Yangzhai is located in the northwest of Xuzhou, bordering the three prefectures of Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and Ruzhou to the west and north. It is connected by mountains and rivers, backed by the remnants of the Funiu Mountains, and has the Yingshui River passing through it. It has good geographical and climatic conditions, making it a prosperous city in the Central Plains. zone.
Yangdi County is also one of the most prosperous counties under Xuzhou, and its economy is almost equivalent to that of Yingchang, which is under the jurisdiction of Daozhou. Under the long-term erosion of Yingshui River, a large alluvial plain has been formed in the central and southern parts of Yangzhai. The land is in good condition, with sufficient sunlight and rainfall, and is very friendly to agricultural and animal husbandry production. The cultivated land area of the county accounts for more than 30% of the jurisdiction. Gyeonggi Province The cultivated land that has been cleared reaches 700,000 acres.
However, due to its large population, the per capita cultivated land in Yangzhai County is less than ten acres, and if measured by a male, it is only more than twenty acres. Naturally, Yangzhai County cannot only have so much land. As the county with the widest jurisdiction under Xuzhou, even if it is only a rough estimate, its cultivated land for grain sowing exceeds at least one million acres.
Seventy percent of the government's work to clear the land has been completed, and the remaining land is undoubtedly in the hands of those with special status. And as Pan You issued the order to conduct an in-depth land inventory, as a prefecture and county under the nose of the Si Yamen, Yangzhai County naturally followed suit.
However, this work is really difficult to carry out. Compared with the middle and lower landowners or the people from ordinary families who occupy the remaining 30% of the land, there is no common people who are either heroes or powerful people.
It may not be so conspicuous on weekdays, but after a little statistics, a surprising discovery will be made. In the small Yangzhai County, there are actually more than 20 uncles who have purchased land and manors here, ranging from dozens of hectares to many. There are hundreds of hectares.
There is no doubt that these people have strong backgrounds. The two or three generations mentioned above have all made outstanding achievements and have been injured and shed blood for the big man.
Among them, Mayihou Dangjin owns the most land. His family is in Yangdi. Although it has not been accurately measured, it is said that his family owns nearly 300 hectares of land in Yangdi, making him the largest landowner in Yangdi County.
Like many nobles, the Dangjin family also purchased land across the country, and most people, except their hometown, gathered in the Central Plains.
The party family initially only had more than 1,000 acres of land in Yangzhai, and only a small part of it was awarded by the court. The rest was either purchased or opened up wasteland, and of course some gray methods were unavoidable. After more than 30 years, the amount of land has increased. It has doubled 30 times.
With so much land, it is natural to manage it well. The biggest difficulty is the labor for farming. However, this is not a big problem for the party. When the folks are summoned from their hometowns, there are many old ministries and retinues, plus some landless farmers who actively rely on them. If they are really busy, they can also hire long-term and short-term workers. To help, the party even purchased hundreds of serfs from Annan, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia to work and produce.
As for the purchase of serfs, strictly speaking, it is somewhat illegal. The imperial court has never liberalized the import of foreign people, and even has restrictions. The method of using overseas serfs was only used to cultivate the large amount of official land and power directly under the imperial court. However, a special ban was also issued. Overseas serfs were only allowed to be used in official land and mines.
But rules are dead and people are alive. For most people, as long as it is profitable, they will naturally find ways to break through the constraints. The cost of using overseas serfs is really low, and basically only one mouthful of food is enough. When using Han people, not to mention the cost of employment, in the current political environment of the Han Dynasty, not being too exploitative is also the key.
Of course, ordinary people have no need for serfs, but for people with status and channels like Dang Jin, buying hundreds of serfs is no problem at all. As for the issue of violations, it is not his party's family. Under normal circumstances, as long as there are no major problems, the court will not hold on to them.
Against this background, the Han Dynasty has actually imported a lot of overseas people in recent years. They are basically strong laborers and young women. These people are distributed in the land and mines run by the government and powerful people, and they work with the most meager and inhumane wages. The treatment is the hardest, the most tiring, and the most dangerous work. Countless bones are also buried under the land, mines, roads, and bridges of the Han Dynasty.
In the shadows of the sun, in a prosperous and civilized world like Han Dynasty, human trafficking is prevalent, which is ironic. Among them, the most popular ones are undoubtedly the Koreans and Japanese. They are diligent, hard-working, and obedient. They are much better than the uncivilized southern barbarians. Due to the friendly and good-neighborly relations between the Han Dynasty and Han and Japan, the labor force of the two countries in the territory was nominally "employed". Those who really had no status and were completely used as slaves were those Nanyang natives.
Of course, Emperor Liu was not unaware of these situations, but he did not take them seriously. In frequent exchanges with overseas countries, this gap has been opened, but it is not easy to close it. It can only be done from the policy level. Make some trivial restrictions.
On the other hand, Emperor Liu had a simple idea. Instead of letting these people desperately squeeze and exploit the Han people and do some outrageous things, it is better to transfer their desire for exploitation to foreign countries. This was also Emperor Liu's promotion of overseas affairs. One of the internal driving forces for colonization.
In this way, nearly 300 hectares of land have been fully developed and produced, even with ease, providing the party members with a large amount of money and food every year to support their aristocratic life. Among them, personal dependence is particularly obvious, and Yangdi has also become a key management site for the party.
After Dang Jin resigned from the military and returned to his home, he did not choose to return to his hometown of Mayi, so he regarded Yangdi as a place for retirement. How could Mayi be compared with the prosperous land of the Central Plains.
At the beginning, the nephew of the Party family who was set up as an example by Pan You and used his reputation to establish authority because of his lawlessness was one of the main managers responsible for managing the Party's land.
For Yangzhai County, in order to clear the remaining land, it is inevitable to deal with these nobles headed by the Dang family. To complete the task, the difficulties are conceivable, and the Dang family is the hardest bone to crack.
After all, Dang Hou is not an ordinary person. Dang Jin had two reputations in the Han Dynasty: one was illiterate, and the other was perverse. But similarly, Dang Jin also has wisdom that ordinary people don't have. Although he is not clean in life and work, he never goes too far and knows how to advance and retreat.
On the other hand, he himself was a distinguished prince of a generation, and he had a big backer like Rong Guogong behind him, so he could speak in front of Emperor Liu. It happened more than once that some of Dang Jin's ridiculous words and deeds reached Emperor Liu's ears. Emperor Liu's evaluation was often just this sentence: Dang Jin is just such a person, don't worry about it.
Regarding the large area of land he owned in Yangdi, Emperor Liu made a joke with him at the Jiaqing Festival banquet that year, saying that his farm management was good, and if he had the opportunity, he would go to his farm to see it.
How can such an old nobleman who can reach the sky be easily controlled by the local government? Just thinking about it gives me a headache. But I dare not not comply with the government orders issued by the Si Yamen, otherwise the Dang Hou will only act as a deterrent, while the Dao Si has the power of life and death.
What is conceivable is that the work in Yangdi County has encountered trouble with the party from the beginning. Officials from the county government came to visit, but they were nowhere to be found. As for the inspection task, they showed no intention of cooperating. When the steward led him to the fields, he told lies with his eyes open. He pointed to a large piece of land being fertilized and said that these were wastelands. .
As for the magistrate's personal visit, he couldn't even enter the door of the Dang's manor. Dang Jin directly asked someone to tell him that he was old, recuperating, and had something to do. Wait until he recovers or dies. This is a bastard, what the hell? He speaks freely, especially when facing people with lower status than him, without any scruples.
The county magistrate couldn't help it, so he took Pan You out and argued with the Taoist decree. Dang Jin's answer was simple, saying that the land of his Dang family was a gift from the emperor. His Majesty knew best how much land there was, so he asked them to ask his Majesty.
In response to such an answer, the county magistrate broke out in a cold sweat. This party prince was so bold that he dared to say anything. Yangzhai County did not dare to give up easily, but Dang Jin was completely annoyed when he refused to give up. He simply made it clear that you, a small Yangzhai County, were not qualified to inspect his family's land and asked Pan You to come in person.
This made the magistrate feel relieved, and at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief. After returning to the office, he couldn't wait to report to Xuzhou and Gyeonggi Province, hoping to get rid of this trouble completely. The evil tiger that Dang Jin is in, he is from a small Yangzhai County, his body is weak and he is really not easy to touch.
When he learned about Dang Jin's arrogance, Pan You was naturally furious. Of course, he also felt that the opportunity had come. He was worried about not being able to find a suitable breakthrough. Dang Jin just came to his door. No matter what the heroes and heroes, no matter how great the military exploits were, Pan You was not afraid.
