He Ting looked at the reed flowers in front of him and the weeds were starting to wither and turn yellow, and he couldn't help but frown. He said to Duan Balang beside him: "How can we farm like this? I don't think Wang Zhizhou has good intentions by placing us here."
Duan Balang said: "You should say less. At least these days, we have food to eat every day. Is it no better than the previous days? We settled here early and brought our wife and children. At least we have a place to stay."
Huang Tongyuan said: "That's right. We have hands and feet, how can we rely on the government to distribute food? As long as there is land, we can always grow food."
He Ting shook his head, obviously disagreeing with what the two said. They have wives and children, but they are alone. How can it be the same?
At this moment, Cui Zhi walked over quickly. When he arrived in front of everyone, he said in a loud voice: "Zhizhou Jun's decree is for everyone to know. Those of us who come to open up wasteland shall be arranged as fifty households per village and fifty acres per household. Each village shall have at least forty-five households." , up to fifty-five households. You people are arranged in this village. Each household has two dings. Households with more than two dings must be divided. The land reclamation is organized by the village, roughly according to 20 acres per ding. Together. Reclamation, planting and harvesting together. After harvesting the grain, three parts are divided into taxes, five parts are given to the people in the village, and the remaining two parts are kept in the village. The first part is to prevent famines, and the second part is to do public welfare."
Hearing this, Duan Balang said loudly: "People are born, old, sick and die. So what if the families are divided like this? Some people have children and some old people die. Some people have children at home, and some people have old people at home. They’re all different.”
Cui Zhi said: "In addition to the land cultivated together in the village, each family is allocated ten acres of private land. These ten acres of private land are not allowed to be bought and sold, and can only be used to grow food, fruit trees, etc. Generally speaking, all members of the family except for the young and strong Outsiders will do the cooking. Therefore, if there is no one at home, you can sublet it to others and collect some interest. In addition, each village must plan its own orchards, pastures, and ponds."
After hearing this, everyone started talking and thought it was funny. The formation of the village and how to use the land are all decided by the farmers themselves, and the government rarely interferes. It is unheard of for every village to be planned like this.
Cui Zhi couldn't help but feel a little unhappy when he saw that he no longer listened to him. He said loudly: "This is the official order of the governor, no one can violate it! How much food will be handed over next year will be regarded as the village leader's political achievement, there is no room for ambiguity!"
He Ting said loudly: "You are the village leader, what does it have to do with us? As long as we have food to eat, why should we worry about anything else!"
Cui Zhi said: "Don't worry? If you pay more grain, you will eat more and live a good life. I, the village leader, also have to farm the land in this village and work together, but I am exempted from the corvee and given some money and grain. .”
"By the way, you only talked about farming, and you didn't talk about corvee work!" Everyone was furious about this incident.
For farmers, taxes were naturally important, but corvée was even more important. Most of the time, taxes are tied to land and cannot cost human lives. The corvee is different, it is based on the head, and it can really kill people.
In ancient Chinese society, taxes were generally not heavy. From one tax per thirty to one tax per ten, the land tax is not much to say the least. But in addition to land tax, there are miscellaneous taxes, which are not accurate. Not only are they different from time to time, they are also different from place to place. The most serious thing is corvée. Since there is no unified standard, once labor is launched, it will bring huge disasters to farmers. In the middle and early Northern Song Dynasty, the battles in front of Li Zheng Yamen often led to the destruction of people's homes. This situation was changed only after Wang Anshi's reform and the change of Li Zheng Ya Qian to the recruitment system.
Cui Zhi said: "The magistrate has also said this. Every male in the village will be paid fifty jobs per year. In addition, no one is allowed to conscript the people, and the conscripts must be paid according to the market price. Fifty jobs is not considered heavy labor." "
Each work is a day's work for a strong man, so this measurement is popular at this time. In other words, the people in the village have to work for the government for fifty days every year. As for what to do, we’ll tell you later.
Huang Tongyuan said: "Although it is only fifty jobs and the time is different, it is different for us people. If you take time off to work during the busy farming season, it will affect the harvest. If it is only during the slack farming season, there will be no serious problem."
Cui Zhi said: "What are you talking about? You are planting twenty acres of land for the village, planting and harvesting together. When the farming is busy, what will happen to the land in the village? Don't worry, you must work during the slack farming."
Everyone was talking together, and they couldn't make up their minds for a while. They didn't know whether this battle was light or serious.
Corvee labor has been a heavy burden on farmers for thousands of years, no less than taxes. Even in the new China, it was only after the 1990s that it was slowly canceled. Volunteer work was once a heavy burden on farmers in New China.
For the political power, in such an era, it is unrealistic to abolish corvee due to the limitations of productivity levels. Once cancelled, the government will not be able to do many things. Wang Xiaolie's fifty laborers were only based on the previous corvee work in the Song Dynasty and were abridged. Whether it is suitable or not requires actual verification. For the common people, many people cannot even count. How can they calculate clearly in a moment?
Seeing everyone talking endlessly, Cui Zhi raised his hand and said: "Don't mess up yet, listen to me! From today on, you and I are both members of the same village, and from now on we will be neighbors. No matter what happened before, we must Live your life in peace and contentment.”
He Ting said: "There is one more thing. Now in the early autumn, we can't plant the land, open up wasteland, let alone harvest food. What are we going to eat this winter? What if the court provides food?"
Cui Zhi said: "You are all people with hands and feet, how can you eat food for free? The government will loan us the food this winter and pay it back within three years. Zhizhou Renxin, the loaned food does not count as your interest. .how?"
After hearing this, everyone was silent. Everyone understands that without charging interest, Wang Xiaolie deserves to be benevolent. In this day and age, is it possible to borrow money from others without paying interest? The government's grain loan still earns 30% interest every year.
Cui Zhi said: "You have to understand that if you have food this winter, you can survive. Without food, I don't know how many people will not survive this winter. The magistrate of the state asked everyone to cultivate the fields. To put it more seriously, it is a blessing to everyone. "
It's the end of July now, and if you look around in the fields outside, there will always be something to eat. Therefore, these people who were sent to cultivate the fields were not very grateful to Wang Xiaolie. In their eyes, Wang Xiaolie was just coveting everyone's labor to help cultivate the fields. If winter comes, when everyone is freezing and hungry, it will be another idea.
Wang Xiaolie also understands this truth. As the saying goes, it is better to help the urgent than to help the poor. Organizing manpower in winter will gain their favor. It's just that Wang Xiaolie thinks that what he is doing is a big thing, and he doesn't bother to use those small tricks. Small means have temporary benefits but cannot stand the test of time.
Seeing that everyone was no longer talking, Cui Zhi sighed: "Everyone, before the Jin army came, I was just a bookkeeper in Kaifeng city, and I only knew a few words. The governor appreciated us, let us join the army, and gave us a meal. Now we need to cultivate the land, and arrange for those of us who are literate to come to the village to be the village leader. Zhizhou made it clear to us that if we do it well, we will have a bright future in the future. If we do it poorly, the village leader will be replaced. Do it. From now on, when we live in a village, we will need your help for many things."
Huang Tongyuan said: "Everyone is the same. If the Jin soldiers hadn't come south, we would still be burning kilns in the mountains. How could it be like this!"
Cui Zhi said: "Yes, our lives are in danger. At this time, what can we do? Just survive and be patient in everything."
