Chapter 48: Grain Contribution

Wang Dou arrived before Yongning Gate on the south side and saw a woman kneeling there, surrounded by a large crowd of people, all pointing and whispering among themselves.

Seeing Wang Dou emerge, the crowd said one after another, "His Lordship has come out."

They hurriedly parted to open a path for Wang Dou.

Wang Dou stepped forward and looked at the woman on the ground. He could not help being startled — her face and features were unmistakably those of Xu Yue'e, who had vanished without a trace that day.

She looked haggard, her face deathly pale, and there were still traces of blood and scars on her body. No one knew where she had come from.

Hearing movement, Xu Yue'e raised her head and glanced at Wang Dou, then bowed deeply: "This common woman Xu Yue'e comes to seek refuge, and hopes my lord will take me in."

Zhong Rong was standing behind Wang Dou at that moment. He said in a low voice, "My lord, this woman is ill-omened. She cannot be taken in."

Qi Tianliang and Yang Tong said the same. Gao Shiyin, who had been standing beside Wang Dou, now unconsciously edged farther away from Xu Yue'e.

The discussions of the onlookers drifted over from time to time as well: "I hear this Xu Yue'e was defiled by the Tatars..."

"Yes, and that's not all — I heard she even killed her own newborn son."

"If a woman like that enters our fort, we'll all suffer terrible misfortune for sure..."

Listening to the whispered murmurs around her, Xu Yue'e's expression remained cold and indifferent. She simply knelt there motionless.

Wang Dou said, "It is no matter. The fort happens to be short-handed. Let her stay."

Wang Dou decided with a single word, and at once the crowd fell silent.

Wang Dou called for Mrs. Tao: "Sister-in-law Qi, make the arrangements — what work Miss Xu will do in the fort from now on. Also, cook some congee for her to restore her health."

Mrs. Tao responded with a face full of smiles. She glanced at Xu Yue'e and beckoned to her: "Young lady, please follow this woman."

Xu Yue'e murmured her thanks to Wang Dou, then rose and hobbled after Mrs. Tao into the fort.

Left behind was a large crowd of military households, whispering among themselves.

Mrs. Tao settled Xu Yue'e in a barracks on South Street, where lived other women who had likewise been abducted by the Later Jin army.

Xu Yue'e rested in the barracks for several days, never once stepping outside. Only Xie Yike, upon hearing the news, caught a chicken and went to visit her.

A few days later, Mrs. Tao assigned Xu Yue'e to feed pigs at the livestock yard. She went without a single word.

By now it was the sixth month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, which by the later solar calendar would be July. The winter wheat, sorghum, and other crops across Bao'an Department were being harvested one after another.

Wang Dou's military training was temporarily suspended as well. The combat troops of every unit went down to the fields with their families, reaping the crops in plot after plot.

The final tally showed that for the fields opened last year and first sown this spring, the yield of millet and sorghum per mu reached around seven or eight dou. The fields of military households near the Hundred-Household Canal yielded eight or nine dou per mu. Those farther from the canal, relying on well irrigation, still yielded five or six dou per mu.

Calculating that autumn was approaching, winter wheat could still be sown. In this way, over the course of a year, counting wheat along with mixed grains like millet and sorghum, everyone's yield per mu could reach over one shi, close to two shi of grain. Moreover, in this first year the fort would not levy any tax grain on them — all the produce from the fields belonged to them entirely.

Looking at all this grain, the military households who had been allotted fields were overjoyed beyond measure. Every face beamed with delight, and they made a merry racket for quite some time. Those who had arrived later and had not yet received fields were all immensely envious, wishing only to open up wasteland quickly so they too could be allotted land.

Zhang Gui, the unit commander of Dongjiazhuang, was very surprised to hear that Wang Dou had achieved such results in his very first year of military farming. Xu Zhongjun, the garrison commander of Shunxiang Fort, was also deeply gratified when he heard. By now he was gravely ill and bedridden, so he sent his trusted man Xu Lu with a party to convey his regards.

In the northern regions of the Great Ming, twenty mu of land per household was in truth not enough to secure a stable livelihood. A household with several laborers needed at least forty mu, or even fifty mu, to support the entire family, old and young, and to meet the tax grain payments demanded by the guard-battalion government offices.

Wang Dou planned to open more wasteland along the Dongfang River before the autumn sowing, so as to distribute additional fields to both the original and the newly arrived military households. Henceforth, every military household in the fort would possess at least forty mu of land.

Wang Dou delegated the pre-autumn land reclamation to Qi Tianliang, tasking him with organizing the fort's manpower to strive to open another batch of fields before the autumn sowing. The water conservancy works for the new fields and the digging of irrigation wells everywhere were to proceed simultaneously.

After the wheat in the fields was harvested, Wang Dou's mother, Madam Zhong, also came to Jingbian Fort. The Wang family residence over there was left in the care of two elderly military-household men whom Wang Dou hired to clean and watch over it.

In truth, Madam Zhong was very reluctant to leave Xinzhuang, where her fields and home were, but she did not wish to cause her son worry. After all, living inside Jingbian Fort was safer, and she could also see her son often.

At present, Wang Dou's General Banner headquarters was set up at the northern end of South Street, right next to the wall of Jingbian Beacon Tower. That way, if Jingbian Fort were ever breached by enemy forces, he could still withdraw into Jingbian Beacon Tower and rely on that final bastion to defend. Inside Jingbian Beacon Tower, Wang Dou had likewise stationed several beacon soldiers to keep watch day and night.

Behind the headquarters was the residence where the Wang family lived. The fort's various officers, such as Qi Tianliang, Han Chao, and Han Zhong, likewise lived beside the residence.

After his mother arrived, Wang Dou gathered all the officers to hold a welcoming feast for her. During the banquet, Madam Zhong's expression was full of delight, her face glowing with happiness. After all, this garrison fort had been built single-handedly by her son — he was the master of this fort. As his mother, she naturally shared in the glory. Ever since she entered Jingbian Fort, every military household member she met treated her with the utmost deference, respectfully addressing her as "Old Madam" — something she could never have enjoyed in Xinzhuang.

After the feast, Madam Zhong's spirits remained high, but then she let out a sigh.

Wang Dou asked, "What worries does Mother have? Tell your son, let me hear it."

Madam Zhong sighed, "It is nothing but your uncle."

Only through her explanation did Wang Dou understand. It turned out that his maternal uncle, Zhong Zhengxian, after Wang Dou had arranged for him to serve as a clerk in Dongjiazhuang at the start of the year, had grown restless again in just half a year. He constantly complained that Dongjiazhuang was too small and too poor, insisting that he should be transferred to Shunxiang Fort, and that his own rank and status were far too low.

He often declared before others, "With my ability, how can I be a mere petty clerk? I should at least be made a full Clerk."

The Dongjiazhuang Head Clerk Li Chao and the Assistant Clerk Zhang Jingchang considered Zhong Zhengxian far too arrogant and both ostracized him, which made Zhong Zhengxian even more indignant. He frequently went before his elder sister, Madam Zhong, to weep and complain about the unfairness of his treatment, hoping his nephew would think of a way to transfer him to Shunxiang Fort, and also hoping he could pull some strings to raise his rank from Assistant Clerk to full Clerk.

Zhong Zhengxian's current status was in fact that of an Assistant Clerk, the very lowest grade of clerk. But to rise from Assistant Clerk to full Clerk, one had to pass through the grade of Head Clerk in between, and also undergo several rigorous performance evaluations. Even with smooth promotions, it would take six years. How could it be accomplished in a single leap?

Faced with Zhong Zhengxian's tearful pleas, Madam Zhong naturally scolded him fiercely, saying that promotions in government offices had their own established rules and protocols — how could an uncle put his nephew in such a difficult position?

Zhong Zhengxian, however, had thought of a solution: paying a grain contribution. By donating several tens of shi of grain to the department seat's reserve granary, he could be promoted immediately.

Every department and county across the Great Ming maintained reserve granaries to prepare for times of famine. In normal times, the grain stores in the reserve granaries relied entirely on private donations. The Great Ming had special commendation statutes for such donors: commoners who contributed grain could be honored as "Righteous Subjects" and be exempt from kneeling before officials, or be granted official caps and sashes with honorary titles, or be appointed as clerks — the rewards were fairly generous.

The amount of grain stored in each locality's reserve granary had always been factored into the performance evaluations of local officials, so local officials were always very welcoming toward those among the common people willing to make donations.

Zhong Zhengxian had made inquiries. In the past, for clerks like them to contribute grain, donating fifty shi of rice could earn a two-grade promotion. Now it had been reduced to thirty shi of rice. If donating silver, the required amount was even smaller.

Under Zhong Zhengxian's bitter pleading, Madam Zhong was quite vexed, so she asked Wang Dou for his opinion.

Wang Dou shook his head. This uncle of his... truly beyond words.

He asked his mother, "Has the time come for our family to pay the tax silver?"

Madam Zhong said, "When your mother came to the fort, the village head and tithing chief had already begun urging payment."

The Wang family had twenty mu of land, all of it private fields subject to tax silver. Under the Great Ming's summer tax and autumn grain system, the summer tax was collected starting in the sixth month, with a deadline of full payment within the eighth month. After the Great Ming adopted the "Single Whip Law," both the summer tax and autumn grain were converted to silver payments, no longer passing through the local grain chiefs and village and tithing heads, but paid by the people themselves at the department seat. Calculating the time, it was about due.

Wang Dou said, "Tomorrow your son will make a trip to the department seat, pay the tax silver, and take care of Uncle's matter along the way."

Wang Dou decided to go to Bao'an Department seat. Besides paying the tax silver, there was also the matter discussed at the fort earlier in the year about hiring several army physicians, which had remained unresolved. Wang Dou decided to go in person to the Medical Office to recruit a few highly skilled physicians to bring back.

Madam Zhong nodded, then sighed again and said, "This uncle of yours..."

She shook her head as she spoke.

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Old White Ox: One more chapter tonight, before midnight.

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