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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 323: Clan Dispute

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    In Zuo Zongtang's study, Xiao Yungui tasted the Wuyishan Dahongpao. Zuo Zongtang accompanied him next and asked with a slight smile: "What does the King of the West think of this tea?"

    Xiao Yungui nodded and said: "This Wuyishan Dahongpao tea is one of the top ten famous teas. It was originally a tribute tea. Drinking it can improve your eyesight, improve your thinking, refresh your mind, and it is a good tea."

    Zuo Zongtang stroked his beard and said, "Yes, but does the King of the West know how to pick this tea?"

    Xiao Yungui was puzzled. He came to ask Zuo Zongtang how to deal with those village officials tomorrow, but he was talking about tea leaves with him. He immediately shook his head.

    Zuo Zongtang said: "When picking this tea, you have to burn incense to worship the sky, and then let the monkeys wear red waistcoats and climb to the tea trees on the cliff to pick tea leaves. Therefore, this kind of monkey picking tea is also called Ma Liou in Cantonese. Because  The quantity is scarce and difficult to pick, making this kind of tea expensive and rare.¡±

    Xiao Yungui asked curiously: "What does this have to do with meeting the representatives of the township officials tomorrow?"

    Zuo Zongtang said: "The Western King's new policy focused on industry and commerce, and this move was bound to break some old customs among the people. Just like the Dahongpao, which has been used as tribute tea for hundreds of years since the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, does the Western King think that there is no one  Have you ever thought about expanding production?¡±

    Xiao Yungui was stunned for a moment, then touched his chin and said: "Of course, some people have thought about changing the method and popularizing Dahongpao to increase the yield. But in this way, the preciousness of this tea will not be shown."

    Zuo Zongtang nodded slightly and said: "Yes, it is the gentry and common people in the Dahongpao producing area who have kept the production of this tea limited to a certain amount." At this point, Zuo Zongtang stood up and pointed to the map of Sufu Province hanging on the wall.  Said: "Gentlemen's clans and common people's clans have been connected by blood since ancient times. When they are prosperous, they are all prosperous, and when they are harmed, they are all harmed. Like my Zuo family, we also have clan laws. Within the clan, individuals must safeguard the interests of their own clan.  , and the clans in turn protect their personal interests. Dahongpao is rare in quantity, so it is expensive and precious. The local clans also intentionally do not spread this product to others to ensure that this tea is unique to a few clans."

    Xiao Yungui asked curiously: "This Wuyi Mountain is far away in Fujian, and Fujian is still under the rule of Qingyao. What does it have to do with our new policy in Sufu Province?"

    Zuo Zongtang smiled lightly and said: "What if we take over Fujian in the future? In terms of the Western King's New Deal, protecting industry and commerce means that all kinds of department stores can be sold as commodities. The high price of Dahongpao will inevitably attract merchants to covet it, and the local clans will not  Side story. It is bound to lead to disputes. This is just an example given by Zuo. In order to protect their own interests, clans are bound to oppose the New Deal. Clan fields and family property have been in the countryside for a long time, and equalizing land will affect the interests of the clan, just like it has been for hundreds of years.  The output of Dahongpao has remained unchanged. The clan forces still hope that the old laws will remain unchanged as before."

    Xiao Yungui frowned and said: "But Prime Minister Zuo. Times are progressing. Take Dahongpao as an example. This tea is precious. Foreigners are willing to travel across the ocean to obtain large quantities. There are two ports in Xiamen and Fuzhou in front of them. There are many  A British foreign firm hired a Chinese comprador to go deep into Wuyi Mountain to buy this tea. Driven by huge profits, I think those clan forces will also think of reforms to make Dahongpao more productive."

    Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly and said: "The King of the West is right to the point. Although our land equalization system has many preferential decrees, it only lacks decrees to appease the clan forces. In order for the new policies to be promoted, benefits must be exchanged for benefits.  , let the gentry and common people see that there will be greater benefits after the New Deal. If it is not beneficial, who will follow it?"

    Xiao Yungui frowned and said: "But the New Deal's land equalization is to benefit the people, but we are turning the interests of the few into the interests of the majority, which is what the word "equalizes" means. The New Deal cannot take care of every class.  , everyone.¡±

    Zuo Zongtang nodded and said: "Yes, our new policy cannot take care of everything, but the clan power at the moment is still a huge force in the countryside. It is different from the ordinary local tyrants and evil gentry, and we should treat them differently."

    Xiao Yungui nodded thoughtfully, and Zuo Zongtang continued: "Although the clan's clan fields also own a large amount of land and are not allowed to be cultivated by people with other surnames, the King of the West can issue a new order to supplement it, and the clan fields must not be left deserted.  Someone must cultivate it, and if the clan fields have not been cultivated for more than three months, the township officials are obliged to call the people to cultivate them. At the same time, the clans in the countryside are informed that if the clan fields are rented to people with other surnames, the grain tax paid will be reduced by 30%."

    "As for the patriarch's right to inherit, we can slowly change it and continue to implement the township official selection system. If the clan leader commits crimes, oppresses the people, or does things unfairly, he can be stripped of his township official powers. The right to educate is better.  Yes, although the new school has begun to be promoted, it cannot be sent to the countryside for the time being. The education can be carried out according to the old rules for the time being, but if you want to participate in the imperial examination of our heavenly kingdom, you must enroll in the new school." Zuo Zongtang said slowly.

    Hearing this, Xiao Yungui slapped his thigh and said: "Yes, Prime Minister Zuo is right. We can set up township official offices in the countryside. In addition to being responsible for solving clan affairs in the countryside, we can also send some assistants to the township officials to the countryside to guide the township officials in handling matters."  Clan economic disputes, public security incidents??, civil disputes, in short, some power of the clan is slowly returned to the township government. After more than ten years, the power of the clan will gradually fade away.  At the same time, the township official office has become a bridge for county magistrates and subordinates to control the countryside, and there will be no situation like the Manchu and Qing Dynasties where the magistrates were not as powerful as the townships.  "

    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????:?"The New Deal also touches the interests of some clan forces, and the clan interests can also be disrupted by dividing interests, so as to continue to implement the New Deal."

    Zuo Zongtang smiled and nodded: "Yes, that's right. Although the township officials we will meet tomorrow represent different clans and have different demands, as long as we have a general policy, we will know how to end the relationship.  "

    Xiao Yungui laughed loudly, and followed Zuo Zongtang to take out some official documents exchanged by township officials from various places, and classified the difficulties encountered in implementing the New Deal in the countryside. The two of them discussed in detail one by one and came up with specific solutions.  , this discussion lasted all night

    Chen Tian has been waiting for more than an hour in the side hall of the West Prince's Mansion while sipping tea. He is the township official of Dahe Township, Zuowang Town, Hangzhou. He is a township official at the level of brigade commander and should be in charge of five hundred households in the countryside.  Most of the people under his rule had the surname Chen, that is, the Chen family.  When the Taiping Army attacked Suzhou and Hangzhou last year, the Qing army marched across the countryside and plundered Dahe Township to force donations. Chen Tian's father, the old patriarch of the Chen family, was forced by the Qing army to donate a large sum of money. The old man  He was old and unable to withstand threats, so he died after a serious illness.

    Chen Tian then inherited his father's position as clan leader. He deeply hated the Qing army for forcing his father to death. It was because after the Taiping Army captured Suzhou and Hangzhou, he took advantage of the Taiping Army's army to clear out the countryside and defected to the Taiping Army. He was elected as a brigade commander and township official by the people in the countryside.  .  Chen Tian felt grateful that the Taiping Army had avenged him, so he became a township official with peace of mind, and actively cooperated with the Taiping Army to eliminate the township warriors in other towns.  The Chen family¡¯s family fields and mountain farms.  Chen Tian Zengjin and the young men of the Chen family had sex with them several times, but with Qing Yao's backing, the Chen family always suffered.  When the Taiping Army came, Chen Tian naturally led the Taiping Army to deal with the government minions, and he became the first batch of township officials of the Taiping Army.

    After the Taiping Army Qingxiang, they left a batch of weapons to the Chen family, including more than a dozen matchlock guns. Chen Tian relied on several generals left by the Taiping Army to establish a rural army in Dahe Township.  , usually farming and training, and when there is a war, he cooperates with the main force of the Taiping Army to clear out the dogs.

    After several months, by the end of last year, the remaining Qing demon forces in the countryside had been almost eradicated. Chen Tian also participated in several raids to hunt down the defeated Qing army remnants who fled to the countryside, and received several rewards.

    After the arrival of the Taiping Army, it was not like Qing Yao¡¯s previous legend. Everything had to be donated to the holy treasury, men and women were separated into camps, and everything had to be embraced by foreign religions.  Several of the village soldier leaders were old Taiping soldiers. Only two of them were religious believers, and the others worshiped Bodhisattvas. They did not force the people to convert.  As for the holy treasury, there is one, but in Chen Tian's view, it is a family property. It is only the public property of the people in his brigade. Except for the public grain and land tax that must be paid, the rest is family property, and there is no difference.  As for the separation of male and female camps, there is no such thing. The leader of the Taiping Army told Chen Tian that male and female soldiers would only be separated into male and female soldiers who joined the Taiping Army. Chen Tian understood very well that the soldiers and horses fighting in the war must be male and female.  When have you ever heard of men and women being in the same camp?  Military discipline is not easy to maintain.

    Just when Chen Tian thought that with the arrival of the Taiping Army, he would no longer be oppressed by the government and could live a good life, the Taiping Army suddenly launched some new policy.  The greatest influence on the Chen family is the land equalization system. The Chen family's land is thousands of acres. Because it is a family property, there is no land deed. It is only noted on the genealogy which family gets how much.  Just an acre of land.  When the Qing Dynasty was there, they only registered the number of fields in Dahe Township and asked the Chen family to pay grain according to the number of fields. During this period, there were so many excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes that gave Chen Tian a headache.

    After the Taiping Army promulgated the New Deal, they also checked the number of fields. However, because there was no land deed, the clan fields were included in the targets for land equalization, which meant that Chen Tian had to distribute the clan fields equally to the more than 500 households under his administration.  People.  The Chen clan's clan members who were originally allocated fields were fine. It was nothing more than a redistribution of land. However, what Chen Tian was unwilling to accept was that he had to allocate the clan fields to more than a hundred households with other surnames.  Now that the Chen family has stopped working, why should they allocate the land left to us by our ancestors to tenants with other surnames?

    In addition, Dahe Township produces a large amount of silk, and many households in the Chen family rely on weaving for a living. This time, the New Deal heard that the Taiping Army Government was planning to build a textile factory.  Originally, the cloth in Dahe Township was already struggling due to the impact of foreign cloth from Shanghai and could not be sold at a high price. If the government-run textile factories were to start again, many households in Dahe Township who relied on weaving for a living would probably go bankrupt.

    ???????????? Other administrative orders and heavy taxes for marrying a concubine are also things that give Chen Tian a headache. For these decrees, the county boss is suppressing them, but the people are opposing them, which makes Chen Tian anxious every day.to handle these disputes.  This time he was elected as a representative by several surrounding township officials and came to Suzhou to meet with the King of the West to express his feelings, hoping to change some political orders.

    When Chen Tian came, he came with the belief that he would die. He always made thirty mistakes before meeting an official, let alone meeting a prince?  Chen Tian arrived in Suzhou tremblingly, but he didn't expect that there were many township officials who came with the same purpose as him, so he felt relieved. It was impossible for the King of the West to kill everyone.  (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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