Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 808: Chapter 607: The Magistrate Who Takes It Easy

The most important documents in the county government are the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book. With those, one can know how many people live in the county, how much land there is, how much tax should be levied, and so on.

However, sometimes the common people are unwilling to register because once they have a household registration, they need to pay various taxes and perform corvée labor for the government. Many prefer to remain hidden households rather than register.

Hidden households and hidden lands are common in Da Rong, and Yang Mingzhao must clarify all the population and lands within the county if he wants to allocate land to the people.

The townspeople don’t need land distribution, but they own properties and shops and must pay business taxes, so they too must be registered.

On the third day after entering the city, Deng Xing and Han Lin each brought a hundred young men into the county town.

In the county government office, Yang Mingzhao asked them, “How is it going? Is everything smooth?”

“Smooth, the Inspection Bureau has been taken, the patrol officer and deputy patrol officer were beheaded by me, and as for the archers, I killed a few who were usually notorious. The rest, I dismissed with three dou of grain!”

“Those archers even thanked me repeatedly for the grain, hahaha. Normally, they even struggle to eat, let alone receive grain as payment. Don’t worry, they won’t cause any more trouble!”

said Deng Xing.

Yang Mingzhao nodded with a smile, “Very good, having occupied the Inspection Bureau, we’ve essentially blocked the northern gate of Taiping County.”

They left a hundred young men at the Inspection Bureau, who certainly couldn’t hold off an army, but could block the official road without issue.

“Things are also smooth on my end. The Yan family has some power, but that’s all. With just a slight move, the Yan family was wiped out!” Han Lin said, somewhat playfully.

“The Yan family owns a lot of assets, a considerable amount of money and grain, and numerous lands. It would be hard to sort out in a short time, so I left Lin Liu there. You can arrange people to go and check it out!”

Yang Mingzhao shook his head, saying, “No hurry, no need to rush. The stuff won’t run away, next we need to allocate land to the people!”

“Tomorrow, leave two sentries of young men in the city to handle the registration of the townspeople.”

“Old Deng, Old Han, Zhao Kai, Zhang Mo, Li Cheng, and Yu Qiyang, each of you take fifty men and two civil servants and start from the county town to the surrounding villages and towns to distribute land to the people!”

“As long as the people are willing to register and take up residence, we will allocate land to them. Anyone sixteen years old or older, regardless of gender, will be given land.”

“Tea farmers receive tea mountains, medicine farmers receive medicinal fields, in short, start distributing the land!”

This was part of their previously established plan, distributing land according to fertility and planting type.

Anyone over sixteen is to receive land. Each person may get three mu of paddy field, or if there are no paddy fields, five mu of dry land. If the land is too barren, they can be given eight mu accordingly.

Tea farmers will not only receive tea mountains but also some land for growing grain.

Similarly, medicine farmers will not only receive medicinal fields but also some land for growing grain.

This distribution may result in some unfairness, but rules must be established, or it will become increasingly chaotic.

“Oh, and keep as much of the land near the county town as possible for our people from the Three Arrows Valley!”

Yang Mingzhao did not forget his brothers, and those willing to contribute will certainly receive extra land.

After giving instructions, everyone began to busy themselves the next day.

In the city, registration and documentation began, while outside the city, land was measured and distributed.

The townspeople had accepted the presence of Yang Mingzhao’s people and cooperated fully in coming to register.

Initially, the people outside the city did not believe such good things could happen, but once someone tried, the rest followed easily.

Moreover, once the first village completed its land distribution, others became eager for their turn.

As for those local gentry in the villages and towns, as stated before, those committing numerous crimes were directly killed. Those of decent character received a bit more land, and the rest was distributed to tenants and servants.

Yes, even servants received land. Contracts like indenture documents were naturally abolished.

The high-interest loans previously given by the gentry were all abolished, and the land was fully distributed to tenants and servants. Regarding houses and movable assets, as long as they cooperated with the land distribution, Yang Mingzhao would not slaughter indiscriminately.

Once the land was given to tenants and servants, they naturally would no longer want to serve the gentry landlords. If any gentry landlords tried to forcibly reclaim land, the tenants and servants might even end them without needing Yang Mingzhao to intervene.

There would be chaos, and there would be conflict, but under strong military suppression, all struggles were in vain.

Initially, some resisted, but as the land distribution work fell into routine, the gentry landlords no longer dared to resist.

Many gentry landlords even fled Taiping County with their entire families, and Yang Mingzhao didn’t stop them. They could run as they pleased, as they couldn’t take the land with them anyway.

Eventually, some people even actively captured gentry landlords and brought them to the county government, asking Yang Mingzhao to distribute the land to them.

This chaotic situation lasted for two months until the land distribution work neared completion.

The workers became increasingly adept at fighting landlords and distributing land.

Meanwhile, Yang Mingzhao sat in the county government counting money, today receiving several hundred taels of silver from a landlord killed, and tomorrow several thousand from a gentry slain.

Very soon, the county government’s treasury and Changping Warehouse were filled with silver coins and grain.

In just two short months, they had gained nearly one hundred thousand taels of silver coins and more than fifty thousand bushels of grain.

Watching cart after cart of grain being loaded into the Changping Warehouse, Yang Mingzhao angrily remarked, “These gentry landlords are indeed loathsome, preferring to let the grain rot in the warehouse rather than lower the rent even slightly for the tenants!”

Chen Buyu commented, “If they had any conscience, the tenants wouldn’t have lived such miserable lives!”

Was Taiping County very poor?

No, Taiping County wasn’t poor. With favorable weather, Taiping County was enough to feed and clothe more than a hundred thousand people.

But there were too many gentry landlords in Taiping County, and these gentry landlords occupied excessive lands, leaving the tenants in misery.

In addition to the government’s excessive levies and taxes, the people were left struggling to survive.

Only the ordinary people were poor.

…

While Taiping County was measuring and distributing land, news of bandit disturbances rapidly spread.

To the south was Dongxiang County, to the east was Mingtong County, to the west was Tongjiang County of Baoning Prefecture, and to the north was Longnan Hanzhong Prefecture.

By the third day after the incident in the county town, the news had already spread beyond Taiping County.

Moreover, after the land distribution, many of the gentry from Taiping County fled, and Yang Mingzhao didn’t try to stop them. If they wished to flee, let them, since they couldn’t take the land with them.

“There are rebels causing chaos in Taiping County to the south, please act for the people and send troops to suppress them!”

Below the hall stood two people: one was Yan Jifei and the other was the Taiping County gentry, Huang Hengtai.

Yan Jifei was lucky. When Deng Xing led people to attack the Yan family, he just happened to be out. When he returned home and saw his father and brothers killed, he fled from Taiping County in fear.

As for Huang Hengtai, he lived in the county’s south, so when the uprising started from the county, he promptly fled.

Others like them, Yan family members and gentry, also fled to Kui Prefecture, hoping for support from the government to suppress the rebels in Taiping County!

“I am aware of the situation,” said Su Muye with a sigh. “I have already requested the Governor’s Office to gather soldiers to suppress the chaos. You can go back and wait.”

Despite his dismissive demeanor, as soon as they left, Su Muye sighed deeply.

They say a Magistrate can destroy a clan and a County Magistrate can ruin a family, but that’s only when it comes to small fries.

Could the Governor’s Office really suppress the uprising?

Don’t make me laugh, if the Governor’s Office could suppress the rebels, then we’re talking about Black Tiger King, and Nine Heavens King wouldn’t have taken so many realms so easily over the years.

Moreover, the Governor’s Office has no soldiers and no food. The resources were long taken by the Governor’s Office.

Without money, food, or soldiers, what else could Su Muye do?

Su Muye reflected and decided he’d rather go to sleep!

“””