In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 263 Tian is not that easy to measure

Huairen County is located directly south of Datong, more than 90 miles away.

Because it is located in the heart of the Datong Basin, with flat terrain and crisscrossing fields, it is a rare geomantic treasure land.

At this moment, it was noon outside the north gate of the county. More than 30 civil servants including the county magistrate Huang Kai and hundreds of local landowners were all hiding under the hay shed on one side, and everyone was still sweating from the heat.

However, no one paid attention to the hot weather, and they were busy discussing and chatting with sorrow on their faces.

"coming!"

As a shout came from the city tower, everyone stood up quickly, put up a pergola and looked towards the northern official road. They found a huge team slowly approaching. Everyone immediately rushed out of the hut and began to tidy up their clothes. , stand in line in order, and prepare to receive.

A quarter of an hour later, the team arrived outside the city gate, accompanied by hundreds of carriages and more than 500 soldiers wearing helmets and armor and riding large horses.

Seeing this situation, everyone was secretly frightened and became even more drunk and uneasy. It was not until an official in official uniform stepped out of the carriage that Huang Kai, the magistrate, felt a little more at ease.

"Huairen County Magistrate Huang Kai, I respectfully welcome the two ministers..."

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to the Minister."

"The common people pay homage to all of you sirs..."

For a time, the city gate was filled with the sounds of greetings.

The civil servants who came with the Bureau of Statistics this time were headed by the right minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment. In Gaoyang County, they were headed by the left minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and the left minister of the Ministry of Punishment. This shows the importance Hong Chengchou and the ministers of various ministries attached to them.

"You don't have to be too polite."

The two waiters said politely and wanted to introduce the more than 100 ladies from the Bureau of Statistics to everyone. However, except for the leading lady who got off the carriage to say hello, the other ladies stayed on the carriage and did not show up at all. The thought of getting off.

This made Huang Kai and other civil servants and landlords, who were already extremely disgusted with these women, suddenly look even more ugly.

"Ahem, County Magistrate Huang, this verification is mainly conducted by Inspector Liu and others, so don't neglect it!" the right minister of the Ministry of Agriculture could only remind him.

This confused Huang Kai and the others who didn't know the situation. Fortunately, everyone reacted quickly. Huang Kai immediately greeted Mrs. Liu who came down with a smile, saying that a place to stay and a banquet had been prepared in the city.

"I appreciate County Magistrate Huang's kindness, but our Bureau of Statistics and Investigation has regulations that prohibit local reception, so I won't go into the city. I hope you'll forgive me!"

Mrs. Liu declined politely.

"This…"

Huang Kai suddenly looked at the two waiters with some embarrassment.

"Inspector Liu, it's such a hot day and you're all very tired along the way. You'd better go into the city and rest!"

"Yes, rules are dead, but people are alive!"

The two ministers obviously did not expect that these ladies would not even enter the city, so they could only persuade them loudly.

Mrs. Liu shook her head, just took out an order from Lin Rui, handed it to Magistrate Huang, and then returned directly to the carriage and took the troops to camp by the river in the distance.

When Huang Kai and other officials and hundreds of gentry and landlords saw these women being so ignorant and inhumane, they were all furious to death. If those ferocious soldiers hadn't been staring at them with eager eyes, many of them might not have been able to hold back and curse. .

The more than 100 civil servants who came with them looked at each other in confusion, wondering whether they should go into the city or camp in the wild. In the end, with the kindness of Huang Kai and others, everyone chose to go into the city.

At night, the civil servants ate and drank in the city, inquired about each other, and discussed countermeasures. After understanding the specific situation, Huang Kai and other more than 30 civil servants and hundreds of gentry, big and small, all felt that the matter was a bit difficult.

Knowing that if he wanted to fool him this time, it would not be enough to just serve the officials who came down, he also had to deal with the women, so he immediately organized people and went out of the city to reward them with wine and meat. As a result, before he even got close to the camp, he was captured by the outsiders. The guards were expelled.

When everyone saw this posture, they were helpless.

After all, the methods used to deal with inspection officials from above seemed inappropriate when used on these women.

At this moment, in the temporary camp outside the city, Mrs. Liu and others were also having a meeting to discuss how to proceed with the verification tomorrow.

"Let's see, Renhuai County reported 150 million acres, and there are more than 100 landowners in total. We have 100 people here, and each one is responsible for 15 acres. They will be measured and verified separately. I will divide the list now!"

The list was obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture. It recorded in detail all the landowners in Renhuai County and the amount of land they each owned. After Mrs. Liu finished speaking, she roughly divided the list.

"We each have to measure [-] acres of land. How long will it take to measure it?"

A younger lady looked at the list in her hand and was responsible for verifying two landowners. Thinking of the sun during the day, she couldn't help but say.

"Sister, if there really was so much land, the king wouldn't have asked us to re-measure and verify it."

"In my opinion, it would be good to have three or four achievements."

Everyone rolled their eyes. If this small Renhuai County really had 150 million acres of land, it would have become famous all over the world.

Everyone chatted with each other for a while, and then Mrs. Liu waved her hand.

"Okay, everyone, let's go to bed early. We'll be very busy tomorrow."

After hearing this, everyone got up and took their maids back to the tent. 200 female soldiers were responsible for personal protection, and [-] male soldiers were on guard outside.

The next day, after breakfast, Mrs. Liu sent someone to notify all the landowners and gentry on the list to come and gather.

"Brother Zhou, do you think we should go here?"

"I'm afraid it wouldn't be right not to go directly!"

"But if we go, is it possible that we really have to cooperate with them in measuring?" "It's neither going to go nor going, but what should we do?"

The landowners and gentry here were a little anxious, and the civil servants there were also a little panicked.

But as Mrs. Liu once again sent people to the city to urge them, and warned that if they didn't go, all the land would be confiscated as ownerless land, so the landlords and gentry hurriedly went out of the city to kill.

The civil servants had no choice but to follow him out, and other small merchants and hawkers also ran out of the city to watch the excitement.

"Inspector Liu, everyone has been traveling for a few days. Why don't we rest for a few days and then check again?"

"Yes, the sun is too bright. It's better to wait until the sun sets in the afternoon before going."

The civil servants who came with him all persuaded me earnestly.

However, Mrs. Liu and others were unable to get in, so they directly asked the landowners to lead the way to measure their own land, and the civil servants were divided into more than 100 groups to follow.

"Executive member Xu, according to the registration from the Ministry of Agriculture, you should have [-] acres of land under your name, right?"

Mrs. Liu's team had only walked a few miles, and the leader who led the way pointed to a large wheat field in front of them to indicate their arrival.

"Yes, yes, indeed, there are indeed ninety thousand acres!"

Xu Yuanwai wiped the sweat from his forehead and answered bravely. He didn't know whether he was really hot or anxious.

"Is there a land deed as proof?" Mrs. Liu asked again.

"Yes, yes, please take a look, madam..." Xu Yuanwai quickly took out a stack of land deeds, feeling relieved in his heart. He thought this woman really wanted to measure.

Also, in such a hot day, how long will it take a weak woman like her to measure tens of thousands of acres of land?

Besides, does she know how to calculate the area of ​​a field?

Mrs. Liu took the land deeds and after carefully checking them one by one, she found that many of the land deeds were brand new. She also shook her head and said, "It seems that Xu Yuanwai was quite well prepared. Which agricultural officer was in charge of statistics and measurements at the beginning?" of?"

"I measured it. I wonder if Madam has any concerns?" An agricultural officer stood up and said, cupping his hands, with a hint of disdain on his face. It was obvious that he looked down on Mrs. Liu and other women from the bottom of their hearts.

"let's start!"

Seeing his attitude, Mrs. Liu stopped talking nonsense and directly ordered the three personal guards who followed him to drive piles and pull ropes.

The three of them didn't hesitate and just nailed a stake on the spot. Then they straightened the rope along the field ridge, nailed the stake again and pulled it forward until it reached the end. Only then did the little maid run over panting to report on the field. length.

Although this field is very large, it is very regular. After measuring the length and width, Mrs. Liu just took out the abacus and calculated it.

"This land is 432 acres."

When Xu Yuanwai saw that he had accurately measured his land in such a short period of time, he couldn't sit still, and the expression of the agricultural officer beside him also changed.

Mrs. Liu started to ask people to measure the second piece. She didn't move at all, but the little maid ran after her, sweating like rain.

There was no way, those guards didn't know how to count, so they pulled the rope too many times, and they couldn't remember how many times they pulled the rope. At the end, if the rope hadn't been pulled completely, they couldn't tell how long it was.

"Mrs. Liu, you are obviously making random calculations. How come such a large piece of land is only more than 600 acres? In my opinion, it must be at least a thousand acres."

"Yes, yes, Lord Lu is right. This land is exactly one thousand acres. You must have miscalculated. Don't I know how many acres my family's land is?"

When the fifth piece of land became irregular, the agricultural official on the side finally couldn't help but stood up and questioned.

Xu Yuanwai also hurriedly agreed. If he continues to measure like this, he will be in trouble, because his family's land is concentrated here, and it will only take three days to finish it.

"Mr. Lu, you are also a scholar. This land is divided from here. The left side can be calculated as a square, and the right side can be calculated as a triangle. How could the calculation be wrong?"

"Then the rope is wrong." The agricultural officer surnamed Lu said with a blush.

Mrs. Liu knew what would happen to these civil servants and landowners once she finished the measurement. She was a little sympathetic at first, but now that she saw that he was messing around, she stopped arguing with him and continued to measure on her own.

"Humph!"

Luda's face turned blue and purple when he saw this, and finally he was so angry that he just walked away.

Xu Yuanwai, who was standing by, was very anxious when he saw Luda leaving, so he had to secretly order someone to call his wife over.

In this way, more than 100 ladies were scattered everywhere, and they began to measure from dawn to dusk. During this period, the landowners tried their best, but in the end they could not stop it. If they were not too close to Datong, they would probably have the idea of ​​​​dirty tricks. .

At first, the landowners and gentry honestly pointed out their own land, but later, seeing that the situation was not good, they began to point randomly and claim other people's land as their own.

This trick really worked, causing a piece of land to be repeatedly measured several times by several ladies, which almost tortured all the ladies to death.

The civil servants were gloating over the misfortune. They were eating wine and meat in the city and were so happy that they couldn't close their mouths.

When they first arrived, they were very motivated and wanted to measure it in person, but they found that this was not something humans did at all. In addition, the weather was hot, and the enthusiasm of the twenty or so agricultural attachés only lasted for two days. , and then quickly degenerated under the offensive of money and beautiful women from the landlords and gentry.

It wasn't until the seventh day that Mrs. Xu realized something was wrong. Compared with the original civil servants, when they found out the difficulties, they simply gave up their jobs and hid in the city to enjoy their happiness.

Mrs. Xu and the others had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue measuring, because everyone knew the consequences of not measuring clearly, and the king would not raise waste.

So they hurriedly adjusted their strategy, everyone gathered together, and they measured again one by one. Every time they measured a piece of wheat, they cut a corner of the wheat in the field to mark it. They also called in nearby people to testify. Only then did the landlords and gentry I don’t dare to identify them randomly anymore.

(End of this chapter)