"Playing Song"/Chunxi Di Xiao

Chapter 72

After breakfast, Wang Yun had not had time to say goodbye to Sima Yan, and was taken away by Sima Guang.

Sima Guang can ride a horse when he goes on a trip. Wang Yun and his friends rented a donkey and followed Sima Guang's thin horse, which felt much more upscale than when he went on a trip with Wang Anshi.

Wang Yun drove his own short donkey to Sima Guang and sighed with Sima Guang that Wang Anshi had been poor at the time. He went to the countryside to walk. When he arrived at the village, he could see children carrying manure baskets to grab cow dung.

Sima Guang was born into a family of officials and only deals with poetry and books on weekdays. When Wang Yun said that the cow dung was muddy, he felt uncomfortable.

Of course, since it is easy to decide to go to the countryside to see it, Sima Guang naturally would not retreat because of this difficulty. He said to Wang Yun: "What's the cow dung? It's not smelly, and it can still be ignited after it is dried." Sima Guang saw this from Wang Anshi's letter.

Seeing that Sima Guang didn't frown, Wang Yun knew that his Taoism was too shallow to stimulate the boss, so he could only follow Sima Guang obediently.

He obviously came to see A Yan's sister, so why did he follow Sima Guang to the countryside for an outing?

No matter how Wang Rong muttered in his heart, Sima Guang still walked and stopped as he planned, and dismounted from time to time to chat with the old farmers in the fields.

Sima Guang was originally dressed well, had a good temperament, and was handsome, which gave the farmers a sense of distance, but he was accompanied by three boys, two of whom were quite noisy - mainly in that they asked questions when they saw something new.

The farmers in Yunzhou are no better than those in Qingzhou who have seen the world in the past two years. They rarely have the chance to be questioned by officials and young yamen. After hearing Wang Rong and Shen Kuo ask for advice from them with curiosity, they were all flattered and poured everything they knew out like beans.

The capital of Yunzhou is located in Xucheng. The dam broke through the dam in the third year of Tianxi. The nearby lake swallowed up a lot of fertile land. The lake extends continuously, and it lasts for dozens of miles, and can connect to Dayeze, Yanzhou.

Wang Yun listened to the farmers' chats and roughly learned that since the founding of the Song Dynasty, Jingdong Road had experienced more than a dozen Yellow River floods.

It seems that the beast of the Yellow River is fierce and hard to tame. When it is gentle, it breastfeeds all people, and when it is cruel, it is gone.

No one can cure the Yellow River flooding problem even thousands of years later, and with the current technological level of the Song Dynasty, it naturally cannot make it obey its command.

Wang Rong couldn't do anything to it.

He followed Sima Guang for most of the day and arrived in Shouzhang County.

This county was also flooded, but the people worked diligently to clean up the land after the disaster and continued to live a peaceful life on the top.

There is fertile water shui not far from Shouzhang County. The wetlands around the river bank are well maintained. It is said that they will "swallow people", so no one dares to encircle them in their homes when the superiors ask for a large-scale development of arable land.

Wang Rong followed Sima Guang into Shouzhang County. The county magistrate had been waiting outside and respectfully stepped forward to greet Wang Rong and others.

Wang Yun listened to Sima Guang and Shouzhang County Magistrate, politely poked Shen Kuo's waist, shook his eyebrows a few times, and fooled Shen Kuo and tied him up and went out for a walk.

Sima Guang looked at him. Seeing that Wang Rong was about to escape, he suddenly reminded him: "Don't run around, come back within half an hour."

"Okay, I understand." Wang Rong agreed readily.

The county magistrate had known that the superior had sent the magistrate and the magistrate, and had also tried to inquire about the situation at their home, but he was not sure whether Sima Guang had a son.

Seeing the two getting along like this, the county magistrate immediately found the entry point: "The son-in-law is so smart and cute."

"This child is not my family." Sima Guang expressed his relationship with Wang Rong with a look of gratitude. "This is the eldest son of Wang Tongzong of Qingzhou, and also my student. He and his friends came here to travel, and I will take him out for a walk."

Although Sima Guang had a little disgusted on his face, his tone was close and proud. He was obviously very satisfied with this student and had a very good relationship with Punishment Wang Tong in Qingzhou.

If not, how could Punisher Wang Tong send his son here with confidence?

The county magistrate secretly thought about it and tried to talk to Sima Guang about the various changes in Qingzhou.

Compared to greetings and chanting, Sima Guang obviously liked this topic more and happily sat down with the county magistrate to have a detailed discussion.

Without Sima Guang, Wang Rong was much more comfortable and was wandering around Shouzhang County with Shen Kuo.

Shen Kuo studied the customs and ambitions in Qilu and took Wang Rong to find a famous scenic spot in the county: "There is a Bairenyi Gate in Shouzhang County. It is said that it was built by Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and praised this place for a benevolent family with nine generations of family members."

Wang Rong followed Shen Kuo in the direction guided by the locals, and soon saw what Shen Kuo mentioned about Bairenyi Gate and Bairentang.

Shen Kuo gave Wang Rong science popularization: When Emperor Gaozong of Tang went to Mount Tai to Fengshan, he passed by here and summoned the 88-year-old Zhang clan in the local area. He learned that their family had achieved "nine generations living together", and nearly a thousand people in the whole clan lived together without any disputes, and he was very grateful.

At that time, the old man of the Zhang clan personally wrote a hundred words for Emperor Gaozong of Tang, telling Emperor Gaozong of Tang what these hundred words mean: roughly, it means that father and son should be tolerant, brothers should be tolerant, sisters-in-law should be tolerant, mother-in-law should be tolerant, mother-in-law should be tolerant... The key to getting along with people is to endure! If you can't bear it, you will finish the ball!

After hearing this, Wang Yun nodded and said that he had written it down. It seemed that the Bairentang and Bairenyi Gate were a bit of a problem, but he didn't know if the Zhang family still lived here.

The three of them walked forward and chatted with the people around them. Only then did they realize that the Zhang family was still a local family, but many branches had moved to other places.

When I praised my family's affairs back then, the residents of the surname Zhang were more proficient than Shen Kuo, and even told Wang Yun a serious gossip: It is said that the Zhang family raised a hundred dogs, and these hundred dogs were extremely loyal and righteous. If one of the ones was missing, they would not eat. They had to wait until they started eating!

Even dogs talk about benevolence and righteousness so much, so there is no need to say how strict the Zhang family precepts are!

Wang Yun muttered in his heart after hearing this: Dear, have you ever heard of conditioned reflexes?

However, Wang Rong naturally didn't want to pour cold water on this matter, so he only asked people what's delicious in Shouzhang County.

When he mentioned what he had eaten, the other party became more energetic and immediately introduced to Wang Xun: "If you talk about what he had, it would naturally be the best cooked cake from Grandma Hu's house in Dongtou. The skin was crispy and the filling was fragrant. He was willing to sprinkle sesame seeds. It was so beautiful when he took a bite. By the way, the five-spice pickles they had were also delicious, so it was the best to eat it with the cooked cake."

Wang Rong took Shen Kuo and Zhou Wen to try it out. The cooked cakes in Qilu have always been very famous. The Wudalang sesame cakes sold everywhere in later generations evolved from this cooked cake, but the variety has changed a lot, which is not as authentic as here.

Wang Rong quickly found Grandma Hu’s store and ordered four pancakes. He originally wanted to order five-spice pickles, but Grandma Hu said he would give it directly and didn’t have to buy it, but he was honest!

Wang Yun walked into the store and sat down and waited. He looked around for a week and found that Grandma Hu's reputation was not accidental. The store was clean and clean, and there would be no dirty things or flies that would hurt people's appetites.

Grandma Hu's clothes were neatly taken care of when making pancakes, washed their hands cleanly, and the whole process of making pancakes was transparent, so guests could easily see how Grandma Hu used the ingredients.

This is a promising store!

The cooked cake was not ready, Wang Rong and Shen Kuo and Zhou Wen chatted casually, mainly because Wang Rong and Shen Kuo were chatting, and Zhou Wen did not have the ability to chat.

While the three of them were waiting, several groups of customers came over one after another. Some also went to the store to sit and wait for the cakes to cook, while others happily booked a few with Grandma Hu, saying that they would go and do other things first and then come to pick them up later.

Grandma Hu responded with a smile, then made the cakes, and soon delivered the four cooked cakes to Wang Yun and the other two. One of them was packed in paper so that Wang Yun could take it away.

The five-spice pickles were also delivered. Wang Rong picked up a few pieces to taste them. He felt that the taste was very special. He also followed the enthusiastic teachings of the people in the neighboring table and the food was eaten. It felt very fragrant when he was in his mouth!

Wang Rong and the enthusiastic person at the next table gave a thumbs up and praised the deliciousness.

Even outsiders recognized the delicious food in the county. The enthusiastic people were very happy. Seeing Grandma Hu busy in front of the stove, they couldn't help but talk about Grandma Hu's interactions with Wang Rong and the other two.

Grandma Hu's husband died while serving labor. Two of her five sons starved to death in early years, three left, one died of illness, one died in the wing army, and one was left to live on several acres of thin fields at home.

The only remaining son is not in good health, can't do heavy work, and the fields are not fat, and life is very difficult. Fortunately, Grandma Hu is well-made and can earn some money to marry her son. Now she has two grandchildren.

Someone else interrupted: "So what if you have a grandson? You have to go to labor service. The land tax is heavy, and it is not enough to plant things to pay."

When Shen Kuo listened, he felt that the cooked cakes that were in his mouth were no longer as fragrant.

Corvee and taxes have been the two mountains that have been under the heads of the people since ancient times.

He followed his classmates from Qingzhou Prefecture to enjoy the lives of the people several times, and knew how difficult it was for the people: there was only a little field in their family, and that little field was their life root.

A little natural disaster is a disaster for them!

Grandma Hu has a good ability to make pancakes herself. More people can only sell their fields and turn themselves into tenants when encountering disasters.

There are powerful and wealthy families in various places who take advantage of various natural disasters to find opportunities to merge land. Shen Kuo has read relevant records: During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, there was a retired official named Ma Ximeng in Linzi, Qingzhou. After he returned to his hometown, he occupied thousands of hectares of fertile land. Local officials were in a nest of snakes and rats, which made the Ma family quickly become a local tyrant!

By the time his grandson Ma Shiyao became a local emperor, and he had to send a tough guy to move his sword to rule the people.

Such a retired official can connect with the government, and the army covers thousands of hectares of land, not to mention the situation of land annexation in other places.

There are only so many fertile fields in a state. If he occupied thousands of hectares, someone would definitely lose thousands of hectares. I wonder how many people will lose the land they rely on for their livelihoods!

These powerful men will do another thing: Hidden Field.

In the past few years, the measurement technology is not advanced, and most of the officials and clerks below are in love with the powerful. The powerful who occupy large areas of fertile land will conceal the amount of land and report the best fertile land to the lower level.

With more hidden fields, the tax tasks in this state are distributed to many ordinary people who guard several acres of thin fields, forcing them to sell the fields to live.

There were many people around him, and Shen Kuo told Wang Xun about this on the spot.

After Wang Yun finished the cooking cake slowly, Shen Kuo popularized the serious problems caused by land annexation with Wang Yun on the way back.

When Wang Yun heard this, he shook his head.

This is probably what is called "prosperity will bring suffering to the people; perish, the people will suffer". The Song Dynasty had certain signs of "free economy". If you do not suppress land annexation, you can buy land if you have money, which is free and fair.

But the problem is that the people have no money.

After the land was concentrated in the hands of the powerful, they were equivalent to lambs slaughtered, and there was no room for resistance. The powerful decided to share their meals with a few bites, and they could only eat a few bites.

Without the fields, the people will lose their roots, and people without roots will easily rebel. This is why the "Water Margin" appeared in the Song Dynasty.

Although the Song Dynasty did not have as many as the 108 generals in the Water Margin, it is true that the frequent occurrence of thefts was true.

The court thought of a way to recruit all these landless refugees into the army every year, and the court allocated military support.

This method can curb the rebellion of bandits to a certain extent, but it also brings many problems: such as redundant soldiers.

In order to support this huge army, the imperial court spent most of its fiscal revenue every year to feed it.

During the Zhenzong period, there was still the wealth that was saved before that could be squandered, and now we have to rely on the internal warehouse to fill in the gaps.

The financial hole is getting bigger and bigger like a snowball.

This is why the superiors are constantly testing on the edge of reform.

The court is short of money.

Wang Anshi also discovered this problem. Even Shen Kuo knew about Ma Ximeng, how could Wang Anshi not know about it? Wang Yun discovered the relevant "reform outline" in Wang Anshi's hidden manuscript.

According to the result of his two days of thinking about it, his father's new law should be the famous "Fang Tianjun Tax Law" in later generations.

The general idea is to measure the fields in various places well, and then re-evaluate the fertile land every year. After the assessment is made, you will collect as much tax as you should collect every year, and resolutely eliminate tax evasion.

This is a good thing for the people. Although they may not be able to help them get back the land, there are fewer tax evasions and less taxes, and there will definitely be less taxes on their heads!
To be continued...