sweeping the world

Chapter 729 Anticlimactic?

How do you know the real folk when you are always nestled in the temple?As an official, if you don't even have the idea of ​​going to the countryside to observe with your own eyes, all the policies are just patted on your own head to formulate. Introduce some policies that the government thinks are quite good, but the people deeply hate them.

Of course, Xie Ai's trip will not be alone, there will be guards and local officials accompanying him, and ostentation is indispensable.

Yumen County is not a big county. The registered population of the county is [-], and the age group is also clearly recorded.The amount of land owned by a person, the size and specifications of the house, how many relatives there are and what they look like are basically clearly recorded in the official book.

It is not uncommon for the borderland to be sparsely populated. The population of many counties simply cannot reach the base that a county should have. No matter where the border of a country is, the number of similar counties is not too small.

The Northwest has belonged to the frontier in the past dynasties of the Central Plains. Its side is relatively special. The landform is not like the green mountains and green waters of the Central Plains. Every place has its own terrain. Most of it is either grassland or Gobi, and only a small amount provides farming. soil of.

In fact, the land in the northwest was snatched by the Han people from the Hu people, and it turned out to be the pasture of the Hu people.Because of the geographical terrain and the climate, there are a lot of water and grass in this area, which is extremely suitable for use as pastures.But it is because of the soil quality, for example, the soil layer is full of sand if it is not dug deep, which makes the land really not suitable for farming.

Since the northwest fell into the hands of the Han family, in fact, most of the area was either vacant or used as pastures, which allowed the northwest to maintain a considerable grazing habit and became one of the breeding places for horses produced by the Central Plains Dynasty.When encountering wars, the Northwest has never been short of war horses. Furthermore, the people in the Northwest basically know how to ride. The Northwest Cavalry has become the trump card in the hands of the separatist forces. Several times, they have always been able to control the central government and suppress dissatisfaction in various places.

Compared with other places, there are not enough farming areas, the Northwest has been in a state of food shortage since ancient times, and there is a habit of maintaining grazing, and the folk customs are much stronger than other regions.In a long history, the Northwest has always been able to provide high-quality cavalry for the central government, and even famous generals have emerged again and again, so there is the saying "Kanxi has generals, and Kanto has prime ministers".

During the drought year, the Northwest became more and more desertified than in previous years. Xie Ai didn’t have to go too far to go out of the county. At first glance, the yellow sand was everywhere. There would be no such scene at this time in previous years. It should be a sight to see. The grassland is green and green, but this year it is due to the lack of water to the point where even the grass can't stand it.

"Yumen has less than [-] mu of farmland, and most of the people make a living by grazing."

Zhao Fang is the magistrate of Yumen County, so he naturally wants to accompany Xie Ai to the countryside.He has served as the county magistrate of Yumen County for two years, and spent a year visiting various places. When he wanted to conduct investigations, there was a drought.

Xie Ai is a native of the Northwest himself, and he is no stranger to the situation in the Northwest. He clearly understands the environment in which the Northwest people grow up, and he also knows what the Northwest looks like.

Generally speaking, the Northwest is very large, with endless grasslands and hills that can be seen everywhere, not to mention the Gobi without a little green.

There are two places in the large-scale mountainous area, one is the Qilian Mountains, and the other refers to the later loess high slope area.

But now it is not the appearance of the loess high slopes in later generations. In fact, the current situation there is not bad, with its own grass vegetation and dense forests.The reason why later generations will become bare loess hillsides is that the trees have been felled too severely, resulting in soil erosion.Once the water cannot be retained and the underground river dries up, won't even a single grass on the surface be able to survive?

The Gobi in the northwest is mainly concentrated in the northwest near the Western Regions.The Badain Jaran Desert and the Tengger Desert in later generations are still grasslands, especially because Juyanze still exists, and the Badain Jaran Desert in later generations is actually a place with rich water and grass.

There will be such a large desert in the northwest in the future. In fact, the reason is not that complicated. The geological features that are not suitable for farming have been intensively cultivated, and trees have been cut down endlessly, artificially changing the natural environment. Desertification of geological features.

The piece of loess Xie Ai saw, if the rainy season resumes, it will be blue again in a short time. This is because the geological water storage system has not been completely destroyed, but the phenomenon caused by the surface being too dry.

"The herding people have been migrating to the southeast, not only in Yumen County, but also in other counties." The people Zhao Fang mentioned included many people who were born in Yumen County, and they were very entangled: "The people Seeking to live, the lower officials are not easy to stop."

For a county, when it comes time to assess its political performance, the first thing to look at is how the county's population is. Maintaining the original number can only be said to be qualified. If the population grows too much, even if it is bad in other aspects, it will get a "good" evaluation.

For those officials who are local officials in the northwest and northern Xinjiang, the situation they face is much more complicated than that in the interior. It is all because a considerable number of people in the northwest and northern Xinjiang are chasing pastures and grazing, and it is difficult to control them at ordinary times. It is not surprising that the sky is suddenly lost.They can only use all kinds of means to at least let those shepherds be present when they should report to the county, and besides, they also have the name of the county in various transactions.

Due to the need to maintain the population in the county, the work of local officials in the frontier is not easy to do. They often need to go to various pastures to interact with the people. Not to mention, the people have difficulties and should be solved as soon as possible to win people's hearts. Even if the people want to sell livestock You need to help, otherwise you really can't let those people who can run at any time regard themselves as county people.

It's hard to say what Zhao Fang was like before he became a local official in the northwest. Xie Ai saw that if Zhao Fang took off his official robe, he really couldn't see the elegance that a scholar should have. If Zhao Fang took off his official robe and went on his way Just squatting on the side is a full-fledged farmer.

To the southeast of Yumen County is the Qilian Mountains, beyond the mountains is a basin, and to the southwest is a plateau.

The grazing groups in the northwest go southeast, after crossing the Qilian Mountains, there is a very large lake (Yemo) in the basin below the plateau.It is a resting place in the Hexi Corridor. Not only is there a large lake but also a water system. The situation is very complicated because the environment is so good. The Northwesterners themselves will rob the pastures. Tuyuhun) will also come over, and there will be bloodshed every year because of the scramble for the pasture.

The country of Han couldn't help the population flow, and in some respects it can be called encouraging the densely populated areas to divert the population, that is, the densely populated areas are becoming more and more dense, and there are still few people willing to migrate to the sparsely populated areas.

The non-prohibition of population movement is actually quite a headache for the governments of various places. Places that do not want population loss must do their best to retain the people, and places that want to attract people to migrate will ask the central government for favorable policies. The means and each show their talents.

"How many percent of the local people have left?"

"This... should be about [-]%."

Xie Ai couldn't help but looked at Zhao Fang sympathetically. The drought and population loss made Zhao Fang feel uncomfortable during the assessment.

The Han State conducts a rough census every year, and a strict census every three years, which is not an easy task for any local government.

To do that, it is natural that the center needs to monitor the population in various places, and then get feedback data to make policy preference for certain areas, for example, which place needs to attract people to migrate to, it is necessary to favor good policies in the past.In many densely populated places, things that increase the burden on the people are done within the scope permitted by the law, such as increasing taxes.When it comes to the national level, there is no pure good or bad, but it is out of practical needs.

"Is there enough grassroots in the county?"

"enough."

The State of Han has a policy of arranging retired military officers and soldiers to act as local officials. Even in remote places, personnel will be sent to the grassroots level to serve as the state's control of the local area.The country can look up the population every year, and can greatly conduct a census every three years. It relies on the control power to reach the grassroots, and it means that the official establishment of the Han Dynasty is much larger than that of any previous dynasty.

Whether there are many grassroots in a place is directly linked to the ability to control the locality. It is the same rice to support all kinds of people. Not all official staff can do good things and good things, and there are many things that go wrong in the hands of the staff.

It has been nine years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, and the number of retired military personnel who have become local staff is very large. In the past nine years, they have changed one crop after another.These grassroots personnel who have served in the military have all had collective careers and have been under the shroud of military law for a long time. Naturally, they are much better than ordinary people in terms of discipline.Although it is inevitable that there will be black sheep among military veterans, in general, the benefits to the country are more than the disadvantages.

Xie Ai walked and watched as he gradually moved away from the county seat. When he was about to arrive at the destination, the attack and killing never appeared.

Zhao Fang has always felt that something is wrong since he followed Xie Ai out of the county. It was not until Yuan Kuai appeared that he understood what happened from just a few words.

"So they gave up on the action?"

"Master Hou, the villain's son is in their hands, please help Master Hou!"

Xie Ai summoned his guards and whispered some instructions.

The guard didn't know what order he got, so he walked away quickly after saluting.

"Officer..." Zhao Fang was both afraid and grateful, not daring to express his dissatisfaction, and asked, "This is it?"

The magistrates of the Han Dynasty only had civil power, so they couldn't manage violent institutions anyway, and the county magistrate couldn't be blamed for the villains hiding in the land, so Zhao Fang could be so calm after knowing the situation.

The county lieutenant of Yumen County was not present, and that was where Zhao Fang realized something was wrong.In fact, the county lieutenants in the Han Dynasty had a lot of power, and the work of monitoring the local area was done by the county lieutenants, so the violent institutions in the county were in the hands of the county lieutenants.The county lieutenant does not need to be responsible to the county magistrate (county magistrate) in terms of duties, and is directly under the county lieutenant.The relationship is good and there is no secrecy involved, but the county magistrate (county magistrate) can be informed. Obviously, the county magistrate of Yumen County did not inform Zhao Fang of today's incident.

Zhang Dan's group was very cautious, and when they realized that there was nothing wrong with it, they gave up their actions without any delay.He and Pei Heng reunited separately, and they parted again within an hour. They just transferred with their hard-core confidants, and did not notify the rest at all.

Soon, Xie Ai got news feedback that the attack did not happen because after Zhang Dan and Pei Heng disappeared, those people were suspicious... It is true that some people have ghosts in their hearts. After a quarrel, they have ghosts in their hearts When people show their feet, internal strife breaks out without accident.As a result, all those who secretly took refuge in the government were wiped out. The rebels who won the internal strife could not find Zhang Dan and Pei Heng, so they gave up attacking and scattered and fled. Li Kuangzheng personally directed the hunt.

"Continue the journey."

"This..., promise."

Xie Ai didn't think too much about the fact that the attack didn't happen, and he wasn't surprised that Zhang Dan and Pei Heng were so vigilant.

The confrontation between the government and the rebellious party has always been years and years, especially the organized rebellious party is not so easy to eliminate, on the contrary, it is not too difficult to deal with some groups that blatantly raise their flags to take over the hills.

"Wuthering Mountain Forest may exist, but occupying the mountain as king has not." When Zhao Fang was asked about related issues, although it was not within his scope of duties, he did not feel embarrassed by the county captain: "It's just... if the situation continues to deteriorate , if there is no good plan... the lower official thinks it might happen?"

Which dynasty did not point to fugitive criminals?That is something that cannot be avoided.However, if the situation of occupying the mountain as king happens, the official control over the local area will drop to a dangerous warning line, which also indicates that in general, the court is not so popular.

It is obvious that the people in the Northwest do not have a strong sense of belonging to the Han Kingdom, and there is another drought. If they really want to make them unable to survive, no matter how powerful the Han army is, those who should gather will still gather. Fight your way out.

"What is a good strategy?"

"Allow food to come, or distribute it to the people for free, or sell it to the people at a low price."

Xie Ai asked one more question, and when he learned that Zhao Fang was a Confucian student studying "The Analects of Confucius", he immediately showed a dazed expression.

There are many Confucian classics, each of which has its own core values, and is divided into factions, and any faction can have its own opinions.

If Xie Ai hadn't seen that Zhao Fang was a man of practical work, unlike the rest of the Confucian scholars who studied "The Analects of Confucius", he would only talk empty words, and he would have no desire to continue communicating.

In fact, Confucianists who study "The Analects of Confucius" can only talk empty words about what is really not a slander, and later there will be such remarks as "half of the Analects rule the world". It can be regarded as the one with the worst hands-on ability among the Confucian schools.

(End of this chapter)