As a pacification envoy, Zhang Xiaochun naturally couldn't travel without a single escort, even if he was traveling lightly, there were more than a dozen people in front of and behind the horse. A fierce man in his early thirties beside him was the local capital of Zhucheng, which was equivalent to catching heads in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and was also the guide of Zhang Xiaochun's trip. Hearing Zhang Xiaochun's emotion, he nodded and agreed: "See you clearly." Nowadays, the government of Zhucheng is really different from the past. Although there are restrictions on all rules and regulations, but when the new law is put into operation, everyone knows that there are big people staring at it, so no one dares to stretch out their hands without authorization. When the big officials and small officials do things fairly, the people will naturally be convinced. ”

"It's like the terraces in this mountain, which are tax-free for five years after they are opened, and tax-free for five and a half years. When the people saw that it was profitable, they worked hard for their own families. ”

"But if you want to put it in the past, work hard to cultivate the land, not to mention the investment, after paying the field tax for a year's hard work, and there are no three mouthfuls left to eat, the gains outweigh the losses, and naturally no one will sell their strength."

It takes a lot of effort to open up the terraces, and if you want the terraces to be successful, you have to build a reservoir on top of it, and the cost is not small.

Otherwise, they can only eat by watching the sky, they are not better than the rainy south, if they watch the sky to eat, they will not be able to harvest a few grains of grain (terraced fields) after a year of hard work, and there will be no more left after paying the field tax.

And after you have more terraced fields in your hands, it is difficult to guarantee that you will not be raised by the government, regardless of whether it is a dry field or a paddy field, not to mention that you will be raised from the fourth class to the third class, that is, from the fifth class to the fourth class, then you will have to pay a lot more taxes.

If you do a lot of money, but you get a lot of money, but you don't even get it, and the people are naturally reluctant to do it.

But now?

The people not only have tax reductions and exemptions for cultivating terraced fields, but also direct rewards in terms of money and grain, although there are not many of them, but this is an attitude.

Moreover, the government not only rewarded money and grain to reward the people for cultivating wasteland, but also gave loans to support the people to build reservoirs, which are really good things and great practical things.

The people are the most realistic, and when they see that it is profitable, will they spare their strength? For the vast number of farmers, what is strength? The least precious thing they have is their strength.

"Although I haven't studied, I was born in a family of officials. How can you not see that the previous ways of the world have rotted to the end? Whoever is an official or an official is not greedy. Not to mention the Central Plains, in this Mizhou, there are many people in the mountains and dense forests who have no way to live. If the court doesn't give the people a way to live, can the people only get up and beg for a living? "The guide has adapted to the new rules of the new law, and he has already called the people with mud legs earlier. But now it is a mouthful of "people".

"This new law is really much stronger than before, although the tax seems to be a lot, but the tax is attributed to the public office, and without the urging of tax collectors, at least the people can take a breath, see the way of life, and see hope."

Zhang Xiaochun's face did not fluctuate, what could he say? I can only sigh that the good times of the past have really passed.

The facts were in front of him, and he really couldn't say anything to the guide.

Although the new emperor has just ascended the throne, the pilot county has been in operation for half a year, and the summer and autumn taxes have been collected.

Although there are nearly ten times more officials in a county, with all the local taxes being subsumed into the public office, the taxes paid by the people are more than twice the regular taxes in the past, but without the pressure and oppression of the tax collectors, the actual income of the people is more than before.

There are grain stations under the township offices, and the people of each village pull the grain and send it to the grain station to pay taxes according to different days.

For people in the 21st century, such a method is definitely very troublesome, but for the majority of the people of Zhao and Song, this is a rare good governance.

Think of the previous 'branch'!

300 li for first- and second-class households, 200 li for third- and fourth-class households, and 100 li for fifth-class households.

At present, the grain station can be regarded as 'staying at home'.

When the group arrived at the small village, they were respectfully sent to the home of the security chief as soon as possible, and the latter was also welcomed as soon as he got the news.

Zhang Xiaochun saw two vendors in his home, as well as a table of food that had been prepared but had not yet started.

But it was really a good time to meet two acquaintances who came to trade.

As the saying goes, the mountain eats the mountain and the water comes by the water. Although Songbai Township does not have any famous specialties, it is surrounded by dense mountains, and the mountain people can always collect some mountain goods in addition to farming for a living. Everything from pheasants and hares to some medicinal herbs and pine mushrooms, daylily, ginkgo, white fungus, fungus, etc.

They used these to exchange for salt, oil, soy vinegar, needles, threads, brains, cloth, candles, lamp oil, and so on.

As a human being, many things cannot be produced by one's own cottage, and that requires communication with the outside world. Isn't that a business in the eyes of some?

From the beginning of the merchant, to the later friends who everyone got acquainted with. The trust that has accumulated over the years has led the two sides to reach a consensus in a sense.

On the one hand, there is a need for convenient and labor-saving transportation, and no one wants to drag their legs to run dozens of miles of mountain roads in order to buy catties of salt and two needles; On the one hand, thanks to the supply and low price, as well as the fixed sales market, in a sense, this is the unified sales and purchase.

The two businessmen who appeared in front of Zhang Xiaochun were small traders who did this kind of hard work.

They bought salt, cloth, sauce and vinegar, needles and threads and other things needed by the mountain people from outside the mountain, and used them in a barter mode, and bought them from the mountain people at a relatively low price, and it was naturally profitable to get them outside the mountain.

Zhang Xiaochun immediately became interested, not only beckoned the two to sit at the table, but also took the initiative to ask the two about the details of the transaction. Whether the life of the people here is better, these two traders should be more experienced.

Although the words in the mouth of the traders can only be regarded as one-sided, but combined with the self-reports of the people in this village, as well as the cultivated land clearance data and the number of new terraced fields reported by Songbai Township, it is obvious that you can see some real things.

Whether the livelihood of the people has improved or become worse is not only related to the implementation of the new emperor's new policy, but also related to the society of the Zhao and Song dynasties.

"Facts speak louder than words."

When night came, Zhang Xiaochun lay on the bed in full clothes, but he couldn't fall asleep over and over. There was only an oil lamp lit at the head of the bed, and on the bookcase not far away were the statistics and detailed data of each household that he had obtained in the afternoon, and he had read them many times. I have to admit that people's livelihood is really gradually improving.

This year is just a foundation, and when the terraces are put into production next year, the life of the people in every household will only be better.

Zhang Xiaochun should be full of joy in theory, but now he is turning over and over again again and again. It can be seen that this person is not really convinced of the new law in his heart, which also shows that he is not completely convinced of Zhao Gou on the dragon chair today.

This is like many civil officials who worked for the new dynasty, they were all 'forced to be helpless'. Even if this 'persecution' of them is not only Zhao Gou's great martial arts, but also their selfish desires that they can't let go, and the official position and authority that they can't give up.

Helplessly, this is the voice of many civil officials in the Zhao Song officialdom at present. There are too many old and young people under Zhao Gou's hands. On the one hand, they knelt down and kowtowed to Zhao Gou, but on the other hand, they disagreed with Zhao Gou's concept in their hearts and bones.

The disunity of body and mind, the contradiction between reality and concept, reflects the real scene like Zhang Xiaochun now.

The most real reason why he went down to Zhucheng to conduct research was to have a deeper understanding of the new law, so that he could go further in the future. But after seeing that the new law had already taken effect, there was one unhappiness after another in my heart.

It's not a pleasant taste. However, they can't give up their selfish desires, so they can only obediently contribute their own strength to Zhao Gou under Zhao Gou's system.

Such a large environment cannot be changed in a short period of time.