Suddenly remembering the man with a somewhat vicious face during the day, Xu Ping asked Lu Fang: "There is only Jiang Da in this county, who is Tong Qilang at today's banquet?" ”

"Speaking of which, the officials don't believe it, this Tong Qilang is a customer, and he doesn't have half a piece of land in the county. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Hearing this, Xu Ping was taken aback: "Customer? To be able to be invited to the county government to accompany you today, you must have some status in the county, how can you be a customer! ”

Lu Fang shook his head again and again and sighed: "So this Heyin County is full of weirdness. Tong Qilang opened several cellars, fired porcelain, and had a rich family, but he did not buy real estate and land in the county, and his cellar and residence were rented from nearby villagers. And not only him, but also the people who worked under him were all customers, and they only had floating wealth in the local area. ”

Xu Ping has never encountered this kind of thing, although the customer does not pay taxes, but there are many fewer rights accordingly. It's not just a matter of being bullied by the main household, but when it comes to official matters, they are often asked to find the local main household as a guarantee, and they have to ask for help. Therefore, although the burden on customers is light, as long as there are conditions, small farmers are often willing to purchase some assets and set up a household registration as the main household, which is still cost-effective overall.

After thinking for a while, Xu Ping asked Lu Fang: "That Tong Qilang has a lot of wealth, he must have deliberately not purchased the property, do you know why he did this?" Can a person with such a net worth still bear to beg people from time to time? ”

"Asking for someone? Junhou, you think badly, Tong Qilang never asks for help. ”

Seeing Xu Ping's puzzled face, Lu Fang continued: "The people near his cellar entrance all rely on him to dress and eat, and they don't have a chance to scold him one by one, how can it be his turn to beg someone!" ”

Xu Ping thought for a while before he understood the truth. This Tong Qilang is in control of the economic lifeline of the people around his industry, and if others want to have no worries about food and clothing, they can only come to him. Correspondingly, the government has something to do, but he is afraid that the nearby main households will compete to be the guarantor in front of him, although he is a customer, he is a customer riding on the head of many main households.

This Heyin County is small and has a small population, but I didn't expect this kind of strange thing to happen. A large landowner who controls most of the land in the county, and a capitalist who monopolizes most of the commercial activities, I am afraid that there will be no place in the whole country, but Xu Ping has met here.

After inspecting the river, if the rainy season comes, the opening of the canal will be postponed until the end of autumn. To open a canal, it is necessary to mobilize the manpower and material resources of the surrounding places, how to mobilize Heyin County?

The only ones who serve are the local main households, that is, those tenants under Jiang Dayou, whether they have food or not this year is a problem, where can they still work! In this era, the conscription and conscription did not care about food, and when these people came, Xu Ping first had to find something to fill their stomachs. Tong Qilang and his subordinates, who are the most capable of labor, are all customers, and they do not perform errand service, and they do not even participate in the repair of the Yellow River embankment, let alone the opening of the canal.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this place was funny, Xu Ping smiled bitterly and shook his head. It seems that in order to open the canal, we must first solve the strange situation in Heyin County and liberate manpower and material resources.

He raised his head and said to Lu Fang in front of him: "Did you send someone to send the letter I sent to the Mengzhou Prefecture Ya?" ”

"The people have left, the county marquis is at ease, and he should be able to go to Mengzhou tomorrow."

For today's plan, we can only wait for people from Mengzhou to use the power of the state to smash the situation in Heyin County. Regardless of whether Jiang Dayou and Tong Qilang committed adultery or not, they are guilty of causing this situation.

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, as soon as the magistrates took office, their first task was to crack down on Haoqiang. Although the five dynasties of the late Tang Dynasty eliminated the powerful nobles, the local tyrants were like weeds, destroying stubble after stubble, endlessly.

It would be a dereliction of duty for Heyin County to let Yao Guangze sit back and watch this situation continue, even if he used some unpopular means, he should also eliminate these two major forces.

Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty, strictly speaking, local officials have been sent by the central court, and the people themselves belong to the court, and they are only temporarily sent to the local court. They represent the interests and authority of the central court, and absolutely do not tolerate local forces threatening state power.

As long as you want to do it, there are many ways for the county order to make Jiang Dayou and Tong Qilang bankrupt, but it takes a lot of effort and effort, and it also needs the support of the officials above. Yao Zeguang didn't have either, so he shrank his head and became an ostrich.

In the back garden of Mengzhou Prefecture, Li Di took a sip of tea, leaned comfortably on the chair, and narrowed his eyes.

It's still better to live in the local area, and you don't have to get up early to go to court, and you don't have to worry about things in the state, just eat and drink enough every day, and cultivate your self-cultivation. When I was interested, I went around to visit the mountains and rivers, and talked about some things outside the world with the monks and celebrities, which was really a fairy-like day.

The only thing is that when I think of the state affairs of the court, I will have a sense of loss. Assisting two generations of emperors, as an emperor, he has been a prime minister many times, and it is not so easy to let go if he wants to let go.

Just when Li Di was just wandering out of the world, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps.

The only way to do this is to pass the judgment in addition to himself.

Li Di opened his eyes, looked at the middle-aged man who was walking quickly, and asked, "Qingchen, why are you in such a hurry?" ”

Mengzhoutong, who walked quickly, sentenced Li Shen to hurriedly bow his hand: "Disturb the prime minister's cultivation, forgive the sin." ”

Seeing that Li Di didn't mean to blame himself, Li Shen handed over a letter in his hand and said: "Xianggong, two days ago, Xu Beizhi, the deputy envoy of Yantie, went to Heyin County to inspect the waterway that diverted Luoshui into the Bianhe River, because on the way he found that there were people fleeing in the county, he wrote this letter to the state. ”

"Xu Ping, it's this Xu Ping again, follow the trouble wherever you go!" Li Di shook his head, took the letter, and began to watch.

After reading the letter, Li Di casually put it on the table next to him and said to Li Shen: "Isn't there a big deal!" This year, there was a severe drought in Heyin County, and although money and grain were exempted and food for disaster relief was also distributed, it was inevitable that some people still felt that they could not survive, and went to other places to find a new way to live. A few people who fled are nothing. ”

"Xianggong has a point. However, Xu waits to inspect the river and inspect the place, since the letter comes, we can't sit idly by. There has been nothing going on in the state recently, so I went to Heyin County and took care of things with Xu Beizhi in person, so as not to let anyone gossip in the court. What do you think? ”

Li Di said lightly: "You can just make up your mind about the affairs in the state, and if the arrangements are made, let's go." (To be continued.) )