When the old man heard Su Jin's answer, he put down what he was doing, turned to Su Jin and said, "This eldest gentleman is not from Mizhou. What he said is true. When the magistrate first took office, he was indeed I said so, but that was a month ago. Since the new governor of Michigan took office, what he did and what he said were completely different things."
"Although this village is not close to the capital of Zhengzhou, most of the land here is owned by Prince Jing's Mansion. Most of the people here have gradually become tenants of Prince Jing's Mansion. Originally, after King Jing committed rebellion and was wiped out, the new Zhengzhou Magistrate We did order the land to be re-measured, and all the land previously occupied by Prince Jing’s Mansion will be returned.”
"Those who have escaped from the original family will be managed by the government for three years. If the villagers want to farm, they can apply to the government. During the autumn harvest, the officials will divide the land into four and six. Most of the land in this village was originally owned by the villagers. Some of the land was owned by the villagers. This belongs to Li Dashan in Mizhou City. Because the land here is relatively fertile, when the emperor gave King Jing the land, he gave all the land here to King Jing."
"The people here have naturally become tenants of Prince Jing. And that Li Dashan offended Prince Jing's Mansion for some reason. Not only his three daughters and two daughters-in-law were also taken away by the third steward of Prince Jing's Mansion. Go, all the men in your family died violently, and even your property became the property of Prince Jing's Mansion."
"Even my own house has become the outhouse of the third steward of Prince Jing's Mansion who is responsible for Mizhou affairs. It is used to raise the captured women for his sexual pleasure. Originally, the new prefect this time, the new prefect will use the house to keep the captured women for his pleasure. The third steward, who had committed many evil deeds, was punished according to the law and returned everyone's land. He also gave everyone Li Dashan's land, which no one had left in his family, to rent."
"The people in this village are all grateful and hope that this life will last forever. But before the people in the village have waited, the land they have re-acquired has not yet been grasped. The new governor of Mizhou, who was sent from Beijing, The first thing I did after taking office was to announce that all people who had previously rented government land must return all their land and harvests before the end of the month."
"Anyone who fails to pay within the time limit will be severely punished as theft. From now on, all unowned land will be sold by the government. If the people want to continue cultivating these lands, they have to pay one hundred guan of money to the Zhizhou Yamen, and they can get three years of The right to farm. The people here have been burdened with the high land rent of Prince Jing’s Mansion these years. They don’t even have enough food rations for one year. Where can they find a hundred guan of money?"
"We are all ordinary people, and most of them are illiterate. Even if they complain, they can't find a way to complain. Although I don't understand, it turns out that it is well said, let everyone rent the land of Mr. Li Dashan and harvest in the autumn. Later, it was divided into 40 and 60 parts. How come it became all the ownerless land and was handed over to the government for unified sale. But the magistrate asked to hand it back, so he had no choice but to hand it back.
"Fortunately, this is other people's land. It won't affect you if you hand it back. The worst is that no one will rent it anymore. The official word has two mouths, so it's whatever they say. Just half a month ago, the government suddenly posted another The notice requires all tenants who originally belonged to King Jing's Mansion to make up the money and grain from the tenth year of Mingde, that is, the beginning of King Jing's vassalage to this year. If they do not pay, the land will be confiscated."
"The great master of Zhizhou has always insisted on a fixed price in this regard, and does not allow negotiation. No matter how high your land is, even if it is lowland or slate land that has not been harvested for ten years, it must be paid three times a year. Guanzhi money or two stones of grain as supplementary payment. This standard can be said to be fair. No matter who comes, it will be this standard, and bargaining is absolutely not allowed."
"And the magistrate of Zhizhou not only asked everyone to pay the back taxes of Mingde for the past eleven years, but he also got a group of people from who knows where to come down with the government servants all day long to collect the money. If you can't pay, you won't have to demolish the house and steal the house. Liang just took away the livestock to pay the bills. Even the wives and daughters of the people who were finally released, and the chickens, ducks and geese in their homes were not uncommon."
"I heard that any woman who was robbed will be sold by the government if the original owner does not redeem it within three days. Poor people, since the tenth year of Mingde, they have become tenants of Prince Jing's Mansion. The land rent of Prince Jing's Mansion, I have always received sixty-five percent. The people here sweat and break eight petals on the ground every year. In the end, the rations are not enough to satisfy their hunger. They even have to borrow money for the next year's seed grains."
"There is still extra money there to pay for the food and grain for the past eight years? What's more, the money and food collected by this Lord Zhizhou cannot be paid even in previous years. One acre of land can only be used for three or four stones. For grain, he needs two dan to pay for it. Where can he afford it? If there is a disaster, the output of one acre of land will not be enough to pay for the tax."
"To pay all the money and grain for eight years in one year, one acre of land costs sixteen dan. Even if you sell your children and daughters, you can't afford it. What's more, according to the imperial court's ten-tax tax system, one acre of land only costs thirty dan." Jin, I don’t know how many times he has doubled these two stones. But this Lord Zhizhou knows that the extra money is interest. But even the profit of a donkey’s rolling is not so high."
"But the Lord Zhizhou didn't care about that. If he refused to pay, he had nothing to back up the tax, so he took the cane number from the Zhizhou Yamen. Other villages didn't know it, but this village had already been caneed five times. Six people. If this continues, we will force the people to rebel." At this point, the old man sighed deeply.
Listening to the old man's words, Huang Qiong's face became darker and darker. Su Jin, who looked at Huang Qiong's unkind expression and didn't dare to let Huang Qiong intervene, quickly said: "I dare to ask the old man, this magistrate's behavior is very different from the previous magistrates' behavior. Don't the people have any doubts and no thoughts? Are you going to file a complaint? He is just a fifth-grade magistrate, so he can't dominate Zhengzhou Mansion with one hand."
Su Jin's words of appeal made the old man extremely angry: "Appeal? This old man doesn't know something. Those tax collectors who came down have said that this is the handwriting of the King of England who has the authority to dispose of Zhengzhou. Who dares to To resist is to fight against the King of England. The 30,000 elite soldiers of the Qiaoqi Battalion under the King of England have blocked the road from Mizhou to the capital. Even if you want to appeal, you can't get out of Zhengzhou Mansion."
"Furthermore, he is a prince, and now he is a prince in the holy family. Even if we, the common people, appeal, no one will pay attention. What's more, the person who came down with the tax collectors in the first place was the general judge of Mizhou. Sir. The notice posted is also stamped with the seal of the King of England, the envoy of Zhengzhou’s authority.”
"I thought I would finally get rid of the greedy King Jing, but I didn't expect that an even more greedy King of England would come. The people of the prefectures and counties of Zhengzhou Prefecture really drive away the wolf through the front door and let the tiger in through the back door. Some people are already here Pack your luggage and prepare to become a refugee again. I listened to the government and came back from the capital all the way, but I never expected to end up like this."
Hearing that the new magistrate of the state not only shaved his head three feet lower, he even used his own banner when gathering and gathering. Although Huang Qiong was extremely angry, her expression gradually calmed down. After a long time, he said: "What a Bailihou who is good at collecting and harvesting, what a great magistrate who knows how to make a tiger skin into a banner, what a bunch of dirty officials."
"If I hadn't been here today, I wouldn't have known that such a great man had come out of Zhengzhou Prefecture. No wonder when the gentry from Liu Hu's hometown was invited to a banquet that day, they asked how the Mizhou government was doing, but those people kept silent. They are all afraid of offending others. A magistrate of no more than fifth rank actually takes the imperial decree so seriously. I don’t know who gave him such courage."
Looking at Huang Qiong, his face became calmer and calmer, but his tone became colder and colder. Now, Su Jin, who already had a certain understanding of the Smiling Tiger Prince, knew that the anger in his heart was getting stronger and his face was becoming calmer, making it difficult to see. The prince, whose face was abnormally calm at this time, may have murderous intent in his heart.
Su Jin looked ashamed and wanted to explain something, but he remained silent for a long time and finally said nothing. He really couldn't find an excuse to excuse himself. Mizhou is a state affiliated with Zhengzhou Prefecture, and the governor of Mizhou openly defied the imperial decrees under the banner of the British King. As the prefect of Zhengzhou, he actually knew nothing about it. This was first of all a crime of negligence.
Seeing Su Jin looking ashamed and trying to explain something, Huang Qiong waved his hand and said, "You are responsible for this matter, but it is not the main responsibility. Zhengzhou is full of waste, and you are busy dealing with political affairs all day long. What are you doing to the following people?" I may not be able to take care of it. Fortunately, the time is short, and the damage caused is not irreparable."
After hearing Huang Qiong's words, I knew that the King of England was making excuses for himself. The shame on Su Jin's face became even stronger: "Thank you Wang, Master Wang, for saving me some face. I have lived in the capital for many years, and although I have some understanding of the methods of these dirty officials, I have never really seen them. On weekdays, the most I know is from my colleagues.”
"But if something like this happens in Mizhou, I cannot absolve myself of the blame no matter what. This cannot be covered up by a word of ignorance. This magistrate of Mizhou is so merciless to the people, and he is so hands-on, and I do this and this. I don’t know at all. If I hadn’t come out this time, I would still have been kept in the dark. Master Wang, why do you need to cover up for me?”
After Su Jin's embarrassing words, Huang Qiong waved his hand to stop his next words and said, "Don't blame yourself too much. You should be realistic when speaking. It's true that you are responsible for what happened. Mizhou How far is it from Zhengzhou Prefecture? It's only over a hundred miles, and a fast horse can run back and forth in a day."
"You don't know anything about such a big thing happening in Mizhou. You can't escape if there is an investigation. But if the board hits you, it would be a bit unfair to you. At the moment, people in Zhengzhou are already unstable. Secretly, There are countless people in front of me, and they always want to make this already muddy water even muddier so that they can fish in troubled waters."
"There are so many things involved in the aftermath of Zhengzhou's aftermath, how can you cover everything? In that position, most of your energy still has to be litigated with those superiors, and it is impossible to cover everything. The main thing is Don’t we have to rely on the states and counties below to execute our government affairs? Not only you can’t control these people’s thoughts, but even the emperor and the court are powerless.”
"But then again, it has been more than two months since you took office, and the aftermath of Zhengzhou has also been in progress for more than two months. In addition to coming to my place, how many times have you been out of the Yamen on weekdays? Jian Yong even knows how to walk back and forth on weekdays. , you can understand public opinion by the way. But how far have you achieved it?"
"You, the head of a government, spend all day in a heavily guarded government office. When you go out, you sit in a big sedan chair carried by a few people, blowing gongs to clear the way, and cheering in front of you. How many common people dare to tell you the truth? You can't see the common people. , if you can’t sit down and talk to them, how can you really understand the public opinion?”
"I know that you have been busy with government affairs all day long and have not been lazy. In the two months since you arrived in Zhengzhou, you have not had a good night's sleep and only eaten a small bowl of rice for each meal. But in two months, you are better than in Zhengzhou. When I was in the capital, I lost more than two pounds. No one can deny that you are diligent in government affairs. But there are some things that cannot be solved by being diligent in government affairs. "
