allonlinenovel Chapter 269 Pick the most conspicuous one and beat him to death!
Chapter 269 Pick the most conspicuous one and beat him to death!
Magistrate Yang immediately summoned all the heads of the eight communities and sixteen neighborhoods to the county government office.
Three things.
"The first thing is the construction of houses in each of your communities. You must hurry up and build them. Don't wait until it snows before you start crying and complaining."
"The second matter is what I told you before: each village should reserve a plot of land for building a community school. Each village should organize itself to level that plot of land for me. We will start building the community school next autumn. The county government will take care of the teachers; you don't need to worry about it."
Magistrate Yang glanced at the many village heads and elders and said, "The third thing is the same as last year: you can't be lazy or slack off after winter sets in, and you're not allowed to stop playing poker. If I catch you doing that, see how I deal with you."
The village heads and wardens automatically ignored the first and third points that Magistrate Yang had mentioned, because the first point concerned the people's own houses, and no one would not seize the time. The third point concerned how much grain they could harvest next year, and the people who had been afraid of hunger would naturally not dare to be lazy or negligent.
The second point is what these community leaders and village chiefs care about and are most worried about.
The concern stems from the fact that with the establishment of community schools in the villages, children from various villages no longer need to travel to the county town to study, nor do they need to live in the Confucian temple.
Their worry was that Magistrate Yang might suddenly go mad and drag all the village heads and community leaders into the community school to study.
However, a famous decadent writer, Mr. Weng Jun, once said that most things in this world are more likely to happen than to be good; the more you worry about something, the more likely it is to happen.
Just as the village heads and wardens were feeling uneasy, Magistrate Yang continued, "I will send teachers to each of your villages to continue teaching you and the people to read and write."
As soon as Magistrate Yang finished speaking, the faces of the village heads and elders immediately fell.
Magistrate Yang acted as if he hadn't seen them, and instead looked directly at the group of village heads and elders, asking, "I have said what I needed to say. Do any of you village heads or elders have anything to say?"
The village heads and magistrates looked at each other, and after a long while, Liu Thirty-Two finally stepped forward, bowing and scraping as he asked Magistrate Yang, "Your Honor, we've heard that all the land we own will be confiscated by the imperial court. What's the matter with that..."
Magistrate Yang nodded and said, "Yes, there is such a thing, and it was I who first submitted a memorial to the court about it."
The faces of all the village heads and wardens immediately changed, and Liu Thirty-Two asked in a pitiful tone, "Sir, this...this..."
Magistrate Yang stood up, walked around from behind the desk to Liu Sanshier, patted Liu Sanshier on the shoulder, and said, "Are you feeling wronged because these are lands that you reclaimed, lands that I promised you, but the court might take them away later?"
Liu Sanshier's lips moved, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just looked at Magistrate Yang with a pitiful expression.
Feeling wronged?
Wronged!
Having just cultivated the land for two years and finally enjoying a good life, the imperial court wanted to take away his land.
However, this land was allocated by the master, and everyone's lives were made possible by the master. Now that the master wants to take it back, what can we do even if we feel wronged?
Could I possibly turn against the lord?
Moreover, there are yamen runners in the county government office and troops outside the county town. What can we do?
After glancing at the aggrieved group of village heads and elders, Magistrate Yang smiled and said, "I didn't tell you about this beforehand because the imperial court hasn't made a final decision yet. However, since you've already brought it up, I'll explain it to you properly."
"The imperial court will not take away your land."
After reassuring everyone, Magistrate Yang continued, "The so-called 'land being returned to the imperial court' does not mean that your land will be taken away and you will no longer be allowed to cultivate it. Rather, it means that the ownership of the land belongs to the imperial court. You can continue to cultivate it, but you are not allowed to buy or sell it on your own, and the land will be redistributed every thirty years."
“For example, if your family, Liu Thirty-Two, currently has twenty-five mu of cultivated land, then in the thirty-first year of Hongwu, the government will reallocate twenty-five mu of cultivated land to you in Liu Temple Village, and the current twenty-five mu of land will be handed over to others to cultivate.”
"For example, your family has two able-bodied men, so the government will allocate another five mu of land to your family in Liu Miao Village according to the standard of fifteen mu per able-bodied man, making a total of thirty mu of land."
Liu Thirty-Two was somewhat bewildered.
The other club presidents and village heads were also somewhat bewildered.
According to the old man, apart from prohibiting buying and selling on one's own, what's the difference between this and taking off one's pants and doing *that*?
There's absolutely no difference!
Magistrate Yang continued, "The reason I proposed taking the land back to the imperial court is not to target you, but to gentry like Liu Hongchang and Master Geng."
“For example, you, Liu Thirty-Two, the land belongs to the imperial court. If you come to cultivate it, can Liu, the scholar, take away your land?”
"For example, if your family has another child next year, the government will have to allocate another 15 mu of land to your family. If this land does not belong to the imperial court, but is held by those gentry, what will the government use to allocate it to you?"
"Without enough land, how much grain can you grow? Is it enough to feed a family?"
After hearing what Magistrate Yang said, Liu Thirty-Two and the others immediately understood what was going on.
Magistrate Yang continued, "Furthermore, I have submitted another memorial to the court, which states that the more land a family owns, the more taxes they have to pay. In particular, once the land exceeds a certain acreage, the land tax they have to pay may be more than the amount of grain they grow."
"This one also has nothing to do with you."
"This rule was also set up to prevent local gentry from trying to allocate more land to their own families."
"In the end, it is the poor people like you who will benefit."
After thinking about it for a moment, Liu Thirty-Two frowned and said, "If a local gentry member takes the initiative to divide his family property, wouldn't his family still receive the same amount of land?"
Magistrate Yang chuckled and said, "Divide it, divide it however you like—I ask you, even if you, Liu Thirty-Two, and Scholar Liu are brothers, after the division of the family property you have your own fifteen mu of land, would you still listen to Scholar Liu? Would you be willing to give away the grain you grow to Scholar Liu?"
At this point, Magistrate Yang shook his head with a smile and said, "Alright, why am I telling you idiots this? It's like casting pearls before swine."
Liu Thirty-Two wiped his eyes hard with his sleeve and said, "We were stupid and almost misunderstood you, sir, but we weren't completely stupid after all. We're still better than oxen."
Magistrate Yang chuckled again and said, "Yes, he's a bit better than an ox. At least he has some brains and wasn't used as a tool by others."
Liu Thirty-Two was slightly taken aback and asked, "Being used as a tool by someone?"
Magistrate Yang nodded and said, "Isn't it obvious? I first submitted a memorial to the court to implement a progressive tax system, which means that the more land you own, the more taxes you have to pay. Some people are not happy about this."
"Furthermore, I have submitted a memorial proposing that the land be returned to the imperial court, and that the imperial court and government should allocate land to the people in the future, prohibiting anyone from buying land privately. Therefore, those people are even more uncomfortable."
"They can't find any trouble for me in other matters. The only thing that can cause me trouble is if you fools also think that I am a corrupt official who harms the people. In that case, my reputation will be ruined. Then they can find a way to smear me. In that case, the emperor will have no choice but to punish me. Then their goal will be achieved."
"As for you fools... without the progressive tax system where the more land you own, the heavier the tax, and without the royal land system that prohibits the buying and selling of land, even if you were to cultivate 500 acres of land, how much of it could you hold onto?"
Upon hearing Magistrate Yang's words, cold sweat immediately broke out on Liu Sanshier's forehead.
Others might not know, but surely Liu Thirty-Two himself knew.
The fifteen mu of land that his great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather had given their lives for was reduced to only five mu by the time it came into Liu Sanshier's hands. Later, two more mu were swindled away by Liu Juren. By the first year of Hongwu, Liu Sanshier only had three mu of land left, and his family of three could barely make ends meet and not starve to death!
The more Liu Thirty-Two thought about it, the more frightened he became. He couldn't help but raise his hand and slap himself hard, cursing, "I deserve to die! I deserve to die!"
Magistrate Yang waved his hand and said, "Alright, after you all go back, you must explain what happened to the people in your respective communities."
"Furthermore, starting tomorrow, I will visit each and every village and neighborhood, and at the Shenming Pavilion, I will explain the progressive tax rate and the royal land system to the people of each and every village."
The group of village heads and elders first agreed, then asked all at once, "Sir, who exactly spread this rumor?"
"What did we do to offend them that makes them so unwilling to see us living a good life?"
Magistrate Yang waved his hand and said, "Alright, you don't need to worry about these things, and you can't control them anyway. Just focus on farming from now on."
As for who spread the rumors or who tried to sow discord among the people of Ningyang County, does that matter?
It's important, but it's also not important.
Magistrate Yang always believed in one thing: if there are too many people attacking him and he has no way to launch a large-scale attack, then he should just grab the most conspicuous one and beat him to death.
For example, Qufu County in Yanzhou Prefecture of Shandong Province has a very good target.