Zhou Botao picked up an archive that had just been placed on his desktop, which was locally made in Zhou Dongtian's paper factory, yellow rough thick paper, heavy and heavy. He opened the cover, and inside were pages and pages of personal materials, with photographs pasted on them—these were the materials of the "food poor" who had been attending the meeting for a few days, and who had just completed their personal investigations.

Qiu Hong's house was originally included in the surveillance scope of the Operations Department, because there were people guarding the surroundings, it was inconvenient to install bugs, and Zhou Botao did not arrange for anyone to use hawkers or other methods to approach the surveillance - this is too strange, next to the country house where there is no market to speak of, there are a bunch of hawkers, and everyone can see that there is fraud inside. He arranged for surveillance with a telescope from a distance.

Now they have found out the list and details of the "grain gap" in Lingao County. Zhou Botao plans to take a closer look at the situation of this group of people, whether there is anything to use, of course, he may not be ready to use them, but directly "eliminate". It depends on what the Executive Committee means.

Zhou Botao turned to a few pages of materials about Zhou Qi, he was very interested in this Chen Minggang's eldest apprentice, because during the investigation, he learned that this master was very suspicious of his unexplained relationship with his second wife, but there was no evidence.

Zhou Botao is very interested in gossip about the relationship between men and women, as far as his experience as a detective is concerned, once the relationship between men and women reaches the stage of gossip, this matter is mostly true. It's like once the wife suspects that her husband is cheating, most of the investigations are true.

He called someone to call Wu Xiang and handed him the materials: "You go and investigate Zhou Qi." ”

"Is it Chen Baye's apprentice?" Wu Xiang let out a hint of fear.

Zhou Botao glanced at him dissatisfiedly: "What, are you afraid of him?" ”

Wu Xiang swallowed: "Don't be afraid." ”

"That's right," Zhou Botao said, "You are our person now, and I am afraid that he will be eight masters and nine masters." Okay, haode checked the details of Zhou Qi for me, and he has been keeping an eye on him since then, and he has to report to me every move, and even when he poops and when he sleeps, you have to find out clearly, you know? ”

"Yes, understood."

This answer is quite standard. Looking at the back of Wu Xiang leaving, Zhou Botao gave a disdainful look. This guy still has a family feud, it turns out that he has a blood feud, hates the old society, and also shows a lot of hatred in school, but I didn't expect that he didn't have any courage at all when it came to actual work. Seeing the people in the county government and the local tyrants, he still unconsciously showed a deferential attitude.

"It seems that hatred is not a panacea." Zhou Botao said, picked up a written order, opened it and looked at it. He rang the bell and called his correspondent:

"Call the head of the Special Publicity Team. Yes, right away! ”

Chen Minggang visited Xiong Buyou, and after getting the permission of the other party, he immediately set out to do it. In addition to issuing notices and distributing "grain notices" -- that is, demand notices -- for grain requisition, the county government officials gathered their subordinates and grandchildren together and set up cabinets in front of the county government warehouses to collect grain.

The first stage of grain collection is naturally to wait for grain households to come to their homes and pay themselves. It will not enter the stage of going to the countryside to urge the conscription until the end of the first stage, but this year, Chen Minggang ordered all the "grain poors" under his command to go to the countryside to create a momentum of "zhangtian".

For a time, the news that the Australians wanted to "zhangtian" spread all over the county, and the large and small grain households were greatly disturbed.

Naturally, the gentry were reluctant to engage in the fields. No matter how inefficient the original system is, after all, they have formed a harmonious relationship with this system, as long as they pay a certain price as a "lubricant", they can do whatever they want under this system. Now that a new shili has come, it is necessary to re-measure the acres of land and register the property rights, which is not a bolt from the blue. The grain households immediately became nervous, and then from the mouths of the grain messengers in the countryside, they got a positive answer: they said that the Australians would not only levy grain this time, but also collect grain according to the number of acres according to the results of the fields.

The grain households hurriedly sent people around to inquire about the news. Sure enough, the county seat and Dongmen City are all rumoring about this matter, and they have a nose and an eye. The idlers who messed around under Chen Minggang were all arrogant. But there is also strange news coming out: it is said that there is no such thing at all, and it is completely Chen Minggang and his gang who are bluffing people by pulling the banner and pulling the tiger's skin.

Everyone hurriedly found Zhang Youfu and asked him to confirm whether there was such a thing? But I didn't get any definite news from him either. Zhang Youfu said that Chief Wu, who was in charge of collecting grain, had "gone far away" and no one could reply. Zhang Youfu was a little surprised by the change in things, but he remembered what Wu De had taken care of him, and felt that there must be something strange behind this matter, so he didn't dare to talk nonsense, so he came to Bairen City to ask for Chu Yu and reported the situation.

Of course, he didn't hear much from the first rain. Zhang Youfu stood in the courtyard of his house, looking at the "grain reason" that the grain had just delivered, frowned for a few minutes, and suddenly understood a little.

Liu Youren sat on a bamboo couch at the foot of the steps of his main courtyard, smoking dry cigarettes, and streams of green smoke swirled around. On a bamboo table was a teapot and a teacup, and a piece of rough rough-edged paper. This is the "grain by".

The grain is a notice to urge grain, and the government originally did not have this thing, only grain strings - grain receipt vouchers. This is a set of self-made in the yamen, extremely thick rough-edged paper, printed with a wooden stamp in haode format, left blank on it, and filled in the name of the grain household and the amount of rice receivable from the grain difference. After receiving the order, the grain households must pay it to the county on time. The time limit is divided into the first limit, the second limit, and the third limit, and as soon as the three limits are passed, they will enter the stage of chasing the comparison, and immediately take the households who owe grain to the yamen every three days and five days to chase the cane, and there are also flail numbers to show the public.

But this is just talk, and those who will really be caught by the county government and spanked and put on a flail are all ordinary small grain households who are lonely and lonely -- just like Zhang Xingjiao at the beginning. Generally, the grain households with a slight shili on the ground do not dare to do so. Some grain households are local scoundrels, although they have no political strength, but they are a piece of meat that dares to fight and kill hobs, and they are unwilling to pay the full amount of grain, so they send strong people to pretend to be the head of the household to bear the guilt, and then bribe the officials of the soap class a little, and cheat when playing the board. By the end of the old calendar, the bail will be released, and the year will be over. Grain households who are waiting for the top can negotiate terms with the grain poor and the secretary office to "talk about catties" and bargain over the amount of rice consumed. The more powerful the Lord will not pay anything except the positive amount. As for the gentry and the powerful, most of them hid a large amount of land and did not hand over anything at all, and even if the yamen knew, they had to turn a blind eye.

The Liu family used to be a local tyrant in Calais, and after Liu Youren donated a prisoner to him, he became a "gentleman". His family's land is less than 400 acres, but in fact it is nearly 2,000 acres. And the land under his family's name is more than 3,000 acres.

The Liu family has collected rent for all of these lands, except for the long-term workers they hired to plant. However, except for the 400 acres of paddy fields on the register, the other land never pays a grain of rice.

Liu Youren used to have the same strategy for Australians as he used to deal with bandits: on the one hand, he was to form a tough village by himself, practice his hometown to protect himself, and on the other hand, he was humble and wronged, and wanted benefits, as long as he could deal with it within his ability, and buy peace. Anyway, this place has been like that since his ancestors.

But since he went to the meeting of the Political Consultative Industry Association and saw the strength of the thief, his mind has changed. Liu Youren realized that it would be a loss to deal with thieves just as he had dealt with bandits in the past. The strength and deeds of the Australians show that they have great ambitions. This ambition is unlikely to be satisfied at Lingao.

Such ambition, of course, is not something that a rural tyrant like him can block the car. If Liujiazhai wants to survive in Lingao and not end up with the same fate as Gou Jiazhuang, he has to be more proactive. At least you can protect yourself.

Therefore, although he does not go to Dongmen City, he actually pays attention to every move of Australians. As soon as the Heaven and Earth Society was established, he joined. At the beginning, his move surprised the elders of the Liu family. They have expressed their opposition - how can their own foundation be Lou to the Australians? Although it is reported according to the number of acres of land at the beginning of the class, the Australian agricultural technician is not a fool, and he will always make a fuss when he goes to the countryside a few times to engage in the "jishu guidance" of Nalaoshzi.

Liu Youren patiently persuaded them: Even if he didn't participate, wouldn't Australians know how much land Liujiazhai had? This is no secret in the county at all. Naturally, there are dedicated people who report to the Australians. Instead of waiting for someone to come to your door, it is better to deal with them first to facilitate maneuvering.

After joining the Tiandihui, the Tiandihui came to the "agricultural technician" to help him compost, send seedlings, and guide the long-term workers to farm, which was very hard-working, which greatly surprised Liu Youren - he didn't understand that the Australian weishenme wanted to do this, if it was just to earn a few "service fees", a piece of paper order to the liaison officer, which village dared not pay, why bother to do this laborious and laborious work.

Just when he couldn't figure it out, this time the matter of taking over the food allowance made him feel foggy again, and he felt that he couldn't understand the thoughts of the Australians at all.

His eyes fell on this grain sheet again, the positive amount and the number of rice consumption on it were not filled in, and the "grain difference" sent said that according to the order of the Australian lord, this time the grain should be collected with "Zhangtian", and each family must report the number of fields before the first limit, and the grain will be levied according to the new number of acres.

"The eighth master said, this is the first time that the Australian lords have taken over the grain in the county, and each family had better help a little bit and report the number of acres of their own fields more accurately - so as not to annoy them." came to the "poor food" and said with a smile, "In this way, everyone can get by, and our errand people can have an explanation." ”