Chapter 1125 Household Registration and Change

Chapter 1125 Household Registration and Change

Chapter 1125 Household Registration and Change

It was June 30th, the sun was shining brightly, and the weather was extremely hot.

The locust trees and willows on both sides of the post road were drooping, and the cicadas' chirping was so noisy that it made people dizzy.

Shao Yan opened the car curtain, and the heat wave that hit him in the face made him squint his eyes.

He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. His sleeves were already soaked with sweat and stuck to his arms, feeling sticky.

The wheels rolled over the yellow earth, raising choking dust.

"Your Highness, after crossing the bridge ahead, we will reach Yingchuan." Lieutenant Dong Zhi rode up on horseback and reminded in a hoarse voice.

Shao Yan nodded and his eyes fell on the fields on both sides of the road.

It was actually past 3 p.m. at this time. The farmers had avoided the hottest part of the sun and were out carrying water to water the fields.

Farming is so hard.

There has been less rain this summer and river water levels have dropped significantly. Many gravity canals cannot be used and people have to carry water manually, which is extremely hard work.

As far as Shao Yan could see, beads of sweat covered the farmers' dark backs and their faces were filled with anxiety.

He sighed softly.

In fact, such hard days may not last long, because they will be conscripted to transport food and fodder or even go to fight in the battlefield.

The people have always suffered. I only heard my father say this before, but I didn’t have a deep understanding of it. Now I know it - he feels uncomfortable all over when sitting in the carriage without working. How do these farmers feel?
The carriage suddenly jolted. Shao Yan held onto the wall of the carriage and turned his head to see that he had already crossed the bridge.

"This is Yingyin County, Yingchuan, right?" he asked.

"Yes and no." Yang Lang rode over and said.

"Why don't you take the car?" Shao Yan asked in surprise.

"I've been sitting for a long time and I'm bored, so I'm going out for a ride." Yang Lang said, "The land north of the bridge is in Yingyin County, but it's the land of the military government. If I remember correctly, it's the Yingqiao Defense of the Left Cavalry Guard, which spans both sides of the Yingshui River and belongs to Xiangcheng and Yingyin counties. Southeast of the military government, there's another piece of government land, which used to be the land of the Xun family."

"How much land does the Xun family still have?" Shao Yan asked.

"There used to be a lot, but not much now." Yang Lang said with a smile: "Although the Xun family is not as ruined as my Yang family, they have not gained much benefit either. Their descendants are scattered everywhere, adding up to about two to three thousand hectares."

"It's already a lot." Shao Yan smiled bitterly and said, "My fiefdoms add up to less than 3,000 hectares. With such a powerful family, it would be extremely difficult for the imperial court to collect taxes."

"Your Highness, I also come from a wealthy family." Yang Lang joked.

Shao Yan quickly apologized and said, "That was not my original intention."

"Your Highness, there is no need to do this." Yang Lang said, "If the court does not measure the land, how can the country last long? There is no need to avoid some things. Besides, our dynasty is actually pretty good. Last year, I went to the Shangshutai to check the household registration and land area for Your Highness's food and fiefdom. The earliest twenty counties of Liang State had nearly 74 households and more than 310 people. In the past, Su Qin told King Huiwen of Qin that Guanzhong was the land of abundance, but in fact, Henan and Hebei were the real land of abundance. Once it is stable, the population will increase greatly, and Guanzhong and Jiangdong will be invincible. Therefore, those who control Henan and Hebei will look at the world as a tiger, which is the foundation of hegemony."

Shao Yan was shocked to hear that there were more than three million people, and asked, "How could there be so many people in the old Liang State?"

Yang Lang smiled and said, "Your Highness, don't you see where it is? But it won't increase the population by many, otherwise His Majesty wouldn't try every means to emigrate. Of course, if you force it, it's OK. Whether it's dividing the family property or reclaiming wasteland, it shouldn't be difficult to have 1 million households in the 20 counties of Old Liang, but why? Isn't it good for a family to have 30 to 50 acres of land now? Why do you have to make a family with only a dozen acres of land? What's the point of living when you're half hungry? Your Highness, do you know that there are often escapees from the manors of the wealthy families?"

"heard about it."

"A wealthy family doesn't have 30 to 50 acres of land. It's good enough to have 20 to 30 acres." Yang Lang said, "And most of it will be taken away by the fort commanders and manor owners. It's no different from Cao Wei's military farming. How can they not run away?"

"How many households can the court directly collect taxes from now?" Shao Yan asked curiously.

Yang Lang looked at his master meaningfully and said, "Your Highness should pay more attention to these things on a daily basis."

"Thank you for your advice." Shao Yan bowed in the carriage, then looked at Yang Lang eagerly.

Yang Lang couldn't help laughing, feeling like he was teaching his own nephew.

However, having experienced the ups and downs of life, he was inexplicably moved by the trust and expectations of the King of Han, so he said, "I did check it out. A few years ago, Xiangcheng and other 19 counties measured the land, and at that time, there were about 300,000 households and more than 1.4 million people. This time it should be slightly more, maybe more than 1.5 million people."

"The third batch of sixteen counties, a total of one hundred and eleven counties, has more than 340,000 households and more than 1.66 million people."

Shao Yan roughly calculated in his mind and blurted out: "Doesn't my father have the power to command six million people?"

Yang Lang praised: "Your Highness can calculate the household registration without holding a tally stick. You are really smart."

Shao Yan waved his hands embarrassedly and said, "I was punished too much when I was young, so I can count naturally."

Yang Lang laughed so hard that even Dong Zhi beside him couldn't help laughing.

Although the King of Han was sixteen years old, he was still a child after all.

After Yang Lang stopped smiling, he asked, "Your Highness, do you know how many households are controlled by the nobles, chieftains, and vassal states in the north?"

"How much?" Shao Yan asked.

This time it was Dong Zhi who answered first: "I think there are tens of millions."

"About the same." Yang Lang said, "It's still between 800 and 12 million. This is my estimate, and it may not be accurate."

"There are so many?" Shao Yan murmured.

Yang Lang and Dong Zhi smiled at each other. Who asked your father to stabilize the north? Without large-scale fighting, although there are still frequent disturbances, the overall situation can be considered roughly stable. The population will naturally increase. Even natural disasters and man-made disasters cannot stop it. They can only slow down the growth rate, unless there is another terrible epidemic and three-year flood. "In fact, it is quite good to be able to command six million people." Yang Lang sighed: "Now the upper civil and military virtues are rare in the world. If it were in the late period of the former Han Dynasty and the latter Han Dynasty, after unifying the world, it would certainly be easier to measure the land than it is now."

"The Wei and Jin dynasties were too generous. The Cao family, Sima family and the nobles ruled the world together." Dong Zhi said: "Jiangdong was even more cruel. Now it is no longer the Sima family and the nobles who share the world, but the Wang and Ma family who share the world."

As soon as these words were spoken, all three of them laughed.

"With more than six million people and more than one million households, we can already support the imperial guards." Yang Lang said, "With tens of thousands of imperial guards and more than 80,000 palace soldiers, the emperor can order the nobles to pay tribute. With this explanation, does Your Highness understand what the Daliang Dynasty is all about?"

"Mr. Yang seems to have put it too simply." Shao Yan said.

"It is indeed simple." Yang Lang said with a smile: "But everything in the world, at its root, is sometimes just that simple."

Shao Yan thought about it carefully.

My father directly controls more than 6 million people, and most of the money is used to support the army. The expenditure is really huge, and it takes almost 100 people to support one soldier.

There may be income from other aspects, such as gardens, commercial taxes, farming, official fields, etc., but overall it is far from enough to cover the expenses, and the wealthy families must provide tribute. Who let them control tens of millions of people?
If there are wars, construction projects, etc., additional taxes will have to be levied on top of the regular taxes or the wealthy families will have to provide more money and food.

To put it nicely, it is called "paying tribute"; to put it bluntly, it is called "begging."

It was at this time that Shao Yan could deeply understand the difficulties his father faced. Born as a soldier and a slave, he spent a lot of effort to maneuver.

For many things, fighting and killing alone is useless; various means are needed.

In the past, my ears were almost callused when I heard my father repeating “Tolerance for the sake of the country”, “The barbarians and the Chinese are all at peace”, and “Keep pace with the times”. I felt very annoyed and even thought it was a bit ridiculous to repeat it over and over again. Now I understand that these are all determined by the situation, and each one is not just randomly shouted.

"Bang!" The carriage stopped heavily and almost shook Shao Yan out. He hurriedly grabbed the wall of the carriage and shouted to stop.

The draft horse was panting with its nostrils flared, obviously exhausted by the beating it had just received.

Of course, perhaps it is more likely that the weather is too hot. My father once said that "cold-blooded horses" can hardly tolerate the heat more than humans, and now it seems to be true.

The two hundred guards were equally exhausted. After all, they had to travel on foot, which was extremely uncomfortable.

Shao Yan saw a village ahead and ordered his troops to enter the village for rest.

This is still the military territory and is not under the jurisdiction of the local government. They only come here to collect taxes from the soldiers of the government. The soldiers and their families are exempt from taxes, but the military units are not. When levying taxes, it is calculated based on thirty acres.

When we reached the entrance of the village, we met two young men riding a ox cart out of the village, followed by a group of people who seemed to be their relatives.

After a little inquiry, I found out that these two young men were from families of military officers and both were fifth-rank cavalry captains. Today, they were sending their sons to the Bianliang Imperial Academy, which would start in September, so they had to make preparations in advance.

"The soldiers of the Left Cavalry Guard have really a lot of skills..." Dong Zhi said enviously.

To be honest, neither his father nor he had the recommendation quota for the Imperial College, because they were neither ministers nor military officers, so they could not get letters of recommendation.

Among these two categories of people, the dukes and nobles are fine, after all, they are the founding heroes, but the military officers and honorary officers are also more qualified than them, which makes people feel disappointed.

Of course, as the son of the Xiaba chieftain, Dong Zhi still hoped to see the children of meritorious officials enter the Imperial Academy and then have the opportunity to become officials, because they had been suppressed by the gentry in the past.

But the Imperial College gave ordinary people a chance. After all, honorary titles could be earned through hard work.

The morale of the soldiers from the various guards was high when they started fighting. After forming their battle array, they couldn't wait to beat the drums and march forward, rushing forward to chop down the enemy.

They are not happy when they encounter a battle where they are more numerous than the enemy, because the amount of power they gain is too small.

The battle to defend the city is even more useless, because there is almost no benefit in it, it is better to fight in the field and chop the hell out of it.

Dong Zhi had discovered this a long time ago.

The government soldiers particularly like field battles. The armored warriors charge head-on, the cavalry harass the flanks, and the mounted infantry make detours and go around the rear. They wish to capture all the enemies, and the capture must be more than 40%, so that they can get complete success.

They are simply a group of murderous maniacs who calculate their energy all day long and then look for enemies to start a fight with.

The impact of institutional changes is truly shocking.

After listening to this, Shao Yan felt proud.

My father relied on this method to fight against the powerful families, and now it is being strengthened step by step. Under the general trend, I really doubt whether it can be reversed, because these more than 100,000 elite soldiers of the founding of the country have enjoyed the benefits. If one day you tell them that these benefits will no longer be available in the future, they will most likely choose the prince who is willing to support them.

"Greetings, Your Highness." While he was thinking, a group of people came from afar and bowed to the ground together.

Someone was calling out to his friends in the distance, and a faint voice could be heard: "Your Majesty's seed! Come and see!"

Shao Yan felt a warm current rising in his heart, thinking that he must not embarrass his father, so he held his head high and chest out and walked forward.

Yang Lang stood stroking his beard, smiling without saying a word, then looked towards the Xun family's farm on the south side of the post road.

The road separates the north and the south, and the two sides are clearly divided, as if they are two different worlds.

In the northern military territory, when people heard that the emperor's son had arrived, they all called their friends and came to pay them a visit.

In the farmlands of the gentry in the south, the family's retainers were urging the farmhands to water the fields quickly, as if they hadn't seen it.

Considering that the emperor has already surveyed the land in 55 counties, registered more than 6 million people, and has more than 100,000 brave and loyal men, and has witnessed the changes in the world with his own eyes, it is so magnificent!

(End of this chapter)