Chapter 177: Taking Human Life Seriously

The situation around Yingtian Prefecture has been inspected. Zhao Jun cannot visit all the rural areas across the country. If he does, he may not be able to visit them all in his lifetime. He can only visit the more typical county governments in various states.

From the situation he investigated, the situation of land annexation is indeed very serious, almost to a very dangerous level.

Yingtian Prefecture is the Henan region, which is part of the North China Plain.

There are a lot of vast fields here, but most of the owners of the fields are landlords. The good fields are controlled by landlords. Most of the fields owned by self-cultivating farmers are just ordinary fields and inferior fields. The people live in great difficulty. They can only barely get enough food and clothing after working hard for a year.

And quite a lot of people become tenants and slaves of landlords and work for them. Many people wear coarse cloth shirts, their faces and bodies are covered with mud, their skin is dark, their faces are yellow and thin, and they are surrounded by poverty.

At least for so many days, Zhao Jun did not see many well-fed people, did not see a decent house, and there were few wealthy families.

Their houses are all shabby wooden houses or rammed earth houses. The better ones can build a rammed earth wall, which will fall down if pushed. Ordinary families can only barely have a fence, and the poor have a broken wooden house, with almost no place to stand.

Zhao Jun did not see the so-called prosperity of Renzong, but only saw the hunger, poverty, pain and numbness hidden under this prosperity. It was spring plowing, and the countryside seemed to be full of vitality, but everything was quiet.

The only place that seemed to have some advantages was that the clan power in the north was not serious, and the government laws in villages were still greater than clan laws.

Because when Zhao Jun came, it was in the stage of urging spring plowing. The government sent people from the yamen to various villages to urge the people to farm with the local heads of households and heads of the village. These township officials and clerks shuttled between villages to promote farming and solve certain difficulties.

Because widows remarry and relatives live apart, some abandoned fields will appear. However, if no one cultivates the fields, the household still has to pay taxes. Some people abandon the fields to others to avoid taxes.

Then these township officials and clerks will register and help the household head sell the fields through the "one field, two owners" system, and find landlords or other laborers to buy and cultivate the fields to avoid wasteland.

After all, if the system is completely bad, the country would have collapsed long ago.

So although the land annexation in the Song Dynasty was indeed serious and the upper class sucked blood from the lower class, it also gave rise to the possibility of private land transactions and easier access to fields for labor, thereby reducing the occurrence of abandoned land and reduced grain production.

In the case that the power of the northern clans is not particularly strong, if the first industrial revolution can be developed in the Pingdingshan area through the local coal and iron mines, there will be no shortage of labor, and a large number of young and strong laborers can be recruited in Henan, Hebei and other places.

Zhao Jun recorded all these things one by one. The first industrial revolution seemed to be quite beneficial. After the young and strong were absorbed, the landlords in Hebei and Henan lacked labor. Correspondingly, they would definitely improve their treatment to keep these young and strong, which would probably help a lot for the lives of ordinary people.

After leaving Yingtian Prefecture, they passed Huiting Town under Gushu County and paid taxes again before entering the territory of Huainan.

Near February, in Bozhou, Luyang Town, Huainan East Road, the town was not big, but the trade was quite developed. Many ships were moored at the dock, and workers came and went carrying goods. Before approaching the dock, a strong smell of medicine came to the nose.

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Bozhou has developed a wholesale industry for medicinal materials. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was one of the four major medicine capitals.

Medicinal material merchants from the south and the north gathered and sold medicinal materials to all parts of the country through the canal. Even blond and blue-eyed foreigners came to Quanzhou and Guangzhou to buy medicinal materials, which shows how big the market is.

The town of Yingyang is connected to the canal. There is a small river to the west of the town that passes through Ying County and merges into the Huanshui River, and then enters the Woshui River Basin through a tributary and goes to Qiao County, the capital of Bozhou Prefecture.

According to the original itinerary, Zhao Jun's ship should pass through Bozhou to Suzhou, and then go south by land to Haozhou, Shouzhou, Luzhou, Chuzhou and other places, because these places were the worst hit by the drought in Huainan two years ago.

But at this moment, he planned to enter Qiao County along the branch road.

However, his ship was blocked less than an hour after leaving Yingyang Town and more than 30 miles away from Ying County.

Because the river channel in front was too narrow, a ship capsized and blocked the river channel.

Originally, this tributary was not narrower than the canal, but the canal was fixed at a width of more than 20 meters, and some of these natural rivers were as wide as 100 meters, and the narrowest part was only more than 10 meters or even a few meters. It was difficult to pass through when this happened occasionally.

So the ship could not move forward.

If they wanted to take a detour, they could only return to the canal, go from Yongcheng to Linhuan County, and then go upstream along the Yishui River to Qiao County.

This was obviously a long way to go, and it was not worth it.

Therefore, they could only choose to trust the efficiency of the government's actions and organize people to drag out the overturned boats as soon as possible to clear the waterway.

"It seems that we can't leave today, so let's go for a walk in the nearby villages first."

Zhao Jun looked up at the sky. The sky was gray. It had rained in the past few days. The spring rain was like oil, moistening the earth, making the whole world gloomy.

But it was still early, probably around two or three in the afternoon, but it was a distance from Lu County. It would take a day to report back and forth and organize people, so they definitely couldn't leave.

But it didn't seem like a good idea to wait on the boat, so they just went down and took a walk.

After Zhao Jun gave the order, the big ship put down the small boat. Jiang Dalang, Huang Sanlang and other guards, and more than ten people protected him ashore.

There happened to be a river beach nearby. Because it was still raining lightly, everyone went to the river beach with umbrellas. The ground was slippery and muddy, and a house could be vaguely seen through the green trees and grass on the slope.

I think people often come to the river beach. A path goes up the slope. When you get up the slope, you have a clear view in front of you. You can see a village not far away. There are hills and hills, fertile farmland, and the densely packed houses in the village are as compact as a village. The size of the town.

It is the time of spring plowing, and many farmers are working in dry field nurseries, cultivating rice seedlings and taking care of rice seedlings, waiting for the wheat harvest in May before inserting them into paddy fields.

The Huainan area has been dominated by rice cultivation since the Song Dynasty, and this is not only the case in Huainan, but also in Henan. Historical data records that "a county with mountains and rivers is the most important place for fish and rice in the west of Beijing."

Most of the rice cultivation in the northwest region of Beijing was promoted during the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Jingdong region, more rice is grown in various states.

Zhao Jun walked on the rural road in the fields and looked around.

An old farmer came out of the side field ridge. He was a little frightened when he saw more than ten people and wanted to go around.

Zhao Jun greeted him and asked with a smile: "Old man, where are you going?"

When the old farmer saw that Zhao Jun was dressed neatly and there were more than a dozen guards with knives around him, he thought he was sending someone, so he hurriedly said: "Sir, the young man has just returned from working in the fields and is going back to rest."

"oh."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "We are passing businessmen. Because the boat in front of us capsized and we couldn't pass, we came down for a walk. We happen to be thirsty. If it is convenient for me, can you allow us to sit at home? We are willing to give some copper coins." "

As he said this, he winked at Jiang Dalang.

Jiang Dalang understood, and took out twenty or thirty coins from his arms to hand it over. The old farmer said hurriedly: "It turns out that it's just a few members of the party who don't need that much. They don't need that much. They just drink a few bowls of water. The few members of the party and the little ones are here." Just come here."

In fact, the old farmer could still detect something strange. Although the old farmer stayed in the countryside all year round, he had been in the field when he was young and had some experience.

Looking at the clothes the other party was wearing and the knife he was holding, it was obvious that they were not owned by the businessman.

Although the Song Dynasty legislated that private possession of weapons was prohibited, just like other dynasties, the "weapons" here had a limitation, which refers to "armor, crossbows, spears, iron, equipment, etc., which are not allowed to be owned by private individuals according to the order."

As for "bows, arrows, knives, spears, and short spears, these five matters are privately heard." In other words, private individuals can legally possess bows, arrows, knives, spears, and short spears.

In Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", there is a weapons store next to "Sun Yangzheng Store", and a person who is probably a customer is trying to draw a large bow.

Apparently weapons such as bows and arrows were openly sold. In the novel "Water Margin", many heroes carry a simple sword with them in the rivers and lakes, because the simple sword is also a weapon that can be held by the people.

The problem is that normal businessmen don't dare to openly bring so many knives when they go out, usually just whistle sticks. Moreover, the opponent's clothes were bulging, and he looked like he was wearing inner armor. This was not something that ordinary people could have. If he was caught, he would be beheaded.

But there are so many people on the other side, and if it is really a desperado, it is obviously not a good thing to offend the other side. Anyway, there are many villages around here, and there are so many merchant ships on the river. His home is not far from the river. If there is really an attack, just shout and the whole village will come, so the old farmer is not afraid.

Immediately he took Zhao Jun to his home.

His home is by the small river outside the village, which is a tributary of the river where Zhao Jun sails. Next to it is the village and farmland. Many farmers are walking in the countryside. Although it is drizzling, it is still a "green mountains and white rivers" , the smell of rain like smoke in the sound of Zigui.

Zhao Jun followed the old farmer to his house. There was only one old woman in the yard. She said that the eldest son got married and separated and lived in the east of the village. The second son worked in the county town. There was only an old couple in the house.

After drinking the water, what the old farmer was worried about did not happen. Zhao Jun just sat there and chatted with them, asking how the harvest was last year, what difficulties the family had, and whether the local officials had done anything illegal or oppressive. The activities of the common people.

Because he was not sure about Zhao Jun's details, the old farmer did not dare to say more. He just said that the weather last year was good and the harvest was okay. The county magistrate handles cases impartially, and the police officers are also very good. Except for the fact that the second son is unmarried, there are no difficulties in the family.

Zhao Jun has heard this a lot these days, some of which are true and some of which are false. The most fake things were about the county magistrate's handling of cases. When I was in Yingtian Mansion, most people said good things about the county magistrate.

They generally didn't suffer much bullying. After all, there were so many people in a county, and it was impossible for everyone in the county to be bullied by officials, landlords, and government servants.

Even if they know that officials are corrupt, landowners are bad, and government officials are shady, they dare not speak freely in front of outsiders who don't know the details.

Only those who have been truly oppressed will complain.

Just like in Yingtian Mansion, I met a small landowner whose family was in decline.

This man's surname was Yu, and he had a conflict with another landlord named Li. Landlord Yu's wife happened to be holding her son. Landlord Li wanted to beat them with a whistle stick. Landlord Yu's wife wanted to scare him and raised the child. Shouting, you’re going to hit me if you feel like it?

As a result, landlord Li really hit the child with a stick and beat him to death.

Where can the landlord stop now?

Report to the official immediately.

But this landlord Li had a good relationship with Xiao Zhubu in Songcheng County. He arranged it privately, and the Zhubu actually forged a contract of private reconciliation between the two families, reported to his superiors that the two families had reconciled, and got away with it.

At that time, the county magistrate and other officials in the county were all temporary officials, and they would often be transferred away after a short period of time. The main people who handled the affairs were the county clerks. Then, except for the county magistrates in very large counties, the general counties were assisted by the Zhubu and the county lieutenant to handle the case.

Therefore, to a certain extent, the Zhubu was basically the second person in the county, and ordinary people could not even see the county magistrate, and the case was just judged as a settlement.

The landlord Yu spent all his wealth and sought help everywhere. However, since the county magistrate was transferred away not long after, and the county-level judicial system was originally in chaos, bribery, dereliction of duty, and bribery were endless, and even the officials and clerks responsible for the trial of the case disappeared, which directly caused this matter to be left unresolved.

If Zhao Jun had not learned about this from the landlord Yu, whose family had fallen into poverty because of this incident, and then wrote a note requesting the Political System Council to immediately issue a decree and let the Jingdong Road Judicial Department immediately conduct a thorough investigation, this case would probably never be cleared up.

So as a stranger, it is not easy to get something out of the local people.

The two chatted casually about some family matters. Zhao Jun saw that he could not get anything out of them, so he was ready to leave soon.

At this time, a heart-wrenching cry suddenly came from outside: "Zhou family, you will not die well! You will not die well!"

It was a female scream, full of panic and anger, as if she was locked in a cage.

Along with this cry, other voices came from outside, "Why did she spit out the cloth strip?" "Put it back quickly, put it back," "Don't let her scream."

Zhao Jun hurriedly said, "Go out and take a look."

Everyone immediately left the yard and saw a group of people coming from the village.

They were carrying a pig cage with a woman in it. At this moment, the people were putting the pig cage on the ground, and then they were busy stuffing back the cloth strips that the woman had vomited.

Soon the woman's mouth was blocked again, and the people carried her forward and headed towards the river in Zhao Jun's yard.

"What a sin!"

The old farmer also came out behind them.

Zhao Jun hurriedly asked, "Father-in-law, do you know what's going on?"

"What a foolish thing the Zhou family did."

The old farmer sighed, and was a little secretive, and just said, "Axia is a poor woman. It's a sin to marry into the Zhou family."

"Then it seems that there is injustice."

Zhao Jun frowned and said, "Da Lang, go and stop the people."

The old farmer hurriedly said, "Yuanwai, don't be reckless. The Wang family is involved here."

"Wang family?"

Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Who cares if it's the Wang family or the royal family? I always like to meddle in other people's business. I'll take care of this matter."

He waved his hand.

Jiang Dalang and others responded by rushing out, blocking the road and not allowing the other party to pass.