No one in this group of young men spoke, they just looked at Xie Yu and others with wary expressions.
"What? Is there no one in your village who can make decisions?"
Xie Yu was a little impatient.
But thinking about it, these people will be the population of his fief in the future, so he suppressed his temper again.
At this moment, an old man came behind the group of young men and said, "Get out of the way!"
The crowd parted, and the old man walked up to Xie Yu and asked: "This... military master, could you please bring someone to our Sunjiazhuang? Is there anything you can do?"
"Are you the village leader?" Xie Yu looked at the old man and finally took out his fiefdom document, "I am the newly appointed Baron of Fucheng by His Majesty. Centered on Sunjiazhuang, a radius of ten miles is my fiefdom. This is my fiefdom. There is a new fiefdom document signed by the county magistrate, you can take a look!"
Muramasa was stunned for a moment, then took two steps and took the document respectfully.
After checking it, Muramasa handed the document back to Xie Yu.
"It turns out to be the eldest master..." When he spoke to Xie Yu again, the attitude on Muramasa's face had changed from the initial alertness to one of awe.
After confirming Xie Yu's identity, Muramasa asked the young men to put down their "weapons".
Next, Cun Zheng introduced the situation of the village to Xie Yu.
There are a total of 670 households in Sunjiazhuang, with an average of six people per household and a total of 4,250 people.
The village leader's name is Sun Shouyi, and he is considered the clan elder of Sunjiazhuang.
Everyone here is mainly engaged in farming. Each household cultivates an average of fifteen acres of land.
There are almost more than 10,000 acres of land in total.
Xie Yu's fiefdom is ten miles in circumference, and based on the farm area, it is almost more than 37,000 acres.
But what can really be cultivated is the more than 10,000 acres of fertile land cultivated by farmers like Sunjiazhuang.
If all the farmers in Sunjiazhuang pay rent to Xie Yu in the future, then Xie Yu can rest easy now.
But is this really the case?
When Xie Yu asked Muramasa about the tenancy, Muramasa had a troubled expression on his face.
"Sir, it's not that the young ones are unwilling to pay. In fact, these rents have been handed over long ago. The acres we farm are not owned by Zhangjiazhuang. These acres are all the property of the monks!"
Monk property?
Xie Yu was stunned.
After the village leader finished introducing the situation in Zhangjia Village and its surroundings in detail, Xie Yu realized that he had been tricked by the county magistrate He Guangyao.
The fiefdom designated by He Guangyao for Xie Yu turned out to be the property of monks!
The so-called monk property is actually the property of the monks!
And this monk property is also a big and long-standing problem in the Yong Dynasty today!
Before Emperor Taizu established Dayong, he worked as a monk in a temple for a period of time.
Therefore, when Emperor Taizu later rebelled, he often claimed that a certain Arhat Buddha was reincarnated.
After Emperor Taizu established the Yong Dynasty, this Buddhist school was also highly respected.
Not only do you not have to pay taxes as a monk, but the court also provides subsidies...
The subsequent emperors also respected Buddhism and liked to reward these temples with land whenever they encountered something that needed to be celebrated.
The land that was rewarded became the property of the monks.
There is no need to pay taxes to the Yong Dynasty on the acres of land belonging to the monks.
Tenants who rent monastic property only need to pay rent to the monastery to which they belong.
Of course, these temples don’t have to worry about food and drink, so when collecting rent, they must also reflect the Buddha’s philanthropic love for the world.
Therefore, the rent they charge is often 10% lower than the rent set by the government or some landlords.
Over time, some people came up with the idea of low rent. They took the initiative to "sell" their land to the monastery, turning their property into the property of the monks.
In the end, these temples gradually became the largest “landlords” in the area...
In principle, the whole world is the land of the king. The monk property also belonged to the Yong Dynasty.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with classifying this monk's property as Xie Yu's fiefdom.
There is nothing wrong with Xie Yu wanting to collect taxes within the fiefdom. The key is...can he levy these taxes from the monk's head?
Sun Shouyi said that all the acres in Sunjiazhuang belonged to Suiyuan Temple.
Suiyuan Temple is located directly north of Sunjiazhuang and twenty miles east of Fucheng County.
I heard that there are more than 1,000 monks in Suiyuan Temple, and as many as 500 monks guarding the monastery!
The Arhat monks in the Bodhidharma Hall are all masters who can match one to a hundred!
Xie Yu estimated that if he dared to mention tax collection, these monks would come knocking on his door the next day.
"Okay, let's talk about tax collection later. Do you have any unused houses in your village? How many of them can you spare for me? People like me have worked hard all the way and need a place to rest. And these horses also need to be well fed. Hello."
Sun Shouyi said that there are no empty houses anymore, but the ancestral hall in Zhuangzi can be occupied by people after being tidied up.
Finally, Xie Yu and others, led by Sun Shouyi, came to the ancestral hall of Sunjiazhuang.
This Sun family ancestral hall is not small. After entering through the gate, there is a courtyard similar to a patio.
Further inside is the main hall, which contains the rankings of the ancestors of the Sun family.
After passing the main hall, there are three courtyards behind. There are actually more than thirty rooms of various sizes inside. After asking, I found out that the ancestor of the Sun family actually had a high-ranking official, and this ancestral temple was the house built by that high-ranking official.
But that high official was from the previous dynasty. After the founding of the Yong Dynasty, that high official was cut off. And his house was abandoned.
When the official's case had completely lost its impact, the descendants of Sunjiazhuang felt that it was a pity that such a good yard was abandoned. So this place was slightly modified and turned into an ancestral hall in Sunjiazhuang.
Xie Yu told Liuzi and others not to destroy things in the ancestral hall.
Seeing Xie Yu and others being so easy-going, Sun Shouyi was very grateful.
He arranged for the young people in the village to help find some good fodder and feed the horses.
After a lot of work, everyone could finally have a good night's rest.
After dinner, Xie Yu and Bai Xiaonan went back to their room to rest.
Bai Xiaonan also asked Xie Yu about his future plans.
"Let's settle down first and then talk."
Xie Yu replied casually.
Bai Xiaonan could tell that Xie Yu seemed to have something on his mind.
"What are you thinking about? Are you still worried about Wenjun?"
Xie Yu nodded: "Yes! The main reason is that I don't know what happened to the Yu family. And Mao Tou... This kid is usually quite clever. I don't know why such a big thing happened this time. Leave a message."
"It's useless to worry! Let Liuzi or Dajun go look for Qiantang later. Maybe Wenjun has already reached Qiantang by now."
"It can only be the."
Xie Yu hugged Bai Xiaonan and slowly closed his eyes.
In fact, besides worrying about Yu Wenjun, Xie Yu was also thinking about what happened next.
These one hundred people definitely can't stay with him all the time. He was thinking about how to properly arrange these one hundred brothers.
Now for Xie Yu, these one hundred people are his most original and loyal team.
If you want to make a comeback, you must make good use of these people!
After thinking about it all night, Xie Yu finally fell asleep amid the chaotic thoughts.
The next day I got up and freshened up, and the village leader Sun Shouyi came over early again.
Before Xie Yu had a few words of business with Sun Shouyi, shouts and curses suddenly came from outside.
"Where is the new Gouxian man here? Get out of here!"
