On the second day of February in the fifth year of Chongzhen, Liu Chengzong stood on the west bank of the Dadu River wearing a long robe, looking at the endless ripe land, feeling worried in his heart.
Sowing will be done in another month. He got enough seeds from Muyana, but not enough manpower to cultivate them.
Even if Zhang Yuanheng's work goes smoothly, the Songpan Guards Banner Army will not be able to cross the swamp until at least May. Relying on merchants to recruit Sichuan people, it will probably take that time to see results.
He has made up his mind, but if it doesn't work out, he will sow the cultivated land here with the escort, and when the people come, he will lease it to the people for cultivation on a permanent basis.
Just when Liu Chengzong was worried, across the shallow Dadu River, he saw two huge figures on the other side, stopping on the grass beach.
The two figures are about ten feet tall, square and have sticks growing out, which makes people look very surprised.
Liu Chengzong walked along the river bank for a while, and then he saw that the two strange-looking guys were actually two porters who were resting with wooden furniture on their backs.
Because the two of them seemed to have buns on their heads, he sent a team of horsemen across the Dadu River, which had not yet swollen, and invited the two over.
The two porters were frightened. They were the first to see the horse soldiers crossing the river and wanted to run away, but they could not run with two legs and four legs, so they had to pull out the wooden sticks supporting the cargo and tried to resist. In the end, they found that the wooden sticks could not beat the fast horses and the light swords, so they were led away.
Come here.
The two of them were not very tall, with very strong builds, thin clothes and dark skin. When they came over, they fell to the ground and said, "Sir, I wonder what crime this villain has committed?"
Oh, as soon as Liu Chengzong heard these words, he knew that the two of them had lots of dealings with the government and the army.
The term "chief" has been around since the pre-Qin Dynasty, and it has long been a literal meaning. It means a superior or a leader of officials. After the changes of the times, there have been more titles for superior officials, and the term has gradually spread to the army.
In addition to subordinates directly under the Central Government calling Shangguan "Sir", it is usually used to address soldiers who do not know their rank or official position.
"Don't be afraid. I'm Liu Chengzong. I'm calling you here just to ask questions. I won't harm your lives." Liu Chengzong said: "What are your names, where are you from, and where are you going with your things on your back?"
The two looked at each other, both confused by the unfamiliar name Liu Chengzong.
One of them said: "Both the villains Hu Xiao and Wang Dong are porters in Mingshan County, Yazhou. They are hired to carry tables and chairs to Dajian Stove. I hope the superior will do it conveniently and let us enter the furnace city."
"Mingshan County in Yazhou." Liu Chengzong recalled Muya's map in his mind and asked: "It's more than three hundred miles away from here, right? The furniture you are carrying doesn't look light. How much does it weigh?"
"More than two hundred kilograms." The two of them stooped slightly. Hu Xiao, who spoke first, said with a flattering look: "Not three hundred, but more than two hundred miles."
More than two hundred kilograms, more than two hundred miles.
Liu Chengzong looked at the two of them and asked, "How much do you earn from a trip?"
"Two coins, two coins per person." Hu Xiao glanced at Wang Dong and said, "We can have such a big job two or three times a year. On weekdays, we push a wheelbarrow and barely support our family."
Liu Chengzong nodded slowly. Both of them were very strong and strong, but at a glance it was clear that they were not soldiers.
There are many types of people's strength. Those who are good at bow-drawing have broad shoulders and broad backs. People with strong skills like this are usually of a stature, and may even have their hands behind their backs, and their shoulders and hips are as wide as each other.
Their bodies really only have muscles and almost no fat. This kind of body shape cannot tolerate hunger, or in other words, people with this kind of body shape are born from hunger.
Liu Chengzong needed such a strong man, so he said: "It costs two yuan for a trip, you two can't farm?"
Hu Xiao and Wang Dong looked at each other, shook their heads and said, "We have rented some fields, but we can't feed our children."
"The land in Sichuan is very good, but you can't afford to raise a family?"
"If you can't afford it, the rent is 64 cents. The harvest will be given to the master first, and the rest will be handed over to the court, and then to the county government. Finally, during the holidays, I will give the master a pig leg and a live chicken."
Hu Xiao shook his head and said: "Actually, it's harder than us earning a living."
Liu Chengzong thought about Hu Xiao's calculations in his mind, and if he paid 40% of his income for land tax and apportionment, the harvest from the last acre of land would probably be less than 11%.
Sichuan's land tax is notoriously heavy. The main reason is that there is no Ding Yin in Sichuan. After the Great War in the early Yuan Dynasty, only one out of ten people in Sichuan survived. Since then, it has always been a sparsely populated place.
Therefore, Dingyin in Sichuan is directly incorporated into the land tax by the government, so the tax paid per mu of land is higher than in other provinces.
In this era, despite the hard work and meager income, expenses can be reduced to the greatest extent. After all, not paying land tax in Sichuan means that Ding Yin does not have to pay either.
Due to the increase and decrease, the porter even earns more than the tenant.
Liu Chengzong didn't speak for a long time, then paused for a moment and asked: "In your place, there are so many people like you, I mean people who have no land and are not tenants."
Liu Chengzong didn't feel it himself, but these words were actually scary to Hu Xiao's ears.
This place is west of Changhe. The two of them saw some soldiers scattered in the fields. After asking a few questions, they asked if there were many people without land in their hometown.
What do the two of you think?
It's easy to have bad associations, such as depriving them of food, for example, attacking Yazhou and letting them serve as internal response.
This point in time may be the time when people in Sichuan are least willing to serve as soldiers.
Unless there are extreme conditions like the severe drought in Shaanxi, people have their own ambitions, and it is difficult for everyone to want to be a soldier and eat food... Moreover, at this juncture of the Ming Dynasty, being a soldier may not necessarily be able to eat food. p>
Sichuan has been fighting wars for many years, and those who are willing to serve as soldiers have become soldiers. Those who have not yet become soldiers probably do not have this ambition.
Hu Xiao and Wang Dong did not have such ambitions. When they heard Liu Chengzong's words, they seemed to want to keep them as soldiers, and their heads shook like rattles.
Liu Chengzong knew at a glance that they had misunderstood, and said with a smile: "I don't want to keep you two as soldiers. There is no land here, it is all mature land. The harvest is definitely worse than the land in Sichuan, but it is a lot, and there is no tax here."
, we only charge half of the rent, do you want to come over and plant?"
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The two faced a dilemma: "This is the land of the chieftain west of Changhe River. Are there any guards?"
"There are no servants. If I need you to work, I will pay for the husband and I won't do it for nothing. There is no need to worry about safety."
Liu Chengzong said, patting the shoulder of the guard beside him: "When you come to this land, they are the ones who protect you. No one from the local chieftains around here dares to bully you. If something bad happens, I will give you an explanation." The two people understood what they were saying, but looked at Liu Chengzong's expression, but they were a little frightened... They were guessing Liu Chengzong's identity, and it sounded like they didn't take the chieftains around them seriously at all.
"My name is Liu Chengzong, from Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province. You should be able to ask about me when you return to Yazhou. I can solve any problem for you. There is mature land and raw land waiting to be opened up. I will rent as much land as you can plant. If you can come, I will rent it.
I will take in as many people as you want, and I will find oxen for the land to be farmed. That’s just one requirement.”
Liu Chengzong said: "Hurry, it's time to plant the seeds soon. If no one comes, these good lands will be delayed."
Once they heard that Liu Chengzong was not planning to detain them here, but would allow them to return to Yazhou, the two of them felt much more relaxed, and only then did they begin to consider Liu Chengzong's proposal to share the land.
In an industry, what kind of guy is the most annoying? It’s someone like Liu Chengzong, who engages in price wars without a bottom line.
Then there are landlords who have been good people for ten generations. At most, they can change the land rent to four tenants and six tenants, but the landlord cannot change the apportionment to the county government or the court's land tax.
It's great to come to Liu Chengzong's place, it's a five-year plan, no taxes are collected, and as much land as you want can be leased to cattle, which is simply impossible for landlords.
Even if the tenant has a stone in his head, he still needs to think carefully about it.
Although the conditions are excellent, after all, there are too many things to consider when leaving home.
Hu Xiao and Wang Dong bid farewell to Liu Chengzong and carried the heavy furniture to Dajianlu. Liu Chengzong thought they were walking slowly, so he fetched two mules and asked them to ride back, hoping to bring the people to him within a month.
Come here and start farming.
The two returned to their hometown and received a silver bean from their employer. After asking around, they found out what Liu Chengzong did.
The two found a large family of relatives and dozens of porters, set up a dragon gate formation, and talked about where to go.
Some people say that Liu Chengzong is a rebel, so you can't sue the officials. Let the officials go and capture Liu Chengzong, most likely for a reward of silver.
Later, someone actually went to the county government in Mingshan County, Yazhou to file a complaint, but the magistrate was so frightened that he trembled and arrested the person who complained... This person looked like a big fool.
A well-known Shan County man named Gao Yi, a native of Northern Zhili, knew the chaos in Shaanxi very well.
Because when he was young, he had a good friend named Jiang Yingchang. When Liu Chengzong broke up Heshui County, Jiang Yingchang, the magistrate of Heshui County, wrote to Gao Yi, mentioning the civil unrest in Shaanxi and Liu Chengzong's affairs, and reminded him that if the current situation was unstable, he would take the county seat.
Train the people to be strong in preparation for the invaders.
At that time, Gao Yi's reply to Jiang Yingchang was that he was at ease and even laughed at Jiang Yingchang. The famous mountain county where I worked was not afraid of bandits at all, because he was surrounded by chieftains and there were too many scary people.
Dong Bu Hanhu of Dongbu, Gao Jitai, chieftain of Tianquan, and Yang Zhiming, the Sixth Recruitment Envoy, who is easy to get along with? If the peasant army passes through many obstacles and hits him, it will be useless no matter how much training they have to strengthen the people. p>
As a result, Liu Chengzong really came, and it was truly a dream come true.
The county magistrate was so shocked by the news that he deliberately called the two porters to the county government office to ask about the situation. Liu Chengzong was clearly in Qinghai, so why did he come to Sichuan?
Gao Yi, the county magistrate, made a fool of himself and sent the government servants who were looking for the porters to report that they could not be found. Not only the two porters, but also all the porters and their families in the county were missing. Hundreds of people were missing from the county. p>
This has caused great distress in Kochi County and Mingshan County. They do not pay attention to training the people's strength. Even the third shift of government officials does not recruit many because there are few things to do. If there is a problem, they can't even form a team.
With no other choice, Gao Yi could only borrow more than thirty servants from several publishers with big surnames and ride a fast horse to chase them all the way.
The result was absolutely unexpected. The porter did not come back, and the thirty or so horse-riding servants did not come back either. This incident made Kochi County so anxious that it wanted to slap itself in the lobby of the government office.
Why do you think you should be meddling in such nosy business? Well, it's not a big deal to be a porter at first, but now it's good. He owes the bookkeepers more than thirty horses. If he insists on repaying this matter,
Three years of county magistrate work was in vain.
Kochi County is definitely not an upright official, but it is not an excessively corrupt one either. They should be diligent in the work they should do, shirk the work they shouldn't do, accept the gifts they should receive, and don't accept the gifts they dare not accept.
Sometimes he is a good person, sometimes he is not a good person.
When it comes to family wealth, it's not huge, but it's more than thirty horses, and I can afford to pay it back... But there's a problem. Kochi County is a cultured and stylish official, and he never accepts real money.
At this moment, Gao Yi was so regretful that his intestines were green. When he needed money, he had a bunch of bottles and cans at home, none of which he could sell.
The top intelligence organization in the world is an old man and an old woman basking in the sun in the evening. The old man is responsible for national affairs, and the old woman is responsible for interpersonal relationships. With the two swords combined, the Imperial Guards of the Emperor of Heaven have to stand back a little.
If someone in Kochi County dares to sell the bottles and cans at home today, the news will be spread among the neighbors tomorrow by old men and old ladies. Besides, more than thirty horses is indeed not a small amount, and he is reluctant to pay the money.
For this reason, Mingshan County specially sent three government servants to Changhe West in civilian clothes, on official business in the name of detecting the thief.
In Gao Yi's mind, a set of fantasies about the future has been formed.
The extremely vicious hungry people of Shaanxi are brainwashing and training Sichuan porters, handing out swords, guns, sticks, axes, axes and hooks, and are about to attack the county town.
But on the west bank of the Dadu River, what appeared to the porters and servants was a completely different situation.
The leader of the bandits named Liu Chengzong was not vicious. In addition to being strong and powerful, his conversation was no different from that of the city sergeants. He deeply sympathized with their situation and welcomed their arrival very much.
Liu Chengzong took advantage of the time when Hu Xiao and Wang Dong ran back to Yazhou to plan raw and mature land on the west bank of the Dadu River, and planned the connected land into small pieces of land.
In some places, there is less cultivated land and more raw land, so more land is allocated; in some places, there is more cultivated land and less raw land, so less land is allocated.
Everyone is divided according to households. Even unmarried bachelors will be allocated land belonging to one household, because Liu Chengzong said that once the land is settled, the bachelors will naturally get married and they will become one household.
In order to encourage the people who had been allocated sharecropping fields to diversify their grains, Liu Chengzong took out the Marshal Tongbao sent by Nangqian and told them that the grains grown would be purchased by the officials of Luhuo County or Dajianlu in the season.
The price of grain changes with the weather. If there is no natural disaster, one stone of grain will be exchanged for 800 yuan, or 2 yuan for 400 yuan. When there is a natural disaster, the government will raise the price of grain to give more rewards to the people who grow grain.< /p>
These measures have greatly stabilized the hearts and minds of the people who have just arrived in Sichuan.
But immediately afterwards, Liu Chengzong's soldiers, with the help of the native soldiers from the west of the Yangtze River, built a fortress on the west bank of the Dadu River in a convenient area for transportation, making the people's newly soothed mood suddenly become tense again.
Even before planting seeds in the fields, the immigrants from Mingshan County felt comfortable.
Because the number of workers building the fort increased by three, they were acquaintances, and the magistrate of Mingshan sent officials to hunt them down.
