Xuande

Chapter 636
People like Lao Du, who started from the bottom and worked hard all the way, have a very deep understanding of the government and officials.

They are well aware of the unreasonable privileges and mentality of the government and officials. They know very well that the government is a donkey, and they must follow their wishes and flatter them, otherwise even a small county magistrate can bankrupt them.

So for a long time, everyone has been getting along in a friendly way based on mutual benefit, and this day is still a happy one.

As a result, suddenly the new county magistrate doesn't want any money.

It is not a good thing for an official to not want money.

If he doesn't want the money, he may be here for everyone's life.

However, Guan Jing didn't say anything important at that time, and asked everyone to keep their duties, do their own things well, pay taxes according to regulations, and nothing else.

But it was this seemingly normal behavior that made Lao Du, who started from the bottom, wary. During this period of time, Lao Du kept sending people to Luoyang to inquire about the news, wanting to know what happened in Luoyang.

This constant inquiring, really inquired about a lot of things.

For example, General Liu Bei kept arranging his disciples and old officials to take up positions in the surrounding areas of Luoyang, and this Guan Jing was one of them.

A large number of Liangzhou people parachuted to Sanfu and Sanhe to take up official positions, including local chief officials, some of the official positions below the county level that controlled real power were occupied by these people related to Liu Bei.

Those in charge of punishment, taxes, and law and order, these powers that were originally shared by the major local families were all occupied by Liu Bei before and after the Luoyang Incident.

The local families in the original Sili area either cooperated with Liu Bei, or were annexed by Liu Bei. He also destroyed more than a hundred famous families in the Sili area by purging the Jinwen School in the first wave.

Then the interests and power held by these families were swallowed up by Liu Bei, and various positions were occupied by people he arranged to occupy a lot of power.

I don't know where Liu Bei got so many former students and old officials.

At present, only a small number of positions are still under the control of local families, and the political situation in the entire Sili area is basically dominated by Liu Bei's family, so some local families are talking about it, thinking that this is not a good thing.

The power at the grassroots level has been controlled by Liu Bei, so the entire Sili region will also be controlled by Liu Bei. At that time, Liu Bei, who will cover the sky with one hand, can do whatever he wants?
But for them, relying on land wealth and some slaves, it is not easy for them to have some influence on the local area. If they want to influence Luoyang, they are absolutely incapable of doing so.

That is to say, there are all kinds of teachings and streams in Luoyang City, with a large population and a lot of mouths to eat, so these small local families have the opportunity to pick up some leftovers. Without Luoyang City, how can they stand up and call the shots?
And at that time, Liu Bei's army was killing all over the world. He Jin Yuan Kai's party members, and related families of the Jinwen School were killed by Liu Bei one after another. Killed.

They were afraid of being targeted by Liu Bei, afraid of being regarded as He Jin and Yuan Kai's henchmen, or people related to the Jinwen School, so they dared not speak out at all.

Fortunately, Liu Bei didn't take any further actions. After a long time, Lao Du gradually let go of his guard, thinking that he should be able to live a stable life in the future.

After Jian'an two years later, when he heard that General Liu Bei was going to Bingzhou, Lao Du felt more at ease. He thought that a person who is so busy as the General should not take care of us small fish and shrimp, right?
Unexpectedly, the "Slave Restriction Order" was issued less than three months after Lao Du felt relieved.

Lao Du got the news at the first time, but he didn't know the specific content. When he learned the specific content, it was also when the official announcement from the Xincheng County Government was delivered to him.

Looking at the requirements of these local families in the "Slave Restriction Order", Lao Du's eyes darkened and he almost lost his footing. Fortunately, his son Xiao Du stood beside him and supported him.

"Father, what... is this "Slave Restriction Order" going to do? We can only keep three slaves? All the others have to be sent out?"

Xiao Du's complexion was very bad, and of course, Old Du's complexion was even worse.

He carefully studied the "Slavery Restriction Order" again. With his keen sixth sense, he found that the slave restriction order was a little tolerant to the officials, but very unfriendly to those who had no official status.

The previous policy was that even if they had no official status, they could still have [-] legal servants. As long as they could afford it and hide it, it didn’t matter if you bought more or less. I don't want to worry about it either.

There are more refugees and starving people on the streets, and they can't bear it. They are also happy if there are fewer refugees and starving people.

But who would have thought that the general in the Luoyang court would go crazy and cut off nine-tenths of the quota with one knife.

People without an official status can only have three servants at most, and they have to report to the government. All the rest of the family members cannot be slaves. safety of life...

This……

This is clearly playing hard against them!
For local families like them, the number of slaves has a lot to do with the momentum of the family.

The larger the number of slaves, the more manpower can be used for family arming, family services, and expansion of the family business, which is very beneficial to the development of the family business.

Because these people bought at the lowest price during the famine years, and then squeezed them for a lifetime as they wished, without any other follow-up expenses, such as illness, the master would not care at all, and let the slaves fend for themselves.

There is no expenditure, only income, so the more slaves there are, the richer the master will be.

And once so much free labor is lost, if you want to maintain a family business of this scale, you have to hire people to do it, and the hirers have to pay for the food.

At that time, the expenditure will increase and the income will decrease. A family's business will inevitably face a huge impact. Some rising families will also be interrupted for this reason, and even face the decline of the family business.

And there is a huge hidden danger here.

Although it is said that the same scale of manpower can be obtained in the form of employment, the nature is different.

Slaves have the power of life and death in their hands. The master has absolute power over the slaves. The slaves dare not resist, for fear that the master will find out the slightest sign of resistance and be killed.

The government will not control the life and death of a slave, so in order to survive, slaves who know this will obviously increase their obedience, beating and scolding, working hard and complaining.

But if it was a person of other nature, how could he be as obedient as a slave and still make the master feel at ease?

And more importantly, slaves don't need to pay money, but free people will lose face if they don't pay money.
You let the slave make a face and do a little sabotage?
If he was not beaten to death on the spot, it would be considered smoke from the ancestral grave.

No matter from which point of view, there is a huge gap between buying slaves and hiring free people. A mature family helm can distinguish the pros and cons, so more and more families choose to keep slaves.

But with the "Slave Restriction Order", the situation is different.

They immediately lost the qualification to keep a large number of slaves. If the order is strictly followed, the Du family, old and young, will count. There are only eighteen clan members in total. Even if each of the eighteen people binds three slaves, they can only stay Down 54 slaves.

Compared with the more than 300 slaves currently owned by the entire Du family, it is only one-sixth.

You must know that at present, the entire Du family is not only managed by slaves in daily life, but also slaves who drive ships, slaves who are armed with guards, and slaves who cultivate the land in the fields.

In order to cut costs and increase profits, all slaves are used if they can be used, so slaves have penetrated into every aspect of the Du family's daily operations and life.

If these four-fifths of the slaves are taken away, the Du family's entire property maintenance and daily life will have problems. It will be chaotic for a while, and various expenses will also increase sharply. It is really uncertain whether the current state can be maintained in the end. must.

So of course the Du family is one thousand and ten thousand unwilling to respond to this policy.

As a result, including the members of the Du family, many local families who had the same experience began to rush to the county government to seek an explanation from the county magistrate.

They thought, if there is no explanation, they don't mind showing their muscles to the Luoyang court, don't think that we are afraid of us at the feet of the emperor!

(End of this chapter)