hold a grudge and apologized quickly.

Not only did Mao Fang not bear grudges, but he comforted the other party and made him cry bitterly!

If you don't want to sell your land, you can only sell your sons, daughters, and wives.

After hearing the cause and effect, Mao Fang took the money he had with him and distributed it to several farmers, and also divided most of the dried meat. But his personal power was only a drop in the bucket after all, and what happened this time was beyond his capabilities.

He didn't know how to solve this problem.

This is the pain caused by the development of productivity. But this pain falls on the individual. Without external help, it often becomes an insurmountable mountain.

For large landowners, when they need manpower, they consider slaves first, tenants second, and helpers last.

Advances in technology will save manpower, and the curved-wheel plow has improved the efficiency of farming. Therefore, the first ones to be screened out during the natural farming season are used as temporary helpers.

A further step would be to replace the less productive tenants with slaves.

By saving part of the expenditure, the big landowners will only feel that they have a lot of money.

They will never consider the livelihood of temporary workers. What does this have to do with them?

Temporary workers who cannot sustain their livelihood can only sell their land and their bodies. When they have nothing to sell, if they cannot be slaves or tenants, or if they cannot bear the oppression, they will have no choice but to become precarious refugees.

"The promotion of Quyuanli was supposed to be a good deed, but in the aftermath it caused the people's life that they could barely maintain to collapse suddenly... Is this wrong?"

Watching several families decline step by step is different from hearing about it.

With such doubts, Mao Fang found Chen Rong.

Mao Fang thought that Chen Rong, who had always been extremely capable in his mind, would have the answer, but Chen Rong didn't know either.

In other words, he knew it, but he didn't dare to mention it even if he was so strong.

The poor people had to bear heavy taxes and corvee even when it was difficult to support themselves.

Chen Rong suddenly said: "I heard that Guan Gong will return to Luoyang soon after inspecting Hanoi County. I wonder if he will pass through this county?"

Mao Fang's eyes lit up. The problems they couldn't solve might not be something Guan Yu couldn't solve. Even if Guan Yu couldn't, there was still the prince who had always supported Guan Yu...

He said: "At the beginning, Mr. Xun told us that the prince once said that if there is evil in the place and the officials cannot control it, he can send a letter to the East Palace. Now this can be regarded as an evil thing in the place... I want to go to Ming Ting to explain this first. If the Ming court does not care about the matter, I will send a letter to the East Palace..."

Chen Rong patted Mao Fang on the shoulder: "How can Brother Yu be left behind in such a feat?"

It is said to be a local evil, but in the eyes of Shangguan, it is just a few families selling their land, and it is not a big deal.

But things did not come to this point after all. Guan Yu knew that Tai students had come to Heyang County, so he passed by this place on his way back to Luoyang, ready to take a look at the situation of the Tai students.

This view saved Chen Rong and Mao Fang a lot of risks, and also allowed Liu Bian to understand the real situation.

(End of this chapter)