Linxia

Chapter 14, Sprout

After returning, Fang Lin told his father and mother the information he had obtained and his judgment, hoping to reassure them.

Fang Shuyou was silent for a long time before he said, "It is said that there should be no shortage of food, but who knows about those officials?"

"Yes, many of those officials are very bad, especially those who are arrogant and greedy..." Fang Sun muttered.

"Maybe!"

Fang Lin actually doesn't quite agree with this statement. Even if those officials are corrupt, they will not ignore the lives of the people if they have enough to eat and have other means to do so - after all, disaster relief is related to political achievements, and officials must be held accountable if there are too many deaths!
But now the Changping Warehouse has not allocated funds and has not called on large households to donate. These methods are useless. The government's attitude is ambiguous, and it seems that they want to get the people to go to the provincial capital in the name of a shortage of grain in the reserve warehouse. There is obviously a hidden story behind this.

"I'm still at the bottom of the hierarchy, and I know too little information!" Fang Lin sighed inwardly.

……

The next morning, the coarse rice soup was a little thinner.

The villagers all had sad faces, like frightened birds, and were in a state of panic all day long.

In the middle of the morning, there was finally definite news. Qiao Cunzheng was called to a meeting, and when he came back he called the whole village.

The villagers looked at Qiao Cunzheng anxiously. Knowing that the result had come out, they were nervous but also relieved - it was better to have the result finally come to fruition than to keep it in suspense and worry all the time.

Qiao Cunzheng opened his mouth: "The government said that the reserve storage capacity is indeed insufficient..."

Upon hearing this, the villagers' faces all changed.

Qiao Cunzheng paused for a moment and continued, "However, this gap is not too big. Only a small number of people will go to the capital, and most people can stay. The coarse rice soup we supply in the future will also be thicker."

At this moment, the villagers breathed a sigh of relief and felt they could accept it.

——Human hearts are so strange. If the government had told the villagers yesterday that only a small number of people would have to continue to rush to the city, the villagers would definitely curse. But now, first the rice soup is thin, and then there is a rumor that everyone has to go to the city. When the villagers were in a panic, the government suddenly took a step back and only sent a small number of people. Those who stayed could eat better. The villagers felt that it was already quite good.

"For families who are willing to go to the provincial capital, the government will give each person three liters of rice. After arriving in the provincial capital, those who are willing to stay will be registered as residents for free by the government. After living there for a period of time, they can become citizens." Qiao Cunzheng continued.

Here we have to talk about Daxia’s household registration policy.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Xia, in view of the civil unrest at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, divided the people into civilians, craftsmen, soldiers, musicians, doctors, merchants and other classes, and no one was allowed to cross the classification. Those who escaped from the classification or had a different classification would be imprisoned at the lightest and exiled to beheaded at the worst.

By the middle of the National Dynasty, the large population mobility had become impossible to control, so the government gradually relaxed the policy and allowed people to register as residents. That is, if people escaped from the local household, they would no longer be held accountable and would be allowed to reside in the local place. Later, there was the policy of temporary registration, which allowed people to register as residents in the local place after living there for a period of time, which was equivalent to recognizing the migration of household registration.

However, whether it is to become a dependent or a temporary resident, it is not something that ordinary people can do. In the beginning, it required connections. Now, it has become simpler, but one still needs to spend money to find a human snakehead for this purpose.

The villagers generally do not care about this benefit.

If it were ten years ago, they would probably have been tempted, but in the past two years, the government has implemented a policy that all miscellaneous taxes and corvee labor are included in the land area and converted into silver. Those who own more land pay more, and those who own less land pay less. As a result, people's lives have become much better.

At this time, a villager expressed his concerns: "If we change our household registration, will we be able to come back after going to the capital? If we are not allowed to come back, what will happen to the land in the village?"

"Changing the household registration is entirely voluntary. If you want to come back, you can definitely come back. Just think of it as going out for a meal." Qiao Cunzheng explained with a smile. The villagers relaxed after hearing this and joked, "Haha, if you don't come back, what will you eat and drink in the city?"

"You know what. The government said that if you are willing to stay in the city, there will be work everywhere. Many wealthy businessmen have expanded their business overseas and are building factories, shipyards, porcelain factories, cloth factories..." Qiao Cunzheng was relaying the government's words.

The villagers did not listen to these words. For them, who have been dealing with land for most of their lives, stability is everything and they subconsciously reject uncertainty.

Yes, they do hope that their descendants can get out and no longer deal with the land, but not in this way. Instead, they want them to study and become officials, or have relatives who can introduce them to a good job that does not require physical effort.

Fang Lin heard this and was moved: "So that's how it is. The last piece of the puzzle is those wealthy merchants who have expanded their business overseas and opened factories that need a lot of people!"

He now understood a little.

Yesterday's analysis was correct. Haining County was indeed not short of food, but the government hoped that some people would go to the provincial capital. Behind this were the wealthy merchants in the provincial capital. They established connections and allowed some of the people affected by the disaster to leave their land and go to the provincial capital to make up for the shortage of labor.

"The government should not have such strong initiative, so the change of place of origin must have been secretly helped by wealthy merchants behind the scenes."

To figure this out, the next step is to think about how to profit from it.

Fang Lin's eyes were deep: "In this time and space, Daxia has gone through ten dynasties after the Yuan Dynasty. In the middle and late period, it is very interesting that there happened to be a tax reform. Miscellaneous taxes and corvée labor were added to the land. Isn't this the "One Whip" system of the Ming Dynasty? So, quantum entanglement, similar time and space?"

"And the wealthy merchants expanded their business overseas and built various factories. Is this... the beginning of capitalism similar to the late Ming Dynasty?!"

Fang Lin's heart skipped a beat, but no one knew it better than him. In the great development of society, opportunities were everywhere. As long as you seized one, even if you were a pig, you would be carried by the times and fly.

——In such a great era, individuals in it are often unaware of it. Only when the trend passes and they look back, will they discover what a turbulent era it was, and what they grasped and missed at that time.

It can be said that at this moment, from top to bottom in Daxia, from the emperor and ministers to the wealthy merchants and common people, no one has such a clear understanding of the current society as Fang Lin - only he, with the memories of two lives and five thousand years of civilization, can have such a comprehensive view.

"If it is true as I guessed, this is definitely the best opportunity for class transition!"

It has to be said that Fang Lin was very excited. It was impossible for him to stay in the countryside for the rest of his life, and wasn't this a good opportunity?

However, he quickly suppressed this excitement - the road to the city was very chaotic, and he was not sure what it would be like once he got there. If he was alone, it would be fine to take a risk, but it was impossible to gamble with his family. It is better to be safe than sorry!
'Be patient for now and take it slow! Determine how big this opportunity is, and then choose a safer and more secure way to get to the city.'

Fang Lin said secretly.

Moreover, Fang Lin saw the opportunity behind it and after assessing the risks, he still chose to wait and see for the time being; but in the eyes of other villagers, this was a completely useless and tedious job, and they would avoid it as much as possible, and would not even consider it if they could refuse it.

The villagers were talking at once, trying to shirk their responsibility for the allocation of quotas.

"That's enough!" Qiao Cunzheng stopped everyone and called the old men from each family, such as Fang Zuwang, the old man from the Fang family.

Obviously, big matters will be handled at small meetings, and small matters will be handled at big meetings. This is to find the person in charge of each family and finalize the candidates who will go to the provincial capital as soon as possible.

……

(End of this chapter)