My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 504 Chapter of the Agreement
Of course.

Since the new system to be piloted in Hetao will affect the future of everyone present - whether to continue to be the head of a nomadic tribe in Hetao, or to go to Chang'an City to become a noble and extremely luxurious Chehou Guanneihou, then everyone must first figure out what this new system will look like.

In a broader sense, after hearing the new system that was "discussed on paper" in the Han court, the nomadic nobles present might be able to come up with more feasible suggestions for the new system.

Once the opinions are raised, the new system has been sublimated. Can't it be considered as "actively trying out the new system" and "achieving remarkable results"?

To put it simply, even if no effective suggestions for improvement can be put forward, if everyone understands what the new system is like, it will be easier for everyone to implement it and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

So, after a brief moment of excitement, everyone held their breath, looked forward to it, and stared at Cheng Buzhi, waiting for his next speech.

As for the new system, everyone had their own guesses.

Again.

——After a year of getting to know each other, not only Han army generals like Cheng Buzhi had a deeper understanding of the nomadic people from the lifestyles of the Hetao tribes.

The leaders of various tribes present also gained a deeper understanding of the Han people through their contacts over the past year or so.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand.

With this understanding, everyone's mentality inevitably underwent some subtle changes.

In the past, the most widely circulated saying on the grassland was that the life of the Han farmers, who were opposite to the grassland herdsmen, was extremely hard.

When herders encounter a period of famine, when they are unable to get enough food, and when their cattle and sheep stop producing milk, they can at least slaughter a few sheep and cows to barely get through the crisis.

But if the Han farmers fail to grow crops due to natural disasters or man-made calamities, they will starve to death immediately!

After all, as means of production, cattle and sheep can be slaughtered and eaten for meat, but the Han people’s farmland cannot fill people’s stomachs.

The stereotype of Han peasants is so abstract, and the perception of Han dignitaries and officials is even more outrageous.

First of all, the county and prefecture officials corresponding to the tribal chiefs of the grassland are just wealthy farmers in the public opinion of the grassland.

They are just "elite farmers" who have more acres of land, better farming skills and can guide other farmers in farming.

Even the ministers in the Chang'an court and the generals in the army were appointed as officials and generals because they were extremely good at farming.

In other words, in the nomadic people's cognition, the social organizational structure of the Han people is almost entirely based on the sole indicator of "whether or not one can farm."

If you don’t know how to farm, you will starve to death.

If you know a little bit, you are a farmer who can barely avoid starvation.

If you are good at farming, you can become an official and have some ruling power over other farmers.

Only those who are extremely good at farming can become ministers in the court and generals and commanders in the army.

To use a not very appropriate metaphor, the Han people in the eyes of the nomadic people on the grasslands have a golden house and a beautiful woman in the fields.

All things are inferior, only farming is superior.

The people and officials are like this, and the powerful are not much better.

——On the grassland, there is a story that is widely circulated.

It is said that there was a marquis among the Han people who was granted a piece of land (Chehou Siyi) because he killed many enemies in a war.

It just so happened that this marquis was extremely good at farming, and in just a few years, he managed his territory very well - that is, he farmed very well.

The people in the territory all admired and respected the Marquis because he was good at farming.

When this matter reached the ears of the Han emperor, he was also shocked and rewarded the marquis with another piece of land.

And he told the marquis: You are good at farming, so I will give you more land so that you can farm more land without any scruples and gain more respect and love from people...

It is obvious how outrageous this story is.

But the most outrageous thing is that this story is not completely groundless.

——In the Han Dynasty, there really is such a wonderful marquis, who is famous for being extremely good at farming and agricultural construction in his fiefdom!
During the reign of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, the court in Chang'an was in need of political propaganda to "encourage farming throughout the world" and even gave this marquis an extra fief on the grounds that he was "good at farming" and "good at building a feudal state"!

But the same thing, if expressed in a different way, will have a completely different meaning.

Since the Han Dynasty, starting with the 147 families of founding heroes and meritorious marquises, the Han Dynasty successively conferred the title of Che Marquis on more than 300 families and the title of Guannei Marquis on more than 700 families.

Among the thousands of "meritorious marquis" nobles, there is only this one unusual one, who does not think about making achievements in the army, nor does he think about holding power in the court. Instead, all the attention of himself and even his descendants and generations to come is focused on the construction of his marquisate.

Moreover, they did not use any crooked means to carry out construction.

It is the simplest and most direct: lead people to dig canals, develop water conservancy projects, and improve farming conditions.

This will increase agricultural output and indirectly increase the rent and taxes they can receive.

The internal logic is also very simple: the significance of the existence of Chehou's fiefdom, or the source of rent and taxes of Chehou's fiefdom, is actually agricultural tax.

For example, if a village is granted to a certain person as a fiefdom of Chehou, then the agricultural tax of this village will no longer need to be paid to the national treasury, but can be directly paid to the owner of the Chehou fiefdom, that is, the Chehou himself.

As we all know, the agricultural tax of the Han Dynasty is collected in proportion to the actual grain output.

A certain Marquis Che had a fief of one thousand households. The average agricultural output of the fiefdom was three shi per mu. Each household could grow three hundred shi of grain a year, so the agricultural tax was ten shi, which was one in thirty.

If one household has ten shi, then one thousand households will have ten thousand shi.

This means that the annual rent and tax output of this marquis with a fief of a thousand households is 10,000 dan of grain.

Another marquis also had a fief of one thousand households, but he built his fiefdom very well, and the yield per mu soared to four stone and five dou!
Every household can grow 450 dan of grain every year, and the agricultural tax of one in thirty can be as high as 15 dan!
The rent and tax for the fiefdom of Che Hou was 15,000 shi of grain every year.

The two fiefs had the same amount of 1,000 dan of grain, but the rent and taxes from the fiefdoms were a full 5,000 dan of grain short.

This is just a short-term increase in rental and tax revenue.

This does not take into account factors such as the good living environment for farmers, complete basic water conservancy facilities, the population siphon effect on farmers in surrounding areas, and the reproduction rate of the local Chehou people.

In fact, the gap between an ordinary marquisate with a fief of a thousand households and the marquisate that was rewarded and granted extra fiefdom during the reign of Emperor Taizong was exponentially larger.

The annual rent and tax of an ordinary marquisate with a thousand households is 10,000 shi of grain. After twenty years of natural development, at most it will double to 20,000 shi of grain due to a combination of factors such as population growth, increase in farmland, and natural increase in grain output.

The strange Marquis Che, who was rewarded during the reign of Emperor Taizong, also started with 10,000 dan of grain, but within 20 years he was able to increase the rent and tax revenue of his fiefdom to 100,000 dan, or even more than 200,000 dan!

Because his construction of his own state, the improvement of water conservancy facilities and the emphasis on agriculture were enough to double the grain production. And the good living environment could attract foreign population and mobilize the local population's desire to reproduce, allowing the local population to double or triple in 20 years.

Coupled with the active reclamation of wasteland, the periodic and uninterrupted improvement of water conservancy facilities, etc. - taking many factors together, this state of Chehou will inevitably achieve rapid and rapid development in terms of grain output, population size, number of acres of land, people's livelihood and public security.

What attitude would the Chang'an court have towards Che Hou, a man who does not indulge in extravagance, does not bully men or women, does not act recklessly, and does not plot any evil, and who only wants to build his own fiefdom?

Whether it was to commend his political contribution of "inducing the people to work hard" or the role model he set for other meritorious officials, the court in Chang'an would certainly publicize his deeds with great fanfare and reward him generously.

But when this news spread to the grassland, no one thought so.

——No one knows that this family of meritorious officials is not only incomprehensible on the grassland, but also a unique wonder in the Han family.

No one knew that the Chang'an court commended this case precisely because it was a rare and precious example with extremely high symbolic significance and the value of being portrayed as a role model.

The nomads on the grasslands can only say: Oh~
In the land of the Han people, being able to farm is the best way to go.
This is true for everyone from the lower-class farmers to the officials and even the nobles.

Then we herdsmen should not even think about mixing with the Han people.

With our farming skills, if we really go to the Han people's territory, I'm afraid we will have to find ways and connections to become slaves...

After a year of mutual understanding, the nomadic people in the Hetao region, especially the tribal leaders who had good access to information, had realized the truth.

The life of Gouba Han nobles is more comfortable than that of the Shanyu!

You know, on the grassland, under some extremely severe natural and man-made disasters, even the Chanyu himself might be forced to eat rotten dried meat to fill his stomach!
What about the Han people?

Not to mention the emperor who was comparable to Chanyu - any decent noble or official would not worry about food and drink.

But it’s about the show!

The house must be big enough, the carriage must be magnificent enough, the servants must be numerous enough, and the clothes must be exquisite enough.

As for eating?
Isn't that a problem that should be a headache for the peasants?
Even eating is a headache, so how can it be considered powerful or expensive?

At first, everyone was a little skeptical.

As a result, when those old friends who were granted the title of Marquis of Guiyi sent letters from Chang'an showing off their extravagant lives, everyone finally understood: what beasts!

What a beast!

How do you deserve to have such a good life?
Why is there no public notice period for being conferred a title of nobility?

cough cough...

Back to the topic.

After a year of understanding, the leaders of various tribes in the Hetao region have already had a basic understanding of many aspects of the Han Dynasty, including its social structure, civilization system, legal system, and values.

In particular, the Han people's view of nomadic people as "barbarians" made these leaders, after only a brief moment of indignation, have to accept this view after gaining a deeper understanding of the Han situation.

——Compared with the life of the Han people, the nomadic people are truly uncivilized savages.

After all, ordinary herdsmen on the grassland can hardly eat meat in their entire lives.

Han farmers, on the other hand, could only eat meat a few times a year.

After understanding it, I was convinced.

After paying homage, it is natural to be extremely eager to understand further.

In the eyes of the leaders of various tribes, the new system for nomadic people that will be tried out in Hetao is a good opportunity to further understand the Han people and seek ways for the Han people and farming people to coexist.

So everyone started brainstorming and making their own guesses.

Some people speculate that the Han people do not like nomadic people to live in tribal units, and may break up the existing tribes in the Hetao region or disrupt and reorganize them.

After all, the Hetao region was under the control of the Han family. There were no external threats that the people needed to deal with as "tribes", and large-scale conflicts between tribes were no longer allowed to occur.

Some people also speculate that the Han people do not like nomadic people to live in a place without a fixed address, so they may want to settle the tribes in the Hetao region in cities, towns, or villages.

This possibility makes everyone a little uneasy.

Because the fixed situation means that it is impossible to roam and chase after water and grass, which means it is impossible to raise cattle, sheep and other livestock.

Some people even speculated that the reason why Han people don’t like nomadic people is not only the word “游” in “nomadic”, but also the word “牧” in “nomadic”!

Therefore, the Han people might reclaim the Hetao area into arable land and order the nomadic people in the Hetao area to learn to farm like the Han people!
Everyone had their own guesses and different thoughts, so naturally, their expressions were different.

There is anxiety, anticipation, uneasiness and hesitation.

Cheng Buzhi took all of this in sight. After everyone's thoughts were written on their faces, he slowly took out a piece of silk cloth and handed it to the chief beside him.

While the man was frowning and looking at it, Cheng Buzhi did not forget to speak and explain the main contents of this new system to everyone.

"It's not that complicated, actually."

"The first is to try out the Han Law among the nomadic tribes in the Hetao region."

"Considering that most of the nomadic people in the Hetao area have not yet been educated, the trial implementation of the Han Code will only focus on a few key articles."

"——In a nutshell: Those who kill will be put to death, and those who injure or steal will be punished!"

...

"This is the content of the three articles of the agreement between our Emperor Taizu Gao and the people of Guanzhong when he first entered Guanzhong."

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, is also willing to make three agreements with the current Hetao tribes and the future Hexi tribes."

"These three agreements not only stipulate that nomads cannot kill Han people and nomads cannot kill nomads, but also include: Han people cannot kill nomads."

"Everyone in the Hetao area, including me, must abide by these iron laws."

"Of course, those who have committed crimes are not completely unkillable."

"But the tribes can no longer execute and punish people privately. Instead, the county and prefecture officials must arrest, detain, try, and punish them."

(End of this chapter)