Usurping the Mongols: My Father-in-Law is Genghis Khan

Chapter 108: Land Enclosure! Garrison System + Eight Banners Land Enclosure + Western Knight Manors!

If history had progressed normally, the Song-Jin war for Qin Prefecture would have occurred three years later.

At that time, both the Mongols and the Jin Dynasty were exhausted. The Song Dynasty sent three thousand elite soldiers to raid Qin Prefecture at night, hoping to seize an opportunity. However, they were taught a lesson by Shi Mozhongwen, the Jin Dynasty's military commander, and suffered a crushing defeat.

This allowed Shu Hu Gaoqi, who had already been promoted to prime minister, to see an opportunity: When I led three thousand Yan soldiers to defend Qin Prefecture, you couldn't defeat the Qin Prefecture garrison. Now that I've taken the three thousand Yan soldiers away, you still can't defeat the Qin Prefecture garrison. Are you Song people really that weak?

Therefore, Shu Hu Gaoqi persuaded the emperor and other prime ministers to formulate the "replenish the north with the south" national policy for the Jin Dynasty. In other words, we Jin can't defeat the Mongols, but can't we defeat you Song people? Everything lost to the Mongols must be recovered from the Song Dynasty.

Later, although Shu Hu Gaoqi was killed in the internal strife of the Jin Dynasty, the "replenish the north with the south" national policy he formulated continued to be implemented, and the Song-Jin war began, lasting for ten years.

Now, Zhao Shuo has changed history, not only attacking the Jin Dynasty three years in advance but also signing the Treaty of Daan with the Jin Dynasty, comparable to the Jingkang Incident. The Song Dynasty is no longer sending just three thousand elite troops to raid Qin Prefecture in a small-scale operation but is directly mobilizing an army of one hundred thousand to seize Qin Prefecture by force.

Of course, from the time Zhao Kuo's edict is transmitted from Lin'an to Chengdu, three thousand six hundred miles away, to the time when an army of one hundred thousand, mainly infantry, is assembled in Sichuan to attack Qin Prefecture, the time required will be protracted, and victory or defeat will not be seen in a short time.

Leaving aside the Song-Jin War for now, let's talk about Zhao Shuo.

Just as Zhao Kuo's edict was issued from Lin'an, Zhao Shuo led the main force, left Yehuling, and arrived outside Huan Prefecture.

Guo Baoyu, Shi Tianni, Zhang Rou, and Yan Shi, the four Han army Eight Banners Wanhu, had received orders long ago and were waiting in Huan Prefecture.

Upon learning of Zhao Shuo's arrival, they went thirty miles out of the city to greet him.

Guo Baoyu, Shi Tianni, Zhang Rou, Yan Shi, plus Ge Rile, Su He, Hai Rige, Altana, Mo Chi Bie Du Wen, He Da Hei Ba Tu'er, and Shi Mo Ming'an, who came with Zhao Shuo, were Zhao Shuo's core team.

Zhao Shuo gathered them here to discuss how to settle the Han army Eight Banners.

Among the three prefectures of Fu, Huan, and Chang, Fu Prefecture has the largest population and is the wealthiest, while Huan Prefecture has the smallest population and is the poorest. Therefore, Zhao Shuo plans to use Huan Prefecture as a pilot project for reform. If Huan Prefecture is successful, it will be extended to the other two prefectures.

Before Zhao Shuo, Shi Tianni had already been appointed as the prefect of Huan Prefecture to carry out preparatory work.

Why Shi Tianni?

Because, among the generals under Zhao Shuo, there is no doubt that Shi Tianni has the highest level of scholarship.

If there were no butterfly effect from Zhao Shuo, Shi Tianni would have participated in the Jin Dynasty's imperial examination this year and failed, lamenting: "Should a great man establish himself only by relying on writing? If I encounter a wild rooster crowing at night and have a million troops, fame and fortune can be obtained easily."

Although Shi Tianni is a failed Jinshi, that is still quite remarkable!

According to the Jin Dynasty system, before passing the Jinshi examination, one must first pass the prefectural examination.

The Jin Dynasty's imperial examination was held every three years. Each time, only about two hundred people nationwide passed the prefectural examination. Then, from these two hundred or so people, twenty to forty Jinshi were selected.

In other words, on average, less than seventy people passed the prefectural examination each year.

With Shi Tianni's level, there should be no problem in passing Tsinghua or Peking University in later generations.

"Tianni!"

After arriving at the Prefectural Governor's Office in Huan Prefecture, Zhao Shuo first convened a meeting of the generals and said, "Have you thoroughly investigated the situation in Huan Prefecture?"

"I have thoroughly investigated it," Shi Tianni said. "Huan Prefecture is nearly four hundred miles in circumference. Excluding wasteland, beaches, and woodlands, 80% is pasture, and 20% is arable land. The pasture is lush and can support millions of livestock. The arable land is relatively small, only 6.92 million mu."

"What about the population?"

"Originally, Huan Prefecture of the Jin Dynasty had ten thousand standing army households. These standing army households, plus their families, totaled about fifty thousand people. Since our army occupied Huan Prefecture, a large number of military households' families fled, and now there are only about twenty thousand left. The other ordinary people are about 428,000."

"In addition, Huan Prefecture's animal husbandry supervisor has four thousand herdsmen households, with a total population of about twenty thousand. They are only responsible for raising horses and livestock, and the grain and cloth they need for their livelihood need to be supplied by us."

Zhao Shuo pondered and said, "Let's not worry about the animal husbandry supervisor for now. They hand over horses and livestock in exchange for grain and cloth from the government, and we are generally making a profit. The current problem is the farmers. Of the 448,000 ordinary people, 430,000 must be farmers, right?

Doesn't that mean an average of sixteen mu of land per person for Huan Prefecture's 6.92 million mu of land? That's quite a lot!"

However, Shi Tianni shook his head slightly and said, "Your Highness, you don't know. Huan Prefecture has a cold climate and dry land, which is completely incomparable to our old home in Hebei. I've investigated, and except for the land near the river, the other land yields less than a hundred catties of grain per mu, and in normal years, it's only about eighty catties."

In short, Huan Prefecture is located in the area where agriculture and animal husbandry intersect, and the pasture is the most fertile. However, this arable land is actually not very suitable for growing grain, and the yield of crops per mu is extremely low.

The yield of one mu of land is eighty catties of grain, and after deducting the cost of seeds, that is only a yield of seventy catties.

Sixteen mu per person is an income of one thousand one hundred catties of grain per year.

It sounds like a lot, but the land is not evenly distributed, and the lives of the majority of the population must be very difficult.

If the court's taxes are heavier, it will be even worse.

Zhao Shuo said, "Then what about the Jin Dynasty's taxes?"

Some people with means will find ways to delay payment. People with fewer means will borrow high-interest loans to pay taxes. People with even fewer means can only sell their children, wives, and sell everything they can sell. Finally, when there is nothing left to sell, they either hang themselves or sell themselves into slavery."

Zhao Shuo said, "Then what do you think we should do about taxation?"

"This official is very embarrassed." Shi Tianni lowered his head in shame and slowly explained the difficulties.

In the past, in Yongqing, Shi Tianni thought he was both civil and military, and once he had the opportunity, he would definitely be able to become a general and a prime minister, marry the daughter of a noble family, and reach the peak of his life.

However, the first task Zhao Shuo gave him was not handled properly.

How to collect taxes?

Zhao Shuo had previously told Shi Tianni that he did not intend to let the Han army Eight Banners soldiers farm, but to let them serve as professional soldiers.

Huan Prefecture is responsible for settling Shi Tianni's Wanhu.

In this era, a family needs fifty strings of cash a year to meet their basic needs. Although the Eight Banners soldiers are not short of armor and weapons now, both armor and weapons will be damaged. In the future, the expenses required for these things will still have to come from these taxes.

In addition, soldiers need to eat meat, train, and need more supplies.

Roughly calculated, an Eight Banners soldier needs at least one hundred strings of income a year.

Seven or eight households supporting one soldier, if a tax of 30% is collected, it should be enough.

But the problem is that land is not evenly distributed.

For middle-class families, not to mention collecting 30%, even collecting 50% would be a great act of benevolent governance.

However, for the poor people who make up the majority of the population and have the least amount of land on average, making them actually pay a 30% tax would be taking their lives.

Zhao Shuo had instructed that these three prefectures of Chang, Fu, and Heng should be managed as the foundation. He couldn't let the people under his rule live in misery because of taxation, right?

Shi Tianni even thought of referring to the garrison system of the Tang Dynasty.

Simply force the people of Huan Prefecture to divide the land equally with knives. Then, directly collect taxes at a rate of 30%.

But then again, there are no talents!

Even if the land in Huan Prefecture is really divided, who will collect the taxes?

The officials of these three prefectures were all frightened by the piles of skulls and ran away.

Not to mention the Mongols, even the Han people, the vast majority of the Han army are from poor peasant backgrounds, and not many are literate. Those who are barely literate can't understand the complicated accounts and can't be tax collectors.

After explaining these difficulties, Shi Tianni was even more ashamed, his face flushed red, and he lowered his head deeply.

If he didn't know Zhao Shuo's temper, he would probably have knelt down to plead guilty long ago.

Zhao Shuo raised his chin, motioned for Shi Tianni to sit down, and said, "In fact, this is not Shi Tianni's fault. It's already very good to be able to figure out the situation in Huan Prefecture in such a short time. Come, everyone, let's talk about how Huan Prefecture should collect taxes."

"…"

Guo Baoyu, Zhang Rou, and Yan Shi looked at each other, frowning tightly.

If Shi Tianni couldn't solve the problem, they would have even less of a solution. And if the tax problem in the three prefectures couldn't be solved, it would affect the settlement of the army under their command, which was really worrying.

Not to mention those Mongol chiliarchs. If the Mongols could figure out taxes, would Temujin give the three prefectures of Fu, Huan, and Chang to Zhao Shuo?

Zhao Shuo said, "If you don't speak, I'll say a few words. In fact, taxation is not difficult. Most of the nobles on the grasslands are illiterate, but aren't they still able to collect tribute from the tribes? It's a very simple principle. Collecting taxes from many households requires specialized tax officials. But what if you only collect taxes from a few households, or a dozen households? It's easy to calculate, anyone can do it."

Shi Tianni vaguely seemed to realize something and said, "What does the Prince Consort mean is..."

Zhao Shuo said, "In the future, in Han lands, I plan to implement two systems. The first system is the military household system that you, Shi Tianni, just mentioned. In the future, as our territory expands and we have more talent, most places will definitely implement the military household system. The second system is the Eight Banners Enclosure System that we will implement in Huanzhou next."

"Enclosure? How will it be enclosed?"

"Enclosed entirely!" Zhao Shuo said, "From today onwards, all the pastures in Huanzhou will naturally belong to the government. However, all the cultivated land will belong to you, Shi Tianni, the Wanhu. Then, it will be distributed according to the size and fertility of the land. Ordinary soldiers get one share, ten-household heads get two shares, hundred-household heads get five shares, thousand-household heads get thirty shares, and ten-thousand-household heads get three hundred shares. From now on, this land will be yours!"

Shi Tianni said, "In other words, the land of the ten-household, hundred-household, thousand-household, and ten-thousand-household heads is calculated separately from the soldiers? A ten-household head, plus the nine people under his command, actually gets eleven shares of land? The land of a hundred-household head is five times that of an ordinary soldier? The land of a ten-thousand-household head is three hundred times that of an ordinary soldier?"

Zhao Shuo said, "That's right, that's what I mean."

The distribution system Zhao Shuo formulated is actually not essentially different from the Meng'an Mouke system of the Jin Dynasty, the Han Army Hereditary Lord system implemented by the Mongols in the Central Plains, the military household system of the Ming Dynasty, or even the Eight Banners Enclosure System of the Qing Dynasty.

The ten-household, hundred-household, thousand-household, and ten-thousand-household heads of the Han Army Eight Banners were in charge of military affairs and also served as tax collectors.

The soldiers of the Han Army Eight Banners, on the other hand, obtained the cultivated land that the Han people valued most.

Those with fixed property have a constant heart. Only by truly distributing the land to the soldiers can the soldiers explode with amazing combat power.

However, as long as the world is peaceful for a long time and the population grows, problems will definitely arise.

However, how could Emperor Taizu Wanyan Aguda of the Jin Dynasty, Emperor Taizong Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, or Emperor Taizong Hong Taiji of the Qing Dynasty be fools?

To put it bluntly, this thing is really effective for conquering the world!

As for after taking the world? Then change it slowly, there is no system in the world that works once and for all.

The newest novels are first published on Liu 9 Shu Ba!

Moreover, Zhao Shuo wants to conquer the entire world.

No matter how fast the population explodes, it cannot be as fast as the expansion of Zhao Shuo's power. There is too much empty land on this earth.

Zhao Shuo will lead the most elite Han and Mongolian warriors to Central Asia, West Asia, Europe, Africa, and North and South America to occupy countless lands.

With so much land, are you still afraid that there won't be enough to divide?

In addition, Zhao Shuo also plans to adapt to local conditions and concentrate either ten households, or twenty or thirty households, or even a hundred households together to establish a large manor.

In this way, the manor can brew wine, brew vinegar, establish mills, raise chickens and ducks, and plant some cash crops... it has a bit of the flavor of a Western aristocratic manor.

In this way, both farmers and Eight Banners soldiers can obtain much more income than initially calculated.

Of course, this meeting is just to talk about the general outline, and the details will be supplemented slowly in the future.

Zhao Shuo said, "Is there anything else you don't understand?"

"What about the original owners of the land?" Before Shi Tianni could speak, Zhang Rou asked with concern.

Yan Shi also said, "That's right, those wealthy households are fine. But the common people already have a difficult life, is it not good to seize their land again?"

Guo Baoyu was meticulous and said, "Does the Prince Consort mean to let these common people rent the land of the Han Army Zhenghuang Banner again?"

Shi Tianni said, "How much should we set the land rent?"

Very good!

Zhao Shuo nodded secretly in his heart after hearing their questions.

If it were an ordinary person, upon hearing that the land of a state was given to them, they would definitely be overjoyed and couldn't wait to run around and enclose land immediately.

However, Zhang Rou and Yan Shi have a chivalrous spirit and like to stand up for the oppressed, so they first think of the livelihood of the common people.

Guo Baoyu and Shi Tianni also carefully considered the details, and did not show any greed at all.

Worthy of being famous figures in history, people who can do great things with Zhao Shuo!

Zhao Shuo said, "Let's set it at 40%. The common people have lost their land, but they can either make a living in other ways or rent your land. Of which, 30% goes to you, and 10% goes to me. The remaining 60% is for the common people. What do you think?"

"Perfectly acceptable," Shi Tianni calculated the accounts in the blink of an eye, and said, "On average, about seven households support one soldier, and the soldier's income is three times that of an ordinary farmer. They have to provide their own armor, weapons, and horses, and they have to undergo training, so the expenses are actually quite a lot.

Therefore, their real income is only twice that of ordinary farmers.

The soldiers are doing a business of licking blood from the knife's edge, but ordinary farmers have no worries about their lives, so this distribution is already very fair.

And the farmers, one person has 1,100 catties of grain a year. If they pay 40% tax, then one person still has 660 catties of grain, which can also satisfy their basic needs."

660 catties of grain is of course not much to solve the problem of food and clothing.

But it is definitely not too little.

In modern society, before the reform and opening up, the rations for special heavy manual laborers were only 50 catties a month, or 600 catties a year.

The rations for light manual laborers and children are about 30 catties a month, or 360 catties a year.

The saved grain can be used to buy clothes, buy some farm tools, etc.

Moreover, Huanzhou has a lot of livestock.

With the participation of these large livestock, there is actually not much heavy manual labor.

"660 catties of grain a year is enough!" Zhang Rou, who knows the hardships of the bottom, was overjoyed and said, "If it were in Hebei, if there really was 660 catties of grain a year for one person, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to pull over 800 people, let alone 3,000."

Yan Shi was also very happy and said, "Although their land has been taken away, as long as this income is not too different, I dare to guarantee that most of the people will be overjoyed. The only fear is that after a long time, some brothers will be greedy..."

Zhang Rou sneered slightly and said, "Originally they were still poverty-stricken farmers. Now, they have money, they have women, and there are seven households supporting them. If they are still greedy, it means they think the thing on their neck is too obstructive, let's move it for them!"

Guo Baoyu said, "We also have to worry about those wealthy households and powerful people. In this way, they have suffered a great loss, and it is said that they will suffer a great loss."

Zhao Shuo didn't care and said, "The Eight Banners Enclosure System is imperative, if anyone refuses to obey, I don't mind killing them until the blood flows like a river."

In the following month, the enclosure movement in Huanzhou was in full swing.

Because this place was too poor, and many wealthy households had fled during the previous war, there were not many bloody incidents that could really trigger the army to suppress them.

That is, more than 300 heads were chopped off, and the enclosure was completed.

The situation in Changzhou was different from that in Huanzhou.

Changzhou's area is far less than that of Huanzhou, but the cultivated land is much more than that of Huanzhou. Zhao Shuo took 1.8 million mu as official land, and the remaining 6.92 million mu were distributed to Guo Baoyu's Zhenghong Banner.

Because Changzhou was rich, there were many more wealthy households and local tyrants left behind. Guo Baoyu chopped off more than 500 heads before dividing the land.

Then, it was the most prosperous Fuzhou.

There was too much cultivated land in Fuzhou, and it was more than enough to accommodate Zhang Rou's Zhenglan Banner, Yan Shi's Zhenghei Banner, and half of the Xianghong Banner by 1.37 million mu.

This 1.37 million mu was also incorporated into Zhao Shuo's official land.

The resistance in Fuzhou was also the most fierce. Nearly 2,000 heads fell before suppressing all the dissatisfaction of those original wealthy households.

Of course, the vast majority of the people not only did not have any dissatisfaction, but were overjoyed.

First, the government directly issued relief grain to the too poor farmers, as long as they pay it back with 10% interest after the autumn harvest next year.

Second, although the nominal land is gone, the actual land that can be cultivated has increased a lot, and the original income of 70% must be paid out, but now only 40% needs to be paid.

Is there such a good thing in the world? What does it matter whether these lands are nominally their own?

Moreover, farmers want to have their own land, and there are ways to do it, they can practice martial arts diligently and join the army!

The Prince Consort still has more than 3 million mu of official land that has not been divided.

I'm not afraid of you dividing the land, I'm afraid you don't have the ability.

This kind of day, it's simply enough to make people laugh when they think about it, everyone thanks the Prince Consort for his great kindness.

As for the Jin Dynasty court? What is that, can it be eaten?

Of course, the happiest people are the Eight Banners soldiers.

Ordinary Han Army Eight Banners soldiers, since joining the army, have made a fortune in the Battle of Zhongdu, and almost everyone has started a family. Now they have been divided into land and become landlords.

Who had thought of such a good life before joining the army?

Although the actual income is only twice that of ordinary farmers, there are still spoils of war to be distributed during battles!

These are just basic treatments, if you want to make a fortune, you still have to rely on war!

During the Battle of Zhongdu, didn't everyone make a fortune?