After a combination of punches by Zhang Xi and Zhuge Liang, the aristocratic families in Nanzhong and Shuzhong finally reached an agreement of interest on the matter of sucrose.
The aristocratic families in Shuzhong have food, but most of their human resources have been invested in mining the newly allocated copper mines. They temporarily allocate their manpower to plant sugar cane in Nanzhong, but they have more than enough to do.
The four major surnames in Jianning have no food, and the core area is not very suitable for growing sugar cane. However, they have a very high reputation among the Yi people, even in Yongchang and Yunnan counties. They can find ways to persuade the Yi people in the mountains. Come out of the mountains and plant sugar cane on a plantation.
The Wang family and the Lu family are local snakes. Not only do they know the place well, but they also have considerable influence in the area. It is impossible to bypass them to develop plantations.
One side has food but no one, one side has people but no land, and one side has land but no food. With the cooperation of the three parties, wouldn't this South-China sugar cane plantation project be launched? !
Zhang Xi and Zhuge Liang said that we have no objection to your reclaiming mountains and forests to plant sugar cane, and we can also tell you the method of boiling cane sugar, but the sugar cane plantation you reclaimed, according to the laws of the Han Dynasty, That also requires tax.
It's not very high, but it's not food after all. To make a compromise, just take 10% of the tax.
Of course, if you boil the cane sugar and use it yourself, you won't have to pay tax, but if you want to transport and trade it, you will have to pay commercial tax.
Well, considering that sucrose is a luxury product, the tax is relatively high, 1 in 5 taxes. Is this no problem? !
As for the common people who are farmers in the plantations, I will give you some preferential conditions. The capitation tax will be waived, so that the common people can lighten their burden a little. But for the common people in your plantations, the Yi people will not care about them for the time being, but even if the Han people are refugees, , you must also register with the government, become free citizens, and obey the government corvee.
This is the condition of Zhang Xi and Zhuge Liang.
Of course the aristocratic families have objections to this, but not to agriculture and human labor. The main problem is that the business tax is a bit too high. !
Yes, sugar was a luxury item at this time, but with the large-scale production of sucrose, sugar will not be so rare in the future. Is the five-to-one tax too high? !
One out of ten taxes, right? !
After a brief discussion between Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi, they took a step back and allowed a commercial tax of one out of ten, but the government also had to intervene in the jurisdiction of the barbarians in the Nanzhong plantation.
Of course, just registering does not give the barbarians the treatment of Han people, so the barbarian population tax will not be levied, and the barbarians will not be mobilized for corvee service.
However, after five years of farming on the plantations, these Yi people can voluntarily register as Han citizens with the government. At that time, they will have to perform corvee service. However, as long as they continue to farm on the plantations, they can still be exempted from the capitation tax.
In addition, since they have been registered, the life and death of the Yi people must also be guaranteed by these noble families. They cannot be like the landless refugees of this era, who die and are buried casually without even the government knowing.
To put it bluntly, Zhang Xi and Zhuge Liang just took a fancy to the refugees and barbarians in the hands of these aristocratic families.
The aristocratic families discussed it for a while and felt that although this restricted the concealment of the population and prevented the refugees and foreigners from being used as livestock, it could attract a large number of Han and foreigners to work on the plantations just by not having to pay the capitation tax. .
The per capita tax in the Han Dynasty is actually quite high. Compared with the agricultural tax, the per capita tax is the biggest burden on farmers.
As for things like corvee, there is no way around it. There is a shortage of people everywhere in Nanzhong, and all kinds of foundations require manpower to maintain. It is impossible for Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi to collect half of the commercial tax in vain.
After the two parties finalized the cooperation agreement, the framework of the matter was finalized.
As for how this plantation will develop in the future, and whether the people who work in the plantation will eventually become serfs again, Zhang Xi is not sure.
Anyway, legally, Zhang Xi has helped them establish their status as free citizens. If these refugees and barbarians would rather be exploited by plantation owners than become free citizens, then Zhang Xi cannot control them. .
Zhang Xi feels that he has already lived up to his conscience.
Once the big framework is set, all that remains is management and coordination. This kind of thing does not require the personal intervention of Zhang Xi, the commander-in-chief of the surrender, and is left to Wang Shi and Gong Lu, two management talents recommended by Zhuge Liang. That's it.
What's more, these two are also from Nanzhong, so they will have better communication when dealing with the Nanzhong family.
After Zhang Xi finished taking care of the things that concerned him, he could finally relax and start fulfilling his duties as the commander-in-chief.
It's almost September, and Zhang Xi, the surrendered governor, has to visit various places in Nanzhong.
After all, the war has just been put down, so it is necessary to visit various places and appease the people.
As for Zhuge Liang, he will not return to Chengdu immediately yet. He will stay in Nanzhong until the end of the year to coordinate with various aristocratic families to start mining areas one after another before returning to Chengdu.
Therefore, Zhang Xi irresponsibly entrusted some government affairs of Wei County to Zhuge Liang, and he took Zhang Yi and one of the five captains' mansions to start the inspection of Nanzhong.
The first stop was Yuexun County, where Ma Di was located.
One thing to say is Ma Di. Zhang Xi can't tell yet what kind of military talent he has, but his ability to govern the place is really good.
In just a few months, Ma Su had calmed the hearts of the people in Yuexun County and began to take charge of the construction of mining infrastructure in the iron ore area near Lushui.
Ma Su used the influence of the wife and children of the former Yi Wang Gaoding in Yuexun County to attract a group of Yi people to come out of the mountains and settle them in the iron ore production area. At the same time, he made an agreement with these Yi people that as long as they mine for five years, they can The family was qualified as Han citizens and received land in Yuexun County, where they were taught farming by dedicated personnel.
At the same time, Ma Di appointed E Huan, a Yi general who had been demoted, as Sima of Yuexun County. He went to the mountains to persuade the Yi people to come out of the mountains. At the same time, he organized a force mainly composed of Yi people to be responsible for guarding the mines. Their functions were separated from those of the Han county soldiers, but they received basic treatment. But the difference is not big, try to be equal to a bowl of water between Han and Yi.
As for the conflicts between Han and barbarians, Ma Di also tried to treat them as fairly as possible. Although the appointment of local officials was still mainly Han people, Ma Di stipulated that any punishment of more than twenty battles must be reviewed by him, the prefect of Yuexun County. Use torture to try to avoid local officials oppressing the barbarians.
When Zhang Xi arrived at Yuexun County, he was stunned for a while after hearing Ma Su report the above-mentioned decree.
You are really a good disciple of the Prime Minister! Did you start the matter of cooperating with the Prime Minister to "kill anyone with more than twenty sticks"? !
Aren’t you afraid of exhausting yourself to death? !
When Ma Su talked about this, he also had a sad face and complained helplessly to Zhang Xi.
There's nothing he can do, he doesn't want to either.
Yuexun County is such a special place. It can be said that among the six counties in Nanzhong, the conflict between Han and Yi is the most acute. However, this place also has a very large iron ore area and gold and silver deposits.
If I could not use this method to convince the Han and Yi people and maintain local stability, these minerals would not be mined at all.
Forget about the gold and silver mines, it doesn’t matter whether they are meaningful or not, but the iron mines must be in the hands of the government and cannot be used by others.
Ma Su didn't want to be so tired and have to deal with so many things, but in order to quickly stabilize the people's hearts, appease the Yi people, and attract the Yi people to come out to work as miners, he had to do this.
Zhang Xi understood immediately after listening.
Ma Di's hard work is different from the hard work of prime ministers in history. Ma Di's behavior is a temporary act. As long as the Yi people in Yuexun County are convinced and most of the Yi people go out to mine or farm, they can no longer use it. So tired.
As for the Prime Minister... The Prime Minister has a personality problem. He has a strong sense of responsibility and doesn't trust his subordinates to do their jobs.
In this case, Zhang Xi has nothing to say. He can only ask Ma Su not to be too tired, find more talents to help him, and not to shoulder everything by himself.
But when he talked about this, Ma Su became depressed again.
Yuexun County is located at the junction of Shuzhong and Nanzhong. It is already considered a relatively remote place in Yizhou.
To the south of this place is Nanzhong, where the barbarians and barbarians gather, and to the north are Jiangyang County and Jianwei County. Although this place cannot be said to be disobedient to the king, the cultural and educational matters are after all inferior to those in Shuzhong. Big cut.
In a place like this, where can I find suitable management talents to help me?
Moreover, even for talents from Jiangyang and Qianwei counties, they would rather go to Chengdu. Who would come to a place like Yuexun County to suffer when they have nothing to do? !
At that time, Ma Su wanted to attract talents in and around his jurisdiction, but there were really no children from aristocratic families who were willing to serve as officials in his area.
As for the children from poor families, it's not that Ma Su looks down on the children from poor families. It's actually that the children from poor families these days are really mixed, and some people really say they are invincible, but they are powerless in action.
Ma Di didn't have much time to identify the talents of these people one by one, and he didn't dare to leave such an important place like Yuexun County to be managed by people who didn't know their talents.
When Zhang Xi heard this, he frowned and thought for a while, always weighing the pros and cons. Isn't this a ready-made reason to trial the imperial examination system on a small scale? !
If you don’t know your ability, go to the examination room and take a test. Ma Su will set the questions. Based on the actual situation of Yuexun County, let these poor scholars make targeted answers. Wouldn’t this be able to know everyone’s ability? ? !
But Zhang Xi still didn't dare to make the decision without authorization. After all, the influence of this matter was too great. Zhang Xi decided to wait for the time being and discuss it with Zhuge Liang after he returned to Wei County after completing his inspection. Take a moment and then decide what to do.
After inspecting Yuexun County, Zhang Xi did not dare to delay his schedule and continued to set off for Xangda County.
And Ma Zhong from Xianxian County is impatiently waiting for Zhang Xi's arrival.
(End of chapter)
