Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 42 Job Field
If he just lived his life without too much pursuit, Liu Daogui could actually live a very comfortable and happy life.

Everything went according to plan. There was actually nothing major happening in the military headquarters. The lessons of the Battle of Feishui made the northern barbarians temporarily dare not think of anything against the Jin Dynasty. They just plundered the border a bit and then left.

The soldiers in the military office were used to poverty and could get by even if they were half-dead.

To some extent, the imperial court was also making do with this half-dead state. The great victory of the Battle of Feishui was just thrown away...

The general environment was like this. It was not that Liu Daogui was unwilling to struggle, but the door of the imperial court had long been basically closed to the common people, and corrupt officials were treated the same whether they were good or bad.

If a corrupt official reaches the seventh rank, that's basically the end of the road. To move up, he will have to face the ninth-rank official system, which depends on his family background and family background.

Liu Daogui's father, Liu Qiao, was only a ninth-rank county official in his entire life. If nothing unexpected happened, Liu Daogui would probably have been a ninth-rank corrupt official in his entire life.

However, if Jiangzuo continues to develop in this way, accidents will happen sooner or later. Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared.

Liu Daogui asked Liu Guangzhi to bring back some expired official letters, military documents, and court reports every two days.

The court's decrees and major events are all in the official reports, while the affairs of the two overseas counties under the Qingzhou Governor's Office are in official letters. Military letters are naturally documents sent from the army, mostly requesting the allocation of food and winter clothing.

These things have been piled up in the study for a long time and no one cares about them.

Liu Daogui used these things to understand the important affairs of the court, as well as the affairs of the General of Conquering the Enemy and the Qingzhou Governor's Office.

If there are any questions, Gao Xun can basically answer them.

His father Gao Rou was once a clerk of Shangshu Ling He Chong. Gao Xun was influenced by his father and knew much more than Liu Daogui.

In fact, nothing is difficult. As long as you are determined, you can reap great rewards in just half a month.

He gained a more thorough understanding of the court's structure, power distribution, and party struggles.

The biggest gains were in the military system and the official system.

After the Hu people moved south, Shi Le, Shi Hu and Fu Jian all had their eyes on Jiangdong, and the Hu people frequently moved south.

The Jin Dynasty suffered more defeats than victories, and constant rebellions in Jiangzuo led to a large reduction in military households and a shortage of troops. The Jin Dynasty had to rely on the troops of the aristocratic families and the refugee army to quell the civil unrest and resist the northern Hu people.

The Jiankang court was supported by the aristocratic families, and military power was never in their hands from the beginning to the end.

Initially, he relied on the local Jiangdong nobles of the Western Mansion. Later, he relied on the Western Mansion to quell the rebellion of Wang Dun, Su Jun and Zu Yue. Later, he relied on the Northern Mansion to win the Battle of Feishui...

If Liu Daogui could gather a group of troops in Guangling, the imperial court would recognize him.

On both sides of the Huai River, there were traces of a large number of beggars and refugees, who submitted to the Jin Dynasty while maintaining a certain degree of autonomy.

These forces multiplied from generation to generation, and their leaders were mostly inherited from the same clan. Among the subordinates of Fu Jian of Di Qin, there was a strong and skilled archer general named Qihuo, who followed him on the southern expedition.

In the Battle of Feishui, the Di Qin army of hundreds of thousands collapsed at the first blow. This was also because many Jin people in the Di Qin army did not want to fight to the death with the Jin Dynasty. When they saw that the situation was not right, they collapsed in an instant.

However, although the imperial court allowed officials to have their own troops, the biggest problem for Liu Daogui was how to support them.

The Diao family has thousands of acres of fertile land, so of course they can keep servants at will.

Gao Xun had the Gao family behind him, who barely managed to support more than two hundred people.

Liu Daogui was so poor that he could not even support himself. Although Yuan He rewarded him with more than 30 strings of cash, it was only enough to cover the temporary expenses of the people around him.

It's not just Buqu himself who needs to be supported, but also the family behind him...

These days, all the mountains, rivers and lakes have been occupied. If you have no power or influence, there is basically no need to think about it.

"Bring over more documents in the next few days, useful or not, as long as they have words on them." Liu Daogui could only continue searching among the bamboo slips, familiarize himself with the internal rules, and then use the rules.

"a piece of cake."

Liu Guangzhi was a down-to-earth man. After taking Liu Daogui's place at the roll call, he actually brought back a cart of dusty bamboo slips...

But as scary as it looks, there's actually not much to read.

For five consecutive days, Liu Guangzhi openly dragged the document back, and no one in the military office asked about it, and no one tried to stop him...

Hard work pays off, and Liu Daogui finally found it. According to the regulations, the ninth rank of the middle-ranking soldiers was to receive a monthly stipend of 40 dan of rice, 3 qian of salary, and one liang of silk. Salt, firewood, cloth, and other miscellaneous supplies were enough to sustain daily life. In addition, they were also given 10 hectares of official land according to their rank.

The Western Jin Dynasty implemented a land occupation system. Nominally, the first rank could occupy 50 hectares of land, and each rank below it reduced by 5 hectares, until the ninth rank could occupy 10 hectares of land. The rank could also shelter 15 to 1 tenant households and 3 to 1 guest households.

At the beginning of the founding of the Central Plains, thanks to the land occupation law, there was a ten-year "Taikang Reign".

However, by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the land occupation law was still in place, but the aristocratic families were no longer satisfied with 50 hectares of land.

The Diao family of Jingkou was only a second-rate aristocratic family, yet they occupied tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in Jinling County and had nearly ten thousand servants.

Other noble families, big and small, also unscrupulously occupied land and swallowed up the population.

In order to avoid the court's harsh taxes and heavy labor service, many common people even took the initiative to join the gentry and become tenants.

Liu Daogui's salary and allowance were cut off from his superiors, and he only received five stone of rice per month. Fortunately, his ten hectares of official land was still under his name and was not encroached upon.

As long as Liu Daogui is still a soldier, these ten hectares of official land will always be in his name.

However, the official land for the soldiers was actually allocated to Lanling County. Between this place and Guangling was the Xiapi State, and across from it was the territory of Yan State...

In the first year of Yuankang reign of Emperor Hui (291 AD), Lanling County was established by dividing the five counties of Lanling, Qi, Hexiang and Changliu in Donghai County, with its capital in Qicheng.

Ran Min started his career in Lanling County and led beggars from all over the country to attack Yecheng and overthrow the Jie Zhao.

After the Battle of Feishui, Lanling County and Langya County returned to the Jin Dynasty together.

Murong Chui took advantage of Xie Xuan's retreat to capture the two states of Yan and Qing, and had little interest in the two counties of Lanling and Langya, east of Mount Tai and south of Mount Dayan (Mount Yi).

These two counties became a buffer zone between Jin and Yan. Since they had just been recovered, the imperial court did not take them seriously and only used them as a defense area for the General of Conquering the Enemy.

In addition to the direct threat of the Hu people, there are also bandits, refugee troops, and beggars on Mount Tai...

Seven years ago, when Lanling County was just recovered, the official fields of the military recruits were still in Yandu County. As soon as Sun Yizhi took office, someone tampered with the land, and the ten hectares of official fields in Yandu became Huan Daozhen's private fields.

The official land of the soldiers who joined the army was naturally transferred to Lanling County.

Sun Yizhi's mind wasn't on the military mansion, and the Tianshi Dao didn't need this little bit of land, so he just let it go...

Liu Daogui had known that the setup of overseas counties and prefectures was chaotic, but he did not expect it to be so chaotic.

But then again, the General of the Expeditionary Army was in charge of the garrison in Jiangbei, and Lanling County was indeed under its jurisdiction.

The only thing that made Liu Daogui feel relieved was that in addition to the ten hectares of official land, there were also one hundred hectares of military farms to guard against the northern Hu people.

But it's only in name.

The Datang Mountain in the north was occupied by the Yan army, and the Xianbei cavalry could go south to plunder at any time. Neither the imperial court nor the General Zhenglu's Mansion invested any energy or attention in it.

The officials sent there were driven away by various local forces within two days.

A hot potato, do you want it or not?

Liu Daogui was repeatedly troubled.

The crux of the problem is that his family background is too limited. He only has five people around him. If he had two or three hundred troops, Liu Daogui would have killed them long ago.

But then I thought, these days the good places have already been occupied by others, and it’s never my turn.

If I don't go, the few dozen coins I have will be wasted and will run out sooner or later.

Not to mention any part.

Without money and food, I can’t even support myself.

Liu Daogui suddenly felt that he had no choice at all...

(End of this chapter)