stubborn thief

Liu Chengzong didn't plan to stay in Suzhou City for too long.

Originally, according to his idea, the army from the expedition would need a few days to rest, and Suzhou was a good place to rest. At the same time, he could get familiar with this land by checking the official documents of Suzhou Wei.

The latter is the most important thing for Liu Chengzong, because the war is fought with soldiers, horses, money and food. The expeditionary army of the Marshal's Mansion has soldiers and horses, but the money, food and weapons and equipment are all consumables that eat less and use less.

The Jiuquan oasis where Suzhou is located has both military productivity and a large amount of irrigation and agriculture. It is a rare and important stronghold.

It's just that Liu Chengzong had only been in the city for two days, took out the old documents in the yamen of the Weisuo, dried them in the sun, glanced at them briefly, and then gave up the plan to read the official documents.

Not reliable.

None of the data on population and land is reliable.

This is also expected by Liu Chengzong. The so-called policies above have countermeasures. The government and the people are always in a dynamic game. In the early Ming Dynasty, the population was emphasized, and the people tried to hide the population; .

This change caused Liu Chengzong to want to know the exact population, but neither the court nor the government had wanted to know the exact population for nearly a hundred years; the number of acres of fields.

Therefore, Liu Chengzong simply summoned Song Xian, the current commander of the Suzhou Guard, and asked straight to the point: "How many people and households does the Suzhou Guard have?"

Song Xian bowed his head and said: "Back to Commander, these few days I have been sorting out the population settlement matters."

Liu Chengzong nodded: "How is it? Is there any difficulty in doing things? You are almost losing all your money."

Suzhou Wei does not set up prefectures and counties, and military and administrative offices, so the same official position, but somewhat different from the mainland, mainly reflected in the greater power to supervise civil affairs.

Therefore, it is his job to be in charge of government affairs, but Song Xian's businessman background is not a seasoned subordinate official, Liu Chengzong worried that it would be more difficult for him to do things.

Liu Chengzong's worries were not groundless. He selected several military officers from the Huben camp who were skilled in logistics to check Song Xian's accounts.

This guy is indeed good at making money. In two years, he has earned more than ten thousand taels from more than a thousand taels of cash, but this is reflected in the accounts. Liu Chengzong feels that his earning money has nothing to do with ability, but has a lot to do with luck.

In the past year, he has dealt with all walks of life, and he can maintain a break even in wine and hemp rope, but he is in a state of loss in lending, land, and pawn, especially in pawn shops, whose accounts are falsified, and many things in the warehouse have been confiscated by the Three Tribulations. The shopkeeper took it out, and the account book was a big hole, which couldn't be filled at all.

After the burning of the IOUs and the incident, his property has shrunk severely. Even including the shop, land, vehicles, horses, boats and mills, it is only 3000 taels of silver... This also caught up with the fact that the national policy of the Marshal's Mansion is to equalize the land. The governor set an example and confiscated all the fields.

His property has to be discounted in half again.

When Liu Chengzong saw him, he originally intended to give him a high-ranking official and a generous job, because Song Xian was a businessman who obeyed the law and was very humane;

To measure a person's ability, it depends on what industry the person is engaged in. Different industries have different values, while a business firm depends on how much money it can make.

...

Therefore, in Liu Shizi's view, the money of this great benevolent person in Suzhou seems to have been earned by luck and is slowly losing money by ability.

When Liu Chengzong raised such a worry, Song Xian smiled embarrassedly, clasped his fists and expressed his different views on wealth, he said: "Back to the commander-in-chief, I have nothing to do with a humble job, relying on studying for a few years, tinkering with things from the Western Regions I went to the southeast, traveled thousands of miles, experienced life and death, my hometown is full of yellow sand, and the southeast is full of gold."

"On the way home, there is a drought in Shaanxi. Thirty copper coins are a life." Song Xian shook his head: "The world is in chaos, and money is nothing but possessions."

"But in Suzhou Wei, after all, there is some popularity, and it will not delay the matter of the commander-in-chief."

Liu Chengzong nodded, and Song Xian finally got to the point: "Suzhouwei household registration is registered once every ten years as a rule, but it can be traced back to the 760 and 830 Suzhouwei households in the Jiajing period. It hasn't changed since then."

"I estimate that there should be more people in Suzhou than this. Although the guards have been short of troops over the years, the deserted soldiers have not left the oasis, and the local population is still increasing."

"Now that the commander-in-chief's mansion is in charge of Suzhou, he has suffered some wars, but some people have fled the oasis. In addition, the commander-in-chief also wants to include the general's registration into the civil registration. With a large number of household registration changes, the past documents cannot be referred to."

"The fields need to be re-measured, and the household registration needs to be re-registered. These are not things that can be done in a short time." After Song Xian said, he cupped his hands and said, "I hope the commander-in-chief will give the humble staff two months to complete this time."

two months.

Liu Chengzong thought about this time in his heart, noncommittal, and said: "In two months, Zhang Tianmu, registration of household registration, and distribution of fields, how much land can a person in Suzhou get?"

Most of the local officials in the Ming Dynasty did not pay attention to the exact number of the population, but the number of fields, and Liu Chengzong was the same, after all, he did not collect poll tax.

Statistics are only a means for Liu Chengzong to grasp the local situation, and all means point to one goal, the summer grain of Jiuquan Oasis.

The reform of the land system has run through almost every dynasty change and internal reform in ancient China, and dictation of land has never been a new concept. As an official in charge of political affairs in Suzhou, Song Xian immediately understood that the land equalization system was the basic policy of the Marshal's Mansion.

He was confident about this question: "Back to the commander, Suzhou Wei Juntian, it should be between [-] and [-] mu per mouth."

The huge number shocked Liu Chengzong, and he blurted out: "So many?"

In fact, this number itself is not large, but the place Liu Chengzong is most familiar with is Hehuang, where the land is narrow and densely populated. The average field is six or seven mu per family, and a family only has [-] mu of land.

Jiuquan is good, and one person can be awarded [-] mu of land.

He asked: "After all, Jiuquan has 30 million mu of land?"

"more than."

Song Xian explained: "The Heihe River Basin has always been a state..."

He half-spoken, stared at Liu Chengzong with fear, but saw Liu Chengzong smiled indifferently, waved his hands and said: "Go on."

"Since the early Ming Dynasty, the farmland has been irrigated in Heishui. The Jiuquan oasis originally had nearly 30 mu of land, which is not counting the pasture land of the Jinta Temple outside the pass."

...

Song Xian talked about this in a clear way: "However, the changes in the land are mainly in two aspects. The first one is easy to handle. It is the occupation of good land by the guards and internal supervisors. The humble officials have already arrested more than a dozen old officials from the old dynasty who invaded the land. Just wait for the commander-in-chief to leave."

Liu Chengzong nodded slightly, signaling him to continue talking.

"Secondly, the weather changes in the whole of Hexi. Jiuquan has been reclaiming fields, and the land available for cultivation should be no less than 50 mu. However, in the past few decades, there was a lack of water and sandstorms, and the fertile land was encroached. Water conservancy is not good, and disasters occur frequently. , the military households have nothing to do when they encounter a famine, so they can only plant widely and reap little.”

Song Xian spread his hands and said: "After decades of extensive cultivation, the fields in Jiuquan Oasis have become more and more barren. Even if some places have been reclaimed, they are now sandy land, so the fields that can be used for farming now, It’s only 20 mu.”

After explaining the difficulty of farming in Hexi, Song Xian took a careful look at Liu Chengzong, and said: "The humble official knows that Hehuang produces more than a hundred catties of grain per mu, and Jiuquan Ji dictates that although there are many acres of land, the people's harvest must be hard to match Hehuang's. "

Liu Chengzong shook his head, looking a little disappointed.

Different places face different environments. The soil in Hehuang is fertile. As long as there are people, as long as people have land, the land equalization can solve all the problems of the Marshal's Mansion.

But Hexi is different from Hehuang. The biggest problem here is that the poor have no place to stand, but the environment has been damaged by decades of extensive farming, and the lack of fertility has caused a decrease in yield per mu, and even desertification of the soil.

This problem cannot be solved by the Marshal’s Mansion’s average land purchase of taxes. The average land purchase of taxes should be based on the fact that the people can rely on half of the grain production for self-sufficiency. Jiuquan’s extensive cultivation, [-] acres may not be as good as Hehuang’s [-] acres. Improve the land It is also wishful thinking for poor and white people.

After all, in the area where the land is vast and sparsely populated, every mu of land is intensively cultivated, which is far beyond the ability of ordinary people.

The problem before Song Xian was that the soldiers and horses of the Sixth Battalion of the Marshal's Mansion entering Hexi were waiting for the summer food supply from Jiuquan, and the soldiers and horses of the Sixth Battalion were carrying mules. In fact, the supply officer of the Huben Camp had already told him the required number. .

To maintain combat effectiveness, an army in the early 580s would need [-] three stones of wheat beans every month.

The summer grain harvest of the entire Jiuquan Oasis is only enough to feed the Sixth Battalion of the Marshal's Mansion for three months without starving the locals.

Liu Chengzong's disappointment did not come from the low output of Jiuquan Oasis, but mainly because of the situation in Hexi. Jiuquan is like this, Liangzhou doesn't know what to do, but Ganzhou must be the same.

He still has two months' grain, which means that Jiuquan has to collect the summer grain before May, and the front line needs to advance between Ganzhou and Liangzhou before June.

Because it is conservatively estimated that it will take two months for the larger Zhangye Oasis in Ganzhou to equalize the land, otherwise he will not be able to survive this winter.

This means that the time left for him is only three months.

Liu Chengzong tapped lightly on the tea eucalyptus with his fingers, and looked at the smallpox with absent-minded eyes, thinking about the problem.

During this period of time, Song Xian stood in front of him in fear. The so-called companion is like a tiger because he doesn't know what the tiger in front of him will say in the next moment.

Until the sound of Liu Chengzong tapping the tea leaves with his fingers stopped, he looked up at Song Xian, and said seriously: "You only need to do three things well, and the other things have nothing to do with you. Don't worry, number one."

...

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and said to Song Xian: "Those officials who were arrested for occupying the military fields do not need to be imprisoned, and they don't need to be selected. After their property is confiscated, they will all be sent to the quarry in Haixi County, where their talents and knowledge will be tested."

"Secondly, it is the collection of land and summer grain. The Suzhou Guard confiscated a lot of money and grain. The confiscation of wheat beans can solve one-third of the problem, and the rest will be bought with confiscated money. died."

Song Xian responded seriously, he knew very well what would happen to him if this matter was not handled properly.

Fortunately, he was involved in Jiuquan's shochu business, and mobilizing the confiscated money to buy food was considered his job. However, after this incident, I am afraid that the shochu shop will also have to close down... It is a foregone conclusion that the assets will shrink again.

"As for the third one, it's a good thing that you can't just let you do sinners."

When Liu Chengzong said this, he finally smiled and said: "When I was in Shaanxi, Zhou Zhizhou of Ningzhou gave me a book called "Tu Mai Min Tian", which was written by Geng Yinlou, a Jinshi in the reign of Tianqi, with more than 3000 books. Words, this person is in Dangzhi County, Shandong Province."

The magistrate of Ningzhou is Zhou Riqiang. He was a county magistrate in Lijin, Shandong, and Geng Yinlou, who wrote "Tu Mai Min Tian", was the county magistrate of Linzi.

"The situation in Gengzhi County is somewhat similar to that of Jiuquan. There are too many lands, and the people plant extensively but harvest little. Under such conditions, it is impossible to implement intensive farming, and extensive planting and low harvest will make the land worse. So he invented the pro-field method. , write it down in the book."

"The book says that the reason why this method is called "Qintian" is that the land is favored and everything is biased. It is like a person's selfishness, and he is more intimate than others."

Liu Chengzong spread his hands and said, "For example, if a family of five divides one hundred acres of land, that is, one hundred acres is divided into five districts. Eighty acres are still widely planted and poorly harvested. Only one district with twenty acres is selected, and plowing, planting, harrowing, and manure are all added." If there is a drought, it will be irrigated with water, and if there is no water, it will be better than taking care of the other side."

"In this way, in a good year, the harvest can be many times that of the other [-] mu; even if there is a drought or flood, there will be another [-] mu of harvest; It can catch and save locusts.”

"In the second year, choose another area and still cultivate the fields according to the previous method. Then, if you cultivate a hundred acres of land in five years, you can grow a fertile land; this matter is not limited to the number of acres. Each district has five mu; if there are two hundred mu of land, each district has forty mu.”

After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he asked Song Xian: "Is this the method of pro-field, have I explained it clearly?"

Song Xian nodded one after another. He is also a person who has read books for several years. He only needs to listen to this simple method to understand it very well. Afterwards, Suzhou Wei will be full of fertile land!"

The method of pro-field method is very simple, but the most difficult part of this type of agricultural method is not in innovation, but in promotion. Without the promotion of those in power, it is impossible to implement it on a large scale, and it does not make much sense to use it for each household.

Liu Chengzong was not as optimistic as Song Xian, he just said: "With the situation of Jiuquan Oasis, decades of extensive planting and low harvest may not be able to reverse the soil fertility in five years, but according to the pro-field method, the soil fertility must be better every round. If one round is not enough, then two rounds, and if two rounds are not enough, then three rounds will always make Jiuquan full of fat."

As Liu Chengzong's words fell, guards outside the hall entered the hall with letters.

When Liu Chengzong opened the letter, he saw Gao Yingdeng's handwriting. The letter stated that a Ming army of more than [-] men was stationed on the edge of the high platform. He set up a pocket formation in the desert, but he failed to wait for the enemy to take the bait.

At this time, this army had already set up a stronghold and dug trenches on Gaotai to establish a defense line, and then two Ming troops with more than [-] soldiers also joined the defense line. Gao Yingdeng speculated that the strategy of the Ming army was to defend to the death.

So he sent Tangqi to fight each other, and the two sides won and lost each other. According to the captives, Li Hongsi, the deputy general of Suzhou, led the troops, and the two reinforcements were generals from Ganzhou Road and Wu Juren from Xianning, Xi'an Prefecture. Lin Chengdong, Tang Mingshi, a Zhenyi guerrilla who came from a hereditary hundred households in Liangzhouwei.

Liu Chengzong looked very happy after reading the letter, he stood up and patted Song Xian on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Okay, you go to your business, they always do this, when they see me, they put on a posture of being beaten .”

"I'll give you one year to implement the Qin-Field Law in the Jiuquan Oasis. If the war goes well, you can do these three things well. In the next two years, maybe the whole of Hexi will need you to promote the Qin-Field Law."

stubborn thief