When night falls, the bustling crowd in the market disperses, the farmers have to go home before dark, the merchants living in the Throat Gate also drive their animals and carry their goods back to the city, and after the sun sets, the four gates of the Throat Gate are lifted up by the drawbridge, and the gates of the city are heavily closed.
Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong with more than a hundred followers went to the most luxurious mansion in the city, to the entrance of the mansion, the master of the banquet has already led the mouth of the throat of the city's dignitaries stood there looking forward to.
Seeing Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong rode in on horseback, all the people stepped down the steps to welcome, Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong hurriedly dismounted from their horses and greeted all the people, after a while of pleasantries, Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong were surrounded by the people to enter the mansion, more than one hundred followers were divided into two batches, one batch of them entered the mansion and stood around the banquet hall, and one batch of them guarded the surrounding of the mansion, occupying all the key points of vigilance.
Although it has been almost a year since the city of Throat Mouth fell into the hands of the Wu Kingdom, as the highest head of this city, the personal safety of both Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong is often threatened, and those who lash out at Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong range from the fallen nobles of the former Wei Kingdom who are attempting to restore the country to the local landed gentry who have had their interests infringed upon by the administrative reforms of Huo Sizhong, who, after six months of being in the northwestern counties, has already been assassinated three times.
In order to protect Huo Si Zhong's safety, Wei Qing specializes in drawing out a hundred elites from the army, specializing in undertaking the responsibility of Huo Si Zhong's safety affairs, and the pro-followers who followed to the banquet today are the hundred elites sent by Wei Qing.
The host who invited Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong's to the banquet today, Wei Shuxing, was the most prestigious lineage lord within the Throat Mouth City, after Wei Qing took the Throat Mouth City and Pond, the lineage lord behaved peacefully and did not make any hostile moves towards the Wu Kingdom. Wei Shuxing believed that King Wei's rule over Throat Mouth City was similar to that of Zhao or Wu, as long as the ruling lords did not deprive them of the privileges of these families.
Wei Qing occupied the throat mouth of the city, but not on the local no resistance behavior of the family how, even in the throat mouth of the city in the most critical, but also only let the family of their respective manpower to help defend the city, after the crisis is lifted, the family of the family to send to help the soldiers are as much as returned, and did not misappropriated, but some of the family of the soldiers were Wei Qing troops in the treatment of soldiers attracted in Wei Qing's first recruiting, some of the family of the soldiers to quit the main family to join the army.
However, when Huo Si Zhong, the new county governor, arrived, the families realized that their interests had been invariably touched.
As soon as Huo Sizhong arrived in Northwest County, he redistributed the land. Huo Sizhong distributed the land in the hands of the government in the number of twenty acres per household. As long as the marriage, can be counted as a household, the people of the Northwest County in order to get more land, families can be divided into households are divided, the original several generations of the same living in a large family phenomenon was broken up, the father and the son of the household, the brothers with the clan to split the household, the family demolished to the smallest unit.
The nobles of the cities and towns at the mouth of the throat had hundreds or even thousands of acres of land in their hands, and they didn't care about the little twenty acres, so they wouldn't bother to split up their families, and still lived in their clans. The nobles don't care about the land allocated to them, but the farmers who rented their fields cared about it, and these farmers broke the contract with the nobles one after another, left the farms, and went to the official place to get a new share of the land, and built thatched houses according to the land allocated to their own families, and lived in them, and took care of their own fields close by. Only slaves were left to help them plant in the nobles' estates, and Wu had various decrees to protect the existing slaves, so the nobles could not drive them as violently as before. And what made the nobles fearful was that after five years, the status of existing slaves would automatically be changed to commoners, and if these slaves who were changed to commoners wanted to separate from their master's family, the master's family was not allowed to intervene.
For thousands of years, the landed nobles did not need to pay taxes to the monarch according to the number of acres, but only paid tribute according to the size of their fiefs, and drove the commoners in their fiefs to serve the monarch with corv้ and auxiliary military service. The amount of tribute paid was not much, about the same as the current tax collected by the Northwest County, and the corv้ and military service were exempted just like the commoners, so comparatively speaking, the burden borne by the nobles was lighter than before, but the departure of the commoners made the nobles lack of many laborers, and their fields were facing the situation of having no one to cultivate them.
The taxes they had to pay were the same as those of the commoners, which also prevented them from recruiting refugees to farm, because the taxes they had to pay to the nobles for renting their land were higher than those of the government. Refugees who ran to the Northwest County, as long as the local government reported to the temporary account, the same from the government to get the fields to cultivate, only after three years of continuous cultivation, the official will be with them to set up a thirty-year land contract, the refugees to that time, is considered to be formally become a national of the State of Wu.
The nobles lost a large amount of labor, their fields faced desolation, and their interests were severely damaged, which is why Huo Si Zhong suffered more assassinations than even Wei Qing, and the nobles were very dissatisfied with the new county governor.
The disgruntled nobles got together to conspire and wanted to return to the glorious days of old, but the elite soldiers at the mouth of the throat and at Qucheng were too strong to be defeated by the rebellious nobles. Unable to defeat the army, the plotting nobles thought of assassinating the head of the Northwest County, thinking that if the head of the Northwest County, who was pushing these policies that harmed their interests, was eliminated, these policies naturally could not be carried out, and the days would go back to the old days.
Unfortunately, several assassinations have not been successful, but let the Huang Zhong dense in all parts of the spies found that they get together to conspire, was Wei Qing to catch up with the melon and captured. Wei Qing looked young, but acted very vicious, the conspiracy of the nobles were captured, under torture, dissatisfied with the nobles did not escape, all were arrested and imprisoned, confiscation of family property, family members are disbanded, the slaves regained their freedom, adult males in the clan were escorted into the mines mining, young women were forced to marry with the soldiers of the army, minors with their mothers to remarriage, the old women can go back to their mother's home to return to her mother's home, there is no place into the government to do female labor in the garment workshop. All in all, some of the nobles in the Northwest County failed to succeed in their uprising, but they were also exterminated, and as a result, the Northwest County lost one-fifth of its noble families.
Wei Shu Xing did not participate in the ranks of the rebellion against the Wu, he was accustomed to acting carefully, there is no certainty, Wei Shu Xing will not act recklessly, the facts have proved that Wei Shu Xing's caution is right.
Force to start not, the nobles want to pull together Wei Qing, Zeng You and Huo Sizhong, the nobles to find out, Wei Qing was Wei people, only in the early childhood, his hometown disaster, Wei father and mother Wei Qing with Wei Qing fled to Wu, Wei Qing's parents died in another country, Wei Qing was adopted by a beggar to grow up, after the death of the old beggar, Wei Qing wandered around and trailed Huo Sizhong's parents to the south port, was adopted by Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui, only to have the today's prominent position! Status.
When Wei Qing's parents passed away, Wei Qing was only tooth and claw, and had no idea where his hometown was, and his birth as a Wei man, or the old beggar told him. After Wu and Zhao reached a peace agreement, Wei Qing was awarded the title of 'Shi' by the Royal Court of Wu, and was appointed by Chu Chao Hui as the highest military governor of the city at the mouth of the throat. This Wei man, who had wandered into Wu at a young age, became the actual head of the Throat Mouth City Pool.
It is said that poor living in the city no one asked, rich in the mountains have distant relatives, Wei Qing's identity of the guards to the throat mouth of the crowd know, come to find Wei Qing to recognize their relatives have been a dozen sets of people, many of which are the family nobility, talking about Wei Qing's genealogy, is the nose and eyes, these door to the door to recognize the relatives of the Wei Qing, Wei Qing all messed up the stick to beat out, he himself does not know the life, is it that other people will be more than he is aware of?
Wei Shuxing originally also wanted to take advantage of Wei Qing's unknown birth to draw a relationship with Wei Qing, but could only stop after learning that Wei Qing resented people recognizing their relatives with him.
From the side of the body can not start, it can only start from the in-laws. Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong are young and talented, Zeng You twenty-five years old, has not been married, a time to invite the three to their homes to feast aristocrats before and after, Wei Qing has encountered a few matchmaking feast, just Huo Sizhong feast too few times, has not yet seen such a scene.
"General Wei, County Governor Huo, I am honored to have the two of you here today, and my humble Pengmen truly shines." Wei Shuxing is about fifty years old, and his speech and behavior is similar to Chen Meng's, with a shrewdness.
"Patriarch Wei is polite, it's an honor for both of Wei's brothers to be guests at your residence." Wei Qing spoke politely.
Originally, Huo Sizhong's position was higher than Wei Qing, but Huo Sizhong did not have a title, while Wei Qing was a 'Shi' title, and in the eyes of the nobles, it was the title that was used to discuss the nobility of the status, so when Wei Shuxing addressed the two of them, he put Wei Qing in front.
"My house food is coarse and dry, not more exquisite than the king, but my daughter is a good cook, heard that there are honored guests, especially into the kitchen to do a roasted lamb chops into the offering." Wei Shu Xing stroked his beard, hard to recommend his daughter, now is a very time, the future of the clan are in the hands of the two young young people in front of them, Wei Shu Xing also do not care about face.
"Dare not, dare not, how can I labor for Ji Maiden to cook herself." Wei Qing's mouth was modest, but in his heart he was smothering a smile, the beauty attack was back.
Huo Si in a bit bewildered, do not know why Wei Qing case under the hand to pinch themselves hard, not just Wei patriarch's daughter did a dish Well, so excited about what to do, in the valley and the king, his sister can often do dishes to visit Zheng Yuming's subordinates to eat.
Wait until the Wei Ji women personally on the feast offer food, Huo Si in order to understand Wei Qing pinch his reason, Wei Ji women holding up the food case kneeling in front of their own, eat and not good, do not eat and not good, take down the food case to eat, as if it should be some kind of a commitment, do not eat the words, to the Chu Chu expect a beautiful young girl, Huo Si in the pulling face.
"Thank you Ji Maiden for your love, seeing this food, it's as if I've seen sister Si Hua cooking for the two of my brothers." It was Wei Qing who relieved Huo Si Zhong and took the food case from Wei Ji Maiden's hands.
"Si Hua, is it the sibling of the two adults?" The food case in Wei Ji woman's hand was taken over by Wei Qing, and she was relieved in her heart.
"Not bad, it's exactly my two siblings." Wei Qing replied with certainty, he and Huo Si Zhong siblings were both adopted by Zheng Yuming and Chu Chao Hui, the relationship between Zheng Yuming and Chu Chao Hui was famously cordial and could not allow a third person to gain a foothold.
Those who were close to the two of them vaguely understood that the two of them, Zheng Chu, would not be looking for a woman to leave behind offspring, and that the three who had been adopted by the two of them were likely to be the successors to the mantle of the two of them. The people in the court of the King of Wu have already invisibly treated the three as Zheng Chu's righteous sons and daughters. Wei Qing, who was far away from the mouth of the throat, keenly sensed this from the attitude of the official sent by the king's capital to run errands at the mouth of the throat, and Wei Qing dreamed of becoming Chu Chao Hui's righteous son, so he didn't care that he and the Huo family's siblings didn't share the same surname, and directly positioned Huo Sihua as his own sibling.
"I've heard that Huo Ji daughter is exceptionally intelligent and is writing student textbooks at a young age."
Wei Ji Daughter knows a lot about Huo Sihua, the Wei family of the Throat Pass City and the Wei Zhong family that has now moved to the king's capital are of the same clan, and the two families are still in contact today, and with the establishment of the worship stage, the Throat Pass and the king's capital can have correspondence through the stage, and Wei Ji Daughter is aware of the events within the king's capital, Kancheng, and Huo Sihua, with his tender age of thirteen years old, has taken part in the development of the teaching materials of the elementary school.
"Where is my little sister smart, are Lord Zheng and Lord Chu taught well, Ji daughter if interested in academics, can go to the king's capital north college, Wu north and south colleges, there is no restriction for women to enter the academy." Huo Si Zhong recommended two colleges to Wei Ji Nui, two colleges said that there is no restriction on women's enrollment, but there are no women applying for the examination, there is no restriction is the same as there is a restriction.
"Does Hokey Daughter attend North Academy?" Wei Ji Girl was curious.
"Eh, no, my sister doesn't have time to enter the North Academy to further her education, she has to teach female officials in the royal palace." There are Ji women from honorable backgrounds serving as female officials in the royal palace, these women have a certain cultural foundation, the only masters in the royal palace are the two couples of Wu Wangsheng and the Queen, they don't need to be served by many female officials, Zheng Yuming gathers these women together and lets Huo Sihua train them in preparation for the future, letting these female officials go to elementary schools to serve as female instructors.
Wei Shuxing saw Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong treating his daughter kindly, his heart rejoiced, thinking that the alliance could be accomplished, and when his daughter got down from the banquet, he made a wink towards one of the nobles accompanying the banquet.
The nobleman understood and stood up to raise his cup towards Wei Qing and Huo Sizhong: "Both of you are young and promising, so you should settle down in marriage and start a family, and give birth to heirs as soon as possible."
"The marriage of my two brothers must be decided by my two lords, and my two lords have decreed that my brothers must be twenty or later before they can discuss their marriage."
Wei Shu Xing's face sank, Wei Qing was politely refusing the marriage.
Huo Sizhong to this point, also understand Wei Shu line invited him and Wei Qing to the banquet for a reason, this is the local aristocrats interests are damaged, in the case of resistance by force can not be, go to pull together the line, to do so, is nothing more than for their own interests can be guaranteed.
Huo Si Zhong in the northwest to implement the land policy, know that will touch the core interests of the nobles, the nobles although out of power, but they hold the vast majority of the important resources of society, they are the main body of the cultured, craftsmen, healers are their subordinate, offend them hard, the Northwest County will lose these important resources, which is not conducive to the development of the region.
"Patriarch Wei, Huo Sizhong would like to pull strings for your family to run a few workshops, I wonder if Patriarch Wei would be interested?" Huo Sizhong pondered for a moment, offering up Zheng Yuming's means of pulling together the Ulsan nobles.
"Workshop?" Wei Shu Xing frowned, isn't workshop a business? Merchants have always been considered by the monarchs as the scourge of destroying the social and economic order, an industry that does not contribute to the society but only destroys it, so merchants have always been suppressed by the monarchs, and along with that, the scholars do not have a favorable opinion of merchants either.
"Since the Northwest County has implemented a new land policy, I suppose there is a shortage of laborers on your farms?" Huo Si Zhong spoke in a sincere manner.
When Huo Sizhong said this, the nobles in the hall could no longer hold back their grievances, and all of them looked angrily at Huo Sizhong, cursing in their hearts, "So you know the damage that the new land policy has done to us.
Wei Shuxing heard Huo Sizhong speak like this, and his eyes brightened up, it seems that this new county sheriff is doing things in a clear and straightforward manner, it is just that he does not know if he will solve this problem and let the nobles avoid this harm.
"Counselor Huo, exactly."
"Your estates can actually grow cash crops, and staggering the time between growing cash crops and farming can take the form of hiring farmers." Farmers were definitely happy to work for money when they were farming.
"What kind of cash crops are valuable?" Wei Shu Xing shook his head, if there was a good cash crop, he should know about it.
"There are many fruit trees in Ulsan that bear large and flavorful fruits, and these trees can become timber in three years." The soil in the northwest is adapted to growing fruit trees like apples. The few fruit trees within the villa's enclosure had been grafted and planted in patches in the valley long ago. Even grapes had been planted in hundreds of acres. It was still trivial to get a few thousand fruit seedlings from the valley.
"But the fruit will rot if there's too much to sell." A nobleman objected.
"This will require opening a workshop." Huo Si Zhong smiled, he was preparing to get a chain of works in the Northwest County. "You can make fruit wine when the fruit is ripe, and the brewed fruit wine can be stored for a long time so that it can be sold far and wide."
"Brewing fruit wine?" Wei Shu Xing's eyes glowed even brighter this time.
"Not bad, the fruit wine made from the fruit is going to taste better than even green wine, and at that time, the vassal states everywhere will rush to purchase the fruit wine."
"Is fruit wine really good?" The nobles present were skeptical.
"The Premier Minister has sent a few jars of fruit wine to the county, and the county will send someone to fetch them for you all to taste."
Huo Si Zhong instructed his personal attendant to go to the government office to fetch the wine and cider that Zheng Yuming had sent a messenger to bring, to give the nobles present a taste.
Wei Shu Xing finished drinking wine, immediately decided to Wei family fields all planted grapes, and another big noble decided to plant apples, there are two big nobles to take the lead, the other nobles have agreed to their own estates also planted fruit trees, asked Huo Sizhong to give technical help, for a moment, with the meaning of blind date organized a wine banquet, turned into a wine banquet.