Chapter 339: Tenant Farmers

The Prefectural Magistrate's yamen of Kangning Prefecture.

In the sunlit hall of the rear residence, Chengyun flipped through the account book with one hand while toggling the abacus with the other. Moments later, his furrowed brow relaxed, and he picked up his brush to write a line of figures in the book.

Chongzhen Year 5, Kangning: the common people of each county harvested 198,700 shi of staple grain, purchased 27,000 shi from outside the territory, and seized 13,000 shi from east of the Long River — a total of 238,700 shi.

Average yield per mu: six dou and two ge; raw grain: 93 jin and 5 liang. Roughly calculated, after processing, that comes to around 70 jin of finished grain.

On this land, that figure means that when Prefect Yang Dingrui sends his report to the Marshal's Manor, he can proudly write one line: Chongzhen Year 5, wind and rain in season, Kangning had a bountiful year.

A bumper harvest — a bumper harvest worth recording.

Chengyun was delighted from the bottom of his heart, because while this year's yield per mu looked modest on the surface, there were actually many unexpected factors behind it.

For instance, the newly opened land under his leadership had dragged down Kangning Prefecture's per-mu yield; moreover, since last autumn, the rebellion across the seven counties had also partially affected the harvest.

Despite so many unforeseen events, the people's living conditions could still be guaranteed to be better than before. In Chengyun's mind, only now, after he had finished these calculations, could the Kangning Prefecture his second brother had conquered be considered truly stabilized.

The rebellion was nothing — they had systemic advantages. Grain was the most critical factor in stabilizing the situation.

Even though, after deducting the expenses of the garrison troops, township officials, civilian militia, and patrol inspectors, the common people averaged only a little over 90 jin of finished grain, it was already enough.

They still had butter from livestock, vegetables and fruit they grew themselves, and wild greens and berries from the mountains. As long as people had hope, they could endure this difficult period.

Besides, people's lives were not hard. The vast majority of commoners could proudly declare to the world that through their diligent hands, their grain rations this year had reached three times that of the year before last.

When Chengyun, account book in hand, eagerly went to find Yang Dingrui, Yang Dingrui was listening to the pacification battle report sent by Cao Yao. The contents of the report stopped Chengyun in his tracks.

The battle report had a somewhat bizarre tone: "Marshal's Manor patrol archers beheaded a Darughachi in formation; the Supreme Good Dharma King besieged Shangliang Township Station; Lotus Bodhisattva seized 200 jin of highland barley flour."

After listening, Chengyun wagged his index finger and laughed. "What a pack of demons and monsters... Sir, the harvest totals for each county from last year have been calculated. A great bumper harvest."

Just as Liu Shizi had anticipated, not long after the Marshal's Manor's main force was transferred north from Kangning Prefecture, many nobles who had earlier fled into the mountains to take refuge could no longer restrain their excitement and began conspiring everywhere to raise troops for a restoration.

But what happened next was rather different.

According to the nobles' thinking, once their masters returned to the lands they had ruled for generations, wouldn't the common people who had been ruled on that land for generations instantly switch back to their side?

Even if some foolish folk had accepted benefits from the Han people, they could easily be crushed by superior force. After all, they were composed of nobles and the guards loyal to them. They might be no match for the Marshal's Manor's main force, but suppressing serfs was their specialty.

Yet when they returned to their domains, everyone still remembered the bond between master and servant. No one reported them; instead, they told them stories — stories of how, in the days when the noble masters were away, their lives had gotten better day by day.

Liu Chengzong's southern campaign, though brief in duration, had profoundly transformed the common people's mindset.

Kangning was vast and sparsely populated, possessing the soil to implement equal land distribution. Even though the per capita farmland was just over one mu, uncultivated land and water sources were everywhere.

With the prefectural yamen encouraging and organizing the people to reclaim wasteland, most commoners already owned their own land. Even if that land had not yet been cleared, it was still their property.

Most crucially, in Chongzhen Year 5, Kangning enjoyed favorable weather. People had more and more iron farming tools, their labor efficiency grew higher and higher, and planting techniques from Xining gave seeds a better chance to sprout.

Their grain harvest was nine to ten times the seed grain sown. One mu of land could yield over a hundred jin of grain. Set beneath the highland snow mountains, this was indisputably a season of abundant grain.

People's lives were better than before, and they had better prospects. Not only were they unwilling to support the noble masters' restoration, some even wanted to win the noble masters over to join them in farming.

The common people's progressive mindset imposed higher demands on the restorationist nobles. Relying on the feudal nobles' old ways, they could no longer recruit soldiers.

To recruit soldiers, the nobles' mindset had to progress too. They were forced to imitate the bureaucratic system, delegating more power to the serfs. All sorts of bizarre official titles were handed out as if they cost nothing, in order to incite more serfs to rebel.

Throughout the autumn, military intelligence submitted to the prefectural yamen from the seven counties reported emergencies everywhere. The letters submitted by local township officials were so bizarre they dazzled the eyes.

It was one thing for noble masters to dust off their ancestors' official titles, but they even went so far as to confer Marshal's Manor official posts upon their subordinate commanders, making the battle reports present a scene of demons dancing in chaos.

Living Buddhas and Dharma Kings sat firmly in the central army; the Yulben of the Tibetan Tsenpo guarded the flanks; a Darughachi of Genghis Khan screened the front; and at the very forefront, self-proclaimed patrol inspectors and various Bodhisattvas fought shoulder to shoulder.

Originally, according to Cao Yao's plan, Kangning Prefecture's regular army should adopt a defensive posture while ensuring the grain harvest was secured. They would wait for all the nobles wanting to rebel and the ungrateful commoners to show themselves, and once they had taken initial shape, wipe them all out in one sweep.

They never imagined that the rebel army would actually adopt the Marshal's Manor's official titles. Perhaps due to misunderstanding, some Dharma Kings and Bodhisattvas even called themselves county magistrates.

This was a fine mess — it enraged Kangning Prefecture's legitimate county officials. Rebellion is one thing, but why usurp my official post?

Even old monk Gama, usually easy to get along with, was furious. He was already the legitimate King of Nangqian, and had grudgingly accepted being appointed by Liu Chengzong as Magistrate of Makang County. Now there were rebels trying to usurp his magistrate post.

In towering rage, Magistrate Gama directly raised a recruitment banner in front of the county yamen, summoned the county's civilian militia and the patrol inspectors of each township, and personally led peasant soldiers brandishing hoes and sickles on a campaign to exterminate the rebels, vowing to defeat the Dharma with the Dharma and declaring the Supreme Good Dharma King a demon and monster.

For a time, the shovel-wielding peasant class battled a sky full of gods and Buddhas. Throughout the winter, the battle reports reaching the prefectural yamen read like the Investiture of the Gods. At first, they recorded beheading Darughachis and Tibetan generals in formation; later, they turned into vanquishing Arhats and capturing Bodhisattvas alive.

Throughout the entire process, Cao Yao never needed to lift a finger. Even Luo Rucai and Li Laochai only occasionally sent troops to assist. Magistrates like Gama, leading the township troops, were able to fight the rebel army to a standstill.

The prefectural yamen's analysis was that this situation was entirely due to the excessive number of positive modifiers stacked on Magistrate Gama.

He was the younger brother of the previous King of Nangqian and the legitimate heir to Nangqian — more orthodox than the restorationist nobles. He was the abbot of Genbang Monastery and a religious leader — more versed in the Dharma than the rebel Dharma Kings and Bodhisattvas. And he was also a magistrate of the Marshal's Manor — his official rank was right there.

Any restorationist noble facing off against Gama was already at a three-point disadvantage in sheer confidence from the start.

Therefore, Yang Dingrui, Liu Chengyun, Cao Yao, and the others currently managing Kangning Prefecture simply could not take this rebellion seriously. These nobles were far less far-sighted than the Shaanbei peasants. They went straight into the mountains and used temples as strongholds, completely failing to exploit their familiarity with the terrain for mobile warfare.

No matter how sturdy a temple was, with no soldiers, no grain, no muskets, and no cannons, could it possibly be harder to attack and easier to defend than the Nangqian Suoqianmo Palace built upon the snowy mountains?

Cao Yao was pleased to see the rebels establishing strongholds. He strictly ordered Gama, Baicang, and others to only encircle and suppress the rebels on the periphery, continuously squeezing them toward the mountain temples. Finally, Luo Rucai and Li Laochai would lead the regular army in a single strike to smash their nest.

By now, the escaped gods and Buddhas could only do things like highway robbery, pursued and intercepted everywhere by local patrol inspectors, beaten into fleeing in utter disarray.

"A bumper harvest is good." Yang Dingrui had expected Chengyun's report. Looking at the data showing just over 100 jin of finished grain per capita, he nodded. "Continue recruiting migrants to reclaim farmland. If, in five years, Kangning Prefecture's cultivated land catches up to Ningzhou's farmland before the drought, I will be content."

Although Ningzhou was very small — just one department — while Kangning Prefecture was very large, encompassing seven counties, reaching Ningzhou's pre-drought standard of living was no simple goal.

To be precise, before the drought, Ningzhou had over one million mu of farmland.

In present-day Kangning Prefecture, the seven counties had only 330,000 mu of land under grain cultivation. Even counting orchards and vegetable plots, it barely reached 500,000 mu.

Reclaiming 500,000 mu of land in five years was no easy task.

However, this did not necessarily mean Kangning Prefecture was poorer than Ningzhou. Even before the drought, Ningzhou had only 20,000 people. Kangning Prefecture had 200,000, plus over 80 million mu of pastureland.

This region raised many sheep, cattle, and horses; it was primarily a pastoral area. Finding usable land to reclaim for grain cultivation was meant to improve the people's livelihoods.

After all, ordinary herders could not afford to eat meat. Even if livestock died, they had to trade the meat for grain to eat.

So if they had one million mu of land, Kangning Prefecture would be formidable. The people's annual finished grain consumption could exceed 200 jin. This standard of living might not be considered high, but at least compared to their own past, it could be called a heaven-and-earth transformation.

But to achieve this goal, there was a prerequisite.

Yang Dingrui handed the report letter on the desk to Chengyun and said, "I have been thinking about Kangning's future tax payments to Xining."

They had not yet begun collecting taxes. The currently proposed grain tax was thirty percent. This was the grain tax Liu Chengzong had earlier instructed Chengyun and Yang Dingrui to discuss — somewhere between thirty and fifty percent.

The plan was to start collecting this year. The prefectural yamen did have some stored grain, all from the autumn when commoners harvested their grain and sold it to the government offices for copper coins. Each county, aside from what they used themselves, had transported some to the prefectural yamen.

Chengyun took the letter and read it carefully. In the letter, Yang Dingrui had detailed the difficulties of grain transport. From Nangqian to Xining, the route passed through twenty-two post stations. One cart, one man, and two mules transporting grain required a journey of over thirty days.

In these thirty-odd days, the two mules consumed sixteen jin of fodder per day, the carter two jin of grain, and one cart hauled over six hundred jin of grain — yet this grain was barely enough for one cart to reach Xining.

If any mishap occurred on the road, it might not even suffice to reach Xining, and along the way they would also need to swap carts and animals at post stations and repeat the hauling, because there was one stretch where carts could hardly travel.

Unless they adopted a nomadic method, transporting once a year — like Liu Shizi campaigning north and south — sending the animals over without requiring them to perform heavy labor, relying on grazing along the way to sustain them.

The two provinces of Xikang were simply too far apart, and the route too desolate, creating far too many troubles for grain transport.

Yang Dingrui mentioned in his letter that his idea was to treat part of the grain as wastage, supplying Kangning Prefecture to deliver physical goods to Xining Prefecture — such as precious metals, corundum, gemstones, arms and armor, gunpowder, livestock, salt, and other materials — as Kangning Prefecture's tax payment.

Chengzong thought it over. The two prefectures were indeed in that situation. Consuming grain to transport high-value goods was comparatively worthwhile. Sending grain northward, even if it were all made into dry rations, probably wouldn't leave fifty jin per cart upon arrival — the loss would outweigh the gain.

But regarding the goods Yang Dingrui proposed to transport, Chengzong shook his head and laughed. "Sir, this salt is surely unnecessary. The north isn't short of salt either."

Chengzong thought and thought, took out the account book, and wrote as he spoke. "Kangning produces sulfur. Gold, silver, and copper — these are a must. Iron can be made directly into weapons and armor by the Kangning Armory Bureau. Livestock — Xining isn't short of those either; they consume too much grain on the road. Better to recruit more people… Yutong pickled vegetables — yes!"

He said excitedly, "Compared to shipping grain, shipping pickled vegetables is far better. The Marshal's headquarters troops can't do without this. If we open up more land this year, with more grain, we can probably levy sixty thousand dan. Exchanged for goods, that's no small sum."

Yang Dingrui nodded, but he still did not relax. He said to Chengzong, "But right now the Marshal's headquarters is short of grain. A letter came from the northern post station — the Grand Marshal wants to summon you back."

"Eh… how can the Marshal's headquarters be short of grain?" Chengzong was baffled. "When did this happen?"

"The letter just arrived today. Yours is on the table. The Grand Marshal's letter to me mentioned that Xining's population has grown by eighty thousand people. The grain stores are insufficient. They need to fight eastward and take Hehuang."

Only then did Chengzong notice the letter on the table addressed to him. He hurriedly tore it open. At first his expression was grave, but the more he read, the more relaxed he became, until his face even showed eagerness. Finally, he pushed the letter to Yang Dingrui and said, "Sir, look at what my brother says — farmland belongs to the commune collectively, each appointing four stewards, unified grain collection, unified establishment of commune schools and commune doctors. Quite interesting."

"Hm?"

Yang Dingrui took the letter and examined it carefully. He studied it for a long while, his face showing both shock and amusement. Pointing at the letter, he said to Chengzong, "This — this is the Fan clan fields!"

The hairs on the back of Advanced Scholar Yang's neck stood up, but his shock did not stem from this plan itself, but from Liu Chengzong's leaping mind. He slapped the table and said, "Chengzong, do you know about the Fan clan fields?"

"I know about them. My family had them. I ate from the clan fields when I was little," Chengzong said, amused. "If you hadn't mentioned it, sir, I truly wouldn't have recalled. It really is quite similar, yet also different."

"Indeed. The Fan clan has flourished for generations precisely because of the clan fields. Humble sons of the clan were spared from toiling for food and clothing, able to study, grasp reason, and produce Advanced Scholars generation after generation — thus prospering without decline."

The fine hairs on Yang Dingrui's body stood on end one by one. "This is treating an entire nation as a single clan. Before, it was the whole clan uniting against the outside. Once this decree is smoothly implemented, it will be the entire nation uniting against the outside!"

Having fired himself up, Yang Dingrui sobered in the next moment. Raising his hand, he said to Chengzong with extreme gravity, "Since you know of the clan fields, you surely also know that the Fan clan fields forbade clansmen from becoming tenant farmers… Tenant farmers toil bitterly, which is why their descendants need not rush about for food and cold."

Yang Dingrui's next words hit the nail on the head. He tapped the table lightly and said, "Then the Grand Marshal's national fields have both the security of clan fields and the labor of tenant farmers. When you go back, you must tell the Grand Marshal to be especially prudent about how much grain is collected from the people's communes."

"This directly determines whether this policy treats the nation as one clan, or treats all the people under heaven as tenant farmers."