Mid to late March.
It’s just two days since the Grain Rain season.
The first phase of Xu Qin's pilot work on land tax reform is progressing smoothly.
Due to the active cooperation of the Langya Wang family, the entire new land tax policy was promoted in Yangzhou Prefecture, creating a 'catfish effect'.
The local tyrants and squires in the counties and towns under the prefecture saw that the Langya Wang family was obeying orders. They also actively cooperated with the yamen to re-measure the land, assess the tax rate according to the new system, and collect taxes on a regular basis.
A large number of refugees were effectively repatriated, and equal pay for equal work was fully implemented.
Emperor Yongle officially issued an edict and fully affirmed the achievements of the first phase of the pilot work.
Rewards were given to considerable personnel in the pilot project.
In the second stage, the court sent a lot more manpower.
From the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites and other central ministries, they tried their best to allocate manpower to provide support.
More than 80% of the officials in the East Palace Zhanshi Mansion were assigned.
The remaining five bachelors of Wenyuan Pavilion, led by Xie Jin, the chief bachelor of the pavilion, rushed to Yangzhou Mansion.
Xu Qin, the imperial minister and envoy, has already set off for Huai'an Mansion.
Huai'an Prefecture is the largest prefecture in the jurisdiction of Nanzhili, and governs two states and seven counties.
They are Haizhou and Pizhou respectively.
Shanyang County, Qinghe County, Yancheng County, Andong County, Taoyuan County, Muyang County, Suqian County.
The magistrate of Huai'an Prefecture is of the fourth rank, and the county magistrate is of the sixth rank, which is two levels higher than the official rank of general government offices and county offices.
This shows that Huai'an Prefecture has a very prominent political, military and economic status in southern Zhili and even in the entire Ming Dynasty.
Xu Qin also traveled privately in private.
Among the entourage, Yang Shiqi and Su Zecheng supported him, and Yang Rong continued to stay with Zhang Fu to help him manage logistics and dispatch.
Two Confucian scholars from Su Zecheng joined Xie Jin's Wenyuan Pavilion team and served as walking assistants and guides.
The escort of the imperial ministers has been strengthened at the request of His Majesty the Emperor.
Li Xiaoqi was promoted to chief flag officer due to his meritorious service, and his fifty Yilin guards were responsible for Xu Qin's travel safety.
However, Xu Qin only took the original ten people from Xiaoqi with him, and the rest of the Yilin guards were asked to disperse around and not interfere with his private visit in private.
Zhangpu focused on Yangzhou, assisted by Xie Jin and others.
It's March, and fireworks are falling in Yangzhou in March.
Strictly speaking, fireworks under Yanghuai River in March are more appropriate.
Because during the Ming Dynasty, the natural scenery in the Yanghuai area was the best in southern Zhili, equivalent to Suzhou and Hangzhou in later generations.
As the morning dawned, Xu Qin and his party were riding horses on the muddy official road.
The mountains, rivers and lakes are beautiful, both on land and water.
After the spring rain, the forests on both sides are full of birdsong, a breeze blows, and the fresh air is filled with a wet smell.
Xu Qin was riding a tall and powerful thousand-mile horse - Xiaoxueju.
This little snow foal is one of the purebred horses born to the big snow foal.
The big snow horse was Xu Huizu's original mount, and Xu Qin would occasionally take it out for a walk.
Funny to say, Xiaoxueju actually had a pair of twin brothers.
In the stable of Wei Guogong Mansion, Zhu Gaoxu, who came to attend the funeral of Emperor Taizu Gao, secretly rode one of the horses out of the capital one day and ran all the way back to Peking.
Hence the allusion of "my uncle chases my nephew at starry night".
Speaking of Xu Qin's two counselors, they both rode dwarf and ugly southern horses.
Yang Shiqi is a dark horse, while Su Zecheng is a gray horse.
Both of them are standard scholars. Riding a crossbow horse is better than riding a donkey.
In the distance, heavy rain caused the water level of Hongze Lake to rise, and the tributaries were diverted to form a small puddle, blocking the official road.
The patrolling sentry turned back to report, and Xu Qin immediately ordered the sergeants to chop down trees and build a pontoon bridge.
Not far away is Xiaohe Town on the border of Qinghe County, Huai'an Prefecture, which is where they entered their mission target area.
In this case, no one is in a hurry.
Xu Qin and his advisers sat on a high ground to rest and listened to Su Zecheng's detailed introduction to the general situation of the counties and towns in Huai'an Prefecture.
He was born and raised in Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture.
The noisy wind is mixed with the chirping of insects in the water, blowing the rice fields in the distance.
"Mr. Xu, there is no need for you to come in person for the promotion of Huai'an Mansion. Even if you want to come, there is no need for another private visit incognito."
Su Zecheng said.
"Xiaoguan also agrees with Brother Su that these places are much more dangerous than Yangzhou."
Yang Shiqi also echoed.
Xu Qin thought for a moment and asked:
"You all think I shouldn't come, just because the journey is dangerous? Are there any other reasons?"
Yang Shiqi believed that Xu Qin was the lord he should follow in the future, so he spoke frankly.
You must know that Xu Qin's new land tax system of "sharing the land between farmers and abolition of corvee" has already touched the family interests of wealthy and noble families.
Among today's courtiers, whether they are the new nobles of Jingnan or the old ministers of Jianwen, which one of their families does not have thousands of acres of fertile land?
The new land tax system is to destroy the lives of their families.
Even the entire Xu family, where Xu Qin belongs, also has thousands of hectares of fertile land in Yingtianfu, Haozhou and other places.
There's nothing wrong with Xu Qin's situation. He just needs to pay more taxes per acre.
But at the homes of his third and fourth uncles, as well as the homes of several cousins and uncles, there were complaints.
This trip to Yangzhou, which lasted for more than a month, has achieved good results, and the achievements have been made. It stands to reason that there is no need to wade through muddy waters again, and we can stop when we see good results.
The last killing of Zhou Shixiu, a key criminal of the Jianwen Party, had already made Jin Yiwei Jigang dissatisfied, and some details must have reached the emperor's ears.
If it were anyone else, this would be sympathizing with the remnants of Jianwen, or even being suspected of collaborating with the enemy.
The emperor was unmoved. No one knew what he was thinking.
But there are a lot of rumors.
The normal approach is to push things aside and close your ears. It is better to do less than to do more.
If there are local tyrants and gentry below who refuse to obey, or are unwilling to cooperate, they will send officials to arrest them.
If it doesn't work, the army may be sent to suppress it, so that the Emperor will bear infamy.
Anyway, Emperor Yongle had long been notorious as a traitor to the throne in Huai'an Prefecture.
"Yan Ni" has been scolded for four or five years, are you still afraid of adding some color?
There are rumors in the world that the Jianwen Party just established a sect called the Qingzheng Sect a few years ago.
The main base of the Qing Orthodox Church is said to be on the line of Huai'an Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, and Jinan Prefecture.
If a larger-scale civil commotion breaks out, or if they jump over the wall in a hurry and use the most evil methods, it will be like sticking their heads in their belts.
This type of business involves high risks, high responsibilities, high effort and little gain, and is a thankless business. No matter how you calculate it, it will result in huge losses.
What's more, there are still many things to do in Zhanshi Mansion and Wenyuan Pavilion in the East Palace.
Whether it is to engage in industrial economy, or to establish Taixuetang, military hall, etc., they have just begun to operate.
It would be too willful to leave the capital in such a quiet way and leave the problem there for the old officials of the Imperial College to take care of.
Xu Qin listened carefully to Yang Shiqi's outspoken words. In addition to praising his loyalty and honesty in person, he always looked calm and calm.
On the contrary, Yang Shiqi became more curious.
Does the Lord really have any secrets, as he suspected?
This is not possible!
