Zhang Yanling and his party stayed in Zhaozhou for half a day, and then headed back to Beijing in the afternoon of the same day.
During this half-day, Zhang Yanling, riding on a simple horse, took Chen Shiyi and several other entourages around the county and beyond in order to personally confirm what the horse thief Qi Yanming said.
The result of the visit made Zhang Yanling feel extremely depressed. Although it was not exactly what Qi Yanming said, the situation was indeed very bad. The poverty of the local people was shocking.
Inside and outside the county, there is a lifeless atmosphere. In the countryside outside the city, the people are thin and shabby, their clothes are in rags, the villages are dilapidated, and the people's livelihood is in ruins.
In a village outside the city, when Zhang Yanling and others entered the village, a group of children with sallow faces and skinny faces stood there with dull faces at the entrance of the village. They were so thin that they lost their shape. When Zhang Yanling looked at them from his horse, the children were also stunned.
He looked at Zhang Yanling and others blankly, with numb expressions.
Zhang Yanling looked at those children, and her heart hurt. The images of famine in Africa that later generations saw on TV, the images of those children with big heads and thin bodies, were sad. And the appearance of these rural children from the Ming Dynasty in front of them was actually...
Not much different.
In the common people's homes, what Zhang Yanling saw was that the houses were bare and bare. The teenage girls were not even clothed and did not even have a decent set of clothes. When people came, they could only hide behind the straw curtains and not see anyone.
What is cooked in the pots and bowls of these people's homes is food mixed with wild vegetables and a small amount of grain.
The families of dignitaries in the capital would occasionally eat a meal of wild vegetables to change their taste. Just like Zhang Yanling liked to eat wild vegetable soup made by Axiu, just out of novelty. Just like the emperor of the Ming Dynasty would occasionally eat a meal of wild vegetables.
Making a show of making steamed buns means not forgetting the roots and sharing the sufferings of the people.
However, the people here rely on these unpalatable wild vegetables as their staple food. They eat these things every day.
He who is covered with silken clothes is not a sericulture person.
This situation that appeared in ancient poems has now really appeared in the Ming Dynasty, which is known as the prosperous age of China. Those who farm have no food to eat, and those who work hard have no way to survive. This will cause big problems.
What made Zhang Yanling feel more deeply was not the material hardship. What impressed Zhang Yanling deeply was the despair and hostility in the eyes of the common people. When riding a tall horse through the common people's village, the common people on the roadside looked at them.
Man, the hostility in his eyes is undisguised.
Many local people have turned into bandits. In this atmosphere and situation, it is probably not that surprising.
When people have no way out and are desperate, they will naturally take risks and risk everything.
Zhang Yanling also learned some real facts. The imperial court had indeed recently made adjustments to the horse-raising policy in Hebei. The policy of one horse for ten households had been changed to one horse for five households.
Liu Jin's policy of reforming farmland has also advanced from the clearing of farmland in border towns to the surrounding areas of Gyeongsang Province. In Hebei, actions to control refugees, encourage farming, and rectify farmland have already been carried out.
The court said it nicely, but the purpose of this action is very tempting to say, which is to let all the people have land to farm, so that they will no longer have to flee and be homeless, and they can have farmland and food to eat. The method used was initially
It means to inventory the acres of land owned by large families, clear out the acres they have annexed, and restrict them from further occupying and usurping the people's fields. The cleared acres are given to the people for farming as official land, so that the people can have land for farming.
However, this policy changed direction from the very beginning. The land clearance of large families eventually became the liquidation of some wealthy households with land in their families.
The acres of land purchased by ordinary people's families with hard work, and the tens or hundreds of acres of self-cultivated land accumulated by generations of talents were considered to be encroachments and were liquidated.
The real estates of wealthy families implement the policy of paying taxes on a 1-in-30 basis introduced by Liu Jin. This was something that the nobles and nobles expressed their indignation about at the beginning, but now it has gained the support of these people. The reason is
, after paying a negligible amount of tax, the court promised to solve the problem of uncultivated land for them.
Therefore, the so-called clearing out of the occupied land eventually evolved into a joint effort between the court and the big landowners. The big landowners paid a small amount of tax in exchange for the court forcing the people to become tenants for them to exploit. At most, they could only transfer some of the land that could not be cultivated.
Handing over the mountains and wasteland is just a formality.
On the one hand, it sounds good to distribute some of the cleared acres of land to the common people as official land. But in fact, these so-called official lands are actually another kind of private estates. The common people do not become yeoman farmers, but become other people.
One form of tenantry, another form of exploitation.
On the other hand, the government came forward to arrest a large number of refugees and force them to farm. Even official land was limited, so becoming tenants for the big landowners again became another option that they could not refuse.
Because they paid taxes to the court, or were forced to hand over part of their land. In order to make up for the losses, all these were passed on to the tenant farmers. The livelihood of the tenant farmers who were already exploited was difficult, and now it is even worse.
Originally, farmers who lost their land after going bankrupt still had the basic freedom to choose between being tenants and refugees. But now, they no longer even have the freedom to become refugees.
The court gives you land to farm, but you have to live outside. This is an act of idleness and laziness. If the court gives you land and you don’t farm it, you are being unruly and not being a good citizen. That is absolutely not allowed.
.
After such an operation, the so-called land clearing reform finally destroyed a large number of homesteaders who still had some land at home. Because what was really cleared were the acres they had worked hard to purchase for their own cultivation.
The big landowners were not harmed at all. Under the heavy pressure of the government, the captured refugees became their tenants. Any money or losses they paid to the court were passed on to the tenants.
In the end, the court seemed to have benefited because it received a lot of money and taxes. The owners of the large estates were unscathed and even legally had the power to control the freedom of the tenant farmers. The yeoman farmers were unlucky. The acres they had worked hard to accumulate were cleared and they were on the verge of bankruptcy. The tenant farmers were on the verge of bankruptcy.
They were exploited even more severely and even lost the freedom to wander as refugees.
After this series of operations, the people who had already exhausted all their energy were scratched alive again. The last oil and water were squeezed out.
You can't survive, you can't escape, you have no place to complain about your grievances, and you have no place to talk about your sufferings. This is probably the most miserable situation.
In the afternoon, Zhang Yanling led his army to set off. Passing by the Mi River in the north of the city, Zhang Yanling saw the ancient bridge that was extremely famous in later generations. The stone bridge, which later generations called the "Zhaozhou Bridge", spanned both sides of the Mi River. It was simple and dignified, and it was impressive.
Marvel.
Riding his horse and standing on this stone bridge, which is actually called Anji Bridge, Zhang Yanling felt quite emotional as he watched the winding river passing through the city and the scenery slowly flowing.
This ancient bridge was built in the Sui Dynasty, a thousand years ago. Over the course of thousands of years, it has experienced wind and rain, erosion by floods, and the invasion of ice, frost, snow, and rain, but it has remained standing. In the following hundreds of years, it will be
will still stand here.
Over so many long years, it has witnessed the joys and sorrows of countless people, and has also witnessed the changes of so many dynasties. From a certain perspective, as a stone bridge, it has lasted longer than those grand and prosperous times.
.Even the greatest dynasty could not live as long as this bridge.
Therefore, the prosperous age that seems to be powerful is actually very fragile and vulnerable when you think about it. The collapse of the gorgeous building actually only happened in an instant. In the end, they may not even have a stone bridge that can last as long as they did.
Although the Ming Dynasty is now known as the prosperous age of China, Zhang Yanling has already seen signs of its collapse in Zhaozhou. What he saw here shocked Zhang Yanling greatly, and made Zhang Yanling have many emotions that he had not felt before.
In fact, Zhang Yanling has not really thought about the future of the Ming Dynasty since time travel. He thinks more about his own destiny, the destiny and future of the people around him. Most of the battles in the court are for his own sake.
The starting point was profit and changing one's future personal destiny. He never thought about the future of the Ming Dynasty.
But now, Zhang Yanling has some indescribable feelings in her heart. Having traveled here, she has been integrated into the magnificent historical stream of the Ming Dynasty. She cannot be separated from the Ming Dynasty. And the fate of the Ming Dynasty will obviously also be
Control your own destiny.
In a sense, the fate of the Ming Dynasty is the premise of personal destiny. How can I not care about its fate and future when I live in this dynasty? How can I not be affected by the fate of people who also live in the same time and space?
.
Everything about me is actually inseparable from the Ming Dynasty. We cannot ignore its demise and remain indifferent. Although from a more grand perspective, the Ming Dynasty cannot exist forever. But from a personal perspective, I still hope that the Ming Dynasty can
The destiny of a country is long-term. Whether it is the humiliation of being ruled by foreigners in later generations or the vicissitudes of life in the next few hundred years, it is actually related to everything in front of us.
You can't live in your own world, and you can't just focus on your own destiny and personal interests. Since you have traveled through time, you may have a certain mission, or you may be able to do something.
Publicly and privately, in terms of the overall situation and personal emotions, you should do something.
What happened here in Zhaozhou is a microcosm of Zhending Mansion and even Hebei. The matter is already very serious, and a bigger storm may be coming. If you turn a blind eye, it will be a kind of depravity.
Doing something for the Ming Dynasty and the people may be the meaning of becoming the chosen time traveler.
Zhang Yanling rode his horse and stood on the Zhaozhou Bridge, watching the water of the Mihe River flowing slowly under his feet and the desolate scene in Zhaozhou City. He had many thoughts in his mind, which were messy and complicated.
However, Zhang Yanling figured something out. He was responsible for this era, and he must also be responsible for the people of this era. He could not let the situation in front of him develop. It was time to do something for the country and the people.