The local county magistrate obviously did not expect that the emperor would meet with the tenants, so even after a long time, no one came.
The emperor led a group of central officials and county magistrates to stand crowdedly on the field, looking quite cramped.
Wei Yunzhen, the magistrate of Daxing County, took advantage of the time before the tenants arrived and stayed close behind the emperor, reporting from time to time on the progress of the land clearing and the subsequent arrangements and preparations for the county government.
"...is being verified this month."
"I have already ordered Lijia to imitate the style of the Hongwu and orthodox fish-scale and phoenix flags, and compile an atlas, detailing the fields and grains of the Yuan Dynasty, with the word Wei, the number, the section, the wasteland, and the number of mature steps."
"Then the county government will use the tax officials to re-examine and check, identify the boundaries and sites, inspect and measure the acres, and make corrections and exclusions for reclamation. They will be published in a book, collected and stored in the government, and given to the public for review forever."
Zhu Yijun put his hands behind his hands and looked out, listening very seriously.
Whether it is to work hard or to make progress, in short, Wei Yunzhen's business ability cannot be faulted.
It was also thanks to Zhu Yijun that he tried so hard to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy.
For example, this Jinshi in the fifth year of Wanli was also firmly opposed to Zhang Juzheng's seizing love. He even went to court repeatedly, hoping that next year's imperial examination would cancel the preferential treatment for the descendants of official officials. Yin and Yang satirized Zhang Juzheng, Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue and others. I hope a few people will understand.
Don't put the emperor in a dilemma because of his son's imperial examination.
No matter how you look at it, he is a standard villain who uses the theme to play off the topic.
But on the contrary, his official reputation among the people is extremely good. Nowadays, it has only begun to take shape in Daxing County. But in history, when he was patrolling Shaanxi, he even opened up acres of land, exempted miscellaneous taxes, cut government expenditures, and built military and civilian buildings.
Infrastructure construction, so much so that later generations still have literary and artistic works such as "Wei Yunzhen, the Commoner Governor" to sing its name.
Neither party would be happy if such a person was placed in the position of censor. Instead, he should do something practical for the people in his place.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yijun finally turned around and said, "Are the tax officers who have passed the county government exams in the past few years still easy to use?"
The prefectures and counties of Shuntian Prefecture opened two civil service examinations in advance, in order to prepare for this.
Wei Yunzhen's expression was slightly unnatural.
He thought for a while and replied politely: "Your Majesty, apart from being acclimatized to the local environment, tax officials rarely have any flaws in their duties."
Being acclimatized means that I don't get along well with the local officialdom, but I can do my job better than the original group of people.
Zhu Yijun understood clearly after hearing this.
The officials who passed the examination will naturally occupy the quota of local officials, so conflicts between the two sides are inevitable.
In fact, this is actually helpful for the county magistrate to extend his power, so Wei Yunzhen has a positive attitude.
However, this is only temporary. Considering the current population mobility in the Ming Dynasty, these official officials who have passed the examination will be assimilated by local big families sooner or later. It is impossible to write a memorial "Da Xing Officials".
Of course, having a threshold is better than having no threshold. Take one step at a time. This is how the imperial examination was used to overturn a wealthy family bit by bit.
Zhu Yijun looked at Wei Yunzhen: "Are there any difficulties or obstacles in completing the task of clearing out the fields and clearing out households?"
Wei Yunzhen did not answer immediately, but glanced at the emperor's ministers vaguely.
After pondering for a long time, he slowly said: "Your Majesty, during the Jiajing Nine-year New Deal, we have inspected the ancestral relatives, ministers, temples and villages belonging to the six prefectures of Shuntian, Baoding, Hejian, Zhending, Guangping, and Shunde."
There are quotas for tax exemptions for relatives, ministers, and temples, but they are not all exempt.
According to the system, the upper-class land received three cents of silver per mu, the medium-class land received two cents of silver per mu, the middle- and lower-class land received one and a half cents of silver per mu, and the low-class land received one cent of silver per mu.
Wei Yunzhen paused and continued: "At that time, Emperor Shizong once said that after this land transfer, another sealing boundary would be built as a rule and there would be no more disturbances."
"Today, many of the honorary relatives, ministers, and temples in the county still retain the edicts written by Emperor Sejong."
"A few days ago, the officials found Xungui at the gate of the temple, and he was expelled by the people of the village for this reason..."
There are so many things in officialdom, and being constrained by such historical documents left by predecessors is a lesson that every official must learn.
Emperor Sejong was naturally a promising emperor when he granted land to his relatives, ministers, temples, and temples, and making compromises in order to reduce resistance was also a common practice. In fact, Sejong himself may have been prepared to "play tricks with the right talents."
.
It just happened that this opportunity to break one's promise and make a fortune fell on the heads of the kings and ministers of the Wanli Dynasty.
Faced with such unreasonable things, what else can we do besides being unreasonable?
Zhu Yijun looked at Wei Yunzhen and asked directly: "Oh? Which relatives, ministers, and temples are so arrogant?"
Although Wei Yunzhen only talked about honors and temples, it was because the ministers had gathered around the field and it was hard to point at their noses.
The difficulty in raising land is because most of these people will not give up their land.
Speaking of this, Wei Yunzhen did not hide it, and simply replied: "Your Majesty, according to the reports from the officials in the government office, Huairou Bo Shi Guangzu's farm is not allowed to enter."
"In several temples and temples in the county, Shizong's imperial edict politely persuaded them to withdraw, but I did not want to be violent, so I invited several abbots and temple owners to the government office for discussion."
"Yao Zhong, the eunuch of the Xixin Department, ordered his cousin Deng Xun to beat and drive away the county officials with sticks, and even threatened to break the legs of anyone who dared to come to the door again."
Zhu Yijun was stunned for a moment when he heard this.
He put Wei Yunzhen down for the time being, turned to look at Zhang Hong, and said in surprise: "Zhang Daban, are the people in the palace so crazy outside?"
The actions of Bo Huairou and the monks and Taoists were still within his understanding. After all, it was human nature to be reasonable and see if they could get some preferential treatment.
But is Yao Zhong out of his mind? He dares to resist violently at this juncture!?
Zhang Hong originally stood beside him without saying a word, but when faced with the emperor's questioning words, he immediately knelt down and pressed his forehead against the soil: "I failed to control you! I am guilty!"
"Please, Lord Long Live, be merciful and allow me to go there in person to arrest him and interrogate him!"
Seeing this, Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "By the way, where did you get the courage?"
You don't need to guess to know that there are many twists and turns in the relationship, and in the end it will most likely end up with the queen mothers of the two palaces, or the ministers around the queen concubines.
Just deal with it together.
A group of courtiers separated into a lane, Zhang Hong stood up, bowed, led several eunuchs, turned around and left in a hurry.
Zhu Yijun turned around and continued with Wei Yunzhen: "What's going on with Shi Guangzu? He's not..."
Halfway through his words, his voice suddenly stopped.
Just when Wei Yunzhen was wondering, she heard the movement behind her.
Turning his head to look, he saw that it was the tenant whom the emperor had summoned earlier, led by the royal guards, heading this way.
Zhu Yijun glanced down.
Seeing that the fields here were really cramped, he simply went towards the tenants on the rural road to greet them, followed closely by a group of ministers.
The three tenants had never seen such a scene before.
Seeing Ziweixing and a group of Wenquxing approaching, the three tenants quickly knelt down and said, "The common people pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor!"
Then he knelt down and bowed in a solemn manner.
Seeing this, Zhu Yijun suddenly stopped.
He looked at the uniform movements of the tenants in front of him, and felt a familiar sense of déjà vu coming over him.
After a moment, Zhu Yijun suddenly turned his head, smiled at Wang Zongyi, the Minister of Rites, and said: "Wang Qing, the Ministry of Rites has always told me that courtesy should not be extended to common people. It seems to be biased."
"Even though I am a tenant farmer, I am still so polite and courteous. You must have done a good job in educating me."
Wang Zongyi was stunned when he heard this, and then he immediately came to his senses.
After looking up and down at the three tenants, he turned his attention directly to King Yin Zhiyuan of Shuntian Prefecture and Hu Zhili, the governor of Shuntian.
Wang Zhiyuan and Hu Zhili looked at each other and then looked at Wei Yunzhen, the magistrate of Daxing County.
Wei Yunzhen looked a little unnatural and hesitated to speak.
When the eyes of several people crossed each other, Zhu Yijun did not give his minister a chance to reply, but turned around to face the three tenants.
He looked at the three tenants and said bluntly: "Do you know that bullying the emperor is a serious crime?"
"I will send Jin Yiwei to verify later. If you three are not tenants here, I will kill your three clans."
The Three Tribes are better than the Nine Tribes, and they appear more realistic when scaring people.
Sure enough, as soon as the words fell, the expressions of the three "tenants" suddenly changed.
The three of them hurriedly bowed again and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, spare your life! Your Majesty, spare your life! We are the head of Daxing County! Magistrate Wei asked us to deal with Your Majesty, I dare not not come!"
His tone was so stern that everyone who heard it was moved. It seemed that he had tried his best to save the three tribes.
Wei Yunzhen sighed when she saw the three of them sold to her in the blink of an eye.
He walked around from behind the emperor to the front, lifted up his hem and knelt down to kowtow: "Your Majesty, I was just afraid that the tenants would be rude and bump into your Majesty, so I made this move."
This was the usual practice for Shangguan, Yushi and Kedao during their inspections, but today the emperor, who had lived in the palace for a long time, saw through it at a glance.
It was really beyond Wei Yunzhen's expectation.
However, what he argued was indeed what he was thinking.
What the emperor wanted to know, it was enough to ask him as the county magistrate - he had traveled all over Daxing County and read through the yamen files, could there be any omissions?
How can we lower ourselves to contact the red people?
However, the emperor had no sense of being cared for. Instead, he stared at Wei Yunzhen expressionlessly and said in a bad tone: "Wei Qing, my ancestors were just beggars. How can you act like an unreachable person on my behalf and look down on the common people?
"
As soon as these words came out, Wang Xijue in the crowd couldn't help but look at the emperor one more time.
Wei Yunzhen found these words difficult to resist.
He didn't look down on the red people, he just felt that there was a great disparity in status.
In desperation, Wei Yunzhen reluctantly replied: "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and you are blessed by destiny. You are valued not only by blood."
This little act of his is not a serious crime, otherwise ninety-nine percent of the officials in the world would be punished.
At best, it's just a warning, and at most, your salary will be reduced for two months just because you deceived the emperor.
It's just that since the emperor mentioned his family background, Wei Yunzhen had no choice but to plead guilty.
Zhu Yijun suddenly sighed and said regretfully: "Wei Qing, that's why you fell into the third place because of your policy the year before last."
"I'm afraid you didn't even read Lintong Li Sancai's article on policy that was published in the world."
Wei Yunzhen didn't know why, so he just kowtowed and said, "I dare you, Your Majesty, to make it clear."
Zhu Yijun shook his head and recalled for a moment: "The Yuan government was not in line and all the people could not bear it. They entrusted their orders to Taizu, so Taizu worked hard to sweep away the filth and filth, and received the great treasure from heaven, so he could carry it forward and pass it on.
To me."
"You said that destiny has been given to you, but do you know what destiny is?"
"The destiny of all peoples is the destiny of heaven!"
"How can anyone despise the red people and get their destiny?" Zhu Yijun looked firmly into Wei Yunzhen's eyes and said word by word: "Wei Qing, Emperor Renjo was also a red people at the beginning, and I am also the son of a farmer."
After saying this, Zhu Yijun shook his head and said nothing.
He did not let Wei Yunzhen get up, but waved his hands to the three village chiefs: "Let's go, take me to the village to meet the red people."
After that, he turned around and walked along the country road, heading in first.
Wei Yunzhen looked at the dirt on the ground in bewilderment, her mind echoing with the emperor's words.
The destiny of all peoples is the destiny of heaven...
"This is why Your Majesty would rather stir up party strife in the court than clear out households."
Wei Yunzhen raised her head subconsciously and saw Xu Jie standing hunched beside her, looking at the emperor's back with a complicated expression.
The former still didn't understand and murmured to himself: "I haven't seen the water of the Yellow River clear yet."
When the Yellow River is clear, saints emerge. If what the emperor thinks in his heart is really what he says, he will truly be a saint.
Wei Yunzhen was so surprised that he couldn't believe it - he had seen many people in the officialdom using the common people as a cover, but he had never seen a few who really cared about it, let alone the emperor.
Xu Jie naturally understood what Wei Yunzhen was talking about.
The old man was in a state of ups and downs and his deadline was approaching, so he began to speak unscrupulously: "If he is lying, he has been lying for eight years starting from the time when he insulted me in Nanzhili."
"If you can do it consistently, then you are not a saint."
Wei Yunzhen was silent.
…
"I kneel down to Lord Long Live!"
"Greetings to the Emperor!"
The messy roll call, the weird self-proclaimed names; the swaying movements, the awkward prostrate and obeisance.
Zhu Yijun easily identified the people in front of him as the lower-class tenants in the Ming Dynasty who were just better than slaves.
While he motioned to his ministers to help the person up, he looked at the village in front of him.
There are too many familiar scenes.
The sparse residential buildings, built of bricks and tiles, still have the appearance of a house, and built with wooden planks and thatch, they seem to be riddled with holes in the wind and sun.
Chicken and duck droppings can be seen everywhere on the ground, and flies have not completely disappeared even after winter. On the kicked-over stones, there happened to be earthworms crawling on the moss.
The hoe is placed in a basket made of strips, and the seedling pot is placed in the middle of the courtyard to clean the vegetables after sowing. There is a foul smell in the ditch.
Everything is very much like the hometown where he grew up in his previous life.
It wasn't until Chimin stood up, with cunning and shrinking eyes, that Zhu Yijun, who was in a daze, was brought back to reality.
He looked at the young man who was looking at him curiously in the window - this was a tenant who took turns wearing a pair of trousers in winter. Naturally, he was not allowed to see the emperor with his bare buttocks.
He looked at the aunt who turned around and left with bare feet - women were not allowed to talk to the emperor, and Zhu Yijun had repeatedly requested the opportunity to meet with him.
He looked at the dark, skinny man, whose hands were covered with calluses, and whose body was even somewhat mutilated - the heavy burden and labor, and the physical trauma suffered were just the most intuitive manifestations.
Zhu Yijun suddenly felt a little embarrassed. In the past, he had been able to face the civil and military ministers with ease and scolded Fang Qiu, but now he quietly disappeared.
"I……"
Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered something and swallowed it back.
After thinking for a long time, he said again: "I have recently been thinking of ways to make the people live a better life, so I stopped by to see you."
The tenants looked at each other in shock, but no one answered.
It’s not that I don’t understand, it’s that I’m afraid that something bad will come out of my mouth.
Seeing this, Zhu Yijun spoke again: "If you answer my question, I will give you two pairs of straw sandals, a quilt, and a hoe."
It’s important to have things just right, and giving them too much can easily lead to disaster.
The group of tenants looked at each other again, the desire and hesitation on their faces not concealed at all.
After a while, a strong man with a better look answered, and everyone nodded.
Zhu Yijun thought for a while and asked: "How many meals do you eat a day?"
Whether you can have enough to eat is the minimum standard.
All the tenants looked at the strong man with a slightly better complexion. The latter hesitated for a moment and said, "Those who work will eat three meals, and those who don't work will eat two."
When Zhu Yijun heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned.
At this time, Xu Jie suddenly interjected: "Your Majesty, in the former Song Dynasty, farmers with a little property gradually began to have three meals a day. By the Zhengde period of this dynasty, tenant farmers began to have three meals a day."
Zhu Yijun looked at the former chief assistant who was preparing for consultation with some surprise, and said bluntly: "It's not what I thought."
Xu Jie has been focusing on adopting children all year round and knows these things best.
He bowed his hands to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, since Zhengde, prices have not increased much."
"A bunch of water chickens is only four cents, pork is eight cents per catty, and fish and shrimps are four or five cents per catty, not to mention rice and noodles."
These are all the achievements of the Ming Dynasty compared to the previous dynasty. When Xu Jie talked about it, his face was filled with pride.
Zhu Yijun nodded slowly.
Then he turned to look directly at the tenants and asked curiously: "How much money can you earn in a month?"
Prices are not cheap, that is, compared with the income of red people.
It’s not that big players like Xu Jie just say it’s cheap.
The strong man hesitated and replied: "Your Majesty, how much we earn depends on how we make a living."
"I'm going to cut dry firewood these days. I sell one load every three days and one tael of silver for thirty load."
"Other times, I dig medicine and hunt, and I sell it for thirty-one or two cents a day."
"I am a strong person, like Lao Ba, Gou Wa and others. When they are tired of carrying firewood, they go to the city to sell pulp. I can sell sixteen or seventeen cents a day."
Zhu Yijun really believed it now.
Maybe it’s due to the abundant supplies in Beijing, but even so, it’s not too different from other places.
It seems that the price is indeed not high.
But... Zhu Yijun took another look at the clothes of these tenants.
He frowned and asked: "Then why am I looking at you, you are wearing such shabby clothes?"
As soon as he finished speaking, an angry look flashed across the strong man's face.
But no words were spoken.
Zhu Yijun naturally understood the shrewdness of these tenants.
He pointed to Jiang Keqian who was wearing Feiyun uniform next to him: "This is the Jin Yiwei. If you answer your question well today, I will let him accept you. You don't have to worry about anyone's revenge."
When the strong man heard this, his face showed a look of ecstasy.
He naturally understands what Jin Yiwei is!
Even if it is a big-headed soldier, it is still a huge pie!
He quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "People in the city say that the old emperor is talking about the Tianxian, and he means what he says!"
Zhu Yijun smiled: "Such a small thing is as simple as going to the toilet for me."
The strong man got the promise. He looked reluctant at first, but immediately answered the question with excitement: "It's nothing. I'm just saving money to pay the rent."
"The gentlemen in the government must pay one or two filial piety every month, otherwise it will be troublesome to go to the city."
"If you sell pulp, you have to pay tolls to Master Shi, otherwise you will be taken to the mines in Yunnan to work as corvees."
"Chaishan belongs to the temple, and you have to pay half the price for cutting firewood. Hunting or killing, the Buddhas say we are guilty, and we must pay merit money to the temple."
"The purpose of eating is to make money. If you don't eat, you still have to pay rent. You won't be able to save money. It's better to eat more and make more money. What's the point of wearing good clothes every day? You'll have to wear them out before they're worn out."
The more Zhu Yijun listened, the more silent he became.
The word "killing people" rarely has some real meaning.
He suppressed the complicated thoughts in his heart and asked: "Is it better to live with fields, or to farm for the gentlemen?"
The strong man did not hesitate: "Then I must have enough land to make a living!"
"In previous years, we had to do corvee labor. After we could deduct it with silver taels twelve years ago, Arita is certainly the most comfortable."
Zhu Yijun understood.
It is talking about the service method that Gao Gong tried in Beizhili in the second year of Longqing. Those who served in the corvee paid silver taels, and the government used the silver taels to hire laborers to work, and each got what he needed.
However, because this policy was suspected of bribing wealthy households and involved technical issues such as the conversion of silver collected from various corvees, the implementation progress was extremely slow.
Furthermore, as Gao Gong's official career was bumpy, this policy was not further improved in the end, and only continued to operate with inertia within the scope of Beizhili.
Zhu Yijun shook his head inwardly and asked casually: "Then why did you plant the fields for me?"
When the strong man heard this, he thought of something sad, and his beaming expression suddenly stopped.
He replied in a sullen voice: "There was a natural disaster six years ago and the harvest was a bit poor. If I didn't have enough to pay for the autumn grain, I borrowed some from the temple."
"Later, when the profit margin was not enough, the land was taken away and I was given a piece of land to plant."
Zhu Yijun looked at the man's figure up and down and asked curiously: "Is your figure like this for farming?"
He is a tall man among short men. He cannot be said to be tall, but he is still one of the few strong men in the countryside.
If they are not caught and dusted, it will be the gentleman's loss.
The strong man turned away and said, "Buddhas say that if you don't have a daughter, you can only work in the fields."
Finishing it before twelve o'clock is my blessing.
Correction: The number of 18,117 hectares and 11 acres in Daxing County in the previous article is wrong. It is a misrecording in the actual records. Looking at other information, this number should be the sum of several counties. Therefore, Daxing The county should only have a few thousand, but the exact number is not clear.
Chapter completed!