In late July, Zhu Youjian rode in the countryside of Shuntianfu under the scorching sun.
Zhu Youjian came to check the implementation effect of the land equalization policy. So this time he still did not wear the emperor's dragon robe, but wore a set of official robes of a censor, and he only had thirty "housekeepers" with him.
Of course, in order to prevent accidents, a New Army cavalry team of 500 people was always hanging half a mile away from Zhu Youjian. If the emperor was attacked, this team of 500 people would rush forward at any time to protect the emperor.
It is already approaching the sowing period of winter wheat, and the people in the fields are busy plowing and turning over the soil in preparation for next month's autumn sowing. However, compared to those farmers in Tianjin who use agricultural machinery, the farmers in Shuntian Prefecture are much poorer.
Most of the cattle driven by farmers are skinny. There are even some farmers and women who work in pairs to drag iron plows to loosen the soil.
There are basically no irrigation facilities in the farmland. People use poles to carry water to irrigate the dry fields, which looks very hard.
Zhu Youjian was walking and looking all the way, and suddenly asked Zhang Guanghang, the new cabinet bachelor next to him: "Zhang Guanghang, this dynasty prohibits the private slaughter of cattle, why are the people still so short of cattle power? They even have to use manpower to plow the fields?"
Zhang Guanghang cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, although these cattle are not allowed to be slaughtered and many calves are born, it also requires a lot of cost to raise the cattle into cattle. Although most of the time, the cattle can be given fodder, but when they are used for farming,
Cows must be fed concentrate during those few months, otherwise they will become exhausted and die of illness.”
"The people of Shuntian Prefecture used to not have enough to eat themselves, and they did not have the financial resources to feed concentrates to their cattle."
"And among the people of Shuntianfu, there is another kind of ugliness. That is, whenever a farmer's family spends a lot of money to buy a cattle, the local powerful gentry will frequently send people to borrow the cattle. The people who raise the cattle spend money
If you raise cattle, they will often be taken over by powerful gentry, so in the end no one is willing to raise them.”
After Zhu Youjian heard Zhang Guanghang's words, he understood that this matter was ultimately caused by the chaos of social order. Cattle breeders lacked the power of cattle and naturally gradually gave up raising cattle.
Zhu You lamented: "Civil affairs are difficult!"
Zhang Guanghang raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, the 2,000 judges sent by the King of Tianjin to support Beizhili this month have been put in place. The nine prefectures and two prefectures of Beizhili have the first batch of judges, and the courts can open to handle cases. If these judges can
Handle more cattle lawsuits and help the people at the bottom keep their cattle, and then more and more people will be willing to raise cattle."
Zhu Youjian nodded and continued riding forward.
Arriving in front of a group of farmers resting on a field ridge, Zhu Youjian stopped his horse.
When the peasants saw a senior official coming, they looked at Zhu Youjian in panic. The last old peasant came out, tremblingly raised his hands and said, "Is this official here? What do you want to say?"
Zhu Youjian touched the horse's mane and asked with a smile: "Old man, how was last year's harvest?"
Unlike the people in Tianjin, the people in Beizhili were very afraid of the officials and gentry. After hearing Zhu Youjian's question, the old farmer knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zhu Youjian first.
Zhu Youjian jumped off his horse, helped the panicked old farmer on the ground, and asked: "Old man, how much grain was harvested last year, and how much grain should be handed over as a land tax?"
According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, field tax is divided into summer tax and autumn tax. The summer tax of field tax cannot be past August, and the autumn tax cannot be past February of the next year. The deadline for paying summer tax is right now, and most farmers have already paid the tax once.
The old farmer saw that Zhu Youjian was an amiable official. When he was being helped up by Zhu Youjian, the old farmer couldn't help but look at Zhu Youjian a few more times before replying: "Sir, my family has 21 acres of thin farmland. Last year, I have 21 acres of thin land."
The harvest of winter wheat yields twenty-three dan, and when the seeds are plowed out, the profit is twenty-three dan.”
As the old farmer spoke, his face became excited.
"In the past, the policemen didn't know how to calculate it, saying that my family needed to pay eight shi of land tax. My wife, an old farmer, has died of illness. I have a son and a daughter-in-law. The three of us lived on twelve shi of grain, and even made winter clothes.
There is no money."
Glancing at Zhu Youjian, the old farmer said excitedly: "But things are different now. A few days ago, I went to the city to pay the summer tax. The city clerk suddenly changed his tune and said that I only need to pay one stone and seven buckets of wheat this year.
The summer tax is three dou, and the autumn tax is one stone and four dou!"
"In this way, the three members of my family can still have a balance of more than nine stones after deducting the rations. This is more than twenty taels of silver. The extra twenty taels of silver is really turning the world upside down. All three members of my family have enough money to make winter clothes and quilts.
, I have money to buy bricks and tiles to repair the leaky house! I won’t be freezing this winter, and when it rains or snows in the future, the house won’t leak.”
The old farmer started to cry as he talked, wiping his tears hard while talking.
"I heard someone say that this is all the kindness of the emperor. It was the emperor who took pity on us little people who were naked, so he gave us a tax reduction!"
A young man next to him interrupted and said: "Old man Wei, you are right. I heard from the accountant in the city that this time it is really the emperor who has reduced taxes for us ordinary people. Originally, our taxes
It’s high because the gentry don’t pay land tax. Now all the gentry have to pay land tax, so we don’t have to pay so much!”
"It's all the emperor's kindness and kindness!"
"The Emperor is so compassionate and aware of the sufferings of the people!"
A group of farmers became excited as they talked. They suddenly bowed collectively and saluted in the direction of the capital.
Seeing that the people loved him so much, Zhu Youjian stroked his beard and smiled without saying a word.
Zhang Guanghang looked a little embarrassed and shouted loudly: "You small farmers are blind, why are you saluting to the north when the emperor is right in front of you?"
A dozen small farmers on the ridge were stunned and looked at Zhu Youjian in surprise.
In the past few months, rumors that the emperor likes to visit privately incognito have also spread throughout Beizhili. The farmers all know that the emperor is a middle-aged man with a long beard in his early forties. How can ordinary civil servants have so many tall and burly bodyguards? They looked at Zhu
Yu Jian finally realized that the Holy Emperor was not in the capital, but right in front of him.
A dozen men suddenly turned to Zhu Youjian, knelt down and kowtowed.
"Long live the Emperor!"
"Your Majesty, the emperor is benevolent and has given us tax cuts. We small farmers are very grateful!"
Three men kowtowed three times and ran excitedly towards the village. As they ran, they shouted loudly: "The emperor is here, the emperor is here! The emperor who gives us tax cuts is here!"
Zhu Youjian took a breath and cursed at Zhang Guanghang: "Old Ge is stupid. Now that you reveal my identity, I won't be able to understand the sentiments of the people."
Zhang Guanghang was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the village in the distance.
Sure enough, a hundred feet away, more than a hundred people rushed out of the village. Villagers and women ran barefoot in the fields, shouting as they ran: "The Emperor is here! The Emperor!"
"The emperor who gave us tax cuts is here!"
This time Zhu Youjian equalized the land tax in Beizhili and Shanxi, and his personal reputation reached its peak among the people. The people regarded the emperor as the holy emperor who rescued the suffering. Not only the people in this village wanted to rush over to express their admiration for the emperor.
Such was the sentiment that even the neighboring village in the distance was provoked by the evildoers, and everyone came over to kowtow to Zhu Youjian.
Zhu Youjian shook his head and secretly thought that this private visit incognito was over.
He stepped on the stirrup and got on the horse.
People poured in from all directions. They knelt in the fields and shouted long live to Zhu Youjian who was riding his horse by. The sound was like a roaring mountain and a tsunami, resounding in the sky over the plain, making everyone who heard it stand in awe.
