Nine hundred and sixty-fourth section save relatives (1)
When the first ray of morning light shone on Handan City, the people outside Handan City were already working.
Donggeting is an inconspicuous small village outside Handan City.
There are more than thirty households in the village.
In front of the village, there is a small stream flowing through.
The biggest landowner in the village is named Wang and is in his forties.
His family owns more than 300 acres of land.
There are several families in Donggeting who rent their land for farming.
The thing that Lao Wang is most proud of is that last year his eldest son was successfully selected by the government and entered the list of guards. This year he will go to Chang'an to show the emperor's gate.
This is the ultimate honor!
Even the villagers and tourists came to express their congratulations.
Because the current Han system stipulates that the chief of the pavilion and the village officials should be selected first among the retired soldiers.
To put it simply, now, well-organized and ranked officials such as Qiangfu and Youyou are selected through examinations and appointed by the central government.
The rural officials and pavilion chiefs under Qiangfu and Youyou must be selected first from veterans, especially disabled soldiers.
It is necessary to wait until there are indeed no veterans in the local area before the vacancies can be filled by others.
This first article still has strong local resistance.
But the second one has become an iron rule.
The lieutenants, military commanders, and noble ministers from all over the world all take this very seriously.
And the local people also expressed their obedience to this.
After all, retired soldiers are more or less fellow countrymen.
Nothing will be done too much, nor will it be too harsh.
Some people even teach villagers how to use various new technologies and equipment.
For example, the current waterwheel in Dongge Village was installed by the pavilion director who retired from the army the year before last.
Except for the main parts, which were purchased from Yantie Yamen, the rest of the items were made by the pavilion chief, organized by the carpenters and young people in the village, and then assembled with his own hands.
Ever since we had that waterwheel, we no longer had to worry about water for irrigation of our land.
Not to mention, the pavilion chief also led the big guys to build roads and dig ditches.
So much so that some people are curious.
So I asked: "Which army did you serve in?"
He replied: "Ba Shangjun!"
"Then how come you know this?"
"Because when I was in the army, my tribe was ordered to go to Longshou Canal to supervise the construction..."
All right……
The army can be used as workers.
Today is also unique.
But the changes he brought about were real.
Now, under his leadership, Dongge Village has basically eliminated those outdated wooden and stone farm tools in the past.
The chief of the pavilion, through some unknown means, obtained a batch of bronze farm tools that had been eliminated in Guanzhong and some old iron farm tools from outside at very cheap prices.
Although the people in Guanzhong no longer care about these things.
But this Dongge Pavilion in Handan is a magic weapon!
Last year, Donggeting's corn yield per mu exceeded three shi.
This was unimaginable before!
Therefore, the pavilion chief immediately gained the support of the entire pavilion.
However, Lao Wang is not included.
As usual, when Lao Wang was working in the fields, the pavilion chief came over again and started chattering: "Uncle Wang, look, can you give me an answer to what I told you last time?"
Already?"
"Uncle Wang, now, for the landowners in Guanzhong, the land rent has been reduced to 30%, but you still receive 60% of the highland rent... This is not good. They are all fellow villagers. They look up and don't see you when they look down. Don't you think so?"
Lao Wang stubbornly refused to answer.
But he knew in his heart that he couldn't resist for much longer.
Recently, a high-ranking official from Chang'an parachuted into Handan City.
It is said that this high official was once the minister next to the emperor today.
He was highly valued by the emperor. After serving as a minister for three years, he was sent to Handan County, where he became the director in charge of people's livelihood.
This Lord's surname is Gu and his given name is Ni Rou.
It is said that his uncle is still a Qianhu Hou!
The relationship is tough and the background is terrible!
As soon as Bo, the Gu master, took office, he lit the first fire.
This fire is rent reduction!
He summoned all the Qiangfu, Youyou and postal supervisors in Handan together and issued the order.
Land rents for all landlords will be reduced.
At first, everyone thought that the boss from Chang'an might have had his brain burned out or broken.
How dare you lower the land rent!?
Everyone is waiting to see his jokes.
However, no one would have thought that he would not give others a chance to laugh.
This Gu Master Bo started from the grassroots level and visited township after township to understand the big landowners with reason and affection.
Although this is not the case.
On the surface, everyone promised well, but in fact they still went their own way.
Anyway, a boss or something like that can't kill people or ransack homes!
Who is afraid of whom!
Everyone's ideas are very good.
But it's a pity that he was sent by the emperor, has strong connections and a big background.
He actually invited the censor of Handan County...
Although the censor of the county cannot control the civil affairs of Handan.
But I can only take care of the scholars from Handan to Chang'an.
Now, Gu Lord Bo has issued an order: Those who do not pay land rent will have their children banned from taking exams.
They actually listed the children of the landowners in Handan who owned more than a thousand acres of land.
Whoever fails to pay land rent will have all the children of that family unable to take the imperial examination.
There is no other way, so the big landowners can only hold their noses and lower the rent.
Of course, it's just a symbolic reduction.
It probably means that the land rent has dropped from 50% to 60% to 55% to 45%.
Everyone said privately that it was to give face to the emperor and to reduce the burden on the villagers and elders.
However, the landowners did not expect this.
This Gu Master Bo is not satisfied with such a decrease at all.
He hopes to reduce land rent to 40%.
Therefore, he resorted to a trick. He sent people to contact the generals of the various field legions of the Han army, and then persuaded the Handan-based team leaders and above-mentioned officers to go home.
Let these officers do their parents' work.
Anyway, the excuse is great and upright. Today, the Emperor loves the people as sons, and the public and others are all local celebrities. Elders, why don’t you follow the Emperor’s edict? It’s convenient for the people, and it’s convenient for yourself.
This frightened the big landowners.
They were afraid that their nephew's future would be cast into a shadow because of themselves.
As a result, the big landowners, some of whom served in the army, lowered the rent and worked hard all their lives, just to give future generations a better future?
Not to mention, even their nephews betrayed them and took the initiative to join the ranks of persuasion, presenting facts and reasoning, and publicizing the benefits of doing so.
Of course these big landowners are not stupid, and they also know that reputation is important.
We can't imitate those guys in Qilu, who only focus on squeezing the people, and end up risking their lives in it.
What's more, lowering the rent can also build your reputation and gain a good reputation, which will be beneficial to the future of future generations. You can also accumulate bad virtue and be respected by your neighbors.
If these people lower their rent, others will naturally have to follow suit.
If you don't lower the rent, the tenants may run away.
Moreover, the Gu master Bo used his connections to report to Chang'an and turned the hundreds of thousands of acres of royal land that originally belonged to King Zhao into official land, and then rented it to the people for farming with about 30% of the tax.
.
This further resulted in landlords having to lower rents.
Lao Wang is considered to be the last group of landowners in Handan County who are still resisting.
It’s not that Lao Wang doesn’t know that rent reduction is the general trend.
He was really distressed.
The land rent was suddenly reduced by 20%, which would yield dozens of kilo of corn in a year!
He is really not happy!
"Oh, if only I could have been kinder to those two boys from the Zhang family..." Every time he thought about this, Lao Wang felt heartbroken.
Lao Wang has a brother-in-law, whose surname is Zhang, who is from a neighboring village.
My brother-in-law died early, and the two children he left behind stayed at his house.
Based on the concept that other people’s children are none of my business even if they die from exhaustion.
At the beginning, Lao Wang treated those two children like dogs and pigs, and it was a common thing for them to bark and drink.
As a result, those two boys grew up.
The eldest brother immediately signed up to join the army.
At that time, being a soldier was not like it is now. If ordinary people with no connections joined the army, they would most likely be working as handymen for others.
In the army, you have to suffer all kinds of humiliation. Unless you are very lucky, you will end up with all your injuries and illnesses, alone, back home, and be alone for the rest of your life.
But, who would have imagined that the eldest brother had just joined the army and ascended the throne that same day.
Not long after the emperor came to the throne, the Wei family of North Korea was naughty and was beaten by the emperor.
Then, the boss was transferred from the Handan County soldiers to Xinhua City and became a member of the Huyi Army.
At that time, Zhang family's elder man was undoubtedly unlucky.
Everyone is saying that I am afraid that in two years, my bones will be buried in that barbaric place.
Either starve to death or freeze to death.
But who could have imagined that instead of starving to death, Zhang Dalang froze to death.
On the contrary, it was a good mix.
In the first two years, letters came and travel expenses were sent, and Erlang, who was hanging out in Handan City, was also recruited to Xinhua.
In the past few years, Lao Wang has kept hearing about how well-paid the Xinhua Huyi Army is. Even a pawn is richer than him.
I also occasionally heard news about my two nephews.
It is said that they all married Xijun and gave birth to children.
Moreover, they all marry more than one gentleman and have more than one child!
This often made Lao Wang sigh.
I regret that I was too harsh on them back then, otherwise I would be able to hug them now, and I also hate that I had a problem with my attitude back then. Otherwise, I am afraid that the two boys from the Zhang family would be able to farm the land for me with peace of mind at this moment, and I wouldn’t have to.
It's such a hard work, not to mention the headache of reducing the rent. If those two boys were still here, there would be no need to rent land to others, and they would have enough to eat, and the two boys would have to work by themselves!
He was sighing like this, hesitating whether to agree to a rent reduction.
At this time, the sound of suona suddenly came from the distant galloping road.
A team of dozens of people appeared on the horizon.
At the head were several tall horses.
These horses are all very handsome, and they look like war horses for the army at first glance.
A battle flag flutters in the air.
On the battle flag, a giant bear looks up to the sky and howls, and on the left side of the flag, a large Chinese character Zhang flutters in the wind.
The knight at the head, wearing the standard cavalry combat uniform of the Han Dynasty, rode a war horse and slowly moved forward to clear the way.
"Which big shot has returned to his hometown?" Lao Wang stood up and stared into the distance.
The pavilion chief who had been beside him also looked at the team from a distance. After identifying the colors of the battle flags for a while, he said: "With the bear as the battle flag, there are only three tribes in the world today, and those who use the standing giant bear as the flag will definitely
To protect the Yi army!"
"Three cavalry marching in parallel, this is a guard of honor for the captain of the escort army to return home and visit his relatives!" The pavilion chief said enviously: "A real man must be like this!"
"I heard that among the current five captains of the Huyi Army, there is only one who comes from a distinguished family, and the rest are all from humble backgrounds!" He said with great yearning: "Bo Gong, the governor of Anton, demoted talented people in an eclectic way. It can be seen that
A spot!"
For people who come from humble backgrounds, Bo Shi, a boss who appoints talents without regard to their background but only their abilities, is simply an angel!
Lao Wang was quite curious.
Asked: "How do you know that this is an officer returning home to protect the Yi army?"
"It's very simple..." the pavilion chief said with a smile: "The day before yesterday, Shangguan issued a document saying that a group of soldiers and officers from the Huyi Army will return to their hometown to visit their relatives in the near future. Among them, there is a school captain who was born in Handan County.
In addition, there are two Sima, both veterans of the Yi army!"
"I didn't expect that this school captain is actually my neighbor..." The pavilion chief smacked his lips and said, "Maybe, I might even know him?"
"The surname is Zhang..." He pondered for a moment and then said: "Isn't the surname of Zhang in the neighboring town of Yishui Pavilion?"
As he spoke, the team was getting closer and closer.
Soon we arrived at the intersection of Donggeting.
In the middle of the procession were two magnificent carriages.
This kind of carriage has four wheels and is driven by two horses. It travels stably. It is an emerging vehicle for nobles in recent years.
The car is decorated with carvings of swords, guns, swords and halberds that symbolize the owner's bravery and military exploits.
Unexpectedly, the team stopped in front of Lao Wang's land.
Then, the doors of the two carriages opened.
Two officers wearing armor, with majestic weapons, and tall figures appeared in front of Lao Wang and the pavilion chief.
"Uncle, sir!" The officer at the beginning held the hand of a young and beautiful woman and two or three children, and nodded slightly to Lao Wang: "Please forgive me for being in armor and not being able to show full courtesy.
…”
The other person behind the officer also smiled and greeted slightly: "Uncle, you are well, you are welcome, little Weiyang!"
Lao Wang was stunned, and his hands were trembling.
"You...you..." He could hardly believe his eyes.
The two nephews in front of him were almost unrecognizable to him.
He still remembers that when Zhang Qi went to join the army, he was only seven feet tall!
But his body is so weak that he can be blown over by the wind.
But the captain in front of him was nearly eight feet tall, with a muscular back and a strong waist, and his whole body exuded an intoxicating masculine aura.
As for the Zhang Weiyang behind him, Lao Wang remembered it more clearly.
At that time, when he set out from Handan, he was all in rags, and he had been hungry for several days.
But the man in front of him now was smiling and had the demeanor of an aristocratic scholar.
Not to mention, the people who followed these two nephews to salute him were all young girls with beautiful looks and graceful figures. Behind them, there were a few people with pigtails, peeping at everything curiously.
little child.
"Uncle, I, my son, and Weiyang, will come back to say hello to you tomorrow..." Zhang Qi smiled slightly and said, "Today, we have to go home, repair the rented house, worship our late father, and pay homage to our ancestors, so I will say goodbye to you for the time being.
!”
Lao Wang felt a little bad all over.
He remembered how he treated the two brothers, his face turned red, and he said awkwardly: "It should, it should..."
Then he couldn't help but lick his face and smile: "If your father knew that you would be here today, I'm afraid he would be smiling..." (To be continued.)
