Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 119: Dead Loop
On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month in the second year of Jian'an, although there were endless wars in the Central Plains, natural disasters and man-made disasters in Guanzhong, and the war in Hebei was in full swing, the situation in Jiangdong was relatively stable. Bai Tu's "deep well disease" had been greatly alleviated after the number of deep wells in various places reached the standard.
However, the rumor about the "deep well disease" has never dissipated. Even in the central part of Wu County, several deep wells that had been dug were deliberately destroyed. Although the Ministry of Justice did not find out the result in the end and attributed it to an accident, there were rumors everywhere that it was Xu, who did not want to reveal his name, who could not stand Bai Tu's harm to the people, so he made the protest!
Anyway, that's what the rumor said, and Xu didn't refute it...
There has been a big rumor in Jinling City recently. It is that Gan Ning, who came back to report on his work, wanted to leave Jinling City overnight and return to his base. However, he was stopped by the city guards and was restrained and taken back by the governor's guards!
If this is true, a general was repeatedly ordered to leave the governor's office and return to his base, but was stopped... the implications of this are really disturbing.
Although this rumor is true, the strange thing is that there is no chaos in the governor's mansion...
The city of Jinling was peaceful at this time. Rich people from Jiangdong could be seen everywhere, delivering wine and meat to every household.
Bai Tu even saw Yu Fan's wife personally carrying a bamboo basket, and together with the maids and servants, delivering warmth, cold food, wine and meat to the elderly and widows in the neighborhood, and even giving a hundred dollars to those in special need.
"You are really good at pretending to be a good person... When we become rich in the future, we must give wine and meat to the common people every New Year!" Lu Lingqi said in a displeased tone.
"That means... you also want to pretend to be a good person?" Bai Tu asked in surprise.
"Bah! How can you say I'm pretending when it comes to my business!" Lu Lingqi retorted.
At this time, Bai Tu and Lu Lingqi were walking in Jinling City in casual clothes. Bai Tu wanted to take advantage of the first month of the year to look around and get a deeper understanding of people's livelihood.
Of course, Bai Tu was not as pretentious as Sun Ce. Although he was walking in plain clothes, he could see Zhou Tai, who was like an iron tower, protecting him in secret from a few dozen meters away...
In terms of "secret protection", Zhou Tai is really not as good as Taishi Ci!
With Zhou Tai's physique, it is really difficult for him to "go dark".
There are also some strong men who are obviously well-trained in the crowd around Bai Tu. Besides, this is still in the city, so there is no need to worry about assassination.
Bai Tu did not comment on Lu Lingqi's comment that they were "pretending to be good people", but it was true that the wealthy families at that time, especially the aristocratic families, still attached great importance to their appearance. During the New Year, they all spent money instead of going door to door to ask Xier to pay off their debts.
This is not just a show, but is done for the common people to see. What the noble families value most is reputation. Perhaps some emerging wealthy families will occasionally show their "rich" side, but no noble family will make themselves infamous in the countryside.
As people of later generations, we all know the concept of "dynasty cycle", and when we mention the end of a dynasty, we will definitely think of "land annexation".
However, after looking at the white map of the Jiangdong files, one thing is clear - there is still a big difference between the land annexation at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the land annexation at the end of the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The first and most important point is that with the population of the Han Dynasty at that time, the cultivated land area was fully capable of reaching the labor limit of "one household per hundred acres", which was an advantage that the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties could not match after the population explosion!
Since the reign of Emperor Huan, the problem of arable land in the Eastern Han Dynasty was “abandoned arable land” rather than “no land to arable”…
Behind the "land annexation" is "population annexation". For later dynasties with population expansion, the average arable land per household was only 20 to 30 mu, or even less.
For the landlords at that time, if there were enough tenants dependent on them, they could cultivate the land intensively and increase production. If no one depended on them, they could also cultivate the land roughly - the demand for manpower was very elastic!
As a result, farmers who lost their farmland had to rely on landlords.
But nowadays there is no such thing as "intensive farming". Anyway, there is enough land and everyone mainly practices extensive farming. In other words... there is no restriction on farmers in terms of land use.
Although privately reclaiming wasteland is against Han law, under the current situation, even if the imperial court is rigid, the local princes cannot rigidly prohibit land reclamation. Instead, they strongly encourage it.
From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, it was not land annexation that brought about population annexation, but population annexation that brought about land annexation!
The population is concentrated in the names of major wealthy families, not because of the land, but because of the heavy taxes and levies - during the Three Kingdoms period, the tax rates of the three families were around 10:5, which was already a number that challenged the limit of survival. After all, the farming technology at that time determined the production capacity limit of each household.
Instead, they should band together with the wealthy and avoid some taxes, so that the people can feel more comfortable...
However, Lu Lingqi had been exposed to the world and understood some of the reasons. She knew that if the imperial court could not touch the wealthy families in various places after the further loss of population, it would have no choice but to continue to increase taxes, forming a negative cycle.
So in Lu Lingqi's eyes, these people are just "pretending to be good people ."
To break this cycle, we can't just explain to the common people that I collect so much tax because they pretend to be good people. You should break away from the aristocratic families and tide over the difficulties together with the court...
I don’t believe you!
Even with Bai Tu's popularity, it is impossible for the common people to change this logic.
Either the imperial court takes strong action and forcibly puts the population back into its own accounts, or the imperial court establishes a reputation in the hearts of the people that exceeds that of the local prominent families...
Both are difficult.
Giving people some wine and meat during the New Year, isn't that the wool coming from the sheep?
As for the governor's mansion...
I really can't afford to give Bai Tu away. After all, the governor's mansion is huge and has so many troops to support and to store food for disasters. I can't just add another 10% tax as a reward during the New Year, right?
Seeing Lu Lingqi's angry look, Bai Tu comforted her: "We don't need to send wine to loosen the meat. We should let the people afford to eat ."
"Both are difficult" for others, but Bai Tu can easily do things that others cannot do.
For example, the third method is to quickly increase productivity, directly release the population from the farmland, and violently break the vicious circle!
But it still takes time. In recent years, Baitu is still regarded as the "shame of time travelers" and has been "extorting heavy taxes" on farmers who make a living from the land. Commercial taxes cannot be expected at all.
When Lu Lingqi heard the word "meat", she couldn't help shrinking her neck: "Are we really going to eat pork today?"
"Don't worry, it's definitely different from the pork you have eaten before!" Bai Tu said confidently.
"Should we be kinder and not drag Mr. Lu and the others into this? Mr. Lu is old..." Lu Lingqi was very kind.
Tonight, Bai Tu invited all officials above the rank of doctor in the six ministries to come to the governor's mansion... to eat pork and meat!
The friends from the major families were all stunned, as if Bai Tu was going to treat them to shit.
It's Chinese New Year, and it's reasonable for the governor to hold a banquet with his staff, but...is the amount of pork too much?
If Bai Tu didn't have the reputation of being the "reincarnation of Shennong" and could have turned the matter into "understanding the sufferings of the people", it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was "humiliating" his subordinates!
After hearing the news, Gan Ning wanted to "escape" back to Chaisang overnight, but was forcibly suppressed by Bai Tu, and is now forcibly detained in the mansion...
