From Chief to Ball

The new control system of Wu, Shi, and Lisi filled the power vacuum after the clan was dispersed, and it was the man named Mu Ma who took the first step, leading dozens of people in an alliance to pay the clan and public property needs on time After the food is collected, it is necessary to divide it out and pass it alone.

At the beginning, because of the shortage of cattle and horses, only five or six families could share one horse or cattle.Nowadays, with the increase in the number of cattle and horses and the issuance of copper coins by banks, some controls have begun to be relaxed, allowing private purchase of cattle and horses, but the price is still expensive, and not everyone can afford it.

Now Muma, as Lisi, leads the fifty households in one mile to cultivate, regulates the relationship between the fifty households, and the order of who uses the plowshare first and who uses it last during spring plowing.

Everyone admired him because he was very conscientious as Lisi. He never tricked himself into using it first when drawing lots in the spring, and he never kept private property when distributing public benefits.When encountering things like labor service and military service, they will lead people to help those people cultivate the land well.

For several years in a row, people in this area have always been commended in Xia City every year. A banner made of white cloth with words of praise written on it is always hung near the courtyard of this Lisi, so high that people can see it will be able to see.

At the end of July in 34, news of the currency reform had been spreading in Xia City for a month.On the night at the end of the month, Mu Ma went door to door and asked if everyone had exchanged Taobei for city coins.

After getting affirmative answers from everyone, he invited everyone to discuss some matters in his courtyard tomorrow night.

The next day was the beginning of the month, any adult man had to go to the pastures outside the city for military training. .

As soon as it got dark, men and women from each family held large pottery bowls, with corn and rice on the bottom, and vegetables from each family poured on top, holding it firmly with one big hand. Mosquito smoke mixed with wormwood rose from the courtyard, and they searched for it at will. Place or sit or squat, eat and talk.

"I brought you here today because I want to tell you a few things."

Mu Ma put down the bowls and chopsticks, added grass to the mosquito smoke, turned his back to everyone and said casually: "There are now fifty families in our area, with a total area of ​​more than 4000 mu. Today Sihuo came to our Lisi. Not so many people are staring at how much grain we produce per mu of land, so we changed it later. Instead of getting one out of every ten mu of land, we pay [-] catties of grain a year."

The crowd had no objection, and only said: "Not much, it's the same as before. The manure used last year grew quite well, and I collected a lot more. It's not as much as before for Tao Bei. It turns out that the food It's quite expensive, why has it become more and more cheap in the past two years?"

Mu Ma nodded and said: "What I'm saying is that the food is probably getting cheaper and cheaper. I've been thinking about one thing for the past few days, and I just want to discuss it with you today."

"I thought, if we have enough carts, oxen, and plowshares for the [-] acres of land, it will take less than [-] households and [-] people to cultivate it. Now every family has some copper coins, but every The family can’t even afford a set of columbine carts, plowshares and oxen, and they want to save the money for seven or eight years before buying it, or renting public property first.”

"If you want me to say... Let's scrape together the money and buy more plowshares for cattle and horses. We will plant the land together, and we will divide the grain after we harvest it. Do you think it's okay? I'll forget it. We can buy a complete set of money from each family. Buying ten sets, if we have ten sets of plowshares, you say that planting the four thousand acres of land will be completed in three to five days? How much work will be saved?"

He is usually fair, and there are many things that he works together on weekdays. After hesitating for a while, everyone agrees. Only one person asks: "Then what are we going to do with the rest of the time? The land around the city is almost completely reclaimed." No matter how far away you are, you have to drive a car, and you won’t be able to come back in a day.”

Mu Ma smiled and said: "Didn't you say it before? I'm afraid food is getting cheaper and cheaper. I'm thinking about doing something else. You see, the money in the hands of a family can't do anything. Together, that’s not a small amount of money. Last time when Ji Xia built Yucheng, he was short of money, so why don’t we all come together? We can learn from it.”

"Today, Sihuo told me that Yucheng might need a batch of wool next year. We can't do it alone. One is that wool shearing is too expensive, and each family raises one head. How can there be a single person to raise a group? Except Yang, if we can finish the work in the field early, we can also work together to set up a woodworking factory. I reckon that columbine carts will sell well, and other cities will also need it. It is definitely not possible to do it alone. Thirty people can come to teach carpentry. We can also bring in another pond over there to raise fish, but if one person is not busy, he can't pay that much money..."

He listed many things that have been deregulated. Although the deregulation has been deregulated, there are still people who have reviewed and approved it. Some obviously excess production capacity is not allowed. In fact, it has not been deregulated, but it has been relaxed. It is still controlled by the city. Yap regulation.

It's just that these deregulation matters are far away from these low-level Xiacheng people. Not everyone has so many land slaves and surplus property that can be used for this.

But Muma skillfully gathered these scattered copper coins together, and it can do some great things.The people in Yilizhong usually have a good relationship, and there is a lot of land. Hearing what Muma said, everyone is already moved.

Mu Ma took a wooden stick and shouted: "Lao Qi, call your child over, can he not count? Let him calculate how much our fifty households can get together."

When the man called his own child, they squatted by the fire, and none of them told the money in their hands without hiding anything. They just went to the bank to exchange Tao Bei a while ago, and even if they wanted to hide it, they would be a bit embarrassed. Excuse me.

The child calculated for a while, and said a number that surprised everyone.

Mu Ma made a rough calculation and said: "Well, let's buy eight sets of plowshares, and the land of each family will be counted together, and the grain will be divided according to the amount of land. After that, we will open a small wooden utensil. Workshop, spend money to go to the public property to hire a carpenter, we will do it at home during the slack season, and hire some people. Now many slaves have become adults, but they have no land, just let them come to our carpentry workshop to work, we I also do it during the slack season.”

Everyone knows that columbine carts are in great demand now, and both cities of Ewei and Wei are purchasing them, but it is impossible to make them without the guidance of carpenters.And Sihuo also clearly told everyone that unless the scale is large enough for a woodworking workshop with more than 30 people, he will not give advice to carpenters.

A few people couldn't help but muttered: "It's a pity that the charity law is only valid for Yucheng, otherwise we would have saved a lot of money for hiring workers. Just give them something to eat. It's different now, we also have more workshops in Xiacheng Yes, there are fewer hired workers."

"If only... if only our slaves in Xiacheng could have their own piece of land, I don't mean to pity them, but if they have their own land, our columbine carts will sell more."

Mu Ma smiled and said: "Don't think about it. But even if we hire fewer people, the money we all raise is not enough. I was thinking, let's put together a thousand acres of land and go to the bank to borrow some money , It is estimated that it will be able to earn back within a year. Now the car can make some money, and I am afraid that it will not be able to make money in a few years, but we will be rich here in a few years, and we can do other things. But if a single household wants to do something, I'm afraid it will be very difficult, unless your children are lucky and good at learning, and in the future they can save a lot of manpower if they come up with something, Jixia will reward a lot..."

Everyone laughed, although there are a few smart children in our family, but this is a bit far away, and besides, they don't know what they will be like when they grow up.

After discussing some details, in the cool night, the fifty households vowed to use the land and property together.

It is completely different from the clan era, except that Lisi replaced the clan leader, and the land is not public, but private, and it is just concentrated and worked together to save labor time.

Everyone went to the bank the next day, mortgaged the land, loaned out a large amount of copper coins, and ordered some utensils and tools, and Mu Ma went to the hall of the council to discuss this matter with the secretary.

Si Kuo didn't say anything, asked them about their size, and agreed to hire carpenters, but only told them not to lose the grain they had to pay every year, and the land should not be left unused.Numa naturally agreed.

Taking advantage of half a month before the autumn planting, people from fifty households happily bought back cattle and horses, allocated twenty households to prepare for autumn plowing, and the rest built the big house for the future workshop, and then Someone went to take the lead in purchasing timber isinglass.

At the end of August, [-] households easily completed the autumn plowing with the help of columbine plowshares, and prepared hay for winter.

By the beginning of October, the first batch of columbine carts had been made.

It could have been earlier, but in mid-September everyone must go to repair the Xiaqu, no matter who they are, otherwise the punishment will be severe.After the repair of the main trunk, a special person will come to inspect the canals near each farmland. The work must be completed after the repair is qualified. This busy work lasts for more than half a month.

Those slaves who have been human but have nothing for a long time also have a very comfortable year. The charity decree is written on a wooden board instead of a special clay board, so it is only applicable in Yucheng instead of the whole summer. The city system is common, they don't need to be sent to the workshop to work, they can have their own choices.

The newly established workshops know that they will make a lot of money next year, so they urgently need a group of hired workers. Therefore, the price of hired workers cannot be like Yucheng, which is almost cheaper than slaves, and the new regulations require that workshops can only hire people and not slaves. So such a comfortable life makes them quite happy.

After the first batch of columbine vehicles were made, they were sent to the government hall for inspection and passed an order for [-] sets. The order was required to be delivered by February next year, and heavy fines would be imposed if they were overdue.

And the requirements must be as qualified as the samples, and the only exception to the order is the occurrence of war and compulsory recruitment.

Everyone summed it up, and it happened that there was nothing to do in winter, so they took the order.After returning home, they all laughed from ear to ear. If they do well, by February next year, they will not only be able to repay the loan from the bank, but also earn a good fortune.

For the city, it also made a fortune.It doesn't refer to those price differences, but refers to these people who were originally at the bottom. Originally, they could only be bound to the land, but now they can make use of the long winter and slack time, which is equivalent to the fact that the city has more money invisibly. some population.

Mu Ma and the others went back with an order of [-] sets to celebrate, bought some meat and had a good meal with the hired workers.

Their deepest memory of the 34th year of the Chinese calendar is not the currency reform, the new covenant of Caohe, or the great victory of the Dahe tribes.

Their deepest memory is the meal of wine and meat tonight. Everyone sat around happily, dreaming about their life next year.

They have not been happy every day this year, they have cried, laughed, angered and endured, but all this will fade after many years, but the feast of this night will always be remembered in my heart.

For them, this is just life, but for Xia Cheng, it is another way.The city's policies affect them, and they in turn affect the city.

As the first batch of very special collective production workshops in the Xiacheng system, Chen Jian did not publicize as much as he did when he promoted private ownership in order to disintegrate the clan, nor did he foster a model. Can't stand it.

On the contrary, all workshops with more than 30 employees must be reviewed and approved by the Department of Planning and Statistics before they can be established, while those with fewer than 30 employees will not receive technical support.So it seems that the control has been liberalized, but in fact it is still a kind of strict control.

The signing of the new Covenant of Caohe and the promotion of currency have allowed such a collective workshop to exist, and it has also allowed more people to be tied to the chariot of Xiacheng's interests.

Uncontrolled production capacity will cause major problems, and more markets need wars. Xiacheng is not yet ready for a protracted war with the rising sun.

Future wars are inevitable, no matter what the reason is, the result will be the same, and even as the reform deepens, it will be bound together with all the people of the country.

It’s just that it’s far from ready now, Xiacheng’s chariot now only has a few thousand people, and those 8000 to [-] people in Yucheng are still alienated, when they really join the Xiacheng system, Xiacheng will be considered ready .

Chapter 9 Six moments in 34 years ([-])

For those workshop workers in Yucheng, the 34th year of the Chinese calendar was a strange year. At least in 34th year, they were not citizens of Xiacheng.

Many new rules, new decrees and even currency reform seem far away from them. It seems that they are the same as before, but the conflict between reality and ideals has quietly come.

Between ideals and reality, they choose the reality that has a stake in them without any hesitation.

This choice heralds a great change in their hearts. They are no longer hostile to Yucheng, but link their own interests with Yucheng.