Daily Life In Qin Dynasty

  Chapter 111 Hanzhong

  Hanzhong County.

  As the fiefdom of Lord Mo, this place is only more than 200 kilometers away from Xianyang.

  If one person is on a fast horse, it only takes less than two days to rush from Xianyang to Hanzhong. If you take a carriage, it will take almost two days and two nights. But if the caravan is full of goods, it will take at least seven or eight days or even longer.

   The reason for this.

   It is because Xianyang and Hanzhong are separated by the "Qinling Mountains", which is known as the dragon vein of the Central Plains.

  The world of Qin Dynasty is different from the world of official history. Today, between Xianyang and Bashu, the prototype of the famous "Shu Road" of later generations has been initially opened up.

   But even so, this "Shu Road" can only supply a small group of people. It is still very difficult for a large number of caravans to cross the Qinling Mountains.

   But except for traffic.

   As a fiefdom, Hanzhong has almost no other shortcomings.

  Hanzhong County is located in a basin, which runs through the middle of the Han River, forming a large alluvial plain suitable for growing crops.

  In the current era when food represents everything, such a large piece of land suitable for growing food is enough to make Hanzhong a high-class fiefdom.

  Three days ago.

   After Mr. Mo solved the problem of military rations for Yingzheng, he set off from Xianyang to Hanzhong.

   Being an official in the Qin State does not have as many court meetings as later generations. Normally, unless something happens, the King of Qin will find officials from the corresponding department, and a few people will hold a small meeting to discuss it.

   And this term Qin Wang Yingzheng probably lost too much power when he was a child, which made him feel insecure now.

  So now, regardless of whether it is a big or small matter of the Qin State, he has to take care of it all with one hand, so that other officials of the Qin State usually have nothing to do.

  It's like Mo Jun, the internal history of Zhisu.

  Twelve months a year, except for the annual spring planting and autumn harvest season, it may be a little busy.

   Others have at least ten months of time, basically in a state of doing nothing, this official, I am happy just thinking about it... Ah no. Mainly that, that... poof!

  Head cough~ Don't get me wrong.

  In fact, fishing is not so enjoyable, otherwise Mo Jun would not be running to Hanzhong now.

   "Old man, do you know which direction the 'Huaihui Mountain' is in?"

Three carriages were parked near a field ridge. At this time, Mo Jun was wearing coarse linen clothes, sitting under a tree without any image, chatting with a thin old farmer with a sallow and emaciated complexion. sky.

   This trip, Mr. Mo came to Hanzhong for two purposes.

  One is to build a house.

Hanzhong is different from Nanjun. Nanjun used to be the capital of the state of Chu, and the local economy, commerce, and entertainment development have been quite complete. Therefore, after taking office in Nanjun, Mo Jun can directly enjoy most of the entertainment activities of this era there. .

  But Hanzhong is different. Compared with the Central Plains, Hanzhong County, which was once adjacent to the Qiang people and located among the mountains, used to be a barbaric land like Qin State.

  The population distribution in Hanzhong is scattered, let alone commercial and entertainment, there is not even a large-scale city here, and the largest population gathering place is only the 'county' level unit.

  However, Mr. Mo is the 'Shengping Lord' and also the 'lord' of Hanzhong County, so it is naturally impossible that there is not even a mansion here.

But ordinary mansions obviously cannot meet Mo Jun's needs. After all, there are dozens of "elixir" plants that need to be planted in his mansion. In addition to the "growth elixir", this stuff also has extremely high environmental requirements .

  In addition to my [Medicine Garden] and the upcoming [Beast Garden], there are certain requirements for the terrain environment.

  I also think of the intersection of Hanzhong and Qinling Mountains. As the "dragon vein of the Central Plains", the Qinling Mountains has an extremely complex environment, but it is also extremely suitable for the growth of diverse plants.

   Taking into account various factors.

  Mr. Mo decided to find a place with a good geomantic omen and rebuild a "Mo Mansion".

   As a result, just after Mo Jun mentioned this matter, Zhuyeqing suddenly spoke up and recommended a place to him.

  ······

   "Huaihui Mountain? What are you going to do there? It's not a good place! There are poisonous insects, snakes and ants inside, and there is a lot of miasma and poisonous fog. Few people who entered that place came out alive!"

   "Hi! We came here for the 'poisonous insects, snakes and ants' in there. I'm afraid the old man doesn't know that if these 'poisonous insects and poisonous flowers' can be processed, they can be sold as medicinal materials outside."

   Mo Jun Da Lala said.

The old farmer under the tree looked Mo Jun up and down, then narrowed his eyes and said, "Listen to your tone, are you planning to come to Hanzhong for business? If that's the case, then the old man still advises you where to go back and forth from." Bar!"

   "In this place, no one will sell you anything without the permission of the magistrate."

   Jun Mo's eyes flashed, and he said in surprise, "Oh? Old man, what do you say?"

The old farmer sighed, and said: "Ah~~Because as early as several years ago, the county magistrate of our Heishi County had already issued a document. From now on, if we want to sell all the things of every household, we can only sell them to the government. If If it is found that you have sold it to others privately, you will be arrested, at least you will be beaten, and at worst, all your family members will be imprisoned."

  Mr. Mo was surprised, and then tentatively said: "There is still such a thing? But if the government accepts everything, it doesn't seem to be a bad thing at all, does it?"

  Since the "Shang Yang Reform", the Qin State has always advocated the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business".

  However, Qin State's "emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business" is a little special, because it only suppresses the business of its own country. Not only does it not object to businessmen from other countries entering Qin State, it even has some tariff exemption policies.

   The simplest example.

  The taxation of the Qin State is extremely complicated, but after an overall estimate, the business tax of the country's merchants is almost at the level of "two out of ten".

  But businessmen from other countries are doing business in Qin, but the business tax only needs to be "one out of twelve".

  That's why most of the big businessmen in the Qin state will do business in other countries, including Mo Jun's own [Xiongchumo Chamber of Commerce].

   But even so.

  In the state of Qin, only a small number of high-ranking officials and nobles were qualified to do business.

The reason is very simple, because heavy taxation is only one aspect. Shang Yang's law of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business" does not really restrain high taxes, but that he fundamentally cuts off the possibility of ordinary people conducting commercial activities. sex.

  Businessmen are of humble origin, if they don’t have enough background protection, once ordinary people go into business, not only the tax will be heavier, but also the “conscription and corvee” will be given priority to businessmen.

   and a host of other laws that inhibit business activity have had similar effects.

  So in the current state of Qin, most ordinary people in remote areas have no way to buy or sell things even if they sometimes want to buy or sell things.

  This is why Mo Jun said that it is not entirely a bad thing for the government to purchase goods uniformly.

   "Huh? Forget it!"

Hearing Mo Jun's words, the distressed look on the old farmer's face deepened, and he said slowly: "In the past, some foreign businessmen would come to buy mountain goods. At that time, although those foreign businessmen would also lower the price, they could still make money if they worked hard. Thirty to fifty big money, one or two stones of grain for the family."

   "But now that the government has started to purchase, they have been busy all year during the slack season, picking up some mountain products in the mountains, and finally selling them. Sometimes they can't even get ten big bucks."

"so little?"

  Hearing what the old farmer said, even Mr. Mo couldn't help being startled.

   How much is ten big coins?

  Even if Mr. Mo had just crossed over, when he served as a corvee in the Qin Army, his wages would have been six dollars a day.

"Who said it wasn't! Later, some people saw that the government's purchase price was so low, so they simply stopped buying mountain products. As a result, the government simply issued a mandatory order that each household must sell enough mountain products every year, otherwise people will be arrested. Lock it up."

   "There was a family in our village who refused to obey, and the government officials took him into prison and locked him up for three days. When he came out three days later, he was completely disfigured, and he died at home not long after."

   It seems that the grievance has been held in his stomach for too long, so today when Mo Jun asked, the old farmer also vomited a lot of bitterness.

   Jun Mo listened quietly, his eyes flickering slightly.

  The first purpose of his coming to Hanzhong this time was to build a house.

  The second purpose is to inspect.

  After all, Hanzhong is his own fiefdom, and Mo Jun should know more about this place because of emotion and reason.

in addition.

  The conversation with Ying Zheng in the middle of the night earlier also made Mr. Mo understand that with his current ability, he still cannot change the entire Qin State, or even the entire world.

  But if you just create a "Taoyuan Township" that you can enjoy, Mo Jun feels that it should be possible to do it if you work hard.

  That's why Mo Jun specially changed his clothes when he came to Hanzhong this trip, the purpose is to inspect the local conditions and customs of Hanzhong first.

   Then plan and plan.

   The result was unexpected.

  I have just arrived in Hanzhong not long ago, and I have found out so much information from an old farmer.

   "These local nobles really look like birds, they haven't changed at all!"

   Jun Mo felt a little helpless.

  Before coming here, Mo Jun still had a little luck in his heart. Perhaps Hanzhong is closer to Xianyang, and it may be a little different from Nanjun.

  However, the reality told him that the counties and counties in various places in Qin State are really like a bird.

  Before Nanjun was like this.

  The current Hanzhong County is also the same.

   It’s no wonder that the Qin Dynasty collapsed so quickly after the unification in the later period. Now these local nobles are completely mines buried inside Qin!

  After vomiting bitterness with Mo Jun, the time is almost at Sishi. Nowadays, ordinary people usually only eat two meals, and Sishi is the time for the first meal.

  Mr. Mo watched as the old farmer took out a cloth bag from the side. When he opened it, there was only a rice ball mixed with a small amount of rice husks and some dark green vegetables inside, which was not the size of an adult's fist.

   Nothing else.

   "Old man, is this your first meal?"

   Jun Mo couldn't help asking.

   Naturally, he would not find the food to be unpalatable, after all, even in most aristocratic homes, the taste of the food is quite bland.

  The main reason is that the portion of this rice ball is too small. If you add up all the rice balls, it may only be about two taels.

"yes!"

  The old farmer nodded, and then subconsciously protected him, as if he was afraid that Mo Jun would steal his food.

   "I remember that the grain harvest in Hanzhong was very good last year. Why do you only eat so little?"

   "Alas~~"

   Mentioning this, the old farmer sighed again, and said, "No matter how high the harvest is, it's useless, all the grain has been handed in."

  Mr. Mo frowned and said, "Have you handed it in? Even if you paid the grain tax, there should still be a lot of grain left!"

  The grain tax in the Qin State is indeed very heavy. In normal years, an average of one mu of land would charge 30% of the grain. And if there are special circumstances, such as the emergency of the war and the shortage of food, Qin may even receive 50% to 60% of the food tax.

  But in the past two years, because Mr. Mo has made a lot of money and helped Qin to make a lot of extra money, so in the past two years, the whole country has collected food tax according to the 30% standard.

  So even if the grain production is not high now, ordinary people will not only have such a small harvest.

  The old farmer shook his head and said, "Not only the grain tax, but also the land rent!"

   "Ground rent?"

  The old farmer said bitterly: "The old man's few acres of land are now rented from the master's family. In addition to 30% of the grain tax, he has to pay another 30% of the grain as land rent to the master's family."

  Mr. Mo frowned even deeper, and asked, "Doesn't the old man have any land at home?"

   "There used to be, but five years ago, the ten acres of land in the old man's family were bought by someone. One mu of land gave the old man's family a lot of money."

   At the end, the old farmer also showed a trace of sadness on his face.

Feudal era.

  Land is the lifeblood of a family.

  And now someone actually bought the land from the old farmer for only a lot of money and an acre of land. You can imagine what kind of means the other party used.

  Mr. Mo squinted his eyes, and continued: "Are there many people who sell their fields like the old man?"

  The old farmer nodded and said: "The fields owned by more than half of the people in Heishi County have already been sold."

Mo Jun nodded, and didn't say anything, just smiled and comforted: "It's okay, old man. The rice you planted this year is the "new rice seed" improved by King Shengping of the Qin State. According to the government's instructions, doubling the harvest next year will not be a problem."

   "Even if you pay the food tax and land rent by then, you won't have to starve like now."

However, as soon as Mo Jun finished speaking, he saw that the old farmer's face was not the slightest bit happy, but he said with a wry smile: "Old man, I only hope that the harvest of these rice seeds that the government forcibly distributed this year will not be worse than last year in autumn. alright."

   "After all, there is no "new rice seed" in this world that can double the grain output! Old man, I have lived for so many years, and I have never heard of it."

   "If someone can improve such a rice seed, I will definitely set up a longevity card for that person at home, the old man, and the incense will continue to burn day and night..."

  ······

  (end of this chapter)