Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The population decline in Yangzhou is very serious, and it has reached a level that alarms the new governor.

This is by no means Zhu Guoxiang’s fault, but all the big landowners are adding fuel to the flames.

Before Cai Jing resigned as prime minister, he made another order for Tian Fang.

Big landowners colluded with officials to reduce their own land.

As for small landowners and farmers, their paper land inexplicably increased. They were forced to go bankrupt and flee, and large landowners took the opportunity to annex land and swallow up the population as hidden tenants.

There were many people who fled directly into the mountains.

Even Gong Xiu, who occupied the abandoned gold mine, continued to accept fugitives. He owned several villages in the valley and the total population under his command was close to 2,000.

This kind of thing is normal in the last years of the dynasty.

There are a lot of people who are even more outrageous, and Yangzhou can only be regarded as a small trouble.

But it was said that a subordinate named Du Gongcai gave advice to the eunuch Yang Jian to track down the people's land deeds.

The method is as follows: first identify a good piece of land and confiscate it if no one claims it. If someone claims it, check the field deed. If A can produce the land deed, he will trace where he bought it from. Find out that the last landowner is B, and then ask B to name the last landowner. Check from B to C, from C to D...

After searching and searching, there is always one landowner who cannot prove the origin of the land.

As a result, the land had to be confiscated, turning the landowner into a tenant leader, and he had to pay extra land rent every year.

Landowners not only have to pay rent, but also pay regular taxes to the government!

He also designated abandoned embankments, abandoned weirs, barren mountains, and barren beaches as official land, and ordered the nearby people to farm as tenants, and how much rent they had to pay each year.

In this way, the rent of a state can be increased by more than 100,000 guan out of thin air.

Du Gongcai offered such good advice and was appreciated by Yang Jian, who was directly promoted to the position of observer.

This year Yang Jian died of illness, and eunuch Li Yan succeeded him.

Li Yan intensified his efforts, institutionalized Yang Jian's methods, set up a special organization "Xicheng Institute", and extended it to Jingdong, Jingxi, Huaixi, and Huaibei.

And they are too lazy to pretend. Whenever they encounter fertile land and the landowner's background is not good, they will confiscate the fertile land as wasteland and no longer trace the previous landowners.

Anyone who dares to appeal will be beaten to death at every turn.

Li Yan also followed Zhu Meng's example and ordered the people in the east and west of Jingdong to pay tribute, but he did not use the name Hua Shigang.

The result was that "farmers were deprived of their fields, oxen were deprived of their land, and their wealth was wasted on grass. They died of exhaustion and starvation, or even hanged themselves in the yoke."

If a good official is unwilling to cooperate, he will be dismissed immediately.

For example, Fan Liao, a military commander in Yingchang, could not bear to harm the people and failed to pay tribute in full, so he was falsely accused by Li Yan and imprisoned, and was dismissed from his post.

Of course Li Yan did not have such great energy, but he took refuge with Prime Minister Wang Fu.

Wang Fu lacked Cai Jing's financial management skills. When the treasury was empty, he could only rely on Li Yan's crooked ways to generate income.

Cao Zao is relatively conscientious. He feels that as long as the hidden fields are cleaned up, the government can pay taxes normally. With sufficient tax sources, Wang Fu does not need to engage in crooked ways.

Zhu Guoxiang is a typical example of the hidden land population in Yangzhou. As long as Zhu Guoxiang is punished, he can shake the mountain and make other big landowners pay taxes honestly!

“On the north bank are Shangbai Village and Xiabai Village.”

"On the other side of Baishitou, there used to be a small population. Zhu Xianggong took in the fugitives, reclaimed wasteland in Dayu Bay, and turned the hillsides around Dayu Bay into tea gardens. Those new tea trees have been planted for more than three years and can be started this year Picking tea. There is a small river flowing from the mountains in Dayu Bay, and the area along the river is being cleared for land cultivation."

Cao Zao hired a citizen from Xixiang County as a guide. As long as he gave enough money, there would always be someone willing to lead the way.

The area pointed to at this moment is not the core of Daming Village at all.

But at the beginning of the Zhu family's crossing, the place where Zhang Guangdao took them across the river was at the ferry on the other side of Baishitou.

In the past, there were only thirty or forty households. In recent years, fleeing households have continued to be absorbed, and the population has exploded to more than 500. Moreover, a new tea mountain was opened, which is the third tea mountain in Daming Village. Many tung oil trees were planted further upstream of the river.

"Where is... the dock?" Cao Zao was a little unsure.

The guide said: "It's a shipbuilding workshop. You can build some small boats... Hey, the workshop has become much bigger than the last time I came here."

Fishing Bay is a natural port with a small river flowing into the Han River. The widest part of the river bend is nearly 200 meters long.

There are cliffs on the west side, making it impossible to farm. People live on the east and south sides.

The shipyard is also in the south. In the past two years, they have been building small boats to practice their skills. This year, they started building "big ships" over ten meters. They also hired an experienced shipbuilding master from Xingyuan Prefecture.

Continuing eastward from Dayu Bay, there is a "no man's land" of two to three miles. The mountains are too steep for living and farming.

When the terrain slowed down a little, many residential houses appeared again, but they still did not reach the core area of ​​Daming Village.

After sailing for three or four miles, Cao Zao's eyes suddenly widened.

What the hell is that a village?

It's obviously a town!

There are four two-story buildings, and more than a dozen merchant ships are docked at the dock.

Still far away, I could smell the strong smell of wine lees.

The guide said: "There is shochu in Daming Village, which is clear and translucent. The gentry and merchants don't like it much, but the poor people like to drink it. After working hard for a day, buying two taels of shochu home can relieve the fatigue of the whole day. The shochu is very strong. , like a knife cutting one's throat, the people call it a burning knife. It is sold in three counties of Yangzhou and merchants transport it to Xingyuan Prefecture."

The liquor in Daming Village is brewed from corn and sweet potatoes, and the remaining lees from the brewing are used to feed pigs.

The brewing process was kept secret for two years, but it was eventually leaked out, and someone in Xixiang County has already tried to imitate it.

Cao Zao did not dock and continued down the Han River.

From Fishing Bay to the place where the Zhu family and his son first saw the Han River, it stretched for fourteen miles, all belonging to the territory of Daming Village.

Can this still be called a village?

Although the coast is mountainous, the arable zone is relatively narrow and there are no paddy fields in most places. But food can also be grown in mountains. In really steep places, tea trees and tung oil trees can also be grown.

"How many people are there there?" Cao Zao pointed toward the river.

The guide shook his head: "I don't know, I've never been in there."

Following this small river into the mountains is where the Zhu family and his son crossed. The BMW is still lying on the mountain.

Cao Zao asked the boatman to row into the mountains. He felt that the land was opened not long ago, and the crops were not growing well. It was probably because the land was not mature yet.

There was nothing to explore, so we took the boat back and arrived at the central pier of Daming Village.

"Where does this river lead?" Cao Zao asked.

The guide said: "It leads to the former Heifeng Village."

Further upstream of Heifeng Village, reclamation continues to go deeper. In order to ensure the safety of the villagers, village warriors were even organized to kill a tiger.

Today's Daming Village is no longer in the shape of a "T", but in the shape of an inverted "Ш".

One horizontal line represents the Han River, and three vertical lines represent three small rivers. The villagers all live along the river, and the rest of the area is surrounded by mountains.

There are more than 5,000 villagers, hundreds of whom are refugees brought from Shaanxi by Zhang Guangdao during his smuggling operations.

Xixiang County officials had long designated this large area as Daming Township, but they still used to call it Daming Village.

Cao Zao landed by boat, and goods were being moved on the dock.

The most conspicuous thing is the inn. There are more than ten people sitting in the lobby drinking tea. It seems that they are all merchants and their entourage.

A market has been formed here, with a three-meter-wide stone road and shops on both sides of the road.

Many shops are not open, and even if they are open, there will be no customers because today is not a market day.

There are also several warehouses built, all of which are owned by village cadres (Zhu Guoxiang has absolute control, and the others are small shareholders).

For example, dry goods warehouses purchase dried bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, dried sweet potatoes, dried salted fish and other dry goods, and then transport them to prefectures and counties for wholesale. Villagers have side income, and village leaders can also make money.

"Xiangong Zhu is here!" the guide reminded in a low voice.

Cao Zao turned around and saw a middle-aged man holding a little girl of five or six years old, followed by a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old.

Pedestrians on the street greeted each other with overwhelming respect.

Cao Zao thought for a while, then stepped forward and bowed: "Mr. Zhu, can you take a step to speak?"

"Who is your Excellency?" Zhu Guoxiang asked.

Cao Zao reported his identity: "Cao Zao, the governor of Yangzhou."

Zhu Guoxiang was a little surprised and replied: "It turns out to be Grand Administrator Cao. Please come and sit in the pavilion over there."

There is a pavilion outside the town for passers-by to rest and enjoy the cool air.

Cao Zao came to the pavilion and sat down. He went straight to the topic and said: "Someone reported that Mr. Zhu concealed land, privately accumulated people, and accepted runaway households."

Zhu Guoxiang said calmly: "Those are not refugees, but refugees from the famine years. Many of them even fled from Shaanxi. They couldn't survive and the government couldn't help them, so I lent them seeds and farming tools." Reclamation."

"They say I'm hiding the land, but in fact most of it is wasteland. According to the imperial decree, only the first batch of land to be cultivated needs to pay land tax, and the rest of the land has not yet reached the tax exemption period."

"As for the corvee, according to the imperial decree, the refugees from the land reclamation are exempted from the labor service. For the refugees who have passed the land reclamation period, I also advanced the money for their labor service, and I gave it to the county government every year."

Cao Zao was stunned when he heard these words, and most of the anger in his heart subsided.

He had almost forgotten that the imperial court still had such a policy because there were no officials to implement it.

Zhu Guoxiang continued: "Those refugees have become customers in the Xixiang County Government. As long as the reclaimed land reaches the age limit, they will also go to the county government to register and receive the land deed. Where do you hide the land and privately own the population?"

Cao Zao probably understood that Zhu Guoxiang must be hiding something about the land and population.

However, in strict accordance with the court policy, it is estimated that not much has been concealed, because a large amount of land has not yet reached the tax exemption period.

It's purely a BUG in the card policy.

Even so, compared to the famous families in the south, is this nothing?

Cao Zao felt that impeachment was useless. If the impeachment was successful, Wang Fu would definitely be charged with additional crimes. He didn't plan to completely rely on Wang Fu, he had to think about his reputation.

But he had to complete the tax task, otherwise it would be difficult to report to the court, and it was also his responsibility to govern the local area.

Cao Zao said: "I admire Mr. Zhu's moral character and I never believe that this happened. But should Mr. Zhu set an example and spend some money to buy money?"

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "How much?"

"A thousand stones of food!" Cao Zaoshi said loudly.

Zhu Guoxiang sneered: "If the prefect has any doubts, just send officials to check the land and population. The mountains are barren and there is really not much food to be harvested. It is impossible to buy food for a thousand stones!"

Cao Zao asked: "How much does the stall cost, sir?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Last year it was 100 guan. This year, how about paying 120 guan to save the prefect's face? As for buying money, it will be raised to 30 guan."

Cao Zao said: "It's better to do this. One hundred guan for buying money and five hundred shi for grain. After it was transferred from Xixiang County to Yangzhou, I converted it all into silver and secretly returned 70% to you. In addition, please The husband took out twenty acres of land and went to the county government to register and receive the land deed, which is considered to be cooperating with the government to check the land acres."

Does this mean that the squire's money will be collected in full, and 70% of Dean Zhu's money will be returned?

Zhu Guoxiang said: "I want to pay back 80% of it!"

"It's a deal!" Cao Zao said quickly.

To put it bluntly, what Zhu Guoxiang does is none of his business.

As long as Zhu Guoxiang is willing to cooperate and play a leading role, Cao Zao can use this as a breakthrough to quickly open up the situation in the three counties of Yangzhou.