Chapter 328: Not Starving, but Very Poor

In March of the sixth year of the Qingli period, the new policy first fermented in Bianliang, and then quickly spread to the entire Jingji Road and the surrounding Jingdong Road and Jingxi Road.

By May, basically Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Huainan, Zhejiang, Sichuan and other regions that are close or rely on a relatively developed water transport network have completed the transmission of news.

In Qiantang County, Hangzhou, the newly appointed Deputy Transport Envoy Liu Yong was originally the fifth-rank Xinzhou prefect. He completed his ninth year of officialdom in the second year of Baoyuan, and then went to Xinzhou at the end of the year.

In February of this year, after the three-year term expired, the Ministry of Personnel promoted him from Xinzhou to the fifth-rank Liangzhe Road Transport Deputy Envoy after the inspection.

Although officials are generally appointed for three years, under normal circumstances, it is actually difficult for a prefect to be promoted after serving for three years. He is often transferred to another place to continue to serve as a prefect. Only after two or three consecutive terms of outstanding performance can he continue to rise.

Because the leap from the fifth rank to the fifth rank is a bit like the leap from the city hall level to the vice-provincial level in later generations. When you reach the fifth rank, you belong to the middle and senior officials of the Song Dynasty. If you move up one step, you will be the fourth rank transport envoy, and you are qualified to be transferred to the central government as the minister of various ministries.

There are more than 400 prefects and Tongpans from the fifth and sixth ranks across the country, but there are only 70 or 80 officials above the fifth rank, such as the transport envoy, deputy envoy; the shipping envoy, deputy envoy; the criminal officer, Tongpan; the Changping envoy, Tongpan, etc., which shows how difficult it is to be promoted.

So in the case of extremely fierce competition, Liu Yong can be promoted directly to the deputy transport envoy without having to serve as the prefect for a few more years. There are only two possibilities. One is that his political achievements are particularly outstanding, and the other is that there are big people above to support him.

And Liu Yong belongs to both.

At the beginning of this year, when he went to the Ministry of Personnel in Bianliang for inspection, he also met Zhao Jun. At that time, Zhao Jun gave him some instructions, asking him to always remember them.

"The horses are slow on the ancient road of Chang'an, and the cicadas are chirping in the tall willows. Outside the sunset island, the autumn wind blows on the plains, and the eyes are fixed on the four days."

"The returning clouds have gone without a trace, where is the past? The interest in sex has faded, and the drunkards are desolate, not like the youth."

On May 4th, on the Qiantang River, a medium-sized passenger ship drifted on the river surface, and in the breeze and drizzle, it slowly sailed towards Xixing Town on the other side of the river.

Today, Liu Yong went to Kuaiji to work with Zhao Xiaozhi, the coin casting and transportation judge of Liangzhe Road.

The passenger ship swayed with the waves of the river, and it rained continuously outside the window. In the house, Liu Yong was holding a short poem to appreciate.

Zhao Xiaozhi walked in and said to him: "Deputy commander, Xiaoshan is ahead. Huh? The deputy commander actually wrote a new poem? I have to appreciate it."

In the Song Dynasty, there were actually only three chief officers on a road under normal circumstances: the transportation envoy, the criminal officer, and the Changping envoy. However, in most cases, there are four, because there will be an extra shipping envoy along the canal, and there will be an appeasement envoy for ethnic minorities or borders.

Therefore, the chief officials of one route in the Northern Song Dynasty are generally called the Four Departments, which are the Shuai Department, the Cao Department, the Xian Department, and the Cang Department.

Among them, the transport envoy is responsible for finance, the appeasement envoy is responsible for public security, the shipping envoy is responsible for the Cao transportation, the criminal officer is responsible for the prison, and the Changping envoy is responsible for storage. At the beginning, the government affairs of one route were not under their jurisdiction, and each state governor was responsible for the governance of the state.

By the time of Emperor Zhenzong and Emperor Renzong, the status of the transport envoy gradually increased. He was not only in charge of finance, but also in charge of local government affairs, and his power became greater. After the establishment of the Political System Council, the transport envoy was officially set as the chief official.

Therefore, just as the governor was usually called the prefect and the transport envoy was called the Si Shuai, the deputy transport envoy, as the second in command, also had the elegant title of deputy Shuai.

Hearing what Zhao Xiaozhi said, Liu Yong carefully put the paper away and said with a smile: "Don't look at it randomly. This poem was not written by me. I have to take it back and frame it well. I have to pass it down as a family heirloom in the future."

"Don't, deputy commander."

Zhao Xiaozhi hurriedly stopped him and said: "I'll just take a look."

"Then take a look."

Seeing that the other party was very curious, Liu Yong had to spread it out again.

After reading it, Zhao Xiaozhi said in amazement: "It was not written by the commander, the style of this poem is quite similar."

"I am also wondering, that person also said that since this poem was given to me, then just tell others that it was written by me, but this poem is indeed not written by me."

Liu Yong scratched his head, then pointed to the lower right corner and said: "Look at the signature."

"Zhou Shuren?"

Zhao Xiaozhi was shocked and said: "It's actually this gentleman!"

"Uh"

Liu Yong wanted to say something, but thinking that the prefecture did not allow him to reveal his identity to the outside world, he had to say: "It's him."

"Awesome, worthy of being the deputy commander. It is said that Mr. Zhou has always only heard his words but not his person. I I went to Bianliang several times and tried to find him but couldn't find him. But he was willing to meet the deputy commander. I think it was because the deputy commander wrote good poems, which made him feel sympathetic. "

Zhao Xiaozhi asked hurriedly: "I wonder what he looks like?"

"He"

Liu Yong felt a little scalp numb, so he had to say vaguely: "He is about fifty years old, but his face is quite handsome, and he looks like a man of heaven."

"To be praised so much by the deputy commander, he is indeed a dragon among men!"

Zhao Xiaozhi smiled and said: "I have read this gentleman's articles, every word is a pearl, and it is unforgettable."

Zhou Shuren is now a strange man active in the literary world of the Song Dynasty.

In addition to writing poems, he can also criticize current affairs.

For example, he once wrote an article to speak for science, saying that science is the future and the Song Dynasty should actively promote science.

He also wrote articles to express that personal equality should not be divided into noble and humble, criticized the slavery system, and expressed his firm support for the abolition of slavery in the Song Dynasty.

In addition, he has also written a lot of explorations and opinions on the current situation of the common people and the officialdom, and his words are thought-provoking.

Because many of the articles he wrote were profound and often coincided with the court's policies, he was worshiped among the people. Many officials in the officialdom read his articles to judge the future direction of the court.

The only problem may be that Zhou Shuren has discussed landlords and bureaucracy. He bluntly said that landlords and bureaucracy are obstacles to social progress, which made many officials and landlords hate him.

However, because the Zhou Shuren Shenlong never saw its end, almost no one had ever seen what he looked like. Even if someone wanted to cause trouble for him, they never did. Therefore, he has always been safe and has become a frequent guest in newspapers, magazines, and publications.

"Mr. Zhou is certainly an expert. You should read more of his articles."

Liu Yong responded casually and planned to change the topic.

At this moment, a chaotic sound suddenly came from outside. The sound was far away at first, but soon became louder and clearer.

It seemed like someone was shouting something in unison, and various slogans were flying all over the place, making Liu Yong and Zhao Xiaozhi frown.

The two people opened the curtains on the boat. At this time, the boat had already drifted along the canal to Xiaoshan County. The canal passed through Xiaoshan County, with wooden houses along the river on both sides and an arch bridge in front.

People were coming and going on the streets on the east side, and many people wearing silk and satin were holding signs.

Someone shouted loudly: "We demand the abolition of allotments. The court should not compete with the people for profit and take advantage of others!"

"Abolish the work of sharing the land with the peasants. The imperial court should not compete with the people for profit and take advantage of others!"

When the person shouts something, the people around him respond.

Then someone else shouted: "Evil laws harm the country and benefit the people. Tyranny must be abolished and must not be allowed to remain!"

"The evil laws harm the country and benefit the people. Tyranny should be abolished and must not be allowed to remain!"

The people around shouted again.

Liu Yong put down the curtains, and Zhao Xiaozhi sighed: "It's getting worse."

"These people are all fat-headed, big-eared, and well-dressed. They are all wealthy landowners and wealthy people. What qualifications do they have to say that the court is competing with the people for profit?"

Liu Yong sneered.

Zhao Xiaozhi said with a frown on his face: "That's what I said, but Shuai Si has talked to them many times, but to no avail. The court has not come down with a regulation, so it is not an option to continue the turmoil. The markets can no longer operate."

"It doesn't matter."

Liu Yong closed his eyes, rested between the boats, and said calmly: "The imperial court will take action."

Precisely.

The Supreme Court should take action.

He stopped looking out the window and rested quietly.

The ship jolted and headed towards Kuaiji.

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Beginning in April and May, landlords on two Zhejiang roads protested last year's new policy of allocating land to land.

In fact, there was one at the end of last year, but the scale was not large at that time. Only a few people, led by several large landowners in Suzhou, gathered dozens of landowners to protest at the gate of the transfer envoy's Yamen.

At that time, Du Qi, the transfer envoy of the two Zhejiang roads, invited them to the yamen to talk in detail. Although the discussion did not produce any results, it made them calm down for a while.

However, starting from March of the sixth year of Qingli, the landowners on Liangzhe Road became restless again. First, more than a hundred landowners signed a petition to ask Du Qi for help. After Du Qi negotiated with them again to no avail, some people were already in Hangzhou. Crowds marched.

By April and May, the situation spread from Hangzhou, and large-scale protests occurred in Suzhou, Xiuzhou, Huzhou, and Changzhou in several states near the Taihu Lake Basin.

Now even Yuezhou, south of the Qiantang River, has started to attack. I am afraid that it will not be long before it sweeps across the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang Roads.

no way.

In the second half of last year, the landowners were collected an autumn tax, and they held their noses to admit it.

Now is the beginning of the summer tax season, and you have to pay taxes again.

Then we must protest.

Especially the large landowners in the Taihu Basin, a major grain-producing area, are the ones who have suffered the most.

So the storm gradually spread.

However, the situation is still under control at present. Landowners and officials are relatively restrained and no direct conflicts have occurred.

It's just that the landlords' demonstrations caused chaos in the streets and affected the prosperity of the streets.

I think the court will come forward to solve the problem in the future.

But while the landlords in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were making trouble, the situation among the people was completely different.

Fengyuan Village, Majin Town, Kaihua County, Quzhou, is located in the north of Kaihua County in later generations. It is named after the Majin River and is surrounded by mountains.

The ancient Zhejiang region was very similar to the later Guangdong. Except for the Pearl River Delta, other places, especially the mountainous areas, were not considered wealthy. The same was true for ancient Zhejiang.

Except for the Yangtze River Delta and the Taihu Lake Basin, the mountainous areas of the southeastern hills have always been relatively poor in ancient times. Even during the Soochow Period of the Three Kingdoms, it was simply the residence of the Baiyue tribe, which fought many wars with the Soochow regime.

At this moment, surrounded by mountains, wooden houses are scattered in the mountains. If you look closely, you can vaguely see various characters plastered with plaster on the walls of those houses.

‘Purchase more land, build more roads, and store more grain will make you rich. ’

‘It is a national policy to never increase taxes. Anyone who dares to charge even one more tax from villagers is an enemy of the country. ’

"If you have any difficulties, go to the government. If the government cannot solve the problem, report it to the Censor's Department." ’

‘Village neighbors are friendly and should help each other. ’

‘Spreading small acres into acres allows people to pay less taxes, have more children, and grow more sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn. ’

Vegetable fields and terraces were opened up in the mountains and forests, and people carried water from streams to cultivate the land. The village, which was originally barren and almost unviable, increasingly had food and clothing.

It was May, the day to pay summer taxes, and the village was not lively. The sun hung high in the sky, as if it could make people faint.

The new general magistrate of Quzhou, Zhang Shu, trudged into the mountains from the town at the foot of the mountain. He was a Jinshi in Jingyou years and had been an official for nine years. He was an upright man. Hearing that the people in the village were suffering, he came here to inspect.

"On this road, people in other places have good weather and are actively paying for their crops, but a few villages in the mountains are in a miserable state. It's not that they don't want to, but there is a sudden drought and waterlessness in the mountains this year, the ponds have dried up, and there is no harvest."

The local Baozheng who took Zhang Shu into the mountains briefed him on the situation.

Zhang Shu nodded slightly and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He regretted that he went out in a long robe today. He should have worn short clothes, but he didn't expect that the village was located in such a deep mountain and old forest. It was really difficult to climb.

As they talked, they continued to go up. After passing the narrow mountain road, they saw the first house in the distance amid the bamboo forest.

It was an old rammed earth house. There was an old woman rummaging in the field outside the house. When Baozheng saw this, he added: "The villagers have no choice but to find some sweet potatoes and potato seeds to satisfy their hunger." ”

“Did anyone starve to death?”

Zhang Shu asked immediately.

"That's not true."

Baozheng said hurriedly: "All the young people in the village have gone down the mountain to work as part-time workers for others to make a living. The family does not consume food and has some left over to eat."

Zhang Shu walked into the village. The village was in the mountains. There were uneven fields. For example, there was a valley on one side of the road at the entrance of the village. There were three or four layers of terraced fields below. Each layer was about two meters high. There were overgrown weeds and many trees. .

As far as the eye can see, there are many old people and children looking for wild vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other crops near the valley under the scorching sun.

They didn't eat these things on weekdays, and often planted them to feed their livestock. But when a disaster happened and the rice harvest failed, no one had to eat them, so naturally they wouldn't dislike them.

"Liu Dabao, the judge is here."

Baozheng saw a middle-aged man hoeing in the field not far from the village entrance, and shouted to him.

When the man heard the sound, he turned around. When he saw a group of people, he quickly dropped his hoe and ran towards Zhang Shu. He bowed his hands to Zhang Shu and said, "Young man Liu Si has seen Tong Quan."

Although villages in the Song Dynasty already had the concept of villages, towns, and townships, they did not have village chiefs, town chiefs, and township chiefs. Instead, they had Baojia, Dabao, Dubao, and Baozheng on a household basis.

Among them, ten households have one guarantee, and Bao Jia is the main one. For every fifty households, there is a chief security officer and a chief security officer. So if there are only ten households in a village, the village chief is Baojia, and if there are more than fifty households, he is Dabao.

Fengyuan Village is a large village with more than 50 households in the mountains. It is surrounded by more than ten mountains and covers a radius of four to five kilometers. Although the villagers are so scattered that it takes a day or two to walk from the beginning of the village to the end, there is nothing that can be done.

After all, the people in the villages in the mountainous areas are very scattered. Sometimes there are only one or two households on a hilltop. It cannot be divided according to the hilltop. It is obviously inappropriate.

Dabao Liusi happened to live near the entrance of the village. He had several pieces of land in the terraced fields below, and he was digging sweet potatoes in the fields.

Zhang Shu took him and asked him about the situation.

It turns out that drought and water shortage are common in the southeastern hilly mountains in summer.

Isn’t there a poem from the Tang Dynasty?

"This is the year of drought in the south of the Yangtze River, and people in Quzhou are cannibals."

Even if it is not a time of famine, if there is water at the foot of the mountain, there may not necessarily be water on the mountain.

It takes an hour or two to walk up the mountain road from the small town at the foot of the mountain. The rice fields require so much water that it is almost impossible to carry water in.

Therefore, disasters often occur in the mountains.

This phenomenon will not be solved until later generations have running water, which can be pumped up the mountain through pipes from the river below.

In ancient times, this was an unsolvable problem, and we could only rely on heaven. If you are lucky and it rains once or twice, you can solve the problem by digging ponds and wells to store water.

Unfortunately, we were unlucky this year. There was no rain in the mountains for a month from April to May, causing the rice fields to die of drought. We had to pick some potatoes to survive.

"This year is good. In recent years, the imperial court has been promoting sweet potatoes. They can be fed without much water. There are still a few springs in the mountains. Although they cannot be used for farming, they can be used to water the fields and drink them."

Liu Si put his hands on his hips and shook his head between the fields: "But it's a pity that it didn't rain at all. The villagers only have enough to feed themselves. I'm afraid they won't be able to pay taxes this year."

"You don't have to worry about this. The imperial court naturally has a tax exemption policy for disaster-stricken areas. Have you reported and applied for disaster relief food?"

"It has been reported. The county sent people to investigate yesterday. They will probably arrive soon."

"Well, I will pay attention to this matter."

Zhang Shu put his hands behind his back and saw a team of water carriers in the distance struggling to carry water up from the mountain. However, these people were all over forty or fifty years old, and some were even old people, so he asked He asked: "How many young people are there now?"

Liu Si said: "Our Fengyuan Village is actually a place where people live in more than a dozen nearby mountains. There are more than 300 villagers, and nearly 100 young people."

"Where are they now?"

"I work part-time at the foot of the mountain, help others cut some rice, and earn some food."

"How many articles per day?"

Zhang Shu asked.

Liu Si scratched his head and said, "If you don't give me money, I'll give you some food."

"Well"

Zhang Shu raised his head and looked around.

The mountains and forests are dense and the forests are full of green shade. Just looking at the scenery, it is good.

But the air is hot and the village seems to be uninhabited. Villagers are looking for sweet potatoes in the fields, and children and the elderly are digging wild vegetables in the mountains. It seems that there is no vitality, only dead silence.

But even so, it is much better than in previous years.

If there were no disaster relief from the court, no sweet potatoes and potatoes, according to the past, I am afraid that many people would die.

At this moment, even officials like Zhang Shu couldn't help but feel that the changes in the court in recent years have benefited the people of the world.

Who can do this in the deep mountains and old forests without death during droughts?

But this is far from enough.

Zhang Shu walked into the village, walked along the ridges of the fields, with his hands behind his back, and asked Liu Si about the situation in the village.

There are many mountainous areas in Quzhou. In addition to Fengyuan Village, there are also some villages in the mountains.

There are no big landlords in the mountains. At most, there are a few local rich people. In disaster years, even the local rich people can't protect themselves, so even if they can survive, at most they can barely survive.

Having a few sweet potatoes and potatoes will not make people starve to death, but if they get sick, they will have to wait for death. This is the current situation of the poorest villages in the Song Dynasty.

"Let's go!"

Zhang Shu finally took another look at the deep mountains, and then said: "Go back and think about it carefully. The court wants to recruit village men and find a way to build a large reservoir in the mountains to store water. Maybe there will be water all year round in the future."

Now is the time for the court to issue policies on major national infrastructure, and reservoirs are included in them, but reservoirs need cement plants. After the court's new policy in February, the Quzhou government has been preparing cement plants and brick factories according to the instructions above. Maybe this matter will be settled.