Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 78 Middlemen make the difference
In the fourth year of Chuping, the end of the year is approaching in December.

The sky was filled with fine snow, and the thatched huts of the common people and the green-tiled roofs of the wealthy families were covered with a light layer of snow.

Now that there was no stealing on the roads in Qingzhou and the people lived a stable life, Liu Bei lowered the land tax a lot.

The rapid recovery of people's livelihood was largely due to the efforts of Xu Qing and the Yellow Turbans. If they had not killed so many powerful people and some nobles and robbed mountains of money, Liu Bei would have had to worry about money when he went on wars.

The sudden outbreak of war cost a huge amount of money and food, and there were wars in Qingzhou every year.

It would be fine if Yuan Shao doesn't come next year, and we can survive safely. But if he comes, it will be another year of tightening our belts and fighting.

Everyone gathered in Liu Bei's front hall, except Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun who were stationed outside with important tasks and could not leave easily. They could only wait until after the New Year to take turns to come back for rest.

Many officials from various counties had to return to Pingyuan County to report to Liu Bei on the administrative gains and losses for the whole year and complete promotion assessments.

It includes clerks and historians in twenty categories of official offices, including the household department, warehouse department, gold department, military department, and medical department of the state.

After the officials had finished reporting one by one, they stayed in the relay house to attend the year-end ceremony, and then returned to their counties after the New Year.

The others who remained in the hall were all Liu Bei's trusted confidants.

At a glance, Qian Zhao, Jian Yong, Wang Xiu, Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Sun Qian, Cui Yan, Taishi Ci and others are all there, which can be considered as some talent reserve.

Liu Bei sighed in his heart that after going through so much hard fighting over the past few years, he finally had a decent team.

"Sir, the end-of-year Zhunu festival has been prepared." Xun Yu reported.

Nuo opera is a masked ghost-exorcism activity. Since the time of Emperor Xiaowu, the imperial court and various prefectures and counties have held it at the end of each year and on New Year's Day to pray for good weather and a good harvest in the coming year.

In the past few years, Qingzhou was in chaos, so Liu Bei ordered a temporary suspension of Nuo opera activities. Now that people's livelihood has improved, Xun Yu took the opportunity to propose holding it again, which can not only appease people's hearts, but also make the counties lively.

There is a psychological sustenance to calm the suffering caused by the war.

Liu Bei thought about it and agreed.

It is a rare opportunity for common people to watch from a distance, and it can be considered an entertainment activity. After a whole year of farming and fighting, everyone needs a break.

After getting the promise, Xun Yu found a hundred young men in black clothes, holding small-eared drums, and had Fang Xiang, who was wearing a mask and covered with bear skin, dance. He also had the cavalry drive the statues representing the epidemic and burn them and throw them into the river, to drive away the plague and disaster.

They talked about the year-end celebrations and the arrangements for ancestor worship. If it weren't for Xun Yu, the envoy would have been busy again this year.

Turning the topic to winter hunting, Liu Bei said, "During the slack season, wild animals are fat and strong. People have hunting bows and carved bows at home. Let them participate so that we can store more meat."

Hunting was mostly an activity for officials to go out in groups. When Wang Xiu heard that Liu Bei wanted to include the common people in the activity, he was confused and said, "Sir, there are not many people who are good at hunting. Usually, if three or five people go into the mountains, they may not get anything for several days."

"Even if you have a hunting bow, it's probably difficult to hunt for meat!"

Although Liu Bei lifted the ban and allowed hunting of pheasants, rabbits, bears, tigers, birds and beasts, experienced hunters often returned empty-handed.

Guo Jia also said: "The best way to hunt is to shoot high birds with a bow and arrow, to catch pheasants and rabbits with a net, or to set a trap with sharp wood tied around it so that the animals can go in but not out. Jia and Wen Ruo used to hunt in their early years, but they rarely got anything with these methods."

Liu Bei said: "It's not a solo hunt. Nowadays, there are many people in the village who are taking turns to serve in the army. Those who have made great contributions will be selected from the military list and become hunting captains or hunting guards."

"Ten households form a Jia, and ten Jias form a Bao. This is practiced between villages and villages. Only when many people go up the mountain to hunt can they get something."

"Issue another notice that anyone who catches a tiger should pay 5,000 yuan, and anyone who catches a jackal or a herd should pay 1,000 yuan, so as to encourage the people to hunt." Xun Yu was pondering the envoy's intention. A county is the accumulation of villages, and a village is a gathering of people. There are elders, filial and hard-working people in the fields, as well as miseres, village assistants, and roving officials.

Pingyuan County includes Dongxiang, Duxiang, Yongbeixiang, Chixiang and Yuanxiang, and each township has more than a thousand households.

However, these are often occupied by powerful clans in the villages, and the power of the states, counties and prefectures is constrained in the villages and cannot reach the people in the villages.

Qingzhou was not bad. The people all knew that Liu Shijun was known for his kindness. There were also agricultural students who composed songs and sang them everywhere. There was also the Youth Hall to help with farming. There was also the Military Office to command the soldiers in the village. The wealthy and powerful families had no way to pretend to obey but secretly disobeyed.

Xuande also often personally urged farmers to work on the land, going in and out of the fields and in the villages and pavilions.

The situation in other states and counties is different from that in Qingzhou. It is easy to encounter obstacles when reaching out to the countryside.

Using this system to bypass the constraints of the three elders and powerful people is also a good strategy.

Xun Yu seemed to be thinking about something. Could it be what Fengxiao was thinking?
He looked up at Guo Jia, and Guo Jia shook his head slightly at him.

He was also surprised and wanted to look at Xun Yu, but found that he was also looking at him, then he realized that this was not Xun Yu's plan.

So he shook his head and denied it.

Guo Jia thought to himself, "Perhaps it is what the envoy himself thinks. Even Lord Lu guessed that it was a gift from heaven."

After Liu Bei finished speaking, he saw that everyone was still in deep thought.

He continued, "I see many pavilions, post offices, and travel houses with large courtyards. After the drought is over, we can raise chickens and pigs to reduce the food burden on the county and the people. We can also eat more meat ourselves, or sell it to officials who are passing by on official business. Why not do it?"

In addition to preparing more meat, Liu Bei also wanted to slowly move the people out of the hands of the three elders and powerful people in Dongjun of Yanzhou.

Try to separate the influence of the gentry and powerful families on the village as much as possible.

Whether a court or dynasty is strong enough depends on whether it can mobilize its political orders to the countryside. The actual exercise of power must be combined with the people to be effective.

Everything has a lifespan. The nobles and powerful families will become corrupt after serving as officials for too long. It is useless to reason with them. They will only get used to satisfying their own selfish desires.

If the situation is tightened a little, the powerful people may bring their troops and incite the people to rebel.

Even Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, who had unified the country for many years, launched successive rebellions in the four states of Qing, Xu, You and Bing when he wanted to investigate the hidden population of the powerful and carry out land measurement.

At present, the nobles of Qingzhou are indeed obedient, but it is hard to say about the nobles and gentry in other states and counties. Some of them respond to soft tactics and not hard tactics, while others respond to neither soft tactics nor hard tactics.

After measuring the fields in Beihai and Donglai counties, the various powerful families harvested the last of their rice, chestnuts and wheat at the end of the year and handed them over to the state department for overall planning, totaling 168,753 hu.

Compared with the previous period before land measurement, the annual taxes paid by the two counties were less than 90,000 hu.

Liu Bei had only one idea, which was to prevent middlemen from making a profit from the price difference between him and the people.

The wealthy and powerful not only exploited the refugees and forced the people to farm for them, but also evaded state taxes, hid the population, and privately maintained soldiers, ranging from one to two thousand to three to five thousand.

At the slightest sign of trouble, he could gather people and occupy counties, which was a thorn in Liu Bei's side.

(End of this chapter)