The land of Guanzhong in November can already be described as severely cold. Everything is depressed and withered. The north wind sweeps across, and there is a chill between heaven and earth. Although there is no trace of snow, there is a hint of frost. From the air, it seems that
You can all smell the biting cold.
Generally speaking, in this season, not only the people of Guanzhong, but also the animals and beasts, reduce their outdoor activities, huddle up and hide, and survive the winter. In the winter of Guanzhong in the first year of Kaibao, the solar terms are not extreme. Compared with previous years, it is not too cold, so
What can be found is that many Guizhou leaders responded to the government's call to carry out public construction, as was the case in Pizhou.
Serving as a labor force is an obligation that every Han family must fulfill. They must contribute at least one month every year. Of course, this can be deducted with money, grain, silk and silk. In the early years, due to the lack of labor, the poor families in Guizhou Province
, and even women who reeled and weaved silk to do labor instead of the men in the family, but now this situation is much less common.
Moreover, very early on, the imperial court stipulated that when the government recruits labor, the people do not need to bring their own food and tools. All the labor is borne by the government who initiates it. If conditions permit, some rewards will even be given. In Tokyo and areas close to Gyeonggi, this is very common.
For ordinary things, other places have to look at the government finances and the situation of officials.
The name of the magistrate of Pizhou is Wang You. He is forty-one years old. He is a suave and ambitious person. He was born as a Jinshi. He is a typical example of a court official who knows the local area. In his early years, he served as a censor, a member of the household department, and a county magistrate. He was transferred to the magistrate two years ago.
Pizhou originally belonged to the Jingnan Army. It was an important place in Guanzhong and an important town in Weibei. It was adjacent to Jingwei to the west and Jingzhao to the south. In the early years, it was a base for the imperial court to stabilize the situation in the northwest. The late Fenyang Gongyao
Yuan Fu once served as the Jiedushi of the Jingnan Army, leading the Xing Ning disciples to control violence internally and defend against enemy invaders externally.
However, as the vassal towns were weakened and the territory actually controlled by the imperial court expanded, Pizhou gradually became the hinterland of Guanzhong. With the convenience of being adjacent to the Jing River, it can be regarded as a prefecture and county in the middle and upper reaches of Guanzhong.
Wang You was considered a late-blooming official. Less than half a year after he took office, he withstood a test. The severe drought in Guanzhong in the 15th year of Emperor Qianyou's reign also affected Pizhou. The fields were drought-stricken, food production was reduced, and hungry people were breeding. In this situation
Against the background of the epidemic, Wang You took action, actively provided relief, and led the officials and people to fight against drought and disaster. The final result was that by the end of the year, under the rule of Pizhou, not a single person died of cold and hunger.
No matter what the situation is in other states and counties, at least here in Pizhou, the situation is true. Previously, Emperor Liu once asked Lu Yin whether there were people who died of cold and hunger in Guanzhong under the background of disasters. The fact is, there are! Even, even
Even if there is no disaster, there will be no lack of cold and hunger in the northwest prefectures and counties.
The second thing that Wang You is famous for is that he discovered shortcomings in the matter of collecting labor. The magistrate of Ding'an County under his rule deceived his superiors and deceived his subordinates on this matter. On the one hand, he asked the people under his jurisdiction to offset the labor with money, grain, cloth, and silk.
On the other hand, money and food from the public treasury were cleverly planned to be used for building roads, dredging canals, and repairing the city. Of course, this double share of money, food, cloth, and silk fell into the pocket of the county magistrate...
Wang You couldn't tolerate such fraud. After discovering it, he immediately detained him under a Ding'an order and then collected evidence. It took almost no effort. The facts were clear, both witnesses and material evidence were available, and he was handed over to the police to be dealt with according to law.
As a court official who presided over the state, Wang You was qualified to report directly to Emperor Liu, so he submitted a memorial to Tokyo regarding the situation and expressed his views on the matter.
Then, Emperor Liu was furious when he learned about this. It can be imagined that what happened in Ding'an County was by no means an isolated case. There were thousands of counties in the country, and anything could happen.
So the central and local departments were ordered to conduct an inventory of such situations. It was obvious that there were many "smart people" like Ding'an Ling, and several corruption cases were revealed, involving state-level officials. There are more than a dozen officials.
The furious Emperor Liu directly interfered with the judiciary and executed all of them, because a case of this nature was not only a matter of corruption, but also involved deceiving the court and ignoring central authority.
What made Emperor Liu indignant was that the levy of corvees and infrastructure construction were all for the benefit of the country and the people. The imperial court even provided institutional and local support for this, but every time he thought about it, it became a convenience for some corrupt officials to line their own pockets.
Emperor Liu once again felt that it was not easy to govern the country well and be a good emperor. He increasingly felt that the process of governing the country was a battle of wits and strength between himself and the officials across the country.
The follow-up to this incident was to set certain restrictions on the start of projects in various places, which need to be reported in advance and inspected and supervised by the superior government. What should be repaired must be repaired, and what should be built must be built. Don't stop eating because of choking, but Liu The emperor has a plan in mind, so don't expect that there will never be any problems. There is no shortage of "smart people" in this world, and there are also many loopholes for people to take advantage of...
During this winter, Wang You, in the name of the Pizhou government, issued an order to dig ditches and build ponds and reservoirs in Xinping, Ding'an, Xiangle, and Yilu counties, apparently to prevent drought.
In the northwest region, water is a particularly important resource. In the countryside, there is no shortage of fights, fights, and injuries over water sources for irrigation every year. Therefore, there are both official orders and the temptation to open canals, plus Most of the people in Pizhou responded enthusiastically to Wang You's accumulated fame, and the severe cold could not stop their enthusiasm.
Against this background, a team of thousands of people braved the wind and cold and walked northward along the bumpy road along the old Xingning Road.
Because the country's political and economic center of gravity was in the Kanto region, and gradually moved to the southeast, the imperial court focused its main efforts on improving transportation on waterways. The situation of land roads has never been good. The paving of straight roads and galloping roads also meant that The Central Plains area is relatively complete. In addition to the main post roads, the official roads have been sufficiently constructed. As for other dry roads, the current situation cannot be described as bad, but it cannot be said to be developed. As far as the north is concerned, the further to the northwest, this situation The more obvious it is.
Therefore, the team passing through Pizhou had a hard time walking and the atmosphere was depressing. This northbound team was not a caravan. No one in the Han Dynasty had the strength to organize a caravan of thousands of people at a time. Like refugees, there are many vehicles, a lot of furniture, horses, camels and livestock. The whole thing looks like a nomadic tribe.
Of course, this is just an appearance. There are guides in front, patrols in the middle, and official officials behind. Most of the people in the team speak Nanyin, and their faces are sinking into the water one by one. They are bitter and resentful, showing a kind of suppressed resentment. temperament.
Yes, this team is one of the powerful ones that moved out of the southeast. When there was no choice, moving to Hunan was the easiest option to accept, but not everyone is that lucky, and the northern team
People who move can be described as disasters.
Being forced to sell off their property and leave the comfortable and prosperous southeastern treasure land, and move thousands of miles away, almost across the border, to the northwest of a bitter and cold land, anyone would be angry and resentful. This kind of emotion will appear anytime.
The hardships along the way have spread among this team.
Also aware of this sentiment, the officials, soldiers, and servants who were responsible for accompanying the people moving north have been more careful recently and tightened their supervision. In fact, not only the powerful people who were moved, but also the officers and soldiers responsible for this task were also very tired.
, we are all looking forward to reaching our destination as soon as possible, so that we can be liberated.
Their team boarded a boat from Jingkou, went north along the waterway, passed through the Huaihe River and entered the Yellow River, and then headed west. After arriving in Shaanxi Province, they abandoned the boat and landed. Because most of them moved as a family, they had a lot of belongings and luggage.
Stop and go on the road, which is particularly inefficient. More than four months have passed since we arrived in Pizhou.
This journey has gone through a lot of hardships. However, in the cold winter, this long journey seems to have no end in sight, which makes people feel a little desperate.
Therefore, even when it was known that after passing Pizhou and arriving at the final destination of Qingzhou, no one except the accompanying officers and soldiers showed any joy, and most of them were numb...