In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

"The grass-roots people have met Zhiyuan."

Several people from the farmers' association, about forty years old, came over timidly.

The purpose of the farmers' association is to help each other, so the people chosen are often local adults and people with prestige.

Moreover, the requirements for membership are very strict. Landowners with large amounts of land are not allowed to enter. Only middle peasants, poor peasants and farm laborers with less than 20 acres of land can participate.

At first, Zhao Jun regarded the farmers' association as a township government, hoping to give the farmers' association certain governance capabilities and cooperate with the county government to jointly manage the local area.

As a result, the county government will govern at the grassroots level through the peasant association and no longer need rural sages and clans, which will greatly weaken the power of the gentry.

However, Fan Zhongyan strongly opposed it, believing that if such a powerful organization appeared at the grassroots level, some problems would easily arise.

For example, the president of the peasant association uses his power for personal gain, or he bullies superiors and subordinates in the countryside to seek hegemony.

Zhao Jun thinks it makes sense.

Although he also understood that Fan Zhongyan did this based on the rule of the feudal dynasty.

In the era of the Xiangxian clan system, the Xiangxian clan often stood on the side of the court and helped the court manage and control the grassroots people.

The emergence of peasant associations is different. If the strength of peasant organizations is strengthened, the originally scattered people may become stronger, leading to rebellion and uprising.

This was also the reason why the Song Dynasty was frightened by the many uprisings in consecutive years.

However, what Fan Zhongyan said is not unreasonable. In an era with underdeveloped communications, if farmers' associations become grassroots power organizations, it will be easy for their power to continue to expand.

Especially in ancient times, there was less communication between the people and the county government. The control power of the peasant association was too strong, and it was likely to directly replace the role of the county government. This would be a bit outweighing the gains.

Therefore, today's farmers' associations at the grassroots level have little power and are average in scale. The number of people in a county ranges from tens of thousands to more than 100,000. Several farmers' associations are divided into towns and villages. Each farmers' association is directly involved in the management of about thousands to more than 100,000 people.

They do not have the power to investigate, enforce the law, interrogate, etc., and can only cooperate with the county government to assist.

For example, if there are conflicts between villages, or the distribution of production materials, the distribution of land by the government, the leasing of official land, competition for water sources, village fighting, etc., the peasant association and the government will coordinate uniformly.

This means that the current peasant association is mainly auxiliary. Zhao Jun suddenly summoned him, and he didn't know what happened. He felt a little panic for a while, and he didn't know why he was uneasy.

When Zhao Jun saw them, he was not angry. After all, this matter had nothing to do with them. He said pleasantly: "No need to be polite, are you members of the local farmers' association?"

"Yes, Chiwon."

The leading man cupped his hands again and said, "The grassman is the president of the Lincheng Ganyan Township Farmers' Association. The grassman's name is Zheng Yong. They are several directors of the farmers' association."

"Well, Zheng Yong, let me ask you how many acres of land your family has."

Zhao Jun asked kindly.

"Twenty acres."

"Are there ponds and mulberry fields?"

"have."

Zheng Yong said: "The total is thirty-six acres, of which eighteen acres are rented official land from the imperial court."

"oh?"

Zhao Jun said in surprise: "So your family also had eighteen acres of land before?"

Zheng Yong smiled bitterly and said: "After my parents left, I separated from my brothers and gave most of it to my brothers. The grassroots family only had five acres left. They had to work in the county to support themselves. It was Zhou Daguan who sold the land a few years ago and took advantage of the low price. I took out the savings I had saved for twenty years and bought thirteen acres.”

One acre of land in the Song Dynasty was about 0.974-0.865 in later generations, ranging from 609 square meters to 591 square meters, which was much larger than the one acre of land in the Han Dynasty.

In the Han Dynasty, a family of five needed at least 30 acres of land to survive, that is, 6 acres to support one person.

But by the Song Dynasty it was greatly reduced.

The improvement of agricultural tools, retting technology, water conservancy facilities, Champa rice and other means of production have led to a substantial increase in productivity. In the Song Dynasty, an average of one and a half acres could feed one person.

Therefore, if a family of five has about 8 acres of land, they can have enough to eat. If they have 20 acres of land, they will be considered middle peasants.

"It seems that your life is getting more and more promising."

Zhao Jun smiled.

Zheng Yong also laughed and said: "Now the government is recruiting people to build canals and fields, and expropriating the acres of rich households, and then selling them to us at a low price. If not, how can we afford to buy land? What we encounter in daily life In a disaster year, it would be a good idea not to sell the land.”

Zhao Jun turned his head and glanced at Huang Anwen. When he saw him wiping the sweat from his forehead, he smiled and said: "This shows that the county's work is still done well and that the imperial decrees are not ignored."

Huang Anwen said hurriedly: "The imperial court requires us to reclaim more land, build more canals, and sell the reclaimed and purchased acres of land to the people at low prices. This is something that benefits the people, so I will naturally go all out."

"well-done."

Zhao Jun nodded with satisfaction.

Under the Qingli New Deal, the country's major infrastructure project was to steal people from landlords, build canals, build farmland, increase the number of acres of land, and drive down the price of land in the hands of landlords.

After the defeat of Liao and Xixia, military expenditures dropped significantly. Adding in foreign trade revenue, it can be said that the court spent tens of millions of dollars to subsidize agriculture every year.

Fortunately, due to the end of the Little Ice Age, there have been no major natural disasters in the world in recent years.

Even if there are droughts and floods, they are kept within a small area.

In addition, there are insect plagues. There were relatively few floods and droughts recorded during the Qingli period, but there were many locust plagues.

In the fourth year of the Qingli period, Yu Jing and others wrote to the emperor, saying that locust plagues were frequent in the world, and hoped that Zhao Zhen would pay attention to God's will, adjust the personnel and policies of the court, make natural disasters disappear as soon as possible, and restore the people's peaceful life.

Faced with this situation, Zhao Jun ordered the localities to immediately organize people to extinguish locust plagues as soon as they were discovered, and spread rumors that locusts were not a punishment from God, but a gift from God, because eating locusts can nourish yin and yang and prolong life.

You should know that in ancient times, both officials and the people were quite awed by locusts, believing that they were messengers of God, so let alone extinguishing them, even if they watched the sky full of insect plagues eating their own rice, they did not dare to make any rash moves.

But now Zhao Jun not only broke this traditional feudal thought, but also gave this thought a meaning that the public liked and heard, and since it was a rumor spread by the official, its credibility naturally increased.

For a time, locusts everywhere were like rats crossing the street, and everyone shouted and beat them, and the disaster was greatly reduced.

With the superposition of several factors, the number of acres of land in various parts of the Song Dynasty increased greatly, and peanuts, sweet potatoes, and potatoes were used as supplements. The people's demand for land in the hands of landlords dropped significantly, and land prices naturally fell.

It can be said that the court half bought and half forced the landlords to hand over the land in their hands, and restricted those who bought land from the government, which greatly benefited the lower-class people.

Although there are corrupt officials who colluded with landlords to pocket the land reclaimed by the court, such people have a general end.

So it can be said that the current policy of the Song Dynasty is to transfer a large amount of land from landlords to farmers, and complete a change that can solve land annexation without the need for dynasty change.

Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for a dynasty to achieve this.

But the Song Dynasty was very strict with landlords. There was no such thing as tax exemption for Juren and Jinshi, so it was difficult to form the Jiangnan gentry group in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Second, through the victory over Xixia and Liao, coupled with the promotion of commodity economy and foreign trade, the importance of the landlord class further declined.

In simple terms, the landlords in the Ming and Qing dynasties were tied to the officials, so it was extremely difficult for the emperor to promote reforms.

In the Song Dynasty, officials and landlords may have conflicts of interest, but they were not completely tied together. Without official protection, the landlord class was nothing more than a lamb to be slaughtered in the face of the state machine.

Zhao Jun was very happy to hear that Lincheng's policy of benefiting the people was very effective, and asked Zheng Yong: "How many tenants without land are there in the county now?"

"The county doesn't know, but in our township, there are a total of 1,724 households, with a population of 11,332. Last year, there were more than 500 landless tenants, but this year there are only more than 400."

Zheng Yong replied: "The government gives priority to these landless tenants. It doesn't matter if they don't have money. The government will hire them to repair rivers, roads, and reclaim wasteland. In a year, they can buy three or four acres."

"Very good, this is what the court wants to see."

Zhao Jun was more and more satisfied. Although after the first year of Qingli, almost all of the financial resources of the Song Dynasty were subsidized into agriculture, the effect was significant and the money was not wasted.

Then he said, "What do you do in the Farmers' Association on weekdays? What are the daily tasks?"

"It is to convey the county's political orders, and then collect information about the number of fields and people in the village, which families have how many acres of land, how many rooms, etc. Sometimes when there are disputes between villages, they will also help persuade them."

Zheng Yong plucked up his courage and smiled bitterly: "I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the governor. This Farmers' Association is a hard job. Not many of us want to do it. I was also recommended by the villagers. If it weren't for my fairness and the trust of the villagers, I would have given up long ago."

"This job is really hard to do. Not to mention that there are no benefits, the higher-ups just give you tasks and don't understand your difficulties. The people below want you to help, and if you don't help, they will blame you."

Zhao Jun thought about it, and naturally understood the reason quickly, saying "They even think you are taking advantage of it, am I right?"

"Isn't it!"

Zheng Yong clapped his hands and complained: "Those families with more than ten acres of land that do not meet the requirements hope that we can help conceal it. Those who have no land hope that we can help approve the land as soon as possible. How can we do this? The county government has given us a task, and we can't please both sides."

"The original intention of the court to let farmers form farmers' associations is to hope that someone can help farmers and directly talk to the government to solve farmers' difficulties. Now it seems that although it has some help, it does make farmers' associations more difficult."

Zhao Jun pondered for a moment and said: "I know the problem you mentioned. The court will make certain changes to allow farmers' associations to better become a bridge between the government and farmers."

"Thank you, magistrate, thank you, magistrate."

Zheng Yong thanked him profusely.

"Well, I noticed that there are many old customs and habits in rural areas nowadays, just like the one I met today. Do you think this is right?"

Until this time, Zhao Jun got to the point and looked into the distance.

I saw that the riot in Dongyang Village in the distance had subsided. The villagers who didn't know what happened were released. The second and fourth sons of the Liu family, who were the masterminds, and the eldest son who concealed the truth were all arrested by the government.

Every household hid in their own house. Now the whole Dongyang Village was in a state of panic. Many people didn't even dare to go out.

Although this matter had nothing to do with them, in essence, they were eating the blood of others.

Even if eating is a traditional bad habit, under this unspoken rule, the second and fourth sons of the Liu family holding such a banquet are blocking their mouths. Even if they vaguely guess that Liu Laosan's death is unusual, cannibalism is the shortest , they are also acquiescing to the emergence of this bad habit.

Therefore, Zhao Jun also felt sad for the ignorance of the villagers, and for a while he also realized firsthand why Mr. Lu Xun was able to write such masterpieces as "Diary of a Madman", "Scream", "Wandering" and "Blessing".

"This is definitely not right."

As a farmer, Zheng Yong didn't know exactly what he was thinking, but he knew with his toes that if he was right at this time, then the president of the farmers' association would definitely be done.

Even if he doesn’t necessarily want to be the president of the farmers’ association.

"Yes, there are many bad habits in the countryside, which harm people's dignity and trample on people's spirit. How can we, the Song Dynasty, be called a country of etiquette after such a long time? Therefore, we need moralization and guidance from the court."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Today's villagers are ignorant. I hope that the farmers' association will take up the responsibility of educating the villagers in the future, cooperate with the local education bureau and county government, publicize and educate, and abolish many bad habits, such as eating the bones of a poor family and not having the bones of a daughter." Etc. are all bad habits and customs, and should be looked down upon.”

"yes."

Zheng Yong nodded repeatedly: "In the future, grassroots people will publicize more in the countryside."

Zhao Jun continued: "The farmers' association should not just assist the county government, but should become a subordinate organization of the county government, add officials, and organize personnel. In the future, if someone dies in the local area, they cannot wait for the official to be reported to the official for an inspection, but should be inspected by someone. The farmers' association will go to investigate immediately to see if it is an abnormal death, and then the government will conduct a further inspection and issue a certificate before the burial can be carried out normally. Otherwise, the matter cannot be hastily. "

"Yes Yes Yes."

Zheng Yong instinctively nodded repeatedly at first, but after a moment, he suddenly raised his head with an expression of astonishment, and then a look of surprise on his face. Knowing that he couldn't be too excited at this time, he suppressed it.

Because Zhao Jun's words have already revealed that the farmers' association may be transformed from the original semi-official organization into an official organization in the future.

Moreover, there were officials inside who ate the imperial rations from the imperial court.

Then as the president, wouldn't he be able to directly serve as an errand? It is simply a great joy.

"Well, okay, you go and do your work first."

Zhao Jun said.

"yes."

Zheng Yong immediately retreated.

After communicating with him, Zhao Jun looked at Huang Anwen and said: "Huang County Magistrate."

"The official is here."

Huang Anwen quickly came over and cupped his hands.

"As a county magistrate, we have the responsibility to teach. This is about ensuring food and clothing and allowing people to have land. But we also need to focus on removing bad habits and customs."

Zhao Jun said: "There are also obscene sacrifices in the countryside. We must destroy them one by one. If there are any offenders, they must be severely punished. Do you understand?"

"yes."

Huang Anwen responded.

Zhao Jun put his hands behind his back, raised his head and glanced at the sky.

Now he has renovated the court and eliminated most of the corrupt officials. Politics has also been temporarily clear. The court's decrees are smooth and issued and implemented quickly.

This is a good thing.

But we also don’t have enough control over the grassroots, and in a country, the grassroots are the most important thing, so now is the time to start large-scale governance at the grassroots.

These include various customs that address stereotypes and bad habits in various places and offer sacrifices to evil gods and ghosts.

Because this kind of problem is very serious in the Song Dynasty, according to Wang Anshi and others, the north is better, and the south is the hardest hit area.

For example, in Yongzhou, “customs favor obscene worship”; in Shu, “people worship obscene worship, and their illnesses are not cured, but they listen to witchcraft”; in Jinghu North and South Road, “Guixia believes in witches and ghosts, and emphasizes obscene worship”; Yangzhou “believes in ghosts and gods, and enjoys prostitution” "Sacrifice"; Wu customs "believe in ghosts and gods, and like obscene sacrifices"; Hongzhou "customs believe in witchcraft, and will often leave relatives when they are sick. They listen to the gods for food, clothing, and medicine, and many people die"; "It is a custom in the north and south of Hunan that every leap month In the early years of the year, children were stolen and killed to sacrifice in the temple of prostitutes, which was called "caisheng" and so on.

These are historical records, but we don’t know how much of the bad customs and customs of remarriage being sinful and having to donate money to atone for one’s sins like what Xiang Lin’s Wife encountered.

So Zhao Jun only feels that the burden on his shoulders is very heavy now.

Seeing the ignorance of these people, I also saw that a large number of people have no hope for their souls. They can only turn to gods for help from various diseases, fortunes, natural disasters and other factors, and even do not hesitate to kill people to sacrifice to evil gods and evil ghosts.

He felt that it was too difficult to clarify Yuyu and guide the entire society in a good direction.

"Now we understand the hardships of great men. It seems that it is time to get rid of the demons and demons. Even if we cannot make the people firm in materialism, we must make them believe in orthodox Buddhism and Taoism instead of pinning their hopes on these monsters."

Zhao Jun thought to himself.