golden scales

Zhang Shiqi wondered: Could it be that my official voice is already so loud?There are still people rushing to work.It's fine if it's just one side's appeasement, how come you have this kind of treatment when you just became the magistrate?

Hou Fangyu thought that Zhang Laoming's family thought that his reputation as a student was low, so he hurriedly said: "The student entered school at the age of 16. Although the examination was wasted, he also learned about money, grain and land from his father." When Hou Xun was the secretary of the household department, Hou Fangyu went to Beijing to serve his father, and once wrote tens of thousands of words about farming, as a program for the Ministry of Households to guide farming across the country-judging from the current situation, the role of this document is very limited.

In any case, Hou Fangyu jumped from a provincial and ministerial secretary to a prefectural and municipal secretary, which greatly increased his job-seeking success rate.

But Zhang Shiqi didn't know, he was still thinking about the purpose of this Mr. Hou's visit this time.He didn't believe that Hou Fangyu abandoned his papers because he had no money and no future, and he saw through the examination room.But as for the deeper reason... Could it be that he also came to embrace the prince?

"Isn't Fu Zun from Henan?" Seeing that Zhang Shiqi was silent, Hou Fangyu was impetuous and took the initiative to attack.

Zhang Shiqi shook his head.

Hou Fangyu immediately followed up and said: "The student is from Henan! I learned the authentic Henan dialect from the novel. If the master wants to send people around, the student can still take it." Hou Fangyu is from Shangqiu, in the east of Henan, and Luoyang is in the west of Henan. .Although they all speak Henan Mandarin, the difference in accent is not based on reason.He bullied outsiders so he couldn't tell, so he boldly recommended himself.

But Zhang Shiqi is not indifferent to his subordinates who can speak Henan dialect.Aren't the people he brought from Ruyang all from Henan?Moreover, he is from Ruyang, who is only a hundred miles away from Luoyang.But speaking carefully, the most highly educated of these people is a student, and he is still a student who can't be mixed, otherwise who would want to go out casually?There are indeed not many students who can do it like Hou Fangyu.

"If you are allowed to interact in the officialdom, there must be no problem." Zhang Shiqi twirled his beard: "I just don't know if you have endured hardship and done practical things?"

"Minggong just take orders, the students will never say anything else!" Seeing Zhang Shiqi let go of his mouth, Hou Fangyu immediately agreed.

Zhang Shiqi nodded: "Well, I will hire you for one tael for a month first. If you are really useful, I will invite Shangfeng to make a job, and you will be considered as a member of the East Palace in the future. Oh, yes, one tael of silver It's not from me, it's also from the East Palace account, you don't need to call me Minggong."

Hou Fangyu was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly remembered that Wu Weiye had also said that private persons are forbidden in the East Palace.He had only heard about it at the time, but now that he thought about it carefully, it was probably because he was afraid that his subordinates would form a clique for personal gain.

Zhang Shiqi felt that the hot water under his feet was getting warmer, so he left Hou Fangyu for dinner, and then let him go down to rest.Hou Fangyu came from a wealthy family, and he was going to a dinner party for the lord of the government, so naturally he couldn't wear this outfit.He hurried back to his residence and saw that Wu Weiye was already drunk, so he went straight to fetch some sets of clothes and ordered someone to pack them up and carry them over.

Although "changing clothes" is also used as a taboo name for going to the toilet in the market, but among scholars, since they say "changing clothes", they must actually change their clothes, otherwise they will be ridiculed.

Zhang Shiqi's dinner was not as high-end and grand as he had imagined. Although it was a dinner with separate seats, they were all colleagues from the Eastern Palace who came from small families, and no one was as particular about it as Hou Fangyu.There are a few who are still rooted and red, and it is rare to see meat, and they don't even care about eating.Hou Fangyu was so dumbfounded that he didn't eat a few chopstick dishes until the end.

However, it is precisely because these people are not of high background that they are motivated only by a better meal.Although they all drank wine, they gathered in the office before dawn the next day, and immediately took over the yellow books sorted out by the clerks of the Luoyang Mansion, and started working without even caring about the small talk up.

Fish scale yellow books first appeared in Liangzhe, Fujian and other places in Song Dynasty.In the 14th year of Hongwu, Emperor Gao, the Taizu of the country, began to fabricate a complete and detailed yellow book suitable for the state to manage land and population, and upgraded this customary management method into a national legal system.

Among them, the yellow book is the book that records the households of each family, similar to the household registration book of later generations, and is the main basis for tax collection.Because the cover is made of yellow paper, it is called the Yellow Book.

The fish scale book is a booklet depicting the state of land ownership in each prefecture.The number of each piece of land, the name of the land owner, the number of acres of land, the boundaries of the four boundaries, and the nature and grade of the land are registered in detail in the atlas.The shape of each piece of land is also drawn into a map, and there is a comprehensive map of the land in front of each book, which looks like fish scales, so it is called "fish scale book".The basis for assessing the grain tax of each family is also in this fish scale book.

Where there is management, there will naturally be anti-management.In order to avoid burdening excessive taxes and servitude, some people hide their population and do not record it in the Yellow Book.Anyway, even if you don't have a registered permanent residence at this time, it will have no effect on the child, which causes the "distortion" of the yellow book as the age develops.

The distortion of the fish scale book is even more serious.Although the country's definition of land is only "field", the folks have developed "field skin" and "field bone".The field skin is similar to the land use and usufruct rights of later generations, while the field bone is the real land ownership.Because the change of land property needs to be registered and paid by the government, in order to save trouble and taxes, the folks only trade land skins and sign "white deeds" in private - as opposed to "red deeds" with the government's vermilion seal.

The villages and towns below have done this, and they can only acquiesce in the county.The county acquiesced, even if you want to check on the government road, you can't check it.Once an official dares to investigate, it is bound to annoy the local politicians.Because these powerful families are the ultimate beneficiaries of the land annexation, I don't know how many illegal white deeds are hidden in the secret compartment of the family, and I don't know how much food tax they evaded.

The reason why it can be called a powerful family must be that someone is an official in the court, otherwise it can only be regarded as a big family, and it may be slaughtered during the New Year.In Daming, a society with a strict bureaucratic system, any official in any position can have an influence on other officials, so it is normal for officials to protect each other. Those like Hai Rui belong to the government, so it is understandable that the influential family has great influence.

In such a tight social ecological circle, every link is a defensive front against changers.The archives obtained by Zhang Shiqi are all very different from the local reality.It was also a rule set by Emperor Taizu Gao: the imperial power should not go to the countryside, so as not to disturb the people by corrupt officials.So these people are not afraid that the new magistrate will send someone to investigate, even if they go, it will be in vain, and they may not even be able to enter the gate of the village.

Hou Fangyu worked as a "secretary" for the Minister of the Ministry of Households, and he had a comprehensive view of the fields. As soon as he got the fish scale books sent by those clerks, he knew that there were serious fakes in them.He was ecstatic in his heart, and finally suppressed it, he went to Zhang Shiqi, listed the doubts he found one by one, made a gesture of righteous indignation, and said: "Master, these people are deliberately plotting to kill!"

Zhang Shiqi took Hou Fangyu's manuscript, glanced at it, threw it on the table, and said with a smile: "Whether there is a plot to annihilate, how can it be determined based on one side of the story? In this way, you take my name card to see those in the Luoyang mansion." For the big family, let them make a note about the authenticity of this fish scale album. If there is any inconsistency, let them present their own evidence to show that the government is just and strict."

Hou Fangyu was taken aback for a moment, and thought to himself: Is it possible that Master Fu Zun has lost his mind?All these doubts are due to the intentional concealment of the land property by the big family in order to pay less grain tax.Who is willing to admit more?Still let them note?Will they admit it to themselves?

"Well, it's better to write an official notice and send it to the counties. If there is any objection, it must be sent to the government office within five days. The date of receipt by the government office shall prevail. After five days, the government office will not recognize it at all." Zhang Shiqi still laughed. **Looking at Hou Fangyu: "I will leave this matter to you, and I will also test your writing skills."

Hou Fangyu's writing style has always been sharp and concise, which is most suitable for writing official documents, and he is not pretentious at the moment. He wrote hundreds of words in just a cup of tea, and explained the ins and outs of the whole thing clearly, and sent it to Zhang Shiqi.

Zhang Shiqi is not good at contemporary writing, but he is an expert at writing official documents. Seeing that Hou Fangyu wrote it with his own thoughts, he only changed two or three words and allowed it to be published.

The clerks of the various houses soon learned of the moth caused by the new lord of the house, and they ran around on the surface, collecting confirmation letters from rich and powerful families, and cooperated with each other, but they already laughed in the back. Winter baking can be bullied. (To be continued.)