Spring Farming Was the Most Important Event in the Feudal Dynasty
It was around three o'clock in the afternoon when he returned to the county office.
He didn't have time to return to the backyard to change officials, so he directly brought Guo Er to the main hall in the front yard.
The main hall was not the place where the county government handled cases.
The county government usually handled cases in the main hall.
Bright mirrors hung high in the hall, and on both sides of the hall were signs that read 'Mighty, Quiet' and two groups of bailiffs holding water and fire sticks stood on both sides.
It gave off a very depressing feeling.
So how could this kind of occasion be suitable for a meeting?
When the county master called for a meeting, he would choose to hold it in the county master's signing room, which was the main hall of the county government.
As expected, when he arrived at the entrance of the main hall, he heard a commotion inside, just like a vegetable market.
The main hall was already filled with people.
Ye Jin didn't hesitate and directly strode in.
It was as if he had the ability to keep quiet. As soon as he stepped into the main hall, a buzzing noise immediately sounded.
Ye Jin didn't say anything more and went straight to the main seat.
As soon as he sat on the main seat, the people in the main hall, under the leadership of the officials of the household and workshop (the bosses of each room were called officials, and the subordinates were called scribes), knelt down and bowed to Ye Jin Xing.
Ye Jin was helpless about the kneeling etiquette of the Ming Dynasty.
He really didn't like people kowtowing to him.
However, kneeling down was a system explicitly stipulated by the Ming Dynasty.
Although it wasn't as popular as the Qing Dynasty, where both humans and ghosts had to kneel and salute, there were more occasions where they knelt and saluted.
Sigh!
When in Rome, do as the romans do.
So Ye Jin waved his hand and asked everyone to stand up.
Then, his gaze swept across the faces of these people one by one.
These people were the village chiefs, grain chiefs, and township chiefs of the various villages in Shangyuan County.
He could be considered a member of the grassroots organization in Shangyuan County.
The Ming Dynasty's grassroots organizations were rather chaotic.
There was a Lijia system, which was to divide every 110 households into a Li, with the 10 households with the most Ding grain as the Li chief, and the remaining 100 households as the first. The widowers, widows, and lonely households in each village who could not afford the corvee were taken care of outside the 110 households, known as deformed households. The 10 village chiefs took turns to serve in a 10-year cycle. The order was pre-arranged according to the amount of food. Every year, a village chief would lead 10 first-class officers and be responsible for 'managing the one-mile work'.
In southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Huguang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and other provinces with large amounts of land taxes, the court also established a grain chief system.
The arrangement of the grain chief was roughly '10,000 stone as the rate, among which the one with the most land would be the grain chief, supervising the taxes of his township'.
As for the township head?
It did not mean the same thing as the later generations.
The head of the township here meant the head of the village. Because the ancient clan concept was very strong, a clan usually lived in a region, so the person who managed a clan or a few clans in a region was called the 'township head'.
In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial power did not go to the countryside.
Therefore, these grassroots organizations were not national administrative agencies, but civil organizations.
"Today, I invited everyone to the county government because spring plowing is coming, so the government has some matters regarding spring plowing to inform everyone.”
"Ever since the founding of our dynasty, encouraging farming has always been a top priority. The imperial court has also specially issued an edict for spring plowing, requiring local governments to do a good job in encouraging farming. Therefore, today, on one hand, I want everyone to talk about the progress of the spring plowing. On the other hand, if there are any difficulties or needs, I want to raise them today.”
"In short, all the important tasks of the yamen during this period of time are to focus on spring ploughing.”
"If the farming season is delayed, everyone present and this official can't afford it.”
Ye Jin had just finished speaking when Chen Zhou brought him a cup of tea.
He took the teacup and took a sip before saying,"Tell me about it."
The village, village, and grain chiefs looked at each other, and a fifty-year-old, rich old man dressed in silk stood out.
He cupped his hands at Ye Jin and said," The Emperor's grace is vast and mighty, and the Lord is benevolent. Spring plowing is a major event that affects our family's food, clothing, and chewing for a year. There is no need for the Lord to urge us. We will do our best to do the spring plowing."”
"Yes." Ye Jin nodded slightly and continued," That's good."”
Then, the village heads of each village gave a simple report on the progress of the spring plowing in their respective villages.
Ye Jin listened very seriously.
After everyone had told him everything, he said," The workshop will send people to the villages to assist and supervise the spring plowing process. At the same time, do a good job in flood control and drought relief."
The worker immediately cupped his hands and accepted the order.
Then, Ye Jin said to the household official," The household has prepared 500 taels of silver in advance in case of unnecessary needs.”
The household official hurriedly cupped his hands and accepted the order.
"The third squad of bailiffs will patrol the countryside in shifts. Anyone who hinders the spring ploughing will be severely punished. This official will also be patrolling in civilian clothes these days. If you see anyone slacking off in any village, don't blame this official for being merciless.”
His prestige in Shangyuan County was quite high.
These village elders all knew that although Ye Jin was young, he was a decisive killer.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have burned so many people to death.
Therefore, these people naturally did not dare to disobey his orders. They all stood up and cupped their hands to accept the order.
At this moment, Ye Jin said," I had someone prepare a new crop called sweet potato. This crop has an extremely high yield and is easy to raise. I have already asked someone to prepare a large cart of vines. When you go back, take some and distribute them to the villagers for them to plant.”
Hearing Ye Jin's words, everyone looked at each other.
However, his tyrannical power was still there, so no one dared to question him for a moment.
After a while, the fat old man stood up and said carefully,""Sir, this... The spring plowing was busy, so there was probably no time to plant new crops.!”
Someone echoed," That's right, Sir. Besides, fertile land is scarce to begin with. There's no extra land to grow crops.”
Ye Jin wasn't angry. Instead, he explained,""It won't take much time. A family can finish planting it in the time for one or two incense sticks to burn. Moreover, this kind of crop doesn't take up good land. There's extra land in front of and behind the house. You don't need to take care of it usually."
Hearing his words, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
"In addition to sweet potatoes, there are also pumpkin seedlings. They don't need to take up too much land either.”
"However, these vines and seedlings were painstakingly planted by me and my men. If anyone dares to feed these vines and seedlings to livestock, be careful that I will drag them back to the yamen for a beating.”
The fat old man patted his chest and promised,""If anyone dares to waste my lord's efforts, this lowly one will be the first to disagree. There's no need for my lord to do anything, this lowly one will personally pinch out his egg yolk.”
Ye Jin smiled helplessly and said,"It's not that exaggerated…" In short, just guide them with good intentions."
————
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]