After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Chapter 1170 - 1152: The Equal-Field System

The clerk ran out to find two government officials who hadn’t left yet, and asked them to bring the county magistrate back.

Oh, the county magistrate is still outside the city. A corner of a rice field belonging to the East family in Seven Families Village has been nibbled at, reportedly by the West family, because it was the turn of the West family to use the village’s cow the day before.

The West family denied it, saying that when they saw the rice field the day before, it had already been nibbled, and that they hadn’t taken the cow out but had gone to cut grass to mix with bean feed for the cow.

The two families couldn’t resolve the disagreement and the dispute grew, leading them to bring the case to the county magistrate, who had no choice but to go to Seven Families Village to settle the case.

The clerk finally waited for the county magistrate before sunset and immediately approached him with a jade pendant to report Fu Yong’s matter quietly.

Meanwhile, Fu Yong and others who remained at the county government had already seen most of the visible parts of the county government. The clerk had assigned a government official to watch over them. They couldn’t enter the offices, but just seeing the main hall, dining hall, and the small salt-selling house was already enough to shock them.

Fu Yong touched the high table and chairs in the main hall and sighed, "Are Hu-style stools and tables really so popular now?"

Before they went into the mountains, the county government’s furniture most of the time was low tables with mats placed behind.

The official watched them like country bumpkins and said, "Even the wine lounges and restaurants have switched to tables and chairs now, except in some large cities like Luoyang, where some wine lounges and pavilions still use mats."

Fu Yong went to see their dining hall, but only had time for a glance before being stopped, "There’s no food left in the dining hall."

Fu Yong was amazed when he saw the Salt Office, and hurriedly asked, "Salt comes from the county government? How much is salt now?"

"Seven cents a pound, it’s official salt now, and salt can only come from the county government. We have a special salt official," the government official looked at them in confusion, "This was announced earlier. It’s an important national policy. Village chiefs and village elders were called to memorize it and convey it to the villagers. Students also occasionally go to the countryside to promote it. How could you not know?"

Fu Yong seized the opportunity to say, "We fled into the mountains due to the war turmoil and haven’t come down for over three years, so we didn’t know about the great changes outside."

The official was stunned, "You’re coming out from the mountains?"

Fu Yong nodded, and the official quickly asked, "Are there many of you? Would you like to register as residents in our Liang County?"

Now, all the people still wandering on the roads and streets have been collected. As soon as they see them, they register them at the county government, providing them with land, grain, farming tools, seeds, and houses, all to settle them in the county.

The neighboring county was particularly annoying, claiming they would provide clay brick houses, while our county could only offer straw houses due to resource limitations. The brick factories are a bit far, and buying bricks requires a long wait, as our county doesn’t have suitable soil for brick-making.

Alas, the county magistrate is right, relying on others inevitably brings some grievances. They couldn’t compete with the neighboring county in attracting people.

It’s already foreseeable that after this year’s harvest, our county’s total population will be fewer than the neighboring county, the increase in population will be less, and so will the tax revenue and other metrics.

The official eagerly looked at Fu Yong, asking, "How many are you? Are you all in the mountains? Are there many young and strong people? Hahaha, even if not, it’s fine. We love elderly people too, as long as you come, we’ll build a house for each of you, distribute land, and provide grain seeds and farming tools at no worry. The government directly provides..."

The people behind Fu Yong were tempted and couldn’t help but look at Fu Yong.

Fu Yong, however, was calm, withdrew his gaze from the Salt Office, and asked, "Is it the land ownership system? How much tax do the people need to pay each year? Are the seeds and farming tools rented, and what are the interest rates or duration for repayment?"

The official hesitated and quickly shook his hand, "Don’t say that carelessly. Our Great General’s policy is different from the previous dynasty’s land ownership system."

He frowned in distress and said, "I don’t know what this system is called. The County Lord mentioned it last time, something about equality, the land we provide is truly good land. We organize people to cultivate it, not like before, just taxing directly, taking as much land as one could."

Emperor Jin Wu’s land ownership policy allowed commoners to claim undeveloped land, men could claim seventy acres, women thirty acres, with tax obligations of fifty acres for adult males and twenty acres for females.

Undeveloped land, as the name suggests, is land that has never been cultivated. It requires individuals to compete for and develop it, disregarding if they could cultivate up to the taxed land area of fifty and twenty acres.

Therefore, to have enough food, people could only desperately claim and cultivate even more land.

The lands of gentry and landlords remained their own, with national taxes relying on common people. They worked themselves to death for the country and landlords their entire lives.

As there were no restrictions on buying and selling land, cultivated land would eventually flow to gentry and landlords in various forms.

Occasionally standing guard at the county magistrate’s door, the official heard him and university students discuss this topic, leaving him with some impression.

He proudly said, "Our Great General’s land policy is different. All lands belong to the king, so if left uncultivated for over five years, it is considered ownerless and reclaimed by the state, then redistributed to the people."

"Everyone can be assigned land. Last year’s new policy allows newly registered households, regardless of male or female members, aged between fourteen and fifty-five, to receive full-mouth and permanent land," the official, often responsible for population registration and land distribution, recited fluently, "In our county, full-mouth land is forty acres, and permanent land is twenty acres."

To avoid confusion between full-mouth and permanent land, he added, "Full-mouth land is for you to cultivate, but must be returned to the state after death. Permanent land can be passed on to descendants but cannot be privately sold."

"By the way, you probably don’t know, farmland can neither be sold nor bought now. Even officials or noble families can’t trade land. You must settle to acquire land!"

Dong Shu exclaimed, "Sixty acres per person, wouldn’t a family of two have a hundred and twenty acres? Can they cultivate it all?"

"Of course, they can’t cultivate it all," the official glanced at him and asked, "Have you ever farmed? This land needs to be rested. Cultivate for a year, best left idle for a year, called alternating cultivation, so one truly cultivates only about thirty acres a year, and a few acres must be allocated to grow mulberry and hemp."

The conversation reached this point, the official looked around and lowered his voice, "I have insider information, the Great General thinks the allotted land is too small, plans to redistribute more to encourage mulberry and hemp cultivation. But it’s uncertain if this land will be inheritable by the next generation."

With only about four acres per person in the mountains, Dong Shu was terrified, realizing that unless the mountain population remained at around a hundred, the birthrate would exceed the death rate, leading to even less land per person.

Once the mountain population grows to a certain level, could they continue dwelling in the mountains?

The death rate cannot possibly exceed or match the birth rate.

Hence, the County Lord’s family never planned to reside in the mountains indefinitely. They wished to leave!

Dong Shu, in shock, looked at Fu Yong.

Fu Yong’s heart was finally stirred by this different land system.

He murmured, "Land for each person, this is the equal distribution system—"