With such a group of wide-eyed villagers watching, Ji Hu was not afraid that these tenant farmers would dare to lie about the number of elderly people at home.

Wangzhuang has a total of 6,000 acres of registered land, and there are thirty-five households of registered tenants. After the list was distributed, more than a dozen households of tenants suddenly came. They claimed that they were also tenants of Wangzhuang here, but their names were not.

In the book. Wu Laofu immediately dripped with beans.

Big beads of sweat appeared, as if he wanted to excuse himself. Ji Hu glanced at him coldly. This grain reward was indeed his intention. In recent years, the number of tenants in Wangzhuang has not increased, but the harvest has been declining year by year. He woke up early.

There is something fishy about this. Now that I have the opportunity, I will simply find out.

Duoyou has taken the head of the village and a team of guards to go out to find the dozen or so households of tenant farmers to measure the land. The report was submitted the next day, and it was found that Wangzhuang had more than 600 acres of fertile land for nothing, and there were 13 households.

Tenant farmers. Moreover, someone reported that Wu Laofu and several other stewards had purchased their own properties outside, but it was only in the names of relatives.

"You people were originally slaves of the guilty ministers. You were taken in by the Zhou royal family and you are where you are today. Instead of repaying your master's kindness, you instead concealed your land and kept tenants privately. You are indeed good slaves." Wei He's cold words had a different meaning.

Very profound.

Everyone kowtowed and begged again and again. The old wizard Fu kowtowed until his forehead was bruised and swollen, and he raised his head and said: "It's all the young people who have been fooled by lard. The slaves realized their mistake and immediately sold their farm and confiscated it---

---"

"Nonsense! Is the king coveting your acres of land?" Wei He shouted loudly.

Several stewards continued to kowtow, but Ji Hu softened his tone and said, "Tell me, where did those tenants come from?" There have been no major floods or droughts in the past few years, and Zhou Li does not advocate migration. Could there be something hidden behind this?

Love? Ji Hu was confused.

"Your Majesty," Wu Lao Fu didn't dare to raise his head: "They were originally farmers in the well fields. Because the fields could not be cultivated, they abandoned the well fields and came here."

"Really? Are you talking nonsense?" Ji Hu frowned and asked in disbelief.

The well-field system has been implemented in the Western Zhou Dynasty for a hundred years. The basic point is that the nearly 100 acres of land in the middle are the public property of the Zhou royal family, and the surrounding acres are owned by the Chinese yeoman farmers and noble feudal lords. The yeoman farmers and noble tenants need to take turns to work together on the royal field in the middle. Generally,

Generally speaking, land is the life of farmers. If life is not really difficult, how could the farmers give up cultivating their own fields and seek refuge in Wangzhuang to become a shady gangster? It seems that there must be something wrong behind this.

Ji Hu made up his mind: "Go and find the heads of the dozen or so households of tenant farmers. If you have anything to ask,"

"promise!"

Ji Hu sat behind the table in the middle hall and glanced at the more than ten tenants kneeling at the foot of the steps. These farmers were all in ragged clothes, with ravines on their faces, engraved with the years and hardships of making a living.

"Don't be afraid, please select someone to answer my question." Ji Hu couldn't bear to see them trembling, so he comforted them with kind words.

Everyone below looked at each other and whispered for a while, then an old man came forward on his knees and knelt down and said: "Bailishi, a common man, please answer my king's words!"

"I ask you, where did you make a living before? Why did you abandon your ancestral business and come here? Tell the truth, there is no need to have any scruples."

"Back to my king, the grassroots were originally farmers in Weinan's minefields, and their families had dozens of acres of fertile land. Later, due to the lack of water from the canals, the harvests were not harvested year after year. In the end, not only did they default on the government's rent and taxes, but they also had trouble making ends meet for the whole family.

It was so difficult that I had to flee to Wangzhuang and become a tenant." When the old man from Baili said this, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Poor harvest?" Ji Hu and Wei He looked at each other, both confused: "The four-layer ditch structure of the mine field is complete. In the past two years, Wang Tian in Weinan has not reported a bad harvest. How come only the land of homesteaders has a bad harvest?

King Kuang's field is located in the middle of a well field. If the canals are blocked, irrigation will not be possible. I have never heard of this. What is going on?"

"Your Majesty, you don't know something." The old man from Baili seemed to have been prepared for King Zhou's question. He explained calmly: "The well field has four layers of water network, well canal, Li canal, She canal and Cheng canal.

, externally connected to the river. Among them, the well canal is connected externally to the river, and the inner canal irrigates the Wangtian.

The canals are connected to the fields in all directions, and the canals are connecting the fields. Every spring sowing season, the noble lords will always instruct their minions to block the canals connected to our fields and monopolize the water source. When our crops emerge, we are not allowed to irrigate the canals.

I can only watch the spring seedlings die and collapse."

"Is this happening?" Ji Hu was horrified. He knew the greedy and selfish nature of the nobles, but he never thought that these people could act so recklessly. He shouted angrily: "Why don't you sue the officials, or dig it out yourself?

Open canals and dams?”

"My lord," said the old man from Baili with tears streaming down his face: "We, the common people, have no power, how dare we fight with the noble lords? Those who are bolder can only dig ditches quietly at night when no one is around.

Damn, I'm afraid of being seen by those minions! They

The purpose of doing this is to make us lose the harvest and have to sell our land to the nobles at a low price. In this way, their land will be connected together, and we will change from self-cultivators to tenants for generations.

reduced to slavery.”

"This is unreasonable, this is unreasonable!" Ji Hu's face was ashen, he punched the case and suddenly stood up, striding around, and a series of roars made the hall buzz: "Moths! They are all worms from the Zhou Dynasty! They are eating the king's salary.

, instead of thinking about protecting the environment and the people, not thinking about contributing to the country, but instead oppressing the common people's industries for their own petty profits, this is intolerable!"

In the huge hall, facing the thunderous wrath of the young emperor, everyone was too frightened to say a word. It was as quiet as a deep mountain and deep valley, and everyone's breath could be heard.

Wei He had never seen Ji Hu so furious, and he couldn't help but be shocked and moved by it. The only one in the world who could see a king so clearly weigh the stakes between the safety of the country and the livelihood of the people! But for now, he still had to appease the emperor's anger.

Ask things clearly

Making another decision. He coughed lightly and asked the old man from Baili: "If this is really the case, after you sold your land, why didn't you stay here as tenants? Instead, you fled to Wangzhuang? You were all working as tenants, so why did you leave your hometown?

How about staying away from the graves of our ancestors?”

The old man from Baili muttered and replied: "This------Old man, my land was sold to Ji Gong's family, and his family's stewards were like wolves and tigers, and I became his tenant------

Not only is the land rent 20 to 30% higher than that of neighboring Zhuangzi, but the people in charge often

He makes tenant farmers do private work for him, asks for money during festivals and festivals, and even increases the rent if there are any excuses. A group of village bosses use their power to abuse other people's wives and daughters. They are really worse than beasts! The old man would rather take his wife and children to Wangzhuang than go to Wangzhuang.

Stay here and let others rub you to death!"

"How dare a mere steward dare to exploit you to this extent?" Ji Hu's face was filled with fierce anger. He pointed at the people kneeling behind the old man from Baili and asked: "What about you? You also sold the Didian to Ji.

Is he tall?"

Two or three people responded and said yes, and several others said that they sold the dian to Duke Zhou's family. One of them had a different answer: "I---I sold the dian to Duke Zhao's family."

Ji Hu couldn't believe his ears: "What did you say? Duke Zhao? Is it the auxiliary government, Duke Zhao?"

The man could tell that King Zhou was unhappy in his tone, so he hurriedly bowed down and said, "Young man, I don't dare to lie. It is indeed Zhaogong's Mansion, and it is no different from what happened to Uncle Baili."

Ji Hu felt desolate in his heart, and murmured in a low voice: "Young father is also involved in this. Is it true that there is no loyal minister in our world?" His words were very light. Except for Wei He, who was standing close by, there was no one else.

People heard what he said.

Wei He comforted him in a low voice: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. Duke Zhao is stuck in state affairs all day long. The matters of taking care of the family property must be left to his subordinates. It is common for him to be careless for a moment."

Seeing that Ji Hu didn't answer, but his face turned pale, Wei He continued to ask: "Tell me how the lords who occupied your land treat the tenants. Tell the truth, and don't lie about a word. One by one.

Say it, everyone has to say it.”

The old man from Baili spoke first: "I'm afraid the king will panic after hearing those things. In the cold winter, the family had no firewood and only relied on a few single clothes to keep out the cold. Some children died of frostbite; because the rent was heavy,

The old people are reluctant to eat, and some of them starve to death; even so, the working men and women still have to work underground all day long——"

The man who mentioned Zhao Gong's Mansion just now said with tears in his eyes: "I am so sick that I have to cough up blood and have to do it; my feet are rotten from the cold and I have to do it; my child is freezing and hungry in the house and crying so hard that he has to do it -

----"

"Your Majesty, why don't the tenant farmers want to take a stand? But there are officials who are in control of the situation and there are thugs like wolves, jackals, tigers and leopards. The tenant farmers can't help but watch, and they don't know where to go to file a complaint.

The next time I made a fuss, I was suppressed again, and I yelled and was forced even harder."

"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, there is no way to rehabilitate the land, but there is no way for us to ask for help. Sooner or later, the tenants who serve as sacrifices to the public will be eaten to the bone. We have no choice but to defect to Wangzhuang. At least the head of Wuzhuang will not force us to death.

Isn't it?" the old man Baili finally concluded.

Ji Hu's fists were clenched tightly under his sleeves------

After seeing off the Baili old man and the others, Ji Hu's face was ashen as frightening. Wei He tentatively asked, "Your Majesty, what should we do with Wu Laofu and the other village leaders?"

Ji Hu replied angrily: "Gu Wei is in charge, you should ask your father!" with a look of resentment on his face.

Wei He smiled: "This is Wangzhuang's matter, not state affairs. Your Majesty can make the decision at any time."

Ji Hu rubbed his brows that had been furrowed for a long time and said: "Although they are greedy for some land benefits, they are still sensible and have not forced the tenant farmers to death."

Wei He nodded: "I've been walking around for the past two days. Most of the tenants in Wangzhuang are living a pretty good life. There are no people selling their sons or daughters, and no one is starving to death. Wu Laofu and this bunch of guys,

It seems that he is not very courageous, at most he is a house thief who loves petty theft. Does your Majesty wish to leave it at that?"


Chapter completed!