Beside the official road of Mo County, a village with high earthen walls was filled with smoke. Emperor Mu pretended to be a foreigner and entered the village to stay overnight.
At first, the people in the village were quite wary of this group of people and were unwilling to let them enter the village. However, after Si Tu Xinghou took out the customs clearance documents, the people let down their vigilance and welcomed the group in.
.
A white-haired old man received the emperor and his party.
"The four guests are going to Xidu to study?"
The Marquis of Xixing hurriedly stepped forward and said: "That's right, my master wants to send my young master to Xidu to study. He passed by here. Thank you for taking me in."
"The guests are very polite, as they should be." The old man waved his hand, and then the villager brought a cup of hot water and said: "Guests, drink more hot water. There are many insects in the southern wasteland. Drinking raw water will easily get insects in your stomach.
"
Di Mu and his party were naturally not worried that mere mortals would poison them. The only thing that made them curious was that the truth behind what the father-in-law said was very novel.
Emperor Ziqi asked: "My father-in-law, you said drinking raw water will infect the body with worms. Where do you know this? Could it be Xidu?"
"Xiao Lang is worthy of being a learned man. This truth came from Xidu. It is said that it came from the mouth of the king, saying that there are tiny bugs in the water. If swallowed, the bugs will multiply in the body, and then people will
If you are sick, it will be safe to drink after the insects in the water have died after being boiled with fire.
We didn’t believe it at first, but after the military master’s repeated requests, we tried drinking hot water, and sure enough, fewer people got sick.”
The old man talked about this matter with ease and skill. It was obvious from a glance that this was not his first time showing off to a stranger.
Old Situ nodded: "That's right, that's right. If you think about it carefully, this statement makes some sense."
"That's natural. What the king said can't be false!" The old man blurted out without thinking.
This scene fell in the eyes of Emperor Mu and his party, and the four of them were immediately surprised. It had only been a year since Xi Kingdom annexed Mo County, but Xi Yunhou actually had such prestige here, and the people were so convinced of him.
"Old man, the great king you speak of is Marquis Xiyun." Di Mu asked.
"It's natural. Xi Kingdom has only one king and no second king. Now this is Mo County, not Mo Kingdom. We are all subjects of Xiyun Marquis now!" He said that he was a citizen of Xi Kingdom.
, the old man was quite proud, as if he was showing off something to a stranger.
Emperor Mu, Emperor Qi, Lao Situ, and Marquis Xixing were all in a daze, a little stunned. Before that, they had never thought that one day, an old Guizhou man would show some sense of superiority in front of them.
Emperor Ziqi was disdainful in his heart, but put on a humble smile on his face: "Old man, what are the differences between the people of Marquis Xiyun and the people of Mo Kingdom?"
"The four guests are from wealthy families. They don't know how hard it is for us to forage in the fields."
The old man chuckled: "I don't want to say anything else. In the past, when Uncle Mo was in power, people in our village would starve to death every year. But this year, as soon as the king took over Mo County, our village's life became a lot easier this year, and we were able to live a healthy life."
, In the future, life will get better year by year, even better than the lives of the Chinese people. Who among the business travelers passing by does not envy us, the people of Mo County."
Talking about this year's winter, the old man and the villagers beside him relaxed their brows, and there was not much worry on their faces. Their bodies exuded a vitality that was not seen in ordinary Guizhou people. It was a desire for a better life.
Yearning, simplicity and simplicity.
Marquis Xixing nodded slightly, and then smiled: "Congratulations to my father-in-law and all the fellow villagers."
The old man and the villagers greatly enjoyed the stranger's compliments, and for a while, the guests and hosts were very happy.
The emperor Di Mu and Lao Situ looked at each other. This simple scene shocked the two of them inexplicably. They seemed to have grasped something, but then it disappeared in a flash.
The emperor, Emperor Mu, asked: "My dear, Marquis Xiyun has been in charge of Mo County for only one year. How has your life improved so much?"
"This is true, not only in our village, but also in the ten villages and towns. At the beginning of this year, the king called on us to reclaim and farm the newly reclaimed wasteland. Not only will the newly reclaimed wasteland be exempted from rent and tax in the first year, but we will also rent farm tools for free. The most important thing is
Yes, as long as we reclaim the wasteland, we will have the contracting rights forever. The more fields we cultivate, the better our lives will be."
"Yes, your Majesty has allotted fields to us. From now on, we only need to pay taxes to your Majesty. This will reduce a lot of excessive taxes and avoid a lot of corvee labor."
"The king also gave you high-quality grain seeds, which greatly increased the yield per acre. There will be more grain than you can eat in the future!"
"Your Majesty also sent old farmers from Chishui City. They are old farmers who have produced four stones per mu. If you learn farming techniques from them, your fields will be more productive in the future."
...
When talking about the changes in the past year, the old man and the villagers behind him became interested and talked about how their lives were getting better and better.
At the end of the emperor's reign, Lao Situ and his party listened silently. During the villagers' discussion, they saw that Xiyun Hou spared no effort to encourage the people to farm mulberry trees, and provided him with various support. The support was so strong that even they couldn't help but feel a little bit.
Stunning.
For example, renting farm tools for free consumes unimaginable financial and material resources. Although the people will be able to recoup the capital after a good harvest, the initial expenses are so large that ordinary vassal states simply cannot bear it.
Another example is that newly reclaimed farmland is exempt from rent tax. This was also mentioned in Xiyun Hou's memorial. Xiyun Hou also used this as evidence to criticize the Celestial Empire's "First Acre Tax" for being too radical and not considering people's livelihood.
At the end, Emperor Mu was also quite emotional and said: "It seems that Marquis Xiyun is indeed quite good to the people."
"That's natural!" The old man nodded, with a bit of joy on his face: "I heard from business travelers who were passing by that the emperor sent envoys to determine the world's land and wanted to collect the [first-acre tax]. No matter private land or public land, one out of nine must be taken.
, This is a hardship for the common people. The taxes and corvee are already heavy, so they just hope to secretly cultivate some private fields to make a living. Now, the private fields have been turned into well fields, and the common people have no way to survive."
Old Situ asked: "Brother, is it the land of the king in the whole world? All the land in the world belongs to the emperor. It is the obligation of the people of the heaven to pay tribute to the emperor."
The old man nodded: "That is natural, but the emperor cannot ignore the life and death of the people in the world. People say that the emperor is the embodiment of benevolence."
"Ahem!"
Di Mu and his party couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when they heard the complaints from the people at the bottom.
Fortunately, after complaining, the old man changed the topic and said:
"It's better for our king to clearly contract the land to us for farming. We only need to pay rent and taxes per acre. Compared with other vassal states, life is much easier. As long as people are diligent enough and cultivate well, the more they work, the more they will gain."
It will become more and more prosperous, hehehe, I will pay tribute to the emperor this year, and our country of Xi ranks first among the princes in the world, you should all know it."
The old man was quite proud of being a native of Xi country.
At the end of the emperor's twilight, Lao Situ, Situ Xinghou, Emperor Ziqi and the others were thoughtful after hearing the words.