Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The big clans and the great clans are also different.

The Chen family in Jiangzhou takes care of everything in the family.

Although the clan members have to hand over their income, they can also keep part of it, and the remaining money is distributed by the family.

There is no need to worry about birth, old age, illness and death, no need to worry about food, housing, marriage. You can choose to study and become an official, you can choose to trade and do business, or you can hold various positions within the clan.

When encountering three disasters and six diseases, the family immediately comes to help.

As for the Hu family in Hualin, their management was more relaxed and they encouraged their people to spread their branches. Officials often moved to other places.

Separation of families within the clan is also allowed.

But each family is also controlled by the family. They also have clan property and relief funds, and will help clan members tide over difficulties.

The above two families all belong to "Yimen"

The third stop is Jianchang.

The next Leitang Hong family did not engage in the "Yimen" business model.

There are family assets, but not much.

Benefits are available, but they are insufficient and narrower in scope.

A large family has been divided into several branches, each with its own clan leader. There are connections with each other, but there are also conflicts, and even occasional land disputes.

Under each sect branch, it is divided into many small sects and small households.

There are even those who are not doing well enough and have become tenant farmers, having to farm the land of wealthy members of their own clan.

…

The location of the Hong family in Leitang is sandwiched between the Chen family and the Hu family.

Moreover, the Hong family has conflicts with the Chen family.

Jianchang County is the base camp of the Hong family, but the Chen family has been annexing and expanding in Jianchang.

Zhang Liangyou and many scholars followed the governor and killed him in a mighty manner.

There were three to four thousand scholars, and about two thousand people signed up.

They were extremely excited at the moment, as if they had been practicing hard in the mountains for ten years and then suddenly came down with their swords to slay demons.

The fleet had just arrived at Pingting Town and had not yet arrived at Jianchang County. The heads of several clans of the Hong family were already waiting outside the town.

Wei Liangchen passed by here when he went to deal with the Hu family.

A few days have passed, and word has spread about what happened to Chen in Jiangzhou.

"Old man xxx pays homage to the governor!" Several clan leaders bowed in unison.

Wei Liangchen asked: "Who is the head patriarch of the Hong family?"

An old man took half a step forward: "Old man Hong Xu."

Wei Liangchen asked: "Do you know about the Chen family in Jiangzhou?"

Hong Xu replied: "I have heard a little bit."

Wei Liangchen asked: "What do you, the Hong family, think?"

Hong Xu said: "The Hong family will definitely cooperate with the government to acquire land. If the governor is short of manpower, the Hong family is willing to provide a hundred literate young people to accompany him."

Are you giving in now?

Wei Liangchen felt so boring.

He had just started to exert his efforts and only managed to clean up two families, but the third family was actually frightened.

Actually, it would be abnormal not to be scared.

Leitang Hong's fortune came later, far behind Yimen Chen and Yimen Hu. Moreover, being sandwiched between these two righteous sects, there was not much room for mergers and expansion.

The bigger ones from the two neighboring families have given in, but the smaller one in the middle still dares to jump?

Wei Liangchen's mood became cheerful and he directly talked about personal matters: "I heard something when I was young. I heard that there was a scholar in Leitang, called Master Hong. He had five sons, one died in infancy, and the fourth son was a Jinshi, so he was called the Four. Britain."

Hong Xu replied: "That is my uncle, who has been gone for many years. The four yings are all my cousins, and the last one died of illness last year."

"What a pity." Wei Liangchen sighed.

Hong Shimin is Huang Tingjian's brother-in-law. The Hong family has a Leitang Academy, where Huang Tingjian lectures all year round.

Because Huang Tingjian was in charge, Leitang Academy was one of the best in Jiangxi at that time.

Later, it was implicated in party strife, and then the Yuanyou Party was banned. Leitang Academy gradually declined. There are currently only two to three hundred students, and most of them are descendants of the Hong family.

The Leitang Hong family is continuing to decline.

Hong Xu led Wei Liangchen to the academy, chatting along the way but not talking about serious matters.

While chatting, Wei Liangchen asked: "Poyang Hong family, are we still close to you?"

Hong Xu replied: "Although the two clans share the same origin, there are many Hong clans in Jiangxi and there is not much connection."

Wei Liangchen said: "You write a letter to the Hong family in Poyang and say that the Hong family in Leitang is willing to cooperate with the land. In two days, I will send officials and scholars to Poyang to clear the land."

"I will definitely write and tell you." Hong Xu agreed quickly.

The Hong family in Poyang currently has a Hong Hao, who serves as the Right Shaoqing of Dali Temple and is on an envoy to the Western Regions to contact Yelu Dashi.

Hong Hao was known as "Su Wu of the Southern Song Dynasty". Because of his tough attitude, he was detained by the Jin Kingdom for fifteen years.

Hong Hao also had a son, Hong Shi, who was forced to flee the country with his elderly grandmother, sick mother, five younger brothers, and three younger sisters when he was thirteen years old. He was dismissed from office by Qin Hui for many years. Later, he achieved great success in Caishiji and became the prime minister during the Xiaozong period of Song Dynasty.

Wei Liangchen continued: "Your Majesty has a decree. If it were not the Yimen family, there would be no need to move so many people. As long as you, the Leitanghong family, manage the land honestly and obey the imperial court, you can move one-fifth of the land. But. Half of the Yimen family must be demolished, and the remaining ones must be divided into different families. "

"Your Majesty is wise!" Hong Xu was overjoyed.

"Yimen" is righteous, which is beneficial to local stability, especially in disaster years.

Therefore, it is politically correct whether from the perspective of Confucian morality or imperial rule.

The imperial court encouraged and rewarded this model, and big families imitated it one after another.

For example, Fan Zhongyan did this to Fan.

But Fan Zhongyan's righteous family is similar to the Hu family in Hualin, and not as perverted as the Chen family in Jiangzhou.

The Yimen model that was rewarded in the Song Dynasty is now suppressed by the Ming Dynasty!

Wei Liangchen said: "When you migrate, you decide for yourself who will go and who will stay. But remember, those who have little land will not move."

Hearing this, the smile on Hong Xu's face disappeared.

Many Hong clan members have become tenants or homesteaders due to their long bloodline. Hong Xu planned to move these people away, but Wei Liangchen actually had a plan to deal with it, leaving no loophole for him to take advantage of.

This is forcing the Hong family to divide the family and farmland themselves!

It is impossible to pretend to divide the family, because the government will clear the land and then watch the wealthy families divide their families.

Once the family division is completed, the government will issue land deeds, and all previous old land deeds will be invalidated.

The government clearly knows how many people and fields each family has. And based on the land and population, determine which family meets the migration conditions.

If the family division and property analysis were extremely thorough, there would be no need to move at all. Will this happen?

possible.

But that definitely belongs to a ruthless person, which means giving away a large amount of land for free to down-and-out tribesmen, or even to tenants with other surnames, without leaving much for themselves.

The imperial court would be happy to see this achieved.

…

The heads of several major clan branches of the Leitang Hong clan sat together for a meeting to discuss.

"The imperial court is too cruel, forcing us to divide our family into pieces."

"Is it possible to give away the land to the tribesmen and tenants first, and then take it back after the storm has passed? Or when the land is donated, the family of the recipient of the land can write an IOU, and then use those IOUs to exchange for the land deed?"

"Are you a fool to be a government official?"

"Why can't you do this?"

"Whether it is land divided among families or land given to a foreigner, the land deed must be reissued by the government. How can those small households be willing to hand over the land deed after they have obtained it? They will definitely report it to the government at that time, even if they have an IOU. will also be deemed invalid.”

"More than that. Governor Wei is extremely cunning. He divided and disintegrated various clans, and now he wants to sow discord within the clan."

"Why can't I understand?"

"In the past, we were able to resist the government because the whole family was united. Once the family is divided and the property is divided, it becomes a mess. If you want to take back the land deed, the first person to object is not the government, but the tribesmen and foreign surnames who have obtained the land! When the time comes, , it’s not that the Hong family is working together to suppress the foreign surname, but the tribe and the foreign surname are joining forces to resist the clan! "

"This guy named Wei is indeed not a good person. Sooner or later he will be struck by lightning!"

"so what should I do now?"

"We can only try to separate the families as much as possible, but each branch must have land in its hands, otherwise it will not be able to maintain it in the future. Move away those concubines who have children, maids who have children, and those who are uneducated and have bad behavior. But concubines If the son born by the servant is good in learning, he must stay for the imperial examination."

"Those who move must also have land in their name, which can be used to exchange land with those in Hunan. Will these lands be handed over to the government?"

"What else can you do? The Chen family in Jiangzhou has surrendered, why do you still want to fight against the imperial court?"

"That's too much! If the Supreme Emperor were in power, such a thing would definitely not happen. The Supreme Emperor is a benevolent king, and the current emperor is just..."

"Silence! Don't speak nonsense, or you may risk annihilation."

"..."

This group of old men discussed back and forth in the secret room and found that all the loopholes had been blocked by Wei Liangchen.

In the end, Hong Xu could only helplessly conclude: "We are nothing. The Chen family in Jiangzhou has suffered heavy losses. The Chen family has to move away half of the clan, and the Jiangzhou land has been replaced countless times, and the family has to be divided. His family, the Chen family in Yimen, Jiangzhou From now on, we can only call them Jiangzhou Chen family. We only need to move one-fifth of them, and the ancestral hall is in Jianchang, so we no longer have to worry about competing with the Chen family for land!"

"Yes, although we are miserable, the Chen family in Jiangzhou is even worse. Counting inside and outside, we still make a profit." This man knows how to settle accounts.

Hong Xu suddenly laughed out loud: "I heard that the head of the Chen family and several clan elders were taken to Nanchang and handed over to the Sanfa Division for trial. What they did made the court angry in the former Song Dynasty, and now they actually Still not restrained.”

"Yes, there are many righteous sects in the world, but there are few such as the Chen family in Jiangzhou."

"Let's settle this matter quickly. There are still a few members of my Hong family who are serving as officials, so don't affect their promotion."

"As long as there are members of the clan who are still serving as officials, one day we can revitalize the family!"

"..."

Outside Leitang Academy.

Zhang Liangyou couldn't help but ask: "Governor Wei, the previous dynasty has always praised Yimen, why did the Ming Dynasty suppress Yimen? The students have this doubt in their minds, and I beg the Governor to enlighten me."

When these words were asked, the accompanying scholars looked over one after another, pricking up their ears and waiting to hear the answer.

Wei Liangchen smiled and said: "Everyone, come here, sit down where you are, don't be afraid of getting your clothes dirty. As early as the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the court split up the migrating clans in Kaifeng Mansion, and many courtiers raised questions. Did you know that at that time, His Majesty What’s the answer?”

(I recommend Daoyi Geng’s new book "The Glorious Years of China 1991". After reading this book today, Lao Wang decided to write about the city for the next one. The beginning of the new book has already been conceived.)

(I will post the link to Dao Yi Peng’s new book later.)