In the second year of Taiwu, June, it was like a fire year.

Qinghe, northwest of Ganling.

On the straight road, there are three people who are moving forward with the flow of people. It's just that unlike the others, these three people didn't go to Ganling, but planned to cross the river to the Licheng area of Jinan, Qingzhou.

Although the Taishan army currently only occupies the counties north of the Great River, there is no further war with the princes on the Qingzhou side. But in this tense atmosphere, it is obviously not an ordinary person who dares to traffic to Qingzhou.

And it is indeed the same, these three people are none other than Lu Yu, Zheng Yi and Liu Deran, who have just finished their filial piety.

Originally, according to his father's will, Lu Yu planned to bury his deceased father Lu Zhi in Jundu Mountain, but the change of land still affected all this.

Originally, the situation of the Daidihu people was already treacherous, but under Lu Zhi's operation, it was directly ignited. During the three months of Lu Yu's filial piety, the entire Daidi was in chaos.

The Xianbei people killed the Wuhuan people, the Huns killed the Xianbei people, and then everyone killed the Huns together. Therefore, soon the small stability of Jundu Mountain was broken under this chaotic situation.

After refusing the invitation of the envoy of the Hu chieftain several times, Lu Yu and the three finally decided to end their filial piety early and move to another place.

Originally, Lu Yu and the others could still go back to their hometown in Zhuo County, but soon it was reported that the fields, mansions, and clansmen in their hometown had been cut, and the three of them had no place to go back.

At this time, a letter came from Xuzhou, and the sender was Zheng Yi's father, the famous Kanto Confucian Zheng Xuan.

Zheng Xuan asked people from Xuzhou to bring a letter to the three of them, saying that he had gained a firm foothold in Xuzhou, so that the three of them could choose the opportunity to go south to Xuzhou to join him.

Zheng Yi naturally wanted to go back, and Lu Yu and Liu Deran had nowhere else to go, so they also decided to go to Xuzhou together to look for opportunities.

The nearest road from Youzhou to Xuzhou is to cross the big river from the area of Jibei Kingdom, and then follow the road at the western foot of Mount Tai and pass through the Nimeng Pass.

But unfortunately, this section of the road has to pass through the territory of the Taishan Army, and the three of them are not willing to take this risk.

If you don't take this road, you can only cross the big river from Pingyuan County, and then pass through Qingzhou and Xuzhou. This road is not good, that is, the princes are everywhere, thieves are swarming, and they are robbed and killed by people if they are not careful.

So the three of them decided to go to Licheng first, and then borrow a team of soldiers from Cao Cao, the prime minister of Jinan, to escort the three south.

Whether it is Lu Yu or Zheng Yi, his parents are friends with Cao Cao, and even Liu Deran's brother Liu Bei has had a friendship with Cao Cao before.

So after the three of them planned, they decided to go to Xuzhou in Qingzhou.

From the end of this year, in the spring and April, the three of them packed up and began to set off from Youbei, and then until now, the three of them have stayed in the Jizhou area, which is incredibly slow.

Actually, this is what Lu Yu meant. The three of them knew very well that they would face the threat of the Taishan Army in the future, and in order to learn more about this enemy, the three of them decided to visit the Jizhou area more to see the real situation in Hebei today.

And now, the three of them finally walked to the area of Ganling and prepared to cross the river. This visit is also coming to an end.

But obviously, whether it is Lu Yu, Zheng Yi, or Liu Deran, the three of them are very silent, and they don't have the joy of escaping and ascending to heaven at all.

Why?

Because during this time, from Youzhou to Jizhou, the three of them visited dozens of li societies, and they all saw the penetration and expansion of Taishan Army's power at the grassroots level from the changes in these li societies.

And the infiltration of this power has brought about a tremendous change in the power structure of the entire local community.

In Lu Yu's own words:

"As you can see along the road, the various societies are organized into households and people, and the fields are divided into production, just like the Qin law in the past."

Of course, Lu Yu and the three of them had never seen the Qin Law in the past, but after seeing the situation in Hebei today, they all sighed that when the Six Kingdoms were in dispute in the past, the Qin State in Guanzhong was like this.

In this life, the pure Qin law did not last long, and it was probably "out of date" after the former Han Dynasty. When it came to this dynasty, all dynasties ruled the world with Haoqiang.

This shows that at the local level, the state and county are responsible for the right and the right, and in the township community, the power is delegated to the local three elders.

In other words, the power of the Han dynasty never took root at the local level.

And what did Lu Yu and the three of them see?

They saw all kinds of organizations in the local township communities, such as the township office representing the administration, and the field protection team of the military organization. There are also various organizations whose names are unknown, such as peasant associations, youth associations, women's associations, and youth associations.

And almost everyone in the township community will participate in more or less multiple organizations and integrate into this power system.

Lu Yu and the three of them can feel this power net simply as outsiders, not to mention those leaders. These people are invisibly wrapped in this big net, and they unconsciously become a part of the Taishan military system.

Among the three, Lu Yu received the most comprehensive education, not only with a high level of cultural accomplishment, but also with specific local administration, so he was the one who felt the most deeply among the three.

While Zheng Yi was still lamenting the depth of the Taishan Army's control over the place, Lu Yu was terrified of this control.

Because he understands very well that this dynasty doesn't want to learn the system of the Qin and Han dynasties? As a member of the ruling class, Lu Yu will speak responsibly and think very much, but they can't do it.

As long as they are rulers, they all hope to be like Emperor Qin and Han Wu, and they can mobilize the resources of the whole country to do great things in a moment's time. But it is a pity that every time the state power sinks to the next level, the money, food and officials behind it are a terrifying figure.

And this number will continue to increase over time, because the majority of the people in the village community will become more and more passive and confrontational to this kind of mobilization.

Therefore, Qin only died in the second generation, and the former Han Dynasty also halved the hukou, and the world fled.

Therefore, the current dynasty also learned the lessons of the previous generations and tried to make the localities tend to take care of themselves.

Therefore, for the state of the grassroots, it is generally to die as soon as it is grasped, and disperse as soon as it is released. These two are a paradox, and they cannot be both.

But what did Lu Yu see? But in the body of Taishan Army, I saw another grassroots governance method.

This method can not only put Li Shu under the rule within the system, but also will not provoke a strong backlash from the grassroots, so that the grassroots will flee.

Lu Yu didn't know if there were any special words to describe it within the Taishan Army, but in his own words, it was scripture, education, and punishment.

The so-called farming, education, and punishment means that in addition to the traditional affairs of taxation, service, and levy, the township office of the Taishan Army has also added mutual assistance in farming and production, moral education, and mediation of criminal names.

All these affairs were carried out smoothly by the township office in the process of field division and the use of field division activities.

When Lu Yu and the three of them were passing by a shrine in Lunu, Zhongshan Kingdom, they encountered such an incident.

They saw that many farmers would take turns using oxen and plows, and that they would be taught how to use new farming tools.

Those farm tools are all Lu Yu and they have never seen before, but as long as they have seen the use of these farm tools once, everyone knows that these are good things.

Later, Lu Yu and the three of them boarded in the Li Society, and learned about the policies behind these behaviors.

It turned out that these were all mutual aid groups organized by the Taishan army for the farmers, basically four or five households as a group, and the group shared ploughing cattle and farm tools.

These cattle and farming tools were distributed to each group by the township office.

At that time, Lu Yu asked one of the Qianshou and asked him that four or five households use a cow together, so there will be no one who does not plough the cattle at home, so they use it frequently, don't cherish it, and don't feed it well?

But who knows, this has been met with the white eyes of the head of the opposite side.

Qianshou told these white-faced nobles very bluntly:

"A few of them are definitely not our farmers, and what our farmers cherish most is this kind of big livestock, because we know that these things can save our lives, and whether we can survive the famine in the future depends on whether we usually use these animals well. Besides, these are all public, and we all have to give food. We all need paralysis in each group, whoever raises the cow badly, not to mention that the public can't spare him, even we can't spare him. ”

After saying that, the head of the Qianshou looked at Lu Yu like a fool, but it embarrassed Lu Yu.

But Lu Yu was also patient, and he later took Zheng Yi and Deran to stay here for a while.

Here, in turn, they learned more about the local policies of the Taishan Army.

For example, the old farmers they saw outside the company before who taught the farmers to plant were sent by the township office. This kind of old farmer is not only farming, but also sericulture, nursery, forest farm, mountain farm and various types.

These people were hired by the township government with money and grain to teach the leaders of the Qianqian and learn more advanced production techniques.

Even some of the workers from the Yecheng Agricultural Institute would come to these places to teach, and further spread more advanced agricultural technology.

And then there was what the chief of the Qianmen said, and the public office lent them the ploughing ox.

Lu Yu also figured out the situation.

It turned out that the township office not only borrowed money to cultivate cattle, but also borrowed money to grow grain. The aim was not to suck blood from the farmers, but to encourage them to cultivate new fields.

Why can't the poor Qiantou cultivate new fields? It's because in the first year of Xintian, you have to live on reserves. In the past, if they wanted to open up the wasteland, they could only borrow from Haoqiang, but once they borrowed, the high interest rate could suck these Qiantou bankrupt.

And now the township office has come out to help the leaders of Qian, helping them through the first year of land reclamation.

Lu Yu's first touch took place in this township.

From these policies of the Taishan Army, he saw an image of truly seeking the well-being of the leaders of Guizhou. He also saw that these policies are all encouraging production, as long as these policies are implemented in a solid manner, it is foreseeable that the entire Hebei will be fertile and become a real country of abundance.

Lu Yu is also a northerner, and he is still a northerner who has more ideals and can love the people.

Therefore, he was naturally full of affection for these policies of the Taishan Army.

But Lu Yu's identity is destined not to join the Taishan Army, and he must look at these from a hostile position.

And looking at these things from a different standpoint, he can see something powerful.

Once these Hebei Qiantou people listen to Taishan Army in their production and life, then this kind of consciousness will take root in their souls.

Maybe these people themselves don't know that with the implementation of these policies, they will inevitably become the appearance of the Taishan Army.

They were no longer the regional identities of the Zhao, Wei, and Zhongshan people, but unified into new households under the rule of the Taishan Army.

After that, the three of them set off again, and their journey to Hebei was not over.

They also saw a scene of litigation in a certain Sato in Julu County near Onozawa.

The matter of the lawsuit is nothing more than a trivial matter, but the person who presides over the lawsuit is different.

In the past, in the Han Dynasty, the people who presided over these lawsuits were the local sages and three elders. But now all of them are those village officials in yellow clothes.

These magistrates used these lawsuits to consolidate their authority. And their handling of the lawsuit has become a litmus test of their reputation.

When the county inspectors evaluate these township officials, they generally start with these lawsuits. In this way, these village officials also generally judge the lawsuit impartially, forming a good circle.

The above two kinds of Lu Yu can still be understood, after all, to put it bluntly, it is to replace the role of the village sages in the past.

But what he saw in the Wei County area later was completely beyond Lu Yu's imagination.

Wei County is the Gyeonggi County of the Taishan Army and the core area of the Taishan Army.

In this place, a new thing has appeared in the village community, that is, the envoy of the Teaching.

As they walked along the road, they could always see some people holding yellow paper in their hands and reading some teachings to the whole society.

Lu Yu and the others have heard it, and its content is nothing more than some daily quotations of the thief Zhang Chong, his views on things, his understanding of the group, and his evaluation of a certain case.

Even some of the content is about the proposition of the Taishan Army, the situation in various places, and the purpose of the policy. And there is still one of the most talked about, that is:

"The peasants are going to turn over!"

These things sounded relatively new, and then they were spread to all parts of the country with edicts and made people read them.

This kind of preaching is simply unheard of and unseen.

Thinking about the rule of three generations, it is nothing more than that, but now in Hebei, a so-called thief has done it.

All of the above things made Lu Yu silent.

Because he understands that the Han family will never be able to recover Hebei again. Because it has become unrecognizable.

After that, it was natural for Lu Yu to share his experience with the two senior brothers.

Zheng Yi had nothing to do, but silently absorbed the merits in these words.

But Liu Deran scoffed at Lu Yu's words.

Different from Lu Yu's evaluation, Liu Deran is full of disgust for this kind of ruling the place with officials, believing that it is a break of the morality and unity of the society in the past.

The countryside of Hebei that he saw was full of betrayals and denunciations, and the villain jumped to it by backstabbing the elders of the Li Society, which was a kind of moral degradation.

In Liu Deran's view, the countryside of the past is moral.

The upper side is governed by the countryside and the local is governed by moral elders, and the Han family is full of trust in these people and rarely interferes.

And Liu Deran is not a corrupt Confucian, he thinks that the village sages in the past are more able to protect the place.

Because the reason why the village sages are virtuous is that they are based on the local township community, they rely on morality, wealth, and status to gain the trust of the leaders.

Therefore, the village sages know that their power comes from below, so they are more responsible for these people.

And what about these rogues such as the Taishan Army? Each is like a tiger wolf, with no feelings or connection to the place. Repeatedly build water conservancy, do not cherish the people's power.

In Liu Deran's view, this is because the power of these local township officials comes from above, and how can these lowly leaders be kind to the locality, and they can command the local government to rely on the support of the Taishan army behind them.

And these little people also understand this, so they flatter and do not care for the people.

This is what Liu Deran despises, and he describes today's Hebei with people's hearts in turmoil and moral apocalypse.

In this way, Liu Deran and Lu Yu saw a completely different appearance of Hebei, which of them was right?

(End of chapter)