Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 337 Want to make progress too much

Wei Xiaokuan recalled the situation in Ningshuo County, which was a lower-level county in the Northern Wei Dynasty, that is, a small county with a population of less than one thousand households.

Even after taking in some of the remnants of the Six Garrisons, the population of Ningshu County was just over a thousand.

In addition to its small population, the land in Ningshu County is also barren.

This county is still a mixed population of Han and Hu people, and a large amount of land is barren and cannot be cultivated, so it can only be used for grazing.

For a county like this, it is simply impossible to double the land area in just two years.

Taking another look, Wei Xiaokuan discovered a new problem.

The land area has doubled, while the local tax revenue has more than doubled. The accounts submitted by Ningshuo County this year are really impressive.

Wang Sizheng opened the files of the Ministry of Personnel again and found the information of the Ningshuo County Magistrate.

"This County Magistrate Li is from the Longxi Li family. He has been the County Magistrate of Ningshu for six years this year."

Wei Xiaokuan nodded, and the case was solved.

In the official system of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the head of a large county was the county magistrate, and the head of a small county was the county chief, and their term of office was six years.

Six years is exactly two examination cycles, and if you perform well in both examinations, you can be promoted.

In any era, the two most important factors in evaluating officials are "taxation" and "public security."

Ningshuo is not a border area, and Xiazhou has just been conquered and pacified by General Su, so there is no problem with public security.

If we want to make progress at this time, we have to fight over "taxes".

However, according to the land grant system reiterated by Su Ze, the taxes that the court could collect were actually "rent" and "tax".

The former is linked to land and is a land tax collected based on the number of acres of land. The latter is related to population and is a poll tax collected based on the registered population.

The resettlement of the remnants of the Six Garrisons in various counties of Xiazhou was organized by Wei Xiaokuan and other Zhechoufu, so the local officials had no way of falsifying the number of registered residents.

Because the people who need to be "taxed" are adult males. No matter how powerful you are as a county magistrate, it is impossible to double the number of males in one year.

Therefore, there is no way to fake the "adjustment", and we can only fake the "rent".

Wei Xiaokuan and Wang Sizheng determined that this was a case of falsely reporting the amount of land in the jurisdiction in order to collect more rent.

This County Magistrate Li really wants to make progress!

Wei Xiaokuan sighed and said:

"When I was planning to set up Zhechongfu, County Magistrate Li gave me a lot of conveniences. I didn't expect him to be such a person."

Wang Sizheng was silent for a moment and then said:
"Falsely reporting the amount of land is a serious crime that the general has personally ordered to be handled. County Magistrate Li has walked into the trap."

During this examination, Su Ze put forward specific requirements to the Government Affairs Hall and the Inspectors, and listed several major faults that must be severely punished.

Among them, County Magistrate Li's behavior of falsifying land registers in order to collect more taxes was the main target of local crackdowns.

There is no way. The bureaucratic system is like a seesaw that swings left and right. Once you correct it, new problems will arise.

For example, before Su Ze came to the northwest, the officials in Guanzhong who were disappointed with the court because of the lack of hope of promotion were all masters at giving up.

Since your court is staffed by high-ranking families from Hedong, we in Guanxi only have one surname, Li from Longxi, who is surnamed Jia, and he is just one of the five surnames. No matter how well an official performs, he cannot catch up with their starting point. Naturally, being an official means either being bad or making money.

Lacking an upward channel, people below naturally have no choice but to lie down.

At this time, the grassroots government was basically dysfunctional, and even basic government orders could not be conveyed. They relied on building relationships with local wealthy families to collect rent and taxes, and the public security was completely left to chance.

However, after Su Ze became powerful in Guanzhong, the authority of the court gradually declined, and the officials below leaned to the other extreme -

"I want to make progress so much!"

County Magistrate Li is a typical example. For the sake of his own political achievements, he did not care about his successor. He just registered the number of acres of land and then collected taxes accordingly!
Anyway, County Magistrate Li has already served for six years and will leave office after this examination. As for his successor?

If County Magistrate Li gets promoted, according to the code of conduct in official circles, his successor will probably have to admit the number of acres of land that has been registered, and then continue to collect taxes based on this number of acres of land.

As for the people?

Then the only thing we can do is make the people suffer.

There is even a chance that the next county magistrate will continue to increase the amount of land for the sake of his own political achievements. After all, he cannot stay in this county for his entire life, so it will be enough as long as he gets enough political achievements while in office.

The fall of the Sui Dynasty taught us this lesson. After the two monarchs of the Sui Dynasty continued to clear the fields, the amount of land in the Sui Dynasty even exceeded the amount of arable land before Su Ze traveled through time, which was an order of magnitude higher than the amount of land in any other dynasty!

You have to know the level of productivity in the Sui Dynasty. At that time, Hubei and Hunan were still the Yunmeng Lake, Jiangnan was still a large swamp, and Lingnan was even more of a barbarian land.

These were all false reports of farmland by grassroots officials of the Sui Dynasty for their own political achievements and promotions, regardless of the lives of the people. Su Ze was very clear about this. He did not fight for a year just to absorb the remnants of the Six Garrisons and give the people a rest and recuperation.

According to his judgment, what would follow would be continued unrest and there would never be such a good opportunity to recuperate.

We can't let these grassroots bugs destroy the good situation we have worked so hard to create!
In Su Ze's opinion, these officials who only care about their own political achievements are actually no different from those corrupt officials.

Corrupt officials do this for their own enjoyment. They do this to satisfy their desire for power and promotion. They are also selfish and only care about themselves.

Once this kind of official is promoted, a large number of officials will begin to follow suit. The result is that the acreage in this county will double, and that county will triple. This will continue endlessly, and eventually the people will not be able to survive, and will rise up in rebellion like in Hedong.

Wang Sizheng wrote his comments on the examination bamboo slips, and then handed them to Wei Xiaokuan, who also attached his comments. Wang Sizheng drafted a "lower-middle" evaluation, and Wei Xiaokuan drafted a "lower-upper" evaluation. Another clerk handed over the ink, and the two of them each stamped it with the bronze seal on their waists.

Another clerk delivered the bamboo slips to the Government Affairs Hall and gave them to the assistant ministers there for review.

Looking at the mountain of bamboo slips, Wang Sizheng and Wei Xiaokuan both sighed deeply.

It would be impossible to complete all the examinations in the six states and two counties before the New Year without working overtime.

Rubbing their sore eyes, they each spread out a new bamboo slip and began to check the problems in it.
-
Hou Jing was in a good mood. After returning to Yongle City this time, General Su had a private talk with him and wanted to transfer him back to Guanzhong from Liangzhou to prepare for the war in the third year of Xiaochang.

Hou Jing had no problem attacking anyone as long as Su Ze told him to. Even if Su Ze ordered him to lead his troops to attack Luoyang, Hou Jing would not hesitate at all.

In addition, Su Ze also had a detailed discussion with Hou Jing.

Hou Jing told Su Ze about several problems he had summarized when he was leading troops in Liangzhou.

With Hou Jing's ability to read people's expressions, his questions could be said to have hit the nail on the head and attracted General Su's attention. As a result, when he left Baizhang Tower, he was rewarded with Shu brocade sent by Princess Chenliu.

The question raised by Hou Jing was a new problem that emerged after the implementation of the military service system in Liangzhou.

First of all, the government soldiers are both good at farming and fighting. In theory, they are assembled during wartime, and go to farm when there is no war.

But that’s not actually the case.

Take Hou Jing's garrison of Nanjiang City as an example. Since he was stationed there for a long time, it was naturally impossible for Hou Jing to rotate the garrison at will. Doing so was not only unsafe, but the soldiers sent from the rear also had to undergo training before they could go into battle. What if the enemy took advantage of the opportunity?

Therefore, during the period when Hou Jing was stationed in Nanjiang, he did not release the soldiers under his command.

Only after the Southern Liang Dynasty switched from offense to defense did Hou Jing release a group of government soldiers.

Nanjiang City is in Liangzhou, and the government soldiers are recruited nearby. If Su Ze is fighting in Liangzhou and recruits the government soldiers from Liangzhou, it will take half a year to go back and forth. How can he farm in his spare time?

All I can say is that the system is wonderful, but the reality is cruel.

In Hou Jing's view, both the regular army and the palace soldiers are indispensable, and the palace soldiers can only serve as reserve forces at present. If the palace soldiers are used in small battles like he did in Liangzhou, their families can still afford it. However, if a nationwide war requires the conscription of a large number of palace soldiers, no one can bear it for a long time, and the combat effectiveness of the palace soldiers will definitely decline.

Su Ze agreed with this deeply, and Hou Jing's views on the military system were also very insightful.

Historically, the Fubing system was at its most powerful. By the time Emperor Taizong of Tang conquered Goguryeo in the late Tang Dynasty, the Fubing system had become somewhat unsustainable.

However, Hou Jing also said that these problems can still be overcome for now.

The reason is simple. Now, the soldiers of the government can still be granted land and awarded honorary titles if they make meritorious service in battle. It is still in its rising stage.

Once there is no extra land to be granted in the world, once there are no honorary officials to be rewarded, or in other words, once everyone is an honorary official, and the value of honorary officials has depreciated significantly, these drawbacks of the government soldiers will become apparent.

Generally speaking, the fubing system is a way to strengthen the army, which has been demonstrated from the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

But precisely because it is a powerful weapon, it must be used with caution, as a blade that moves too quickly may cut you.

Hou Jing returned home happily and soon received new good news.

His mistress, Princess Chenliu, wanted to help him find a match and marry him off to a lady from a famous family.

This made Hou Jing very happy!
Although he is now the General of Light Cavalry, the second most powerful person in the Northwest Army after Yu Jin, he is often looked down upon behind his back because of his humble background.

People like Hou Jing often value family background more than ordinary people.

He also wanted to marry a lady from a prominent family in Liangzhou, but Yang Kan did not get along with him and the local nobles were hostile to him, so he had no chance at all.

The mistress is still better!

Princess Chenliu is a princess of this dynasty. The famous lady she mentioned must have a good family background and good character!

Moreover, when Princess Chenliu spoke, who among these northwestern nobles dared to disobey?

Hou Jing was once again thankful that following Su Ze to leave the Six Towns was the best decision he had ever made in his life!

I don’t know what happened to He Liuhun?

(End of this chapter)