The docks were full of people, men and women. The small crowd was only about 1,000 people, and the newly built castle tower was quite large. Retracting his gaze from looking down, Zhao Naruto asked the man in the Great Song military uniform next to him, "Why don't you suggest that I continue to go north to seize the entire Shikoku." ”

"You have more troops to defend than to attack. If the shogunate had a foothold in the north, it would have been easy to know what they would do. If you take Tokushima and Kagawa, you will have to draw water forces to defend them. It is equivalent to weakening the most capable mobile army in your hands and increasing the most depleted defensive forces. My Great Song Army would never do that. You have also participated in many battles, and the Great Song Dynasty is to build military stations, and the purpose is not to defend, but to attack. In addition, the battle of Srivijaya is a clear proof of this. ”

Listening to the colonel sent by Wan Da Song to talk about the military arrangements, and then thinking back to the Battle of Srivijaya that he participated, Zhao Naruto felt that this statement was very reasonable. Although the Song army was brave and good at fighting, in the local area of Srivijaya, the Song army was not only much smaller than the population of Sriwijaya, but the number of Song troops was not as good as the total number of Sriwijaya troops. They can only find a way to mobilize the Sriwijaya army and then annihilate them one by one.

Seeing that Zhao Naruto seemed to have listened to it, the military representative of the Great Song continued: "In the current situation, it is impossible for you to counterattack the Hojo family, then it seems that you will be suppressed by the Hojo family. In two more years, you will consolidate your current territory, and you will have 50,000 land and water troops in your hands, and it will not be too late to capture the entire Shikoku. ”

"Thank you for the advice. Please report to the official's house when you go back, my side is also understaffed, and I can only send so many people to the Great Song Dynasty for the time being. ”

"Good. I'll bring the news. ”

The next day, the fleet left Shikoku with a full load of people and headed south on the autumn wind that had already begun. Most of these Japanese laborers are leaving the country for the first time, and everything is new. And they were going to go to the Great Song Dynasty, which they had heard many times but had never really seen, so they became even more curious. Ask questions about those who used to work for the Great Song Dynasty.

The Great Song Dynasty did not have the same curiosity, and since the Shiban team, the Great Song Dynasty has hired a lot of Japanese people. Now it's just to transport them to Jiangning Mansion to participate in the construction of the canal, which is much easier than managing mercenaries.

By mid-September, the gang had been sent to their destination. The first thing they did after they arrived was to hurry up and participate in the maintenance of their residences, according to the plan of the Great Song Dynasty, the construction period of these people was one year, and they could not live without a place to live.

The residence of the Japanese laborers was located on the banks of the Qinhuai River, which was already official land, and private landlords had no interest in visiting the official land. Only the government brought in a lot of things to help them build their houses, and helped them to check their bodies, distribute bedding, measure their heights, and prepare their work clothes. The Food Bureau also allocated food to prepare the daily meals for the group.

Duan Fengming, a cadre of the Food Bureau, transported the grain to the camp management side, and couldn't help but look at those Japanese people curiously. They are short in stature, with short and thick legs for both men and women, but their arms are slender and do not look strong enough. I want to ask what the characteristics of the Japanese people are, but the administrator can't say why. These people have just arrived, and everyone is not familiar with them.

After finishing official business here, I was able to go home early. As soon as I arrived home, someone from the Duan family came to invite. Duan Fengming was helpless in his heart, but he could only set off. In the past month or so, the frequency of the Duan family's family meetings has decreased significantly. Therefore, Duan Fengming felt that this invitation was definitely not a good thing, and when there was a good thing, he had never seen the elders of the clan think of him.

Sure enough, as soon as Duan Fengming sat down, the elder immediately said: "In previous years, at this time, the people who wanted to tenant the land had already come to the door, and the number of people who came to tenant land this year was obviously less than in previous years. Feng Ming, what did the government do? ”

Duan Fengming replied: "The government didn't do anything special, but the number of people who went to the government to tenant land was one percent more than in previous years. ”

"Why?" The elders were surprised.

"Maybe it's because the government only charges 30%." Duan Fengming replied. In order to attract the common people to come and rent the land of the government, the government only collects 30% of the harvest, and the private landlords collect 50% of the harvest.

"The rule of 30% has been said for several years, and there have not been so many people going to the government before. There must be oddities. Duan Tiande immediately disagreed with Duan Fengming's answer. It's just that opposition in this world only needs to say a word of no, trying to figure out what is happening, and it is useless to oppose alone.

Since they were all denied, Duan Fengming chose not to say a word. The elders of the Duan family actually didn't know why there were fewer people coming to rent land this year. After that, it's all basic news. Then someone said: "This year, the families and relatives of the soldiers in our village will not rent our land. In the past, those families had to rent at least three or four hundred acres of land. ”

With such a reminder, the elders remembered whether there was a corresponding problem in the land of their own family. When I recalled this, I remembered that there was such a thing. Those in the township who came from the army no longer rented land. Just such a calculation, the result is terrible, there are almost 2,000 acres of land that no one rents.

After hearing this, Duan Fengming remembered the policy of the imperial court, as long as the retired soldiers did not have an accident, they could become cadres or work in factories and farms. As the periphery of the Great Song system, their families can also get many opportunities. This time, the big farm in Jiangning Mansion gave more priority to these people. Now these people have been encouraged to join the engineering team first and devote themselves to the project of digging the river.

"If it's just these people, let them go. Let's see if these thieves will starve to death next year! Feeling that he had found a reason, Duan Tiande said viciously.

Duan Fengming felt uncomfortable after hearing this, among the officials and cadres of the Great Song Dynasty, whoever dared to say that a thief was matched with an army, the lowest was a demerit. But Duan Fengming soon knew that he was not in the official mansion, and his prejudice against the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty was still deep-rooted. Especially this kind of particularly malicious place.

"Feng Ming, can't the government's thirty percent rent be changed?"

"This is the rule of the imperial court."

"I'm saying that the Jiangning government can't change it itself?"

"The imperial court has a rule that if anyone is caught raising the land rent without permission, he will be immediately deprived of his official position and never hired. For the harvest of a few acres of land, who is willing to take their own future. What's more, the taxes received do not belong to the officials, who is willing to do useless work. Duan Fengming explained. After listening to such an explanation full of negative content, the elders of the Duan family didn't know what to say for a while. For them, this truth is very understandable, and who is willing to do useless work if there is no benefit.

When Duan Fengming left, the meeting had not all ended, although he had no intention of becoming a family elder, but as a person who was called by the elders, the dissatisfaction in Duan Fengming's heart was slowly accumulating. He now hoped that in the future, the elders of the clan would never come to talk to Duan Fengming again.

The good wish only lasted for a month, and Duan Fengming had just been born for a month before he was called by the elders again. This time I asked about the tenants, "Feng Ming, haven't the price of grain risen recently?" ”

Duan Fengming rolled his eyes, not knowing what to say. In the past, grain prices were expensive because freight was expensive, storage was expensive, and taxes were expensive. The people in Jiangning City eat as much as possible the local food of Jiangning. In recent years, there have been more and more steam cars and ships, and a steam car ship can transport 5,000 tons of grain from the grain producing area to Jiangning City in a few days. As a result, at least half of what was eaten in Jiangning City was not local food. If there is no market for food, how can the price rise?

With patience, Duan Fengming explained the situation to the elders of the clan. After hearing this, the elder asked, "When will the price of grain go up?" ”

Duan Fengming shook his head, "Now that there are arrangements for scheduling in various places, there will definitely be no price increase this year." ”

Seeing Duan Fengming's firm attitude, Duan Tiande said to the elders: "It's not yet time for the green and yellow to be harvested, and even if the price of food rises, it won't rise too much. Since Feng Ming said so, let's sell some grain first and pay those land taxes. ”

October passed, and soon it was November. Duan Fengming and a group of personnel from the Agricultural Bureau participated in the construction of the Qinhuai River under the red flag. According to the construction regulations, the most suitable workload for each laborer is 10 cubic meters of soil per day, and 45-year-old officials and cadres, including the prefect of Wenzhang, were assigned to excavate 50 cubic meters of soil, which is exactly a week's working day.

Looking at the red flag of the exhibition, Duan Fengming recalled the words of the head of Jiangning Mansion before departure, "This is a project of the imperial court, and it is a project to change Jiangning Mansion." Every official and cadre, male or female, must participate. There is no reason for anyone to run away. We, the members of the Society, cannot escape. ”

The names of their respective units were written on the red flags, and Duan Fengming worked on the lot where the red flag of the 'Jiangning Prefecture Agricultural Bureau' was planted. There were other engineering teams nearby, and there were also people nearby who stood on a high place and watched the gang work. There are several hundred officials and cadres in Jiangning Prefecture, and their workload is very low in the whole project. Duan Fengming knew that the reason for letting them complete their work was just to let the people of Jiangning know how serious the government was. This is also what the president emphasized before he set off.

"If we don't do it ourselves, it will definitely make the people feel that the government is not interested. Only we do it ourselves, and we do it hard. The people know we're not joking! ”

The situation has reached the current situation, except for burying his head in it, Duan Fengming really doesn't know what he can do.

At the end of the week, Duan Fengming almost climbed into the car that came to pick them up. He just felt like his shoulders were going to fall off, and his whole body was so sore that he kept shaking. The others are similar, they can barely bear it. When I got into the car, there were even women crying in low voices.

After resting at home for two days, Duan Fengming was barely able to get up. I went to the Agricultural Bureau, and what I saw was almost the same scene. Of course, there are some that don't matter. For example, those cadres who were born in the military do not care at all. Duan Fengming couldn't help but feel a little resentful in his heart at this time, the army had followed Zhao Guan's family to divert the Yellow River in Henan, and this amount of work was probably just commonplace for them.

Before he could rest, the Duan family asked Duan Fengming to attend the meeting again. Duan Fengming decisively refused this time, "I can't even walk now, and I don't have the strength to attend the meeting at all." ”

Now the newspapers have published the story of officials and cadres going to the front line to dig the earth, and everyone here in Jiangning Mansion knows about it. Even if he didn't know, just by looking at Duan Fengming's appearance, he could know that he wasn't joking. Those who came to report could only leave. Not long after, the messenger came again, and when he came in, he smiled and said, "The clan knows that you can't walk, so they sent a car to pick you up." ”

Duan Fengming found that he couldn't find an excuse, so he could only reluctantly go to the meeting. This time the elders were obviously anxious, it was already November, and the number of people who came to rent land was still very small, and the number was less than half of what it used to be. Duan Tiande scolded and said: "This time I undercounted a lot of things, I didn't expect that after those thieves and soldiers left, they left some land at home." The original tenant farmers who went to cultivate the land did not come to tenant our land! That's not two thousand acres, but three thousand! ”

Because of the soreness in his body, Duan Fengming forcibly concentrated and barely understood what Duan Tiande was saying. This time, the tenant farmers set off a chain reaction. The so-called tenant farmers are not necessarily people who have no land at home, and many go to the landlord's house to tenant land because the family does not have enough land.

Now the families of the soldiers go to the city, or somewhere else. The strong laborers are gone, and the old people in the family can't be left at home, and they follow them. So their original land was given to relatives and friends to plant. Now the landlords lost some of the peasants who had come to occupy their land.

"Feng Ming, let me ask you, if there is still land abandoned this year, will the government still have to pay the same fine as last year?" The elders asked questions of great concern.

"This is natural." Duan Fengming replied.

Hearing such an answer, Duan Tiande scolded: "Wen Zhang, this damn dog official! God, why didn't you come down and kill him with a thunderbolt! ”

Duan Fengming couldn't help but want to laugh when he heard this angry speech. It's just that his whole body is sore, and the urge to laugh makes him uncomfortable for a while, and he can't help but snort. It is not only the scattered land that is competing for tenant farmers, but with the progress of the construction of the Qinhuai River, part of the river has been widened and stone embankments have been built along the river. These fortified channels were originally designed for water intakes. As the project progresses, sedimentation tanks and irrigation canals will be built into these water intakes in the direction of the 'rotten land'.

The biggest difference between good land and bad land is whether there is an irrigation system or not. Irrigation can be done in dry days, drainage can be carried out in flooded days, and this is the best land. Once the hundreds of thousands of acres of rotten land become good land, the life of the landlords will probably be even more difficult.

Hearing Duan Fengming's voice, he looked at him uncomfortably. Duan Tiande also snorted and said loudly: "Look at Wen Zhang, he doesn't treat you as human beings at all. Let you be tired more like a dog, he drinks tea and roasts the fire comfortably at home. Just such a person, it's not worth your life for him! ”

After hearing this, Duan Fengming didn't bother to say anything. Wen Zhang didn't hide at all, Duan Fengming and they only had to work in one place, and they could be lazy when they were tired. Wenzhang is a local capital, there are not many departments in Jiangning Prefecture, he works with this department for half a day on every construction site, and the five square soil dug on the lot of the Agricultural Bureau is real. Digging with everyone on the left and right lots, they were also seen by Duan Fengming. Even though he knew that this was Wen Zhang's invitation to buy people's hearts, Duan Fengming was very convinced.

If the overall project of the Qinhuai River is completed, it will indeed enable Wenzhang to soar, at least to achieve great political achievements. But Wenzhang made it clear that the benefits of this project remain in Jiangning and benefit the people of Jiangning. In the future, the participants will have a record of participating in the project on their resumes, and the project is done and completed, everyone has left their names, and there is a good record of promotion. It's broken, Wen Zhang is finished, and everyone is no better. Why not try it now.

Therefore, Duan Fengming waited for Duan Tiande to finish speaking, and then persuaded him, "Elders, I want to say a few words. I have studied the latest policy of the imperial court and the officials, and the root of this policy is that the land is used for planting, and the more things that are grown, the greater the benefits. Before, you waited for food prices to rise, but generally speaking, before New Year's Day, food prices began to rise. But I will tell you right now that this year will never be the case. There was a bumper grain harvest in various localities, especially in Jiangxi. The grain over there is constantly being sold to Jiangning City. There are now 500,000 people in Jiangning City, and in the past, all the grain in our vicinity was sold into the city, but now there are not many opportunities. Therefore, if you want to sell grain, sell it as soon as possible. If we harvest the grain ourselves, will it not be consumed if it is difficult? ”

"Where is there a population of 500,000 in Jiangning City!" Duan Tiande said angrily.

"Jiangning has built four new textile factories, followed by embroidery and dyeing, which has tens of thousands of people. And there are so many people in the city who want to eat vegetables, and there are also feedlots. With the addition of restaurants, transportation, etc., there have been more than 100,000 people in the city in recent years. I said that 500,000 people is a small number, that is, next year, the population will probably be 600,000. Duan Fengming couldn't help but take out some information and data from the government.

Duan Tiande didn't speak, but some elders couldn't help but exclaim: "No wonder there are no tenants, many people have actually gone to the city!" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the Duan family was shocked. The people who come to Jiangning Mansion are probably people from the vicinity, and the people from this neighborhood go to the city to work, and of course there are fewer people who rent land outside. The elder who asked this question just now opened his mind and thought of more details further, "No wonder there are not as many people in the village as there used to be, it turned out that they ran into the city!" I was walking down the street a while ago, and I met people talking to me, but I just remember that it seemed to be from the village, but I don't remember it at all. At the time, it was strange how to meet in the city, but now I finally understand! ”

Duan Fengming watched the excited discussion of these old guys, and his heart relaxed a little. If the old guys knew about it, they would have understood that it would be better to reduce the rent a little. And the key is to try to improve production efficiency, even if the price of food is stable, if the grain production per acre of land increases, it can still make more money.

"Hey! Feng Ming, let me ask you, does the policy of the imperial court say that we landlords will be forced to death! Duan Tiande asked Duan Fengming loudly.

"What does that mean?" Duan Fengming was a little confused.

"If the imperial court is not trying to force us to death, why would it come up with such a poisonous plan?" Duan Tiande glared at Duan Fengming and asked.

"What's the poison?" Duan Fengming was still puzzled.

"Don't be stupid, if you follow last year's example, you will be fined for every land you cultivate. If you don't want to be fined, you can only sell your land. It won't be long before our land is sold. And now the imperial court is constantly letting people into the city, letting people become soldiers, and letting people go to their land to farm. Then who will rent our land in the future! Such a poisonous plan is to kill us! ”

“…… If you are willing to reduce the rent to 30%, you will be fine. Duan Fengming asked tentatively.

"Who are you talking for?" Duan Tiande said angrily.

"I'm just asking. Whether the imperial court wanted to do anything to the landlords, that's what you guess. I think it's all 30% rent, that is, the landlord is close to the tenant farmer, and the tenant farmer refuses to go outside. ”

"You! What nonsense are you talking about! You are eating the food of the Duan family, using the money of the Duan family, and you are actually helping outsiders to speak! Duan Tiande was furious and scolded Duan Fengming.

Duan Fengming didn't refute because he was too lazy to refute. As a child of the Duan family who is not taken seriously, Duan Fengming eats the grain obtained from his father's and mother's farming, and goes to a school opened by a housekeeper. I have never received a penny from the Duan family, and I have never learned anything from the Duan family's private school. Duan Tiande's speech only made Duan Fengming feel angry. Now that his body is sore, Duan Fengming doesn't want to talk nonsense with Duan Tiande, he waits for Duan Tiande to finish scolding, and reluctantly stands up. Shaking and walking outside.

To Duan Fengming's surprise, he thought that Duan Tiande would do it if he didn't do it well, but no one did. He walked to the door step by step, and happened to meet a little brother with a donkey passing by. Duan Fengming negotiated the price with the little brother, got on the little brother's donkey, and walked towards his house.

Don't ask yourself for such a family meeting again. Duan Fengming prayed in his heart. Each meeting led to nothing but disputes, and the hostility between the two sides grew day by day. On top of that, Duan Fengming found that he didn't agree with the opinions of the family elders at all. Even if the government wants to deal with the landlord, it is because the landlord is incapacitated, and can only be played by the government.

Duan Fengming himself had followed the team to the countryside, even if it was only a team of ten people, he had already frightened the landlord into handing over dozens of clansmen to pretend to be opposite. More than 100 men from the stunned young family who dared to do something to the tax officer were dragged around the countryside by ropes and ropes, and they did not dare to resist obediently. What's it up for!

Maybe it was the donkey's jolting that worked, or maybe the rest of the past few days had finally worked. When he climbed off the donkey's back, Duan Fengming only felt a lot more comfortable on his body, and the soreness seemed to have disappeared most of the time suddenly. The rest of the discomfort is completely acceptable to him.