Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 1069 Liu Xie's First Time

  The closer it is to Pingyang, the more people there are, and the population is relatively denser. Of course, the definition of denseness is probably from seeing no one when walking 1,000 meters to seeing one when walking 200 meters.

In the valleys or hillsides on both sides of the road, you can also see some small-scale villages, three or five households, or seven or eight households, formed in the shape of ten or so households, surrounded by simple fences. A small amount of soil, bark, branches and dry grass to build a house.

Unlike later generations, unless it is in a city, no one with a guts would be willing to build his house on the side of a road with no shelter at the front and back. Whether it is a good person or a bad person, or a person who is about to be driven crazy, if there is any conflict, there is not even a room for maneuver.

  Therefore, in ancient Chinese geomantic omen, houses built on public transportation arteries are called Zong Chong, and that’s how it is.

   This is the case for living and transportation. In fact, in other aspects, in terms of clothing and food, although there were many food varieties in the Han Dynasty, most of them were for the children of the gentry like Fei Qian. For ordinary people, hehe...

   But when it comes to clothes, unlike the gentry children, they can change without taking a bath. To be precise, the clothes of ordinary people are generally not washed unless it is a last resort. The reason is very simple, because of the problem of the weaving process, the structure of the woven Gebu is not as tight as that of the later generations. After washing it a few times, it will become quite soft and even transparent.

  So most of the common people wear them out as decent coats, hang them up when they come back, and then take them off and put them on again when they go out next time. As for the sweat stains and oil stains, they don't exist at all. People who spend their lives planing in the mud every day, and who have dealt with the dirty mud in the eyes of some people in later generations, how can they care about the little sweat stains and dirt on their clothes?

   This kind of semi-robe can be worn out to meet people, and it is considered relatively high-end personal property. Generally, poor farmers only have a few pieces of rags to cover it...

bath?

   That is a matter for the children of the gentry.

So in fact, in the Han Dynasty, judging people by their appearance was a very simple matter. Those who ate fat and fat and had clean bodies were mostly gentry or nobles, while those with sloppy clothes, knotted hair, and all kinds of fleas and lice on their bodies were the most common. It is the general bottom working people.

   In general, it is relatively easy to recognize.

  However, the situation is a little different when it is approaching **yang. The farmers who are farming in the fields are obviously different.

  The biggest difference is the degree of cleanliness, obviously there is some difference, at least if you get closer, you will no longer see the hair jungle like a small zoo of farmers in other areas...

   Could it be that General Zhengxi arranged it in advance?

   It is inevitable that these officials will be a little confused, because there are indeed some differences. These officials were used to dealing with those filthy farmers, and when they suddenly saw that there were farmers near Pingyang who wrote neatly, they couldn't adapt for a while. Looking at myself who looked a little unkempt because of rushing, these officials became somewhat uneasy.

   Etiquette, etiquette is etiquette, and yi is manner. Now these officials who have traveled long distances, with crooked crowns and slanted robes, are naturally inferior to those farmers who are clean and natural although they don't wear long robes and sleeves.

  The sun was gradually setting to the west, Fei Qian looked up at the sky, and ordered to find a suitable place to camp. Although this place is not too far from Pingyang, after all, it is not easy to rush blindly with Liu Xiehe and other officials. Therefore, before the sky is completely dark, it is necessary to find a place to camp in time.

  Leaving Chang'an, Liu Xie seemed to let go of some burden, and felt very novel about everything. Fei Qian also acted as an encyclopedia of the Han Dynasty, answering some unexpected questions from Liu Xie from time to time.

   Like now.

   "...Fei Aiqing," Liu Xie seemed to be bored of sitting in the car, jumped up and down, and said in front of Fei Qian, "...I just saw that there seems to be a village on the other side of the mountain..."

  Fei Qian turned around and looked around. There was a stream over there, and indeed there was a small village with about a dozen households, so he replied: "...Yes, Your Majesty..."

  Liu Xie also looked over there, was silent for a while, and suddenly said: "Fei Aiqing, this... How do the people of this big man usually live?"

"Huh?" How to answer this question, Fei Qian couldn't react for a while, and after thinking about it, he adopted a relatively standard answer, "...work at sunrise, rest at sunset...that's it Let alone..." Not to mention in the Han Dynasty, even in the later generations, there are still some people who don't use watches, mobile phones, TVs and computers in some areas. They just follow the pace of the sun, work and rest at sunrise.

   "..." Liu Xie nodded half-understanding, and then said after a while, "...I... want to go and see..."

   "Aha?" Fei Qian looked at Liu Xie and said, "... Your Majesty... Isn't Your Majesty tired?"

  Liu Xie nodded and said, "Tired. However, I still want to go and see... see how the people of the big man live... these years, I have never seen the people of the big man..."

   Feiqian was silent for a while, then nodded and said: "I would like to follow His Majesty's wish. Come and summon the guards! By the way, bring a bag of millet!"

  The entire area is relatively calm at this stage, but it still cannot be taken lightly. If Liu Xie suffers any damage, it will be Fei Qian's unshirkable responsibility. Therefore, normally speaking, Fei Qian should not have allowed Liu Xie to leave the camp, even though it was just a small village.

   What if the villages are filled with desperadoes who don’t know where they came from? Even if they are not outlaws, what if there are some individuals with mental problems? If His Majesty was hurt somewhere, or if he was not hurt, it would be an extremely serious matter if someone who was not open-eyed said a word or two wrongly...

   This kind of relationship is really important. Therefore, even in later generations, when there are many so-called official inspections of people's conditions, it is not surprising that they have been notified in advance and prepared.

However, Fei Qian was moved by Liu Xie's words. For so many years, perhaps before Dong Zhuo came to Beijing, Liu Xie had never been out of the palace, nor had he seen how the real low-level peasants lived. For the emperor, it may be a kind of happiness, or it may be a kind of sadness. Since Liu Xie said that this is the first time he wants to observe the suffering of the people and understand how the people of the big man live, Fei Qian feels that he should give encouragement and support.

The people of the big man, basically, belong to the sunrise and work the sun and rest. Maybe there are only eight short words, but in fact, it is very difficult. Every morning the sun has not yet risen, and most of them are in all directions. It’s pitch black, that is, around 4 or 5 in the morning. If you raise some chickens, the first crowing will start at this time, and most farmers will wake up at this time and start a day’s work. .

The men bring their tools and go to the field first, and spend about two hours burying their heads in the field. It is the time for early breastfeeding, which is about nine o'clock in the morning. The women in the family have almost finished cooking and return The family eats the first meal. If it is the busy farming season, there is no time to go home to eat, and the women in the family have to send it to the field.

After eating breakfast and resting for about a quarter of an hour, he set off again, returned to the field, and began to do farm work that could not be said in the morning, noon, or afternoon, because the work during this time did not stop, and there was almost no work in between. The interval between them, not to mention the lunch break and the like.

  In this way until the evening, at four or five o'clock in the afternoon, the sun began to slant to the west. At this time, the farmer would drag his tired body back home and enjoy the second meal of the day, which is the last meal of the day.

  Two meals a day, there is no supper, usually at most before the sun disappears, to pack up the tools at home, and then rest.

  From then on, there is no gap.

  For the farmers of the Han Dynasty, the so-called farmhouse music of later generations, hehe, does not exist at all...

  A group of people walked along the trail beside the official road, detoured a small hillside and turned a small forest before arriving in front of this small village.

The movement on Fei Qian's side has already alarmed the people in the village. Seeing Fei Qian and his party getting closer and closer, the people in this village are panicked and feel that a catastrophe is imminent, and they have to come out to meet each other. In addition to the oldest one, he was elected and brought a few middle-aged people to greet him in front of the village.

   "Little old man... This, this welcomes you!" Seeing Fei Qian and his party approaching, the old farmer quickly grinned and put on a smile, and led the rest of them to salute.

Fei Qian stepped forward, nodded, and said: "Old man, please stand up. We are Pingyang... Well, Diannong Cong Cao's subordinates... Well, I happened to pass by here, and I saw that this village is quite exquisite. , old man, don't worry..."

Speaking of General Zhengxi, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, these peasants who are far away from the court may not have much concept, and may even be more flustered and at a loss because of the distance and class, so Fei Qian simply put the name of Zaozhi Move the head out, relatively speaking, it will be closer to these farmers.

  Obviously, after hearing this, the old farmer immediately relaxed a lot, opened his eyes wide, and said, "Could it be Zao Congcao's subordinate? Ah, this... ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

   Feiqian smiled and said: "It's okay, it's okay, we just walk around and have a look at random, if there is any disturbance, I hope the old man will forgive me... The old man has moved here not long ago?"

  This village looks relatively new, so Fei Qian asked this question.

The yellow mud pasted on the wooden posts of the wall is brighter in color, and there is no moss or weeds. It is obvious that the construction has just been completed, and the thatch on the roof of the house exposed from the top of the wall has not completely turned. The black-gray color, more or less dark green or brown, also shows this point.

   "Returning to the nobleman, yes..." The old farmer arched his hands, bent his waist, and said, "...the little old man only moved from Guanzhong in the spring of last year..."

   "Guanzhong?" Liu Xie widened his eyes and asked, "Why did you move here? Is Guanzhong not good?"

   "...this..." The old farmer glanced at Liu Xie, and then quickly at Fei Qian. He could see that Liu Xie's clothes were either rich or expensive, but Fei Qian was more like a person in charge, so he didn't know whether he should answer this question. Migration, in the Han Dynasty, may also be called a refugee, and for a refugee, it is equivalent to losing the status of a Han citizen, and may be arrested at any time for labor or military service...

Fei Qian nodded, and said with a smile: "Is the old man already naturalized? If there is anything, the old man will just say it... We are just curious, just ask casually, if it is inconvenient for the old man, just don't tell me..." Re-naturalized is considered Including the population of the north side, it has a certain legal effect like a temporary residence permit in a certain place plus a tax payment certificate for later generations.

Hearing this, the old farmer felt relieved, smiled wryly and said: "...Since the nobleman asked, the little old man would not dare to hide the nobleman... If it wasn't true that he couldn't survive, who would want to move his family... "

"...Originally, the little old man was in Guanzhong, and he was more or less passable, but unexpectedly..." The old farmer shook his head, obviously feeling a little uneasy about that period of time, "...somehow, all of a sudden, the money is not worth anything, and then Fighting back and forth, the first wave of food requisitions left, and the next wave came again... Later, soldiers came again, either to rob food or people, and the crops were ruined. I really couldn't make it through. There is land, rent reduction and exemption, and farm tools can be borrowed, so I moved here..."

   "Rent-free? Is the rent in Guanzhong so high?" Liu Xie couldn't help asking again.

  The old farmer replied: "... Originally in Guanzhong, it wasn't too high. After one year, after paying the labor tax, there will be 10 to 20 percent left over..."

   "So what about here? How many can be left here?" Liu Xie continued to ask.

Speaking of this, the wrinkles on the old farmer's face loosened a little, and he couldn't help but smile. He bowed his hands in the direction of Pingyang, and said: "Thanks to the kindness of General Zhengxi, the tax was reduced and exempted. Last year's remaining That's it...the remaining 20%, um, about 20%..."

  Fei sneaked a glance at the old farmer and smiled. This guy also has his own tricks, but it doesn't matter, Fei Qian doesn't intend to expose him.

In the vicinity of Pingyang, the fields near **yangqu are naturally fertile and easy to irrigate. Strictly speaking, they can be regarded as the territory of Pingyang Marquis Feiqian, so the tax is relatively high, 50% for the first year, and then It will decrease over time until it reaches 30%, but if you don’t have any equipment, you need to rent oxen, horses, plows, etc. from the government, then you have to add 10% to 15% of the tax. Therefore, these fertile fields near Pingyang are basically Generally speaking, the remaining 10% or 20% in the first year is about the same, but the irrigation near Pingyang is convenient and the production is high, so even if there is 10% left, it is still relatively good, and after the next year, the remaining amount will only increase. , which greatly enhances the adhesion of the field.

   After all, no one would like to leave everything behind and rise up to rebel when they have worked so hard to get started, and see the good days ahead, right?

But here is a bit different. The fields here are found and developed by these people themselves. Therefore, only 30% of the rent is required for the first year. With the addition of the oral tax, at least 40% can be left. The old farmer said it was 20%, which is probably due to a cautious mind.

"There is only this little left..." Obviously Liu Xie didn't know it, and he believed what the old farmer said, so he asked again, "...Then is it the same in other places? Other places, such as Jizhou and Yuzhou, Is that also the case..."

   Fei Qian couldn't help being slightly taken aback, why did Liu Xie's words sound a little weird?

  (end of this chapter)