Li Yuanying's preparations went very smoothly. Last year, His Majesty Li Er issued an edict to enclose households, ordering those who are floating around the world to enclose their households before the end of this year.
Therefore, this year, there have been increasing accounts one after another. Although there are not many, it is not likely to copy the previous year's accounting year after year like in previous years. Li Yuanying said that Xu Jingzong asked him to go down to conduct a census, and wanted to ask for some examples, so the people below took a few copies to show him, and introduced them to him. Just subtract it.
The so-called real record refers to the situation of each household recorded in Lizheng, including name, age, appearance and so on. Generally speaking, one hundred households is one mile, and five miles is one township. When you get to the bottom, you only need to find the mile and check with your hands.
Li Yuanying nodded, indicating that he understood. When I went back to meet with Di Renjie and the others, Di Renjie and the others also inquired a lot about the precautions for the census. The people in Chengyang also got back a hand-painted road map, which they could walk from village to village.
After the plan was completed, Li Yuanying was a little puzzled: "The county government has recorded it so meticulously, why did the emperor issue an edict to send someone to attach it? Shouldn't everything be recorded?"
Wu Meidao: "This is a rich county in Gyeonggi Province. Naturally, it has been done more meticulously. In the end, it may not be implemented like this. After a long time, it may only copy and report the number of households in previous years every year, and will not redo it every year. will find out."
Li Yuanying suddenly realized.
This is Ji County around Chang'an, so many eyes are staring at it, of course we have to do things well. Changed to a place where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, the people below don't have this kind of self-awareness, so they can do whatever is convenient and beneficial to themselves!
Li Yuanying said: "So that's how it is." He didn't care too much, and the next day he asked someone to clean up, and took his friends to the countryside to conduct a census.
The internship was led by Li Yuanying himself, so he was very motivated. When he got there, he didn't look for places to eat and have fun. He always called Li Zheng to come over for questioning. Although there were only a hundred households in a mile, Li Yuanying checked for a long time, because he led Di Renjie and the others to check each household. Several people deleted and corrected the facts, and asked about the conditions of the fields. Li Yuanying even used With the sketching skills he learned, he drew a simple portrait of everyone, and quickly visualized the real appearance description.
Many people heard that a nobleman came down to conduct a census, and they came out curiously to watch, and when it was their turn, they enthusiastically invited Li Yuanying to enter. Li Yuanying was not afraid of being watched by others, he liked the excitement the most, and greeted them cheerfully.
After checking for a mile, Li Yuanying and Li Zheng got a lot thicker hands, all of which were added portraits. His hands were a little sore, and he was invited by Li Zheng to have a light meal at Li Zheng's house, and the entourage also spent the money he gave to eat at various houses. The villagers were unwilling to accept money, but later I heard Li Yuanying said that disturbing the people would harm him After being impeached by the censor, everyone smiled happily, and his subordinate Li Yuanying asked someone to give him money.
As soon as Li Yuanying left in the afternoon, the crowd didn't disperse immediately, but gathered around Li Zheng to discuss the little prince. Although Hu County is not as big as Chang'an, it is still under the foot of the emperor, and there are not a few nobles who come and go, some princes and others are fortunate to have met, but they have never met such an approachable prince as Li Yuanying!
Li Zheng said: "That's enough, that's all, let's all go do your work, are you the ones who can talk nonsense about nobles?" After the villagers were dispersed, Li Zheng looked in the direction where Li Yuanying and his party were leaving, thinking, this little prince It looks a little naive, I don't know if I will conflict with others if I continue to work so busy.
Li Yuanying didn't have so many thoughts, he felt a little tired after finishing the investigation for one mile. Wei Shu and Cheng Yang had learned some sketching from him, and seeing that he had been drawing for a long time, they suggested that they take turns to make portraits, which would be more efficient and less tiring.
Li Yuanying is not a person who likes to push through. When he is tired, he is tired. Wei Shu proposed to rotate him, and he naturally agreed. He sighed: "It seems that it is not easy to manage a county. The household registration issue alone is very troublesome."
Di Renjie said: "This is still relatively easy, but it may be more troublesome if it is replaced by Taiyuan."
Li Yuanying asked curiously: "What kind of trouble?"
Di Renjie told Li Yuanying about the local situation. Just like what Wu Mei said, the land equalization system in many counties and towns is not as good as that in Ji County. The number fixed at the time of implementation.
According to the law, males over the age of 18 can obtain one hectare of land, of which 20 mu is permanent land, which can be left to future generations, and 80 mu is divided land, which means that there is only farming right but no inheritance right. After that, it will be returned to the court. The imperial court stipulated that the split-mouth land cannot be sold, but no one can stop the private business. Now that it has been practiced for so many years, the private land business has become more and more prosperous, especially around the rich counties, where the powerful people love it. Hoard land piece by piece.
Some people lost their land, and the imperial court required them to serve in corvée. When they couldn't survive, they fled to the powerful villages of various aristocratic families as tenants or servants. As long as the local officials turn a blind eye and treat them as if they don't exist, they can live on!
But this has caused another problem. At the end of each year, officials have to conduct examinations, among which population increase and decrease are important reference indicators. Generally speaking, local officials are unwilling to admit that the population under their hands has decreased, so they close their eyes every year and slightly change the number of households from last year to avoid lowering their test scores.
In this way, places where escaped households have to find a way to close the gap in tax money and corvee, and gradually there will be a situation of apportionment of taxes and corvees belonging to escaped households to relatives, friends and neighbors who are mutual guarantors.
These problems were encountered by Di Renjie when he was doing grassroots work with his father. His father was troubled by this, but he was still young and couldn't think of any good solutions.
Li Yuanying once heard Xiao Deyan talk about this problem, and heard Di Renjie say that there were signs of this in Taiyuan. He frowned and said, "Is it so serious?" That's it!
Wu Mei said: "Some people who have not been naturalized should have left their hometown during the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty. Although the sages and the Supreme Emperor had ordered the undocumented people from all over the world to come and join them, many people still did not obey."
Wu Mei also analyzed to Li Yuanying that in the early days of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he was busy fighting against various anti-armies. After he ascended the throne, His Majesty Li Er repeatedly fought in Turkic, Tuyuhun, Gaochang and other places, and was repeatedly harassed by Tubo. Recruitment of various titles is very frequent, and it is understandable that there are so many people who do not want to shoulder heavy duties.
Li Yuanying thought of what Zhang Jianzhi said about blessing hands and feet, and said: "So the imperial court can't catch all the fish, it should make the people trust the imperial court more."
Di Renjie and the others nodded in agreement with Li Yuanying's words.
But it is useless to agree, they have no real power in their hands, and they have no right to speak at all. Li Yuanying was not discouraged at all, he worked hard to correct the facts of a township, and directly found a family to stay overnight.
Early the next morning, Li Yuanying woke up refreshed and set off for the next village with his friends.
At this time, Li Yuanying's serious census also spread to various places in a radial manner.
Xu Jingzong in the county was a little surprised when he heard the news, but thinking that he had only done accounting a few years ago, the problem shouldn't be too big, so he asked Li Yuanying to follow Li Yuanying. Do it seriously, and if you persist for two or three days, you should feel boring!
Just when Xu Jingzong was leisurely going back to sleep with his beautiful concubine, the nobles from Beijing went to the countryside to do errands spread like wildfire in every village. That night, a family surnamed Wu had a light on, and under the light sat a shabby scholar. This scholar is not very old, only seventeen or eighteen years old, but his expression is very depressed, as if there is nothing worthy of his nostalgia in this world.
At this time, his mother pushed the door and entered, bringing him a big news.
It is said that a nobleman has come to the countryside, and he is the nobleman that the magistrate Xu wants to please!