Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 74 Ironclad Evidence
"No."

Zhang Li shook his head and looked at Liu Taozi seriously, "Mr. Liu, this is useless!"

"Not to mention how difficult they are to kill, even if we can really kill them, what's the point?"

"Murong Zeng is just their old servant, and Murong Guang is not an important person."

"If they die, the situation won't change at all."

"An enemy like this cannot be solved by killing. If you want to solve it by killing, you have to kill the entire Murong family, leaving no one alive. Only in this way can it be solved."

Yao Xiong's eyes widened. He said in disbelief, "I usually think Mr. Zhang is quite kind, but I never thought that he would want to kill the whole family. Including the servants and retainers of the Murong family, there must be about 3,000 people, right? How can he kill them all?"

"more than."

"Then how can we kill them cleanly?"

"A crime of genocide can be solved."

"A clan of this size certainly has many friends, but it also definitely has many enemies."

Liu Taozi sat in the upper seat, listening to the discussion of his minions with a frown on his face. This was the first time he encountered an enemy that was somewhat difficult to kill.

But after Zhang Li said this, he seemed to have another idea.

"Okay, Xiong, take Mr. Zhang back to rest."

"Zili, you continue to stay in charge of the patrol office. No matter how big or small the matter is, you must not delay the patrol's mission."

"Kou, please stop watching their mansion and accompany me on an inspection tour tomorrow."

"only!!"

Everyone bowed and said yes.

It is already very dark.

However, the county magistrate's house was brightly lit, and the light was dazzling in the dead of night.

Lu Qubing sat solemnly at his desk, concentrating on writing.

When Gao Changgong just arrived, he ordered to verify the household registration inside and outside the city. Lu Qubing was carefully comparing the results. The large number of vacancies was shocking. In just four years, the number of registered households in Cheng'an showed an incredible sharp decline.

At that time, the equal-field system was implemented in Da Qi.

This was set during the reform by Emperor Xiaowen of Wei in the previous dynasty. The main content is just one word: give land.

When common people reached the age of fifteen, the government would grant them forty mu of farmland, and women would be granted twenty mu. The land could not be bought or sold, and could not be increased or decreased. When common people got too old to farm or died, the land had to be returned to the government.

The family-inherited farmland is called mulberry land. After death, it can be left to the son, but the maximum limit is 20 mu. If it is more, the temple will take it away from you, and if it is less, the temple will make up for it.

Da Qi inherited this system from the previous dynasty, so the amount of cultivated land and household registration in Da Qi were very clear, and the two were linked to a certain extent.

However, in recent years, this system has been increasingly damaged. A large amount of state-owned arable land has fallen into the hands of the people and finally returned to the hands of the landlords. They used various methods to turn the self-cultivating farmers into tenants, and turned the land granted to the self-cultivating farmers into their own arable land.
Lu Qubing only made a brief comparison and discovered the imbalance on the books. In recent years, the population of Cheng'an had been declining sharply, but the public land in the hands of the temple, that is, the arable land granted to the people, had not increased, but had instead decreased.

This public land is not in the hands of the people, nor in the hands of the government, so in whose hands is it?
Lu Qubing was so busy until dawn. As soon as it got light, he sent someone to summon all the officials to come and assist him in conducting a thorough investigation.

First, we must find out the missing population, then find out the location of the farmland that was originally granted to them, then take back the ownerless land, and then pardon the deceased, and have the county government re-grant the land.

Lu Qubing already had a clear process in his mind.

He will never bow down to any evil person.

His blood was boiling.

Law room.

"Goodbye everyone!"

The students saluted each other and said goodbye with a smile.

Although their days of studying in the law school were quite happy, they also missed their families very much.

The law school was clean and tidy, with many desks and some couches where people could sit down and debate. There were some trees planted against the courtyard wall, but they were very small and it was unknown whether they could grow big enough.

Zhang Erlang picked up the package, bowed to everyone, turned around and left.

The roads in the county school were flat and neat; there were no such roads in his hometown. Occasionally, when he met a few students of classics who looked very rich and powerful, Zhang Erlang would hurriedly avoid them.

Although these students did not dare to bully them openly, when they met them, they would inevitably make some ridicule and argue with each other.

It’s better to avoid it.

They walked all the way to the gate, and the old official guarding the gate opened it, and they arrived in the city.

From time to time in the city, you can see people walking with their heads down. Some restaurants are open and there are servants standing at the door, looking around for outsiders. Locals will not go to restaurants to eat.

A man was leading a cow, but the cow didn't move, and the man was so angry that he kept jumping up and down.

There were a few people dressed as porters, pulling carts, and shouting along the road, "It's time to collect manure~~"

"It's time to collect the manure~~"

There seemed to be more people on the road, but that had nothing to do with Zhang Erlang. He walked all the way to the city gate and showed his pass. The clerk checked it again and again and finally nodded and let him pass.

Zhang Erlang walked quickly outside the city, being extremely cautious. Traveling alone is always dangerous.

He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he came to the familiar path leading to the village.

After walking a few steps, he saw an old man from the same village, carrying a hoe on his back. When he saw Zhang Erlang, he was startled and hurriedly greeted him warmly. "Erlang, you just came back from the city? Where's Tao Ge'er?"

"He should still be busy."

"Okay, okay, have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet."

"Come to my house later. The third child from my aunt's family has bought some meat. Let's eat together!"

Zhang Erlang hurriedly thanked him, "Okay, I'll go home first and go later."

"Don't forget that!"

The old man slowly disappeared in the distance. Zhang Erlang smiled. Even though it was shabby, it was still his hometown.

After taking a few steps, Zhang Erlang reacted, shuddered, and looked back in shock, but the old man had already left.

That's not right. Didn't the third son of my aunt's family die in corvée labor?
When did he kill the meat?
Zhang Erlang shook his head. The old man was somewhat confused.

He walked to the door of his home, a small house by the Zhang River.

His home is far away from the village and he makes a living by fishing. When he got here, Zhang Erlang felt a sense of loss in his heart. The house is still there, but his family is gone.

"Squeak~~"

Suddenly someone opened the door.

An old man came out, poured the water in the basin out of the door, looked up, saw Erlang, and was a little surprised.

Zhang Jilang frowned, "Who are you?!"

"I opened my eyes wide."

"Bullshit. Fuck you."

Before Zhang Erlang finished speaking, he saw a young boy walking out from behind him and looking at him timidly.

"I'm Zhang Dalang."

Zhang Erlang opened his eyes wide. Zhang Erlang’s eyes were named after his father, and Zhang Dalang was his elder brother.

But he didn't know these two people at all.

He took a few steps back vigilantly and was about to rush into the village, but he bumped into something, staggered, and screamed in fright.

He quickly turned around and saw Liu Taozi standing in front of him.

He shuddered and quickly hid beside Liu Taozi, pointing at the two men in front of him and said, "Brother Taozi, these two are pretending to be my grandfather and my brother! They are trying to scare me!"

Liu Taozi didn't say anything, motioned for him to follow her, and left.

Zhang Erlang followed behind him, and the two of them walked towards the peach forest.

"They are all refugees from outside the city. I asked them to use the identities of people from the lower village."

"Why?"

“The village needs people, and they need an identity.”

Liu Taozi glanced at him again and said, "If you don't want me to, I can ask them to change their identities."

Zhang Erlang smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Forget it, just use it. You can't come back anyway."

He followed Liu Taozi all the way to the peach forest.

"Brother Taozi, this is where we are."

Just as he was about to ask a question, he saw two people walking out of the peach forest.

One of them was Old Man Zhang from the north of the village, and the other was a Hu man with a strange beard who looked somewhat familiar.

Taozi looked at the old man and said, "Please continue to watch over here and don't let outsiders get close."

"it is good!"

Taozi then led the other two into the peach forest.

"Brother Taozi, what is this going to do?"

The Hu man picked up a shovel and handed it to Zhang Erlang.

"Don't do anything, just dig. This side has been dug before, so start from that side."

Zhang Erlang was holding a shovel, looking confused.

"What are you digging for?"

"Dig for armor, weapons, and war horses."

"what???"

(End of this chapter)