Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Before Bai Qi took Changsha, Zhao Ding had already arrived in Yueyang, accompanied by a large number of officials.

Although the population of Hunan dropped sharply, establishing the province seemed a bit reluctant. However, it was precisely because of the insufficient population and the urgent need for development that the imperial court established Hunan Province to accelerate its development.

Zhao Ding, the governor of Kaifeng, was transferred to be the first Hunan Zuobu envoy.

When he returns to Beijing after completing his term, he will most likely be promoted to a certain minister, or to the left minister of the official and household departments.

"The imperial court will issue an official document soon," Zhao Ding said. "The capital of Hubei Province will be moved to Xiangyang, and the capital of Hunan Province will be Changsha. The two provinces are closely related and need more exchanges."

Li Guang, Hubei's Left Chief Envoy, said: "Of course, the water conservancy of Jingjiang River and Dongting Lake can only be achieved through joint cooperation between the two provinces."

Zhao Ding asked: "Will Hubei still have enough food this year?"

Li Guang shook his head: "They have all been transferred to supply military rations, and there is not much left in each government. Now Hunan is full of waste, and the rice harvest will definitely fail. I am afraid that the grain will have to be transported from Sichuan."

"How about moving 10,000 stones regardless of coarse or fine grains?" Zhao Ding began to beat the autumn wind.

Li Guang didn't want to give him food. After all, he had already produced a lot of food when he conquered Prime Minister Zhong, so Hubei needed to save some food just in case. He did not refuse face to face, and only said: "Your Excellency, you can report to the Ming Dynasty first. If Hubei receives the official document from the Ministry of Household Affairs, it will definitely provide food."

"Thank you very much." Zhao Ding bowed quickly.

When the official document from the Ministry of Household Affairs was sent to Hubei, Li Guangding lamented the delay and probably had to discount it in the end. The limit of being able to transfer four to five thousand stones to Hunan was already the limit.

The share of Sichuan's support has been determined. 50,000 shi of rice and 50,000 shi of corn will all be shipped to Hunan within this year.

Hunan and Hubei provinces are model provinces that fully implement the method of apportioning every acre into an acre.

The gentry and landlords in Hubei are not strong, and Hunan has been washed away by Prime Minister Zhong. There is little resistance to all-out landownership.

To be honest, the advantages and disadvantages of the policy of dividing one person into another are very obvious. Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming don’t know what will happen in the future.

Not to mention the advantages, the disadvantage is that the landlords pass on the labor costs to the tenants. The local government may allocate the land to the land, and then impose exorbitant taxes in disguised form to collect the labor money, or simply levy the labor directly, which is equivalent to collecting a repeated poll tax.

This is not an unfounded worry. This was the case in the Qing Dynasty. Sharing small shares into acres did not reduce the burden on farmers, but only allowed the central court to increase tax revenue.

What Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming can do is to leave more of the labor money spread into the fields for local finance at all levels. Otherwise, they will force local officials to collect taxes twice. This is just like Zhu Yuanzhang's extremely low salary for officials. If an official is not greedy, he will even have trouble eating.

Zhao Ding said: "I would like to ask, after the re-demarcation of boundaries, how many household registrations will there be in Hubei according to the new law?"

"More than 800,000 households, more than 2.3 million people," Li Guang sighed. "There are also many soldiers who may be relocated at any time. A group of them have been relocated this year."

Hubei has resettled a large number of soldiers and refugees, with a high proportion of young adults and a small population per household.

Zhao Ding muttered: "After the military disaster, it seems that there are at most three to four hundred thousand households in Hunan."

The ratio of households to people in the Song Dynasty was basically around 1:2.

This "kou" refers specifically to Dingkou, which is a person who has to perform official service, corvee service, or military service.

Since Hunan and Hubei have established the system of selling people per mu, they will not count the number of people per mu, but will directly count the population. Moreover, those under the age of fifteen are not included in the calculation, and the household registration is only registered after the age of fifteen.

There is also another change. Official households and private households are merged into one, and there will no longer be any distinction in statistics from now on.

The algorithms for Fangguo households and rural households are retained, that is, urban household registration and rural household registration. However, the taxation method needs to be adjusted. Urban households are taxed based on the property area, and rural households are taxed based on the field area. Households in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth grades are no longer distinguished, nor are the main households and customers.

Because of the classification of households and main customers, there are too many loopholes to exploit, and there are more tricks than concealing real estate and land.

Hunan was previously managed by Li Guang, and Zhao Ding asked him many questions.

The next step is for Zhao Ding to write a letter to the Jiangxi Governor to establish a personal relationship between the two parties.

His mission this year is to maintain stability in Hunan and prevent people from starving and rebelling. The immigration policy will be promulgated next year, mainly to attract immigrants from Jiangxi, and land deeds will be given to wasteland after three years of cultivation.

Jiangxi has more people but less land, and its population is so large that it can fill the gap in Hunan's population.

When the Han population is plentiful, we will then solve the problems of the Yao, Dong and Miao people.

Ethnic minorities in the mountains do not have to pay taxes, but many ethnic minorities have moved outside the mountains, and many Han people call themselves ethnic minorities. People of all ethnic groups close to the areas where the Han people lived were actually used to being taxed by the Song Dynasty, but they often resisted taxation and rebelled in times of disaster or when taxes were too heavy.

There must be a certain degree of control. The official tax collection standard has been determined, and we cannot collect it randomly like the officials of Zhao and Song Dynasties - most of the taxes collected by ethnic minorities by those guys were put into private pockets!

By the way, we have to have a good relationship with the Duke of Shu.

After the fall of Zhong Xiang, a large number of Manichaeans were still there, so Bai Qi needed to lead the troops and stay in Changsha for at least three years as the Duke of the country.

…

Pingxiang.

The crippled Jiangxi North Route Army returned to Nanchang in batches for reorganization, and casualty pensions had to be calculated.

Song Huizong watched the last batch of troops leave and muttered to himself: "This Prime Minister Zhong is too inexperienced. He was destroyed in just three or four months. It's useless for me to think that he is the number one figure."

"Alas, the battle is finally over!" Xie Ze, the county magistrate, sighed.

Song Huizong said quickly: "The soldiers of tomorrow are invincible. The likes of Zhong Xiang are like clowns."

Xie Ze shook his head and turned to go back to the county government office. He had been very tired in the past few months.

After walking a few steps, Xie Ze turned back and said, "Finally, I have a free day. Come and have a drink with me at the county government office."

Song Huizong quickly followed and went to drink with the county magistrate.

The two had met before. Xie Ze was a Jinshi in the third year of Xuanhe's reign, and came from the last imperial examination presided over by Song Huizong in Kaifeng.

But Xie Ze's Jinshi ranking was relatively low, and he couldn't see clearly what the emperor looked like. After one year of waiting in Beijing, Xie Ze was sent as envoy to the Yingchang Guesthouse, equivalent to the general manager of the Xuchang Hotel, and never met the emperor again.

When Zhu Ming raised his troops to march north, the farmers in Yingchang took the opportunity to revolt and killed a bunch of officials who left the city.

Xie Ze stayed in the city to arrange the reception and just escaped the disaster. Although Ju Ming did not stay in the hotel, there were not many officials left in Yingchang. Xie Ze was still busy and neglected, and now he finally got a county magistrate position in the new dynasty.

Xie Ze also had a brother named Xie Hong, both of whom were Jinshi in the same discipline.

If it were Xie Hong who was in Pingxiang, he would have recognized Song Huizong at a glance. Because Xie Hong was among the top twenty Jinshi, he was very close to the emperor at the wedding banquet.

Returning to the county government house, the county magistrate and the chief registrar sat down with each other over wine.

Song Huizong hurriedly poured wine for his superiors and flattered him: "These days, the county magistrate is exhausted from assisting in military affairs. I have to rest for half a month. I will help with all the affairs."

Xie Ze praised: "You are a capable person, and being the chief clerk is indeed an inconvenience. I will give you a top grade next time you pass the exam."

"Thank you, Lord County, for your appreciation!" Song Huizong smiled and raised his glass in a toast.

Officials in the Ming Dynasty and the New Dynasty who passed the examination needed to be evaluated by superior officials, followed by evaluations by government-level organizational departments, and finally went to Beijing to report to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Xie Ze asked: "Do you know about corn and sweet potatoes?"

Song Huizong replied: "I've heard of it."

Xie Ze said: "The new dynasty pays attention to people's livelihood, and the corn and sweet potatoes are what the emperor brought back from overseas. Pingxiang County is mountainous, so it should be suitable for planting. Now that there is no war, we will plant new crops next year. I have already Please bring some seeds over for thinning."

"The county minister cares about the people, I admire you so much!" Song Huizong immediately flattered him.

"You should take this matter seriously," Xie Ze pointed to the north and said with a smile, "If you plant corn and sweet potatoes well, you might be appreciated by the officials. Then you and I will be promoted together, wouldn't it be wonderful? ?”

Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty said: "Ganfu County respects Weiji."

Xie Ze corrected and said: "That's your Majesty's suggestion. I have received accurate information that the imperial court is going to set up an office to advise farmers in Yuanzhou Mansion, and there will be officers to advise farmers before winter comes. At that time, if there are officers to advise farmers, Pingxiang, you have to arrange a good reception."

Song Huizong nodded and said: "Definitely, definitely."

Xie Ze said: "Those officials who advise farmers, regardless of their low rank, can be regarded as disciples of the emperor, and they must not offend them in any way. What's more, they can also help with admonishing farmers and mulberry trees, and they may also be able to do something for them. What political achievements have you and I achieved?"

"The county magistrate is far-sighted and I really admire you." Song Huizong poured wine for his superior again.

Xie Ze drank a gulp and his face became more and more rosy: "I worked as a minor official in the capital last year. I have no other skills, but I am very well-informed. Do you know where the former emperor is now?"

Song Huizong was startled, thinking that the other party was talking about him, and quickly shook his head: "I really don't know."

"I've been transferred to Shandong as an official." Xie Ze said with a smile.

"Transferred to Shandong... and still serve as an official?" Song Huizong was confused.

Xie Ze said mysteriously: "Everyone in the capital knows that the previous emperor served as an agricultural officer, but few people know that he went to Shandong."

Song Huizong suddenly realized: "The county magistrate is talking about Zhao Huan?"

Xie Ze laughed loudly: "Who else could it be if it wasn't him? You wouldn't say Zhao Ji is that stupid king, right?"

Song Huizong was angry and quickly said with a smile: "It's okay if you don't mention it."

Xie Ze began to complain: "My imperial examination articles were very good, but that ignorant and treacherous minister only rated a top-level Jinshi. Not to mention, I was a top-level Jinshi because I didn't send money or gifts. I was not allowed to take the exam. I couldn't even pass the exam. Later, I asked my servants to go home and raised a lot of money, and finally I was able to serve as an official, but I was only given a guest ambassador. After studying hard for more than ten years in Hanchuang, I was a serious Jinshi, and I was asked to be a guest ambassador! "

"It really shouldn't be!" Song Huizong agreed quickly, but what he was thinking in his heart was: You are a thief, you have no ability, and you are praised by being a guest envoy.

The more Xie Ze talked, the angrier he became, and he slapped the table and said, "With a foolish king and treacherous ministers in power, the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty should be destroyed! There are countless people like me who have unappreciated talents in all walks of life."

Song Huizong wanted to strangle this guy to death, so he changed the subject and asked, "Is Zhao Huan really an official in Shandong?"

Xie Ze smiled and said, "Isn't that true? Not only do I know that he is an official in Shandong, but I also know that he goes to Shandong specifically to grow cotton."

Song Huizong asked again: "Where are the concubines, emperors, and princes of the previous dynasty?"

"The officials were kind and did not make things difficult for them," Xie Ze, who was probably drunk, said with a wink, "the officials like married women, and Zhao Ji's young and beautiful concubines will probably continue to enjoy happiness in the future."

Song Huizong was so filled with hatred that he became angrier and angrier as he thought about it. He was no longer in the mood to flatter him, so he picked up his wine glass and drank a few gulps.