The world of counterfeit magistrates competes in the world

Chapter 492 Land and Population

Faced with Hengshan's aggressive decree, the Huazhou gentry were extremely angry.But in the face of the Hengshan army with strong troops and horses, they would not dare to rebel against them.

Since Pei Yan, who is the spokesman for their interests, is so incompetent, everyone no longer has hope in him, and they have taken self-help measures.

Since Hengshan wants to register the land, well, let's divide the land.The so-called distribution of land was not because the gentry suddenly became kind and prepared to distribute land to farmers free of charge.Instead, the family members were divided into independent households, and each household was divided into fields of different sizes, which were attached to their names.As a result, all the fields in the family have been dismantled, and each household does not exceed [-] mu.

As for whether these descendants of the separated family will take the opportunity to break away from the control of the family, the masters are not worried about this.With the family law of the ancestors, if anyone dares to betray the family, not only will his reputation be ruined, he will be separated from the protection of the family, and he will only be gnawed to death by the government and other families.After all, the family is not only a fetter, but also a big tree that can enjoy the shade. No one wants to leave the family alone.

In the first ten days of February, the Hengshan government finally began to measure the fields in Huazhou. In every village and county, countless Hengshan officials were distributed in various places to register every household.

At the beginning, the common people were very afraid of this, fearing that the government would take back their fields.Coupled with the fact that some gentry deliberately provoked, conflicts between officials and the people occurred in many places.

Fortunately, the officials are guarded by the Hengshan Army. Facing the attacks of the people, the Hengshan Army will naturally not be polite. It has been clearly stated in the military regulations that the Hengshan Army is not allowed to harm the people at will, but has the right to kill people with weapons man of.

The people who have no fighting strength at all, how can they be the opponents of the Hengshan Army, after a few people were cut down, all of them ran away.Afterwards, policeman Hengshan rushed to the place where the accident happened, quickly arrested several leaders, and after some interrogation, tracked down the main messenger behind the road.He unceremoniously broke into the house of the local gentry and arrested everyone.

After such a shock, most of the people calmed down and went to register the property obediently.

At the beginning of March, after collecting information from various places, Hengshan finally established first-hand information on the land conditions in Huazhou.

Just when the major gentry secretly rejoiced that they had escaped the catastrophe, the Hengshan Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a second government order, household registration, and Hengshan will send officials to various places in Huazhou to record the details of each household that registered the land before. Account details such as population and property.If each family that previously registered their land property does not cooperate with the government, their previously registered land property will be confiscated.

Before the gentry could react, the Ministry of Civil Affairs then issued a third decree. All landless people, as long as they are willing to obey the government's arrangement and are willing to move to another land, the government will grant each household [-] mu of good land. All annual output belongs to him.

This decree immediately set off a shock in Huazhou. You must know that nearly half of the farmers in Huazhou do not have their own fields, so they can only choose to join the gentry and become tenant farmers for a living.The tenant farmers not only have to hand over half of the grain produced in a year to the master, but also have to serve the master.At the same time, the target of government taxation also fell on tenant farmers.After a year, many tenant farmers not only had no food and clothing, but also had to borrow money from their masters, so that they were eventually tied up in the fields of the gentry, unable to stand up, and became de facto serfs.

This decree finally gave these tenant farmers a glimmer of hope.As long as you obey the government's arrangement, you can get [-] acres of land.This is far better than working hard on a few acres of land at the master's house, without food and clothing all year round.It's just that the rule of moving to another place made many people hesitate.My ancestors have lived here for generations, if I move to another place, wouldn't my soul return to another place after death?

In the end, among the tenant farmers, there were many brave people who, without even thinking about it, left a few acres of land of the master's family and rushed to the government to register their names.As for the rest, apart from those who did not want to emigrate, there were also some tenant farmers who envied the Hengshan government's policies, but their own families were heavily in debt on the master's side and could not escape at all.

As their own tenant farmers continued to decrease, the gentry didn't care too much at first.Even if a few tenant farmers run away, it will not have much impact on their interests. At worst, they will recruit a few more from other places in the coming year.

However, they were wrong.Not long after the promulgation of the third decree, Hengshan Bank has been quietly established in various parts of Huazhou.Following this, the Ministry of Commerce announced to Huazhou that Hengshan Bank will issue loans to the common people with very little interest, and the repayment time will be divided into several years for anyone to choose.

Under the secret operation of Guo Huaili's Propaganda Department, this news spread throughout Huazhou in a very short period of time.Those tenant farmers who were heavily in debt couldn't help being moved when they heard this, and wanted to rely on the bank to borrow money. They first paid off the debts of the master's family, and then went to the government to claim the land.

At this time, the gentry finally panicked. If Hengshan were to poach these tenant farmers, more than half of the fields in that family would be abandoned, and their own output would be reduced by more than half.

Therefore, they immediately organized manpower to spread the government's conspiracy and tricks to these tenant farmers. If they borrowed money from the bank, they would go bankrupt and sell their children and daughters in the future.Many tenant farmers were immediately bluffed by these rumors. Although they lived in poverty on the master's side, they could at least maintain a family's livelihood.But if he was really cheated, it would be the result of family ruin.

After all, it is the gentry who has occupied Huazhou for hundreds of years, and its control over Huazhou is not comparable to Hengshan Chulai.After some deception and intimidation by the gentry, many tenant farmers immediately gave up the idea of ​​​​receiving land from the government.Compared with the government, they believed in the words of the local gentry.

In this regard, the top management of Hengshan has no good solution. As outsiders, the people of Huazhou are still quite indifferent to them.

Guo Huaili was very annoyed by this, and immediately ordered the Propaganda Department to do everything possible to compete with the gentry for Huazhou's influence.

Lin Yifan, who lived in Panlong Village, could receive news from Huayuan City every day. He knew all about the struggles between the various tribes in Hengshan and the gentry during this period.However, he didn't want to interfere. Through this battle, the Hengshan tribes seemed to have found a way to deal with the gentry.As long as the fight continues, Huazhou will be controlled by Hengshan sooner or later.

It was a piece of information in his hand that made him frown and hesitate.According to the report from the shadow guard who sneaked into Donghu, the Donghu people seem to be collecting food and grass, rectifying troops and horses, and their movements are unknown.

This news made Lin Yifan faintly worried. If the Donghu people intend to go south, the two prefectures of Yan and Ming are most likely to be attacked.Finally, Hengshan, he wasn't too worried. With Huerle's wisdom, he probably wouldn't attack Hengshan at this time.If he really dared to come, he would be able to annihilate Donghu in one fell swoop and weaken the strength of the grassland.

But if Donghu chose to attack Yanming, would Hengshan want to help?Now that Yanming and Mingzhou are in conflict with him, Hengshan really has no reason to help them.

After thinking for a while, Lin Yifan suddenly smiled lightly and shook his head, he was too worried.The two prefectures of Yanming and Ming already had gunpowder, so it was easy to hold the border.Donghu went south, but he was asking for trouble.

(End of this chapter)