A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 21 Qiu Wei establishes a contract
Ji Hu, the emperor of Zhou, succeeded King Mu of Zhou to the throne. Since King Mu of Zhou reigned for fifty-five years, the current emperor of Zhou was already thirty-nine years old when he succeeded to the throne.

Because King Mu of Zhou traveled far away, the country consumed a huge amount of wealth, which made the country's finances very empty and it was gradually difficult to support the economy. However, on many occasions, he had to maintain the airs of the emperor.

For example, in order to show the clear distinction between rewards and punishments, the Zhou Communist King had to entrust the land near the capital to the princes and officials, making the area under his direct control smaller and smaller, and his income smaller and smaller.

After Emperor Zhou succeeded to the throne, in order to solve the financial problems of the central government of the Zhou Dynasty, he had to make great adjustments to the strategy of governing the country. In terms of military affairs, he changed the practice of his father and ancestors to conquer the world by force, reduced the army, and established laws to calm the people, so that more people could be content with production and create wealth, thereby increasing the country's fiscal revenue.

Adopt a peaceful and stable foreign policy in external relations, mainly use peaceful negotiation to resolve border disputes, and try to avoid armed conflicts.

Politically, he abolished the old system of "state-owned land and divided it among vassals", implemented private ownership of land and allowed free buying and selling of land. The state collects taxes from landowners in accordance with regulations. This was the first time that the Zhou Dynasty legalized the private ownership of land.

These measures of Emperor Zhou were very beneficial to the Zhou Dynasty. Because before this, the state only collected taxes based on the original arable land area, and no taxes were paid on the cultivated land privately cultivated by the nobles.

Nowadays, the state allows private land to exist, and owners of private land must declare it truthfully, otherwise it will be regarded as illegal private land and will be confiscated once discovered.

This forced the nobles to truthfully report their private lands, and once reported, they had to pay taxes as required, thereby increasing the revenue of the treasury.

Wang Jiunian

Rakuyu
Uncle Ju is very distressed about his current family situation. He is an old noble, but his title and land have been passed down to his generation. He is already very depressed. The land is a forest land, full of trees, and he has no management ability, so the forest land is almost unavailable. item.

And he needs to maintain contacts among nobles, but the property in his family has been used by successive uncles, and there is not much left. In order to maintain his own life, he even sold his ancestral carriage, and there was a very important event recently. banquet. It’s impossible without a carriage.

Then Uncle Ju returned home and told his wife about his troubles. The wife said:

"Husband, why should you worry? Don't we still have a piece of land in our family? Two years ago, the emperor has issued a decree allowing private individuals to buy and sell land. If the land is sold, don't we have money to buy a car!"

After hearing this, Uncle Ju hesitated and said: "But this forest land has been passed down from ancestors' times. It would be a bad idea to sell it!"

After hearing this, his wife rolled her eyes at him and said, "Selling the land is allowed by the emperor. What's more, the forest land is not worth much. If we sell it, we can still maintain our dignity. If we don't sell it, we won't be able to walk to the banquet next time." Right! Wouldn’t that make other nobles laugh?”

Seeing that Uncle Ju was still hesitant, his wife said angrily: "If you don't sell the land, why sell it? Selling this mansion?"

After hearing this, Uncle Ju shook his head and said, "That's not possible. If you sell it, where will we live?"

The wife then said: "What about selling the title? Do you dare to sell it? Do others dare to buy it?"

After hearing this, Uncle Ju said: "This..."

Then he made up his mind and said: "Okay, sell it. If you don't sell it, we won't be able to survive in the aristocratic circle. But who can we find?"

The wife also thought about it, suddenly thought of it, and said to Uncle Ju:

"Hey, I thought about it. Do you know Qiu Wei next to our house?"

"I know, isn't he just an official in charge of furs?"

"That's him. Just because he is an official who manages furs, he has many ways to make money. I heard others say that he is quite rich. You can go find him!"

"Ah! But he is just a commoner. Trading with him will not damage the reputation of our earl!"

"What kind of reputation? You can only maintain your dignity as an earl if you have money. What if you have an earl if you don't have money? Are there not many nobles who have starved to death in Luoyi? Besides, rich nobles can take a fancy to our land. ? You don’t care if he is a noble or not, as long as he has money, that’s fine.

When the deal is over, aren't you still an earl, and aren't he still a commoner who manages furs? "

After hearing this, Uncle Ju nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go find him in a few days."

"What the hell, in a few days, the banquet will begin. This is the banquet of General Weiguo, Doctor Bai. You can go tomorrow."

Uncle Ju nodded helplessly after hearing this.

The next day

Uncle Ju asked his servant to invite Qiu Wei over.

"Greetings to Uncle Ju, I wonder what important matter Uncle Ju has summoned his subordinates for?" "Qiu Wei, I wonder if you want a piece of land?"

"I'm confused, please tell me, Uncle Ju."

"That's it. I have a piece of forest land in my hands that I want to sell. I heard that you have quite a lot of wealth. I wonder if you are interested in taking it over?"

Qiu Wei looked at Uncle Ju and saw that he didn't seem to be joking, but he really wanted a piece of land so that his descendants could have a place to live, so he said:

"If Uncle Ju really wants to sell the forest land, then the subordinates also want it very much. I wonder how much wealth Uncle Ju wants from the subordinates?"

"A good car and its accessories, including hooks on the side of the car, decorated handles in the front rails, tiger skin covers, long-haired raccoon skin curtains, painted car covers, riding whips, large leather ropes, four Set white reins, copper bits, etc."

Qiu Wei estimated his family assets and the forest land information provided by Uncle Ju, so he gritted his teeth and said:
"Yes, but you need to swear an oath on a tripod."

Uncle Ju said, "Okay, but you have to pay for the cost of making the tripod."

After hearing this, Qiu Wei had no choice but to agree.

After returning home, Qiu Wei prepared to make the tripod and the transaction process. In order to ensure that there would be no problems with the transaction, he also heard that Mrs. Junbo promoted the land sale, so he asked someone to give twelve feet of silk to Mrs. Junbo. .

Then he reported the matter to Xing Bo, Boyi Fu, Ding Bo and other ministers just to be sure. After questioning, Ju Bo agreed and took an oath, and the ministers ordered the three officials (Situ, Sima, and Sikong) and the internal officials to conduct on-site surveys, demarcate the land boundaries, and go through the formalities.

In the end, the process and results of Qiu Wei's transaction were engraved in the bronze tripod. The content is: What Ju Bo got was a good car from Qiu Wei and its accessories: the hook on the side of the car, the decorated handle in the front crossbar, the tiger Leather covers, long-haired beaver-skin chariot curtains, painted chariot covers, riding whips, large leather ropes, four sets of white reins, copper horse bits, etc.

What Qiu Wei got was a piece of forest land belonging to Ju Bo. At the same time, he also wrote about giving twelve zhang of silk to Ju Bo's wife for the smooth progress of the transaction. Finally, he engraved on the tripod "to protect it as a treasure for thousands of years," to show his permanent ownership of this forest land.

The transaction between Qiu Wei and Ju Bo also involved another transaction. The income rights of the forest trees that Uncle Ju traded to Qiu Wei have been given by Uncle Ju to the small noble Yan family.

In order to obtain complete ownership of this land, Qiu Wei must also reach another deal with the Yan family to obtain the income rights of the trees on the forest land.

So Qiu Wei had to give Yan two more big horses, a blue-black dress to Yan's wife, and a raccoon dog skin robe and hood to Yan's housekeeper Shou Shang in exchange for the right to benefit from the forest trees. cost;
After the contract was concluded, Ju Bo handed over the forest land to Qiu Wei. After Qiu Wei exchanged things with Yan's housekeeper, he then went to the site to survey the forest land and formally held the handover ceremony, but neither Ju Bo nor Qiu Wei arrived at the site. It was Qiu Wei's son Kuan who accepted the forest land, and Qiu Wei's retainer Xun (kū) ​​was responsible for welcoming and presenting gifts.

At this point, the two parties signed a contract and the transaction was completed.

At a banquet held at the Bai Mansion in Luoyi, Bai Yan heard about this incident and asked Ju Bo for details. After the banquet, he said to his son Bai Zheng:
"It can be seen from this incident that Emperor Zhou can no longer control his territory and his direct nobles. Even if he can control it, his direct nobles don't have much power anymore.

In addition, the family must also be enlightened by this matter. In this matter, Qiu Wei is obviously the weaker party and the party most likely to suffer. If Uncle Ju had not had the intention to harm Qiu Wei,
Qiu Wei was eaten to the bone by Ju Bo and all the ministers, so after I go back this time, I need to supplement the "Business Law". I, the Bai family, starting from Wu Zuzong, what I seek is fairness. See what my ancestor said. Remember, if there was justice, would our ancestors be captured as slaves? "

Bai Zheng said:
"My father is right, but Zheng'er believes that it is also beneficial to increase the degree of private ownership and break the transmission of fixed positions. After all, those old nobles hold on to the glory of their ancestors all day long, and they still occupy the most prosperous and wealthy places in the world. , isn’t this a waste?

And those who are capable, such as capable officials like Qiu Wei, because they do not have a title, although they are capable, they have to protect themselves from being violated at all times. Isn't this ridiculous?
I have a thousand volumes of books in my home, and I have soared widely among them. They all say that to govern a country, we must appoint talents. However, when the positions in the world are solidified, people without talent and virtue occupy high positions, and those with talent and virtue cannot be appointed. , how can the country be cured?

Not only that, because talented people cannot be appointed, they will be resentful. In that case, the world will be in chaos. "

Bai Yan looked at Bai Zheng and said, "That's the truth, so what should we, the Bai family, do? If the Bai family's retainers are allowed to compete with other people who have nothing to do with the Bai family, how can we ensure the loyalty of outsiders to the Bai family? How to face it? What about Bai's promise to his retainers?

You have to know that capable people can not only govern the country well, but also destroy it faster. How to measure the mystery of this requires careful thinking. "

Bai Yan looked at Bai Zheng who was deep in thought and said with a smile:

"Zheng'er, it's not so easy to govern the country and manage the territory. I don't know if you have cooked before, but I have. I learned to do it when I wanted to make your mother happy.

I found that cooking requires a lot of patience, and you also need to control the amount of salt. If you add too much, it will be salty, if you add too little, it will be bland. How to control the amount of salt requires careful measurement.

Therefore, you still need to study and think hard, and the library at home contains the words and works of famous officials and sages collected by the family over the generations. Read them more, they are your best teachers. "

After listening to his father's teachings, Bai Zheng bowed to Bai Yanzuo and said, "Father, Zheng'er has learned a lesson."

Bai Yan saw that Bai Zheng had listened, so he stroked his beard and looked at him happily.
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Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies, and reading thousands of volumes is like visiting famous teachers.

——"Bai's Spring and Autumn Period"

(End of this chapter)