Chapter 120: Taiyuan Marriage Proposal
During the one month in Hedong, Liu Zhuang's life was quite fulfilling. Almost all the work of the county was done by his civil servants and clerks; Jia Xu was in charge of the overall planning. They only had to give him a report after they finished their work. He only had to carefully look at what kind of work these people applied for, and then stamp it with the seal of the prefect to approve it as appropriate.
I don’t have to collect taxes this year and next year, so my workload has been greatly reduced. At least I won’t be too busy in the next two years.
During this month, his job as a prefect was to coordinate land exchanges, resettle refugees, and carry out the specific work of building the Jade Wall. His main focus was still on training the army and practicing etiquette with Guo Huai. At night, he had fun with his two wives and two concubines.
On December 12th of the first year of Zhongping, the rebellion in Liang Province subsided a little. Under the influence of Han culture, the Qiang people also had the habit of celebrating the New Year. The large number of rebellious Han people in Liang Province also wanted to celebrate the New Year. On the side of Dong Zhuo and Huangfu Song, the soldiers had not yet been assembled. A large number of soldiers had just defeated the Yellow Turbans. They found that the general would not even let them celebrate the New Year and wanted to attack Liang Province. Therefore, they were extremely resistant and even started a small-scale riot.
There was no other way. Dong Zhuo, who doted on his soldiers and even spoiled them a little, could only let them go back for the New Year. Anything could be dealt with after the New Year. The tension between the empire and the rebels eased a little. Liu Zhuang also took advantage of his last free time to temporarily disband the troops and let them go home for the New Year. He asked Lu Bu and Tuoba Yun to take care of Diao Chan, who was reluctant to leave, and he took his personal bodyguard Zhao Yun and Guo Huai, who had already secretly fallen in love with her, to go to Yangqu to propose marriage in person.
Yangqu is not far from Anyi. After crossing the Emei Terrace and going upstream along the Fen River and passing Jinyang, you will reach Yangqu City, Guo Huai's hometown.
Along the way, Guo Huai was both excited and nervous. He was excited because Liu Zhuang was going to propose to his father, but he was nervous because he was afraid that his father would refuse. He paced around the boat anxiously, not knowing what to do. Finally, Liu Zhuang hugged him and kissed him so hard that his bones became soft. Only then did he no longer have the strength to run around.
After a few days, they went up the Fen River and arrived at Yangqu. Yanmen prefect Guo Wei also asked for leave to go home for the New Year. He had received a letter early saying that his daughter was coming back for the New Year. He was very happy at first, but he found out that his daughter was leaning shyly on the shoulder of a strange man and went home together.
Who is this person? ? ?
"Captain Baima, I am the governor of Hedong, Liu Zhuang, and I am here to see you, Lord."
Liu Zhuang bowed politely, performing the etiquette of an equal. Only then did Guo Wei react. Ah, isn’t this Liu Zhuang, the man he sent to Jizhou to fight against the Yellow Turbans?
"It turned out to be Lord Liu."
Guo Yu immediately stood up and met Liu Zhuang, who was at the same level as him. In just one year, this kid had actually reached the same level as himself. It was a bit scary.
"My daughter has been taken care of by you for this year, and I am grateful. I remember that you have already started a family and career, and the New Year is coming soon. You can just send a few servants to take my daughter back. Why bother you to see her off in person?"
Guo Yu had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
"My Lord, I fell in love with your daughter at first sight. I only hope that we can live together till old age, so I came here to propose marriage in person."
Liu Zhuang went straight to the point without any hesitation, which stunned all the Guo family members in the room. Guo Huai was equally direct and agreed as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Father, my daughter is also willing to marry Yan Sheng."
Guo Yu's eyes widened in surprise. This kid had now become a prefect and a colonel. He was indeed qualified to be a match for Guo Huai, and was also qualified to marry into the Guo family of Yangqu.
But, don't you have a wife? Two at that! Do you want me to marry my daughter to you as a lowly concubine? A sex slave with status? What a joke!
"Stop fooling around there!"
Guo Yu angrily grabbed his daughter's wrist and pulled her away from Liu Zhuang.
"Lord Liu, if you are not married yet, I would be happy to marry my daughter to you, but as far as I know, you are already married. My daughter is not talented, but I have carefully raised her to adulthood. How can I be your concubine?"
"My two wives are both co-wives. When I marry Boji, she will also be a co-wives. The three of us have equal status and are definitely not concubines."
Liu Zhuang hurried to explain.
"What do you mean by equal wife? Is my daughter going to be on equal footing with a Xianbei woman or a Shang woman? If this gets out, how will our Guo family save face?"
Guo Yu became even angrier. At this moment, Guo Huai, who understood his father's face-consciousness very well, immediately leaned over and whispered in his ear.
"Oh, father, think about it the other way around. Lü Junhou and Tuoba Junhou are both commoners, and only my daughter is from an aristocratic family. Although she is declared a co-wife, if you say this in the aristocratic circle, which uncle will regard Yan Sheng's other two wives as his wives? It's not shameful for you and your daughter. What's more, she is married to the White Horse Captain and the Governor of Hedong. Among the five great aristocratic families in Bingzhou, which young talent has a higher official position than Yan Sheng? And has more troops than Yan Sheng?"
Guo Huai's words hit the nail on the head for Guo Yu. The biggest reason why he opposed was the issue of face.
But after Guo Huai's explanation, Guo Yu found that it seemed to be true. Which noble family would treat commoners like Lü Bu and Tuoba Yun as human beings? Wouldn't his daughter be a legitimate wife if she married him? What's the point of calling her a concubine? It's just a lie.
And to be honest, Bingzhou is a relatively poor and backward border city. The total population of Bingzhou is less than one million, which is less than the 960,000 people in Hedong County. This also means that the Bingzhou families are not as terrifying as the Jizhou families. A prefect with a rank of two thousand stones is a high position that only the head of the five major families in Bingzhou can achieve. As the prefect of Yanmen, he only has a little over 200,000 people under his jurisdiction.
And what about Liu Zhuang? He was already the governor of Hedong County, a county with a population of 960,000. He was the next generation of a Bingzhou family. No one was better than Liu Zhuang. The only ones who could compare with him were the old guys of his own generation.
What my daughter said was not without reason. It would not be a bad thing to marry a new rich man like Liu Zhuang...
"What about the betrothal gift? How much do you plan to give?"
Guo Yu's tone became a little calmer. He let go of Guo Huai's hand and paced around anxiously. Then he found that his daughter had run back to Liu Zhuang. He couldn't help but say that it was impossible to keep a girl when she grew up.
"I am willing to pay three hundred pieces of gold, six hundred rolls of silk, and one thousand two hundred strings of cash to marry you in a formal ceremony."
Seeing that Guo Wei had given in, Liu Zhuang directly called himself his son-in-law. Some of the money was bribes from the Hedong nobles, and the rest was the rewards that he and Guo Huai had saved when they fought against the Yellow Turbans.
Guo Yu calculated that one pound of gold was about 10 strings of coins, and one piece of silk was about 3 strings of coins. Since gold was basically only used for decoration in the Han Dynasty, its price was not very exaggerated. The price of the betrothal gift was strings of coins, which barely met the minimum standard for marriage in a noble family.
And these six thousand strings of money could probably buy 1000 war horses and the corresponding horse equipment.
"Alright, I agree to this marriage, but there are fixed times for marriage and funerals. The emperor takes one year, the princes take half a year, and the scholars take one season. Please make preparations within three months and marry my daughter."
Guo Yu thought about it for three full minutes and finally agreed reluctantly.
"You were a poor refugee leader a year ago. It's not easy for you to come up with so much money all at once. I've also heard about the rebellion in Liangzhou and the defense mission assigned to you by the court. So, after the New Year, I will go back to Yanmen and select 1000 war horses and saddles as a dowry, and let Guo Huai take them back to you so that you can guard Hedong."
The author says:
Author's words: 1800 monthly tickets plus more~
Chapter 121: County Magistrate Jia Xu
Seeing that the marriage was settled, Guo Huai felt as if he had been pardoned. He breathed a long sigh of relief, feeling both happy and sad. He was happy that he had finally convinced his father, but he was sad that according to the rules of marriage for aristocratic families, he would not be able to see Liu Zhuang within the next three months of this season.
As the New Year was approaching, Liu Zhuang simply spent New Year's Eve and the first day of the New Year at Guo's house. Because of his status as the prefect of Hedong, he was directly invited to sit in the seat of honor. At Liu Zhuang's firm request, Zhao Yun also attended the banquet and sat next to Liu Zhuang. The extravagant enjoyment of the aristocratic family was truly breathtaking. Everyone was dressed in gorgeous brocade clothes, with fluttering sleeves like clouds. Thousands of candles were lit in the hall, making it magnificent and illuminating the New Year's Eve like daylight.
As the melodious music sounded, the singing girls of the Guo family carried plates of delicacies and moved lightly among the guests. Their postures of serving the dishes were as graceful as dancing. The musicians played the chimes, struck the banpans, beat the jian drums, and used various percussion music to play a grand and celebratory movement.
The dishes served by the singing girls were rich and varied, with a wide variety of meats roasted, boiled, fried, cured, and preserved. The vegetables stored in the cellar were also cooked into delicious side dishes. In front of everyone was a pile of rock honey and a pile of honey as dessert. Rock honey was the more ancient form of rock sugar. There were four different types of fine wines and honey water. The Han people's love for sugar was no less than that of the Romans.
"By the way, father-in-law, is there a place near Hedong where I can buy horses?"
While drinking, Liu Zhuang also asked about the nearby horse-selling place. Horses are of no other use except for fighting, transportation and communication. The more they eat, the more they poop. Their excrement contains a lot of ammonia, which can even pollute and damage the land, causing a decline in soil fertility and affecting the quality of the entire grassland.
But apart from horses, there are no other animals that can be domesticated on a large scale to meet the needs of warfare, transportation, and communication. The damage caused by the green-skinned orcs' wild boars and skoogs is even more serious than that of horses. For this reason, the two river basins in Hedong County are mostly farmlands and mines, and there are really no horse farms.
"There are several horse farms in Xihe County. I'll mark them out for you. Some of the people there are old friends of mine. I'll write you a letter of recommendation."
After accepting the marriage, Guo Wei truly regarded Liu Zhuang as his partner.
"Grateful."
On the second day of the New Year, Liu Zhuang immediately set out from Yangqu and returned to Hedong, preparing to celebrate the New Year with his brothers and sisters. He also took the opportunity to investigate the conditions in Hedong along the way. Although Hedong County was located in the south, it was quite cold. During the New Year, the people were still reclaiming the land that had been abandoned due to the Yellow Turban Rebellion last year.
"I remember a minor official saying that the people were grateful to me for my request for two years of tax exemption from Your Majesty. The noble families used the good farmland in Anyi to exchange with me for some land abandoned during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Now they are sending their servants to repair the wasteland. The land has been initially restored and can be cultivated during the spring ploughing this year..."
Liu Zhuang stared at the people working in the distance with his pupils, recalling the report made by the clerk before the New Year, and felt more and more that something was wrong.
These people were indeed reclaiming and repairing the abandoned land, but they were all skinny and pale, with ragged clothes. Were they the servants of the Wei family???
Liu Zhuang immediately realized that something was wrong, so he disguised himself, hid his official position, and went with Zhao Yun to inquire.
"Fellow villagers, why are you still cultivating and mopping the land during the New Year? I heard that this piece of farmland now belongs to the Wei family of Anyi. Are you a farmer who depends on the Wei family?"
"Bullshit! We are free people, not his slaves!"
A middle-aged man angrily stopped what he was doing. The cold wind blew and he shivered all over. He curled up in his sheepskin coat.
"At the beginning of the month, the Wei family suddenly came and insisted on exchanging this piece of land that was abandoned during the war for the land we have, and also gave a certain amount of subsidies and compensation.
If we refuse, their servants will come and harass us endlessly, forcing us to be restless during the New Year and to tidy up the land here. If we don’t restore the land to cultivation before March, we will all starve to death!"
Another farmer came over and interrupted.
"Yes, it's very strange. I thought these wasteland didn't belong to the Wei family. How come they suddenly became his? I'll say it again. We have to hurry up. If we can't plant the fields in March, we'll all be dead!"
Listening to the angry words of these farmers, Liu Zhuang and Zhao Yun were extremely angry. My goodness, why did those noble families agree so readily? They just exchanged the wasteland for the people right after they exchanged the land? They minimized their losses?
For a family as big as yours, exchanging some wasteland would at most result in less harvest next year.
But, you gave these wastelands to these poor peasants? Are you trying to drive them to death? Or are you trying to force a second Yellow Turban Rebellion?
Or do you want to drive them half to death first, then annex the land and eat all the people as your slaves? ? ?
Liu Zhuang comforted the people with a serious face, and checked along the Fen River. He found that the situation was the same everywhere: he used the wasteland to exchange for the land near Anyi of the noble families, and the noble families used the wasteland to exchange land with nearby farmers, forcing the nearby farmers into these wastelands, trying to drive them into a dead end, and then carry out a wave of land annexation and absorb domestic slaves.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month in the second year of Zhongping, Liu Zhuang and Zhao Yun returned to Anyi, two days later than the scheduled time. Lu Bu was already worried and sent people upstream along the Fen River to look for them. He was relieved to see that Liu Zhuang was safe and sound. The three of them got together and spent the second New Year together. Although the food was not as luxurious as that of the Guo family, the atmosphere was more relaxed and pleasant than the Guo family with its many rules and strict hierarchy.
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Liu Zhuang immediately started to work. The first priority was to deal with the farmers who were about to be driven to death. It was almost noon, and Jia Xu was still sleeping in at home. She was suddenly awakened by a knock on the door. She opened the door sleepily and found it was an overtime notice from his cat: Urgent task, come over to work.
The clerk in charge of the notification had just turned around to leave when he heard a mournful howl from behind.
Inside the lobby, Liu Zhuang did not wear the official robe of the prefect, but directly wore the tube-sleeved black armor that he wore as the White Horse Captain. He sat in the main seat with a night spear in his hand. His four pupils in his eyes were like golden flying stars, and he looked murderous.
Zhao Yun, wearing silver armor and a white robe, holding a bright silver spear, sat on the right side majestically, like a silver flash. Jia Xu sat on his left side with a resentful look on his face. With a wave of her pale fingers, a large number of bamboo files flew into the sky, unfolded and turned into a wood-colored cloud. Her lifeless eyes moved rapidly among the flying bamboo slips, quickly checking the past case files.
At this moment, Jia Xu was also an official of the rank of 600 stones. He wore a loose and comfortable Han Dynasty official robe, which was black with a red edge, blending into a dignified and serious dark color.
However, this official uniform did not give her a dignified and solemn feeling at all. Instead, it looked too sexy and lascivious. The wide collar was pushed up high by a pair of plump and attractive breasts, making them bulge out. When the breeze blew, the slender waist of this weak woman swayed slightly, and the two lumps of white and beautiful flesh on her chest were immediately swung apart, ready to burst out under the tight black official robe. The slimming black color could not hide the magnificence of the two snow-capped peaks at all.
Her exposed face and hands were whiter than snow, even appearing sickly pale, which complemented her thick black hair. Her elegant and intellectual face was still so depressed and lifeless, but she rarely wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. The decorative golden ribbons drew a pair of graceful arcs on both sides of her pale face.
Perhaps it was because the Confucian scholars of this era needed to study books and learn techniques more diligently, which led to many short-sighted Confucian scholars banding together to develop eyewear technology ahead of time.
"did you find it?"
Liu Zhuang asked Jia Xu, the busty girl with glasses who was flipping through a lot of records beside him.
"It's almost there, it's almost there, don't rush...ah, I found it."
Jia Xu waved his fingers listlessly and pulled out a record from the flying files. It was a report from a minor official to the governor regarding the exchange of land:
"The people are grateful to the Lord for his request for two years of tax exemption. The noble families have exchanged the good farmland in Anyi with me for some land abandoned during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. We are now sending servants to repair the wasteland. The land has been initially restored and can be cultivated during the spring ploughing this year."
And below is the clerk’s autograph, Wei De.
Jia Xu, knowing the whole cause and effect, subconsciously made a prediction.
"This man is Wei Ji's nephew, a lowly bastard born to a concubine. He also committed a serious crime that was concealed from his superiors, causing a large number of people to become homeless. The Wei family is totally in the wrong, so it's better to kill him to establish our authority."
"Give the Wei family some face and say that the government has an urgent matter and invites Wei De to come over to work. Arrest him immediately and put him in jail. Then sentence him to death after the fifteenth day of the lunar year. Don't let the new year be tainted with blood."
At this moment, Liu Zhuang had some understanding of the customs of the Han Dynasty.
"Immediately organize a wave of aid to provide some manpower, food, and cattle to the farmers who have been forced to move their land."
Liu Zhuang waved his hands in annoyance. If the Hedong family wasn't so powerful and deeply rooted, he would have wanted to uproot them.
Although he couldn't do anything extreme at the moment, Liu Zhuang didn't indulge them. He immediately selected his confidants from his most loyal troops to serve as his spies and supervisors. He ordered them to supervise and record the work of the petty officials and clerks in Hedong, and then report to him. He then figured out how to make the Wei family give up these lands.
These petty officials are really awesome. How dare they hide such things? If I hadn't gone to Yangqu to propose marriage and seen the scene on both sides of the strait, I wouldn't even know that these people were so ruthless. It seems that I must set up channels and methods to contact the grassroots, otherwise I will be deceived by the middle-level people and know nothing.
Jia Xu was extremely efficient and finished all the tasks very quickly. I originally wanted to leave work quickly, but when I thought about the fact that Liu Zhuang was not going to end up like Dong Zhuo, and that he treated me with the courtesy of a patriot and entrusted me with the important task of county magistrate as soon as we met, I couldn't help but hesitate. This was the first time in my life that I took the initiative.
"Master, there is something you need to pay attention to."
"Wenhe, please speak."
Liu Zhuang looked at Jia Xu beside him tiredly.
"I have worked here for a few years, and I have a rough idea of how much grain and grass Hedong County can collect. If you did not collect agricultural taxes last year and this year, the grain stored in Anyi would not be enough for the three battalions of soldiers under your command. There are more than 7,000 full-time soldiers, which is too much to support the tax collection next autumn. And even if the tax revenue is collected, you have to pay part of the grain to Luoyang, and the remaining grain will not be enough to support your more than 7,000 full-time soldiers."
Liu Zhuang's face suddenly changed. He could not hold out until the autumn harvest next year. He had also made some budget and was prepared to solve the problem by spending money to buy grain.
However, after paying the grain and fodder tax for 960,000 people to Luoyang, the remaining tax could not even support 7,000 soldiers? Isn't this a bit too exaggerated?
"The Lord has just taken office and exempted taxes for two years. He has never dealt with this kind of thing. Among the 960,000 people, half are dependents of powerful families. Although they are still on the list of registered citizens, they are already slaves protected by powerful families and cannot pay taxes.
The remaining half of the people will have to bear all the taxes imposed by the court on Hedong County. These free people have to pay twice the normal taxes or even more. This is already very harsh. You can't secretly increase the tax rate and collect more, not to mention that the bulk of the tax goes to Your Majesty.
You want to support 7,000 full-time soldiers with a small portion of the taxes from more than 400,000 people? That's too difficult."
Jia Xu said expressionlessly.
Chapter 122: Military Farm Reform
Liu Zhuang was stunned for a moment. Half of the registered residents in Hedong were dependents of the wealthy families? This ratio was really exaggerated, and it showed how powerful the local families were.
"General Dong also has three battalions of soldiers. She has served in Hedong for several years. How did she solve the problem?"
Liu Zhuang asked curiously.
"She forced the nobles to pay to support her army. If they didn't, she would allow the soldiers to rob and cause trouble."
Jia Xu spoke succinctly and to the point, and from this style of doing things, she vaguely knew why Dong Zhuo died so miserably.
It didn't matter if he offended the Wei family in Hedong, but the Wei family in Anyi was related by marriage to the Pei family in Wenxi and the Jia family in Xiangling. These two families were also intermarried with other aristocratic families. What he wanted to offend was not individual aristocratic families, but the entire class that ruled the Han Empire.
This also meant that he had to weaken the power of these aristocratic families in a legitimate way. For example, if his illegitimate son broke the law, he could just kill him and no one would have any objection.
Under such extremely unfavorable conditions, Liu Zhuang thought about all the ancient military systems he had seen and understood. Although the full-time professional soldiers who did not engage in production and trained with all their strength had very strong combat effectiveness, they relied on a stronger economic foundation to support them. Now, he had to find a replacement.
Liu Zhuang thought hard and finally decided to modify the military farming system and the military service system to solve his own dilemma. That is, he wanted to make all the nearly 40,000 people who followed him become farmer-soldiers. They also had to pay land tax and head tax to the state, but as military households they were exempt from all corvee labor: you might as well spend that time training with the general, and the land was hereditary.
