"What's wrong?" Liu Zezheng arranged for a few scholars to carry the file to the car, and the bulky bamboo slips were almost full of a large cart.

Ding Xiancheng hesitated for a moment, but still opened his mouth. "Most of the land in this county belongs to a few great scholars, and if Liu County's order is really verified and measured according to the number in the account books, I am afraid that it will be resisted and opposed by the major scholars."

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, land annexation was quite strict, and about 890% of the country's land was concentrated in the hands of powerful landlords, large and small, which was an important source of the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, and the situation in Pingyuan County was no exception.

"This is strange, the Yellow River flooded, the countryside was destroyed, the county handled the case according to the law, verified and measured the land, just for each family to confirm their rights, do their best to cultivate, why would they object?"

"This ...... Liu County Ling first came to this county, some details may not be well understood, investigation and confirmation of rights, itself is not wrong, but Liu County Ling really took the account book to check, I am afraid that ...... Hey, it's hard to do! Ding Xiancheng stopped after saying half a sentence, just shook his head and sighed.

"What does Ding Xiancheng mean that these scholars deliberately concealed the number of acres of land and evaded the field tax?" Liu Ze quickly understood the meaning of Ding County's words.

Ding Xiancheng smiled bitterly: "It is worth ten to report five, this has long been an unwritten rule, and a wealthy family like the Liu family is even more deceitful to report seventy percent of the land. ”

"How can this be true? Taxation is the foundation of the country, these scholars openly evade taxes and evade taxes, and there is no king's law, is it really that no one has to deal with it? Liu Ze had long expected that these powerful landlords would hide their land. It's just that I didn't expect it to be so strict, and I actually dared to conceal more than half of the land, no wonder the imperial treasury was empty.

"These scholars are rich, powerful and backed, and how can we petty officials dare to offend, so most of the time they turn a blind eye, and no one dares to inspect them." Ding Xiancheng sighed helplessly.

Liu Ze slapped a few cases heavily, and said: "Today, this county will see with your own eyes, who is bold enough to evade the land tax!" Liu Ze knew that it would be difficult to verify the land, but the flooding of the Yellow River did give him an opportunity. He must seize this opportunity to turn the land situation in Pingyuan County around.

Really. Soon after the verification of land rights began, various townships came to report one after another, and a large number of people caused trouble and obstructed the work of land measurement. There were even large-scale fights and bloodshed. Land exploration simply cannot be carried out.

Liu Ze understood. This must be a small move made behind the scenes by the owners of those landowners, the Dashi clan, with the purpose of obstructing the exploration and confirmation of rights. Liu Ze immediately rushed to Baishui Township, where the conflict was most severe, with Jia Xu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others, and the new official took office three times. If this problem is not solved, the first fire will not burn.

In the field, the Sifu of Baishui Township and several officials sent by the county office were surrounded by some villagers with sticks in their hands, and a fierce dispute broke out between the two sides, and a bloody conflict was inevitable.

Zhang Fei was furious, galloped over, waved his horsewhip, and whipped it down, those villagers were just mud legs, and they all dodged in fear after seeing this battle.

"Third brother, don't hurt anyone!" Liu Ze stopped Zhang Fei, jumped off the horse, and said loudly: "Don't be surprised, folks, I am Liu Ze, the county commander of this county, what can you tell me!" ”

Those villagers who were scattered by Zhang Fei gathered again, but in the face of Liu Ze's inquiry, they all opened their mouths and couldn't say why.

Liu Ze said kindly: "Measuring the acres of land, surveying and confirming the right is a great thing for the benefit of the country and the people, the agricultural time does not wait for anyone, the official is also from the people's livelihood, do his best to complete the verification, let everyone start spring ploughing and production, you have any opinions, just mention it to the official." ”

Those villagers only promised, you look at me, I look at you, no one said anything in the middle of the sound, and a bold man said: "Master County Order, what you said is beneficial to the country and the people, we don't understand, we only want to have a few acres of land to plant, and don't ask for anything else." ”

Liu Ze asked him with interest: "Then how many acres of land does your family have?" Why are you against the measurement of land? ”

The man scratched his head and said: "My family has no land, I am a tenant of Master Bai, Master Bai let out a word, saying that he really wants the county to measure the land, he will abandon the land and no longer rent it to us for planting." Master of the county order, you are gracious, if there is no land to plant, how can we live! ”

As expected, it was the big landlords who were behind the scenes, inciting the tenants to make trouble. However, Liu Ze didn't pay attention to these pediatric tricks at all, and he said loudly: "Don't worry, this right survey is to let everyone have land to cultivate." On behalf of the Pingyuan County Bureau, I, Liu Ze, solemnly announced that within ten days, even if those grange masters do not rent your fields, the government will take out the land for everyone to cultivate, and the spring sowing seeds will be lent to everyone without interest, so that everyone can survive this spring famine! ”

As soon as this remark came out, the villagers were full of discussions.

"Really, the government will lease us land to plant? I'm not dreaming, am I? ”

"This is the lord of Pingyuan County, and he speaks in a word, I don't think there will be any fake."

"That's it, this county magistrate has done a few good things for the people, blocked the Yellow River breach, and sent us money and food, such a good official can't be found with a lantern."

“……”

The bold man who spoke first took the lead in kneeling down for Liu Ze: "Xiaomin knock thank Master Qingtian!" ”

After he knelt down, he knelt down in a large area and kowtowed in thanksgiving.

There was no resistance, and the survey and measurement proceeded very smoothly, and the Sifu and Xu officials approved the number of acres recorded in the account books one by one, and then a requisitioner nailed a wooden stake with a mark written on it in the field.

The spring sun is very kind, shining warmly on his body, Liu Ze, who has not yet changed into spring clothes, feels a little hot, but this feeling is very pleasant.

At this time, a large group of people came on the opposite side, clustering a sedan chair, and the sedan chair stopped at a place of about one or twenty zhang in front, the person in the sedan chair was slightly fat, the beard was gray, the face was very white, and the satin clothes were very eye-catching among a group of villagers in coarse cloth and short clothes.

The water of the Yellow River had just receded, and the fields were still very muddy, this person carefully stepped on the Tianlong weir dam, and came to Liu Ze with the support of the person in charge, glanced at everyone, and snorted softly in his nostrils: "Who is the person in charge here?" ”

Liu Ze didn't wear an official uniform, and he squinted his eyes and looked at it, seeing that the person's identity must be not low. There are officials around him who know him and whispered to Liu Ze that this person is Bai Jing, the patriarch of the Bai family, the second largest scholar clan in Pingyuan County, who once served as a gong cao in other counties, and now he has returned to his hometown, his family has hundreds of hectares of fertile land, and there are groups of slaves and maids, and his status in Pingyuan County is second only to the Liu family.

Presumably this person is the white master called in the tenant account? Liu Ze smiled slightly and said, "In Xiapingyuan County, Liu Ze, dare to ask Your Excellency what to call him?" ”

"Xiao Ke Bai Jing, I've seen Liu County's order." Although Bai Jing said that he was polite, he was not respectful at all, and his attitude was quite arrogant.

Liu Ze didn't care, and said lightly: "It turned out to be Master Bai, who has been admired for a long time." But I don't know why Master Bai is here? ”

"Bai heard that Liu County ordered to survey the land and measure the acres of land, so he came to pay a visit."

"I don't know what Master Bai has to say?"

"I don't know what Liu County's order to measure acres of land is based on?"

"The county office naturally measures the fields based on the account books of the government."

Bai Jing's face became gloomy, and he said, "I don't know how many acres the Liu County Order has approved for the Bai family?" ”

Liu Ze summoned the officials over and asked, "Has Master Bai's field ever been measured?" ”

"Back to Liu County, the fields of Master Bai's family have been fully surveyed, and according to the account books, a total of 5,660 mu has been measured, and the pile boundary is being nailed."

Bai Jing's face turned pale, and he snorted coldly: "Liu County's order to use the account books of the county office as the basis for private demarcation and survey, I'm afraid it's not appropriate, right?" ”

"Then according to Master Bai's opinion, what is the right basis?" Liu Ze said quietly.

Bai Jing snorted heavily, and said arrogantly: "Naturally, it's the title deed!" ”

"Oh, that's right, who owns this field should naturally be based on the title deed." Liu Ze nodded thoughtfully, "I don't know if Master Bai can bring the title deed?" ”

"Of course, if there is no title deed, wouldn't someone be bored with himself." Bai Jing waved his hand, and immediately someone sent the title deed file up, Bai Jing said triumphantly: "Liu County Order, this title deed clearly states the number of acres of my Bai family's field, where is the north and south, and where is the east and west, can this title deed be counted?" ”

Liu Ze smiled indifferently and said: "If you have a land deed, you should take the land deed first, and if you come, you will re-measure the demarcation and survey of the acres according to the land deed of Master Bai." ”

The husband and the official were shocked, thinking that this county commander was doing things in a hurry, didn't he swear to count and measure with the account book before, so he admitted it as soon as the white master came, it seems that this strong dragon is difficult to suppress the head snake. However, they thought so in their hearts, and they dared to say this, and honestly re-measured the acres of land for the Bai family according to Liu Ze's instructions.

With a smug smile on his face, Bai Jing glanced at Liu Ze contemptuously, and said, "In this case, Bai Mou retired first." The field was muddy, and Bai Jing's thin-soled boots had already been stained with a thick layer of clay, and he had long been eager to leave here.

"Slowly, this measurement of acres of land still needs to be checked and confirmed by Master Bai, please wait for a while, this measurement of acres of land is a matter of importance, and it must not be sloppy." Liu Ze stopped him and said lukewarmly.

Bai Jing was helpless, since Liu Ze didn't let him leave, he had to wait for the results of the survey to come out. (To be continued......)