Hu Changan directly told his questions to the old farmer.

When the old farmer heard this, he also replied with a smile: "Young man, why don't you even know this? ”

"As tenant farmers of the Lan family, why do we still have to listen to the government?"

"We don't pay taxes to the government, our taxes are directly handed over to the Lan family's family."

What?

As a tenant farmer from a large family, he doesn't have to pay taxes to the government?!

Hu Changan immediately thought of the trick inside.

If there are more and more such people, won't Da Ming have to exist in name only?

The government's control over the people at the grassroots level is achieved through two parts: taxation and forced labor.

The people were obliged to pay taxes and pay for forced labor, and the government was responsible for providing relief to the people during disaster years and pooling their efforts to build the necessary infrastructure.

This is also the most basic cornerstone of the existence of the dynasty.

But now these peasants say that they don't need to pay taxes to the government, but only to the Lan family?

In this way, wouldn't it be that they were sheltered and changed from the official mansion to the Lan family?

The Lan family can be called a mini country.

Such a country, China, has encroached on the land of the Ming Dynasty in disguise.

And the final demise of the Ming Dynasty is also inseparable from these heroes.

In the Ming Dynasty, the children of the royal clan and the families of officials did not have to pay taxes at all.

Not only did they not have to pay taxes, but they also occupied a large amount of fertile land, and countless servants worked for them.

So in the late Ming Dynasty, the state could not collect taxes at all.

After all, the best fields have been occupied, and only a few acres of thin fields can be taxed, and no matter how much they are scavenged, they can only scrape off a layer of oil.

The treasury is empty, and some of the things that need to be done naturally cannot be done.

In the later Ming Dynasty, even military salaries could not be supplied.

The soldiers who closed the customs had neither food nor clothing, so they were naturally not as strong as the Jurchen soldiers.

Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, this phenomenon already existed.

Hu Changan couldn't help but clench his fists.

It seems that this matter in Lishui County is not easy to handle.

But the Lan family ..... Such a rare surname, could it be her?

Hu Changan came back to his senses from his reverie and continued to ask the old farmer: "Uncle, the Lan family you are talking about, could it be that the Liangguo Gong is a family?" ”

"Hey, who else can there be, of course it's Liang Guogong." After hearing this, the old farmer also readily admitted it.

Hu Changan couldn't help but quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

It's the Lan family, that's easy to do.

He knew Lan Haitang, the principal of the Lan family, and he didn't panic.

What's more, although Lan Yu is a little reckless, he still thinks about Daming, and he is not the kind of person who sacrifices the interests of the country for the sake of being able to blink an eye.

Besides, now that the prince Zhu Biao is still there, Lan Yu is a hardcore fan of Zhu Biao.

If you really can't let Zhu Biao persuade you, won't everything be solved?

Hu Changan thought for a while and continued to ask the old farmer: "Uncle, I wonder how many tenant farmers in your village are like you who farm for the Lan family?" ”

The old farmer smiled and replied without thinking: "Hey, in our village, everyone is a tenant farmer of a large family. ”

"After all, as a tenant farmer of a large family, you only need to pay some food, and you don't have to serve forced labor, so you are more comfortable."

"Originally, I was the only tenant farmer in our village, but now everyone is being asked by the big family."

"Half of them are tenant farmers of the Lan family, and half of them are tenant farmers of the Li family."

Hu Changan couldn't help but be speechless.

This phenomenon of land annexation is really serious!

The fertile fields that can't be seen in front of you have all become under the name of the big family?!

"Anyway, this Li family is ......," Hu Changan asked if he had something to say.

After hearing this, the old farmer said with a serious face: "Hey, young man, why don't you even know this?" ”

"This Li family is the family of Li Shanchang, the imperial master of the dynasty!"

"But if you want me to say, it's not good to be a tenant farmer of the Li family, and you pay too many taxes."

Sure enough, it's the Li family!

Hu Changan sighed.

It's going to be hard to do now!

The Lan family is okay to say, Li Shanchang's guy has always looked at him unpleasantly, and he wants Li Shanchang to let go of the meat in his mouth? Difficult.

However, the top priority at the moment is to check the county's population register to see if things are really as the old man said.

Seeing that he had received the required news, Hu Changan thanked the old man and hurried towards the county office.

Before leaving, Hu Changan also specially asked the name of the old man.

The old man's name is Zhang Wu, and the village where he lives is called Zhangjia Village.

......

After returning to the county office, the first thing Hu Changan did was to go to the treasury to check the population directory.

Nowadays, the household post system of the Ming Dynasty has been established and perfected, and the directory in the county treasury neatly registers the names of all the people in the county.

Of course, tenant farmers from large families are not among them.

Fortunately, Hu Changan came with the prince's handwritten letter, and he can barely be regarded as an errand here.

So when he proposed to go to the warehouse to check the directory, the county commander Wang Tao did not stop him, but silently handed over the key to the warehouse to Hu Changan.

The reason why Hu Changan wanted to check the directory of the people was to prevent large families from secretly hiding the population.

In order to get more land, the practice of large families privately hiding land is full of tricks.

What a lie to conceal it, that's already a pediatric act.

Some big families even swaggered to buy off the government, removing part of the population from the official roster and directly incorporating it into the name of the family, becoming tenant farmers of the family!

Of course, during the Hongwu period, these families were still not so arrogant.

At best, it's just a cover-up.

Hu Changan flipped through for a long time, and finally turned to the roster of Zhangjia Village.

I saw that there were more than 40 villagers on the roster of Zhangjia Village!

Among them, Uncle Zhang's name is impressively on the register.

If Hu Changan hadn't gone to visit the site, he would not have known that these villagers had become tenant farmers of big families!

Sure enough, the family concealed the number of tenant farmers under their name.

They secretly bought off the yeoman farmers and turned them into tenant farmers under their own name!

It is no wonder that the Lijia system cannot be promoted in Lishui County.

The people on these lists have become tenant farmers of big families, and who will listen to the government?

It's not that the people don't understand the law, and it's not that the people deliberately disobey orders, but that they are already attached to the name of the big family.

At present, if you want to implement the Lijia system in Lishui County, the only way to let the people return the fields is to let the people get their hands back!

After all, these fields are still the fields of the government in name, not the fields of these big families!

Hu Changan discovered this major logical loophole and hurriedly found Wang Tao, the county magistrate of Lishui County.

However, Wang Tao seemed a little unimpressed: "Oh, Brother Hu, calm and calm." Now the big families are doing this, we are just two little sesame officials, why should we offend those big officials? ”

"Even if we really can't complete the task in the end, it's not our problem!"