Changping Prefecture has four counties under its jurisdiction, and when it was first learned that a governor was going to be airborne to implement the reforms, the entire state was like a great enemy, but now, it has long passed this stage, like a punch on cotton.

It was really useless to face the enemy, and I didn't even see the shadow of a governor for more than twenty days.

And the eunuch who guarded the town, since he came to Changping County, unceremoniously lived in the Yamen of Changping Zhizhou, and regarded it as his own line.

didn't mention anything about changing the law, and first recruited a large number of idle people to serve as helpers. In this county, there is no shortage of idle green-skinned gangsters, and when they heard that the eunuchs in the palace were recruiting helpers, they enthusiastically signed up.

Then this Liu Zhenshou, Liu's father-in-law took people to walk around the street all day long, to see whose mansion was magnificent, so he went directly inside, and when he came out, he was smiling.

The host's face is painful.

In less than a month, this dead eunuch has caused disaster to the entire Changping County, but all the big families have not escaped his poisonous hands, and all of them have given him filial piety silver.

Now, this dead eunuch has begun to rush to Huairou Miyun and start to attack the big families there.

But this situation made the entire Changping Prefecture breathe a sigh of relief, this dead eunuch didn't seem to have come to change the law, but to seek wealth.

Even if you really come to change the law, now that you have accepted filial piety, you will eat people with a short mouth, and you will have to take care of them at that time.

And the most bottomless thing is the governor, so far, there is no trace.

The entire state and county speculated that the governor was likely killed.

bandits! ——

It is now early summer, and the wheat in the fields is already verdant and green, and as far as the eye can see, it is endless.

Many farmers are busy in the fields, weeding and watering fertilizer.

Among the ridges came a young man dressed in coarse cloth, about thirty years of age, with a cloth towel wrapped around his head, a hat on his back, and a pair of worn cloth shoes under his feet.

He led an old mule with a small burden on his back.

If there is an acquaintance who sees this young man, even if he can recognize his identity, it is Wang Shouren, as for this outfit, this mule, he bought it in exchange for a horse in a peasant family.

He tied the mule to a tree beside the road, looked back at the busy peasant man in the field, then untied the burden from the mule's back, took out two pieces of bread from it, and shouted to a busy farmer in the field:

"Do you have water? Ask for a bowl of water to drink. ”

The farmer was weeding in the field, and when he heard this, he raised his head and looked at the voice, and saw that he was a young man about thirty years old, and he looked very loyal.

Wang Shouren bit a piece of bread in his mouth, walked forward, and when he got closer, he handed another piece of bread over, shook it, and motioned for the farmer to catch it, and then said: "I won't drink your water in vain, I'll exchange this bread with you." ”

The farmer looked at the dough and swallowed his saliva, but waved his hand again and again, "No, it's just a bowl of water, how can you exchange the dough." ”

"Come on, fellow, it's hot, and I still have a lot of bread left, if I don't eat it all quickly, I'm afraid it's going to be bad."

Hearing this, the farmer took it a little embarrassed, but he didn't rush to gnaw, and hurriedly ran to the side from the bucket he brought, scooped a full bowl of water with a large porcelain bowl, and handed it over, "Housheng, drink water." ”

"Thank you." Wang Shouren stretched out his hand to take it, and he was not polite, and drank it with the bowl.

The farmer asked, "Housheng, I don't hear you speak with an accent like ours from our local area, from other places?" ”

"Yes, I came here to visit friends, and I was hungry and thirsty when I passed by, so I wanted to beg for a bowl of water."

Wang Shouren found an open place to sit down, holding half a bowl of water in his hand and a dough cake in the other hand, looking at the wheat seedlings in front of him, and asked casually: "I think the growth of this wheat is good, I am afraid that this year's fellow can harvest a lot of grain, right?" ”

"Huh" the farmer got the bread, but he didn't hide it, and snorted, "Where to harvest the grain, this land is not mine, we are just tenants of Master Zhang's family, and most of the year's harvest has to be handed over to the Zhang family." ”

"Since you are the master, there is a lot of land in the Zhang family, right?"

"It's a lot, the land around here is the Zhang family, we are all tenants of the Zhang family, and everyone is busy working in this field. Go over there, walk another two or three miles, and there is a large piece of land, which is also the Zhang family, the Zhang family is a large family in the local area, not to mention that the family also has a 2,000 acres of land, and there are hundreds of tenants alone. ”

"Thousands of acres is indeed a lot, but it is not as much as the land of the old man Liu's family in the next township, I heard that the old man Liu's family has more than 5,000 acres of land."

The Zhuang Hu must have known about this Master Liu, and immediately twisted his mouth, "What is Master Liu?" The old man told you that the Zhang family's 2,000 acres of land are only on the surface, and Master Zhang's nephew is Wu County's Cheng of Changping County, and he is famous.

Master Zhang dedicated most of the land to the name of Wu Xiancheng, so that he did not have to pay the taxes of the imperial court. ”

"Yes, I really don't understand that." Wang Shouren smiled, "Then according to the villagers, isn't the entire Wudian Township land owned by Master Zhang's family?" ”

"Wudian Township is a big township, there are more than 20 villages, there are 30,000 acres of land, there are 18,000 acres in the Zhang family, the rest are ordinary people's, and some are the rest of the old man's family, but no one can compare to this old man's land."

Speaking of this, the old man seemed to ponder, "What are you doing as a young descendant?" ”

Along the way, all the way to inquire, Wang Shouren will have the same rhetoric every time he talks to others, one is to dispel the other party's doubts, and the other is to spread the news, so he said:

"Fellow villagers don't know, when I passed by Jingshi, I heard that the imperial court was going to implement the law change in Changping Prefecture, to measure the local acres of land, and to implement the apportionment into acres."

"The imperial court wants to change the law in Changping Prefecture? What is a paving into an acre? ”

"It is to abolish the poll tax, and in the future, only the tax will be collected according to the number of acres of land in the family. The more land there is, the more taxes are paid, so I have nothing to inquire about, don't you know about this kind of thing? ”

"Where do we people know about the things above, but it's a good thing, the emperor and those nobles in the court think it's the best, but it's very rare to do this."

Seeing that the old man shook his head, and had no hope for this change, Wang Shouren smiled, "What do you think is a difficult method?" ”

After sitting on the ridge and chatting for a long time, Wang Shouren said goodbye and left, and took out a notebook from the burden on the mule's back, which was full of handwriting.

He took out another brush from his bosom, and the ink on the brush was a little dry, and he took a sip of it with his mouth and recorded it in his notebook.

"Wudian Township, Changping County, has more than 20 villages, more than 30,000 acres of fields, and a large Zhang family, whose nephew is Wu County Cheng in the county, who colluded to conceal thousands of fields, as well as the surrounding areas."

Recording all the important information he had just heard in the notebook, Wang Shouren took the notebook back into his baggage, led the mule and walked forward along the ridge.

(End of chapter)