Several days later.
Five kilometers away from Yan County, in the King Zhao Village!
"Dong dong qiang, dong dong qiang"
"Everyone, pay attention. The pavilion chief said that an official from the Prince's mansion has come to pass down an edict. All the citizens of the King Zhao Village are to gather at the village entrance to listen to the King of Yue's edict.”
"Everyone, pay attention. The pavilion chief said that an official from the Prince's mansion has come to pass down an edict. All the citizens of the King Zhao Village are to gather at the village entrance to listen to the King of Yue's edict.”
“........”
At noon, when the villagers were still harvesting the remaining rice in the fields, they heard the sound of a gong and shouting.
"Yue King's decree? Was this for real? Was he going to distribute Wang Tian again?”
In the field, a farmer heard the shout not far away and his eyes lit up.
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding villagers also revealed looks of anticipation.
The king's fields were the fields that belonged to the king himself.
Two months ago, Ying Mu had cleaned up almost all the landowners in Yan County, and the fields in their hands had naturally become the king's fields.
Ying Mu couldn't send people to plant these fields, so he could only rent them to the people of Yan County.
The reason why these commoners were so happy when they heard the word 'royal land', was also related to the royal land policy that Ying Mu had formulated.
According to Ying Mu's rules," All the royal fields are farmed by the surrounding villagers, and they are distributed according to the population of each household.
The tax paid by the king's fields was one tax of fifteen. Every year, the tax officer of the royal residence collected it at a fixed time. He could not collect a cent less or a cent more. If there was a violation, the common people could report it and must be executed.
In addition, all the royal fields belonged to the Prince Yue's Mansion. No one was allowed to trade or buy them. Violators would be severely punished.”
To cultivate the royal fields, one only needed to pay one-fifteenth of the tax, and it was paid once a year. It was collected by the special tax officer of the royal residence. If the tax officer collected too much, he could report it to the higher-ups, and the royal residence would directly execute the tax officer.
This was definitely the first time for ordinary people.
As for farming other farmlands, they had to pay one-fifth of the tax, and it was paid once a season.
In fact, if one cultivated the land of the landlord tyrants, not only did they have to pay one-fifth of the tax, but they also had to pay another 30% or 50% of the grain to the landlord tyrants.
Compared to Wang Tian's farming policy, these two were completely different.
At the same time, they were suspicious.
His impression of Ying Mu had also changed greatly. He felt that Ying Mu was a good king, and his popular sentiment was rising.
After all, the commoners were not stupid. If they could pay less taxes, who would be willing to pay more or work for the landlords?
To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that they still had doubts about Ying Mu's edict, they would have already turned over their fertile fields and turned them into royal fields.
However, compared to the farmer's optimism, he was still a little optimistic.
However, there were people around him who had always been skeptical of Ying Mu's policy.
When he heard the farmer's words, he said rudely,"What good things are you thinking about? Perhaps the Imperial Residence sent people to collect taxes in advance. If that's really the case, those who rented the royal fields will probably cry to death. They have only cultivated for one season, and they have to pay three seasons of grain.”
"This should be…It can't be, right?"
Someone thought uncertainly.
These words sounded a little unbelievable, but when he thought of the decision of the officials in the past, it was not impossible.
Thinking of this, the commoners who cultivated the royal fields could not help but reveal worried expressions.
"Don't think too much. We'll know if it's good or bad when we go back.”
"Right, right, right. Let's hurry back. If we go back late, the chief will get angry again.”
"Go, hurry up and go!"
“.......”
The villagers of King Zhao Village rushed to the entrance of the village with worried faces.
...........
At this moment, at the entrance of King Zhao Village.
A middle-aged man in the uniform of a pavilion leader was standing respectfully beside a few armored soldiers.
He looked at the herald of the Imperial Residence who was guarded by a few armored soldiers and could not help but ask carefully,"Milord, I wonder what decree the prince's mansion has issued this time. Could you inform me in advance so that I can be prepared?”
The herald glanced at the careful chief of the village, knowing his worries.
He smiled and said,"Don't worry, Constable Zhao. This is a good thing. It's not a corvee."”
"I believe that Constable Zhao has also heard that His Highness the Yue King ordered General Li Xin to wipe out the Yue people and expand his territory to the south by more than double.”
When the chief of the Zhaowang Village heard this, he quickly nodded and said,"I've heard, I've heard. I, Wang Weiwu, not only protected the people of Yan County from the invasion of the Yue people, but I also exterminated the Yue tribe. This is undoubtedly a great thing, a great thing!”
The Zhaowang Village was located at the border between Great Qin and Vietnam.
How could the villagers have any good feelings towards the Vietnamese who often went down the mountain to plunder?
Therefore, when he heard the words of the king's palace's herald, his face could not help but reveal an expression of joy and honor.
Seeing this, the messenger smiled and continued,""His Highness the Yue King has conquered so much land in the Yue Land, he definitely cannot abandon it.”
"In addition, a few days ago, the King of Yue went on a private visit and found that the people of Yan County were poor, and their quality of life was far inferior to that of the Great Qin's hinterland. He was prepared to use money and food from various villages to recruit a group of villagers to build a city in South Yue.”
"This way, not only will we be able to conquer Vietnam and make it Great Qin's territory, but we will also be able to make the people's lives better.”
the messenger said with a smile, perfectly conveying Ying Mu's thoughts.
"Build a city?"
"Recruiting villagers with money and food?"
The chief of the Zhaowang Village felt that he didn't quite understand.
He had already understood the herald's words.
However, the only thing that made him suspicious was the words "money and food recruitment".
He understood the need to recruit commoners to build a city.
Whether it was Great Qin or the previous Chu Country, all adult males had to do labor every year.
Building a city was a form of labor.
However, he had never heard of them being paid for their labor service!
Therefore, the chief of the village naturally thought that this was a way for His Highness the King of Yue to make the people work hard. He would not give them more money or food.
At the thought of this, the village chief could not help but reveal a hesitant and troubled expression. He was thinking about how to reduce the number of villagers being recruited.
The messenger saw the change in expression on the face of the chief of the village and knew what he was thinking.
He chuckled and said," There's no need to think too much about it, Constable Zhao. I've already said that this is a good thing. It's not labor."”
"Because according to the instructions of His Highness the Yue King, whether or not to build the city is voluntary. The Imperial Residence will not interfere with the choice of the people. If no one in the Royal Zhao Village is willing to go, His Highness the Yue King will not blame them.”
"In fact, not everyone is qualified to build a city.”
The messenger smiled meaningfully.
His words completely stunned the village chief.
What was going on?
Since when was there freedom of choice for labor?
Moreover, according to the herald, not only would the labor service not be forced, but the applicants would also be screened. Only those who met the requirements could register.
Was this fake?
Alright then!
Even though the herald had repeated it many times, the village chief still classified the construction of the city as labor.
This was also the inherent impression that the people at the bottom had of labor, and it could not be changed in a short period of time.
Looking at the stunned expression of the village chief, the messenger no longer hid anything and directly threw out a piece of heavy news.
"Of course it's true. According to the decree of His Highness the King of Yue, all the commoners who can participate in the construction of the city will receive thirty new coins and ten mu of land. During the construction of the city, the residence will be responsible for all the food and accommodation, so there's no need for the commoners to prepare it themselves.”
When the chief of the village heard the messenger's words, he was completely stunned.
Not to mention the commoners at the bottom, even he, the chief of the pavilion, was tempted by these conditions.
Don't think that 30 new coins a month is a small amount.
In fact, this was definitely a high salary that the lower class people could not imagine.
This was because the new money that the messenger was talking about was the 50% that Great Qin had just given out.
According to the current prices, five Qin and a half taels could buy a stone of rice.
Thirty Qin and a half taels a month was equivalent to six dan of grain, which was equivalent to two to three mu of fertile land.
This was enough to feed a family of three.
Not to mention, the commoners who participated in the construction of the city would also receive ten mu of royal land.
Although the King's fields belonged to the Prince of Yue's residence, the commoners could only farm and not trade privately.
But thinking about the 15% tax on the king's land, this was definitely more cost-effective than farming his own 30 mu of fertile land.
At this point, the village chief finally understood why the herald had said that the villagers could choose whether to go to the city or not. Moreover, the villagers who signed up needed to be screened.
This kind of good thing, they would definitely fight for it no matter what.
When the village chief thought of this, he could not sit still.
He was wondering if he could make it in time if he sent someone to Yan County to get his second and third son, who were apprentices in the county, to come back and sign up for the city building.
The herald did not know what the chief of the village was thinking.
After he finished speaking, he did not give the chief of the village any time to react and continued,
" Of course, this is only for ordinary people. If they are special talents with special skills, they can receive more money and food every month. For example, masons, bricklayers, carpenters, bricklayers, doctors, etc. Once they are selected, they can receive at least 50 new coins every month. If they perform well, they may even be awarded an official position."
"Eh, why did you run away, Constable Zhao?”
"Sir, this official is feeling a little unwell. I'll be back soon."
The chief of the village did not wait for him to finish listening. He turned around and ran home.
He wanted his wife to hurry to the county and call his second and third sons back.
This kind of good thing that was nowhere to be found would be gone if it was too late.
，，，!
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