The great victory achieved by this urging attack allowed Zhao Xing to declare his determination to protect Daijun in the same way, and he also had an understanding of the local gentry and small lords of Daijun, and the strong strength and decisiveness of this outsider. As a result, they gave up their contempt for this outsider and began to be close and attached.

The northernmost county of Dai County, the patriarch of Ban County, with a cautious attitude, visited Zhao Xing, the new feudal monarch, Zhao Xing is with eight snow-white teeth, showing his most sincere smile, with the rules of a scholar, he will be an old lord.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to him for the gift. This made the patriarch of the Ban clan feel flattered, because he was a nobleman without a title, and he could be treated like this, according to Zhou etiquette, this was his own arrogance.

After the three congratulations, Zhao Xing said with a smile: "I have seen the gift of the patriarch, and I am very satisfied, but I dare not accept it." ”

The patriarch of the Ban clan expressed false surprise: "A little filial piety, very contemptible, is Xingjun disgusted." ”

Zhao Xing said frankly: "I'm a person, I'm afraid of my wife, and if I accept your gift, I need to return the gift, which is the rule of Zhou etiquette." But there are fewer returns, which ruins my face, hurts your and my feelings, and returns more, hehe, hehe. ”

I really didn't expect that this lord would be so easy-going and humorous, and the patriarch of the Ban clan said with a smile: "The return gift is a weekly gift, and the weekly gift cannot be spent, but now the new rule is that the superior person returns the gift, which is more or less, which is a symbol, according to the new interpretation method, it is called thunder and rain and dew, all of which are Jun'en, and we will all be grateful." ”

In this era, giving gifts in return is a truly pure human affection, not mixed with other dirty things. But the new rules are made specifically to excuse the superiors from taking bribes.

But Zhao Xing still doesn't want to receive gifts, he can symbolize, but the gift can't be perfunctory, which is easy to embarrass people, embarrassment will produce embarrassment, and embarrassment will give birth to a diaphragm. There are many follow-up means, and many changes need to be tested here, to see what will happen in later generations, and whether it will be unsuitable in this era.

Therefore, he needs the support of the local gentry family, and he really supports himself.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Xing said to Ban's family: "Since this is the case, then this is good, your gift, even if it is your territory's offering to the lord this year, so, you have expressed your heart, and I don't have to be embarrassed to find Mrs. to arrange a return gift for you, everyone is happy." ”

Ban saw that Zhao Xing really didn't want to accept gifts, not because of his own gifts, thinking about the good story between him and Liao Chong back then, so he was relieved, and then he really felt that this lord was kind and considerate.

"As a county, the Ban clan can see that the people are thriving, and the old patriarch leads the county order of the Ban clan, which shows the ability of the old patriarch. Now that you are my subordinate, let's not talk about personal matters, but what is the current situation of the Ban family? ”

In this era, although the county system was slowly perfected, it had not completely departed from the framework of the lord's fiefdom, and basically followed the principle that whoever had a fief here would naturally become the county commander.

For example, the most obvious state of Chu, their counties, almost all of them conquered the country that Zhou Tianzi feuded at the beginning. After the king of Chu destroyed his country, according to the area of the country, it was changed to a county or county, and then the original monarch was appointed as the county guard or county order. In this era, the county was based on a high degree of autonomy of the aristocracy. In other words, it is still to maintain the aristocracy.

But the good reason for the good of Daijun is that there are almost no nobles, only this Ban clan is the largest scholar clan here, which has laid a good environmental foundation for Zhao Xing's future reforms.

When asked like this, the patriarch of the Ban clan replied frankly: "The Ban clan is based in the north of the bitter cold, and the Hu people are the majority, so I, the patriarch of the Shi clan who has no presence in the Central Plains, made the county order. In fact, there are less than 3,000 households under the actual jurisdiction. ”

Xu Jie, who was accompanying him, sighed: "The old patriarch is really a capable person, a bitter cold county in the extreme north, there can be 3,000 households, which shows the ability of the patriarch." ”

In this era, in such an environment, 3,000 households in a county is not very miserable, but quite a lot. This is because the way of calculating the number of households in this era is different from that of later generations, not according to population but according to households. The fundamental reason is that the agrarian economy is based on household production, and taxes are also levied on the basis of households, so the population is counted by households.

Those who are counted as households are subject to conscription, taxation, and conscription. That is, the people who have their own land, also called the common people. Slaves are not counted in the number of households, hunters and craftsmen are not counted, families are not counted, and officials are not included. In fact, this already hides the majority of the population.

That's why everyone wonders, Wu Zetian, who was dignified and prosperous in the Tang Dynasty, has reigned for so many years, and the history books are proud, and he only added 600,000 households to the Tang Dynasty.

This is the ability of Xu Jie to sigh about Ban's ability.

Zhao Xing asked sincerely: "So how can we increase the population?" ”

Ban pondered for a moment, and then replied confidently: "If according to our county, to increase the number of households, the Great Wall of the North should be built." ”

Just this sentence, I didn't choke Zhao Xing at that time. It is true that the leaders of later generations love to demolish and build projects, but as a result, this patriarch will give himself a big project, but this is not to give himself a chance to have political achievements, but to push himself into the fire pit, do we have hatred?

The patriarch of the Ban clan didn't look at Zhao Xing's expression, but counted Zhao Xing with his fingers: "Xingjun, within my governing office, the Zhou people are settled and counted as households, but the Hu people are unstable, half farming and half nomado, so they can't be calculated." If we build a great wall on the border between Zhao and Lou Fuhu, then we can restrict the settlement of this group of Hu people, so that we can accept our taxes, and then the population can be doubled. ”

Ah, this is a prison enclosure.

"Once the Great Wall is completed, it will protect our interior from being harassed by the Hu people, so that the people can produce with peace of mind, and at the same time, there will be no Hu people invading the interior as the day before yesterday, and we can only endure losses, massacres and looting. This will allow us to double the real number of households in 20 years. ”

Zhao Xing pinched his bare chin, looked at the gray beard of the patriarch of the Ban clan, that is, his subordinate of the county order, twenty years, my beard should be so long, and exclaimed: "Old patriarch, it's really an old man." ”

Zhao Xing couldn't object to the Ban clan patriarch's method, because although his method was in Zhao Xing's thinking, it was simply death. But in this era, it is already ahead of its time. As a traverser, how can you accuse an ancient, or an ancient, who has already thought ahead, this is not kind.

Zhao Xing spread his hands embarrassedly: "Building a city, especially the construction of the Great Wall in Yanbian, even with the strength of the entire Zhao State, there is a weak heart, and the consumption of national strength is huge, not to mention that we are a small Daijun." "Building the Great Wall is a bad idea I gave Lin Hu to consume Qiang Qin, and I can't do such a stupid thing.

The patriarch of the Ban clan nodded in understanding, lowered his head and muttered for a while, and then said again: "Then, retreat to the next best thing and repair the side wall." Then he explained: "Build a symbolic side wall, so that the Hu people living in Daijun know that they are different from the Hu people outside, and at the same time, build a beacon on the high side wall, first, to control the entry and exit of the population as much as possible, and second, once there is an invasion of the Hu people, we can light the beacon to warn and reduce our losses." ”

Zhao Xing sighed again: "The old patriarch is really an old man seeking the country." "It's not that Zhao Xing's language vocabulary has become scarce, it's because he really admires this Ban clan patriarch. He turned out to be a psychologist.

To bind elephants, in fact, there are no such strong stake ropes, but it is enough to give the elephant a psychological binding. In the hearts of the flowing Hu people, build a psychological side wall, you can let them know that they are border people, Zhou people, and they will slowly settle down with peace of mind.

After being deeply taught, he bid farewell to the patriarch of the Ban clan, Zhao Xing, with the most solemn etiquette, and still worried about his most fundamental ruling foundation and population problem.