"For the sake of the people—" Du Zhongxiao nodded. "Yes, those who are officials should think about the people. Outside of history, where are your ancestors? ”

The historian was stunned for a moment before he said: "Xiaomin was moved here from Luoyang County to escape the war when my grandfather was young. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "It turns out that I have been here for three generations." How many people are in the family now? How many dings? ”

"Back to the officials, there are six people in the Xiaomin family, only me and my son are two. Our family is not prosperous and has been troubled. ”

"There are two dings in total, three generations of grandparents, and there are not many people in the family. Where did you get so much land from in your house? This is a strong man, and he can't open up the wasteland. ”

The historian said: "The small people are diligent and thrifty, and they save up every time they have surplus money and buy some land. Three generations have accumulated for decades to have the current thousand acres of land. Xiaomin is now doing the right thing, and the tax on grain has always been paid by his own family first, and then the rest. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The land was bought with money, I believe that you yourself think so." However, when to buy land and how much to spend on it, that is something to say. Forget it, I don't care about that with you. Why the yamen only allows each household to be charged, and is not allowed to hire people to farm, in fact, has nothing to do with you. This place is sparsely populated, and the camp field affairs here are different from Tangzhou, and it is a military tun for the time being. Fill the camp and field work, everything is organized according to the system of the army, or villages or towns, and it is not allowed to build houses privately or move people everywhere. This would not have been possible if it had been allowed to hire people to farm. ”

Seeing that Du Zhongxiao's expression softened, the historian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "The officials let the camp and field affairs be like this, and it has its own reasons, and the small people don't dare to put their beaks." However, for the sake of the locality, the people of this county can not be allowed to vote! Such a combination of official and private. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at Shi Yuanwai and smiled slightly: "Yes." But what if the people go to the neighboring states and counties? This place is only a few dozen miles away from Xiangzhou, and ten miles away is the place where Xiangzhou camps, what should they do there? ”

The historian was stunned for a moment and said: "The yamen considers us small people, and the people should not be allowed to vote!" - At least no bankers! ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This dynasty is different from the past, all the households in the world are good people!" People may be rich and poor, but there is no difference between good and poor! According to what you said, if you don't allow the dealer to be like this, if you don't allow the dealer to be like that, won't you become your slave! Slave and maid—"

Seeing that Du Zhongxiao's face was not good, the historian hurriedly waved his hand: "Xiaomin didn't mean that, it's just that Zhuang Ke is not allowed to go to the camp to make charges!" ”

Du Zhongxiao waved his hand: "No need to say it!" There's no justification for that. This matter has been decided, each of them will go back to tell the people, and those who dare to hide the list and deceive the people will be dealt with by the official law! ”

Seeing that the historian was a little embarrassed, Lou Zhixian stood up and bowed his hand to Du Zhongxiao: "Yun Judgment, the lower official has a few words, I don't know if I should say it or not?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Speak! Originally, these words said by the historian should be you! ”

Lou Zhixian smiled awkwardly and said: "Recruiting people to fill the camp is actually the most important thing in the local area. Outside the historian, a grass people, they can't think about things from the standpoint of the government, and it is inevitable that they will be mixed and unclear. The first thing is that for the big households in this county, if the camp is so recruited, there will inevitably be Zhuang customers who will leave and join the camp field. Zaoyang is a remote place, and as far as the officials know, most of the villagers in the major households do not have contracts. As long as the list is posted, it will be difficult for each family to go back and conclude a contract. There is no contract period, and I am afraid that within a few months, all the bankers will leave. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "It's still true what you said." Except for this historian just now, he talked about these key issues, and he avoided talking about them. It seems that the whole world owes him, and he is not at fault at all, so it is a mess! ”

Lou Zhixian smiled reluctantly. He originally wanted these big families to talk directly with Du Zhongxiao, and he didn't come in, but he didn't expect to have to come forward in the end. Outside of these big households, they usually pretend to be, and when it comes to doing the right thing, they are useless.

Clearing his throat, Lou Zhixian said again: "Judge Yun just said that Zhuang Ke is gone, and he can hire people again." This area is vast and sparsely populated, where to hire people? Not to mention that even their own villagers have gone to the camp and farm, how can others not go? You can't actually hire anyone. In the final analysis, it is still a guest in a large family, a slave and a servant, and the life is far less comfortable than going to the camp and field. If you want to keep the bankers, let them eat and dress well, marry wives and have children, and you have to take out real money. Spend money on the banker, which one is willing? ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "What you said makes sense, go on." ”

Lou Zhixian said: "Zhuangke will inevitably not be retained, and the official said that he would sell the land." In fact, there is no way, the land must be sold. Otherwise, if there is no one to plant, pay taxes and pay food, and many family businesses will be emptied in a few years. But at this time, who will sell the field to? In a large county, everyone is in a hurry to sell their fields, and no one buys them at all, regardless of the price. said that everything else was false, and the lower officials asked Yun to judge one thing, and when the field could not be sold, for the sake of the place, he also asked the camp to buy the field. It doesn't matter if the price is low, someone has to pay the tax money and grain in the county. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Zhixian, what you said is clear, it can be seen that you are also clear in your heart." Yes, in a few days, the fields here in Zaoyang can't be sold if they want to, and only the camp will take over. There are so many idle fields outside, as much as they can be cultivated, and for the field affairs, taking over the land in the county is to spend unnecessary money and relieve the place. A few days ago, I asked you to take stock of the land, but I don't know how it happened? If the amount of inventory is not clear, I am afraid that this land will not be easy to sell. Decades after the founding of the country, your field books are clear and unclear? ”

Lou Zhixian said: "There is no one in the county, and this matter has been dragged down." Now that the field workers have arrived, everything will be easy. In the past few days, please send some people to help measure the land in the county. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Yes." In fact, there is only one way to do this, and everything else is in vain. Zhuang Ke is leaving, who is to blame? If you have a contract, the yamen will definitely make decisions for you, see which one can go! There are no contracts, needless to say, and taxes have not been paid. You have to evade even such a little contract tax, and you dare to say that you have a clear conscience! You are to blame for this, don't do it again! ”

Lou Zhixian nodded. As soon as the list came out, all the big families in the county were in a hurry, and the most important thing was that they hired bankers, but there was no contract. Not to mention those approved by the yamen, those who have paid contract tax, and those who have not even had a private contract. Zhuang Ke wants to leave, and they can't even think about a lawsuit and asking the yamen to stop them. In the past, all the farm tools, seeds, and ploughing cattle were in the hands of the big households, and they were not afraid of the villagers fleeing at all, and the contract meant nothing to them. There are taxes to be paid on the contract, and there are many constraints, and no one is bothering themselves.

Du Zhongxiao said again: "You just said that there are two things about local difficulties. This one thing is for the people, and the second thing should be the difficulty of the yamen, right? ”

Lou Zhixian hurriedly nodded: "The judgment is wise!" In the past, the affairs of the county relied entirely on the support of these local large households. They paid the taxes, they paid the servants, and even the daily use of the yamen depended on them. They can't support the recruitment of people in the camp, and it is difficult for the yamen to support it. ”

This is the reason why Lou Zhixian is willing to come with them. The tax service falls on the middle and upper class accounts, and the customer does not bear it. But the customers left, these middle and upper class households could not continue, and the county lost its source of tax and labor. Du Zhongxiao is the judge of the transfer department, and he is also responsible for the establishment of the camp, so he can let all the money and grain for the camp field affairs be handed over to the transfer department. Lou Zhixian's purpose is different from that of big households, he only needs to divide the money to the county for farm work.

There used to be a word that Du Zhongxiao is familiar with, taxpayer. When I used to watch the news, I often saw a waste of taxpayers' money or something, and I thought it was very sharp. These big households are the taxpayers of Zaoyang County, the county government and the officials inside, all of whom are raised by them. As for those clients, they neither pay taxes nor do they pay errands.

Taxpayers, not paying taxes is not a person? The Great Song Dynasty was a thousand years ahead on this kind of issue, and it was necessary to know that there would be the concept of taxpayers in later generations, and to know that the imperial court was originally to serve taxpayers, where would there be so many entanglements. However, Lou Zhi County has no sense of serving taxpayers, as long as the camp is willing to distribute money and grain to the county, he cares about the life and death of those large taxpayers. Without customers who don't pay taxes, these big households can't support themselves. Their so-called tax payment is nothing more than exploitation from customers and a part of it is given to the imperial court. can collect the money by himself, where do you need to go through their hands. The money is in your own hands, you can eat chickens if you want, you can drink when you want to drink, and you don't have to rely on them as if you were relying on them for charity as before.