After receiving responses from both local and foreign families, Zhang Xi tried to jointly promote the registration of fish scale albums in five counties.
Of course, Zhang Xi also knows that some things cannot be done too hastily, so Zhang Xi's idea is to carry out the operation in three batches and strive to complete the county's fish scale atlas registration within the next three years.
Regardless of whether it is divided into three batches or within three years, it is actually to give face to the wealthy families and give them time to deal with some lands whose ownership is unclear. In the future, the provincial government will argue that Zhang Xi has seized their land.
But Zhang Xi really overestimated the bottom line of these aristocratic families.
In the first land survey, Zhang Xi didn't want to go too far. He just wanted to give face to the aristocratic families and let them declare the land under their own names. Even if there were some errors, Zhang Xi could acquiesce and turn a blind eye. Pretending not to know with one eye closed.
But the results of the declaration by this group of aristocratic families really disappointed Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi actually asked someone in private, so he probably had an idea of how much land the local aristocratic families occupied.
For example, the land of the Yang family is at least 150 hectares, and the larger Huang family and Yan family are more than 500 hectares, and may even reach 1,000 hectares.
But now the three families Yang Tai handed over to him to declare the land status said that this was not the case at all.
The Yang family is doing better. They say they only have one hundred hectares of paddy fields and about one-third of the forty hectares of mulberry fields.
The Huang family and the Yan family are really shameless. They actually said that they only have 150 hectares of paddy fields, dry fields and orchards in Badong County.
As for the rest of the small aristocratic families, except for the figures given by the Li family, which are closer to the figures in Zhang Xi's mind, all the others are good guys who have reported more than ten or twenty hectares of paddy fields, really good guys. .
Although Badong County cannot be compared with Brazil County in size, it is still five counties in one county.
You aristocratic families only have such a small amount of land in your hands. Does that mean that except for the land in your hands, it is all unclaimed wasteland, right? !
Okay, great.
Zhang Xi was so angry that he wanted to file the records according to the numbers reported by these aristocratic families, and then send people to count them one by one. Except for the registered acres, all other fields would be confiscated to the government as "unowned wasteland".
But...you really can't do that.
Not to mention now, a thousand years from now, Zhang Xi is still very clear about the Jiangnan gentry in the Ming Dynasty inciting the people to resist taxes.
Unless it was like the Qing Dynasty, where people were killed.
People in the Qing Dynasty, whether they were gentry or common people, no longer had the courage and ability to raise troops to resist the imperial court due to various constraints and restrictions.
But the powerful people from today's aristocratic families really have this ability.
If Zhang Xi really does this in Badong County, once it spreads to other places, the entire Yizhou will become unrest.
This is obviously not in line with Zhuge Liang's original intention of asking Zhang Xi to implement the fish scale album system in Badong County.
Zhuge Liang wanted to ask Zhang Xi to set an example and find a balance point to balance the conflict between the aristocratic family and Liu Bei Group's land inventory. After completing this matter beautifully, Zhuge Liang could promote it in Shu.
If Zhang Xi really did this on impulse, then the result would most likely be that Zhuge Liang transferred Zhang Xi to the border to garrison, and the fish scale album was completely shelved.
Therefore, Zhang Xi could only look at the results of the first census with a dark face and get sulky.
Yang Tai is also quite embarrassed, and the Yan family is really not interesting.
At the beginning, the three families discussed and agreed to conceal part of the property. Based on the spirit of the meeting, the Yang family concealed one-third of the paddy fields and half of the mulberry orchards.
As a result, those two families were better off, directly hiding two-thirds of the paddy fields and all the mountain orchards.
As a result, not to mention Zhang Xi looking angry, Yang Tai also felt embarrassed.
This is not even half the virtue of a noble family.
But fortunately, although Zhang Xi was angry, he had no intention of starting a war. On the contrary, he asked Yang Tai to suspend the census work. Obviously, he did not want to really cause trouble for the aristocratic families according to the plan.
But Yang Tai himself didn't know how to end what happened next.
Although he had not worked with Zhang Xi for a long time, Yang Tai knew the governor well.
Yes, sometimes this person is not doing his job properly, but after all, he is a soldier, and when it is time to kill decisively, he will never be soft-hearted.
Yang Tai was really worried, so he hurried home to discuss with his father and the family heads and elders what to do next.
As for Zhang Xi, he was indeed very angry.
Not only was he angry that the family had concealed something, but there was another thing that also made Zhang Xi very dissatisfied.
Although this land inventory was only the first trial, Zhang Xi always used official documents to request the cooperation of the five counties except Yufu County in the investigation.
But except for Jiang Wan from Hanfeng County who wrote a work report to Zhang Xi, the other four counties did not take any action at all.
And Jiang Wan's report made Zhang Xi even more angry.
The powerful local aristocratic families used bribes and favors to prevent Jiang Wan from conducting a land inventory. Even if an inventory was really needed, it would just be a formality. Jiang Wan would register as much as the aristocratic families said.
In the middle, various methods such as "yin and yang book", "addition", "omission of copying" and "changing fields into mountains" were proposed, for fear that Jiang Wan would not know how to cheat.
For thousands of years, dynasties have been changing constantly, but this method has remained consistent.
The funniest thing is that along with Jiang Wan's work report, there was also three hundred dollars sent to Yufu. According to Jiang Wan, this was a bribe given to him by the famous families in Hanfeng County.
Let’s not talk about the amount of bribes. Is this how the money issued by our lord is used by these aristocratic families? !
Zhang Xi was angry and angry, but reason still told Zhang Xi that not to completely fall out with the family at this time would be an act of incompetence and rage.
Since there was no way to fall out with these aristocratic families, Zhang Xi thought about it and could only start from a side door, try his best to arrange manpower and increase the intensity of the census. At the same time, he must also block the possibility of fraud as much as possible.
Zhang Xi decided that he wanted to make paper.
The paper is good, light and easy to carry. People who go out for the census can check and write down all the information, summarize it when they come back, draw it into a formal fish scale atlas, and then file it directly.
It is much more convenient than carrying silk fabrics to the countryside.
Another thing is that when making a silk book, one roll of silk is basically paired with a set of bamboo slips. If the record is not clear, or the bamboo slips are exchanged midway, it is very easy to cause confusion. This will not only make management inconvenient, but also facilitate fraud.
But paper doesn't have this problem.
Of course, paper cannot completely eliminate fraud, but at least, with paper, it will be easier to manage than silk, minimizing the possibility of fraud.
So, Zhang Xi finally decided to make his own paper.
It's really not that Zhang Xi likes to use bamboo slips and silk, or that Zhang Xi forgot to make paper, but because I'm sorry, Zhang Xi's understanding of papermaking is very superficial.
In his early years in Xinye, Zhang Xi actually tried papermaking.
But the papermaking technique in Zhang Xi's head is probably to get some bark grass roots and some plant ash, soak it in water for a few days, then beat it and soak it for a few more days, and then... a piece of paper should be Something magical happened.
Indeed, Zhang Xi once made some tattered, shredded paper-like things by doing so, but these things were impossible to write on and were quite brittle. They would break into two halves after being folded slightly. They were not as good as they are now. What about some inferior paper on the market?
Yes, at this time, there is already paper.
Paper existed as early as the Western Han Dynasty, but at this time the paper was not used for writing, but for wrapping some odds and ends, just like a rag.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun improved the papermaking technology and finally produced paper that could be used for writing, and greatly reduced the cost of papermaking.
Paper at this time could actually be used for writing. In theory, paper should replace expensive silk and bulky bamboo slips and become the mainstream of writing in this era.
But actually, it's not.
First of all, Cai Lun was an eunuch, and his purpose of improving papermaking was not to benefit the people, but to please the inner palace. Therefore, even if he improved papermaking, the technology was still kept in the palace, and the paper he produced was only for supply. Used by nobles in the palace, even officials and officials, it is very difficult to get a piece of Caihou paper.
Although after more than a hundred years of development, the technology in the palace will be spread to some extent among the people, the papermaking technology mastered by the people is not complete. Therefore, although paper can be made that can be written on, the thickness of these papers varies, and the texture is not soft enough. If you turn it over a few times, it will become creased or broken, making it impossible to store it for a long time.
Therefore, the current folk and government still use bamboo slips and silk as the mainstream. Paper is only used rarely, such as when painting.
However, the paper that can be used for drawing is basically produced within the palace, and the quality is guaranteed, but the price... haha, it is more expensive than silk.
Although Zhang Xi could also make paper, the paper he produced was not as good as the paper made by folk papermakers of this era. In addition, he was busy at that time, either fighting or preparing for war, so Zhang Xi later shelved the matter.
Now that Zhang Xi has become the governor of Badong County, he finally has some time and money. At the same time, out of personal needs, Zhang Xi decided to start studying papermaking again.
Of course, this is not a blind study.
Zhang Xi first used Sun Shangxiang's relationship to ask Sun Shangxiang to write to Sun Quan and ask him to send a craftsman who was good at papermaking in Jiangdong.
After all, she was his biological sister, and her face was better than that of Liu Bei. A month later, Sun Quan sent people to bring more than ten paper-making craftsmen and their families to Sun Shangxiang.
Then Zhang Xi studied with these dozen craftsmen, Zhang Xi was responsible for providing ideas, and these craftsmen were responsible for practice.
Zhang Xi remembered that the skill of papermaking seemed to have not developed much in the next thousand years. The main reason was that the use of materials had undergone great changes.
Cai Lun used burlap or some herbal fiber, so it is called hemp paper.
But among the papermaking materials in Zhang Xi’s mind, besides flax, it seems that bark is more commonly used in the north, while bamboo is more commonly used in the south.
Badong County has both of these things, so Zhang Xi asked the craftsmen to test both things in order to produce qualified paper as soon as possible.
After nearly half a month of experiments, the papermakers finally produced the first batch of paper.
Zhang Xi held it in his hand, looked at the color, smelled it, and rubbed it. Well, it's quite suitable for going to the toilet.
(End of chapter)
