Chapter 86: The life of Yizhou people
I told the story to Cui Yingying very late last night, and at the end, Li Yin fell asleep while telling the story. This story is novel, interesting, and a little scary, but Cui Yingying stayed up in the middle of the night excitedly So, after Li Yin got up in the morning, she was still lying on the bed and refused to get up.
Counting his fingers, Li Yin thought that it would be ten or eight days since he arrived in Yizhou. Since he has become the parent official of the people in Yizhou, he has to perform his duties, right? Although this year's salary of 200 yuan is only a drop in the bucket for him, he can't live up to Li Shimin's good intentions, so Li Yin changed into a plain attire and left Yizhou with twenty guards. The city, the world outside the city can best reflect the real living conditions of the people.
There are a total of 14 counties surrounding Yizhou City, and the nearest county town to Yizhou City is called Yangshu County. Li Min and his party did not take the avenue leading to the county town, but chose the small roads in the neighborhood, so that they can live in the city. People's lives are generally good, and they can be regarded as rich households. The real poor people are distributed in the villages outside the city.
Along the dirt path, Li Min looked at the undeveloped dense forests on both sides of the road from time to time. During the journey from Chang'an to Yizhou, Li Min was most moved by the original natural environment of the Tang Dynasty and the rare animals that were locked in the park in the 21st century. It’s the same as if you don’t need money here, you run around here and there. Once, Li Yin even ran into a tiger, which scared him enough. Therefore, every time he passed through the dense forest, Li Yin’s attention was highly concentrated, and he was afraid of running out of the forest. Come up with something.
The high-quality environment made the air visibility in Tang Dynasty very high. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a hundred miles away. After walking for a while, a group of people saw a village. Li Yin quickened his pace and walked another three miles before arriving at the village.
Li Yan and the guards are now dressed like business travelers passing by. The people coming and going in the village are busy with their own affairs at a glance, but some children think it is fun and run around in front of the team.
As soon as he entered the village, Li Yan observed these villagers carefully. Compared with the people in Yizhou City, the living standards of these people have dropped several grades.
Passing by a house, Li Yin saw an old woman about forty years old binding firewood in her hands. Li Yin stepped forward and asked, "Grandma, I am a passing businessman, can I ask for some water?"
The old man hooked his waist, heard the sound, looked at Li Min and his party, the wrinkles on his face were gathered together, and said with a smile: "Wait a minute, I will take it for you." As he said, he entered the thatched hut, and after a while He came out with a ladle in his hand and said, "Little Lang, drink it!"
The pure eyes of the old man made Li Xing feel kind. He took the water ladle and said, "Grandma, are you alone at home?"
"No, I still have a son!"
"Then why isn't he at home?"
"Hey, this year's harvest is not good, and the family has no rations. He went hunting with the villagers. It hasn't been long since he left!"
Li Yin drank his saliva, and said: "I heard that Yizhou is rich, but why is my grandma's family so poor? Now the emperor has promulgated the "Order of Allocating Fields". Could it be that the officials here haven't allocated enough land for you?"
"It's been divided!" Grandma sighed: "It's just that the officials and prominent families in Yizhou have divided the good land, and the rest is our turn. These lands are not irrigated fields. There is not much rice, and the harvest of autumn grain this year is 20% higher than last year, so how can there be anything left?"
Li Yin frowned. The distribution of land was uneven. In the past few years, the Tang Dynasty had recuperated and recuperated, and there had been no wars. It would have been nothing but tax reduction. How could it be possible to increase it?
"Thank you, grandma!" Li Yin asked a few words casually and got such information. The more he thought about it, it was wrong. He returned the water ladle to grandma and was about to leave. Labor, you can get three Wen for a day's work, and provide food, you might as well ask your husband to try it!"
"Really?" Grandma said in shock. He hadn't heard that laborers can still get paid. The three Wen can buy a bucket of rice.
"Really!" Li Yin laughed, and walked to other villages with Nuyuan.
Li Yin had just left when a thin young man walked into the courtyard with a look of disappointment on his face. The woman saw her and said, "Tie Niu, why are you back?"
"Don't mention it, the hares and pheasants in the vicinity are almost eaten up. After wandering around for a long time, we didn't find anything, so we just came back."
"Hey, forget it if you can't catch it. Later, mother will go find some wild vegetables, and we will just eat it! There is also this bundle of firewood picked up by mother. You can carry it to Yizhou city tomorrow to see if you can sell it. After the woman finished speaking, she continued: "By the way, just now a passing businessman said that the King of Shu conscripted labor in Yizhou City and gave him three Wen a day. I don't know whether it is true or not. Why don't you go to Yizhou City to see?"
"Mother, don't you know what the virtues of these Yizhou officials are? They want to drink our blood and eat our flesh. How could they give us back the money? They are probably lying to us again. They dug a canal for the Gao family last time." Have you forgotten? What did you get in the end?"
The old woman thought that what her son said was also reasonable, so she stopped mentioning it.
After leaving, Li Yin walked to more than a dozen villages, and did not return to Yizhou City until the sunset was about to set. This visit proved once again that the prosperity he saw was only the luxury of the upper class, and the life of the lower class people was still very bitter.
"Your Highness, who is this?" Shangguanyi looked at Li Yin who was covered in mud in surprise.
Back to Yizhou City, Li Yin called Shangguanyi over. He had many questions to ask him.
"Your Highness went outside Yizhou City today and visited several villages privately, and just came back!" Jin Daqian shook his head and sighed, he had been worried for a whole day.
"This!" Shangguanyi was stunned for a moment, "Your Highness, it's fine for the subordinate to handle this matter. Why did you go there in person? If something goes wrong, how can you let the subordinate feel at ease?"
Li Yin said: "With the guardians accompanying you, what can happen? By the way, how much do you know about Yizhou's situation by intervening in the government affairs of Yizhou City?"
Mentioning this, Shangguanyi's face suddenly turned red, "His Royal Highness, I have first contacted Yizhou Sima Wang Yinlong these few days. This is a scholar from a poor family. After Quan and others were dissatisfied, he spoke out all the evil deeds of Gao Quan over the years, taking advantage of his power to benefit his clan. Neiku and so on are endless!"
"Is there any proof?"
"This...no." Shangguanyi was filled with righteous indignation, but Li Yin sent him into the ice cave with a single sentence.