Chapter 871 The Old Man
In late March, Wang Xuan came from Pingyang to inspect the fields.
The last stubborn stronghold is left here: the Wubao of the former refugee commanders Guo Mo and Guo Zhi brothers.
Guo Mo once led his troops to flee to Henan and helped the King of Liang fight in the war. When he attacked Liu Ya in Hanoi, he led his troops to fight back and occupied Wubao, which he had abandoned.
After several years, he was basically not traced, and other people were investigated first. Today, in the ninth year of the Divine Turtle, Guo's Wubao finally ushered in the "big test".
"Yuanxiong, we had a chance encounter in Luoyang in the past. During the Battle of Heyang, Xian Kunzhong was very bloody and fought with all his strength, and it was not without success." Wang Xuan walked in the fields and looked at the people who were measuring the fields. The petty officials said to Brother Erguo: "The Shan family has withdrawn from the land before Yongjia, so stop your wishful thinking."
Guo Mo was speechless.
Guo Zhi was indignant, but when facing Wang Xuan, he did not dare to say anything unpleasant. He could only complain: "With so much wasteland, who can plant it all? If King Liang needs land, he can just find someone to plant it." < br>
Wang Xuan had a good temper and was too lazy to get to know him. He just looked at the ground where wooden signs were nailed everywhere.
"Zhang Xiaoer!" A civil servant shouted loudly.
Zhang Xiaoer cowered in the crowd, looking at the civil servants and then at Brother Guo Mo.
Guo Zhi glared at him.
"Zhang Xiaoer!" the clerk shouted again.
There was a rough guy in the crowd who pushed Zhang Xiaoer.
Zhang Xiaoer staggered forward, gritted his teeth and said, "Someone is here."
The civil servant glanced at him and said, "This land is yours. Since it is a field, I will give it twice as much, including forty-nine acres of field, eight acres of mulberry forest, three acres of river bend grassland, and five acres for the house." , you can dispose of it yourself.”
Zhang Xiaoer was originally very scared, but when he saw the land deed, it seemed as if something had been activated. His eyes were red. He took it, carefully put it in his arms, lowered his head and left.
He glanced at Guo Zhi, then quickly looked away, looking for his family.
"Don't leave in a hurry." The civil servant shouted after him again: "In the future, there is no need to pay grain to the owner of the dock, only taxes and services from the court. If someone takes it by force, you can go to the county government gate to beat drums and redress your grievances."
"Yes, yes." Zhang Xiaoer paused and left quickly.
His wife and children wiped away tears.
In the past, it was indeed necessary to take refuge with the Lord of Wubao, otherwise he would not survive, but now that Hanoi is no longer the front line of the war, it seems that it is no longer needed.
There are pros and cons to being a Wubao dealer.
The advantage is that you can get shelter, but the disadvantage is that you can only make a living, which is comparable to Cao Cao's farming, and most of the grain and cloth have to be handed over to the Lord of Wubao.
I just hope that the oppression of the imperial court is not as severe as that of Lord Wu Fort, otherwise there really will be no difference.
Outside the main entrance of Wubao, the suspension bridge has been lowered. A group of strong men handed over their bows, knives, spears, and cards, and then left with their families.
When Guo Zhi saw this, he immediately walked over.
"Mr. Guo." The women and children hid behind, while the men stepped forward to salute.
Guo Zhi looked up to the sky and sighed. He bowed in return but said nothing.
A lot of land was cleared out of Wubao, and a lot of the villagers left. It could no longer support so many elite troops, and a group of people had to be let go.
These people will be registered in the county and given fields and homes. From now on, they will have nothing to do with the Guo brothers.
Of course, that is only theoretical. In fact, you can influence them through kindness and friendship and adopt them for your own use.
But after all, there is no name, and there is no master-slave relationship.
They help you out of love, but they don't help you out of duty. The next generation will probably be even more miserable and won't even listen to it anymore.
Shao Thief is really ruthless, and his tricks hit the most important points: land and population.
After the land was cleared, the remaining fields could not support as many people as before, and the strength of the entire Wubao was greatly reduced.
When the strength decreases, everything will go wrong.
Do you have enough money to make friends with noble people?
Can we still make various sophisticated instruments?
Can we also raise all the clan members and appoint them as planners, stewards or even tribal officials?
It doesn’t seem to work anymore.
This is an all-around decline that is heart-wrenching to retreat from.
Fortunately, the imperial court was quite conscientious and ranked their Wubao at the bottom. They earned a few more years of money and food, and the hundreds of thousands of dendrobium, millet and wheat in the treasury were not confiscated, which was very particular.
But it’s still uncomfortable after all!
If Shao Thief hadn't been at the top of his game, he would have rebelled long ago. But then again, even if it were not as good as Sun Zhongtian, Shao Thief would not dare to do this.
"Yuanxiong." After watching this great drama, Wang Xuan smiled and said: "The twenty counties of Liang State are responsible for the land distribution. This is an iron law, and no one dares to violate it."
"Yes." Guo Mo responded calmly, as if he had accepted his fate.
Wang Xuan said again: "Don't say that the imperial court has forgotten your friendship in fighting in the past. The post of Prime Minister of Fagan County in Yangping County is vacant, and Xian Kunzhong can be replaced. In this way, he will be an official from now on, which is better than being a person with no foundation." Is Wubao handsome and strong?”
When Guo Mo heard this, he felt a little relieved, finally he didn't lose anything.
He planned to become the county magistrate, while his younger brother stayed in Wubao to take care of the family business.
Wang Xuan looked at Guo Mo's face and said nothing more.
The last place in Hanoi County that needs farmland will be clarified in the next few days.
At this point, the Liang Kingdom has completed nine counties of Chen, Liang, Nandun, Xincai, Ji, Dunqiu, Hanoi, Puyang, and Xingyang, and the five counties of Runan, Jiyang, Taiyuan, Xinxing, and Wei have entered the final stage. The five counties of Pingyang, Leping, Yangping, Ruyin and Chenliu will still take some time, but they will definitely be completed this year.
Shangdang County is special and has not yet begun to cultivate land.
Outside these twenty counties, counties such as Yanmen, Xiangcheng, Henan, Hongnong, Jibei, Changshan, Zhongshan, Gaoyang, Hejian, Zhangwu and other counties are not within the territory of Liang State, but either the land transfer has been completed, Or there is no need to farm.
Although there are many powerful people in Dongping, Gaoping, Jinan, Leling, Boling, Xiapi and other counties, it is not very difficult to conquer the fields, and it is still possible to implement it forcefully.
In short, things are still developing in a good direction, although many people are not happy - Wang Xuan himself does not agree very much, but for various reasons, he does it forcefully.
******
On March 25, just as Wang Xuan completed his field work and returned to Yewang, he met a group of scholars heading north from Henan.
"Meizi."
"Yingzhi."
Wang Xuan and Bian Tao looked at each other, smiled, and walked away with arms crossed.
"Why did Meizi come to Yewang?" Bian Tao said with a smile: "If you don't live in Pingyang, you come to Yewang to hang out. Is this such a grand scene?"
"You don't dare to live idle." Wang Xuan said: "I don't know how many people are staring at your position now. If you are idle, you will always be idle."
"Official fan!" Bian Tao sneered and said, "I don't want to be an official. I spend all day wandering around the houses, but I feel at home. If it hadn't been for the call of the King of Liang and the urging of my father, I wouldn't have bothered to leave Jiyin."
"When discussing Taoism in Jinyang, why are there so few Bian clan's six dragons?" Wang Xuan said with a smile.
"The Six Dragons of the Bian Family have long been a thing of the past, so why mention it again." Bian Tao sighed: "In the past, there were eight kings of Pei Fang and Eight Kings, all of whom were great men for a while. Not to mention the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest and the Twenty-Four Friends of the Golden Valley Garden, alas. I I just can’t understand why the King of Liang has been in power for so many years, but there are no more Five Sages, Six Friends, Seven Dragons, and Bada.”
Wang Xuan was speechless and could only smile bitterly.
"I met Yang Zuyan in Yuanju a few days ago." Bian Tao continued, as if he was filled with bitterness: "He became a waiter and went to places to shout and drink. That's it. I invited him for a while, but he actually refused. What are you pretending to be? Back then, we were together with our hair disheveled, our chest and abdomen exposed, and we stayed behind closed doors to drink for several days. Since we went to Liang County, we have never seen him absent. It seems that he suddenly became a Qingxiu hermit. When I met him this time, I asked him what trouble he had with his official duties. I asked him to be more relaxed and give his official seal to the attendants while we drank and had fun. He hesitated and ran away. "
"Alas! It has changed, Yang Zuyan has changed! Meizi, he used to scold 'mediocre officials' and 'common affairs' in front of me, but now he works for secular affairs every day. Do you think he has changed?" ”
Wang Xuan also wanted to run away.
When we first met Bian Tao, he was a little friendly. After all, they had fooled around together before. Even after I became an official for the King of Liang, I got together several times, and every time I came back with great fun.
But in the past seven or eight years, I have increasingly felt that I am no longer on the same page as them, so I have gone less often to many occasions and slowly faded out. As for whether there will be arrangements behind the scenes, it's hard to say. Anyway, he doesn't care much anymore.
Thinking of this, he suddenly understood why the scholars were no longer as prosperous as before after the king of Liang used them...
"Yingzhi, I-" Wang Xuan hesitated.
"I know, you have something to do." Bian Tao was a little unhappy and said, "Anyway, you and I are not going together. I will go to Jinyang via Shangdang, and you will go back to Pingyang via Wangwu."
This was a bit strange, and Wang Xuan felt a little embarrassed when he said it, so he pointed to a group of scholars in the distance and asked: "Are these all Yuzhou's outstanding talents?"
"Yes." Bian Tao looked back and said: "Who dares to disobey King Shao's order? The soldiers of the East China Sea are so powerful that everyone wants to flatter them. They won't let you tell the truth, and they even send people to your door to give advice. Don’t mess around, that’s awesome.”
Wang Xuan felt that he could no longer chat with him. In view of the past friendship, he warned: "If the general trend is like this, why should Yingzhi act like this? Even if he feels unhappy, he should consider it for your father."
Bian Tao calmed down and said after a moment: "You can hold me, but you can't hold others. This is a grudge that has been built up for a long time and is difficult to resolve. Meizi, were you at the Guo brothers' house before?"
"Not bad."
"The Guo brothers have been cleared of a lot of fields, and countless tribesmen and bankers have dispersed. Do you think they will curse in their hearts?" Bian Tao asked back: "If this is the case with the Guo family, what is the difference between me and the Bian family? What about others? Even if they don’t live outside the Liang Kingdom, they will definitely have ideas after seeing this kind of thing too much. The King of Liang has been shouting for so many years to “be patient for the sake of the country”, but now that the world is generally peaceful, he still has to endure it. How long will this last? ”
Wang Xuan didn't want to quarrel with him anymore, so he just said: "Some matters can be left to talk about Taoism in Jinyang. Now that everyone knows about it, I might make the villain jealous."
When Bian Tao heard this, he thought to himself, "You think I'm stupid, I won't say that in Jinyang." Someone is charging into the battle, why should I step forward? If it makes me lose my official position, why don't you beat me to death?
Seeing that Bian Tao stopped talking, Wang Xuan quickly said goodbye to him and left for Pingyang.
(End of chapter)