The village is hazy and the distant mountains are barely visible.
There are crystal dewdrops on the wheat seedlings in the fields.
Yunshan Camp at the foot of Yunshan Mountain was built in the early Ming Dynasty. It was originally the barracks to protect the tomb of the second generation King Lu. It was named Yunshan Camp because it was located at the foot of Yunshan Mountain. Nowadays, the barracks has disappeared, leaving only a village and the royal palace on the mountain.
Mausoleum.
There are more than 1,700 acres of cultivated land, more than 800 acres of forest land, and more than 300 households of villagers. They were all tenants of the village in Prince Lu's mansion. Now each household is allocated six acres of cultivated land. The emperor set up Yun Villa and left nine acres of land.
100 acres, with more than 800 acres of spare land, and more than 1,600 acres of land allocated from the surrounding original Wangzhuang, and sold to the villagers at a different price.
More than 400 villagers have formed a commune with Yunshan Huangzhuang, with four large communes and twenty small communes below.
Sun Maizi is an honest farmer. He is in his fifties this year. He has three brothers. He is the second oldest. Because his family was poor in the past, he was the only one of the three brothers to find a wife. He went out to harvest wheat that year and picked it up on the riverbank.
A woman on the run, she is also a woman who is not very flexible in mind.
He took the woman home and took good care of her. A year later, the silly woman gave birth to a son for him. After that, he gave birth to seven more children, three sons and four daughters.
The hard work of three brothers being fathers and mothers together stretched five brothers.
Sun Maizi adopted his second son into the name of his eldest brother, and his third son into the name of his third brother. After his eldest brother and his third brother were born, he gave up the thought of finding a wife and helped raise the children together. The life was hard, and everything went by in the blink of an eye.
A few years have passed, the eldest son is already twenty, and the youngest daughter is almost ten years old.
The stupid wife is still stupid, she can't even cook.
However, Old Man Sun didn't dislike it. He just ran home when it rained. At least it brought hope to their family.
Before dawn, he woke up early as before.
The habit I have developed over the years is always getting up early and working late at night.
In the past, he had to do good work for others by helping others and carrying their bowls. This was his simplest thought. But now the emperor's divine grace has given his family six acres of land, and the money to buy the land can be paid back slowly, but
The income has increased a lot. This is my own land. I don't need to pay tenant rent, only the land rent.
The six acres of land he was allotted were treated like treasure.
When I went out, I saw my eldest brother and my third brother coming out carrying hoes.
"Go and weed that peanut," said the eldest brother, who is in his sixties, with a white beard and a waist. He has been a bachelor all his life. In fact, if he didn't have to help raise children, he would have had the opportunity to live with a widow in a neighboring village.
The family supported the family. Later, the eldest brother said that it was better to raise the child for someone else than to raise it for his own family, not to mention that the second wife also adopted his own name.
The three brothers never separated, and simply lived in the same pot.
"Head Liu of Huangzhuang said that they would collect the peanuts to extract oil when they arrive, and the price will be as agreed upon. Is this really possible?" The third child is also in his fifties.
"Why don't you believe this? Our family has been here in Yunshan Camp for several generations. More than 200 years ago, they were the guards of Prince Lu's Palace guarding the mausoleum here. Later they were disbanded and became tenants of the Palace. This has been passed down to our brothers.
Almost three hundred years ago.
What's more, the emperor is the original King Lu, and he gave us land before. Such a kind emperor, why should we not believe it?"
"I heard that the emperor had a meal at a villager's house in Baita Temple a few days ago. It was millet porridge and steamed potatoes, corn, and potatoes. When the emperor left, he rewarded them with a heifer. I heard that everyone was very happy.
When he was old enough, he could teach him how to plow the land right away. When he was here, he took away his two children, a boy and a girl, and said he would give him two silver dollars a month."
"Is there still such a thing? Then there is smoke coming out of this family's ancestral grave."
The three brothers chatted while walking, their words filled with envy.
Cows are very valuable nowadays, and even if you have the money, you may not be able to buy them. Not only can a cow give birth to its calves and sell them for money, but it also saves a lot of effort in plowing the land during busy farming periods. After you have finished your own plowing, you cannot plow other people's land to earn food.
As for being given two silver dollars a month after being taken away, that is even more unimaginable. A young boy who goes to work in a workshop in Huangzhuang and works hard day and night can only get about one silver dollar a month. Although
There was no wind or rain, but it was a long time and very tiring.
With the emperor, one month's wages can buy an acre of land.
When Sun Maizi saw a few grains of sheep dung on the roadside, he quickly picked them up in a basket and took them to the ground to make fertilizer.
"The eldest child is twenty, should we find a wife for him?" the boss said suddenly.
"Nowadays, it's hard to talk about getting married. Although we are stable, the conditions for getting married are also high."
The boss said, "Our family now has six acres of land. Several of the older children are also working hard in the Huangzhuang workshop to make money. They also have one silver dollar a month. The great strongman is already twenty. If we don't find it, the older we get, the harder it will be."
I don’t have enough money at home, so I borrowed it. Isn’t there a new bank opened in that county? I heard that we ordinary people can ask the security chief to write a note and borrow it. The interest is not high. Let’s marry the wife of the strong man first and save money.
It’s a matter of concern, these three brothers, let’s come one by one.”
The third child said, "You get interest from borrowing money. They say the interest is low, but I always feel uneasy. If you ask me, this girl was delayed before. Now she can find someone with better conditions. When the time comes,
Some betrothal gifts, less dowry, and the rest will be used as betrothal money for the great Qiangzi, and we will borrow some more and post some more."
Although this is not a marriage exchange, it is similar.
Sometimes poor families have no choice but to use their daughter's bride price as a basis for their son's marriage.
However, there is also a disadvantage to doing this, that is, the daughter receives a betrothal gift but does not have a dowry. After passing the marriage, she will inevitably be remembered or even looked down upon by her husband's family.
When the three brothers talked about this, they also looked sad.
After getting down into the peanut field, we started working without saying a word, hoeing weeds and loosening the soil.
While they were hoeing, several young men ran over, and they turned out to be the three Qiangzi brothers of the Sun family. Their names were Daqiang, Erqiang and Sanqiang, and their nicknames were Goudaner, Gouchengsheng. Their nicknames were easy to make a living with.
It's amazing to say that their mother was a stupid woman who couldn't do any work, but her children were all healthy when they were born. She didn't know anything else, but she knew that her children needed milk when they were born. She gave birth to seven children.
There were only two who died in infancy, the older one was twenty and the younger one was ten years old.
"Dad, uncle, third master."
Goudan Sun Daqiang came over and grabbed a handful of sheep dung picked up on the road. While saying hello, he crushed the dung into the peanut field and said, "Our peanut seedlings have grown so tall."
"Aren't you working in the workshop? Why are you back?"
Although they can only earn one silver dollar after working in the workshop for a month, it is already a very good way of living for them. They can earn one silver dollar including food and accommodation. This is a huge favor from the emperor. They should wait earlier.
In 2016, young people like Goudan could earn up to three to four hundred yuan a month by helping landlords.
The three brothers and the eldest girl can earn four yuan a month. If they can keep doing it, they won't have to worry about the money to build a house, marry a wife or buy land.
"Didn't you, you bitch, cause trouble in the workshop again? I'll beat you bitch to death." Seeing his son smiling, Mr. Sun thought he had caused trouble again. This guy is twenty years old and is still a bachelor.
He also likes to fish and catch shrimps and go up the mountains to set traps for hunting. He is very strong, but he also likes to fight and has a bad temper.
The work in this workshop is not easy to get. I only have one silver dollar a month. Even if I am tired, what can I do? If this job is lost, where can I find it again?
"You bitch, you lost your job, you can be a bachelor for the rest of your life, I will beat you to death..."
While pulling his second son, the uncle asked his stepson Er Qiangzi, "Er Gou, what's going on? Why are you all here this morning?"
"What trouble did you cause again?"
Eighteen-year-old Ergou quickly explained, "Dad, it's a good thing that we didn't cause any trouble."
"What good thing?"
Goudan also hurriedly escaped and explained, "It's a good thing, but isn't it that Long Live Lord is patrolling our Yanzhou area now and wants to recruit some Yanzhou villagers from us..."
In the hot summer, Goudan was barefoot, wearing a washed-white shorts and shorts, and wearing patches. However, he was quite strong. Although he was a little thin, he was quite tall and lean.
After his efforts to explain, the three brothers Sun Maizi understood it.
The emperor wants to recruit some villagers' children from Yanzhou. It is said that they are for the eldest prince, King Qin, and the second prince, King Han, to be their maids.
"The King of Qin and the King of Han are the Son of Heaven. He doesn't need any kind of bodyguards. Why would he want someone like you?"
"It's true. We are coming back now to find the village chief and Baojia to issue a bond. The workshop even took a special day off today without deducting wages."
Second Master Sun and the three brothers were dubious, but they didn't dare to be careless. If this good thing really happened, they couldn't miss it. They quickly picked up the hoes and took the three of them home.
As soon as I took a cigarette and trotted home, I didn't even have time to take a sip of water, so I hurried to find the village chief first.
Under the current Baojia system, the village chief is actually equivalent to the old man established at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. The imperial court requires each village to select several respected old men.
This old man must be both old and virtuous. Generally, he is a person over fifty years old, and most of them are distinguished gentry, clan leaders, etc. According to the size of the village, there are usually three to five people in a small village and eight people in a large village.
Nine people.
This system of rural elders actually existed as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties.
It was also vigorously promoted in the early Ming Dynasty.
Elders in the early Ming Dynasty had the power to recommend talents, handle general litigation, assist in household registration management, collect taxes, and even have the power to supervise local officials.
For example, Zhu Yuanzhang clearly stipulated that the elderly could ride in an official's car to Beijing to file a complaint, and local officials were not allowed to stop him.
There were even cases where an old man directly appointed Songjiang magistrate and supervised the censor.
However, this elderly system was abolished later. After Zhu Yihai became emperor, he implemented the Baojia system for rural governance and restored the elderly, called Xianglao.
Set up convention halls or elderly pavilions in each village to allow villagers to elect village elders and formulate villagers' conventions. They will first mediate villagers' civil disputes, such as fields, real estate, marriages, fights, debts, theft, private slaughter of farm cattle, etc.
Civil disputes among villagers such as damage to farm tools and crops are inherently complex. There are too many such disputes in a county, and the county government cannot handle them.
Therefore, it is up to the village elders to adjust and handle matters based on customs and customs. If the matter becomes too big, or if you are dissatisfied with the village elders' handling, you can also file a complaint with the county government.
Another important responsibility of rural elders is to supervise local officials. They have the right to report directly to the provincial capital, and even go directly to the provincial capital to file complaints.
Ordinary people do not have this right to appeal, nor can they appeal to officials, but village elders can.
The village elders became the de facto village chiefs, and they also encouraged farmers and farmers to teach and even preach edicts. In conjunction with the Baojia system, they greatly strengthened local management and increased rural stability.
There are nearly 400 households in Yunshan Camp, and there are four village elders. Each of them is usually in charge of a large cooperative. If there are some important disputes, the four village elders will jointly hold a township court to deal with them.
Today, the four village elders are very busy, because many young people come to them to issue certificates and guarantee letters. It proves that they are from the village, their wealth is innocent, and they have not committed any crime in the past three generations.