Northern Dynasties

Chapter 25
In the afternoon, county magistrate Zheng Man came to Shangyuan with another batch of cattle, agricultural tools and grain seeds.

"What, what's going on here? What did I miss?"

Zheng Man's eyes widened in astonishment when he saw Zhou Changming, the garrison lord, leading many townspeople diligently digging ditches in the field.

He remembered Zhou Changming's disgust and resistance towards Li Tai and his party yesterday, why did he come to help so enthusiastically and proactively after only one day?

However, Li Tai was not in the mood to explain Zheng Man's doubts. When Zheng Man arrived and had no time to receive the supplies, he first pulled him aside and asked in a deep voice, "How much does Zheng Man know about Zhao, Shi and other rich families in the village?"

"The Zhao family is a long-established family in the village. Most of the villages in the west are residents of their clan. The family is the most prosperous and has served as the party leader in this area for generations. His surname is Hexihu, and he has moved here for two generations. The Jingzhao branch is the most powerful, and used to be the prefect and county magistrate in the early years, and the Wuxiang branch is also led by this, and occupies a county lieutenant's post in the county."

Zheng Man replied after hearing the words, and then said nervously: "Could it be that these two families make people feel embarrassed?"

"They incited the villagers to provoke, and I taught them a lesson. Because Master Zhou Yu personally came to apologize, the matter was exposed, and I will not pursue it anymore."

Li Tai pointed to Zhou Changming who led the crowd to dig a ditch in the distance, and explained briefly.

"So it is."

Zheng Man also noticed several injured villagers lying in the camp, so he guessed that there should be a fight between them, and obviously Li Tai's side won.

"There are a few big families in this area, the Zhao family is still down, and Wei doesn't leave the village. It's best for historians not to make enemies. His family has a strong and evil nature, and his reputation spreads across states and counties. In his early years, he dug caves and statues, and even the county magistrates were involved. Li Lang is a talented man from a famous family, but he is not in the same boat as this local tyrant, too much entanglement will damage his reputation."

Zheng Man appeased Li Tai a few words, and said: "Zhou Changming was not originally a wealthy family in the village. In the third year of Datong's reign, the eastern thieves invaded the territory, and the local tyrants all retreated to Luoxi. Only Zhou Changming led the righteous men from the village to occupy Baoshangyuan, so he seized the land. Promoted to the garrison master. Although he is rough and not well-known, he handles affairs fairly in the village and often acts as an arbitrator. If there are any difficulties in the village in the future, Li Lang can use him to deal with it."

After Li Tai heard the words, he nodded. After negotiating with Zhou Changming before, he had changed a lot about Zhou Changming. Seeing that the other party did what he said, he led the village soldiers to help dig the ditch, and felt that this man was a rare righteous man in the village.

Skipping this topic, Li Tai pointed to Luoshui in the distance and said: "It's the flood season right now, and the villagers' farming will also be finished. Why is there still not enough water in Luoshui?"

After the previous rural fight, Li Tai also realized that the water source of the river is also one of the basic elements of farming, so he rode his horse to the Luoshui to have a look, only to find that the Luoshui has not much water, and there are large rocks exposed in many places. Beach bed.

Regardless of the basic needs of farming, the water-turned spinning wheel needed for the farming plan he conceived is also powered by water flow.Originally thought that the manor was close to Luoshui, so it should not be difficult to use water.But judging by the amount of water in Luoshui, even if it can balance the neighbors on the left and right, the power of the water flow is not enough to drive the spinning wheel.

Zheng Man glanced to the northwest, and immediately sighed: "The reason why Luoshui is not abundant is because the water source of the upper reaches of the river was blocked by people's ditches. In the west of Luoxi, there is the manor of Hushi General Zhaogui, and in the east of Luodong is the garden of Liangchun, the Kaifu. Both of them are great performers in Taiyuan, and each has thousands of songs. The villagers dare not fight for courage, so they can only bear with it..."

Hearing this, Li Tai couldn't help being a little dumbfounded. He thought that he would be able to avoid personnel disputes in the Western Wei Dynasty by going out of the city and going to the countryside to farm with peace of mind.

He thought that he could weave and print banknotes at full speed by building a large spinning wheel turned into water, which seemed a bit taken for granted.

The water-turning spinning wheel was invented in the Southern Song Dynasty. The water resources in Guanzhong are naturally not comparable to those in the south of the Yangtze River, and the occupation and monopoly of limited resources has always been the privilege of the powerful and powerful.The villagers resisted and rejected him, and they all started with the water source, which shows that the preciousness of water resources is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in Guanzhong.

It seems that even if you want to be a big landlord in Guanzhong with peace of mind, you must have the protection of the power from the upper class!
Needless to say, Zhao Gui, Liang Chun is also a general in the army in Beizhen, obviously not something that Li Tai can afford to provoke.

Regardless of the power in the future, as far as the two men dare to directly build a dam to block the water, the villagers can only hold their noses and endure.And Li Tai's manor had not yet been reclaimed, and the big households in the village incited the villagers not to allow them to use water.It is clear at a glance which is strong and which is weak.

Large-scale water power utilization, it seems that there is no need to think about it now.

In order to avoid unintentionally provoking an existence that he couldn't afford, Li Tai asked about the manors of powerful generals nearby, only to find out that the entire Wuxiang County was almost divided up by powerful nobles.

There is a mound across from the original north, which is the manor of Yu Jin, the founder of the mansion.Yuandong is the territory of Dugu Xin's family. If Po Yetou Baolu had taken a bigger step yesterday, the boundary stone might have fallen into Dugu Xin's family.

After learning about this, Li Tai couldn't help feeling that Guanzhong is really shallow.Especially in the vicinity of Huazhou City, there are even nobles gathering together to enclose land.If it weren't for Yu Wentai's care for Gao Zhongmi, it would be difficult for them to gain a foothold in Zuojin Township.

But no matter what, if you come, you will be safe, and you can't give up your own Lu's dream just because others are tyrannical.

Li Tai cleared up his mood and looked at the means of production that Zheng Man had sent. When he saw that there were five cattle, his eyes lit up and he thought of driving the spinning wheel with the power of cattle.

Although not as low-cost as water power, it is also far more efficient than hand cranking.It is nothing more than adding several axle structures to change the direction of force.Even with only a junior high school mechanical knowledge level, such transformation can be completed.

"May I ask Zheng Zong, is there any other cattle in the county that can be rented?"

Hearing Li Tai's question, Zheng Man said again: "There is a surplus of farming cattle in the county, and the households receiving land in He County are only in the early thousands, and even fewer are willing to rent cattle to farm. Especially when the farming is not busy, everyone You have to forcefully match high-ranking households in the county to collect rent. The cattle tax is expensive, and the five cattle I brought are enough for Li Lang’s manor to cultivate this season, and adding more is just a burden.”

Wuxiang County should already be regarded as the core area ruled by the Western Wei Dynasty, but the average households in the land are only a little over a thousand, which shows that the population in Guanzhong is seriously shaded.

Since Li Tai had no time to worry about the finances of the people's livelihood in the Western Wei Dynasty, he asked again after hearing the words: "Then how much of this batch of lent animal power materials will need to be returned after autumn?"

After Zheng Man heard the words, he took out a accounting book, and after doing the calculations, he said to Li Tai with embarrassment: "Everything rented will need to return [-] shi of millet and grain after autumn. It takes another three hundred shi, and two thousand shi of grain to pay off."

"so much?"

Although Li Tai knew that officials were better than bandits, he was shocked when he heard this figure. Five cattle, various agricultural tools, and various grain seeds less than a hundred shi were only loaned on credit for a few months. It costs two thousand shi for renting grain!

It's no wonder that the government has to forcibly allocate and rent such important productive animal power as farm cattle. How can ordinary ordinary families afford it!
Although he knew it was impossible, Li Tai still had the illusion of keeping things safe, and asked again: "Can these rental fees be discounted?"

Zheng Man sighed with a complicated expression, and avoided talking about it, but said: "The rent collection this season is indeed a little heavier than in previous years, because of the defeat of Mangshan Mountain, and the huge consumption of materials. After autumn, Daxingtai will gather more people. Dayue, Wu Township is in this town, and after the fall, the army needs to transport [-] stones of grain, and I have been handed down from the government office, so I am very worried..."

"If one family can transfer two thousand stones, it's not difficult to count!"

Li Tai said in a muffled voice, he had already entered the village quite late, and it was uncertain whether he could receive two thousand shi of grain this year.

"That's why I advise Li Lang to save the power of the animals and use them as long as they can. There is really no need to do more renting."

Zheng Man also said with some embarrassment that rural households are reluctant to rent cattle, and Xungui Manor has sufficient livestock power, and Li Tai's demand here can definitely be called a big customer.

When Zheng Man reported last night, he was highly praised by the county lord, and he was ordered to serve this big dog well from plowing to harvesting, especially after autumn, he must reap the harvest as soon as possible.

Standing in the field, Li Tai felt malice coming from all directions for a moment.In such a short period of time in the countryside, the villagers resisted and rejected, the nobles encroached on the river, and the government wanted to increase rents and extort money, which was not at all smooth.

After a moment of silence, he opened his mouth again: "Even if you get this back, the government's annual income should be far from the Daxingtai Superintendent's Order, right?"

Zheng Man sighed: "To be honest, the daily maintenance of the county office is costly. The average land rent adjustment is a constant number. The large households cannot enter the official warehouse. Even if you add public land and various miscellaneous income, compared with the governor's order There are still tens of thousands of stones owed. The county lords and the lords have made plans, but they will ask the big families after the autumn. If the big families don't pay, I'm afraid they will be punished and resigned!"

"If I say that I can help the county to make up for it, how can the county general benefit me?"

Seeing Zheng Man's frowning look, Li Tai also felt that it was not easy to be an official in the Western Wei Dynasty, and everything depended on the faces of the powerful and powerful families under his rule, which was really aggrieved.

Zheng Man's eyes widened immediately after hearing the words, he stepped forward and grabbed Li Tai's wrist and said tremblingly: "Li Lang is serious?"

Li Tai was worried about the return of two thousand shi, not sure, and said that he would make up for the nearly ten thousand shi shortage of food, that would only be bragging.But he has the air of not being afraid to bite when there are too many lice. He has to owe it anyway. It is better to owe it to Dali. It is best to owe the creditors to respect him.

"The county has a surplus of animals, and there should be manpower for soldiers. These kinds of operations are insufficient, and the power cannot be exhausted, so the government treasury has a poor harvest. You might as well rent these kinds of codes to me, and I will return them to make up for it."

It's been a while since he came to this world, and Li Tai also realized that the private use of public weapons in the Western Wei Dynasty was really not a serious taboo crime.

In order to meet performance targets, even county magistrates have to go to the countryside to beg big households.Packing and renting out the surplus manpower and animal power of the county government can not only maintain dignity, but also achieve the goal, why not do it?
"It's not that I don't trust Li Lang, but the matter is very important..."

"I understand, I won't let Zheng engage in you to take the risk, I have my own strategy to convince the county lord!"

As Li Tai said, his eyes fell on the farm tools that Zheng Man sent, such as long plows, short pears and so on.Then the next step is to summon, Qu Yuanli!
(End of this chapter)