The next day, the first ray of sunlight in the early morning shone on Qingliang Mountain in Yan'an Prefecture.
The top of the pagoda on the mountain is dazzling with brilliance.
At the foot of the mountain, in Fushi City, shacks are crowded with hungry people.
The county government officials used their swords to separate the crowd, while Lifu in the city parked the grain truck loaded with millet at the gate of the city and delivered the grain to the porridge shed.
Zhang Pan, the secretary of the Household Office, said: "The county government assigned him to do the Nanguan relief work. It has been six months since 2011, right? He delivers food and porridge every day, which is the most miserable thing in the world."
He raised his head: "Now the granary is empty. If it doesn't rain in June, the porridge factory will not even be able to make bran... Twenty-seven households, how many people can you take away?"
"I have to scrape together the grain to buy the land. It is true that I don't have the ability to support people. Sir, please take as little as you can."
As soon as Liu Chengzong finished speaking, Zhang Pan raised his hand to stop him, squinted his eyes and said, "Don't put a high hat on me, I'm just a small official, Mr. Master of the book return office, I want to speak, Mr. Liu."
Are you flustered when Mr. Liu calls you?"
"Now, in late April, we have harvested beans, flax, and planted millet. Without manpower, how can you plant 2,700 acres of land? You can take a family of 100 people with you, and I will pick the land for you. I am familiar with it, and you don't have children."
Farmer."
"Hundreds of people? You are so generous and you can give me twenty-seven single families to take away. I can still think of ways to support them."
Liu Chengzong said: "Otherwise, they will have to come back in half a month, and they will not be able to feed so many people even if they eat up all the grain I grow."
If he had food, it would be good to get hundreds of people to go back and build Liujiazhuang. As long as it rains a little in June, millet seeds can be planted. If he works hard for three months, he will have enough food for the winter.
However, without enough food, the advantages of strong labor are no longer important, but the disadvantages of high food consumption are infinitely magnified.
"Liu Erlang, Mr. Zhang really can't harm you. As long as he can't lead people away, there is nothing wrong with Mr. Zhang being a favor. In fact, he must not disobey the government's order... Eighty people, twenty-seven households will receive eighty people.
, can’t be any less.”
It is indeed not Zhang Pan's fault. In this era, household registration was generally based on large families. People said that a household was similar to a modern household registration book, and a family generally had ten or more people.
For example, Liu Chengzong's family, because there are no elderly people, is considered a sparse population in Yan'an Prefecture, and there are only six people. This is because the ancestor Chengzong went out to serve as a soldier and did not get married, otherwise there would be at least ten people now.
Even among refugees, there are not many families of three.
"But it's really hard to feed a family of eighty, and even if there are a small number of people, they can't all be farmers. The old temple was destroyed by thieves, and there is no sleeping room and no farm tools. The masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths all need it."
"Well...it's not difficult to be a craftsman."
"Masons may not be found, so the government provides work-for-relief to build glazed pagodas in Yanchang County. Earlier, those who were hungry and skilled in stonemasonry were sent away. It is not difficult to find other craftsmen, but there must be no shortage of people."
Zhang Pan lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his head and said, "In this case, whether your old temple village or Liujiazhuang is called Liujiazhuang, the regular taxes will be calculated starting from next summer, and the distribution depends on God. If it rains in June, you will pay the autumn grain. If it doesn't fall in June,
Forget about the rain."
"Even if you can't help it, you still have the Fourth Master, who is better than them. The three million people in Shaanxi are struggling through the severe drought. If you can pass every test, Liu Erlang should stop refusing and let's tide over the difficulties together.
."
Speaking of this, although the number of words was still more than expected, Liu Chengzong had basically satisfied what he wanted. Knowing that there was no reason to refuse, he simply let go of his frown, cupped his fists and said, "Then please ask the clerk to write the land deed."
Draw a pledge and select twenty-seven families with eighty hungry people, and I will take them back."
Zhang Pan felt relaxed now: "I'm just waiting for your words, let's go!"
Having said that, he left a yamen servant at the porridge factory outside the city to take care of him, and took Liu Chengzong back to the county yamen with brisk steps. The field deeds were also executed particularly smoothly, and he searched through the registration files of hungry people outside the city to select hungry people for him.
Fushi County has done this very carefully.
There are porridge factories in each of the four gates outside the city. The porridge scribes will register their identities and issue wooden tags to the hungry people gathered, and they will receive porridge every day with the wooden tags.
This makes it easier to calculate the food needed for cooking porridge every day, preventing corruption and waste in the middle; it can reduce the complexity of the work of resettling hungry people by relying on files, and it is also helpful to prevent hungry people from causing chaos.
With the help of the file, it only took Zhang Pan a moment to write the official document in triplicate. He handed one copy to Liu Chengzong, then called the Yamen servant and said, "Look for Mr. Wang's son-in-law and take him to pick out the person Liu Ergong wanted. One
Wait for me outside the west gate in an hour."
Liu Chengzong wanted to get up and leave, but was stopped by Zhang Pan. He rubbed his hands and said, "Don't worry, I've picked out a few carpenters and blacksmiths for you. The hungry people are scattered in various compartments. It will take half an hour to find them. It's cold outside and the door is closed."
There's nothing urgent about the room, just sit down and leave.
In fact, the houses are not warm either. The prefect said that Wang Zuoguan was causing trouble in the south and asked me to wait for the subordinate officials to be diligent and thrifty and remove all the charcoal fuel from the Yamen..."
Zhang Pan slowly shook his head helplessly, looking like he was trying his best to restrain his desire to spit out the fragrance. He spread his hands and said: "The prefect's Yamen has spoken, and we can't even buy charcoal to burn it in the Yamen."
Liu Chengzong listened intently and smiled politely. It is not difficult to understand this kind of thing.
After all, human beings are stupid and selfish. It is normal to be lenient to oneself and strict to others. Everyone above me is equal, and it is natural for everyone below me to have a clear class.
The prefect has spoken. In order to prevent the subordinates from causing trouble for them, mid-level officials should simply stop burning charcoal.
It's just that he knows what's going on in other people's yamen. Liu Chengzong doesn't feel the need to speak up and agree, so he just nods and smiles, even if he hears it.
"Liu Erlang, you don't like to talk much either. You are just like the fourth master. The fourth master has just been transferred to Fucheng from Mizhi. He always has a straight face on weekdays and tells the yamen servants that he has not done things well. He frowned and scared the yamen servants.
All I have to do is cut off my head to apologize for my sins. I don’t feel angry and proud, so I look very much like my uncle.”
Liu Chengzong said to himself that this was the first time he met this old man, and their relationship was not good enough to discuss family history.
The office work at the front was quite normal, but as soon as the business was done, he started talking without any end, as if he had some trouble in his spare time. Liu Chengzong didn’t know what to say when he said it. He wanted to get up and leave but felt it was inappropriate, so he had to keep his eyes open.
Looking at Zhang Pan.
He vaguely felt that there was something in the county government secretary's words.
When Zhang Pan saw that he was not talking, he stood up with a smile, took out a folded document from the book file, spread it on the table, raised his hand and said: "You also have an uncle."
It was a sea arrest document sent to Yan'an Prefecture. There was no portrait, but Cai Zhongpan's physical features and accent were on it.
The document convicted him of killing eight officers and soldiers and robbing two hundred taels of silver, which was a heinous crime.
It is necessary to spread the word to villages in various places to protect themselves and take strict precautions, and those who report to the officials will be rewarded with five coins of silver.
After Liu Chengzong finished reading, Zhang Pan gently pushed the document forward: "Put it away, I don't have a charcoal basin here. The postmaster of Jinming Mayi is my family, and Yan'an Mansion cannot receive this document.
But I have something to ask your uncle for help, and I hope Liu Erlang can make a recommendation on my behalf."
-
Note: The number of household registrations refers to the statistics of Jiajing 20 years in "Shaanxi General Chronicle". The average household in Yan'an Prefecture is 12.9.