Wanli inspected Su's Industrial Park and granted Su Hao a marriage. The news quickly spread to Huai'an Mansion. Han Wen felt more honored than shocked that Wanli had given two girls, Lu Xiu'er and Han Qian, to Su Hao as wives.
It is a very honorable thing for his daughter's marriage to be included in the imperial edict. As for things like monogamy and two wives, the emperor doesn't care about it, so why should Hanwen care about it?
Han Wen was initially optimistic about Su Hao just because he could dig wells and knew some Buddhist knowledge. When his daughter fell in love with Su Hao, he also acquiesced with a mentality of not being able to interfere. Who would have expected that this Su Hao would
He was so powerful that he was first noticed by the Ministry of War and transferred to Bozhou where he made great achievements. Then he was noticed by the emperor and the second minister of the cabinet, Wang Xijue, who granted him the title of sixth-rank chief and sent him to Huai'an to regulate the river.
Just when he was worried that Su Hao would not be able to make any achievements in river management, he suddenly fought a battle with the Japanese pirates and achieved an unparalleled record of annihilating more than a hundred Japanese pirates and destroying their nests. This battle caused a sensation in the government and the public, starting from the capital.
Rumor has it that Wanli is planning to offer Su Hao a more prestigious official position. In comparison, the marriage grant is just an appetizer.
In the past, the Korean language would definitely not tolerate Han Qian and Lu Xiuer being placed side by side, but the situation is different now. The imperial edict clearly states that Lu Xiuer's status is the "royal sister", and Han Qian is just a daughter of an official.
, it’s hard to say who has a higher status than whom.
"Wonderful son-in-law, the grace shown to you by the Holy One is really higher than the sky and heavier than the mountains." Han Wen said with envy in the back hall of the government office to Su Hao who came to visit. Since
The emperor has issued an imperial edict granting marriage. Even if the marriage is successful, the Korean title for Su Hao will be "virtuous son-in-law".
Su Hao looked embarrassed and hesitated: "Well, the Palace Master... ah no, my father-in-law and my son-in-law don't know why the Holy One issued such a document. This method of husband and wife, I'm afraid it will cause people to gossip.
.”
"With the holy decree, who dares to gossip?" Han Wen said seriously, "You and Xiu'er have a marriage contract, so you should marry Xiu'er. This is a matter of course. And you and Qian'er are in love, but you have no choice but to marry Xiu'er.
It is not suitable for a woman to be a concubine, so this marriage has always been very difficult, and I have always regretted it. Now it's better, with such an imperial edict, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?"
"Yes, yes, it's the best of both worlds." Su Hao agreed. As a modern person, he disdained the distinction between wives and concubines. Han Wen insisted that he marry Han Qian as his wife and Lu Xiuer as his concubine. This matter
The incident also made him worried. Wanli played such a trick, but it relieved him, and he was quite happy in his heart.
"Xian son-in-law, you and Qian'er are not young anymore. Since the Holy Father has granted marriage, you should choose an auspicious day to get married as soon as possible." Han Wen said.
Su Hao said: "Nowadays, there are many things that need to be done by my son-in-law to manage the river. It's better to let my daughter's private matters go first. In fact, my son-in-law and Qian'er are not very old, so it would be useless to delay things for a year.
It’s too late.”
"Young people should take national affairs as their top priority. I agree." Han Wen knew that Su Hao was a thoughtful person and it was difficult for others to convince others of his good ideas, so he did not insist and agreed to Su Hao's offer.
arrange.
After talking about private matters, the two began to get down to business. Su Hao said: "Father-in-law, since our army defeated the provocation of bandits and Japanese pirates, the powerful landowners in Huai'an Prefecture are all panic-stricken, and no one dares to imitate Zeng Fengxian.
Confronted with the government. According to what my son-in-law's servants learned, even the officials in the lower states and counties have restrained themselves a lot. My son-in-law thought that this was the time for his father-in-law to roll out the new policy in a drastic way, and he didn't know what his father-in-law had in mind.
"
Han Wen asked: "What suggestions do you have for changing it?"
Su Hao said: "For a long time, powerful landlords under the Huai'an Prefecture have robbed ordinary farmers, and the phenomenon of land annexation has been extremely serious. Farmers have a heavy tax burden, and their families do not have any savings, so they have no ability to save themselves in the event of a natural disaster.
My son-in-law believes that we should take advantage of this opportunity to carry out land clearing on a large scale, confiscate the fields hidden by powerful landlords as official land, and then lease them to landless farmers for cultivation at very low rents, so as to achieve the purpose of recuperation and recuperation.
Now there are a large number of refugees inside and outside Huai'an City. We should distribute the land to them before the arrival of spring without delaying spring plowing. As long as the summer grain is harvested, the difficulties in Huai'an Prefecture will disappear."
"You mean to confiscate the land of other powerful people just like the land of Zeng Fengxian's family?" Han Wen asked meaningfully.
Su Hao shook his head and said: "Zeng Fengxian's situation is different from others. He colluded with bandits and Japanese pirates to fight against the government. He should be punished as a crime of rebellion. Now it is just confiscating his family's land, instead of turning his family members into official slaves. It is already
I am being merciful outside the law. Other powerful landowners do not have such misdeeds. It is enough to give them a light punishment as a son-in-law, but not to hurt them too deeply. After all, I still need to rely on these powerful people to support me in the world."
"What I changed is what I meant." Han Wen said with satisfaction.
If it were another young man, he had just had a serious conflict with a powerful landowner like Zeng Fengxian, and he had achieved an absolute victory. The next step would definitely be to take advantage of the victory to pursue and catch all the powerful landowners under the Huai'an Prefecture.
All the land was confiscated to the officials.
If the powerful landlords in Huai'an Prefecture were to be strictly investigated, there wouldn't be a single household that had concealed their land. If they were dealt with according to the law, it would be enough to beat every landlord's ass into mincemeat. But Su Hao understood that the existence of powerful landlords was both hateful and hateful.
It also has a positive side. In an era when the level of social productivity was not high, the existence of the landlord class was the basis for the development of productivity.
In ancient times, building pitang channels, innovating farm tools, setting up private schools, and stocking grain to prepare for shortages were all done by landlords. Ordinary farmers did not have the strength to do these things. If all the landlords in an area were eliminated, the local
Productivity will definitely decline, and this is not a wise choice.
Of course, it would be another matter if Su Hao had the ability to engage in cooperativization and establish people's communes after eliminating the landlords. However, Su Hao's head has not been kicked by a donkey. In the Ming Dynasty, such things as cooperativization were not possible.
He didn't even dare to think about it.
The two men, Weng and son-in-law, reached a consensus on how to deal with the landlords, and the rest of the matter was simple. The two carefully analyzed the situation of the entire Huai'an Prefecture, and decided to start the land clearing work in the whole prefecture from now on, and clarify the rights and interests of each household.
Area of farmland. For families that have concealed their farmland, as long as they voluntarily pay a certain amount of taxes, they will be exempted from prosecution. Those who cannot pay the taxes can also use their excess fields to repay, and these fields will be confiscated as official land.
Fields are leased to farmers for farming.
Roughly calculated, the back taxes paid by these powerful people will be as high as 100,000 taels of silver, and the confiscated land should be tens of thousands of acres. With this money and land, Han Wen will have no problem solving the current refugee problem in Huai'an Prefecture.
The pressure is on. In the past few months, Han Wen felt that he was helpless and couldn't do anything he wanted to do. Now the situation is different. He has money and land, and the powerful and state and county officials are silent. It is really a good time to show off his talents.
.
"If these things can be accomplished, this government can be considered as doing a good thing for the people of Li. It is worthy of the imperial court to appoint me as the governor." Han Wen said with some pride.
"If this matter can be done according to our ideas, the appearance of Huai'an Mansion will be completely new. The people will live and work in peace and contentment, and the country will be peaceful and the people are safe. When the officials come and pass the exam, my father-in-law's political performance will definitely be the best in our Ming Dynasty." Su Hao
Compliments.
Han Wen smiled and said: "This is all due to your efforts. Without you leading the troops to defeat the bandits and Japanese pirates, there would be no situation today. I am just sitting back and enjoying the results."
Su Hao said: "My father-in-law said something serious, this is what my son-in-law should do."
Han Wen said: "In other words, I will remember all the things you did. The imperial court sent me to Huai'an mainly to help you with things, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be a big help to me. Next step
, Is there anything that requires Huai'an Prefecture's cooperation in regulating the river? It doesn't matter if I change it, as long as I can do it, I won't hesitate."
Su Hao said: "We have already begun to control the river. The plan to allow the Huaihe River water to pass through the Yellow River and into the sea has been approved by Governor Pan. The project to cross the Yellow River will start soon and must be completed before the Yellow River freezes.
After the Yellow River crossing project is completed, the Huaihe River water will pass under the Yellow River channel and enter the sea through Huai'an Prefecture, so it is necessary to dig a channel into the sea, and this requires the efforts of the entire Huai'an Prefecture to complete."
"This is not difficult." Han Wen said, "As long as you draw out the route, we will recruit laborers from all over the government to ensure that this channel into the sea is dug before Taohuashui next year."
"This matter requires a lot of money and land, and the amount of silver that can be allocated from the river is very limited, so the Huai'an government may have to bear some of the expenses," Su Hao said.
Han Wen said: "In this clearing of land, a lot of official land was expropriated. This government can make the decision to use these official fields to replace the farmland occupied by the construction of canals. As for the silver coins, there is no need to worry about changing it. This government has its own way to solve it.
"
Han Wen said there was a way to solve it, but in fact it was nothing more than back taxes collected from powerful landowners. Su Hao originally earned this money, and now it is used for Su Hao's business, which can be regarded as well spent.
.The construction of water conservancy has always been a top priority for local governments. If Han Wen can complete the construction of such a large-scale water conservancy project while in office, it can be regarded as a great political achievement.
"That's great." Su Hao said, "Once this channel is built, it can provide irrigation for millions of acres of fields in Huai'an Prefecture during droughts, and it can discharge floods and drain water during floods. Our Huai'an Prefecture will be able to ensure harvests despite droughts and floods.
The money we pay now will be fully recovered within a few years."
"We will wait and see." Han Wen said with confidence. (To be continued. Please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)