Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 345: Identifying Corrupt Officials and Clearing the Land Reclamation [Request for Subscription]

He Yao was an old official who inherited his father's career. His family member Hu Yuanshi was an official in Xuancheng.

When Zhu Yuanzhang's troops entered Ningguo Prefecture, his father was not only able to continue working as an official in the county government because he had no bad reputation, but also got the position of household clerk.

With a family background of "learning from the land", and having experienced a major land survey ten years ago, He Yao did not feel too much pressure when facing this major land survey, and thought he could easily get away with it.

Especially when he learned that the Imperial Censor Qingtian sent by the higher authorities was a young man who had entered the officialdom through the imperial examination, his confidence was even greater.

student.

Still a young scholar.

What do you understand?
He didn't expect that this Censor Jian not only compared the copy of the old fish scale book brought from the capital with the new fish scale book published by the county government, but also remembered the achievements of land clearing reported by the Xuancheng County Magistrate in the past ten years.

"This Jian Yi came prepared."

He Yao's heart trembled and he became nervous.

However, he didn't show any sign of it. Instead, he made an aggrieved expression and defended himself, "Shangguan, this farmland can be increased or decreased through restoration and reclamation."

"Reduce?" Jian Yi frowned. "How?"

He Yao said, "There are many reasons for this, such as floods destroying the fields and people abandoning the land."

"Floods destroyed farmland?" Jian Yi sneered. "As far as I know, Xuancheng hasn't suffered any floods in the past ten years. As for the people abandoning their farmland—there have been no natural disasters in the past ten years, and the imperial court hasn't imposed heavy taxes. Why would they abandon their farmland?"

He Yao looked increasingly aggrieved and said, "Shangguan, Xuancheng hasn't had any major floods in the past ten years, but flood disasters that aren't reportable happen every year."

"Also, the imperial court has been encouraging industry and commerce in recent years, making it easier for the people to travel. Ningguo Mansion is close to the capital, and many farmers, hearing that it's easy to make money there, have gone there to work or do business, leaving their fields naturally abandoned."

Jian Yi's brows furrowed even deeper.

He was a Jinshi in the 19th year of Hongwu, so he must have some ability to become the Qingtian Censor.

He heard two problems from He Yao's words.

First, if what He Yao said is true, there were many small floods in Xuancheng, which destroyed a lot of farmland, then at least one county magistrate had failed in his duty in the past ten years.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has been encouraging local governments to develop water conservancy projects and prevent droughts and floods. In the past five or six years, it has paid more attention to this aspect. With the help of cement, it has become easier to develop water conservancy projects.

Under such circumstances, the magistrate allowed floods to destroy many fields. Isn't this dereliction of duty?
Secondly, some people in the government and the opposition have always been critical of the encouragement of industry and commerce. Some of them have even said that "promoting industry and commerce will inevitably hinder agriculture."

However, Jian Yi knew that encouraging industry and commerce was the current national policy and it was almost impossible to change it.

If many local people really abandoned their farmland because they switched to business, would it cause changes in the political situation?

After coming to his senses, Jian Yi saw that He Yao was still waiting obediently, so he said, "I will investigate whether what you said is true. Please leave now."

"Yes."

After He Yao left, Jian Yi immediately changed into casual clothes and went to the countryside with his entourage.

In the past few years, he has learned a lesson from mathematics and natural sciences - many things must be seen and done personally in order to understand the real situation.

Jian Yi and his entourage rode official horses around Xuancheng and found that there were many ditches, ponds and dams everywhere, and they found no fields abandoned due to flooding.

"Then He Yao is probably lying!"

Jian Yi made a judgment in his mind and went to ask some farmers.

"Father, have there been many flood disasters here in the past ten years?"

The old man said, "There hasn't been a major disaster, but floods happen every year—we have a lot of rain here."

"Have you ever heard of fields being abandoned due to flooding?"

"Abandoned?" The old man was puzzled. "I haven't heard of it. Although there are frequent floods, the government has organized everyone to build many ditches and ponds in the past ten years, especially in the past five or six years. Although there are floods, it hasn't caused much damage."

"Besides, even if the floods flood the fields, they will eventually pass. Who would be willing to leave their fields lying idle?"

After hearing this, it was basically confirmed that He Yao was lying.

Then he asked, "Do you know how much land your family has?"

"Of course I know—my family was once serfs of the Tartars. Later, Emperor Hongwu sent troops to drive them away, and then sent a kind county magistrate to divide up the land among us. My family was given eight acres of paddy fields and twenty acres of dry land." "The government ordered land reclamation, and my family reclaimed two acres of paddy fields and five acres of dry land. So now we have ten acres of paddy fields and twenty-five acres of dry land."

At this point, the father-in-law smiled, obviously quite satisfied with his current life.

Jian Yi asked again, "How do you know that you have ten acres of paddy fields and twenty-five acres of dry land?"

The old man glared, "How could I not know about my family's fields?"

Jian Yi helplessly explained, "What I mean is, have you ever measured and calculated the acres of your own land?"

The old man said, "I can't read, how can I measure the land and calculate? It was the people from the household office of the county government who measured the land and told me."

"Father, I have another question..."

"Go away," the old man said impatiently, "where did you come from, you scholar? You have so many questions - I want to go home."

Seeing this, the attendant stopped the old man and said with a stern face: "This is Qingtian Imperial Censor sent by the court. Don't be rude!"

My father-in-law was surprised to hear that Jian Yi was an imperial censor, but he was only surprised for a moment - it was the early Ming Dynasty, and if an official openly oppressed the people, he would probably be captured by the local people and sent to the capital for punishment.

Although this is just an isolated case, it also shows that local people were not so afraid of officials at that time.

For example, the old man bravely said, "What's wrong with the censor? Even the censor can't bully people!"

"Don't be rude to me, old man." Jian Yi scolded his attendant first, then bowed and said, "Old man, the court is going to implement the 'tax-to-land distribution' in Zhili, and I'm here to understand the situation."

Seeing that Jian Yilu was very polite, the old man relaxed and said, "Master Censor, if you have any questions, please ask them quickly. I really have something to do and need to go home."

Jian Yi said, "I heard that in the past few years since the imperial court encouraged industry and commerce, many people in Xuancheng have gone to the capital to work or do business in order to make money, thus leaving their farmland uncultivated. Is this true?"

The old man laughed. "In recent years, some people have indeed gone to the capital to work or do business, but not many. And even if someone from a family went to the capital, the land would be cultivated by the remaining family members. How could it be left to waste?"

"With these abandoned fields, we can't harvest any crops, so how can we pay taxes? Not to mention, if the government verifies the abandoned fields, we'll be fined!"

Jian Yi nodded, "Thank you for telling me, father-in-law. I understand."

At this point, it was suggested that it could be completely confirmed that He Yao was a corrupt official. As for how many other officials in the Xuancheng Household Department were honest, and whether the county officials were involved, he had no idea.

Although he was certain that He Yao was lying, Jian Yi still frowned when he returned to the provincial capital.

The attendant asked in confusion, "Master, since He Yao is a corrupt official, just get rid of him. Why are you still so worried?"

Jian Yi sighed, "It's not difficult to deal with He Yao, but I'm afraid the household clerks are all in cahoots and can't be used."

"And since the fish-scale register is inaccurate, it needs to be redrawn. Without the household clerks, where can I find people who are knowledgeable in this area to survey the land?"

The attendant scratched his head, as he had not expected that uncovering the corrupt officials would actually bring difficulties to Jian Yi's work.

When Jian Yi returned to the post station in the prefectural capital, he was greeted by the attendants who stayed behind. "Master, the court has sent a document."

"Oh? Where?"

"In the master's room."

Jian Yi immediately went into the room, confirmed the sealing wax, and opened the document.

After reading it, not only did his frown relax, he even couldn't help laughing. "Hahaha, great! With this imperial decree, the difficulty of land reclamation can be easily solved!"

The followers outside were very curious. They wondered what was written in the document sent from the court that could solve the difficulties Jian Yi encountered in Xuancheng.

After a while, Jian Yi came out in a hurry and said, "Hurry up and prepare the boat. I need to go to Taiping Prefecture!"

"Yes!"

An attendant responded and went to do it.

Another attendant asked curiously, "Master, why are we going to Taiping Mansion?"

Jian Yi smiled and said, "You'll understand when we get there."

　First update.

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)