Chapter 45 I Said This Is Borderlands This Is Borderlands
Shen Shuren was originally worried that he was too young, and everyone would be dissatisfied if he suddenly became a magistrate and was in charge of a group of county magistrates in their forties.
However, after learning that he, as the eldest son of the Shen family, the richest man in Suzhou, was admitted to the Hanlin Academy by the second grade, but was still willing to go out to the front lines to suppress thieves, all the resentment of his subordinates disappeared.
It was such a commotion that Shen Shuren originally wanted to pretend to be a pig and eat the tiger, slap him in the face and establish his authority, but he didn't use any of his moves.
That's fine, save yourself from internal fighting and concentrate on farming and foreign enemies.
In the next half month, Shen Shuren inspected Qizhou County and Huangmei County to roughly understand the situation in Huangzhou.
As for the counties close to the front line and the towns deep in the mountainous areas, he has not gone there for the time being. Personal safety is always the most important thing, and the son of a rich man cannot sit down in public.
Before coming, he had read the archives about Huangzhou from the Ministry of Household Affairs. According to the records, the total population in peacetime was more than 200,000 (in fact, according to the practice in the late Ming Dynasty, at least one-third of the households were hidden and their contributions were concealed. ), distributed in nine counties.
Among the five counties that have not yet fallen, the most populous is Qizhou County, with more than 6,000 households and more than 40,000 people. The least populous is Luotian County, which has become an enclave behind enemy lines, with only seven to eight thousand people.
The other three counties each have a population ranging from 10,000 to 30,000, and the five counties combined should theoretically have a population of 110,000.
The actual number, as reported by Zhao Yunfan, Jiangcheng and other county magistrates, was only over 60,000 due to the exiles and refugees due to the war.
If those hidden households and fugitives can be counted, it is estimated that we can still collect 110,000 to 20,000 yuan. But how to get them back and resettle them is a big problem. If they are not handled well and they are forced to join the thieves, it will be troublesome.
The entire Huangzhou Prefecture should pay more than 60,000 dan in tax and grain according to the fish scale register of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and has more than 500,000 acres of registered farmland (in the late Ming Dynasty, the regular field tax was reduced to 1 to 2 dou per mu, with an average of 8 dan). Pay one stone of tax per mu of land).
According to the imperial system, a government with a tax of less than 100,000 dan is considered a lower-class government. Huangzhou only has more than 60,000 dan. There is no doubt that the lower-class government in the Huguang area is relatively poor.
Fortunately, of the more than 500,000 acres of farmland, 350,000 acres belong to the five unoccupied counties. Although Huanggang has not yet been recovered by the government, the most fertile plain in Huangzhou is not the Bashui River Valley where Huanggang is located, but the Bashui River Valley where Huanggang is located. It is the alluvial fan at the mouth of the lake on the other side of Poyang Lake in the south. That area is under the control of the Shen Shu people, so the fields are still enough for planting.
Now that the number of people has decreased, the only good news is that the labor force can be fully utilized. If most people want to farm, they can have enough fields, as long as the landowners are willing to give them a reasonable rental price.
There are less than 100,000 people in total, cultivating 350,000 acres of land. Counting the elderly, children and women, each person can get four acres of cultivated land.
After Chen Shuren completed this overall survey, he immediately realized that the most important task at the moment was to stabilize and restore production and use all the fields that had been temporarily escaped from the war.
…
It was already past mid-May when Chen Shuren arrived in Huangzhou, and it was already early June after the thorough investigation, and it was already the season for summer grain harvest.
What he can do is to first persuade farmers to ensure rush harvests in various places, and then organize the cultivation of autumn grains in those fields that were abandoned during spring plowing. After the summer grains are harvested, they must also organize rush planting.
Summer is always the busiest time for double grabbing in the south, and the thieves did not dare to harass in the hot weather. Both parties were able to organize production with peace of mind.
At the beginning of June, Chenshu people first called several county magistrates and some local gentry, and asked them to identify which of the abandoned fields in Qizhou, Huangmei and other places were left empty by the landlords who fled.
Zhao Yunfan and the local gentry knew that the master was just picking on the weak, but they cooperated very well. They identified all the farms that had been abandoned because the heads of households fled to Jiangxi on the other side.
Shen Shuren immediately allocated hundreds of Shen family tenant farmers brought from Suzhou and thousands of newly organized landless farmers to sow potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn on these lands.
Plant some rice in some low-lying areas, and plant taro and lotus roots in swampy areas.
In later generations, Hubei was originally an important production area for lotus roots because there were many small lakes, depressions and swamps. In later generations, the Bashui lotus roots in Huanggang and the lotus roots in Wuchang were both very famous.
Taro is a wetland crop that is rarely grown by people in Hubei, but there are many in Suzhou and Chongming. The Suzhou tenant farmers brought by Shen Shuren all grow taro and can teach local farmers step by step.
Shen Shuren organized production according to the ratio of one household of his own tenant farmers and five to ten households of local farmers. Although the local people did not want to be managed, they heard that the people brought by Master Tongzhi would teach them how to grow these crops. They are also very active in learning the techniques of growing crops, and there is no trouble.
However, just because farmers are happy to see the results, it does not mean that there is no resistance from other aspects.
After Chen Shuren organized production, Zhao Yunfan reminded him: "Sir, I wonder if you have thought about it. These fields were temporarily abandoned because the old owner fled. Before you came, the landless farmers did not dare to plant randomly. There must be a reason.
Just because the gentry who own these fields have many influences that are not limited to one township or county. The boundaries of Huangzhou have always been complicated, relying on the Yinghuo Mountain District and the junction of three provinces. Many gentry have registered residence in Jiangxi, and are directly under the jurisdiction of Chizhou City in Anqing in the south. There is a manor, so there are old forces.
Now they saw that Liu Xiyao was rampant and were afraid that the areas north of the Yangtze River would not be safe, so they fled to Hukou and Chizhou. They were sure that the bandits had no navy that could cross the Yangtze River, and Zuo Liangyu was on the south bank in Wuchang, so they felt that they had arrived Jiangnan will be safe.
If you learn that the fields in Huangzhou have been randomly distributed to the poor for farming, and they come back to cause trouble during the autumn harvest, and the disputes are uneven, how should you deal with them? You cannot afford to offend those noble families whose power spans several provinces. "
When Zhao Yunfan said this, he was sincerely doing good for the people of Shenshu. He had been a local official for many years and knew that those wealthy and distinguished families who avoided thieves during the war would definitely come back to see them after the autumn harvest, because it was like this last year.
Huangzhou is located in the Dabie Mountains. Once winter comes, it will be more difficult to travel by land, so there is no need to worry about bandits coming over the mountains in winter. As long as the counties and villages are not infested by bandits in autumn, winter is absolutely complete.
Those wealthy gentry can go back to their hometowns to see if anyone is cultivating their abandoned fields, and if so, they can use their power to collect rents.
In the early winter of last year, Zhao Yunfan personally experienced several cases. Some poor people who had stolen seeds and abandoned their fields were arrested by the gentry of the Returning Home Corps and brought them to court. Because the lease contract was not signed in advance, the gentry almost opened their mouths as much as they wanted. If there is a big mouth, three-quarters of the harvest will be divided, and the poor farmers will be unable to resist.
And if the tenancy contract is signed in advance, the most it will be is "46%". The landlord will get 60% and the farmer will get 40%. It is impossible to get as much as 75%.
The Huangzhou prefect at that time also supported the appeals of the wealthy gentry in this series of cases, which led to another incident this year: "After the spring, the wealthy gentry fled the war and went to Jiangxi, leaving the fields uncultivated, but the poor no longer dared to come and steal the seeds." Because the poor I suffered a loss once, knowing that I would be liquidated by the Returning Corps in the winter if I sow the seeds, so it would be better to just plant them honestly and have the main land with all the procedures in place.
After listening to the series of cases recounted by Zhao Yunfan, Chen Shuren couldn't help but scolded: "It's really ridiculous! Even if it's stealing seeds, you can't just let the wealthy gentry set the price randomly just because they didn't agree on the contract in advance! The former prefect and several of the following Is this how a county magistrate finalizes a case? Aren’t they afraid of arousing public anger?”
Zhao Yunfan sighed: "Isn't this already aroused? Otherwise, it would be your turn to come here to take office - after those cases were settled, many of the poor peasants who suffered losses last year voted for Liu Xiyao. They Many of them are located in Fuzhi Huanggang.
Liu Xiyao heard that Magistrate Yan was unpopular and went to Huanggang. Originally, the bandits had no siege equipment, so it was believed that the city could hold on even if it was defended.
But chaos broke out in the city first. The poor people who were sentenced to 75% of the land rent set fire everywhere. In the chaos, the city gate was opened. Liu Xiyao rushed into the city and killed Yan Zhifu, other officials in the prefecture, Huanggang County Magistrate, and several others who were staying at that time. The wealthy gentry in Huanggang killed their whole families.
However, not all those wealthy gentry are dead. Many of them were not in Huanggang at that time, but were still in Jiangxi. Therefore, this year, the poor people still dare not cultivate the land without owners until you come forward to take charge. But even so, public opinion is still waiting and watching. I still don’t know if it will be liquidated after the autumn harvest.”
After hearing this, Chen Shuren just sneered in his heart: "Then Magistrate Yan is desperate for death. He dares to arouse public anger at such a juncture. Huh, he is afraid of those Jiangxi gentry, but I am not afraid. Call Qizhou and surrounding areas for me Officials and gentry in each county, I want to declare my decision clearly.
Anyone who abandons their farmland and flees will not be allowed to come back within two years to demand rent collection from farmers who are good at cultivating their own land. These people fled their hometowns and abandoned their farmland, which would have depleted the court's tax sources. When their share of the grain payment was not paid, I asked people to help them. Damn, do they still have the nerve to come back and cause trouble?"
After Zhao Yunfan heard this, he admired the Shangguan's courage a little more, but he knew that things were not that simple, so he couldn't help but smile bitterly:
"Your Excellency loves the people far more than the former Yan Zhifu. However, if this argument is really criticized, it is not very tenable. Many people who escaped from famine have meritorious titles and tax exemption quotas, and even quite a few of them are A branch of the Jinshi family from Jiangxi.
They used the land in various provinces and their accounts were unclear. They got tax exemptions of 2,000 acres in Jiangxi, then went to Huguang to reduce the tax, and even went to Chizhou, South Zhili, and Anqing to design exemptions and exemptions, and no one could take care of them.
Since these people don’t have to pay taxes, you insist on saying that they abandoned their fields to ‘dry up the tax revenue of the imperial court’ and then let outsiders cultivate it. I’m afraid it doesn’t make sense because they also have people on it.”
After hearing this, Chen Shuren was also eye-opening, thinking that it turned out that the Ming Dynasty people had this kind of garbage that spread across several provinces to cheat on subsidies and tax refunds.
Isn't this the same as later generations of university graduates who took advantage of subsidy policies for recruiting talents from various places and defrauded them of compensation in multiple provinces?
How many people received subsidies for employment in Nanjing, and then discovered that their company also had subsidiaries in Hangzhou or Hefei, so they made those subsidiaries pay social security and personal taxes, and then defrauded the talent introduction subsidies from Hangzhou and Hefei.
The more typical ones are those who break through the multi-house purchase restrictions and take advantage of the loopholes - although the country has introduced purchase restrictions, the national real estate big data has not been opened up! If the purchase is restricted in one city, it does not mean that you cannot buy again in other places.
The land registration in the Ming Dynasty was only countless times behind the real estate registration in the 21st century. In this state capital where three provinces meet, the wealthy gentry defrauded all three provinces of their fame and tax-free area. It is simply not too much.
It's a pity that the dead Magistrate Yan is afraid of them, but Shen Shuren is not.
Isn’t it just that there are people above us? In fact, Jiang Dejing, who is in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, is from our group. Are we afraid that these guys will cause trouble?
Chen Shuren ordered firmly: "Don't worry about these people. I told you to treat me, so just treat me. If you dare to refuse, I will deal with it when the time comes."
Seeing that Shen Tongzhi was so confident, Zhao Yunfan guessed that there was someone above him, so he took the order and left.