Chapter 45: Land Redistribution! Building a New Countryside!

Yuner slept soundly through the night until dawn. It was only during breakfast that he learned Uncle Li had returned to Xijing overnight. Li Fu also told Yuner that this urgent departure was entirely for Yuner's future.

At the mere mention of this, Yuner felt a sense of helplessness.

Ever since he had fished the Zhanlu Sword out of that pile of gold, silver, and jewels, his father had constantly suspected that this was a sign of the Mandate of Heaven, destined for the Li family to successfully stage a rebellion.

As far as Yuner was concerned, this was sheer superstition.

Perhaps the symbolism of the Zhanlu Sword was simply too auspicious, making every single one of them feel as though the heavens were giving a clear directive, urging them to strike while the iron was hot.

Fortunately, his father had not yet gone so far as to raise a great banner and shout out that he was rebelling. Although Yuner could also see that the State of Liang was somewhat unstable, this situation was just like the Yellow Turban Rebellion that had kicked off the turbulent Three Kingdoms era—it would merely serve to pave the way for future ambitious schemers.

While most people attributed the failure of the Yellow Turban Rebellion to a leak by informers, the primary reason was that the group was as loose as scattered sand, completely lacking particularly outstanding talent among both the leadership and the subordinate generals. More importantly, the Yellow Turban movement lacked a clear guiding program; bluntly put, they had no governing ideology.

They relied on nothing more than a single slogan: "The blue sky is dead, the yellow sky shall rise; in the year of Jiazi, great peace shall reign across the land." Such a slogan could only sweep up a mass of ignorant vagrants in the initial stages, and these vagrants, blindly drifting together like a swarm of locusts, would devour every city they conquered until they ended up behaving no differently from common bandits. Without a unified political objective or program, and failing to properly administer the territories they captured, their eventual collapse was entirely natural.

With Uncle Li constantly muttering about rebellion day in and day out, Yuner had occasionally pondered what he could do if they suddenly decided to take up arms.

What other choice did he have? He was Li Fu's little darling, their fates were tightly bound together, and running away was simply not an option.

Drawing upon the memories of his past life as a college student, Yuner had even brainstormed quite a few simple political slogans and objectives that had appeared in history. For instance, shouting things like, "I am troubled by the inequality between the rich and the poor, and now I shall equalize them for you," or "Establish laws and regulations, rescue the common people, multiply the population, and never add taxes again." For something a bit more earthy, they could shout, "Eat her mother's, drink her mother's, open the city gates to welcome King Li; when King Li comes, no grain tax is taken."

Shouting such bullshit slogans would probably make it much easier for the Li clan to sweep up vagrants in the early stages compared to the Yellow Turgans, and their cohesion might even be stronger. At the very least, if someone asked those vagrants why they were following the Li clan to attack cities, they could articulate a reason that benefited themselves.

Generally speaking, as long as someone could grab hold of the wheels of this wildly rolling chariot in the later stages and patch up the broken carriage, there was a chance it might actually reach the destination.

This was the worst-case scenario Yuner had mapped out in his mind, and he had never mentioned these thoughts to Li Fu. Fortunately, Li Fu and the others were not foolish enough to make themselves the primary targets standing out in the open.

"Why are you spacing out while eating, Yuner?" Li Fu asked with a chuckle, reaching out to gently pat the boy's head upon seeing his deep contemplation.

Yuner hurriedly resumed eating, speaking between bites, "Dad, will it take Uncle Li a very long time to come back?"

Even with the fastest horses and a completely peaceful journey where every river had a bridge and every mountain had a road, the round trip between Xijing and Liangzhou would still take more than two months. All they could do was wait.

Transportation truly was terribly inefficient in this era.

"That's why Uncle Li left Jiang Guang and the others behind. He can travel faster alone, and besides, he was worried you wouldn't have enough people at your disposal."

Yuner gave a cheeky little chuckle.

According to his plans for reclaiming wasteland, it would go far beyond mere agricultural reclamation; he intended to practically rebuild Long County entirely according to his own blueprint. There would be plenty of tossing and turning ahead.

Yuner happily told Li Fu that he had even come up with several slogans for this wasteland reclamation project: "Let those who get rich first drive those who get rich later, marching together toward the path of prosperity," and "If you want to be rich, build roads first; build new rural areas and cultivate new farmers!"

Li Fu could not help laughing as he said, "What on earth goes through that little head of yours every day? Where do you even come up with such bizarre terms?"

Yuner paid him no mind.

He was dead serious. The moment he returned to Long County, he would have Gouzi and the others go out and buy some red cloth, write these slogans on them, and hang them all up.

Let's get the construction atmosphere thriving!

As soon as he finished his breakfast, Yuner dragged Li Fu along to discuss various construction details. He also summoned Jiang Guang to instruct him that if the able-bodied young men from Lidiashia Township who had been deceived by Ma Yi were still alive, they should be told not to spread wild rumors. Having consumed two days of thick porridge, they had recovered enough strength; once they were fit, they should be allowed to return home, since their families—old and young alike—were undoubtedly worried about them.

Additionally, he instructed them to ask the vagrants inside the valley whether any wished to return to their hometowns. Magistrate Li and Young Master Li of Long County were willing to provide them with travel expenses and grain for the journey home, and whether they chose to leave or stay would be entirely voluntary, with no coercion.

People of this era possessed a strong sense of clan loyalty, upholding the principle that "a person is cheap when far from home, just as goods are valued when away from their origin." Although they had fled their hometowns due to famine, many still longed to go back if there was any possibility of doing so.

After receiving his instructions, Jiang Guang went off to handle the matters, while Yuner once again pulled Li Fu back to continue their discussions. It took them an entire afternoon before Yuner finally felt satisfied that things were nearly complete. Any further additions would have to depend on what situations they encountered during actual implementation.

Looking at the two dozen sheets of blank paper piled up, filled with detailed rules and clauses line by line, Li Fu could hardly believe that this was something he had actually helped produce.

To be honest, he was a perseverant scholar and a relatively diligent official. Yet Long County was only slightly better off than other counties. But if things were carried out according to Yuner's proposals, a vague feeling arose in Li Fu's heart that Long County would likely undergo a drastic transformation—and in a very good direction.

Give Long County two or three years, and if Zheng Zuosheng were to be called over to take a look, it would probably scare him half to death.

At the mere thought of such a scene, Li Fu felt a sense of eager anticipation.

And then there was Meng Fu, a man who constantly argued against heaven and earth; by then, he would be left completely speechless. Just imagining the shocked expressions on the faces of Meng Fu and Zheng Zuosheng gave Li Fu a tingling rush of pleasant satisfaction from the soles of his feet all the way to the top of his head.

Another night of sound sleep.

Spending yet another day in Lidiashia Township, a refreshed and invigorated Yuner ate his breakfast and enthusiastically set to work on serious business.

The day before, Li Fu had already sent Le Dan ahead to Long County to fetch the county lieutenant and the county丞, and incidentally to report their safety to Xin Niang and the others, letting them know they would be returning in a few days.

Along with Le Dan the previous day went Lu Tou and his men, who had already been delayed in Lidiashia Township for two days. If they did not return soon, that stubborn old man Wei Guan would start getting anxious.

Therefore, early in the morning, as soon as Yuner stepped out of the Zhao family residence, he spotted the county lieutenant and his group at the entrance, accompanied by Wei Guan and three other men.

Upon seeing Yuner, the old man Wei Guan broke into a smile full of wrinkles. Catching sight of Li Fu immediately afterward, his knees went weak as he prepared to prostrate himself in kowtow. Meanwhile, the scholar accompanying them blushed, caught in an awkward hesitation between kneeling and standing, feeling somewhat humiliated. It was much like the first time he had mixed into the crowd of vagrants to collect porridge, when he had used his hands to cover his face out of sheer mortification.

Ultimately, the scholar was given a sharp yank by Wei Guan, causing his knees to buckle and forcing him to his knees as well.

"Get up. Since we are not in the main hall, there is no need for such formalities," Li Fu said with a smile.

Wei Guan repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

Afterward, Li Fu looked down at Yuner and asked with a smile, "Are you going to walk a few steps on your own, Yuner, or should I carry you over?"

Yuner felt quite helpless about this. He was indeed capable of walking now, but his winter clothes were far too thick and heavy, weighing him down, not to mention how difficult the country paths were to navigate. An adult's normal stride required him to break into a trot just to keep up, all while having to watch his step to avoid falling.

Li Fu knew perfectly well that it was inconvenient for Yuner to walk yet deliberately asked him just to tease the boy. Over the past two days, Yuner had spoken with utmost earnestness about building the new countryside and had even argued with him logically and relentlessly on multiple occasions, leaving Li Fu unable to counter him.

Since the boy dared to talk back to his old father at such a tender age, and Li Fu couldn't win the arguments regarding serious matters, he deliberately provoked him over minor details.

This was probably one of the joys of raising a child.

Seeing Yuner open up his arms, Li Fu scooped him up and let out an exaggerated groan, "My, Yuner is truly solid; you've probably gotten even chubbier."

Yuner cast a sideways glance at Li Fu. Ever since acquiring the Zhanlu Sword, his father had acted as though a massive weight had been lifted from his heart, losing much of his usual sternness.

In Yuner's words, Li Fu had simply transferred the pressure elsewhere; he had long since been unable to carry the burden himself, and now that he decided his son was capable, completely ignoring the fact that he was still a two-year-old toddler, he had tossed the immensely "promising" undertaking of rebellion right onto the boy's shoulders.

Such a hard life.

At the entrance of Lidiashia Village, the three elders and the county inspector were already waiting.

It was worth noting that the "three elders" did not refer to a group of three individuals; the title originated from the requirement that the person holding the position must possess three specific virtues: integrity, firmness tempered with gentleness, and gentleness tempered with firmness, earning the recognition of the local community before serving as a township official. Their primary duties included mediating disputes within the township, though their more important responsibility lay in overseeing tax collection.

The township elder of Lidiashia was a seventy-year-old man. As the saying went, living to seventy was a rare occurrence since ancient times, making him a living symbol of auspicious longevity.

Not only had the elder come, but by the time Yuner woke up and had his breakfast, the township elders and county inspectors had already taken charge of notifying everyone throughout Lidiashia Township to gather at the village entrance, announcing that the county magistrate had words to impart to them.

There was no other major business; the main purpose was to distribute farmland to them and to arrange for a portion of the vagrants to be assimilated into Lidiashia Township.

The largest landowners in Lidiashia Township were members of the Zhao family, while a few other villagers retained only a fraction of their land.

Yuner had also made inquiries over the past few days. The Zhao family were thoroughly unscrupulous; nearly all the fertile grade-A land in Lidiashia Township had been forcibly acquired under their own names through various means such as forced buying and selling, usury followed by aggressive land seizure, and so forth. However, they did ensure that the tenant farmers of Lidiashia maintained a bare-minimum subsistence level.

Yuner's understanding was that the lower strata of the Liang State's society had already deteriorated to such an appalling degree that whenever anyone made even the slightest effort to do something, it somehow managed to manifest as a semblance of goodness.

Take the Zhao family, for instance.

They truly did swindle and seize the vast majority of good farmland, but as a result, these tenant farmers had no land registered under their names. Aside from certain per-capita and property taxes, they were spared the burden of grain taxes.

As the largest landowner, the Zhao family possessed their own methods for evading taxes and concealing real estate holdings; managing to pay less was a testament to their capability. On the other hand, if tenant farmers owned their own land, they were incapable of evading taxes; under layers of compounding levies, they would inevitably be driven to ruin and their families destroyed.

The Zhao family also placed heavy emphasis on clan connections. Under normal circumstances, they neither welcomed outsiders nor wished to hire other vagrants. Consequently, although the local tenant farmers of Lidiashia had been stripped of the vast majority of their yields, the family unexpectedly guaranteed their survival.

At least before Li Fu arrived in Long County, the people of Lidiashia Township did indeed depend somewhat on the Zhao family for their survival.

However, after Li Fu's arrival, while he largely avoided imposing layers of compounded taxes, the old habits were already deeply ingrained, and those beneath him would naturally exploit his authority for their own prestige. The people of Lidiashia Township had long since lost their land, so their lives had not changed significantly; they continued to live as they had before, half-starved from one end of the year to the other.

The previous night, Yuner had already considered how to deal with the Zhao family. Most of their family members were already dead, and among the remaining four or five, one had lost his last breath yesterday, while the doctor remarked that if one or two managed to survive, it would simply be due to sheer good luck.