Thirty miles is not too far, and in the afternoon, Li Tai and his entourage arrived at Shangyuan Township.

Shangyuan is located on the east bank of Luoshui, half of the territory is dirt slope hills, the mountain name is Shangyan Mountain, and it is also commonly known as Iron Sickle Mountain because of its shape. It is not the Shangyan Mountain where Shangshan Sihao lived in seclusion in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, but this Shangyan Mountain also has the historical sites of the Han Dynasty, and the Longshou Canal that led Luo water to irrigate during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty passed through here.

This surface knowledge was told to Li Tai by fellow county officials. The county official's name is Zheng Man, and he was originally not very happy to go out of the city on a business trip, but when he learned that Li Tai was from the Li family in Longxi, he immediately became enthusiastic.

This feeling is probably similar to those outdoor variety shows in later generations, where passers-by will always enthusiastically help those variety show stars. In ancient times, when the concept of the clan gate valve was prevalent, Li Tai, who was born in the Li family in Longxi, was naturally full of stars, and it was easier to get the kindness of others.

The administrative office of Shangyuan Township is located in Shangyangshu on the south side of the hill, which is a dock wall built by the mountain and not large, and the lord of the township is also the head of the township. The so-called township chief is just a common name, not an official title.

In the Northern Wei Dynasty, the township implemented a three-long system, with one neighbor chief for five families, one mile long for five neighbors, and one party chief for five miles, and there was no so-called township head.

The so-called township chief in the township of the Western Wei Dynasty, the official name is the corporal supervising the class, but he is not the class teacher who manages classroom discipline, but the grass-roots officials who urge the collection of taxes, and does not belong to the local administrative officials, but is subordinate to the Daxingtai, and the taxes collected are directly exported to the military, which is also a variant of the military politics of the Western Wei hegemony.

"The pastoral land received by Gao Situ does not belong to the same kind of land, and the rent is exempt. However, the country is now in difficulty, and all the lords who are rewarded with acres of land need to lose property to help military funds, so they need to report to the township superintendent. ”

Coming to this Shangyang Shu, Zheng Man explained to Li Tai again, and then leaned over and whispered: "Lingshi Xinxing, the loss is undecided, if the pastoral harvest is poor and it is inconvenient to use, there are also flexibility." ”

Li Tai smiled when he heard this, but he still felt strange in his heart, can you, a civil servant, teach me to dig the corners of the imperial court like this?

Shangyangshu is a place where the soldiers and peasants of Zuojin Township gather and practice in their spare time, but now the late spring and early summer are busy with farming, and Li Tai has seen many farmers cultivating and working in the fields all the way from Huazhou City, so he naturally has no time to practice martial arts.

Therefore, there are only more than a dozen slave soldiers stationed in this fort, and even the lord of the fort is not in the fort.

Under Zheng Man's repeated urging, a slave soldier went to find the master with some reluctance.

The crowd waited outside the fort for more than half an hour, and the lord rode a horse that was too late, a tall middle-aged man in his forties with a hat on his head, and a lot of mud on his rolled up trouser legs.

"It's you Zheng Chou who came to trouble me again, and misunderstood my farming! If the harvest is poor, Lao Tzu's family will go to your house to beg for food! ”

The warlord, who looked like an old peasant, pointed at Zheng Man from a distance and scolded.

"You clumsy man, don't be rude in front of nobles! This time I entered the township, it is to include the high Situ in the middle of the court to be rewarded with the pastoral, this Langjun is engaged in the public mansion, and he is the blood of the Li family in Longxi, and he is willing to enter your township for employment, which is to add glory to your hometown! ”

Zheng Man was also accustomed to the vulgarity and rudeness of the villagers, first laughed and scolded, and then pointed to the lord and said to Li Tai: "This one is Zhou Changming, the lord of war, although the description is vulgar, but he is also a strong man of the township. ”

Li Tai dismounted and hugged his fists and said: "Hello Lord Zhou, a new entry to your hometown to make a living, if your words and deeds touch the local customs, I hope that the Lord will not hesitate to give advice." ”

"Longxi people? What to do in my country! I don't care what a high-ranking official you are, just remember not to harm my hometown, the countryside is big, but this township also has its own rules! If you dare to add those swords, guns, weapons and rods to my countrymen, the local sons and daughters will not be afraid to fight for their lives! ”

The lord had obviously never heard of the name of the Li family in Longxi, and he was very resistant to Li Tai and other outgoing visitors, and his words were quite polite.

Li Tai is not a spit on his own character, and he also sneered after hearing this: "The only thing that a landless man can live is this blood and sword in his hand!" People don't disturb me, I don't hurt others, if it's really unfortunate to lose harmony, life and death are small, and morale is big! ”

When the lord heard this, his face changed, and he glared at Li Tai, and after a few breaths, he went straight to the castle, ignoring the crowd.

"This week's anger is not specific to Li Lang. Since the establishment of Daxingtai to govern Huazhou, most of the public fields in the state have been awarded to the ministers. The military is arrogant and arrogant, and often duels with the villagers in the fields. Li Lang is a famous scholar, and he has the skill of natural treatment, and he will not interfere with each other, so he will not hurt the harmony......"

Zheng Man saw that Li Tai's expression was a little ugly, so he hurriedly stepped forward to persuade him.

Li Tai just nodded after hearing this, and said nothing more. When he was poor, even Zhao Gui, the general of the Western Wei Dynasty, dared to write a book to scold and offend, and naturally he was not afraid of the provocation of the villagers. However, going out of the city and into the countryside is still for the sake of sinking development after all, and I don't want to have too stiff relations with these villagers.

After a while, the lord Zhou Changming came out of the fort and threw a deed to Li Tai: "The original seventeen acres of public farming, planting grain in the open air, planting mulberry in the mountains, if planting other miscellaneous species is against the field style, don't blame me for acting in accordance with the king's law to uproot and destroy!" ”

After saying this, the warlord strode away.

After ending this unpleasant meeting and handover, after the title deed was in hand, Li Tai turned his horse around the fort and looked at the terrain, thinking about how to attack and break through it as quickly as possible.

Zheng Man didn't know what Li Tai had in mind, but seeing that he was wandering and refusing to leave, he didn't expect it to be a good thing, so he hurriedly stepped forward and persuaded him: "It's not early, and the garden industry still needs to measure and make a book......

Only then did Li Tai turn around, wave to the tribe and continue on the road, rushing to the pastoral field that was given.

Although Shangyuan is half hilly, the hills are not barren mountains with abrupt cliffs and rocks, they are all covered with thick soil layers, some of which have been reclaimed into mountain fields, and those that have not been cultivated are also densely vegetated.

The grange is located more than ten miles away in the north of the country, and on the way it also passes through a rural grass market set up on the hill, where some old people and women sell agricultural and sideline products and some simple farm tools.

Li Tai had already felt the xenophobic emotions of the villagers from the warlord Zhou Changming, and was worried that he might not be able to buy anything if he wanted to buy anything after the conflict intensified, so he paused first and asked Li Zhusheng to take a few entourages to buy some rural necessities, so as to be prepared.

Their team of 100 people marched in the countryside, attracting the attention of the villagers working in the surrounding fields. A few young and bold villagers followed the group with wooden sticks, looking around to find out where they were.

After another half an hour, Li Tai and his entourage arrived at their destination, a piece of land located between two dirt slopes. Zheng Man dismounted and looked for the boundary stone on the left, while Li Tai rode forward and surveyed the field.

This piece of land is the newly reclaimed public land of the county, and the title deed states that it was reclaimed in the seventh year of Datong, that is, the year before last, but this year it was not planted because of rotational cultivation.

Zheng Man explained that the reason why the rotation of cultivation is not due to the loss of soil strength, Zheng Man explained that it is because of the defeat of Bishan and the lack of labor force in the county, and the newly cultivated land generally has to be planted for three consecutive years to raise the land.

If there is a condition for intensive cultivation, it is the cultivation of one ridge at a time.

Because there is no plowing this year, a lot of weeds have grown on the ground. In the distance, there are some villagers driving pigs and sheep to graze, and when they saw Li Tai and a group of other people pouring into the fields, they drove their livestock to a distance, and some people carried baskets on their backs to carefully collect pig and sheep manure.

"The Boundary Stone is here!"

Zheng Man stood beside a dirt ditch, wiping the sweat from his forehead while pointing to the stones under his feet.

Li Tai walked over quickly, and after a little look, he frowned: "Has this boundary stone been moved?" ”

The title deed says that the western boundary of this pastoral field is located on the east edge of the ditch, but now this boundary stone is a mile away from the ditch, and more than a dozen acres of land have flashed, and those fields have been overgrown with green seedlings.

Not far away, several farmers with hoes stood by the ditch and looked out, while others were running briskly towards the village, still shouting to the fields, apparently shaking people.

As Li Tai's brows furrowed, Li Zhusheng and the others had already pressed their hands on the saber.

When Zheng Man saw this scene, cold sweat was pouring down his forehead, and he pulled Li Tai and whispered: "The villagers are diligent in cultivating the land, and it is inevitable that they will be heartbroken when they see the fertile land abandoned. Since the deed is defined as seventeen hectares, there is absolutely no reason to shrink, and I beg Lang Jun to allow me to make a short time to measure it, and make a new field book......"

Li Tai didn't have the idea of playing tricks in the township, and he didn't even think that the villagers' encroachment on land was an abominable practice of mistreating the people.

In ancient times, there were clear social classes, and compared with those big families who were polite on the surface, but in fact ate people and did not spit out bones, the villagers at the bottom used a little cunning tricks in order to make a living, which is really not morally corrupt.

If the villagers who occupied the area were willing to explain to him in a good voice, he would definitely not care, but seeing that the villagers on the edge of the ditch were gathering more and more, and it seemed that they had no intention of talking well, he would inevitably be a little angry in his heart.

"You guys stay here first, and if anyone dares to cross the line, they will be expelled directly!"

Li Tai gave an order to Li Zhusheng and the others, and then motioned to Zheng Man to start measuring the field.

Zheng Man carried a thick length of measuring rope, one end was tied to the boundary stone, and he rode out on a horse at one end, which was very much the taste of horse racing, and measured horizontally and vertically, and came up with 12 hectares of flat land.

The measurement of hilly and mountainous areas is a bit more troublesome, a mountain is more than 200 meters high, and the part that can be used for farming can only reach the mountainside.

Li Tai followed Zheng Man over the mountain, and saw a gentle valley, between which there are many bamboo trees and wild fruit trees, and a stream gurgling, the scenery is very beautiful, and the eastern boundary stone is at the foot of this mountain.

Li Tai waded directly through the valley, stood on the opposite hillside and looked at it again, and the more he looked, the more he liked it.

When he was about to turn back, he saw that the Hu man named Bao Lu of the Broken Wild Head was directing the two of them to carry the boundary stone to this place.

"Lord Lang, our Lutian has been invaded, and that Zheng Zhiben said that it should be added elsewhere, and the boundary stone can be moved a thousand steps east. The servant has long legs, where should I put the boundary stone? ”

Hearing this guy say this, Li Tai's mood also improved, and he pointed to the hillside to the east and said with a smile: "If you can cross the mountain beam in these thousand steps, I will give you half a fat sheep tonight!" ”

When Paul heard this, he was even more happy that his back molars were revealed, and he strode towards the hillside, still counting the steps: "Four hundred and thirty-five, two hundred and fifty-seven......"

Zheng Man simply sat in front of the bamboo forest in the mountain stream, and did not follow the inspection at all, Li Tai was also very happy when he saw this, raised his hand to summon Li Yantou, and instructed him to take the lamb bought on the two hills and give it to Zheng Man later.