It's midsummer again in May, everything is full of vitality.

When Zhang Shuye, the chief minister of the Song Dynasty, led by the Song Dynasty's Tongzhi Privy Council, and Cai You, the team of He Envoys led by the Song Dynasty's special and plenipotentiary minister in the Great Zhou Dynasty, entered the jurisdiction of Tianjin Prefecture through the borders of the Song and Zhou dynasties, they immediately felt a different kind of vitality and vitality.

The roads passed from the countryside of Tianjin Prefecture are paved with large neatly cut stones, wide and flat. The four-wheeled carriage is moving on it, which is smooth and comfortable, and is in sharp contrast to the bumps and shaking in Cangzhou and sometimes trapped in mud pits.

Because we had to carefully observe the Great Zhou Republic, Zhang Shuye and Cai You gave up the route of taking the official boat along the Yellow River and the border river to Tianjin. Instead, they got off the boat in Nanping County, Cangzhou, and then transferred to the four-wheeled carriage produced in Tianjin, and went north to Tianjin along the Cangzhou official road and Tianjin Prefecture Highway (the road of the citizen country is of course a highway).

The official roads in Cangzhou are all dirt roads, and the land on the roadside is almost all large areas of pasture land, surrounded by wooden fences, with grass planted inside and filled with cattle and sheep.

Zhang Shuye, who is very familiar with the situation in Cangzhou, knew that almost all the owners of these ranches were close to Tianjin wealthy merchants. The scale of the cattle and sheep trade between Song and Zhou (Youzhou) was very large. The prodigal merchants in Zhou State could exchange salt, cloth, grain and wine from the grassland for a large amount of cattle and sheep every year. Some of them would be sold to the Song Dynasty to earn a generous price difference.

However, the land of Zhou State is basically linked to military service, and there is very little private land that can be bought and sold freely. Therefore, the rich merchants of Zhou State who were engaged in cattle and sheep business could not obtain ranches in Tianjin Prefecture, so they could only make up for the land of Cangzhou under the jurisdiction of the Song Dynasty.

They either bought it, colluded with the Cangzhou government and gentry to invade (many Tianjin merchants were originally from Cangzhou and had power in Cangzhou), or obtained the cavalry of Cangzhou (referring to the southern part of Cangzhou) through various means. They were also the area where knights were placed in the past, so there were many knight manors. However, the owners of these manors now have their own homes and basically have no time to cook the manors. However, the Song Dynasty court was afraid of causing trouble and did not take back these cavalry land. So they gave Tianjin merchants the opportunity to rent for a low price for a long time.

The merchants who obtained the land in Cangzhou did not rent the land to tenant farmers because it was difficult to rent it out. Cangzhou was too close to Tianjin and most of the people who had the strength to farm went to Tianjin to work, and some of them became landlords and citizens.

Therefore, establishing a pasture in Cangzhou to gain weight and shear the cattle and sheep purchased on the grassland became a transaction that could create the greatest value for the land in Cangzhou.

So by the first year of the Republic (the fourth year of Zhenghe or 1114 AD), Cangzhou had already experienced a situation of "sheep eating people". Except for the Nanpi Shang City that became prosperous due to the Song and Zhou trade, there were only increasingly dilapidated towns, almost abandoned villages and large areas of pastures, which seemed a bit depressed.

However, after entering Tianjin Prefecture, depression and destruction were immediately replaced by a prosperous and prosperous period.

Not only is the road flat and wide, but trees are also planted on both sides of the road. Walking there is like walking through the shade of a tree, which is very comfortable.

Through the separation between the trees, what Zhang Shuye and Cai You saw were rows of ash trees (ash trees are economical trees that can raise ashworms, and can also be used to make long spears) divided into manors, all of which are semi-cultivated and semi-pardoned.

The cultivated part is now lush. In addition to the wheat that is seen many on the northern plains, there are also some low shrubs, which should be cotton introduced from the territory of the Indian Protectorate.

On the pastures used to raise livestock, most of them are horses. Most of them are tall and strong, with bright fur. Among them are good horses that can make Zhang Shuye’s eyes shine!

In the center of large wheat fields, cotton fields and pastures are docks surrounded by trenches and red brick walls.

The area of ​​these wall docks is not large, it is just a small square city wall building. Some wall docks have four corners protruding outward, forming a structure similar to "horse face" (that is, high platform facilities protruding outside the city wall).

"Why are there so many castles?" Cai You asked with a frown at a wall near the road.

"These are called Biwu, which are the residences of the knights of Zhou Kingdom in the countryside. A Biwu is usually built by four or five families, surrounded by four or five knight manors, each manor is 1,500 acres of land. One hundred Biwu builds a hundred household township, and four or five hundred knights make a village agreement, elect the fellow villagers, and set up a village school..."

Uncle Zhang talked and was full of envy of the society in the rural areas of Tianjin in his words.

"What? Country appointments, hometown elders, rural students... Is this Tianjin or Lantian?"

As the son of Cai Jing, the boss of the "old party", Cai You certainly also advocated the Lantian Lu Family Township Agreement. But he never expected that in Tianjin, where the ceremony collapsed and the music was broken, there was actually someone practicing the hometown agreement in Tianjin without a father or a king.

And...it looks pretty good!

"How can Lantian compare with this?" Zhang Shuye sneered, "What kind of family is the Lü family? What kind of appointment is good for appointing people with Shengdou? The so-called rural agreement is just the words of the Lü family.

However, the rich and poor, the superiors and inferior families in Tianjin seemed to have thousands of five hundred acres of land to support scholars. Guanzi said: If the warehouse is solid, we know etiquette, and we have enough food and clothing, we know honor and disgrace. We are probably talking about families like them? Moreover, the children of the cavalry of Zhou had long been able to attend elementary school for free, and there were rural education in the hundreds of households. Therefore, almost everyone of the knights knew the knowledge and knowledge of both civil and military. Even women knew the words and learned the sword and bow. Only in this way could the four or five hundred schools of thought be able to carry out the township agreement and study autonomously."

If we use the Western class division theory in later generations to divide the class into the cavalry of Zhou, they are probably all rich peasants (the Chinese standard rich peasants are not rich at all), and they are not feudal lords, because they have no territory and only vocational farms. Moreover, they all have to bear military obligations, which is a bit similar to the Prussian Junkers.

Hundreds of such rich military peasants gathered together, all have culture and force. Their economic status was always on their shoulders, and no one owed anyone, and no one took the job for anyone. When they joined the army, they were still comrades. Naturally, they could make a village agreement and abide by it together.

If it were a family of bureaucratic landlords and a group of poor and poor lower-middle peasants, what a big deal would be! Even if you make a village appointment, it would be a fool.

Therefore, even if the "old party" in the Song Dynasty ruled in recent years, it basically had no effect. Even if someone responded, it was just a confusion between the upper and lower levels and deceived some political achievements.

"The county is above the township," Zhang Shu said at night. "A hundred wu is a township, and five townships usually have one county. The county seat is located in the commercial city where the transportation is at the forefront. The commercial city is usually reserved for the chamber of commerce, and the commercial city is concluded to enter into a commercial agreement, and tax-bearing autonomy is implemented. The county seat of the Zhou State includes a county government, a court, a county magistrate office, a council, a tax office, and a military service office. Among them, the county government is under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate, the county magistrate office, and the tax office.

The jury is located in Zhou Gong, who is directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Legal Affairs (formerly the Legal Affairs Supervisor), and the county magistrate cannot control it.

The military service office is under the jurisdiction of the Defense Envoy of the Prefecture, responsible for managing the preparations and convening of the soldiers and knights in the township.

As for the power and responsibility of the board of directors, it varies from place to place. If it is a county council directly under the prefecture, it is a power for supervision and review. If it is a county council of an autonomous prefecture, it depends on the arrangements of the prefecture. In some places, county councils can elect county magistrates and county magistrates...the real power is quite large!"

Cai You nodded while listening. What Zhang Shuye said was all collected through the northern room of the Privy Council. It was not as deep as possible, but it was much better than making Cai You look at it in a dark way.

After listening for a while, he suddenly discovered a problem. The governance of Zhou State seemed simple and efficient, and well-organized. There were very few offices at all levels, but they had clear rights and responsibilities, and they were all supervised more effectively.

But according to the Zhou Dynasty's approach, the local power and force seem to be too great. For example, in Tianjin Prefecture, a mere county can have about 2,500 knight households. If fully mobilized, tens of thousands of horsemen can be pulled out!

If it is a county with the majority of military households in the palace, there may be more troops to mobilize.

The county level is so powerful, how strong are the troops at the two levels of the state and prefecture?

The prefecture is so powerful, but the imperial court still has such jurisdiction?

"Haha," Zhang Shuye heard Cai You's question and just smiled, "It depends on Brother Anju to find out... To be honest, I can't figure it out. Maybe it's Xiaobang Yizhi? Everything is under my nose, how can it go?

In the past, when Li Tang was in its early rise, Guanlong was the foundation, and Guanzhong was full of military residences, but there were not many military residences elsewhere. Maybe this is the reason?"

Zhang Shuye is worthy of being the descendant of Yun Wen and Wu, and is well aware of allusions of military affairs in various dynasties. Therefore, it can be seen at a glance that the civic system implemented by Wu Haogu is actually an upgraded version of the Sui and Tang dynasties. It strengthens the economic strength of the military (knight) households, allowing them to serve better. At the same time, it enhances their social status and allows them to resist the deprivation of powerful families.

Cai You frowned: "Wouldn't that mean that Zhou State can follow the example of Li Tang, take Yan and Liao as the basis, and use citizens to control the world?"

"It should be possible!" Zhang Shuye held his beard and his face became solemn. "Maybe Wu Haogu hadn't thought of this method yet. Maybe Zhou State needs to rest and recuperate... If you practice the method of integrating military forces with agriculture, you must be relaxed and relaxed, and you should not just use strong forces. Otherwise, the military will be used too much, the farming will be abandoned, the government soldiers and knights will go bankrupt and be poor, and you will be unable to afford military service. Youzhou suddenly expanded and gained thousands of miles of fertile soil in western Liaodong and Liaodong. It will be difficult to digest without ten years of rest."

Cai You asked: "That ten years later..."

Uncle Zhang shook his head gently, "The world is in chaos!"

"It will definitely be messy?"

"must!"

"Why?" Cai You was puzzled.

Zhang Shuye sighed: "Because the manor does not separate its property, there are many knights and grandchildren! In ten years, when the knights and the sons of the military corps of the mansion grow up, the eldest son can inherit the manor, what should the younger sons do?"

"real?"

"I can't be wrong. My family knows the hardships of having too many sons! My ancestor has 24 sons! Think about it, there was no war after Chanyuan, how hard it was?"

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Chapter completed!