Thirty miles is not too far. In the afternoon, Li Tai and his party arrived at Shangyuan Township.
Shangyuan is located on the east bank of Luoshui River. Half of the territory is hilly. The mountain is named Shangyan Mountain, and it is also commonly known as Tieyan Mountain because of its shape. It is not the Shangyan Mountain where Sihao lived in seclusion in Shangshan in the early Western Han Dynasty, but this mountain
Shangyan Mountain also has historical sites from the Han Dynasty. During the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Longshou Canal that diverted Luo water for irrigation ran through here.
These surface knowledge were all told to Li Tai by the county officials who were traveling with him. The county official's name was Zheng Man. He was originally not very happy to go out of the city for business, but when he learned that Li Tai was from the Li family in Longxi, he immediately became enthusiastic.
This feeling is probably similar to those of later generations of outdoor variety shows, where passers-by would always enthusiastically help those variety show stars. In ancient times when the concept of aristocratic families was prevalent, Li Tai, who was born in the Li family of Longxi, was naturally full of celebrity and could be more easily
Be treated kindly by others.
The administrative seat of Shangyuan Township is located in Shangyang garrison on the south side of the hills. It is a small-scale dock built on the mountain. The garrison leader also serves as the township chief. The so-called township chief is just a common name and is not official.
Official title.
The three-chief system was implemented in the villages of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Five households had one neighbor chief, five neighbors had one li chief, and five li had one party chief. There was no so-called township chief.
The township chief in the Western Wei Dynasty, whose official name is the supervising class sergeant, is not a head teacher who manages classroom discipline, but a grassroots official who collects taxes. He is not a local administrative official, but is affiliated with Daxingtai.
The tax revenue was directly transferred to the military, which was also a variant of the military-first politics of the Western Wei Bafu regime.
"The land Gao Situ received was not equal land, and no rent or transfer was required. However, the country is facing a difficult time, and the Daxingtaixing style requires all the land rewarded by the ministers to donate their property to support the military, so it is necessary to pay for it here.
Report to the township supervisor."
Arriving outside the Shangyang garrison, Zheng Man explained to Li Tai again, and then came closer and whispered: "The order is new and the loss is undecided. If the farmland has a bad harvest and it is inconvenient to use it, there are ways to change it.
"
Li Tai smiled knowingly after hearing this, but he still felt strange in his heart. Is it okay for you, a civil servant, to teach me how to poach the court?
Shangyang garrison was the place where soldiers from Zuojin Township gathered for training during their leisure time. However, the late spring and early summer were busy with farming. Li Tai saw many farmers working in the fields along the way from Huazhou City, so he naturally had no time to practice martial arts.
Therefore, there were only a dozen or so slave soldiers stationed in this garrison, and even the garrison leader was not in the fort. When he stepped forward and asked, it turned out that he had gone to farm.
Under Zheng Man's repeated urging, a slave soldier reluctantly went to find the garrison master.
Everyone waited outside the garrison for more than half an hour before the garrison leader came belatedly on a horse. He was a tall, middle-aged man in his forties with a hat on his head.
There is a lot of mud on it.
"It's you Zheng Chou who comes to trouble me again and interferes with my farm work! If the harvest fails, my family will go to your house to beg for food!"
The garrison leader who looked like an old farmer pointed at Zheng Man from a distance and shouted.
"You clumsy man, don't be rude in front of the nobles! This time you come to your hometown to receive a reward from the high-ranking Situ of Kuoding Dynasty. This gentleman works in the government and is a direct descendant of the famous Li family in Longxi. He is willing to work in your hometown.
It’s to bring glory to your hometown!”
Zheng Man was also used to the vulgarity and rudeness of the villagers. He first laughed and cursed, then pointed at the garrison leader and said to Li Tai: "This one is the garrison leader here Zhou Changming. Although the description is vulgar, he is also a strong man of rural justice."
Li Tai dismounted and clasped his fists and said: "Hello, Lord Zhou, I have just come to your hometown to make a living. If your words or actions violate local customs, I hope the Lord will give you some advice."
"Longxi people? What are you doing in my hometown? I don't care what high official you are, just remember not to harm my hometown feelings. The foreign country is big and the earth is big, but this hometown also has its own rules! If those swords, guns, sticks of yours dare to attack my hometown people, A country boy is not afraid of risking his life!"
The garrison leader had obviously never heard of the Li family in Longxi, and was very resistant to Li Tai and other foreign visitors, and his words were quite rude.
Li Tai was not a self-indulgent character, so he sneered after hearing this: "A homeless person only lives with blood and a bow and a sword in his hand! If people don't bother me, I won't harm anyone. If that's true, Unfortunately, you are not harmonious. Life and death are small matters, but your mood is big!"
When the garrison leader heard this, his expression also changed. He stared straight at Li Tai, and after a few breaths, he walked straight into the fort and ignored everyone.
"This Zhou Changming's anger is not specifically against Li Lang. Since Daxingtai established the rule of Huazhou, most of the public lands in the state have been awarded to honorary ministers. The military department is arrogant and domineering, and they often fight duels with the villagers in the fields. Li Lang is a famous scholar, and he is a distinguished scholar. Nature is good at treating people, and if they don't interfere with each other, they won't harm the harmony..."
Zheng Man saw that Li Tai looked a little ugly, so he quickly stepped forward to persuade him.
After hearing this, Li Tai just nodded and said nothing. When he was poor, even Zhao Gui, a general of the Western Wei Dynasty, dared to scold and offend him. Naturally, he was not afraid of provocations from the villagers. However, leaving the city and entering the countryside was still for the sake of sinking and development. I don’t want to make the relationship with these villagers too tense.
After a while, the garrison leader Zhou Changming came out of the fort and threw a deed directly to Li Tai: "The original seventeen hectares of farmland in the north are used to plant grains in the open air, plant mulberries in the mountains, and other miscellaneous plants. If it goes against the rules of the field, don’t blame me for uprooting and destroying them according to the king’s law!”
After saying this, the garrison leader strode away.
After this unpleasant meeting and handover was over and the land deed was obtained, Li Tai rode around the fort again to observe the terrain, thinking about how to attack as quickly as possible.
Zheng Man didn't know what Li Tai had in mind, but when he saw him lingering and refusing to leave, he thought it was not a good thing, so he quickly stepped forward to persuade him: "It's getting late, and the garden property needs to be measured and recorded..."
Li Tai then turned around, waved to Buqu, and continued on his way to Fafa's countryside.
Although Shangyuan is half hilly, the hills are not barren mountains with abrupt cliffs and rocks. They are all covered with thick layers of soil, some of which have been reclaimed into fields, and those that have not been reclaimed are densely covered with vegetation.
The farm is located more than ten miles away from Shubei. On the way, we also passed a rural grass market set on a plateau. There were some elderly women selling agricultural and sideline products and some simple agricultural tools on the plateau.
Li Tai had already sensed the xenophobic sentiments of the villagers from the garrison leader Zhou Changming, and was worried that if the conflict intensified, he might not be able to buy anything he wanted, so he paused and asked Li Zhusheng to go to the plateau with a few followers to buy some village houses. Necessities, be prepared for emergencies.
Their group of 100 people marched in the countryside in a mighty manner, attracting the attention of the villagers working in the surrounding fields. Several young and bold villagers followed the group with wooden sticks in hand, looking around to find out where they were. trend.
After another half an hour, Li Tai and his party arrived at their destination, a piece of land between two slopes. Zheng Man dismounted and looked for boundary stones nearby, while Li Tai rode forward and looked at the field.
This piece of land is newly reclaimed public land by the county. The land deed states that it was reclaimed in the seventh year of Datong (the year before last). This year it was not planted due to rotational farming.
The reason why the land was cultivated by rotation was not because of the loss of soil fertility. Zheng Man explained that it was because of the defeat in Mangshan and the lack of labor force in the county. Newly reclaimed land usually had to be cultivated for three consecutive years to nourish the land. If there were sufficient manpower, even with rotational cultivation, such large areas would not be left fallow.
, but cultivate small pieces in turns.
If there are conditions for intensive farming, then farming is done ridge by ridge.
Because there was no plowing this year, a lot of weeds have grown on the ground. In the distance, there were some villagers driving pigs and sheep to graze. When they saw Li Tai and other people pouring into the fields, they drove their livestock farther away.
There were also people carrying baskets behind their backs carefully collecting pig and sheep excrement.
"The boundary stone is here!"
Zheng Man stood next to a ditch, wiping the sweat from his forehead and pointing to the stones at his feet.
Li Tai walked over quickly, looked at it briefly and then frowned: "Has this boundary stone been moved?"
The land deed states that the western boundary of this farmland is located on the east edge of the ditch, but now the boundary stone is a full mile away from the ditch, leaving more than ten acres of land, and the land is already covered with green seedlings of crops.
Not far away, several farmers were holding hoes, standing by the ditch and looking here. Others were running quickly towards the village, and kept shouting into the fields, obviously trying to shake people off.
As Li Tai frowned, Li Zhusheng and others had already put their hands on the sabers.
When Zheng Man saw this scene, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He pulled Li Tai and whispered: "Country people work hard and cherish the land. It is inevitable to feel heartbroken when they see fertile land abandoned. Since the deed defines seventeen hectares, there is no reduction in it.
I sincerely ask you, Sir, to allow me to make further measurements in a short time and create a new field register..."
Li Tai had no intention of playing tricks on the villagers. He didn't even think that the villagers' occupation of land was an abominable and unruly practice.
Ancient society had distinct classes. Compared with the aristocratic families who were polite on the surface but actually ate people without spitting out their bones, the lower-class villagers used cunning tricks to make a living, which could not be said to be morally corrupt.
If the villagers who occupied the land were willing to explain to him in a nice and friendly manner, he would never care. However, seeing that more and more villagers gathered in the ditch, and they seemed to have no intention of talking to him, he would inevitably feel a little angry.
"You guys stay here first. If anyone dares to cross the line, they will be kicked out directly!"
Li Tai gave instructions to Li Zhusheng and others, and then signaled Zheng Man to start measuring the fields.
Zheng Man brought a thick and long measuring rope, tied one end to the boundary stone, held the other end and pulled it out on horseback, which was a bit like a horse race to enclose the land. After measuring horizontally and vertically, he found that the flat land and exposed fields were twelve hectares.
The measurement of hilly and mountainous areas is a bit more troublesome. A mountain top is more than 200 meters high, and the part that can be used for farming only reaches the mountainside.
Li Tai followed Zheng Man over the mountain and saw a gentle valley with many bamboos and wild fruit trees growing in the valley. There was also a gurgling stream. The scenery was very beautiful. The eastern boundary stone was at the foot of the mountain.
.
Li Tai waded directly across the valley and stood on the opposite hillside to look at it again. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it.
When he was about to turn back, he saw the Hu man named Poyantou Paulu who was following him commanding two people to carry the boundary stone towards this direction.
"Master Lang, our exposed fields have been invaded. Zheng Zheng originally said that we should add more boundary stones elsewhere. The boundary stone can be moved a thousand steps eastward. The servant's legs are long, where should we place the boundary stone?"
Hearing what this guy said, Li Tai's mood improved. He pointed to the hillside to the east and said with a smile: "If you can cross the mountain ridge with these thousand steps, I will give you half a fat sheep tonight!"
When Poyantou Paul heard this, he was so happy that his molars were exposed, and he ran up the hillside with rapid strides, still counting the steps: "Four hundred and thirty-five, two hundred and fifty-seven..."
"
Zheng Man simply sat in front of the bamboo forest in the mountain stream and did not follow the inspection at all. Li Tai was very happy when he saw this. He raised his hand to summon Li Yantou and told him to bring two lambs bought on the plateau to Zheng Man later.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
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