stubborn thief

Chapter 419

During the Mid-Autumn Festival in the sixth year of Chongzhen, the family banquet at the Marshal's Mansion was extremely lively.

In the previous Mid-Autumn Festival, their family would not talk about banquets, even dinner was very simple, because either the ancestors and brothers were not there, or even if they were, they would hurry up and leave after eating to be with the army.

Only this year, Liu Chengzong planned to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival at home completely, so Mrs. Cai was very happy, and started to hold a banquet half a month before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Since they entered Xining, the two sons have been busy fighting wars, but the holidays are definitely a big event for the whole family.

Whenever the family reunion is supposed to happen, Liu Chengzong can be absent, but Mr. Liu must write invitations, and Mrs. Cai must also be busy making arrangements, inviting a lot of people every time.

Yang Dingrui's wife and children, Cao Yao's wife, Fan Sanlang, Bai Liuxi, Yun Jiaoyue, and his in-laws Wang Kun's family, as well as grooms, guards, and servants at home, are all family members, let alone holidays. , usually have a meal together basically.

Mr. Liu mainly wrote invitations to the family members of the generals who led the army, such as Luo Rucai’s uncle Luo Danen’s family, Basang’s wife Mei Duo, or those close to him such as Liu Jiusi, Li Wanqing, Shi Chengwo, He Xin, Li Humble, as well as those like Xie Erhu who are very obvious about blending in, are all included in the invitation.

Of course, those who are not invited can also come. Many people are not invited just because they have clansmen, such as Liu Guoneng. If you have a big family, Master Liu will not make trouble.

And this year's situation is different from previous years.

This is the first time that the Marshal's Mansion neither fights during the Mid-Autumn Festival, nor prepares to fight after the Mid-Autumn Festival, nor is it worried about being beaten after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

It was also the first time that several Mongolian nobles who needed to rely heavily on in the future, such as Batuer Huntaiji, Jitutaiji, and the injured Guoshi Khan all lived in the new city, not to mention the eight wives of Chahar.

In Mr. Liu's heart, these eight wives are a bit like a heart disease.

Although the three brothers have all made up their minds to marry their Mongolian mother-in-law, Liu Xiangyu also knows that this is a necessary step to stabilize the situation in Mongolia, but he just feels uncomfortable.

This has little to do with the second marriage, and it has little to do with the bloodline, but the bloodline plus the second marriage has become Liu Xiangyu's heart disease.

When he dreams at night, he will always dream of Liu Chengzong's grandfather, who is in the old cemetery that has been moved out of Heilongshan. For some reason, there is a temple.

But a heart disease is a heart disease, and a dream is a dream, but Liu Xiangyu didn't tell anyone about this worry.

Mrs. Cai said that the eight of them still write invitations, and they just called home a few days in advance to prepare, and entertain guests together.

"No." Liu Xiangyu said: "Even if you want to get married, you have not been through the door yet, and you are considered a guest when you come. How can you let the guests follow along with you? What kind of hospitality is it?"

"Then Sanniang, Liuniang, and Yunniang didn't go through the door either, so why don't you write invitations for them?"

"Is that my daughter-in-law..."

After blurting out, Liu Xiangyu blinked, and found that his wife had caught a loophole in his careful thinking, so he could only laugh dryly, "I thought she was just passing through."

In any case, the soldiers and civilians in Hehuang this year are indeed full of joy. Although the news from all over the place is only reported to Liu Xiangyu, people are all guessing about the good harvest.

A good time like this deserves a celebratory feast.

Then Liu Xiangyu discovered that when he built this handsome mansion, he still didn't think carefully.

It's not that his vision is low, Liu Xiangyu was the magistrate of Mizhi in the years when he was a pianist, and he has seen many things even if he has not enjoyed them, and even if he has not seen them, he has heard of many things.

But his son started a rebellion with a hungry army, and he didn't take the route of thieves who would die after a happy game, so from the beginning, he was very restrained about extravagance and ostentation.

Their family is very generous to the generals, the army, and the students, especially Mrs. Yang and Mrs. Cao, whose husbands are away from home. Every season, Xining Mansion will have new jewelry, rouge, and inner and outer clothes of the best fabrics delivered home. .

But taking turns is not the same thing for me, until now the whole family does not wear silk, if not counting the military uniforms and Liu Xiangyu's official robes, the most extravagant clothes of the whole family are Chengyun's satin gown that has only been worn for a few days.

Presiding over the construction of this new city and the Marshal's Mansion was the most extravagant time for Liu Xiangyu. Even so, although the architectural decoration is the same as that of the Prince's Mansion, the interior is actually a large yamen, and it is a military yamen.

There are more than 70 rooms, eighteen of which are for the guards alone, and six rooms are the same as the county government office, three rooms wide, and the layout is exactly the same as the enlarged county government office. For government affairs, the back hall is the living yard, and the actual living space is not as exaggerated as the palace.

As a result, in the design of the Marshal's Mansion, there are only two side halls that can accommodate 20 people, and there is no consideration for a banquet hall with more than eight tables.

But on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was a bit cold to set the tables in the yard at night, so it was finally decided to move all the furnishings in the main hall of the second entrance to the warehouse and the map room first, and then set up ten tables smoothly, and it was still in the same room. Prepare six tables in the front hall, in case there is no place for officials to sit when visiting.

For this, Liu Xiangyu said it was a pity. He felt that this kind of mansion project like the marshal's mansion would only happen a few times in his life. Maybe now that he has experience, he will not have much chance to repair it in the future.

After all, Mr. Liu is very clear about the current strategic goals of the Marshal's Mansion. If he marches eastward and collects Longxi within two years, Xining's geographical location and traffic environment will not be suitable for managing the whole territory.

Lanzhou is a more suitable location for the center, and there is King Su's Mansion in that place; even if it goes further in the future and enters Guanzhong, then Xi'an will naturally become the new center, and there is also King Qin's Mansion there.

Before the world is completely pacified, they may no longer have the capital to make large-scale construction projects like they did during the Marshal's Mansion.

Therefore, the demand for this banquet hall is basically useless to Liu Xiangyu, and his experience has increased.

In the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the guests had arrived and people were seated, Liu Chengzong appeared in the central hall in a rare uniform, and greeted everyone with fists together, and then sat down in the main seat with a smile on his face.

When people saw him sitting down and knew what to say, they all looked forward to it. He smiled and said to everyone: "Brothers, uncles, sisters and sisters-in-law, some of you followed me three years ago and left my family and business all the way west. It’s been the third year since we went together in Xining!”

"Three years ago, I said that I would lead everyone out of a way out."

Liu Shizi took a deep breath, raised his head and said, "Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the [-] township security guards in the five towns of Hehuang, and the [-] mu of military farmland west of Xining have reported their land properties."

"In the Huangshui River Valley to the east of Xining, there are 65 mu of grain fields planted by 72 people, with a grain output of [-] shi!"

As soon as Liu Shizi's words fell, the roof of the marshal's mansion was almost lifted by the sound, and all the generals attending the banquet, especially those who followed from northern Shaanxi, clapped and applauded among themselves.

This grain output is not high for the Huangshui River Valley, but Liu Chengzong has a very satisfied smile on his face.

He paused for a while, then continued: "The [-] mu of military farmland west of Xining has also produced [-] stone grains; before the spring of next year, the Yaoshui River Valley will open up another [-] mu of irrigated fields. We have gained a firm foothold in Xining!"

In the joyous atmosphere, Liu Chengzong accepted the toast from the generals and their families under his command, and the entire Marshal's Mansion was immersed in a joyful atmosphere.

Among them, the grain production in Huangshui River Valley this year, what pleased Liu Chengzong the most was that it increased his confidence in the policy of equalization and land distribution.

Especially in the five towns of the Huangshui River Valley, the [-] township security guards, because the landlords were afraid of his looting, packed up their belongings and fled voluntarily before the Hehuang War.

Their yield per mu is actually not high, and the land is divided into pieces. Specifically, each household is divided according to the population. Where the land is barren, each household will be allocated two or three mu more, and in fertile land, each household will be allocated one or two mu less. In fact, almost every household has this income.

There are only more than 700 exceptions. They are Hehuang soldiers and officers in the seven field battalions of the Shuaifu. As long as they have parents and wives in their hometowns, the township also counts these soldiers as Dingkou, and can divide four to nine acres of land.

There are more than 4000 Hehuang soldiers in the seven field battalions of the Marshal's Mansion, but because most of the soldiers surrendered, the land in the village had already been allocated, so after adjustments in the later period, more than 700 of them still have their household registration in Hehuang.

The remaining more than 1000 households with families in the local area moved from the Huangshui River Valley to Juerwan, where the newly reclaimed land of the Marshal's Mansion can be distributed. up.

However, corresponding to the policy of soldiers occupying heads and dividing land in the local area, these soldiers will also lose the extra monthly rations that the commander-in-chief encourages to start a family.

Even so, settling down in a local area will bring more income than extra monthly food.

The extra monthly ration itself is different from the military ration. The soldier ration is fixed, but the extra monthly ration that encourages starting a family is not fixed.

At first, it was based on the honor of the soldiers, and the minimum was only [-] catties of highland barley noodles per month. However, in addition to the honor of the soldiers, it will also change due to the location of the garrison. One hundred catties of highland barley flour.

In some places where it is easy to obtain other food, they will substitute other things, such as tea in the mountains, salt in Haibei and Haixi, and tobacco and ghee in other places.

This is only the treatment for veterans in northern Shaanxi. Later, they were divided into field battles and herdsmen, and began to pay the army. The extra monthly rations could be converted into lion tickets, silver taels, and barley according to the soldiers' wishes.

But in general, it is not as good as getting a family and giving more land.

This means that the 800 people in the Huangshui River Valley have nearly [-] catties of raw grain per capita, and more than [-] catties of finished grain after processing... This is a very high amount of grain.

For Liu Chengzong, this per capita grain possession of more than 800 catties was even more significant in terms of achievement than any victory in defeating the enemy head-on on the battlefield.

Because if the possession of land and grain itself is not per capita, then in an agricultural society, per capita figures are meaningless.

For example, the per capita possession of more than 1000 catties of raw grain is the same, and the owner farmers after land equalization are replaced by one landlord family and [-] tenant farmer families. The result is the same, but the people's living standards are completely different.

Not counting taxes and apportionments, just a simple calculation, half of the tenant rent, four landlord families accounted for more than 4 catties, and 4 tenant peasant families accounted for more than [-] catties, which is equivalent to [-] catties of raw grain for each tenant farmer.

Calculated, the finished grain is less than 300 catties.

Of course, more than 300 catties... It is definitely no problem to be alive.

After all, there are usually children and elderly people in the family, and the appetite is not so big. The family may be a little short on transactions and living materials, but it is not very bad, at most, they do not have the ability to bear unexpected risks.

But it was a bumper harvest.

This is also the reason why tenants must have cattle. They have to rent more fields and do more work. It is difficult for tenants to guarantee a long-term life in such fields with an average population of seven or eight mu and an average household of twenty to thirty mu. They must rent at least forty or fifty mu. , can be said to have a long-term life.

In a place like the Huangshui River Valley, if you have a tenant of [-] acres and a family with a small population, then during the harvest season, the tenants can eat meat as much as they want, and drink as much as they want, and the family will have new clothes to wear during the New Year. There are also meat dumplings to eat...it can even cultivate a good family.

A son of a good family who can be tested for fame by studying literature and can go to battle by practicing martial arts.

For example, Wang Jinzhong's old father, their family was originally allocated seven acres of land, but because of a son who served as a soldier for the Generalissimo, the family had fourteen acres of land, and there were people in the village to help when the farming was busy.

Of course, helping is not in vain. Not every household in the village has cattle. Generally speaking, depending on the population of each household, there are ten or five households with one official cow. They are given priority to military and abnormal households who lack manpower. They share the rations for raising cattle and farming. When cattle are used from time to time, the price is the life, old age, sickness and death of abnormal households or military dependents, and the other households have to help.

If the official cow is sick, it must be reported to the township on the same day, and there is a veterinarian in the township; if it dies, the township security must report it to the five towns on the same day through the emergency courier shop, and the five towns will take the carcass away to measure the cause of death. The compensation is one to five taels.

Father Wang, who has [-] mu of land, lives at home as if a family of two rented [-] mu of land.

What kind of day is this?With two thousand catties of raw grain alone, he would never be able to eat it all. He didn't need to prepare winter clothes. Even if he didn't consider telling his son to marry a wife, Father Wang could eat a catty of mutton every day for a year.

But in Hehuang, where the land is narrow and densely populated, if one family can rent [-] mu, it means that ten families have no land at all;

The Huangshui River Valley is not counted as a mountainous area, and there are only [-] households.

Juntian can enable everyone to have a good life in normal years, and also have the ability to resist risks in occasional disaster years.

When the banquet ended with laughter and the guests were sent away, Chengyun found Liu Chengzong and Liu Xiangyu sitting in the hall, both father and son looked serious and worried, and couldn't help asking: "Second uncle, brother, what's the matter?"

"Kinda."

Liu Chengzong raised his drunken eyes: "Can Juntian be promoted to other places?"

"It's hard." Chengyun didn't drink much, and shook his head with a smile: "Not to mention the distance, Hehuang is not only the valley, the north and south mountainous areas of the valley, 40 natives and 300 million mountain fields, all of which are not enough... the manpower in all parts of Longxi is even greater. insufficient."

Chengyun said and pointed upwards: "We have [-] township security officials, they can set up towns, but this is only enough for three or four counties at most. In the final analysis, there are not enough people rooted in each township, and the average land cannot be used. Local subordinates, with them we don’t even know how many acres of land a county has.”

"How many people are needed in Longxi?"

Chengyun was stopped by the question, swallowed his saliva, and glanced at Liu Xiangyu, but saw the second uncle and old god sitting beside him without saying a word, so he could only say: "According to forty counties, 280 township insurance, [-] A town..."

He couldn't go on anymore. For such a huge project, the team needs nearly 2 people. Veterinarians alone need to prepare 3000 people.

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong was not discouraged: "Lanzhou, starting from Lintao, used Hehuang's land per capita in Lanzhou, and recruited Lintao's township officials to learn and share Gansu's land. In ten or eight years, all the land in Longxi was given to it. .”

Liu Chengzong stood up, shook his head, and opened his hands: "I want them to walk on the muddy dirt road with their shoes on, let them cross the river on a crumbling bridge in the mountain wind, and let them drink bitter wells." Water and houses that always leak, and barren land where everyone works all day long."

"I want people in the poorest places to live... like human beings!"

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)