The Extra Story is Completed and the World is Reunited
When the imperial edict of the first year of Taichu reached the southern village called "Yezhuao", the stir it caused was not as big as that caused by someone losing an old hen.
Under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village, several old men who had just paid their rent were squatting in the sun. They looked at each other in surprise as they listened to the literate old village chief stutteringly recite "By the Mandate of Heaven... the Emperor decrees... Ning Lingyi... Taichu..."
"A woman becoming emperor?" Li Laosan scratched his dusty head. "It's really strange, but what does it have to do with us?"
Wang Laoshuan sighed, "Yes, whether the emperor's surname is Ning or Zhang, shouldn't our land rent still be 70%? We still have to perform corvée labor every day."
The days are like the muddy river beside the village, flowing slowly forward.
The masters are still high and mighty, and the tenants in the village are still digging for food in the soil. The only disturbance may be that someone's family has a new girl who loses money, or a man is whipped for not being able to pay the rent.
Until one day, a clerk from the county came and said that as the head of a village, he had to learn to read and write, learn the "Daily Agricultural Lessons", and teach it to the whole village.
This made the old village chief very worried. He had spent more time touching a hoe than a pen in his life. The words on the "Daily Agricultural Lessons" could be recognized by him, but he could not recognize them.
The villagers treated it as a joke. Farming?
Their ancestors have all been good at this skill for generations, so do they still need to learn?
Who would have thought that within half a year, the county magistrate would come in person and examine the village chief with a stern face.
The old village chief hesitated and couldn't answer a single word.
The county magistrate immediately lost his temper, struck the old village chief with ten lashes, and scolded him, "Your Majesty has bestowed great grace upon you to promote education, and yet you dare neglect it! This 'Daily Agricultural Lesson' is crucial to increasing production and income; how can you afford to neglect it? If you can't learn it, you'll be unworthy of your position as village chief!"
The old village chief lay on the kang, his buttocks burning with pain, and he was shocked and scared.
There was no other way, so he had to ask for help from a distant cousin in the village who had attended elementary school for a few days in his early years. Every night, he would gather under the oil lamp and babbled like a child to learn to read. The next day, he would bite the bullet, gather the villagers, and stammer about things like "seed selection and seedling cultivation" and "composting and pest control."
At first, the villagers just watched the fun, but later they heard that they could learn a few words for free. Thinking that they might be able to understand the signs in the city in the future and avoid being cheated, they started to recite along from time to time.
For the first time, the night in Yezhuao was filled with the uneven sounds of reading, mixed with the barking of dogs and the chirping of insects, which seemed strange and fresh.
Changes are happening quietly in these little weird things.
In the spring of the fifth year of Taichu, several well-dressed officials suddenly came to the village, holding tape measures and thick books, saying that they were following the imperial court's order to re-measure the land and divide the land according to the number of people.
"Divide the land?" The villagers could hardly believe their ears.
When the land deeds with the big red seal were handed to them, some old people were so excited that they knelt down on the spot and kowtowed repeatedly towards the direction of the capital in the north.
"The land...is ours now?" Old Man Zhang clutched the deed, tears streaming down his face. "May God see through me! Long live the Emperor Taichu!"
Immediately afterwards, Mr. Wang, the county magistrate who owned thousands of acres of fertile land, was rampant in the countryside and had beaten several tenants to death. He was locked up by a group of soldiers.
It is said that he was reported in the provincial government, his property was confiscated, his land was confiscated, and part of it was actually distributed to his former tenants.
The world seems to be really different now.
The rent of the fields dropped unnoticed, and the masters became much more polite when collecting the rent, collecting 50% at most. If the year was good and the land was fertile, they would sometimes collect 30%.
Although there was still no oil or water in my stomach, the porridge in the bowl was finally thicker.
A few years later, officials came to the village again, beating gongs and announcing that all children, regardless of gender, had to go to the village primary school to learn to read when they reached a certain age.
The whole village was in an uproar.
"Why would a girl want to study? Won't she belong to someone else's family in the future?"
"Can learning a few words earn you a living? You'd better help with the housework at home!"
"I'm not even full yet, why are you doing this useless stuff?"
Despite their complaints, most families still sent their daughters to primary school. The girls were timid at first, but soon, the clear voices of their reading could be heard in the school.
The villagers still harbor doubts, wondering if the land they were given will one day be taken back. What's the point of a girl going to school?
They watched in silence, paid taxes, served, and lived.
As long as you can survive, you can live this life.
Until the autumn of the eighteenth year of Taichu.
The county's household clerk came to Yezhuao again, this time bringing a thick account book and a large wooden board.
He placed the wooden board under the old locust tree and wrote and drew on it with charcoal.
The villagers were called over and surrounded the place in three layers, feeling curious and uneasy.
The clerk cleared his throat and read aloud, "Fellow villagers, today, by order of the County Magistrate, I'm here to give you an account! In the eighteenth year of Taichu, our county paid a total of 300,000 dan and 500 dou of grain! That translates to 87,000 taels of silver!"
There was a buzzing sound below, like a pot exploding.
Three hundred thousand dan? Eighty-seven thousand taels? This was an astronomical sum they couldn't even imagine. Did they pay all of it?
The clerk ignored the commotion below and continued reading, "Where did the county spend all this money and grain? Let me tell you all."
"Our county spent three thousand taels on running a school and hiring teachers; five thousand taels on repairing official roads and canals; last year, when the north suffered a snowstorm, our county allocated five thousand dan of grain for disaster relief; and the salaries of county officials and runners totaled six thousand taels... This year, our county's registered population is 113,217, 3,054 more than last year, including immigrants from other places and newborns..."
Every time he read an item, he would draw a stroke on the corresponding place on the wooden board.
There was dead silence below. Everyone stretched their necks, pricked up their ears to listen, and stared at the wooden board.
They didn't understand all the words, but they understood that the grain and money they handed in turned into schools, roads, food for disaster relief, and salaries for the county magistrate and yamen runners!
It turns out that every penny spent by the county is earned by their hard work!
The crowd began to stir and the whispers grew louder.
Li Laosan couldn't help but ask loudly, "Sir, why... why are you telling us this?"
The clerk put down his charcoal pencil, his eyes swept over the dark faces, and said loudly: "Why? This is the decree of our Emperor Taichu! His Majesty said that taxes in this world are taken from the people and must be used for the people! How much was spent and how it was spent must be clearly told to the people!"
"From now on, this reporting will become a regular practice, once a year. For the first three years, we'll report to each village. Three years later, the bill will be posted on the notice board at the entrance of the county government office, and everyone can go and see for themselves! If any official dares to embezzle or waste your hard-earned money, you can report him to the county, the prefecture, or even the Public Opinion Hall in the capital! If the facts are verified, His Majesty will order immediate execution!"
"boom!"
The crowd was completely excited!
"Sue the authorities? Can we sue the authorities too?"
"Corrupt officials should be beheaded!"
“So this is how we spend our money!”
"Emperor Taichu...she really treats us as human beings!"
"So, it's us who support the imperial court! We are the masters!"
No more silent obedience, no more numb endurance.
For the first time, the villagers of Yezhuao realized that they had such a real and heavy connection with this country and the empress far away in the capital. The grain they handed over built the foundation of this country, and the actions of the court were directly related to the food in their bowls.
From that day on, Yezhuao changed, and all the thousands of "Yezhuao" in the Taichu Dynasty changed.
After dinner, the villagers began to discuss whether the county magistrate spent too much money, whether the teachers in the elementary school taught seriously, and whether the disaster relief funds were distributed to the victims in a timely manner.
They have a clear account in their minds, a clear account of their own interests.
They still fear officials, but it is no longer an unconditional fear.
They began to look at the officials with scrutiny and measure their political achievements. Occasionally, there were officials who deceived their superiors and exploited the people. They were brave enough to be reported to the Public Opinion Hall, and then they were investigated and dismissed, which proved that the emperor's edict was not empty words.
The common people are no longer the vague shadows huddled on the ridges of fields, knowing only to pay taxes and serve in the army. They are no longer the victims spoken of by high-ranking officials, no longer a trivial mention in history books, and no longer the stepping stones for heroes to fight for supremacy.
They began to try to straighten their backs, learn to understand the account books, and distinguish right from wrong.
They began to truly become the masters of this land.
They truly became one person.
(All extra chapters are finished)
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