When Dong Liang attacked Lukang, the chicken coop had already entered the arms of the Chinese for seven days.

Order in the county town was basically restored. After the people in the city received the food distributed to them by the Chinese, they were no longer afraid of the army in blue uniforms.

"Shopkeeper Liu, would you like some sour rice noodles?" Sun Guoyou arrived at a small stall opposite the county government office.

He is the leader of the Jilong County working group.

There are five people in the working group stationed in the chicken coop this time, one team leader and four team members, each with a different division of labor.

The five of them actually formed a county government team.

Originally, the county government retained a total of seven minor officials, as well as some servants. As long as they had no bad deeds, they were temporarily retained.

What the working group did in the past few days was mainly to check the treasury, fields and household registration.

These days, this work is basically over.

Sun Guoyou was originally from Tong'an, Fujian, and his younger brother Sun Guoren was a member of the Chinese workers in Bao Enhao. When they moved their families before, Sun Guoyou and his family moved together to Iriomote Island in order to avoid being implicated.

Sun Guoyou happened to be a scholar and had served as a clerk in the county government, so he was assigned to work in the Administrative Office.

This time it was natural for me to become the leader of the working group.

In addition to taking charge of various tasks, he was also responsible for the most difficult land reform work.

The entire Jilong County now has 93,700 acres of cultivated land. This is the area registered by the county government. Of course, there are also some invisible lands.

The local population is 12,500 households and 51,600 people.

Obviously, this land is not enough. Fortunately, Jilong Port is an important fishing port. Many people make a living by fishing, and some people specialize in the service industry at the dock. This is how it can feed such a large population.

After figuring this out, Sun Guoyou was ready to start his own land reform work.

The common people naturally welcome the division of land, but the resistance comes from the landowners who originally controlled most of the land.

"Master Sun, please wait a moment." Old Liu Tou skillfully made a bowl of sour noodles for Sun Guoyou.

He has been doing breakfast business in the county town.

Before the guards came, he had to hand over almost half of his income to the county government officials every day.

After the guards arrived, they posted a notice stating that no charge would be charged for anyone entering or leaving the city gates or setting up stalls in the city.

Old Liu Tou didn't believe it at first. If they don't charge money, what will the people in the county government eat?

However, the Chinese keep their word and new notices are posted almost every day.

On the first day, the Chinese announced that they would distribute one liter of rice and two taels of salt to every household in the city.

Sure enough, soon someone was beating gongs and drums to ask everyone to go to the county government office to collect it.

The next day, they announced that they would cancel all kilogram taxes and fees in the county.

In fact, ever since the people standing guard at the city gate changed to men wearing blue military uniforms, no one has approached them anymore. When entering and exiting the city gate, they only need to check whether they have weapons, and no one is exploiting them anymore.

Stores opened in the county continue to do business as usual, and there are no more tax collection officials coming to the door.

When Chinese officials come to buy things or eat, they always pay as usual, even if you want to be polite to them.

On the third day, the Chinese openly sold affordable salt. As long as the Chinese registered their household registration, they could use their household registration to buy affordable salt shipped from the sea.

Dong Liang opened several large salt fields in the Yaeyama Islands. Because of the sun-salting process, the cost was lower.

Under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, salt had always been a tool for the government to make money. The price was exaggeratedly high, and it was even more expensive in the hands of the common people.

Even these coastal people spend a lot of money eating salt.

Dong Liang asked the Administrative Office to sell affordable salt. The price seemed low, but in fact the salt factory could still make a profit at this price.

The key is that people do not need to be unable to afford salt because of the price.

This policy allowed the Chinese to conduct population statistics in chicken coops at a rapid pace.

After the news spread, people from all over the country spontaneously came to report their identity information.

Some people even came, and the working group helped them count them one by one.

Dong Liang has already explained that on Dongfan Island, both Han and Ban people will be treated equally as long as they have Chinese household registration.

On the fourth day, the working group began to go to the countryside to inspect the land according to the land deeds left by the county government.

After this investigation, Sun Guoyou discovered that there was obviously abundant rainfall in the chicken coop, but why there was so little land.

It turns out that the powerful hegemons did not cultivate some wasteland, but allowed the common people to cultivate it.

Because they are worried that after the tenant farmers reclaim the land, they will not rent their land for planting. In that case, who will they collect the rent from?

This reason is actually very absurd and selfish.

Sun Guoyou, who once worked as a clerk in a county government, knows that this situation occurs in many places.

Those mountains and forests are only occupied by those big families, and many of them do not have title deeds.

Ordinary people will not go to the county government office to check.

During the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, in a natural village, there were actually very few people who could deal with the government.

The local gentry acted as a crutch for the government to manage the countryside. In the eyes of the people, they were officials and represented authority.

"Old Liu, when did you start selling sour rice noodles? Why don't you farm in the countryside?"

Sun Guoyou has been eating sour noodles here every day for the past few days, and has become familiar with this old Liutou.

"Master Sun, my family used to live at the foot of a mountain outside the city. We originally had five acres of paddy fields, and my eldest son was working as a laborer at the dock, so the family was able to get by."

"But then my eldest son was broken by cargo on the dock. He was so young, and I couldn't let him become a cripple with a limp, so I took him to a doctor for treatment. How could the old man's family afford such medical treatment?

For the expenses, we can only borrow money from the village member Wu, who asked us to pledge our land as a mortgage."

"Later, my eldest son's leg was saved, but he became a cripple and couldn't do heavy work. Even if he couldn't pay back the money, the farmland was taken away by others. Fortunately, my family's ancestral skill in making sour beans was passed down to me, so the old man made it on his own.

I put on this outfit and came to the county to do some business and barely survive."

"My eldest son helps others with some chores and can earn some income, but the family has no land, and now he can't even get a wife. Alas..." Old Liu said with a long sigh.

Sun Guoyou is a man in his forties, with a round face and a kind-hearted appearance, which makes people trust him easily.

He listened carefully to Old Man Liu's story. He was all too familiar with such things.

There are only a few ways for local gentry to annex land.

After all, there are only a small number of people who take advantage of them by force. Most of them take advantage of those farmers' difficulties and either redeem them directly or lend them money at usury, and then take them back by force while the other party can't repay the debt.

The head of state is right. It is not enough to allocate land alone. There must be a way for people who encounter difficulties to get through safely.

What Dong Liang can do now is to establish a government-run bank to provide low-interest loans.

There is also the establishment of local health clinics so that people can receive medical treatment at affordable prices.

For ordinary people, disease is the only difficulty they cannot overcome on their own.

"Old Liu, if I give you some land, do you want it?" Sun Guoyou said.

Old Liu, who sells sour powder, didn't seem to hear clearly, or was in disbelief: "What? Mr. Sun, divide the land?"

"Yes, land is divided. Under our Chinese rule, all land is owned by the state, and people have the right to farm. Our head of state has said that as a government, we must ensure that people have land to cultivate. Farming and growing food is related to the basic issue of eating.

.If this cannot be done, then what is the use of the people paying taxes to support the government?"

Old Liu Tou didn't know what to say for a moment. What Mr. Sun said seemed very reasonable, but the government never reasoned with the people.

"Master Sun, Lao Liu can still farm ten acres of land by himself. Although my eldest son has injured his leg and cannot do heavy work, he can still farm. Besides, my second son is almost an adult."

"Then Lao Liu, just wait for the good news."
Chapter completed!