Chapter 235 When he inspected the territory
, he saw Richard with a sullen face. The villagers present also knew the seriousness of the matter. Some wanted to make a noise and beat up the seemingly poor new freedmen.
Richard's eyes widened and he directly ordered the guards to beat the noisy villagers with sticks several times before the scene became quiet.
A few hours later, Vicksburg bureaucrats also arrived on the scene.
The petty bureaucrat in charge of allocating the fields is a young man with a particularly tender face.
"What's your name? How old are you this year? Are you a graduate of He'an Primary School?" Among the
grassroots bureaucrats in the territory, there are some students who graduated from Henan Primary School. These students are usually very young, the older ones are seventeen or eighteen, and the younger ones are only fifteen or sixteen. .
Seeing that the bureaucrat who divided the fields was so young, Richard asked casually.
"Lord, my name is McCullough. I am sixteen years old this year. I graduated from Riverside Elementary School last year." "
You are responsible for the land distribution of the free people here this year?"
McCullough nodded: "Yes, Lord Sir."
"According to the regulations, how is the farmland in this village divided?"
"According to the plan, each free man in this village is granted five acres of land, one mu of paddy field, and four acres of dry land."
Because the scale of farmland that can be cultivated near each village is different. , the quality of farmland allocated to free people is also slightly different. Some villages have better conditions and are naturally richer. Some villages are in poor condition and are slightly poorer.
Generally speaking, the city hall and the Ministry of Agriculture will plan in advance to control the population of the village and try to achieve a balance.
Most freedmen had one acre of paddy field and four acres of dry land. According to this standard, the territorial tax was three silver coins per person, or two hundred and seventy pounds of wheat.
But in this village, the new freedmen did not cultivate paddy fields, and the output of the dry fields this year was severely reduced. The harvest from one acre of land was less than 100 jins. One person paid 270 jins of grain tax, and the remaining grain was less than 200 jins.
Two hundred kilograms of grain was not enough to eat, and they had to reserve grain for next year, so the free people in this village were hungry and cold.
If Richard inspects next fall, the village may starve to death.
"Joseph, tell everyone, how many paddy fields and how many dry lands have you been allocated?" Richard pointed at Joseph.
"Lord, all the new freedmen who were allocated to this village this year will not be allocated paddy fields?"
"McCarru, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, are the paddy fields in this village enough? Why is this problem happening? Since we have encountered When it comes to injustice, have these free people gone to Wickburg to file a complaint? Why is no one handling it?"
Upon hearing that Richard meant to pursue the responsibility seriously, Tony Byrne, the Civil Affairs Officer of Wickburg, changed his expression, and he hated the villagers in this village. Long to death.
But at this time, I could only bite the bullet and answer: "I made an oversight here. When the villagers came to Vicksburg to complain, I handed it over to the mayor of Walls." "
Tony, you are an old man in the territory. In the past, your achievements were somewhat modest. I thought I was doing you a good job and promoted you to the position of mayor of Vicksburg. As a person born as a slave, you should be satisfied with your achievements today. Why do you want to protect Walls?
You know, how much trust do I have in you when I hand over the management of Vicksburg to you?
Is this how you repay your lord and manage the people in this way?
You have betrayed my trust in you. In this case, I want you to have What's the use?"
Tony Byrne was a slave purchased by the Harland family for many years. Before William was granted the title of hereditary baron, Tony Byrne was the male servant of the Harland family. When Richard was young, Tony served as his personal attendant for a period of time.
After William gained the fief, Tony Byrne was the director of the cement factory. In the few years he served as the factory director, he worked hard and tried his best.
These people in the Haaland Territory are developing very fast and there is a serious lack of qualified grassroots bureaucrats.
Because Tony performed well and seized the opportunity well, he was promoted by Richard to the position of mayor of Vicksburg.
Unexpectedly, less than two years after he came here, Tony would have problems, and serious things would happen under his management.
Tony Byrne was very familiar with Richard, and upon hearing this, he immediately understood that Richard had murderous intentions. He knew Richard well and knew that he couldn't quibble at this time. The more he quibbled, the more Richard would hate him.
"Because Walls's sister became my secret lover."
After hearing Tony's explanation, Richard sneered and said: "It turns out that it's because there is something wrong with the lower body. In this case, what is the use of your lower body?
Someone will come here. The dog was pulled out and killed immediately. The body was thrown into the mountains to feed the wolves. His family was all sent to the mines and will never be pardoned." There were a
large number of orcs in the mines, and they sent humans to the mines. From then on, You know what a terrible situation you will face.
Orcs sometimes choose to eat people because they cannot complete mining tasks and have insufficient food.
According to statistics from Bernard, who manages the orcs, humans sent to the mines only live an average of two months.
"Tony has been dealt with for covering up crimes. McCallu, you are the official of the land allocation. There was a problem with the land allocation work in Carlo Village. Your supervision was not in place. You were guilty of dereliction of duty. You will be fined two years' salary and ten years of work." You cannot be promoted during the year.
Walls, are you a wounded veteran?"
Seeing that the high-ranking mayor of Vicksburg was executed on the spot by Richard, his family members were also sent to the mines to kill them all. Fear immediately penetrated into Walls's bones, causing him to tremble violently, speechless, as if he had lost his mind and gone crazy.
Seeing that Walls was so frightened that he lost consciousness, Richard turned around and said to the officer in charge of intelligence: "Check Walls' file to see if he is a retired veteran? If so, spare his family. If not for his family, he would be sent to stay with Tony's family."
Among the bureaucrats, McCullough has the least responsibility. It is difficult for a young boy like him to deal with internal affairs in the village. He does not know the villagers when he goes to divide the fields. The free people basically had to rely on Walls to do their jobs, and could easily be fooled by the following.
Moreover, McCullough's intentions were not too bad. He was only jointly and severally responsible for this incident.
Walls and Tony were the two main people who colluded and bullied the leaders.
Of the two, Richard hates Tony the most, because Tony is the person Richard focuses on and a relatively important civil servant in the territory. Richard values him more and often tells him to be kind to the people under his rule and not to bully the people. , let alone force people to death.
But the situation in the village is that after next spring plowing, a large number of people may starve to death. After this incident, Richard had the worst sense of Tony and hated him the most.
Richard glanced around and stared at the other officials of Fort Vick. He sneered and said: "I don't believe you don't know about the injustice suffered by the free people of Carlo Village, but no one has reported it to me for half a year. You are all responsible for this matter. Officials in Vicksburg cannot be promoted within ten years. Tongmai Carew's treatment is the same, and everyone will be fined two years' salary.
If I find the problem again and am punished for several crimes, not only will my life be in danger, but my family will also be sent to the mine to be with Tony's family. I hope you cherish today Live a good life, don't be greedy. Treat the people under your rule better, and if you make mistakes in the future, I will be more tolerant to you." The
intelligence officer quickly found the file and found that Walls was indeed a retired grassroots employee. officer.
After hearing the news, Richard suddenly felt a little discouraged.
Because Richard cares most about the army and spends almost all day with soldiers. Relatively speaking, the army is cleaner than the local area.
Unexpectedly, Walls would become like this just two or three years after he retired from the army.
Not only did he give his sister to Tony as a lover, but he also occupied several women in the village, robbed the fertile land of free people, and even killed people, becoming a domineering local bully.
Unlike Tony, Walls had served as a soldier and fought in the war.
The army is the core force of Harland's territory, and it is also the basis for Richard to control the territory. All officials who are involved with the army will be sentenced to a lighter sentence.
Although Tony has a higher position and is a domestic slave of the Harland family, it is easy to deal with him. Walls has many old comrades-in-arms. In order to avoid their tragic death, Walls’ family must be treated kindly.
"Walls was executed immediately because he had committed meritorious deeds and was injured. His family tolerated it and moved to Vicksburg. They arranged for his wife to work in a quilt factory and gave her a job so that she could earn some money to support the family."
Richard knew in his heart that corrupt officials would never stop being killed, and even Zhu Yuanzhang could not stop official corruption even by peeling off the skin and making grass. Richard's family was sent to the mine, but they were also unable to control officials' corruption and disregard human lives.
But harsh punishments can still play some role. At least they can deter bureaucrats from inciting popular uprisings.
Anyone who dared to provoke a civil uprising would be dealt with by Richard on a large scale and killed with a butcher's knife.
After several incidents happened in succession, some smart officials in the Haaland territory have mastered the balance.
Compared with other areas of the Grant Kingdom, the Northern Territory is vast and sparsely populated, with more arable land per capita, no shortage of water, high food production, and a barely passable life.
Through constant inspections, Richard found that most free people lived a pretty good life, and it was relatively rare that they were in poverty.
Because of the disaster this year, Richard is also planning to give some food subsidies to the freedmen.
After returning to the mansion, Richard summoned all his relatives and told them what happened today.
"You are all relatives of me and Sophia, and you are considered the ruling class of the Harland Territory. The development of the territory is closely related to you. For people like us, we must have a long-term perspective and not be greedy for money. As long as If we take control of political power, future generations can live a prosperous life and become superior people.
Every free citizen in the territory is a wealth to us. They live a prosperous life, so that the goods we produce can have a market, and then the territory Only the industry and productivity can develop. We should support any policy that can make them rich, and oppose any policy that makes them poor. This principle is also used in selecting the officials
below, which can develop productivity and make the people rich. We will vigorously promote those who have risen up, and we should immediately abolish those who hinder the development of productivity and make people poor.
You are all my relatives, connected by blood to our husband and wife, so you should support me. If you find problems below, you must report them immediately. If you need money to talk to me and Sophia, you must not collude with the bureaucrats below or obstruct me. Development of territory.
That’s it for today. Once you are caught by me for corruption or malfeasance, I will be absolutely merciless. You will even use your heads to intimidate the officials in the territory and educate them not to commit crimes.
Please remember this. Don't think that just because you are Sophia's brother or nephew, or my Richard's brother or sister, or a member of the Harland family, you can do whatever you want without any scruples. According to the rules I have set, if you people commit a crime, the punishment will be more severe than that of outsiders.
You should be more careful, do your part, and improve your self-cultivation. My moral requirements for you are higher than those of ordinary people. No matter who breaks the law, I will not show mercy. "
Richard's murderous words left many people confused. Soon they heard that Richard had killed Tony and sent Tony's family to the mine. They suddenly felt a sense of terror. Many people asked themselves
, Some people have also done some things like bullying men and women, corruption and malfeasance.
After hearing what Richard said, he immediately started to wipe the shit off his butt to prevent someone from poking into Richard's ears and making him angry. Life. They are so ruthless towards Richard that even if they are relatives, they all have a feeling of fear.
Richard just wants to make them afraid. If they don't have the fear, they will do things unscrupulously, and the top beam will not be straight and the bottom beam will be crooked.
Even himself There is no reason to manage the officials in the territory.
If the upper level is bad, a lot of it will be bad below.
If the officials are bad, no matter how good the policy is, it will be bad in implementation.
Through constant inspections, problems will be discovered and solved. Problem, Richard found that one of the most serious problems in the territory today is the shortage of cattle.
Using cattle to plow the land is the most immediate way to increase the area of grain sown.
The average freeman in the Harland Territory owns thirty acres of farmland per household. Without cattle, it would be impossible to cultivate thirty acres of farmland by manpower.
However, the price of farm cattle is not cheap. A mature bull costs more than six gold coins, and the price of cows is slightly more expensive. Without three to five years of accumulation, free people could not afford to buy cattle.
In the past, Richard helped free people farm by renting cattle. He received very little rent, just a symbolic amount.
As the number of freedmen increased, the official number of cattle was somewhat in short supply. This year, some freedmen could not even rent cattle and could only use manpower to plow the fields, resulting in a decrease in output.
If Richard hadn't used a large number of Warcraft horses to plow the fields during spring plowing, this year's spring plowing task would not have been completed.
Richard sold 20,000 tons of grain and obtained 46,000 gold coins. Counting the working capital saved in the treasury, he already had about 100,000 gold coins in his hand.
The reason why there is so much money in the vault is entirely because of the unexpected fortune of 40,000 gold coins obtained from the secret base of the Venus family, plus part of the remaining funds from last year. Unknowingly, there is actually a lot of money in the vault. A huge sum of one hundred thousand gold coins.
(End of chapter)