Chapter 2 Planning for Village Construction After the boat docked at the shore, everyone got off. Tian Ze looked at the one good counselor, seven generals, two hundred guards and eight hundred hidden households behind him, and his heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment. It was worth his hard work over the years. It is extremely difficult to accumulate such a foundation in today's world. On the side, Chen Ergou, who had already been noticed by him, walked over with a bent back and was brought to his side by the expressionless Le Jin. Seeing the extraordinary Tian Ze and the burly and ferocious Dian Wei beside him, Chen Ergou's heart trembled, his legs went weak and he fell to the ground. Tian Ze stepped forward and helped him up, gently brushed the dust off his body, turned around and complained to Dian Wei: "E Lai, why are you so serious? You scared others, smile." Upon hearing this, Dian Wei's dark face felt so uncomfortable that he could only force out a smile that was uglier than crying. Tian Ze clearly felt that Chen Ergou, who was being supported by him, trembled again. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Thinking about Dian Wei's character and intelligence, Tian Ze hesitated for a long time and gave up the idea of teaching the other party how to manage his facial expressions. Instead, he looked at Chen Ergou with a smile. "I am Wuzhongtian Chengshou, may I know your name, little brother?" Chen Ergou stood there trembling, looking nervous, and said in a trembling voice: "Sir, my name is Chen Ergou."
"Ergou, Ze was appointed by the mayor of Wen County to manage Changxing Island. Do you know where the village chief is now? Can you take me there?" Tian Ze said gently. Although he had already seen the location of the village through the "mini map", he still hoped that someone could lead the way to reduce trouble. After a quick glance, Uncle Zhong came forward and handed over dozens of copper coins. "It's just a little token of my appreciation. I hope you will accept it." Seeing the kind attitude of the person in front of him, Chen Ergou carefully glanced at Dian Wei who took a half step back, swallowed his saliva, put the copper coin in his arms, and felt slightly happy. It seems that my gamble was right. This money can be exchanged for a lot of food and can last for a longer period of time. "Thank you sir, please follow me." Leaving the others behind, Tian Ze, with fifty guards and several carts of food and supplies, followed Chen Ergou towards the interior of the island. There is only one small village on Changxing Island, not far from where Tian Ze and others landed. It is surrounded by the rare arable land on the island. When the villagers working in the fields saw the huge team led by Tian Ze, they all started talking about it, and some of the timid ones hurriedly ran towards the village. Tian Ze couldn't help but sigh as he looked at these people with pale faces, thin bodies and patched clothes. This so-called paradise is actually a hard place! Village chief Huang Lin lives in a wooden house in the center of the village. He is only in his forties, but looks particularly old due to being exposed to wind and sun for a long time. Although he was the village chief, his life was quite difficult in this remote area. After seeing Tian Ze take out the official contract, he glanced at the sturdy guards and asked cautiously, "Sir, is my position as the village chief dismissed?" Tian Ze smiled and shook his head: "No, Ze will be the county magistrate of Wen County soon, and now he is just temporarily in charge of this place. Mr. Huang, you can continue to serve as the village head." "But Ze may build some new villages on the island in the future, and the villagers of this village may move to other villages. Then..." "What? We want to move the villagers out?" Huang Lin asked anxiously. Tian Ze patted the old man's shoulder gently and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Huang. Ze will not force the villagers to move away. It's just that the village to be built later may be more suitable for living. If the villagers want to move, Ze will not force them to stay." Huang Lin looked at Tian Ze as if he was a fool, but he quickly restrained himself and said with a smile: "It's good that you don't force us to change. If the villagers really want to leave, I will definitely support them." This young man in front of me is really whimsical. My ancestors have lived on this island for many years. Don't they know where is suitable to live? If there are other suitable places to live, will they stay here?
"Ze brought nearly a thousand people with him on this trip. He wants to build another village on the island. I would like to inform you, Mr. Huang, and please inform the villagers as well." "This matter is simple, please rest assured, sir." Huang Lin said nonchalantly. There is nothing worth paying attention to on this broken island except for some small fields in the village. "Since Ze has been ordered by the court to manage this island, including this village. I just saw that the villagers seem to be living in great difficulty. Ze brought a lot of food and supplies on this trip, and wanted to give some to help the villagers. Half a piece of cloth and two stone of millet per person as a token of his gratitude. I also hope that Mr. Huang can help gather the villagers." Tian Ze said. Huang Lin looked at Tian Ze eagerly, holding Tian Ze's hands tightly with both hands: "Are you serious, sir?" Tian Ze nodded and pointed to the cart full of supplies behind him. "nature." "Okay, okay! I'll go and call the villagers right away. Sir, please wait a moment." "Erhei, Sanya, go and call for help, get everyone here!" Looking at the anxious Huang Lin, Tian Ze smiled without saying anything. …… Nothing is more real than having a full meal. The heavy food and brand new cloth immediately won the hearts of the villagers. Seeing that most of the people's dots turned green, Tian Ze nodded with satisfaction. In order to avoid disputes, Tian Ze did not let the guards he brought with him stay in the village. Instead, he looked for a flat place nearby, took out the wooden boards that had been prepared in advance, built a number of wooden houses, and lived there. That night, Tian Ze, Jia Xu, Tian Zhong and several brave generals sat around a campfire on the coast. Two delicious fat sheep were roasting on the campfire, sizzling with fat and exuding a fragrant aroma. After Tian Ze took the lead in cutting off a piece to taste, Ma Teng and others could not wait and immediately started to devour it. Although there was meat but no wine, they still enjoyed the meal very much. The guards’ meals were equally sumptuous, and they all ate with their mouths drooling and their faces filled with happiness. The rest of the hermits could only taste a little meat, but with enough thick porridge, they were very satisfied. After they had enough food, Tian Ze arranged for oranges and peaches to be distributed to everyone under his command. When living at sea for a long time, you must pay attention to eating more fruits. He took a bright orange and peeled it, eating the sweet flesh while spreading a huge piece of cloth on the ground. He drew a map of Changxing Island on the cloth and put a black dot at each of the ten locations on the periphery. "Uncle Zhong, divide all the people into ten groups tomorrow. Yunchang, Shoucheng, Boping, Wenze, and Wenqian will each lead two groups to build villages at the ten locations on the map." "The houses must be sturdy to prevent corrosion from sea breezes. They will be made of the cement we brought with bricks and stones. Each village must be designed and built to accommodate a thousand households." "At the same time, we must also pay attention to military defense, build outer walls, and dig more tunnels and cellars just in case. You all have the corresponding drawings. The hidden households we brought with us have many skilled craftsmen, so there shouldn't be any problems." After hearing Tian Ze's arrangement, everyone nodded in agreement. Tian Zhong was a little worried and said, "Young Master, this will probably take at least half a year, and we will probably have to spend a lot of money and food that we have accumulated over the years. Can we slow down a bit? After all, we only have about a thousand people now." Tian Ze shook his head: "Uncle Zhong, time is running out. The money and food we have saved are for this matter. We must not delay, so as not to affect our future plans." "The village heads have already been appointed, and supervision and guidance must be strengthened to avoid chaos." "Yi Gong!"
"Here!" Han Dang said. "You have the most important task. The 100 guards under your command are the best at naval warfare. During this period of time, you must cooperate with Uncle Zhong to transport all the supplies we have prepared to the island. Don't delay." "promise!" Han Dang was from western Liaoning. He was recruited by Tian Ze and followed him since he was a child. He had the longest seniority and was good at naval battles, so half of Tian Ze's guards were under his command. After Tian Ze finished the arrangements, he looked at Jia Xu. "Wenhe, do you have anything else to tell me?" Jia Xu paused before speaking: "Now is the spring ploughing season, I wonder if the young master has any relevant arrangements." Although he didn't want to express his opinion, he had to speak up when Tian Ze called him out. Hearing Jia Xu's reminder and test, Tian Ze's mouth curled up slightly: "The ten locations I just pointed out have thousands of acres of farmland around them, and they are all top-quality fields suitable for farming. Based on the number of people, each hidden household can apply for the right to use up to 20 acres of land. If you feel that you can't finish it, you can apply for less. You must cooperate with the village heads to complete the distribution as soon as possible." When everyone heard this, they looked at each other in disbelief. How could there be so many high-quality fields on an island? If there really were so many fertile fields on the island, the people here wouldn't be so miserable. During this era, people living on the island had a very difficult life, because many daily necessities had to be purchased from the mainland, and the local officials would not exempt you from taxes just because you lived on an island. Natural disasters such as storms occurred frequently, the land was barren, food was scarce, and even fresh water was difficult to secure. Although they could catch fish for food, it was common for them to go hungry because of their crude tools, limited technology, and difficulty in preserving food. "The grain grown by these hidden households belongs to them, and they are charged a land tax of 30% of the tax rate, but they do not need to pay any other taxes or labor service. If they want to sell the grain, we can buy it at a price of 100 coins per stone, or we can sell it to them at a price of 110 coins." "You must arrange this matter properly and adjust the distribution reasonably according to the number of households, population, and composition of the people. The right to use the fields in each village belongs to all the people in the village, and it will remain so from now on." "In addition, we need to study a charter for how the land will be distributed and managed in the future. We can't just focus on the present. We need to think about what to do when the village has more people in the future and how the right to use the village land should be distributed." There was no reaction from the crowd. Ordinary wealthy families treated hidden households and tenants in the same way. However, they usually collected more, and 50% of the tax was considered low, and some even collected 80% of the tax. Although the government now collects a land tax of one thirty percent on paper, the bulk of the tax is from head taxes, corvee labor and other miscellaneous levies. Add to that the various taxes imposed by the government, and ordinary people would be lucky to keep half of their food, 30% is not much. Moreover, corvée labor was exempted, which solved a huge burden. When Jia Xu heard this, his expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but look at Tian Ze, with a gleam of brilliance in the depths of his eyes. "Young master, what about the local villagers? Can they get houses and good farmland?" Tian Zhong asked. "If they are willing to join the villages and move there, they can get the same treatment." "Young Master, are you interested in that village?" Tadashi nodded. Through the small map, he had a thorough understanding of the geographical conditions of Changxing Island.
The original location of the village is not only close to the mainland, but also located in a valley, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it the best place to garrison on the island. I have to admire the wisdom of the ancestors of these people on the island. Of course, it is also possible that there were villages in other places before, but only this village was preserved in the end. It is not easy to seize them by force since he has just arrived. After all, the people in this era have too strong clan consciousness, so it is better to let them disperse on their own. (End of this chapter)
