"Your Majesty, there is indeed such a village." Only then did Lu Wei dare to raise his head and replied with arched hands, "Lujia Village is surrounded by mountains, and it has been an extremely poor village since the Qin Dynasty, and the officials of previous generations have not been able to get it out of poverty. The meaning of the words is that the officials of the past dynasties have no way to get Lujia Village out of poverty, so the current situation of Lujia Village is not incompetent.

Lujia Village is under his jurisdiction, if Zhu Yuanzhang summoned him because of this matter......

In addition, there are 23 households in Lujia Village, all of whom are surnamed Lu and make a living from farming and hunting. Due to the dangerous terrain, the previous war did not affect the village, and there are still a lot of young people in the village. ”

"Hmm." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, satisfied with the answer of the county commander Lu Wei. If a county magistrate doesn't even know the name of the village under his rule, how many people and villagers live on, then he doesn't have to be the county magistrate. And Zhu Yuanzhang is extremely strict with officials, so he is very diligent in response to the county orders around Tianfu.

"From now on, we will be the head of Lujia Village under your rule."

"The village chief?" Lu Wei didn't understand, "May I ask Your Majesty, what is the village chief?" ”

"The village chief is the head of a village as the name suggests, do we still need to teach you?" Zhu Yuanzhang said. Because Qin Yu misunderstood him as the village chief last time, he had to appear in front of Qin Yu as the village chief in the future.

"Your Majesty." Lu Wei said, "The largest land planning in my Ming Dynasty is the province, the smallest is the county, the county implements the armor protection system, ten households for one of the first and ten for the first one, so there is no village chief." ”

"Not before, but from now on." Zhu Yuanzhang said lightly.

"Your Majesty is the Ninety-Five, why did you suddenly think of being the head of a poor mountain village?" Lu Wei was surprised.

"It's none of your business." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, you just need to do what we want." ”

"Wechen obeys." Lu Wei respectfully accepted the order, and guessed in his heart that Zhu Yuanzhang probably wanted to engage in a private visit to Weifu, so as to observe the people's feelings, almost all emperors in ancient and modern times have done this kind of thing.

"Your Majesty, on the surface, the countryside implements the armor protection system, but in fact, it is the township elder system. In the village, big and small matters, disputes between neighbors, are discussed by the patriarch and several respected elders, and then a decision is made. To put it simply, the patriarch and the senior elders in the village, that is, the township elders, are the actual rulers of a village. ”

"If Your Majesty goes over to become the village chief out of thin air, I'm afraid the villagers won't listen to you. Because even the chief and the chief of the security department are only responsible for registering the household registration, and they have to be ruled by the village elders on major matters. ”

The patriarch and the old man with high rank are in real power, and even the chief of the guard has to listen to them? Zhu Yuanzhang frowned after hearing this: The concept of clan and family is really ingrained in the hearts of the people.

In their opinion, those with the same surname are their own people, and the others are outsiders.

"If Your Majesty is going to be the village chief as the emperor, then you will definitely be able to command the villagers. But if you become a village chief as an ordinary person, it will be difficult to get their welcome. Lu Wei continued.

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression became even more solemn when he heard this: The clan family is really the real source of the chaos in the imperial court. A small mountain village court can't put a village chief in it, let alone those wealthy families and century-old gate valves.

They are like independent kingdoms, floating outside the court.

Zhu Yuanzhang used to be a farmer and deeply knew the power of the clan energy.

The clan even has the power of life and death.

For example, if a woman is found stealing a man behind her back, the patriarch can order the villagers to soak her in a pig cage and deprive her of her life without going through the government. In the event of a dispute between the villagers, the patriarch and the village elders can decide who wins and who loses the case after discussion, and if there is a dissatisfaction with the ruling, they will ask the ancestral family law to obey it.

Even if a villager kills someone, the patriarch and the village elders are not allowed to sue the official, and no one among the villagers dares to sue. If no one sues the official, then the court will naturally not deal with it. So many times there are homicides in the village, and the government is still kept in the dark.

It is precisely because of such rules that people abound to die unjustly. Because the patriarch and the village elders rely on their most simple emotions to adjudicate a matter.

And their level is very limited, they only know that everything is according to the rules of their ancestors.

Even some patriarchs and villagers are not good people themselves, and they will use the power in their hands to seek their own benefits. It does not mean that if you are virtuous, you must be virtuous.

Of course, the clan also has benefits, for example, if the children of any family have no money to study, the patriarch will organize everyone to contribute money and help together. When the man of the family dies, everyone will help the orphans and widows together.

There are also those who are filial to their parents, and women who keep festivals, and the clan will also commend them and build chaste archways for them to pass on to future generations.

"In the early days of the founding of the country, the harm of the clan families could not be seen, because their energy was limited when they had just experienced war. Once the peace has been peaceful for hundreds of years, and the dynasty has gone through several generations of emperors, then some clan families will develop into behemoths. Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself, "They will continue to annex land, accumulate wealth, and even recruit private soldiers." ”

"If there are more such clans, then the power of the imperial court will be invisibly divided, so that the country will be shaken in the end. In the end, the clan power is rich and rivals the country, but the treasury has no money to use. This is what Mr. Qin said, the country is poor and the people are rich. What is even more terrifying is that the court has no power, and the people will only know that there is a clan but not the court. ”

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang realized the forward-looking and profound nature of what Qin Yu said to him yesterday. Qin Yu's words can be said to have seen the whole society through.

This person's vision is really very poisonous, there is no one before and no one after him!

"We just want to go to Lujia Village as an ordinary person to be the village head, whether we can live up to the name, you can figure it out yourself." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"This ......" Lu Wei looked embarrassed, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to do." The magistrates of successive dynasties basically followed such a criterion, that is, to try not to interfere in the internal affairs of the clan. Because if you interfere too much, it will cause the whole clan to be dissatisfied, and they will stand up and resist under the leadership of the patriarch. If the resistance fails, the clan will even die to make it clear. ”

"So as long as there is no murder or arson and someone reports it to the officials, the magistrates will turn a blind eye. And if someone in the village really violates the law of the country and has been known to the imperial court, the clan patriarch will also take the initiative to let the criminal be sent to the government. The magistrates had always been careful to maintain their relationship with the clans. ”