Chapter 10: The Displaced (2)

Thirty bright horizontal knives, the cold light was shining, and Shao Benwu had already been scared and trembled, and he didn't have the momentum he had before. Under Xu Qing's slight questioning, Shao Benwu immediately confessed everything he knew.

There are 3,000 acres of land for state officials, all of which are in the ground of Cangxian County. After Shao Deng became the county magistrate, he distributed all the more than 1,000 acres of official land that was idle to his own children, and all the summer grain in the first season was taken by his family's children. After Xu Qing became an assassin, somehow, Shao Deng didn't seem to remember the matter of Guantian, and he wasn't ready to wipe his ass clean.

Xu Qing really has to get Shao Deng down from the position of county commander, not only is he greedy for ink officials, but he is also greedy for ink, what happened to your dismissal? This makes sense both in terms of legal principles and human feelings. Bringing down Shao Deng can be regarded as a big loss for the Shao family. It's a pity that the head of the Shao family is not Shao Deng, but a thorn of the previous dynasty, Shao Jing, Shao Deng's eldest brother.

Compared with Shao Jing, Shao Deng's sleekness is simply a child's play. Shao Jing's sleek skills can be called the ancestor level, and the old treacherous and cunning is exactly what describes him. I heard that when he was in power, not to mention the boundary of Cangzhou, that is, Hebei, he was also a unique figure. Even so, Shao Jing can still make a wide range of friends in Hebei, counting them one by one, and he ranks sixth among the heroes of Hebei.

In recent years, Shao Jing has lived in a simple place, like an old monk practicing, but whenever the Shao family has a crisis, as long as he moves his mouth, he will immediately solve it, without exception.

In short, when you can't afford to offend Shao Jing, and when you can't afford to offend Shao Jing, you must not annoy the Shao family.

But there are rumors that the old man Shao Jing is not in good health......

In the officialdom, in the human love field, the straight road is the person, the love is there, even if you have no power and no power, that old love must be counted, and no one can reveal it. This looks very warm, but there is another side, that is, when a person dies, the love is broken, even if it is a son or grandson, you can not sell half of your face. Shao Jing is gone, the pillars of the Shao family are gone...... Of course, these lessons are not something that can be known from Shao Benwu's mouth, this is the information obtained by Dark River.

Looking at a small courtyard in the middle of the 700 acres of official fields in the history of thorns, delicate and small, like a newly repaired one, Xu Qing asked Shao Benwu, who was kneeling on the ground: "Are you in this courtyard?" ”

"No, no, no, this was built with the money of Lord Thorn Shi...... I'm just helping Lord Thorn Shi take care of this ......" Although Shao Benwu used a little of his own silver, how could he dare to admit that it was his own, so he had to say with a bitter face.

"Okay, since that's the case, you can be regarded as doing a good job, don't worry, the salary will be calculated according to ......" Xu Qing took out a pen and paper, and immediately wrote down a handover letter, and gave Shao Ben fifty or thirty taels of silver to comfort him. After Shao Benwu packed up some things, he ran away in a gray manner, and he didn't even take Xu Qing to familiarize himself with the venue.

If you don't bring it, don't bring it, I'll walk around by myself.

Guantian is good, as far as the eye can see, it is all high-quality, and when he lowers his head, there is no variegation. Xu Qing found the villagers' settlement by himself, and saw seventy or eighty people, several cows, all of whom looked strong and healthy, and chickens and ducks were running all over the ground. It's just that the local residents are quite vigilant when they look at Xu Qing, not for the kind of vigilance of the living, but for the known enemies? Xu Qing didn't understand their eyes, got off the horse, walked up to an elderly looking villager and asked, "Old man, is there anyone in charge of this Zhuangzi?" ”

"Didn't you just get rid of the steward?" The old villager returned with a blank face.

"Eh, he's not in charge, he's sent by the Shao family, and I'm asking about Guantian's manager, is there?"

"I don......'t know," said the old villager, patting his ass and walking into the house.

Xu Qing wondered, how could this be, were they afraid that the Shao family would retaliate? I'm still causing them a problem...... Although Xu Qing can't afford to offend Shao Jing, he can take back what belongs to him, and it is not revenge, if the Shao family is really so arrogant, I am not afraid......

"You, are you here to collect taxes?!"

Xu Qing looked up and saw that it was the half-sized boy he met outside just now, and the half-sized man pointed at Xu Qing with a bad face.

"Rabbit cub, you dare to be idle and not work, let your father come back and teach you a lesson...... A middle-aged woman beat half of the child back, and her eyes couldn't stop resenting Xu Qing.

"Say, how much?" Seeing Xu Qing standing there and not leaving, a middle-aged man stood up, gritted his teeth and said. The surrounding villagers also stopped what they were doing and listened attentively to Xu Qing's side. It's just that when Xu Qing heard this, he woke up from his daze and asked, "What to pay and how much?" ”

"Summer grain is all wheat ......," the middle-aged man said impatiently. But Xu Qing couldn't understand it, and asked again: "Summer grain, haven't you received summer grain?" ”

"......Snort," the villager sneered, and the middle-aged man crooked his mouth and said, "Don't pretend to be garlic.......

How did Xu Qing know that from the end of the war in Hebei to now, in less than four or five months, this official field has changed several times in charge. At the beginning, it was the state official who took care of it and handed over the grain once, and then went to Cangxian County to take charge of it, and handed over the grain again, and handed over the grain twice to make the dry grain stored in previous years completely clean, and just received the summer grain, Shao Benwu came again, and the summer grain went half again.

Although the people who planted the official fields were official slaves, and the grain they grew was considered to be official's, they also had to eat, so generally speaking, the official family would leave them enough rations. If they are a little better, they will eat enough, and they will have money for the New Year, and those who are a little pregnant will not be hungry and full.

After the three changes in stewardship, the grain produced by the official field has almost been emptied, and almost only the rations are left, but the officials and slaves have endured it. But now that less than two months have been handed over the grain, another steward has arrived, which has to make them vigilant, and if they pay the grain again, they will starve to death.

"What's the garlic?"

"What garlic?"

I couldn't talk about this, Xu Qing had to promise: "Eh, don't worry, the summer grain has been collected, I won't collect it anymore......"

As soon as he heard this, the ears of the people around him were almost half a foot elongated, and the middle-aged man's eyes also shone brightly, and he immediately asked suspiciously:

"Really?"

Xu Qing did not answer, but asked:

"How much grain did you pay last time?"

The man sighed, as if he had known this, and the sparkle in his eyes disappeared completely. asked how much was paid, and the first three stewards also asked like this, but they all replied that it was not enough, and they would hand in some more. I'm afraid it's like this again, but the middle-aged man still answered honestly: "I paid half of the ...... last time."

Xu Qing asked again: "Is it enough to eat?" ”

The middle-aged man let out a long sigh and said, "It's enough, I'll be hungry if I hand it in again......

Unexpectedly, Xu Qing said: "Let go and eat, it's not enough to go to that official warehouse to get ......"

"Old... Sir, this ......"

"Alas, so be it, in the future, you will plant official grain, and each household will contract the land according to the capitation, regardless of the annual output, and pay three cents ......of the grain."

When the middle-aged man heard this, he calculated for a moment, suppressed the joy on his face, and asked, "Master, I'm afraid this is inappropriate, there is no such rule......"

"Don't worry, it won't change for three years." Xu Qing thought to himself that after three years of assassination, the rules of these 700 acres of land were always set in his own hands.

Obviously, when the people in Zhuangzi heard this, they breathed a sigh of relief, and their faces were full of joy, thinking that they had finally found a good master's home. The middle-aged man walked to the door of the house in a grand manner, as if to show off the new farming rules that he had said so much to Xu Qing. Seeing his mother-in-law, he kicked it: "Still standing, do things, go cook two eggs for the master!" ”

A few people timidly asked: "Lord's family, can the black households in the Zhuangzi also let go of eating?" ”

Xu Qing turned his head and saw a family of three, dressed in tatters like beggars, a child with thin skin and bones, but a surprisingly big belly, and he looked hungry. Xu Qing frowned, the eyes of the three of them instantly fell lonely, and Xu Qing immediately said: "You can also eat, it's okay to eat hard......"

The three of them listened and hoped to reappear in their eyes, and the woman touched her child and kept crying. Xu Qing's heart warmed and asked, "How many black households are there in the village?" ”

"It's not much, only a dozen people, all of them come to smell the smell of food and do some odd jobs to make ends meet." The old man, who had turned to go in, came out again, and replied, no longer expressionless. Speaking of black households, more than a dozen people approached Xu Qing, their faces full of embarrassment.

Xu Qing looked at them, all of them haggard. These black households do not have a hukou, they go to other places, they are not received by local officials, they have no fixed place to live, and they have no fixed meals. Xu Qingdao said: "Hmm...... In this way, all the black households have gone to the county government to register, so let's settle here, can we live? ”

"That's a good idea, anyway, the people in the village can't plant these lands, and some households are empty......" The people in the village responded from afar.

"Empty?" Xu Qing asked the old man.

"Yes, there is no one at all, but there is a real ...... registered in the household register."

"Hmm......"

Xu Qing began to think in his heart, he wanted to carry out a census and eliminate all the empty households.

"By the way, speaking of the black household, didn't a team of sisters and brothers come a few days ago, blame the poor ones, they can't do anything......" A woman fed the bran in her hand to the chickens, clapped her hands and said.

"Sister and brother?!"

Could it be Huang Shimei, his brother and that maidservant?

"Yes, ...... over there" The woman pointed to a makeshift shed at the edge of the village, Xu Qing walked in and saw a man and a woman, like sisters and brothers, who didn't look like people from rich and noble families, but Xu Qing still had a glimmer of hope, maybe their clothes were snatched away, so he asked:

"Is it from the Huang family?"

"You are?" The little boy who was guarding the woman asked vigilantly.

"I'm Cangzhou Thorn History, Xu Qing, Miss Huang recognizes my ......" Xu Qing untied the fish talisman and shook it.

When the woman saw this, her body went limp, she rolled her eyes and fainted, leaving the boy who didn't know anything, crying.