Chapter 692 One goes down and the other goes up

Chapter 692 One goes down and the other goes up

Chapter 692 One goes down and the other goes up
The severe cold of winter is gradually fading away.

People gathered under the big tree that was gradually turning green.

There was an earthen temple next to the tree. The temple was crowded with people, who were distributing grain and wine.

The neighbors formed a society and worshipped the community god together. After the worship, they distributed food, meat and wine.

There weren't many things, but they were all saved from every penny. The rich contributed more, the poor contributed less, and in the end, everyone got a few liters of rice and a few cups of wine, which was a comfort in the hard life.

Associations vary in size.

The neighborhood association is the smallest. Most of them are composed of dozens of households - almost a village. There are even several villages that build a temple together, and hundreds of households form an association to worship together.

Even larger than them is the Fortress Association.

For example, in Shao Xun's Yunzhongwu in the past, at most two thousand families formed an association and worshipped the community god, which was a huge scale.

Feng Bachi, who returned to Pingqiu from Bianliang, stood on the ridge of the field, looked at the rural association scene from afar, and smiled.

I miss you so much!

When my father was still alive when I was a child, there were many villages in Hebei Province. On every community day, the old elm tree at the entrance of the village was always the favorite place for children like them to play, because they could ask for food from time to time.

Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer villages now.

Some children came chasing and playing, most of them were children from the families of the soldiers of the prefecture.

"Sir." An old man came over breathlessly and said, "It's all done, all done!"

"Oh? Li Hu actually gave in?" Feng Bachi couldn't believe it.

After the old man took a deep breath, he said, "Sir, you need to change your mindset."

Feng Bachi was a little dazed.

The old man looked down on him, but said, "No one in Li Hu's family has been an official for three generations. What kind of person is that? You are a Sima of another department, a legitimate official, and you have three hundred comrades living nearby. In fact, Li Hu is more afraid of you."

The old man’s surname is Han, and he is from Anping. He is a distant branch of the Anping Han family and works as a manager in the master’s manor.

After Mrs. Han got married, a group of clansmen followed her and helped Mrs. Han manage the family business.

Now Mrs. Han is still Mrs. Han, she just has a new husband.

The most amazing thing is that the ex-husband was a horse thief and had no background, and the new husband was a refugee and also had no background, and they also needed them.

"Why are you afraid of me?" Feng Bachi asked stupidly.

"Have you heard about the incident at Lijiawu in Bianliang?" the old man said, "Because they were fighting for water with the government soldiers, the case was reported to the governor, who dispatched troops to wipe them out. Li Hu was afraid of offending you."

Feng Ba Chi suddenly realized what was going on, and then asked, "Then why is he glaring at me?"

The old man patiently explained, "Li Hu is afraid that you will ask for too much, so he is tough, but he is still afraid. The fifteen counties of Liang State are in full swing in the land survey. One day, it will be Li Hu's turn. After the Yongjia year, he will not be able to keep an inch of the land he occupied. It is better to sell it to the official and get some money."

"But I don't have much money." Feng Bashi said in embarrassment.

The money and silk rewards that were distributed were mostly distributed to the families of the villagers who died in the battle, and some gifts were also given to the Han clan members who followed. He also bought wine and meat to treat the brothers of the defense force to a feast.

People are very generous and magnanimous, but they just can't save money.

"Sir, just give a few pieces of silk as a deposit and make an agreement with Li Hu. After the autumn harvest this year, just return one or two hundred bushels of millet." The old man suggested.

"Isn't this too little?" Feng Bachi shook his head repeatedly.

"You are an official and he is a citizen." The old man was disappointed with his friend.

People like Feng Bashi may be able to fight, but they haven't learned how to bully others.

I don't know what to say to this kind of martial arts upstart! He is so stupid that he only knows how to fight and kill, but not how to manage a family business.

The first thing Feng Bachi did after receiving the reward from Lord Liang was to run to Xingyang to help his fellow villagers.

The other thing is to eat and drink with those killers in our defense and become brothers.

Of all the rewards, only a few hard-to-cash gold and silver wares and celadon porcelains are left at home. Madam must be very distressed. But then again, after returning from Bianliang, Madam's attitude towards Feng Ba Chi changed drastically and she became very nice to him.

Feng Bachi was overjoyed and now obeyed his wife's orders.

The upstart peasant, hey, if the woman from a noble family is a little nice to him, he will immediately be obedient.

"It's still not good." Feng Ba Chi shook his head: "After the first month of the year, all the offices will open. How much salary do I have? It should be paid out by then, right?"

When the old man heard this, he patiently explained to Feng Bachi: "You are a ninth-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel. You receive ten hu of rice per month, which comes from your salary land. You need to go to Pingqiu to collect it. I have already arranged for someone to go there in a few days."

"What is Lutian?" Feng Bachi asked.

"The public land cultivated by government slaves, the Chenliu Lutian, is scattered in the five counties of Junyi, Kaifeng, Suanzao, Jiyang and Xiaohuang. It was taken from the wealthy families during the previous land survey. There are more than 3,000 hectares. I heard that it is cultivated by the Taoist disciples of Tianshi." said the old man.

"Oh..." Feng Ba Chi seemed to understand and let out a long "oh". "There are also 20 rolls of silk and 10 kilograms of cotton, which will be delivered in August, also in Pingqiu." The old man continued, "These are also produced by Lutian Sanglin."

"You have two hectares of official land. After the autumn harvest, you can go to Xiaohuang County to get grain. It's hard to say how much it will be. It depends on the harvest."

"Are the official fields also cultivated by government slaves?" Feng Bachi asked curiously.

"Not necessarily." The old man said, "In the past, Lord Liang set up salary fields, relief fields, military fields, and official fields in Guangchengze for the purpose of distributing salaries. Official fields are only available to officials, and are generally used to grow grain. If an official wants to grow vegetables or mulberry trees, he can go to Longxiang Mansion to find someone, and perhaps he can change his crops. Anyway, the laborers of these two hectares of official fields are at the official's disposal, and most of them are captives captured from who knows where."

"Hey!" Feng Bachi laughed, "We captured a lot of prisoners for Lord Liang last year."

The old man's mouth twitched. Even if he looked down on Feng Bachi and felt sorry for his wife, he had to admit that this group of martial artists were really fierce. Otherwise, how could the scholars give in? As long as they can be unreasonable, they are unwilling to reason with you because you are not worthy.

"In addition to the salary land and official land, there are also kitchen waste." The old man said, "I will go to Longxiang Mansion to inquire about this matter for the official. There should be quite a lot. It is usually distributed before the New Year."

Kitchen waste also comes from official land income, that is, a portion of land is allocated as food, accommodation, and office expenses for a certain government office. If there is any surplus, it will be distributed to officials as a "bonus" at the end of the year, which is called "kitchen waste."

Some smart government offices would even lend out the kitchen waste, and the income would belong to the government office.

In an era of low productivity, everything is linked to land and population.

The government needed to own a large amount of official land and slaves to support the bureaucratic system. The reason why officials in Luoyang were so miserable was related to the complete collapse of their income sources.

Pingqiu Longxiang Prefecture had eight officials in total, including one military governor, one military commander, one deputy military commander, one military chief secretary, and four special military secretaries. The kitchen waste was divided among the seven of them according to a certain ratio.

After hearing this, Feng Bachi was stunned for a long time.

It is really astonishing that a small ninth-rank official has so many miscellaneous incomes.

In addition, his family was exempt from taxes and labor service - the power to protect relatives was abolished - and he could also protect one additional family and one guest from taxes and labor service.

"Mr. Liang has treated me with great kindness." Feng Bachi was also a sincere man. He knelt down and kowtowed three times in the direction of Bianliang.

The old man's eyes twitched. These new military elites were truly devoted to Lord Liang.

After he finished bowing, Feng Ba Chi stood up and said, "Have some people in my family mocked Lord Liang in private? If I hear them in the future, I will hang them up and beat them!"

"Yes." The old man was startled.

The first thing Feng Ba Chi learned to do to bully others was to punish those who slandered Mr. Liang...

The sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance. The two looked in the direction of the sound and found that it was the local tyrant Li Hu.

He was riding on a horse, followed by a dozen of his nephews and nieces, all of whom were holding spears and bows, wearing leather armor, and looking at this side from afar.

A moment later, Li Hu got off his horse, took out a piece of hard yellow paper from his arms and threw it over.

Feng Bachi reached out to take it and handed it to the old man.

After reading it, the old man said, "This is the land deed. There are eight acres of ponds, four hundred and thirty-six acres of fields, thirteen farmhands, thirty houses, and nineteen oxen. All of them are priced at—"

"Can the farmhands be sold?" Feng Bachi asked in surprise.

The dozen or so people on Li Hu's side all laughed when they heard this. What's wrong with buying and selling farmhands? No one cares if they kill them!
"Sir Feng." Li Hu walked forward, bowed, and said, "Just give me the money you want, it doesn't matter how much. We are from the same village, and we should help each other. There is a family living on the land I sold to you, they are my father's old friend, and they are good at farming. I thought you were new here and didn't have much help, so I asked them to stay and help you manage the family business. Since you have the help of the Han clan, forget it. You can use this family if you can, otherwise I will take them away."

After saying this, I felt humiliated and envious at the same time.

His family business was not small, but he couldn't marry a woman from the Han family in Anping. He was not qualified.

The good thing about women from aristocratic families is that they are well-educated and can support their husbands and raise children.

The family also had clansmen, servants, and guests who were skilled in various affairs. Feng Bachi originally had nothing. Even if he was given land, he could not manage it. But it was different after he married the daughter of the Han family. Everything was ready.

I heard that when Lord Liang gathered refugees in the Three Gardens in Luoyang and built a fort in Yiyang, he also relied on the help of the East China Sea Concubine Pei. Otherwise, he would be in the dark and would not even have a capable manager.

Thinking of this, I felt sad.

If I were an official, I would not be so passive as to give away all the fields, ponds, houses, oxen and farmhands that I acquired after the Yongjia period at almost no price.

It seems that next time I have to bring my own troops to join the army, fight for Lord Liang, and try to get an official position. Otherwise, it will be too difficult and it will be even harder to survive.

Feng Bachi took the land deed from the old man again.

Although he was illiterate, he looked at it with extreme piety.

When I was a child, I heard from the elders that in times of chaos, a hero would emerge, holding a three-foot sword and sweeping the world. At this time, if you can risk your life and become a loyal minister, you may be able to rise to the top and bring honor to your family.

"Go check on the land and start the spring plowing as soon as possible." Feng Bachi put away the land deed, took a deep breath, and said.

The old man replied yes.

He saw Li Hu's attitude just now.

In the countryside, power is rising and falling, and it seems that profound changes are slowly taking place.

(I will update in advance after I finish coding. There will be three updates today. The second update will be updated after I wake up. By the way, I will also ask for votes for next month.)
(End of this chapter)