People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 448: Establishing Correct Beliefs and Eliminating Monsters

"I have met the Magistrate."

Several people from the Farmers’ Association, about forty years old, came over timidly.

The purpose of the farmers' association is to help each other, so the people selected are often local middle-aged and prestigious people.

Moreover, the requirements for joining the organization were very strict. Landlords who owned large amounts of land were not allowed to enter. Only middle peasants, poor peasants, and hired farmers who owned less than 20 acres of land were allowed to participate.

At the beginning, Zhao Jun regarded the Farmers' Association as a township government, hoping to give the Farmers' Association certain governance capabilities and cooperate with the county government to jointly manage the area.

In this way, the county government will govern the grassroots through farmers' associations and will no longer need local celebrities and clans, which will greatly weaken the power of the gentry.

However, Fan Zhongyan strongly opposed it, believing that if an institution with such great power appeared at the grassroots level, problems would easily arise.

For example, the president of a farmers' association abuses his power for personal gain, or deceives his superiors and subordinates and becomes the boss of the countryside.

Zhao Jun thought it made sense.

Although he also understood that Fan Zhongyan did this based on the rule of the feudal dynasty.

In the era of the local elite clan system, local elite clans often stood on the side of the imperial court, helping the imperial court to manage and control the grassroots people.

But the situation is different if farmers' associations emerge. If the farmers' organization is strengthened, it may make the originally scattered people more powerful, thus leading to rebellion.

This was also because the imperial court was frightened by the numerous uprisings in successive years.

However, what Fan Zhongyan said is not without reason. In an era when communications are underdeveloped, if farmers' associations become grassroots power institutions, it would be easy for their power to continue to expand.

Especially in ancient times, the common people had less communication with the county government, and the farmers' association had too strong control, so it might directly replace the role of the county government, which was a bit of a loss.

Therefore, today's farmers' associations do not have much grassroots power and are of average size. A county has tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand people, and several farmers' associations are divided according to townships. A farmers' association directly participates in the management of about thousands to ten thousand people.

They do not have the power to investigate, enforce the law, or interrogate, and can only cooperate with the county government to provide assistance.

For example, if there were conflicts between villages, or issues concerning the distribution of means of production, the distribution of land by the government, the leasing of government land, competition for water sources, village fights, etc., the farmers' association and the government would coordinate together.

This means that the Farmers' Association is currently mainly in an auxiliary role. Zhao Jun summoned him suddenly, and he didn't know what had happened. For a moment, he felt a little frightened and uneasy.

Zhao Jun was not angry when he saw them. After all, this matter had nothing to do with them. He said in a friendly manner, "No need to be polite. Are you members of the local farmers' association?"

"Yes, Zhiyuan."

The leading man clasped his hands again and said, "I am the president of the Farmers' Association of Ganyan Township, Lincheng. My name is Zheng Yong. They are the leaders of the Farmers' Association."

"Well, Zheng Yong, let me ask you, how many acres of land do you have?"

Zhao Jun asked kindly.

"Twenty acres."

"Are there ponds and mulberry fields?"

"Have."

Zheng Yong said: "A total of 36 acres, of which 18 acres are rented official fields from the imperial court."

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun was surprised and asked, "So your family also had 18 acres of land before?"

Zheng Yong smiled bitterly and said, "After my parents left, my brother and I divided the property and gave most of it to him. I only had five acres left. I had to work in the county town to make a living. A few years ago, Mr. Zhou sold some land, and I took out my savings of twenty years when the price was low and bought thirteen acres."

In the Song Dynasty, the size of one acre of land was roughly between 0.974 and 0.865 in later generations. Some were 609 square meters, while others were 591 square meters, which was much larger than one acre of land in the Han Dynasty.

In the Han Dynasty, a family of five needed at least 30 acres of land to survive, which means 6 acres to support one person.

But it was greatly reduced in the Song Dynasty.

The improvement of production materials such as agricultural tools, fertilizer composting technology, water conservancy facilities, and Champa rice has led to a significant increase in productivity. In the Song Dynasty, an average of one and a half acres of land could feed one person.

So a family of five can have enough food to eat if they have about 8 acres of land. If they have 20 acres of land, they will definitely be middle peasants.

"It seems that your life is becoming more and more promising."

Zhao Jun smiled.

Zheng Yong also laughed and said, "It's because the government is recruiting people to repair canals and farmlands, and they are also collecting land from rich households and selling it to us at low prices. Otherwise, how could we afford to buy land? In normal times, we are lucky not to sell land in times of disaster."

Zhao Jun turned his head and glanced at Huang Anwen. Seeing him wiping the sweat from his forehead, he smiled and said, "This shows that the county's work is still done very well and it has not turned a deaf ear to the imperial court's decree."

Huang Anwen said hurriedly: "The court requires us to reclaim more land, build more canals, and sell the reclaimed and purchased land to the people at a low price. This is something that benefits the people, so I will naturally do my best."

"well-done."

Zhao Jun nodded with satisfaction.

Under the New Policies of the Qingli Period, the major infrastructure project across the country was to snatch people from the landlords, while at the same time building canals and farmland, increasing the amount of land and lowering the price of the land in the hands of the landlords.

After defeating the Liao Dynasty and the Western Xia, military spending dropped significantly. Combined with foreign trade income, it can be said that the imperial court had to spend tens of millions of strings of cash every year to subsidize agriculture.

Fortunately, due to the end of the Little Ice Age, there have been no major natural disasters in the world in recent years.

Even if there are droughts and floods, they are confined to a small area.

Another cause of disaster is insect plague. There were relatively few floods and droughts recorded during the Qingli period, but there were many locust plagues.

In the fourth year of the Qingli period, Yu Jing and others wrote a letter saying that there were frequent locust plagues throughout the country and hoped that Zhao Zhen would pay attention to God's will and make adjustments to the court's personnel and policies so that the natural disasters would disappear as soon as possible and the people could return to a peaceful life.

Faced with this situation, Zhao Jun ordered local governments to immediately organize people to eliminate the locust plague as soon as it was discovered, and spread rumors that locusts were not a punishment from God, but a gift from God, because eating locusts can nourish yin and yang and prolong life.

You should know that in ancient times, both the government and the people were quite awed by locusts, believing them to be messengers from God. Therefore, let alone eradicating them, even if they just watched the insects eating their rice, they did not dare to act rashly.

But now Zhao Jun not only broke this traditional feudal idea, but also gave this idea a meaning that is popular with the public. In addition, since it is a rumor spread by the official, its credibility naturally increases.

For a time, locusts were everywhere like rats crossing the street, and everyone was shouting and beating them, and the disaster was greatly alleviated.

Due to the combined effect of several factors, the amount of farmland in various parts of the Song Dynasty increased greatly, and with the addition of peanuts, sweet potatoes and potatoes, the people's demand for land in the hands of landlords dropped significantly, and land prices naturally fell as well.

It can be said that the imperial court half bought and half forced the landlords to hand over their land, and imposed restrictions on those who bought land from the government, which greatly benefited the lower classes.

Although there were corrupt officials who colluded with landlords to embezzle the land reclaimed by the court, the fate of such people was generally
So it can be said that the current policy of the Song Dynasty is to transfer a large amount of land from landlords to farmers, and complete a reform that can solve the problem of land annexation without the need for a change of dynasty.

Under normal circumstances, it would be extremely difficult for a dynasty to achieve this.

However, the Song Dynasty was very strict with landlords, and there was no such thing as tax exemption for juren and jinshi. It was difficult to form the Jiangnan gentry group like that in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Secondly, through the great victories over the Western Xia and Liao dynasties, and the promotion of commodity economy and foreign trade, the importance of the landlord class further declined.

Simply put, the landlords in the Ming and Qing dynasties were tied to the officials, so it was extremely difficult for the emperor to promote reforms.

The officials and landlords of the Song Dynasty may have had conflicts of interest, but they were not completely tied together. Without official protection, the landlord class was nothing more than a lamb to be slaughtered in the face of the state apparatus.

Zhao Jun was very happy to hear that Lincheng's policy of benefiting the people was very effective. He asked Zheng Yong, "How many landless tenants are there in the county now?" "The county doesn't know. In our township, there are a total of 1,724 households, with a population of 11,332. Last year, there were more than 500 landless tenants, but this year there are only more than 400."

Zheng Yong replied: "The government gives priority to these landless tenants. It doesn't matter if they have no money. The government will hire them to repair rivers, roads, and reclaim wasteland. In a year, they can buy three or four acres."

"Very good, this is what the court wants to see."

Zhao Jun became more and more satisfied. Although almost all of the Song Dynasty's financial resources were subsidized into agriculture after the first year of the Qingli period, the effect was significant and the money was not wasted.

Then he asked, "So what do you farmers' associations do on weekdays? What do you do every day?"

"It's just to convey the county's decree, and then collect information about the number of fields and people in the village, which families have how many acres of land, how many houses, etc. Sometimes when there are disputes between villages, I will also help persuade them."

Zheng Yong mustered up his courage and said with a wry smile: "I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the governor. This is a tough job. Not many of us want to do it. I was also nominated by the villagers. If I wasn't fair and trusted by the villagers, I would have given up long ago."

"This job is really hard to do. Not only is there no benefit, but the higher-ups just give you tasks when they have them, and they don't understand your difficulties. The people below want you to help, but when you don't help, they blame you."

Zhao Jun thought about it and quickly understood the reason. He said, "They may even think that you are taking advantage of it. Am I right?"

"is not that right!"

Zheng Yong clapped his hands and complained: "Those who have more than ten acres of land and don't meet the requirements want us to help conceal it. Those who don't have land want us to help approve the land as soon as possible. How can we do that? The county government has given us a task, and we are in a dilemma."

"The original intention of the imperial court to let farmers form farmers' associations was to hope that someone would help them and be able to directly communicate with the government to solve their problems. Now it seems that although it has helped to a certain extent, it has indeed made the farmers' associations more difficult."

Zhao Jun pondered for a moment and said, "I understand the problem you are talking about. The court will make certain changes to allow the Farmers' Association to better serve as a bridge between the government and the farmers."

"Thank you, Master Zhiyuan. Thank you, Master Zhiyuan."

Zheng Yong thanks you profusely.

"Well, I've noticed that there are a lot of outdated customs and habits in rural areas nowadays, just like the one we encountered today, do you think this is right?"

It was only at this time that Zhao Jun got down to business, his eyes looking into the distance.

I saw that the riot in Dongyang Village in the distance had subsided, and the villagers who did not know what happened were released. The second and fourth sons of the Liu family, who were the masterminds, and the eldest son who concealed the news were all arrested by the government.

Every household has hidden themselves in their houses. Now the whole Dongyang Village is in a state of panic, and many people don't even dare to come out.

Although this matter has nothing to do with them, in essence, they are just profiting from the misfortune of others.

Even though cannibalism is a traditional custom, under this unspoken rule, the second and fourth sons of the Liu family holding this banquet is in itself a way to shut them up. Even though they vaguely guessed that the death of the third son Liu was unusual, cannibalism is the shortest way forward, and they are also tacitly approving the occurrence of this bad custom.

Therefore, Zhao Jun also felt sad about the ignorance of the villagers, and for a moment he also deeply understood why Mr. Lu Xun was able to write such famous works as "Diary of a Madman", "Call to Arms", "Wandering" and "Blessings".

"That's definitely not right."

As a farmer, Zheng Yong had no idea what he was thinking, but he knew with his toes that if what he said was right at this time, then his term as president of the farmers' association would definitely be over.

Even though he may not necessarily want to be the president of the farmers' association.

"Yes, there are many bad habits in the countryside that harm people's dignity and trample on people's spirit. If this continues for a long time, how can our Song Dynasty be called a country of etiquette? Therefore, we need more moralization and the guidance of the court."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Today's villagers are ignorant and stupid. I hope that the Farmers' Association will take on the responsibility of educating the villagers in the future, cooperate with the local education bureau and the county government, publicize and educate, and abolish many bad habits, such as eating the whole family and marrying daughters' bones, etc. These are all evil customs and should be despised by people."

"Yes."

Zheng Yong nodded repeatedly: "I will do more publicity in the village in the future."

Zhao Jun continued, "The Farmers' Association should not just assist the county government, but should become a subordinate organization of the county government, with more officials and personnel. In the future, if someone dies in the area, we cannot wait for the government to report it before someone conducts an investigation. Instead, the Farmers' Association should investigate immediately to see if it is an unnatural death. The government should then conduct further investigations and issue a certificate before the body can be buried normally. Otherwise, we cannot just rush into it."

"Yes Yes Yes."

Zheng Yong nodded instinctively at first, but after a moment he suddenly looked up with a look of surprise, then a look of surprise. But he knew he shouldn't be too excited at this time, so he forced himself to hold it back.

Because Zhao Jun's words have revealed that in the future it may be necessary to transform the farmers' association from a semi-official organization into an official organization.

There are also officials there who eat imperial rations from the court.

Then, as the president, wouldn't he be able to work directly? It would be a great joy.

"Well, okay, you guys go get busy first."

Zhao Jun said.

"Yes."

Zheng Yong immediately stepped back.

After finishing the communication with him, Zhao Jun looked at Huang Anwen and said, "County Magistrate Huang."

"The subordinate is here."

Huang Anwen hurried over and bowed.

"As a county magistrate, I have the responsibility to educate the people. I have to solve the problem of food and clothing and provide the people with land, but I also have to eliminate bad habits and customs."

Zhao Jun said, "There are also wild sacrifices and obscene ceremonies in the countryside. They must be destroyed one by one. If there are offenders, they must be severely punished. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Huang Anwen agreed.

Zhao Jun put his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.

Now that he has rectified the court and purged most of the corrupt officials, politics has briefly become clear, and the court's orders are smooth and issued and executed quickly.

This is a good thing.

But at the same time, we do not have enough control over the grassroots, and for a country, the grassroots is the most important thing, so now is the time to start large-scale governance of the grassroots.

This includes addressing local customs and habits, and various customs of worshiping evil gods and evil spirits.

Because this problem is very serious in the Song Dynasty now. According to Wang Anshi and others, the north is relatively well off, while the south is the hardest hit area.

For example, the people of Yongzhou "like to make lewd sacrifices"; in Shu, "people still like to make lewd sacrifices, do not treat illnesses, but obey witches and sorcerers"; in the north and south routes of Jinghu, "people in Guixia believe in witches and ghosts, and attach importance to lewd sacrifices"; in Yangzhou, "people believe in ghosts and gods, and like to make lewd sacrifices"; in Wu, "people believe in ghosts and gods, and like to make lewd sacrifices"; in Hongzhou, "people believe in witches, and when they are sick, they send their relatives away, and leave their food, clothing, and medicine to the gods, and many people die"; "in the north and south routes of Hunan, in every intercalary year, children are stolen and killed in advance to offer sacrifices to lewd temples, which is called 'cai sheng'." and so on.

These are just historical records. There are countless other evil customs like the one Xianglin Sao encountered, where remarrying is a crime and one has to donate a threshold to atone for the sin.

So Zhao Jun now just feels that the burden on his shoulders is very heavy.

Seeing the ignorance of these common people, and realizing that a large number of people have no spiritual sustenance, they can only seek help from gods for various diseases, wealth, natural disasters and other factors, and even kill people to sacrifice to evil gods and evil spirits.

He felt that it was too difficult to clear up the world and guide the whole society's ethos in a positive direction.

"Now I understand the hardships of the great men. It seems that it is time to eliminate the monsters and demons. Even if we cannot make the people firm in materialism, we should let them believe in orthodox Buddhism and Taoism instead of pinning their hopes on these monsters and demons."

Zhao Jun thought to himself.

(End of this chapter)