Near noon, the meeting at the Second Hall of Ninghai Prefecture finally decided on the candidates to negotiate peace with Beihai, including: Wang Guixiang, the governor of Prefecture Xuexue, the steward of Zhizhou Yuan Jingde, and one person from each of the Chang family, Zhao family, Wang family, and Kong family. . They will be escorted by forty strong men from the above four families to Wendeng, more than a hundred miles away.
To show his sincerity, the former magistrate asked Xuezheng Wang Guixiang to bring the household registration books of the Seventy-seven Cooperatives in Baxiang, Ninghai Prefecture, as well as letters signed by Yuan Jingde, other officials and all the squires attending the meeting. In addition, he also collected materials from the previous collection. I took some chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep, two hundred stones of rice noodles and fifty bolts of silk cloth.
For such a big thing as surrender, some people agree, but naturally some people are against it. In order to keep it secret, Wang Guixiang and others decided after discussion to leave the city through the west gate after dark.
On the other side, Yu Shun and his companions wandered outside Ninghai Prefecture City for a long time and found that the interrogation into the city was very strict, so they finally decided to continue west to Fushan County to have a look. If circumstances permit, they will have to go to Dengzhou Prefecture for reconnaissance...
At six o'clock in the morning on September 8, 1793, Kong Shaoan, who had only slept for four hours, was awakened by the rapid sound of the alarm bell. By the time he got up and dressed, brushed his teeth and washed his face, the guards had already packed away the bedding on Arhat's bed, put it on the small tea table, and set out breakfast.
He lives in the pledge room behind the lobby of the Wendeng County Government Office, which is located in the northeast corner of Wendeng City. When the Northern Navy invaded Wendeng City three days ago, Deng Tingkai, the classics official, and Huang He, the inspector of the Jinghai Division, were shot dead when they resisted with their Yamen servants. The county magistrate Zhou Luduan, the county school teacher and the instructor were all prisoners, and the Weihai Division inspector Zhang Shaozeng's whereabouts are unknown.
Although the county magistrate was arrested, his family members still lived in the back house. Kong Shaoan didn't want to send anyone away. When he learned that there was a back door facing the street in the inner house, he had the door leading to the inner house locked and arranged for guards to be on duty. He himself used the signed room as a temporary residence and office. At present, the county government of Wendeng County has a new name - Wendeng Military Control Commission of Beihai Navy, which temporarily governs Wendeng and Rongcheng counties.
Kong Shaoan didn't like living in the county government at all. Not to mention the cramped layout, many places were in disrepair and were quite crowded at night. However, due to the convenience of accessing and retrieving the archives in the Jia Ge Library, I had no choice but to stay here temporarily. He plans to wait for Ninghai Prefecture and Haiyang County to be established before looking for a piece of land outside the county to build a new office space.
In ancient China, there has always been a saying that "officials do not repair government offices." Unless the buildings are dilapidated, they will be repaired, and only the damaged ones will be repaired. You must know that building a government office is a waste of money and wastes money, causing widespread complaints. Secondly, it is prone to corruption and will be reported and impeached. As for thirdly, if you serve as an official for one term and are transferred when it expires, why should my predecessors plant trees so that your descendants can enjoy the shade?
Kong Shaoan is from Shandong and likes to eat noodles for breakfast. After eating a bowl of seafood noodles, he felt that the dryness of the night had been smoothed away and he felt much more comfortable. But when he saw the pile of account books and papers on the bill that he hadn't finished reading yesterday, he couldn't help but gnash his teeth. You must know that few modern people can get used to the writing format of the ancients, and they will become fluent if they are not careful. Yesterday, he felt dizzy after looking at it for a while. Then he found a ruler to compare with it, and then he reluctantly continued to look at it.
No matter how reluctant he was, Kong Shaoan knew that he had to read these things patiently. You must know that taking over an established county-level area is different from building a county from scratch. The latter is a blank sheet of paper for painting, and you can make up for whatever is missing; while the former must first understand the composition of local social grassroots organizations, understand the local tax system, and have a clear understanding of population, land, money, food, products, and even culture and education. Only then can we start to carry out reforms.
This time Beihai Town wants to drive down Jiaodong like nails, rather than simply attracting people. Zhao Xin's goal for this Shandong plan is to accumulate experience, set benchmarks, and set examples for the future by taking over and managing the four counties of Jiaodong.
Kong Shaoan got up and walked around the yard for a while, smoked a cigarette, and then returned to the house to sit down. He opened the household registration book with a ruler and just read two lines when a feeling of irritability arose spontaneously. I was just thinking about asking the people in the work team to help me read it first. When I finished sorting it out, I saw the guards outside the door come in and report: "Commander-in-chief, Liu Mengren from the household room and Yu Heli from the execution room." They’re all here.”
Kong Shaoan was overjoyed when he heard that he was so sleepy that he hit the pillow - he came at the right time. He thought for a while and said: "Let Liu Mengren come in, and Yu Heli... let him come after lunch."
"yes!"
A few minutes later, I heard someone at the door saying in a deep voice with a cigarette voice: "Young man Liu Mengren, pay your respects to the Commander-in-Chief!"
"Please come in!"
As soon as Kong Shaoan finished speaking, he saw a middle-aged man in his forties walking in from the outside. He was short, a little thin, with a dark complexion, a few strands of beard, and was wearing a starched gray jacket. robe, a dark mandarin jacket, and a six-in-one hat made of six pieces of black satin.
After this person entered the room, he respectfully walked to a place three steps away from Kong Shaoan's table, knelt down and kowtowed, and then said without raising his head: "The villain Liu Mengren, who was once the county government house clerk, pays my respects master!"
Kong Shaoan recalled the scenes in the costume dramas he had watched before, and stretched out his hand to signal: "No need to be polite, please get up."
"Thank you, sir!"
After Kong Shaoan waited for the other person to stand up, he looked around and felt that this person looked decent, so he said, "Mr. Liu, there is something I want to tell you."
Liu Mengren still maintained the fifteen-degree bowing posture, cupped his hands and said: "Please give me your instructions!"
Kong Shaoan had seen him look like this too much these days, so he just nodded slightly and said: "Don't call me master, nor the commander-in-chief. Now military control committees have been established in Wen, Deng, and Rongcheng, and I am also the director of the military control committee." , just call me Director Kong."
"I obey my orders!" Liu Mengren knew very little about Beihai Town. Although he was surprised by Kong Shaoan's words, he didn't have time to think about it. Kong Shao'an continued: "Moreover, please tell others clearly that there is no rule in Beihai Town about kneeling before officials. In the future, just bow your hands and bow your hands when you see me. Don't kneel down again."
No one is born cheap and likes to kneel and kowtow. Liu Mengren looked grateful and said with cupped hands: "Yes! I will definitely tell you this. Commander-in-Chief... Oh, Director, you have a kind heart and are lenient towards others. You are really a blessing to the people of Wendeng."
Kong Shao'an didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. He didn't bother to talk any more. He pointed to an armchair in front of him and said, "Mr. Liu, sit down. I just have something to ask you."
"I don't dare! Director, you will do as you command. I will do my best." Liu Mengren was shocked when he heard this. In the past, he had not been able to sit in front of the county magistrate, let alone the big shot of the Northern Navy in front of him.
Forget it, Kong Shaoan didn't bother to explain anymore. He picked up an account book, opened two pages, pointed to the content above and said: "Mr. Liu, I see it says that Wendeng is six capitals and fifty miles away. May I ask what the four mentioned above are Du, Jia, Li and She? What do you mean? Don’t mind, there is no such term in Beihai Town, we are all divided by villages."
Liu Mengren glanced at Kong Shaoan in surprise, and said with a smile: "My lord, you are serious! What you are talking about is actually the imperial court, oh, no, it follows the "Dujia system" of the Northern Song Dynasty and the "Lijia system" of the Ming Dynasty. County. Set "Du" under "Du", and "A" under "Du". When it comes to my court, no..."
Kong Shaoan took a look and said: "Mr. Liu, you don't have to worry about those Manchu and Qing titles. I don't care either. After all, I have been saying this for so many years and I can't change it for a while. Just make the matter clear."
"Yes!" Liu Mengren has worked in the household for more than 20 years. The reason why Baba came to see Kong Shaoan was because he wanted to continue working as an errand to provide food in the "New Dynasty"!
He wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve and continued: "One hundred and ten households are divided into one li, and the li is long; the lower part is divided into ten armors, and the armor chief and the security chief are designated. The other ten households are one card. Ten cards are one armor, and ten armors are one guarantee. As for the "she" you mentioned, sir, it actually means "li", but it is customary here in Shandong to call it "she", usually twenty or thirty, forty or fifty. Settlement.”
Kong Shaoan listened and took notes on paper. By the time the other party finished speaking, he had roughly understood. The so-called "du" actually means "township", while "li" and "she" are the same thing, referring to villages.
According to previous summary information from the Intelligence Bureau, Rongcheng's rule was three capitals and twenty miles, Wendeng's six capitals and fifty miles, Ninghai Prefecture's eight townships and seventy-seven communes, and Haiyang County's four townships and forty-five communes. People who don't understand the situation will definitely look confused at first glance.
Kong Shaoan drew a simple form on his notepad and filled in the information of the four counties one by one. It was immediately clear to him: there were 21 towns and 192 administrative villages in total.
He picked up the information from the Intelligence Bureau, looked at it twice and asked: "Now many places in Shandong have implemented the 'Shunzhuang Law'. How is the situation here in Wendeng?"
Liu Mengren's face was full of surprise, and he immediately sent another flattery: "Director, you actually know the 'Shunzhuang Method'? You are really knowledgeable, I admire you. Wendeng has been here since the 25th year of Qianlong, but Folks are still accustomed to using the name 'Lishe'."
Kong Shaoan smiled lightly and said: "When it comes to households, regardless of location, communities and corners are divided, and the cadastral is unclear."
Liu Mengren's heart suddenly trembled after hearing this, and then he realized that the other party was not a "stick", and he couldn't help but be extremely cautious. In fact, this guy explained everything before, and many of the contents were from the Ming Dynasty. Although the words still say so, the inside has already changed.
It can be said that in order to control the grassroots society in the early days, the Yellow Book Lijia system was established. Lijia is responsible for money, food, taxes and servitude, and Lishe guides folk beliefs in order to achieve "establishment of religion, moral ethics, and respect for the body."
The "li" in the Ming Dynasty was not a "she", but a grassroots organization higher than the "she". The "she" was built based on the "li", and the scope of the "li" determined the setting of the "she". However, the "Li" as the editor of human taxes and services was difficult to fix due to the difficulty in fixing households and regions. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Li Jia was gradually replaced by Tu Jia.
The "picture" in Picture A is related to the fish scale album, which is a relatively fixed geographical space. From then on, Lijia was no longer a household organization composed of 110 households, but transformed into a regional organization that governed several physical villages.
The upper level of "tu" is "du", which is a legacy of the township capital system in the Song Dynasty and is divided according to region. There are two types of structures below the capital: one is the capital map, which is based on households and belongs to the yellow book system; the other is the capital map, which is mainly based on regions and belongs to the fish scale map book system.
In order to stabilize the situation in the early Qing Dynasty, the household registration management system of Huangzhu Lijia and the cadastral management system of Yulinzhu were still implemented. From the fifth year of Shunzhi, the Qing government began to compile the review staff and restored Lijia. However, the Lijia system could not overcome the current situation of personnel mobility, with serious loss of households and uneven taxes and servitude.
Until the 51st year of Kangxi's reign, the Qing government's approach was the same as that of the Ming Dynasty. It adopted a strict household registration system and rolling orders to collect taxes every year to maintain the operation of the Lijia system. Until the problems of compilation and collection of ding silver became increasingly serious, Kangxi launched the policy of "never adding taxes to the population."
From then on, the tax amounts in various states and counties were basically fixed. Although the ancient compilation and review of the population is meaningless, the fixed tax amount may still lead to uneven taxation; the powerful officials and gentry conceal the population, and poor farmers report the full amount, which increases the burden on farmers. So after Yongzheng ascended the throne, it was officially put on the agenda to spread the land into acres.
To allocate land, one must first find out the relationship between the property and the owner. The Qing government took the lead in implementing the "Shunzhuang Law" in Zhejiang in the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign, and then began to implement it in various parts of Shandong in the middle of Qianlong's reign; the key point is "regardless of household ownership" "Land", abandoning the land inventory, the focus is to clarify "who pays taxes", so that the tax amount falls on more household names. That is to say, the household names of the people will no longer be based on the household registration of Lijia, but will be included in the village where they actually live, and the tax will be collected according to the household name of the village. The word "village" that is known to everyone in later generations appeared with the "Shunzhuang method".
Since Shunzhuang is conducting an inventory of grain households and land properties, straightening out the relationship between land properties and owners, and compiling books of land properties and households according to the villages where they currently live, it will inevitably break the original Li-Jia structure, and the grassroots level will change from the Li-Jia organization. It is an organization based on natural villages.
The reform of the tax and servitude system, coupled with the abolition of the official system and the implementation of the "Shunzhuang Law", led the Qing government to strengthen the Baojia system; its core was to emphasize the arrangement of households, requiring each household to be issued a seal card and write a letter to Ding. The name on the mouth indicates where it is going when it comes out, and where it comes from when it comes in. Anyone who finds his or her origin unknown will be arrested and punished. This created a militarized grassroots security system, which lasted until 1949 in another time and space before it was abolished.
Having said that, the reason why the "Shunzhuang Law" was vigorously promoted in Shandong during the Qianlong period was mainly to solve the problem of the division of communes and communes. The core was to solve how to collect the annual tax in full.
The division of She and Yu means that a new village is established from the original village. However, this village is not large in scale, so it is called "Yu" by the government. Otherwise, "the wisdom of the people is infinite." Although there is a factor of population reproduction in establishing a new corner, its main purpose is to evade taxes.
Moving out of the old village and establishing a new one on your own can, first of all, avoid the taxes and servitude of the old village. Secondly, due to the lag in registration with the government (or bribe the official to delay registration for a few years), you will pay a lot less tax!
In Shandong in the middle of Qianlong's reign, a village could actually be divided into dozens or hundreds of corners. This is no longer a real village, but a false name for tax evasion. As a result, the local grassroots organizations used to collect taxes are in a mess. The burden of taxes and servitude on the people who stay in the old village will become heavier and heavier, resulting in Taxes cannot be collected in full.
At this time, Kong Shaoan finally talked about the core issue, which immediately made Liu Mengren sweat like rain.
"Although there is a fish scale album in Wendeng County, what about the Zhuangzhuang register? I asked someone to check it in the Jiage library, and there is none. Mr. Liu, you have been in charge of the household for so many years, so you must know it best, right?"
