The severe cold of winter is gradually disappearing.
People gathered under the big trees that were gradually filled with green.
There is an earthen temple next to the tree. The temple is full of people and they are distributing grain and wine.
Neighbors formed a community to worship the gods together, and after the sacrifices were completed, grain, meat, and wine were distributed.
There were not many things, so everyone scraped together what they had between their teeth. Those who had money scraped together more, and those who had no money scraped together less. In the end, each person got a few liters of rice and a few bottles of wine, which was considered a difficult life.
of comfort.
Associations vary in size.
Neighborhood associations are the smallest. Most of them consist of dozens of households - almost a village - forming one association. There are even several villages that build a temple together and hundreds of households form an association to worship together.
Even larger than them is the Wubao Association.
For example, Shao Xun's Yunzhongwu in those days had a maximum of two thousand families forming a society to worship the gods of society, which can be described as a huge scale.
Feng Bachi, who returned to Pingqiu from Bianliang, stood on the ridge of the field, looked at the scene of rural associations from a distance, and smiled.
I miss you so much!
When I was a child, my father was still there, and there were many villages in Hebei at that time. On social day, the old elm tree at the head of the village was always the favorite place for children like them to play, because they could beg for something to eat from time to time.
Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer villages in the future.
There were children chasing and quarreling over. Most of them were children from Honbofu Bing's family.
"Officer." An old man came over panting and said: "It's done, it's all done!"
"Oh? Li Hu actually let go?" Feng Bachi couldn't believe it.
After the old man took a deep breath, he said, "Guardian, you need to change your mind."
Feng Bachi was in a daze.
The old man felt a little contempt in his heart, but he said: "No one in Li Hu's family has been an official for three generations, so what does it mean? You are a Sima of another department, a serious official, and there are three hundred people living nearby. In fact, Li Hu is more afraid
you."
The old man's surname was Han, and he was from Anping. He was a distant branch of the Han family in Anping and worked as a steward in the master's manor.
After Mrs. Han got married, a group of clan members followed her to help Mrs. Han take care of the family business.
Now Mrs. Han is still Mrs. Han, she just has a different husband.
The most shocking thing is that the ex-husband was born as a horse thief and has no background, and the new husband is a refugee and has no background and needs them both.
"Why are you afraid of me?" Feng Bachi asked stupidly.
"Have the officials heard about the incident at Lijiawu in Bianliang?" the old man said: "Just because I was fighting for water with the soldiers, I was reported to the police. The eunuch sent people to surround him and wiped him out. Li Hu was also afraid of offending you.
ah."
Feng Bachi suddenly understood and asked again: "Then why is he glaring at me?"
The old man explained patiently: "Li Hu was afraid that you would ask for too much, so he was tough on you, but he was still afraid after all. In the fifteen counties of Liang State, the clearing of land and land was in full swing. One day the clearing will be done to Li Hu, and the year will last forever.
I can't keep an inch of the land I occupied later, so I might as well sell it to the officials and get a little money."
"But I don't have much money." Feng Bachi wondered.
The money and silk rewards given out were mostly distributed to the family members of the township party who died together in the battle. In addition, some meeting gifts were given to several Han clan members who came with them. They also bought wine and meat to treat the soldiers of the defense government to eat and drink.
People are very generous and generous, but they can't save money.
"The official gave me a few bolts of silk as a deposit, and made an agreement with Li Hu. After the autumn harvest this year, I can pay back one or two hundred dendrobium of corn." The old man gave an idea.
"Isn't this too little?" Feng Bachi shook his head repeatedly.
"You are an official, and he is a citizen." The old man hated that iron could not become steel.
People like Feng Bachi may be able to fight, but they have not yet learned how to bully others.
I don’t even know what to say about this new martial artist! He is so stupid that he only knows how to fight and kill, but he doesn’t know how to run a family business.
After receiving the reward from Duke Liang, Feng Bachi's first thing was to go to Xingyang to help the people in his hometown.
The other thing is to eat and drink together with the killers in this defense and call them brothers.
After so many rewards, only a few gold and silver items that are not easily cashable are left, and the celadon is still at home. Madam is probably very distressed. But then again, after returning from Bianliang, Madam's attitude towards Feng Bachi changed drastically.
, extremely good.
Feng Bachi was overjoyed and now he obeyed his wife's advice.
The new rich man with mud legs, hey, if a woman from a high-ranking noble family is a little nicer to him, she will be submissive to him immediately.
"It's still not good." Feng Bachi shook his head: "After the first month of the year, all offices are open. How much salary do I have? Is it time to pay it down?"
When the old man heard this, he patiently explained to Feng Bachi: "The official is a ninth-grade Sima of the Department. He receives ten hus of rice and dendrobium every month. This comes from Lutian. He has to go to Pingqiu to collect it. I have arranged the manpower. In a few days,
Go as soon as possible."
"What is Lutian?" Feng Bachi asked.
"The public fields farmed by the official slaves, Chenliulu fields, are scattered in the five counties of Junyi, Kaifeng, Suanzao, Jiyang, and Xiaohuang. They were taken out from the hands of the wealthy families during the previous land clearing. There are more than 3,000 hectares. I heard that it is the Tao of the Heavenly Master.
Just farming." the old man said.
"Oh..." Feng Bachi let out a long oh as if he understood.
"There are also twenty pieces of silk and ten pounds of cotton, which are collected in August, and are also in Pingqiu." The old man continued: "This is also produced by the Lutian mulberry forest."
"Officials also have two hectares of farmland. After the autumn harvest, they can go to Xiaohuang County to receive grain and rice. It's hard to say how much it will be. It depends on the harvest."
"Are the official fields also farmed by official slaves?" Feng Bachi asked curiously.
"Not necessarily." The old man said: "In the past, Liang Gong set up Lutian, Shitian, military field, and career field in Guangchengze, just to distribute salary. The career field was only available when he was an official, and he usually grew grain.
If an official wants to grow vegetables or mulberries, he can go to Longxiang Mansion to find someone who might be able to plant them instead. Anyway, the laborers in these two hectares of land are under the command of the officials, and most of them are prisoners captured from who knows where.
"
"Hey!" Feng Bachi grinned: "Last year we captured many prisoners for Mr. Liang."
The corner of the old man's mouth twitched. Even if he despised Feng Bachi and felt sorry for his wife, he still had to admit that these new warriors were really fierce. Otherwise, how could the scholars give in? As long as they could be unreasonable, they would not be willing to fight.
You are reasonable because you don't deserve it.
"In Lutian, besides the work fields, there are also kitchen waste." The old man added: "I will go to Longxiang Mansion on behalf of the officials to inquire about this matter. There should be a lot of it. It is usually distributed before the Chinese New Year."
Food waste also comes from official land income, that is, a part of the land is allocated as food, accommodation, and office expenses for a certain yamen. If there is any surplus, it is distributed to officials as "bonuses" at the end of the year, which is called "food waste."
A yamen with a bright mind will lend out the kitchen scraps, and the income will belong to the yamen.
In the era of low productivity, everything was linked to land and population.
The government needs to have a large amount of official land and slaves to support the expenses of the bureaucracy. The reason why officials in Luoyang are so miserable is related to the total collapse of their income sources.
Pingqiu Longxiang Mansion has a Buqu Governor, a Buqu General, a Deputy Buqu General, a Buqu Chief Shi, and four other Buqu Sima, a total of eight officials. The food waste is divided among them according to a certain proportion.
After Feng Bachi listened, he was stunned for a long time.
A small ninth-grade official actually has so much miscellaneous income. The amount is really astonishing.
In addition, his family is exempt from taxes and levies - the right to protect relatives is cancelled. In addition, he can protect an additional family from taxes and levies, and protect a diner from taxes and levies.
"Mr. Liang treated me with kindness." Feng Bachi was also an honest man. He knelt down and kowtowed three times in the direction of Bianliang.
The corners of the old man's eyes twitched. These upstart warriors were really devoted to Duke Liang.
After kowtowing, Feng Bachi stood up and said: "Did some people in the family tease Mr. Liang in private? If I hear him from now on, I will hang him up and beat him!"
"Yes." The old man's heart trembled.
The first thing Feng Bachi learned to bully others was to beat up those who slandered Mr. Liang...
The sound of horse hoofbeats was heard in the distance. The two looked for the sound and turned out to be local tycoon Li Hu.
He was riding on a horse, followed by about a dozen nephews and nephews, all of whom were holding spears and bows and wearing leather armor, looking at this from a distance.
After a while, Li Hu got off his horse, took out a piece of hard yellow paper from his arms, and threw it over.
Feng Bachi reached out to catch it and handed it to the old man.
After reading it, the old man said: "This is the land deed. There are eight acres of pond, four hundred and thirty-six acres of fields, thirteen households of farmers, thirty couplets of houses, and nineteen cattle. Let's all price it together——"
"Can dealers sell it?" Feng Bachi asked in surprise.
After hearing this, more than ten people from Li Hu's side laughed. What happened to the dealers? No one cares about killing them!
"Feng Sima." Li Hu walked forward, saluted, and said: "You can give me the money as you see it, it doesn't matter how much. Folks in the village should help each other. There is a steward who lives on the land sold to you.
My father is old and good at
Regarding the matter of your parents. I thought you were new here and were short of people, so I asked this family to stay and help you take care of your family business. Since you have the help of the Han clan, forget it. You can use this family if you can.
, if you can’t use it, I will pick him up.”
After saying that, I felt both humiliated and envious.
His family fortune is not small, but he really can't get a woman from the Han family in Anping to be his wife. She is not qualified.
The women of the gentry were good, they were educated themselves, and they could support their husbands and educate their children.
There are also clansmen, servants, and guests who are good at various things in the family. Feng Bachi originally wanted nothing. Even if he was given land, he couldn't run it. But after marrying a daughter of the Han family, it was different. Everything was ready-made.
.
I heard that when Liang Gong gathered the refugees in Sanyuan of Luoyang and built Wubao in Yiyang, he also relied on the help of Donghai Princess Pei, otherwise he would have lost sight of it and not even had a useful person in charge.
Thinking of this, I feel sour in my heart.
If I had an official position, why would I be so passive and give away the acres, ponds, houses, farm cattle, and villagers that I acquired after the Yongjia New Year at almost free prices?
It seems that next time I will bring my own troops and join the army, fight hard for Liang Gong, and try to get an official status, otherwise it will be too difficult and it will become even more difficult to get along.
Feng Bachi took over the land deed from the old man again.
Although he was illiterate, he looked at this object with great piety.
When I was a child, I heard an old man say that in every troubled time, a hero will appear with a three-foot sword and wipe out the world. At this time, if you can risk your life and become a minister of the dragon, you may not be able to reach the sky in one step and shine on the lintel.
"Go and look at the land and plow it in the spring." Feng Bachi put the land deed away, took a deep breath, and said.
The old man responded yes.
He saw Li Hu's attitude just now.
In the countryside, forces are waxing and waning, and profound changes seem to be slowly taking place.
(I’ll update it in advance as soon as I finish coding. Three updates today. The second update will be when I wake up and code. I’d like to ask for a monthly pass.)
Chapter completed!