Chapter 204: Population and Land
In a makeshift thatched cottage, Su Ze was taking the pulse of a farmer in the mountains.
Beside him, Shao Xianxue and Shao Xianxian from the Shao Family Medical Center were brewing medicine, and a group of young scholars were busy near the temporary camp.
On August 20th, Hai Rui officially received the appointment from the court. He was going to Chun'an County, Zhejiang Province as the magistrate. He had been packing his things these days.
The Shao brothers were Hai Rui's new students, so Su Ze naturally took over the responsibility of teaching them.
Su Ze simply pulled them to Wufeng Mountain to study while doing things.
For this group of young people, it is a rare experience to go out of school and camp and study on Wufeng Mountain.
Su Ze gave lectures in the morning and took them to work near the camp in the afternoon.
In addition to the students accepted by Hai Rui, the county school is also on summer vacation.
Daming School has two holidays, winter and summer. There are no classes during the two hottest months of summer and around the Chinese New Year in winter.
Several students in the county who were familiar with Su Ze also followed Su Ze to Wufeng Mountain.
Li Qiyuan is learning to measure the land with the children in the nursing home. The detailed map of Wufeng Mountain in Su Ze's house was brought by Li Qiyuan for surveying.
The Li family was originally a mathematician, and his father-in-law was also an ancestral craftsmanship passed down from his family. After receiving Su Ze's enlightenment in calculus, he has been practicing and studying these days, and his math has improved by leaps and bounds.
Chen Chaoyuan and Wang Xun took the county government scribes to compile households on Wufeng Mountain.
Su Ze submitted the proposal of reorganizing households to allocate people to the county government, and Baizhi County immediately sent officials to the mountain.
The reason is also very simple. Population growth is also an important part of officials' performance evaluation.
However, compilation of households and people is also a very complicated task. Thanks to two people, Chen Chaoyuan and Wang Xun, who have lawyers in their families and are familiar with various yamen documents and legal provisions, they can handle the matter so properly.
[Diagnose and treat patients, medical skill experience +5, Lv4, 395/400]
After prescribing the medicine for the patient in front of him, Su Ze's medical experience increased again, and he could upgrade by treating one more patient.
Han Li walked into the thatched cottage in a hurry. He picked up the sour plum soup on the table and drank it all in one gulp. He said,
"Brother Rulin, I have seen those places. They are indeed treasures of Feng Shui!" "
Sorry, I'm used to it. Yes. The soil in those areas is soft and suitable for excavation and construction."
Han Li's family was born in Yin and Yang, and he often followed his father to teach Feng Shui to people in Nanping County.
Su Ze asked him to explore the terrain and soil on Wufeng Mountain.
Han Li, a yin and yang student, is really good, and he quickly planned a labor-saving route to start construction.
"Brother Rulin, are we really going to flood this place? These are all top-quality paddy fields." Han Li asked, looking at the farmland outside.
Su Ze nodded and said: "The paddy fields cultivated by the Huang family are all dug from the river bed. The soil on the river bed is rich in corrosive matter and is the best soil." "These fields behind Wufeng Mountain are all dug from the river bed
. The swamps on the edge of the river were reclaimed. These natural swamps were originally the reservoirs of the Minjiang River. They could store the river water when the water rose, so that the water in the lower reaches of the Minjiang River would not rise too high." "But these big companies raised the height
. If the river embankment is damaged, the upper reaches of the river will lose its reservoir. Once there is a heavy rain, the lower reaches of the Minjiang River will overflow." "
I have read the county annals. In the Chenghua year, there was only one flooding record in the Minjiang River every ten years, but in this dynasty it was recorded. It has become once every five years, once every three years, and it has flooded twice in the past three years."
Han Li's family has a yin and yang life, and he has learned some knowledge about kanyu, so he immediately understood what Su Ze meant.
"I see. I didn't expect river flooding to be related to the opening of fields."
Su Ze nodded and said,
"The floodplain is the starting point of civilization. Panyin originated from the flooding Yin River, and almost all ancient cities were built on the river. By the river."
Su Ze used tree branches to draw a simple map of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers on the ground, and then highlighted several cities.
Everyone put down what they were doing and gathered around Su Ze to listen to his lecture.
These days, everyone has become accustomed to Su Ze suddenly giving lectures. Although this knowledge is not tested in the imperial examination, no one wants to miss it at all. In Chen Chaoyuan's words, these are great principles that are "almost Taoist", which is why Su Ze is like this This is a great truth that can only be understood by those who have read poetry and books.
"In ancient times, our ancestors used flooded rivers to grow crops, and then they settled down from fishing and hunting. With farming, language, writing, and the fire of civilization were born." "With cities, it was natural to prevent rivers from flooding. The ancestors
learned We block rivers and build dams to confine the river water, but why are the rivers overflowing day by day and there are more and more records of floods?" "The Ming Dynasty was able to
overthrow the Yuan Dynasty because of the serious floods in the Yuan Dynasty. Yellow River."
Everyone nodded. Over the years, rivers have often flooded, especially the Yellow River, which floods almost every two or three years. News of floods can be heard every year.
Su Ze drew a few more circles on the ground and said:
"There are Yunmeng Ze and Daze in the history books. The reason why these big marshes disappeared is that the ancestors opened fields around the rivers, and these big marshes originally had river water. It plays the role of a reservoir during flooding." "
The current situation is that the frequency of river regulation on large rivers is getting higher and higher, but the frequency of flooding is increasing. The root cause is that nowadays river management involves building embankments. Drinking poison to quench thirst, the higher the river embankment, the greater the damage caused by flooding and breaking the embankment. In some cities near the river, the embankment exceeds the city wall, and the river has become a hanging river. Once the embankment breaks, a city will be destroyed." Everyone was shocked to hear this
. , but thinking about the floods in Fujian over the years, it seems that what Su Ze said makes sense.
Han Li asked: "Brother Rulin, is there any way to cure the flood?"
Su Ze shook his head and said: "Maybe there was a way in the early years of the dynasty, but in this world, it is too difficult to cure the flood."
Everyone quickly understood. In spite of Su Ze's wishes, the imperial court's corvee service was already so heavy, let alone recruiting a large number of people to control the floods.
The Yuan Dynasty died because of the Yellow Emperor's depletion of people's power. This lesson is vaguely understood by scholars of the Ming Dynasty.
Last year, when there was a snowstorm in western Beijing, the imperial court was unable to send anyone to provide relief, so it could only keep the victims out of the capital, let alone control the river.
Han Li asked again: "But the ancestors opened up the swamps also to fill their stomachs."
Su Ze nodded and said: "That's natural. The ancient swamps are now fertile fields, but the ancients had swamps to open up wasteland. Now that our Fujian mountainous areas are almost fully cultivated, what will future generations want to cultivate?"
This sentence stopped everyone in their tracks.
Su Ze added: "In the early Tang Dynasty, soldiers were granted land, with one hectare per person, eighty acres for oral distribution, and twenty acres for permanent property. At that time, all adult men were granted land." Everyone took a breath, and
now Throughout Nanping County, those with a hectare of land at home are considered wealthy landowners, while ordinary homesteaders often only have a few acres of land.
The land in Fujian is tight, and they work hard to cultivate it every year. Even after paying the land tax and rent, they still don't have enough to eat.
The issues of population growth and acres of land were put in front of everyone. Li Qiyuan added:
"Almost all the land that can be opened up in Nanping has been opened up. Otherwise, big families like the Huang family would not come to Wufeng Mountain to open up wasteland. In the early days of the Republic of China, The population has been growing since the beginning of the year. There are many people but the fields remain unchanged. The lack of land and the abundance of people is the reason for the constant famine in these years." Su Ze nodded approvingly. When all
this was put in front of everyone, a heavy feeling came over him. In everyone's mind.
Han Li asked: "Brother Rulin, do you have a way to break the situation?" Everyone looked at Su Ze, who pointed to the sea and said, "Colonial expansion." "
Colonial expansion?"
Su Ze drew another map on the ground and said:
"This is Penghu, and this is our Fujian. Penghu is a quarter of the size of Fujian. Although there are mountains in the middle of Penghu, the land along the coast can be cultivated." When Su Ze drew the map, everyone discovered that
Penghu was actually So big.
Su Ze continued to draw another big island: "This is Qiongzhou, the hometown of Haijiaoyu. Qiongzhou is larger than Penghu, but its population is less than the population of Yanping Prefecture." Su Ze continued to draw:
" Ryukyu, Luzon, Annam, Champa, Java, and Siam, since the early years of the Republic of China, many people from Fujian and Guangzhou have immigrated. Franji merchants said that there are many people in Luzon who practice Fujian dialect. "Everyone is
. It is no secret that Fujian people immigrated to Nanyang. The reason why these people left their hometowns is also very simple, that is, there is no land for farming in their hometowns.
But banning the sea is a national policy, so everyone fell silent.
Chen Chaoyuan sighed and said: "I have low qualifications and are not the material to study. I only hope that Rulin can pass the imperial examination and become a high school minister. If he can be a cabinet minister in the future, it would be great if the imperial court can lift the sea ban." Su Ze disagreed in his heart
. The sea ban not only prohibited maritime trade, but also prohibited overseas exploration.
Even the Longqing Switch only allowed merchant ships to trade, and the Ming Dynasty still did not engage in foreign colonization and exploration.
For a land-based country like the Ming Dynasty, stability was paramount, and overseas territories were unstable factors that escaped the control of the empire.
Su Ze did not continue to discuss this topic. All he needed was to sow a seed in everyone's hearts, and this seed would naturally take root and sprout in the future.
[Teaching in public, teaching skill experience +20, Level 3, 267/300]
Just after Su Ze finished his lecture, Eunuch Tao walked in with a smile on his face.
"Xiangong Su! The lawsuit has begun!"
Eunuch Tao said excitedly:
"The news in Nanping City is that the lawsuit between the Huang family and several other big families is really going on. The government official Zhang Sijing favored the Huang family and transferred some land to the Huang family. The verdict was awarded to the Huang family, and several other companies have already taken the case to the Prosecutor's Office, which has sent the case to Tingzhou Prefecture for a retrial!"
Su Ze had a smile on his face, and when Eunuch Tao offered three times the high price for the redemption, When it comes to land, many large households with farmland in the mountains are already preparing to quit.
But they didn't expect that the Huang family would run faster.
Zhang Sijing quickly made judgments on several property dispute cases and awarded the disputed land to the Huang family, hoping to cut through the mess quickly and exit the whirlpool.
But the other big players couldn't do anything anymore. Now the Huang family had no losses, but their losses were huge!
The original land registration was insufficient, and these lands were awarded to the Huang family. Everyone felt that they had been cheated by the Huang family.
Naturally, everyone couldn't swallow this breath, so they simply filed a lawsuit against Fuzhou Prefecture.
Su Ze asked in confusion: "Why didn't the Inspector-General do the trial in person and sent it to the Tingzhou Prefecture for a retrial?"
Wang Xun's family was a litigation lawyer. He said: "The Inspector-General directly overturned the judgment of Zhang Tuiguan. That would be tantamount to breaking up, and if the appeal cases from various places were tried in person by the inspectors, they would be too busy all year round and sent to the Linfu for retrial, because the Linfu and the local government have little involvement. As long as there is no problem in the trial, the inspector will The lawsuit will be based on the retrial result."
Su Ze said with a smile: "Does that mean the lawsuit has really started?"
Tao Gonggong said with a smile: "It has really started!"
Sure enough, originally it was just a lawsuit in the county, but now When it comes to the province, the cost is even higher.
The materials have to be sent to Tingzhou Prefecture. Tingzhou Prefecture invites clerks and yamen from the government office to come to Nanping to do business, and drinking and socializing is indispensable, which is another expense.
But being caught up in this case, several families have really fought hard, and it is naturally impossible to give up. If we quit now, all the previous efforts will be in vain.
Su Ze was not idle either. Under the leadership of Monk Liao Hui of Xichan Temple, Su Ze also established a hydraulic hammer workshop in Wufeng Mountain and began to forge shovels and other equipment by himself.
By the end of August, some big players finally couldn't hold on any longer.
Huang Shixing knelt in the family ancestral hall. Looking at the family elders in the ancestral hall, Huang Shixing clenched his fists.
Although the head of the Huang family is Huang Shixing's biological father, due to the pressure from the elders of other houses of the Huang family, a visit to this ancestral hall is unavoidable.
An old man with white hair and beard is the most senior man in the Huang family and Huang Shixing's uncle.
The old man patted the armrest of the chair and said, "What!? Advocate Zhang wants to get back five hundred taels of silver? How can our Huang family get five hundred taels now!" "Yes, yes
, all the silver at home has been exchanged for old money. , there is no need to go out now!"
"He didn't join the gang voluntarily that day, so why should he take out the money now? We still have money for one house in it!" "If we
want to get this money, it must come from the big house!"
The old man did not stop him. While everyone was talking, they looked at Huang Shixing's father, the clan leader.
Huang's father did not speak, but Huang Shixing said: "Dear uncles and elders, when our family made money together in the past, you were all rushing to give my father money. Why did you take the money and leave when you lost money?" Everyone glared again
: "How brave! Are you talking to your uncle and elders like this?"
"If you hadn't insisted on following the private investment, the family would not be like this. Now that the lawsuit is like this, I don't know how much money I have to spend to get out!" "Enough
! Come on!"
Father Huang, who had been silent for a long time, slapped the table.
"The property in Nanping City will be managed by the Second Fang. Shi Xing, you can concentrate on the lawsuit."
Huang's father relieved Huang Shixing of managing Nanping's property in one sentence, and the Second Fang immediately shut up.
"If you want to litigate, you have to rely on Zhang's activities. If he wants money, just give it to him. The big house will collect the money himself."
Now the other group of people also shut up.
"We have to find a way to sell our old money, even if it is melted into copper ingots, we have to sell it."
While the Huang family was having a meeting, a big business owner had already gone up the mountain to contact Eunuch Tao.
Su Ze cured a She people with beriberi and finally raised his medical skills to Level 5.
(End of chapter)