General Constitution of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 175

Until Ning Jue left Wu's house, rich man Wu didn't quite understand the difference between this "spread into the mother" and "one whip".

Looking at the back of Ning Jue going away.

"No matter how the imperial court's law changes, this land is also where you don't grow and some are of human race!"

"Pooh!"

Rich man Wu spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and was afraid that Ning Jue would turn around, so he hurriedly ordered the chief worker to close the door of the house.

After returning to Lian Yue's home, Ning Jue didn't move his chopsticks much.

Only Lianyue's younger siblings ate happily with a table of food and wine.

"Brother Chen, do you have an idea of ​​how much labor our Xishan corvees have to put in each year?"

Father Lian Yue bowed again and again and said: "You are a nobleman, I really dare not be your big brother, you can just call me Chen Lao Er."

"Although I am illiterate, we must know about the corvee."

Then Chen Laoer counted with Ning Jue with his fingers.

"You also listened to me before. Master Wu said that this year's corvee is fifteen yuan. This corvee is the average corvee set by Emperor Xiaozong and his old man, which is what the old people in the village call handyman."

The corvee in the Ming Dynasty was divided into regular service and miscellaneous service.

And this average service refers to helping the county government, working on shifts, and temporarily helping subordinates, such as ferrymen, bearers, and altar bearers. Originally, private households took turns to help the county government. It has also become part of the subordinate staff, and the salaries of these people are paid by the corvee.

"These fifteen coins are actually small coins, and the real big ones are active duty."

"The Weaving Bureau needs silk, and the Guanglu Temple needs cattle. Every year, the Confucian Temple and the gods from all walks of life are enshrined at four seasons. If the people from Juzi County who come to Beijing to take the exam in a disaster year have to collect some money for them, there is also Beijing. The nobles who came down will come and go..."

Ning Jue memorized every word Chen Lao Er said carefully.

The corvee system has existed for 2000 years, and it has its own necessity.

Excluding the food and drink such as welcoming and sending officials, it is not too much to share the rest of the expenditures such as repairing river embankments among the whole county, but the terrible thing is that the gentry can be exempted from corvee, and these burdens will gradually be eliminated. It fell on the heads of ordinary people.

"In the early years, I heard the old man say that when Emperor Xianzong was around, the corvee was not so heavy. Last year, we calculated the bill, and our family used up nearly two stones of food just for the official service."

Ning Jue dried the ink on the paper, then stood up and said, "I roughly understand, Chen..."

"You can just call me Chen Laoer."

"Second brother Chen, are the neighbors all asleep? I want to ask these few days, and touch the corvees in our village, and then they will be useful. Of course, my work is not in vain, and I am bothering you."

Hearing that there was money to take, the creases on Chen Laoer's face almost burst into laughter.

"Don't bother, don't bother, they are designated not to sleep."

Not long after, Ning Jue heard Chen Laoer shouting from house to house.

"Ninety-four, open the door!"

"Da Zhang, Da Zhang, it's me!"

"..."

Listening to Wu's second son's voice, Ning Jue seriously doubted whether the villagers were really awake.

After some investigation, it was roughly found out that the corvee responsibilities of the villagers in this village are generally around one stone and sixty catties, which is six cents of silver if converted into silver based on the price of grain in Xishan this year.

Counting clothes, shoes and socks, at least one mu of land can be produced in two seasons a year.

The village has roughly [-] mu of land.

The rich man Wu's family occupied [-] mu of it, just because his ancestor passed a Juren, the rest of the village more or less shared the remaining [-] mu of land, and some tenants did not have a single mu of land.

The only motivation to support them to continue farming in the village is the dozens of acres of wasteland outside the village. Once they open up a few acres of wasteland for their own family, life will be easier.

And according to the villagers, each village has dozens of acres of wasteland.

Only in villages with this kind of wasteland, would there be tenants willing to continue to rent the land from the landlord’s family.

After all, no one wants to live a life without end in sight.

Only Ning Jue knew that these tens of acres of land were not so easy to open, even if they could be opened, what would the tenants in the village do when all the land was opened?
"Alas." Ning Jue finally sighed.

In the next few days, Ning Jue followed Wu's second child to find out about the regular expenses of the neighboring villages.

According to this year's grain price, it basically fluctuates around six renminbi.

This is why it must be implemented after a whip method.

Because they couldn't whip, the imperial court didn't know how much silver should be allocated to the fields.

The food price when the whipping method was collected is destined to be abnormal, and the number and price of corvee labor in years of disaster and good year are all dynamically changing data, and it is necessary to use the whipping method for a period of time to find out a rough estimate. Intervals, and then breed people, and never add gifts.

But what Ning Jue can do now is to investigate from the common people first, and then go to the grain merchants to estimate, in order to get a rough figure.

Ning Jue didn't throw the account book in his hand on the table until he returned to Chen Laoer's house on the last day.

"Xishan's autumn harvest is almost over, we have to say goodbye, thank you, Brother Chen, for your hospitality these days."

"It's okay, it's okay!"

Chen Lao Er was all smiles, the money Ning Jue gave during the few days he lived in his house was already enough for them to pay the land tax this year, at least this year the family could live a little more comfortably.

Until Ning Jue and his party were sent back to Xishan County, Chen Laoer still held Ning Jue's hand firmly, reminding Ning Jue not to forget to come often.

"Lianyue, your father is very polite."

Lian Yue said shyly: "Qian Xian joked, it should be done."

Ning Jue was startled when he heard the words: "What do you mean?"

Only then did Gu Qingnong open his mouth and said, "Remind me, you have already spent nearly three taels of silver in the Chen family these few days."

"How many?!"

"Do you want to borrow money, little censor?"

Ning Jue finally understood why Chen Lao Er kept smiling so happily.

In a trance, Ning Jue even felt that Chen Laoer's back had overlapped with that of rich man Wu.
-
When Ning Jue decided to directly set up a pilot project in Xishan, Ning Jue sent someone to Zou's house to report a letter, asking Zou Wang to take Xishan back to the Xishan County Government to discuss matters.

Zou Wang and the others did not dare to delay.

After gathering almost all the people, I was in a hurry to return to Xishan.

It was just when Zou Wang was still waiting for the boat at the pier.

But Zou Wang saw an old man standing on the pier with a stack of books waiting for him.

He Qian, who has been sheltering from the wind and rain with his senior brother Lu Huai without his teacher, has studied "knowledge" all his life holding the sage classics and is about to become an official, looks like an ordinary old gentleman.

"Mr. Jiyang?"

When Zou Wang and his party saw He Qian, they couldn't help but suppress a smile.

"I haven't seen you for a while, how are you doing recently?"

Zou Wang said so, but he almost lay down on He Qian's face to observe He Qian's injury.

He Qian opened his eyes and glanced at Zou Wang contemptuously.

"You don't need to look at Yuanwai Zou, the old man's injury has already healed."

"Ah, what did Mr. Ji Yang say, is Mr. injured? I don't know!" All the grain merchants also echoed.

Zou Wang and the others laughed and joked a few times before they changed the topic.

He Qian snorted coldly and went straight to the point: "Ning Ke finally called you back to Xishan, right? The old man will go with you."

He Qian said so, and Zou Wang couldn't refuse.

It could only be that He Qian was picked up, and Zou Wang didn't notice the bag in He Qian's arms until the cruise ship sailed into the Yangtze River.

"Mr. Jiyang, are you going to Xishan to print books? My family happens to have a library, so you can just tell me directly, and I will give you a cheaper price."

A strand of white hair hangs from He Qian's bun on his forehead. During this time, He Qian has obviously aged a lot.

I saw He Qian carefully holding the book in his arms and said with a smile: "There is no need to print it, this is his Ning Ke's final head."

Zou Wang almost fell off the boat when he heard this.

"What?!"

The surrounding gentry also looked sideways.

"You! This is not a human head, so it won't dirty your boat. What the old man means is that as long as Ning Ke finishes reading this book, he will definitely die!"

Hearing what He Qian said, Zou Wang was relieved.

"You said it earlier, you scared me."

It wasn't until the boat sailed to the Lianhua Bridge that He Qian brazenly followed Zou Wang into the carriage with the book in his arms, and followed him all the way to the Wuxi County Government Office.

Arriving outside the county government office, He Qian immediately saw Ning Jue who was busy with the government servants in the county government office.

His eyes immediately turned scarlet.

"Ning Kezhong! You also have today?!"

Standing in the county office, Ning Jue looked at the gate with a confused expression.

After carefully identifying it for a long time, I finally recognized He Qian who came.

"Ji...Mr. Jiyang?"

He Qian looked up to the sky and laughed, then walked towards Ning Jue with the book in his arms.

"Ning Kezhong, Ning Kezhong, you used a curve to save the country earlier to destroy my school, have you ever thought about today?"

"Look carefully! See how that Eunuch Mai, who you thought was like-minded, tricked you, and how he tricked the people of the world!"

"They sent you to Xishan, do you know that this whipping method will eventually be used by the gentry everywhere, and then the people all over the world will be beaten to pieces?"

This is the result of He Qian racking his brains and recuperating at home for more than half a month.

Detailed examples of how the whipping method will be whipped on the people in the end.

In order to settle this account, He Qiansuan's hair turned white.

Because He Qian knew that Ning Jue was really for the common people. After Ning Jue read this book, he would ask the court to suspend whipping, and then turned against Mai Fu.

So he laid out such a conspiracy.

He wants to see with his own eyes whether Ning Jue chooses to gain fame in the end, or fight for righteousness.

Ning Jue was silent for a long time.

"Gone?"

He Qian looked at Ning Jue in astonishment.

"Don't you want to read this book?! You are experimenting in Xishan, and you are doomed to fail! Because these grain merchants have hidden the results you want to see!"

Ning Jue said lightly, "I know."

These four short words hurt He Qian even more than the two slaps at the Ministry of War that day.

"How do you know?! Are you still pretending to be calm?! Your heart is already in chaos, right?!"

Ning Jue glanced at He Qian with a complicated expression.

"Mr. Jiyang."

"There are more than just scholar-bureaucrats and gentlemen in the world."

He Qian stared at Ning Jue with a solemn expression.

"What do you mean?!"

"The common people are talking too much. If they lose money, they will say it themselves."

In He Qian's world, there have never been people.

All he knew was that he used to be able to sell hundreds of taels of silver in Jinling for just a single word.

But now I have worked so hard to write the book for more than half a month, and it has been written in vain.

He Qian almost collapsed and threw the book in his hand, and shouted angrily: "Nonsense! How can a few countrymen know about such important family and country affairs?! Can they know about grain merchants and a whip?" ?!"

"But I know this. We're a couple, don't we understand?"

"I don't care, you show the old man!"

Ning Jue said helplessly, "Okay, okay, I'll see, I'll see."

Zou Wang also moved his head curiously.

Ning Jue only flipped through two papers and said speechlessly: "No, five papers count as one number? Wouldn't it be over with an arithmetic sequence?"

Zou Wang asked suspiciously, "Qian Xian, what is arithmetic progression?"

Ning Jue explained impatiently: "Look at this, if you do this again, can you get this number? How can you use five papers?"

Zou Wang was also overjoyed.

"Mr. Jiyang, I really figured it out!"

Seeing He Qian rolled his eyes at the group of people in front of him, he fell backwards.

(End of this chapter)