Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Baocheng County, Gaoyan Township.

This is the starting point of the second main canal of Shanhe Weir.

If we include the weirs and canals in Xi County, there are three main weirs in Shanhe Weir.

Team after team of farmers walked further upstream with their tools.

Some of them were sent by landlords. The landlords handed over the money and grain allocated to them, and then were responsible for sending tenants to serve as laborers. These laborers were paid uniformly by the government.

Some are self-cultivating farmers who cannot afford to pay or are reluctant to pay, so they can only hire people to dig mountains and rivers and weirs. They do not receive wages but have to take care of food.

Before dredging the weirs and canals, it is necessary to repair the three weirs and dams where Baoshui comes out of the mountain.

These three weirs are to raise the water level, and after the water is stored, three main canals are introduced for diversion irrigation. It is also necessary to build a water control device to allocate the amount of downstream water diversion by mu according to the irrigation volume of each main canal.

"If we want to irrigate the entire Hanzhong, three barrages are not enough. When the first phase of water conservancy is completed, I am afraid two or three more barrages will be added." A young man suddenly appeared at the construction site.

Fu Xingzhong was directing and dispatching when he heard this and turned around: "Who is your Excellency?"

The young man cupped his hands and said, "Zhao Fengji."

Zhao Quan, who was recognized by Ju Ming as "Water Conservancy 95", was recommended to be the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple. Because he said a few nice words to the prince, he was demoted to Suzhou to collect wine taxes.

Zhao Quan's son, Zhao Fengji, passed the Jinshi examination and was first awarded the title of Changyuan (Rongchang) county captain. He was captured by Lin Chong and Bai Qi's troops.

Zhao Fengji had lived in Daming Village for a few days and knew Bai Qi.

Zhao Fengji took out his badge: "Thanks to Mr. Zhu's respect, I am now the deputy director of the Water Conservancy Department, assisting Fu Sizheng in dredging the mountain and river weirs. My father once served as an official in Hanzhong, and he also has some knowledge of the mountain and river weirs, and has made corresponding plans. It's a pity. The people don’t trust the government, and no landlord is willing to work or pay for it.”

Fu Xingzhong couldn't figure out where this person came from, so he cupped his hands and said, "Please give me some advice."

Zhao Fengji said: "It is appropriate to increase the number of weirs to six. On the side of the main canal facing the river, two more overflow weirs must be built to prevent the main canal from diverting too much water, which will be detrimental to land irrigation in the lower reaches of the Han River. It can also be used during floods Discharge floodwaters to the Han River. Aqueducts and culverts will also be added to drain the water. Stone slabs or pebbles will be laid at the bottom of the canal as a mark of the depth of dredging every year."

Fu Xingzhong knew as soon as he heard that an expert was coming, and said quickly: "Please elaborate."

Zhao Fengji took Fu Xingzhong to several key locations and conducted on-site analysis and explanation.

After a heart-to-heart talk, Fu Xingzhong was so impressed that he started talking about his various plans.

The combination of the two will greatly increase the amount of work, require additional funding, and delay the construction period. Only the first phase of the project will have to be completed until next autumn (work must be stopped during the busy farming season).

Zhao Fengji is a thief who is cleaner than many people.

Firstly, his father has been demoted and there are no important officials in the family; secondly, he knows Zhu Guoxiang and admires him; thirdly, he can immediately participate in the construction of mountain and river weirs.

Ju Ming also captured many officials on Chengdufu Road and Zizhou Road, and 13 non-commissioned officers were willing to join him. The reason for such a large number is of course that the separatist trend has been initially established by conquering Shuzhong.

Our General Zhu doesn't want everything. Among the thirteen non-commissioned officers, five of them had such a bad reputation that they were directly chopped off to appease the people. Of the eight remaining people, Zhao Fengji was sent to Hanzhong, and the rest were arranged to serve as officials in Shuzhong.

Zhao Fengji sat on the weir and looked at the construction site in a daze, feeling that the world was so weird.

His ancestor was King Zhao Tingmei of Wei, the fourth brother of Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi. Because he was dissatisfied with Zhao Guangyi's succession, he secretly made many resentful words and made small moves. He was labeled as having evil intentions and was demoted to Fuling County Duke. He was placed in Fangzhou and was not allowed to run around. To put it bluntly, he was placed under house arrest.

Not even being under house arrest, he died suddenly at the age of thirty-eight.

While Zhao Guangyi burst into tears, he also revealed that the fourth brother was not the biological son of the Queen Mother, but the son of the nanny Geng, completely destroying the legitimacy of Zhao Tingmei's lineage.

Zhao Tingmei left ten sons, and the fifth son, Zhao Dejun, gave birth to eleven more sons... This extended to the two generations of Zhao Quan and Zhao Fengji. They can no longer be regarded as a clan, but are not only collateral, but also descendants of common people.

But Zhao Fengji has the blood of Zhao Song after all, so choosing to become a thief now is really nonsense.

Zhao Fengji suddenly laughed at himself and patted the dust on his butt, got up and went to assist Fu Xingzhong in his work.

Chen Dong also came to the construction site and asked a laborer who was carrying mud: "Has the land in your home been cleared?"

The servant said: "I am a tenant of Liu Yuan's wife's family, and I don't have much land."

Chen Dong asked again: "Do you ever owe Yuan Liu money or food?"

The servant said, "I owe a lot."

Chen Dong asked again: "Do you know about the order to reduce rents and interest rates?"

"What order?" The servant shook his head, "I never heard of it."

Chen Dong immediately took out his bamboo pen and by the time he added ink, the servant had already walked away carrying the mud. He quickly chased after him: "May I ask your Excellency, which county, which township, which village, which village, and which village are protected?"

The servant said: "Bao Niutang Village, No. 1 in the Second Mile of Gaoyan Township, Baocheng County, why are you asking?"

Chen Dong said: "After the Prime Minister's order to reduce rents and interest rates, the usurious loans owed to the landlords in the past will be repaid at an annual interest rate of one cent. If the interest repaid exceeds the principal, there is no need to calculate the interest, and only the principal will be repaid. The interest repaid exceeds If you get twice the principal, you don’t have to pay back anything. From next year onwards, the annual interest rate for new loans shall not exceed two and a half cents..."

The servant immediately put down the burden and said in disbelief: "Is there such a good thing?"

Chen Dong said: "This order has been issued for a month and will be implemented from New Year's Day next year, but the government should have informed the people long ago. You didn't hear the slightest news. Someone must have deliberately concealed it. I have to remember it. New Year's Day next year After that, if Liu Yuanwai does not reduce the rent and interest, you will go to Baocheng County to sue the officials. If Baocheng County does not care, go to Hanzhong Fucheng to sue the officials, and the Minister of Economic Affairs will make the decision for you."

"I will definitely go. If I can pay back a lot of money and food, I will sue the officials even if I risk my life!" The servant's eyes were gleaming.

Chen Dong asked again: "How much wages and rations can you get when you come to work this time?"

The servant said: "Two meals a day, one dry and one thin. This work is very tiring, and I don't eat much. The salary is 30 cents a day, and I will pay it after the work is done."

Chen Dong suspected that someone had withheld food and immediately went to find Fu Xingzhong.

But Fu Xingzhong said: "I asked for it. Mr. Jinglue's money and food have not been fully raised yet. There is still a lot of money and food allocated by the landlords that have not arrived, so I can only save some for the time being. I will personally eat at the dam. Keep an eye on it, there will definitely be no mistakes in rations and wages. There are still several sections of the main weir and canal being dredged, and some officials have been assigned to take charge of them. You can go there and have a look."

Chen Dong made a mistake and went to ask other servants.

After working for a long time, a farmer finally said: "My family has pledged a total of six acres of land. This time, only four acres of land are left. The remaining two acres are missing. The government has given another land deed."

Chen Dong said: "If you can't find out about this kind of thing, you can report it to the official and you can get back half of the field roots (field bones). In fact, when you marry the field, you should tell the official that you will automatically get half of the fields."

This is a problem left over from history. In order to quickly clear up the land, Zhu Guoxiang asked the officials to cut through the mess quickly, and those who could not be found out could be dealt with half by one person.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, it was also planned to establish a land grant system. In principle, all land belonged to the imperial court.

But the resistance is too great to succeed.

As a result, the land that had been returned to the state was leased to farmers for farming, and the remaining private land was given land deeds. As time went by, farmers who farmed official land on a shareholding basis automatically gained permanent sharecropping rights.

However, official fields were often given to civil and military officials. The civil and military officials obtained ownership rights but could not obtain the right to use them. This gave rise to the first batch of "one field and two owners", which were called Tiangen and Tianmian in the Song Dynasty, and Tiangu and Tianpi in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In order to obtain funds for the start-up of the reform, Wang Anshi sold a large number of official land roots and fully privatized "one field and two owners".

At the same time, many landowners who owned complete properties encountered difficulties and wanted to raise funds, but were unwilling to sell their properties completely. Therefore, the right to use the land is sold, which is called "pawn sale".

Pawn sales generally have a limited number of years, and the owner of the land who owns the land can forcibly redeem the use rights when it expires, as long as he can afford the money.

If the owner of the land with the right to use it does not redeem it, he will have priority to purchase the ownership when it expires.

If the owner of the field cannot come up with the money and the owner of the field does not want to buy it, the field will be sold to relatives or neighbors first. Only if relatives or neighbors do not buy the land can other people be qualified to purchase the land.

Both field roots and fields can be resold regardless of the expiration date.

It is the obligation of land owners to pay taxes to the government, that is, land users pay taxes.

After signing a pawn sale contract, you must pay the transfer tax to the government, otherwise it will be difficult to clear the case in a lawsuit.

By the late Northern Song Dynasty, the roots and surface of a piece of land had changed hands countless times, and it was a complete mess. That's why there are so many hidden fields that evade taxes, so the eunuch Li Yan can collect rents arbitrarily, because it is difficult to confirm the ownership of most of the fields.

Zhu Guoxiang now needs to sort out the roots and surfaces of the fields when checking the acres.

For those lands whose rights cannot be confirmed due to historical issues, and if a land deed or contract can be produced, then one person can get half of it, or even it can be divided equally among multiple people.

Moreover, it is stipulated that starting from New Year's Day next year, the government will not recognize private contracts thereafter. When the land owner sells the land use rights, if he does not report the transfer to the government, the taxes on the land will still be borne by the land owner. This means that he will continue to pay taxes after selling the land. This way, confusion in the management of land registers and taxes can be avoided.

There must be countless ordinary people who have been harmed due to lack of information, but this is a labor pain, and Zhu Guoxiang will not care about it.

In addition, landowners whose field roots and field surfaces are integrated, because they own complete land properties, pay taxes according to normal land taxes. Landowners who only have land on the farmland have to pay an additional "land separation tax", which forces the landowners to have full property rights.

Chen Dong comforted the warrior for a while and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

If it weren't for rebellion, how could the land be cleared? It’s a completely confusing account!

Only by truly mastering the knife can we cut through the mess quickly.

At that time, Wang Anshi was Fang Tianling's last hope, because a large number of Tian roots were in the hands of the court.

Wang Anshi sold the government's Tian Gen. After the Tian Gen changed hands freely, even I couldn't figure it out if it was replaced by the King of Heaven. Cai Jing's plan to equalize taxes on farmland is bound to fail. Even if the grassroots officials are conscientious, they do not have the ability to straighten out the hidden fields.

Chen Dong suddenly felt that rebellion was the only way out.

(Thanks to the leader of Quqing Buyu for the reward O(∩_∩)O~)