Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 96: Dividing the Land
It is nonsense to think that all the land in a village can be inspected and distributed in one day.

In fact, Wei Jiao's group consisted of fifteen people, including the guide. Excluding four soldiers who were only responsible for fighting, there were only ten people who could actually read and write. Among these ten people, only five could handle more complex numerical problems.

What's more, we have to gather the villagers, sort out their household registration, and register them.

Don't think that the country folk are fools. They may not even know a single word, but they know the virtues of the government.

Neither the Jin government nor the loyal military officers' government are good people.

He said that the land will be divided according to the number of people, do you dare to believe it?
What if they were here to conscript men into the army?
What if the officials take a fancy to young girls and want to force them to marry?

Therefore, almost all the young and strong men and women in every household quietly left the village, leaving only old men and women at home to answer questions and take statistics. When asked, they said that their sons, daughters-in-law, and daughters had gone far away and were not at home and could not come back for the time being, so they could not come to see us. They hoped that the superiors would forgive them.

At the critical moment, it was the steward of Mr. Sun's family who stepped forward and ensured that the field clearing work could proceed smoothly.

This guy has a very bad reputation in the village. He is a classic lackey who bullies others by taking advantage of his power.

At the suggestion of the guide Fu Deshou, the steward was pulled out by Wei Jiao and his men. After a public trial, he was quickly beheaded with a single stroke of a sword and his head was hung together with that of Mr. Sun, reuniting the master and servant.

It was not until then that An Baozheng was convinced and felt that this group of people were unlikely to come to Weigou Village to have fun because they had nothing better to do. So he cooperated and finally gathered the villagers together.

It was already the third day.

There is no way. People standing on the dry shore can say that farmers are the most cunning. They don’t give rice when asked for, and they say there is no wheat when asked for. They can only find old men and women when looking for young and strong people. But in fact, they have everything. However, they will lie no matter what happens. They are the most stingy and cunning.

But who made them become like this?

They were the powerful, the soldiers and bandits, and the government. It was the government of the Jin Dynasty that treated the Han people as grass, and it was also the government of the Song Dynasty that treated the northern land like a worn-out shoe.

After lamenting the hardships of people's lives, Wei Jiao immediately led his men to the task of land inspection.

There are many problems. For example, someone said that his family's land was taken away by the Sun family. The land of Mr. Sun's family cannot be divided equally, so he must be compensated first.

For example, some households hid the number of their own people when registering their household registration. Now that it seems that they are really going to divide the land, they say that their number of people was underestimated and they have to re-register their household registration.

In addition, there is the distinction between wide fields and narrow fields, and there is endless debate about which field is closer to the ditch and which field is on higher ground.

In this regard, the twenty-seven land-dividing teams, including Wei Jiao's team, had solutions demonstrated by Liu Huai himself.

First, let the villagers elect someone who can command the support of the people as the village head, then select the oldest person as the elder, and discuss with the head of the village to come up with a plan that can command the support of the people.

Among them, the Baozheng still has the rights of the village chief, while the elders and the head of the village only have the right to make suggestions and feedback, which is the lubricant between the upper-level government and the lower-level farmers.

There will also be all kinds of strange troubles. For example, if the headman is too despicable on weekdays, the land distribution team must deal with him first before they can do anything, so they can only let the villagers elect a headman at the same time.

For example, if the oldest person is senile and confused, another person must be chosen. Or if the most popular person and the chief justice are the same person, a new election must be made.

There are so many different things.

But no matter what, this is wartime, and we can only cut the Gordian knot and tolerate each other for the sake of the country.

At the same time, several soldiers in charge of defense began to loudly publicize the great victory of the Loyal Army in the Northern Expedition among the villagers. It was more of bragging than publicity.

One said he followed Liu Dalang into battle and cut off several heads; another said he was the first to enter Haizhou City, and the Jin army was completely defeated. In short, the central idea was that the Northern Expedition Army was unstoppable and invincible, Haizhou had been pacified, and after the Loyal Army drove out the Jin army, everyone could live a good life.

When the land was being measured, the village head and elders were also selected. They supervised the land measurement together with An Baozheng to show fairness.

With the help of these three people, most incidents were easily settled. As for those who were stubborn and made a scene, Wei Jiao would not tolerate them. He would drag them out and give them twenty lashes of the board. If they were too old, Wei Jiao would drag out their sons to be beaten with the boards.

This is the classical era, and distribution based on noise is not accepted. Anyone who dares to make trouble should be prepared to be beaten!
After a lot of trouble, the second villagers' meeting was finally held on the morning of the fifth day on the threshing ground where the grains were dried.

In the rising sunlight, Wei Jiao, holding documents and with dark circles under his eyes, sat on the high platform. He spoke loudly to the crowd of people below, "During this inventory, all your fields have been re-registered, and the village head, elders, and village head of Weigou Village have witnessed it. Moreover, this year's tax revenue will only be 20% of the grain!"

There was silence at first, and then thunderous cheers.

Originally, Mr. Sun owned 70% of the land in Weigou Village. The remaining dozens of households relied on the remaining 30% of the land for their livelihood and had to pay a heavy tax of 50%, not to mention the usual miscellaneous taxes and various corvee labor.

Relatively speaking, the fact that the tenants of Mr. Sun's family only had to pay 70% of the harvest was already a great benevolent policy.

Now the tenants have also been allocated land, which is mature land that is about to be harvested, and they only have to pay 20% tax. It is simply a great thing.

"This time, a total of 970 mu of land was seized from the criminal Sun Mengchong's home. Fifty percent of this, or 485 mu, will be distributed among the people according to household registration. Each household must send one person forward to receive the land deeds." Wei Jiao held up a stack of documents and placed them on the table beside him. "Everyone who receives the land deeds, after pressing their fingerprints, must shout out three times, 'Thank you for the loyalty and kindness of the loyal Northern Expedition Army!'"

Many civilians, including the security guards, were stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but criticize in their hearts that this Loyal Northern Expedition Army was too vain.

But then I thought, beggars still say auspicious words and sing Lotus Falls when begging for food.

This loyal and righteous Northern Expedition Army drove away the Jin army, killed Mr. Sun, who was raised by a bandit, and divided the land. They did not forcibly conscript able-bodied laborers into the army, nor did they rob any daughters or wives. They were only willing to listen to a few nice words. What else can they call this if not benevolence and righteousness?
In this way, the villagers lined up, shouting "Thank you for the kindness of the loyal Northern Expedition Army", while pressing their fingerprints on the land deeds and carefully placing them in their arms.

Although everyone was happy after the land was divided, some people were still dissatisfied and wanted more. A brave young man asked loudly: "Why don't you divide the other half of the land?"

Wei Jiao was about to say this when he heard this and spoke out again: "Because the remaining land will be used as public land. On weekdays, it needs to be rented out at a rent of 30%. If anyone joins the army and makes meritorious contributions on the front line, they will be given an official position and permanent land from these fields!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was another uproar.

(End of this chapter)