The snow on the mountain road severely slowed the caravan's progress.
The terrain of Shilang Mountain is not as steep as that in the northwest of Pingzhou. Because of the caravan, the road here has been specially repaired, except that it is slippery and smooth.
Meng Qi was not in a hurry, he stopped and walked, watching the scenery beside the road to pass the time.
There were not a lot of people like them who joined the team halfway through. There were merchants, woodcutters, and even officers in the yamen who escorted supplies.
The people who work in the yamen are also divided into three, six and nine grades, and I will not talk about those who have grades. As for these unprofessional servants, some have served in the yamen for a long time, and some are the common people who come to do corvée service.
What the latter does is not the easy work of delivering letters, but delivering supplies for the government, such as firewood for winter, sand and bricks for building houses, etc.
The corvée will be apportioned to each male, and each person needs to do heavy work for the government for about a month every year. What to do and how long to do it, the government has the final say.
In Zhushan County, serving corvée, the county government is responsible for food and housing, and there is not much to live. The people are still very familiar with the people of the government. Everyone is chatting while working, which is very lively. This is obviously not the case outside. Those people are pushing the carts without a word, and the people who look like supervisors are not in the mood to joke, they just want to quickly hand over the errands and go home.
At this time, you can see the tyranny of the Si family. The vehicles transporting things for the government did not dare to cross the Sijia caravan, but followed behind like a small caravan.
When it was getting dark, he had not yet arrived at Qiuling County.
The caravans, large and small, stopped. They found an open space, surrounded the cars in a circle, and then built a bonfire in a sheltered place to keep warm.
Thinking that they will be home soon, everyone has a smile on their faces, only the officers are anxious.
"Tomorrow is the deadline!"
"...We'll go and report the situation, maybe we'll be accommodating." The official in charge of overseeing the work had no choice, and said to the officers who were surrounding him with a frown, "There is snow everywhere, and if you drive at night, your vehicle will be damaged. Wouldn't the guilt be heavier with grain?"
"If we hadn't met the Sijia caravan, we could have walked faster!" said one of the officers angrily.
Someone next to him immediately covered his mouth and whispered: "You don't want your life? The Si family has always been arrogant. You and I are only punished with a few whips for a day's delay. If you collide with the goods of the Si family, how will you pay? ?"
The officer was dissatisfied after hearing this, and wanted to say more.
The superintendent pointed to the dazzling knife guarded by the Sijia caravan and said, "Even if you can afford it, are your arms and legs stronger than a knife? It won't kill you, but what if you lose your hands and feet? What to do? Your family sued, and they said that they mistook you for a robber, and then sent some money for the soup. By then, how will your family live?"
The clerk said nothing, and sat down to the side.
Mo Li heard the words of the group clearly. He looked at the car transported by the sergeant. The ruts were deep, and the car was covered with a waterproof tarpaulin.
There are more than 20 such carts in total. They are not pulled by cattle and horses, and rely entirely on manpower.
"Are all the corvée outside so heavy?" Mo Li asked in a daze.
Even though it is said in the book that tyranny is fiercer than tigers, the places where the ink carp passes are not difficult for the people. The driver of the caravan also said that Qiuling County is very prosperous, and the life of the people is much better than before.
Is this much better
Mo Li asked involuntarily, Meng Qi looked at the servants and whispered, "If you don't want to serve corvée, you can buy it with money. There are more rich people in Qiuling County, and more people are willing to spend money. If you go to work as a laborer, you will naturally feel that your life is much better than before. However, there are always some people in this world who can't afford the money, and there are fewer people working, but there are still things to do, so for the poor, corvée heavier."
"The money for the redemption of corvée is not the cost of the government hiring people to do the labor?" Mo Li asked subconsciously, how come there are fewer people working
Meng Qi paused and didn't answer.
Qin Lu has never been an official, so he doesn't know anything about these privacy issues. Naturally, Mo Li couldn't learn these things. He has not been away from Zhushan County for many years. In fact, without Meng Qi's explanation, Mo Li thought about it slowly and could figure out the answer.
The government took the money for the redemption of corvée, but did not hire people to work, but still used the poor people, treating one person as two people, and then recorded an additional amount of hired labor in the account. In this way, the money saved went into the pockets of the greedy people of the county government.
"Is this a common occurrence?"
"No matter where it is, it's very common..." Meng Qi was fascinated for a while, as if recalling something, and then said, "The Chu Dynasty once promulgated a new corvée law for this purpose, and those who have been allocated corvage will not be allowed to redeem, and the family has more than money. If you have money, you can send slaves or hire people to serve, and the government is not allowed to collect money on your behalf.”
Mo Li heard this and felt that this was a way to curb oppression at the root.
Unexpectedly, Meng Qi's next sentence was—
"The implementation of the new law failed. Those officials who were making money always found loopholes. They passed the tooth bank, which stipulated that the rich must hire people through the government-run tooth bank. In fact, no workers were hired at all, and the matter was still the same, and the matter was not resolved. There were even more black-hearted officials, who simply charged 'single money' from the people who served the corvée, ten cents per person. If they did not pay, they would He was forcibly 'hired' by Yaxing. Originally he only needed to serve one month, but it was extended to two months. He was hired but could not get a single penny. Even if he sued, the prefectural government and county government have long been in agreement..."
Mo Li's breath became a little hurried when he heard it. He didn't know what to say. Those officers squatted by the car and seemed to be still worried about not being able to arrive in Qiuling County in time.
Meng Qi next to him continued: "The Chu Dynasty introduced a new law, including the corvée law, with a total of 12 articles, and set up a patrol inspection position for the new law, but the final result was disappointing. Corrupt officials cut a lot, and those who colluded with corrupt officials There are also a lot of inspections. For example, the corvée law, doctor, do you know why it failed?"
"... corruption in the administration of officials?"
"No, it's because the bureaucratic system of the county government is incomplete." Meng Qi seemed to have completely recovered his memory of being a national teacher, and he talked eloquently, "In a county government office, there are not many officials who earn official salaries from the imperial court. , The prison officials and these people are not paid by the court at all. The money to support their families is given by the county government. Where does the money from the county government come from? Come and go, there is no fixed number, only these small officials have been squatting in the county government for a long time. They have become snakes in the ground, and they can even set up the magistrate. If they are unwilling to work, the magistrate has no choice but to follow them and give them benefits. "
The ink carp was silent.
This seems to be what Mr. Qin said, only Xue Lingjun understands, and they know very little
"Doctor, looking at your appearance, there must be nothing like this in Zhushan County." Meng Qi suddenly smiled and said leisurely, "This made me curious, and I want to go to Zhushan County to see... But no matter how good the place is, it is not always like this."
Mo Li heard from the mountain people what Zhushan County was like before Xue Lingjun came.
Although Xue Lingjun is thirty years younger than Mr. Qin, in the eyes of ordinary people, the age of knowing the destiny is already too old. Even if Xue Lingjun is in good health and can live for a few more decades, what will happen after a few decades
Doctor Mo gradually found that his expectations for the future seemed to be more and more difficult to achieve.
At least he couldn't imagine that in the future Zhushan County, there would be a group of petty officials who exploited the people, and a group of holy lotus altar followers who bewitched the people.
Qin Lu traveled all over the world and finally settled in Zhushan County under the rule of Xue Lingjun, but what can Mo Li do? Qimao Mountain is there, he can wander outside, but he can't move his nest after all, so he still has to go back to Zhushan County.
"The doctor regrets leaving his hometown?"
"The hometown is good, but if you don't come out, how can you detect the crisis in the future?" Mo Li replied.
How does the people of one place live, and what kind of people are the magistrates who come to take office? How to change
Mo Li thought about it a lot, and when he came back to his senses, he suddenly realized one thing: even his small dragon vein has to worry about Zhushan County, so what about the Taijing dragon vein
Once the dragon veins are transformed, they will encounter the same troubles when they live in the world as human beings.
Taijing was the capital of all dynasties, and a bad emperor was much more troublesome than a bad county magistrate.
Could Taijing Longmai be able to hold back such a bad mood
Mo Li looked at Meng Qi subconsciously, his eyes deep.
Meng Qi was waiting for the doctor to continue to ask him for advice. When he met this look, he felt a chill on the back of his neck, as if some secret had been discovered.
"… "
Weird, what's with this feeling? Meng Qi muttered in his heart.
"Huh?" Mo Li happened to see that not far behind Meng Qi, a man with his head and face covered ran to the guards and fell down. The guards seemed to recognize this man and quickly covered him.
At this time, the front of the caravan was also in chaos, as if something had happened.
Immediately following, I saw a group of people holding torches and coming here from far to near.
The leader was a man who looked like a black tower. He rode on a horse and glanced around the messy camp with his blade-like eyes. The people behind him came up and asked if they had seen strangers coming from the direction of Qiuling County.
Everyone shook their heads in unison. Only those who went to Qiuling County were on the way, and I haven't seen anyone who went the other way!
The guards of the Sijia caravan seemed to recognize these people and went up to talk.
"... There must be something wrong!" The coachman who Mo Li talked to in the afternoon patted his leg and said, "These people are all from Sijiabao. It's getting dark like this, are they chasing someone?"
Mo Li looked at the officer out of the corner of his eye and found that they had already hidden people in the shadows behind the car.
"Don't cover your face, show your face!" The people from Sijiabao ordered arrogantly, rushing in and seeing anyone.
The small caravan was in a hurry, begging them not to damage the goods.
"What are you doing?"
When these private soldiers of the Si family saw the official officers, they rudely questioned them.
The superintendent hurriedly obstructed, "This is all food and grass from neighboring counties, and it is for General Liu's soldiers and horses to chew on. Don't overturn it!"
Hearing the name of General Dangkou, the leading black-skinned man immediately frowned.
At this moment, there was the sound of horses' hooves at the end of the mountain road, Mo Li's ears moved, and it was determined that it was the direction they came from.
"What's the matter, the road is still blocked?"
Liu Dan lifted the reins and looked at the private soldiers holding torches.
Although there were few people around Liu Dan and more people on the side of the Si family, the black man had a cautious expression as if he was facing a big enemy.
"General Liu invited, someone stole things from the Si family and ran out. Are you under orders to hunt them down?"
"What object is so precious?" Liu Dan sneered.
Before waiting for the other side to answer, General Liu whipped his horse whip over, "What kind of a jerk, what are you? You don't need to kneel when you see this General. The Si family's things were stolen and not reported to the officials, and you said that you were ordered to hunt down. On whose orders?"
The black man seemed to know martial arts, but he avoided this blow and endured his anger: "The Si family lost the family heirloom, which is invaluable. "
Liu Dan didn't continue chasing him and whipping him, but just sneered: "Heirloom? I think it's something shameful!"
No one dared to answer. Liu Dan obviously wanted to find that person before Sijiabao. He glanced around by the light of the bonfire, and unfortunately met Meng Qi who had just taken off his cape.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
General Liu took a breath and nearly choked himself to death.
The author has something to say:
This chapter explains why Meng Qi has political ideals →_→
Taijing Dragon Vessel: What is the broken emperor of the Chen Dynasty
Taijing Longmai: Either you die, or I kill you!
Taijing Longmai: I can't bear it anymore, I want to find a friend, I want to build a dynasty that I like to see!
——
History book: Chen's vigor has been exhausted, and Li's dragon veins are in full swing.
Then Meng Qi swung the history book away.