On March 3, all the troublesome settlement and relocation matters were finally completed. How to divide the land, whether the amount of land inspected was concealed, how to drive weeds from the land, the cost of building these houses, and where did the raw materials come from?
Come on, I'm bored to death. Naoe Tadayei and Sena Ujiyoshi, who are the best at doing this, one is in Ejirixi, and the other is busy checking various data on the prefecture's inspection areas and negotiating with the small wealthy families.
No one can get away.
Without Naoe Tadayei and Sena Jiyoshi around, these chores were really annoying. Fortunately, Imagawa Kaede helped a lot, otherwise Yu Qiupei would have been exhausted like before when he had to do homework before the end of the holiday.
The city lords of several nearby cities, such as Asahina Nobuyuki of Takake Castle, etc., all sent envoys to greet Yu Qiupei. Even Okabe Gennobu of Narumi Castle reluctantly sent an envoy to talk about nothing.
A few words. Only Uden Changzhao from Dagao City still paid no attention to these matters and showed nothing.
Just when Yu Qiuping thought that he was done and could rest for a few days, Imagawa Kaede suddenly walked in with a stack of paper in his arms. She was wearing a blue kimono today, which was particularly beautiful.
"Ping," she sighed in frustration, "a lot of things happened again."
"There's something else!" Yu Qiuping roared, "It's so troublesome!" He said as he reached for the stack of paper.
"Thirty-five villages have suffered from years of war, and the people have been displaced. Many elderly people in the villages have not survived." Kaede Imagawa sighed, "In the thirty-five villages, the village chiefs of 14 villages have passed away.
Now there is no village chief and no one to maintain order, so a new village chief needs to be appointed."
"Speaking of which, how are village leaders like this usually chosen?" Yu Qiuping asked curiously.
"If someone is particularly virtuous, the lords will usually appoint him, and the people will naturally support him." Imagawa Kaede shook his head and said: "But there are not many old people in these villages. There are no big family patriarchs who can convince everyone.
.Therefore, the appointment of the village chief is very problematic."
"Is that so..." Yu Qiuping thought thoughtfully, "If the person I directly appoint cannot convince the public, will it still arouse dissatisfaction?"
"Of course yes. After all, the village chief is still very influential." Imagawa Kaede said with a smile, "Speaking of which, I read the history of the past life you were writing recently, and it mentioned a democratic referendum.
It seems quite interesting to say that in Japan at your time, the country's bureaucrats and heads of state were elected by popular vote. Let the people elect the village chief themselves, and you don't have to offend others by appointing the village chief yourself.
.”
"Eh?" Yu Qiuping was stunned for a moment, "Although that is indeed the development trend of future politics, it requires the people to be of high quality and have strong political participation, but not judgment ability." Yu Qiuping shook his head.
Shaking his head, "Even among the countries I mentioned in my previous life with the most complete democratic systems, the voting rates were not very high. What about these illiterate people? They don't care about anything, they only care about their own country.
An acre of land is divided into three parts, and you can’t tell the difference between good and bad. The candidates’ political platforms, policies, conduct, etc., they don’t know how to choose.”
"But what you said is to elect the emperor of the world. Of course the common people do not have this ability and quality." Imagawa Kaede retorted, "But if we just elect the village chief, I think it can still be done.
Yeah."
Kaede Imagawa paused and continued to explain: "First of all, the people they want to choose are all fellow villagers. They all know who are good, honest and kind people. There will be no situation where they don't know the candidates clearly.
Ah. Also, village chiefs don’t need any profound political program or anything like that. They just need to be willing to do things for everyone, repair canals, maintain law and order, and so on, and then they can win everyone’s support.”
"Even so, there will be many people who are too lazy to vote," Yu Qiuping shook his head. "They must feel that these things have nothing to do with them and their participation is not high. And some people may not believe us and think that we must all be secretive.
As for the operation, the candidate has already been decided, it’s just a formality.”
"There is no way to solve the latter. The best Ping can do is to make the process more open and transparent." Imagawa Kaede considered, "But the former still has a lot to do. Ping, aren't you planning to reduce taxes during this year's autumn harvest so that the people can rest and recuperate? Why not simply
Just say, wouldn’t it be great if only those who came to vote in the election could get tax cuts?”
"Don't say it! That's a good idea." Yu Qiuping laughed. Let's not talk about how this method will end up. Yu Qiuping himself wants to try what the result of the referendum will be, just for fun.
What's more, this referendum can indeed bring a lot of benefits. "Why don't we give it a try? Let's pilot it in a village first." Yu Qiuping called a servant, "When Lord Sena comes back, let him and a few
All ten acting officials are called, and we will formulate various regulations for the election and return."
On March 6, the regulations required for the election were completed, and the pilot village was selected as a small village called San'an Village in the south of Zhili City. There are a total of 233 people in the village. There are 97 adult males in total. Because
Most of the elderly people in the village died in the war, and there were no people in the village who were highly respected enough to convince the public.
Yu Qiuping ordered that anyone who comes to vote for the village head can be exempted from half of the grain tax during the autumn harvest this autumn. If there is no adult male in the family, a representative will be sent to vote. Those who want to run for election will be
First of all, it is necessary to obtain the guarantee of ten people, so as to prevent all cats and dogs from running for election. Since the village chief still has some power, there are probably people who want to fish in troubled waters.
As Yu Qiuping predicts, since there is no particularly prestigious person, the votes are likely to be very scattered. When voters vote, they may not pay too much attention to what those running for the election promise to do, or how to package themselves; instead, they will vote based on favors.
Vote, vote for neighbors or other people in the clan. The final result is likely to be that everyone only has a dozen or so votes, which does not have much authority.
Therefore, Yu Qiuping decided to adopt a last-minute elimination system for the election. After each round of voting, the person with the fewest votes will be eliminated, and then vote again until the last person is elected. In this way, many people will lose their popularity and support.
Therefore, we try to cast votes based on the candidates' own conditions and what they promise to do.
Since most people are illiterate, Yu Qiuping adopts a special election method. After each candidate comes to the stage to speak, he waits aside. When everyone has finished speaking, Yu Qiuping will place a box in front of each candidate. Voters
People go to vote with pre-stamped ballots, and they just walk up to the person they want to vote for and put their votes in. This kind of efficiency is naturally very inefficient. It should be possible to handle the election in a small village.
The election was scheduled for March 20, when spring plowing had basically come to an end. Yu Qiuping sent people to spread the news about the pilot in San'an Village on the 10th, and arranged for people to ask the audience for their opinions.
"Hey, Liuzi, have you heard about the election in our village?" In the evening, two farmers were walking home side by side, carrying hoes.
"Who doesn't know, Brother Shichiro?" The farmer, who was called Rokuko, put his hoe on his shoulder and moved his aching arms, "Didn't the samurai master say that if you go to participate in the election, you will be exempted from half the tax this autumn?
"
"If an ordinary samurai master said this, I would definitely not believe it, but even if I don't believe it, I still have to try my luck." The farmer who was called Shichiro said, "What's more, the county representative of our county is Yuqiu Hongye.
, doesn’t it have the reputation of a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold! It is said that at this time last year, tens of thousands of our Imagawa family’s troops surrounded the Oda family’s city, and Yuqiu Hongye made an agreement with the samurai opposite, as long as he was allowed to go to the aid of the farmers in Owari.
, he lifted the siege.”
"Hey! I've heard about this too!" Liu Zi said with a smile, "Later, His Highness Hongye really withdrew from the siege! He is such a good person with reliable words and a kind heart!"
"For the half of the food, I have to vote no matter what. Is it called this?" Shichiro doubted whether he remembered the name. "It's really interesting to vote for the village chief. The samurai adults don't know what they want to do.
.”
"Isn't it because there are no trustworthy people in the village anymore?" Liuzi sighed, "The old village chief, the third master of the East Village, and several other old men are gone. Who else in the village can speak to convince everyone.
Isn’t this something that can only be chosen?”
"I heard that your brother is going to elect the village chief?" Shichiro suddenly remembered that the brother of the sixth son seemed to have treated guests to a meal in the village a few days ago, and after the meal, he asked everyone for ten people's paintings.
"That's right! My fifth brother is a kind and honest man, so I am definitely right to choose him!" Liuzi suddenly became interested, "We neighbors have all agreed to give our votes to fifth brother!" said fifth brother.
, when he becomes the village chief, he will rebuild the mill in the village, but the old mill has long since expired."
"I haven't thought about who to vote for. Anyway, I just want the food." Qilang said nonchalantly, "I don't know how long it will take. Will it delay planting crops?"
"Come and vote for my fifth brother!" Liuzi immediately invited, "If my fifth brother can't be chosen, maybe that Niuwan from Xitou will be chosen!"
"He! He doesn't want it!" Qilang snorted immediately, "That Niuwan looks so arrogant all day long, relying on a few small coins at home, he is not good at it! I will also choose your fifth brother!"
"Okay, I'm just waiting for you to say this, Brother Qilang!"
"Oh, it's really troublesome." In the evening, a farmer complained to his wife and children while having dinner at home.
"What's that thing called election again?" The wife put a small piece of pickled radish into her mouth, mixed it with another mouthful of rice, and said, "His Royal Highness Hongye has given us tax exemption, what else are you dissatisfied with?"
"His Majesty Hongye is kind-hearted, of course I understand." The farmer sighed, "But I don't understand the election at all. I went to listen to the samurai master explain the process for three days in a row, what about voting, what
I can’t even understand elimination.”
"What should we do? If something goes wrong, what should I do if the samurai master blames me?" The wife was also a little anxious.
"I don't care," the farmer shook his head. "Anyway, I'll go and make a deposit when the time comes, and then sit there and wait. Then I'll do whatever everyone else is doing, and I'll just find a place to put my ticket, and wait until it's over.
You can go now."
"Brother Ushimaru, you are going to be the village chief!" A small banquet was being held at Ushimaru's home in the village, and dozens of neighbors were invited. Among the tables, a person stood excitedly and said,
"Please, fellow villagers, please support me Niuwan!"
People at several tables close to each other shouted "Hello" one after another, while people at other tables far away were wolfing down millet porridge and pickles, planning to eat more if they could get it for free today and skip one meal tomorrow.
Save some food for your family.
"Brother, haven't you already done the draw? What are you going to do this time?" Last time Ushimaru treated a guest and asked everyone to gather ten people for him.
“This time I’m inviting you to dinner, I’m asking you to vote for me!” Ushimaru said excitedly, “After I become the village chief, I will definitely do a good job for the villagers!”
"What are you doing? It's just to show off." Two people at a table in the distance who didn't have a good relationship with Ushimaru whispered.
"That's right, you know how to show off all day long." Another person murmured in a low voice, "Being the village chief is so majestic. If there are any disputes in the village, you have to listen to his decision. Doesn't everyone have to fawn on him?"
"The old village chief left early. How fair the old village chief was back then. Everyone believed whatever he said." The first person whispered, "This beef pill is not reliable at first glance."
Chapter completed!