"I have met the Magistrate."
Several people from the farmers' association, about forty years old, came over timidly.
The purpose of the farmers' association is to help each other, so the people selected are often local young and prestigious people.
Moreover, the requirements for joining the association were very strict. Landlords who owned large amounts of land were not allowed to join. Only middle peasants, poor peasants, and hired farmers who owned less than 20 acres of land could participate.
At the beginning, Zhao Jun regarded the farmers' association as a township government, hoping to give the farmers' association certain governance capabilities and cooperate with the county government to jointly manage the area.
In this way, the county government will govern the grassroots through farmers' associations, no longer needing local celebrities and clans, which will greatly weaken the power of the gentry.
However, Fan Zhongyan strongly opposed it, believing that if an institution with such great power appeared at the grassroots level, problems would easily arise.
For example, the president of a farmers' association abuses his power for personal gain, or deceives his superiors and subordinates in the countryside and becomes the overlord.
Zhao Jun thought it made sense.
Although he also understood that Fan Zhongyan did this based on the rule of the feudal dynasty.
In the era of the local elite clan system, local elite clans often stood on the side of the imperial court, helping the imperial court to manage and control the grassroots people.
However, the situation is different if farmers' associations emerge. If the farmers' organizations are strengthened, the power of the originally scattered people may be strengthened, leading to rebellion and uprising.
This was also because the Song Dynasty was frightened by the repeated uprisings.
However, what Fan Zhongyan said is not without reason. In an era when communications are underdeveloped, if farmers' associations become grassroots power institutions, it is easy for their power to continue to expand.
Especially in ancient times, the common people had less communication with the county government, and the farmers' association had too strong control, which might directly replace the role of the county government, which was a bit of a loss.
Therefore, today's farmers' associations have little grassroots power and are of average size. A county has tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people, and several farmers' associations are divided according to townships. A farmers' association directly participates in the management of about thousands to ten thousand people.
They do not have the power to investigate, enforce the law, or interrogate, and can only provide assistance to the county government.
For example, if there are conflicts between villages, or the distribution of means of production, the distribution of land by the government, the leasing of government land, competition for water sources, village fights, etc., the farmers' association and the government will coordinate them.
This means that the Farmers' Association is currently mainly in an auxiliary role. Zhao Jun suddenly summoned him, and he didn't know what had happened. For a moment, he felt a little panicked and uneasy.
Zhao Jun didn't get angry when he saw them. After all, this matter had nothing to do with them. He said in a friendly manner, "No need to be so polite. Are you members of the local farmers' association?"
"Yes, Zhiyuan."
The leading man bowed again and said, "I am the president of the Farmers' Association of Ganyan Township, Lincheng. My name is Zheng Yong, and they are the leaders of the Farmers' Association."
"Well, Zheng Yong, let me ask you, how many acres of land do you have?"
Zhao Jun asked kindly.
"Twenty acres."
"Are there ponds and mulberry fields?"
"have."
Zheng Yong said, "It's a total of 36 acres, 18 of which are rented official land from the imperial court."
"oh?"
Zhao Jun asked in surprise, "So your family also had eighteen acres of land before?"
Zheng Yong smiled bitterly and said, "After our parents passed away, my brother and I split up the family property, giving most of it to him. I only have five acres left. I have to work in the county town to make ends meet. A few years ago, Mr. Zhou sold some land, and I took advantage of the low price to use my twenty years of savings and bought thirteen acres."
An acre of land in the Song Dynasty was roughly between 0.974 and 0.865 in later generations. Some were 609 square meters, while others were 591 square meters, which was much more than an acre of land in the Han Dynasty.
In the Han Dynasty, a family of five needed at least 30 mu of land to survive, which means 6 mu was enough to support one person.
But it was greatly reduced in the Song Dynasty.
The improvement of production materials such as agricultural tools, fertilizer composting technology, water conservancy facilities, and Champa rice led to a significant increase in productivity. In the Song Dynasty, an average of one and a half acres of land could feed one person.
So a family of five can have enough food to eat if they have about 8 mu of land. If they have 20 mu of land, they will definitely be in the middle peasant class.
"It seems that your days are becoming more and more promising."
Zhao Jun laughed.
Zheng Yong also laughed and said, "It's because the government is recruiting people to build canals and farmlands everywhere, and they're also confiscating land from wealthy households and selling it to us at low prices. Otherwise, how could we afford to buy land? In normal times, when there's a disaster, we're lucky enough not to sell our land."
Zhao Jun turned his head to look at Huang Anwen, and seeing him wipe the sweat from his forehead, he smiled and said, "This shows that the county is doing its job well and has not turned a deaf ear to the imperial court's decree."
Huang Anwen hurriedly said, "The court requires us to reclaim more land, build more canals, and sell the reclaimed and purchased land to the people at a low price. This is something that benefits the people, so naturally I must do my best."
“Well done.”
Zhao Jun nodded with satisfaction.
Under the New Policies of the Qingli Period, the nation's major infrastructure projects were aimed at snatching people from the landlords, while at the same time building canals and farmland, increasing the amount of land and lowering the price of land held by the landlords.
After defeating the Liao and Western Xia, military spending dropped significantly. Combined with foreign trade income, it can be said that the imperial court had to spend tens of millions of strings of cash every year to subsidize agriculture.
Fortunately, since the Little Ice Age ended, there have been no major natural disasters in the world in recent years.
Even if there are droughts and floods, they are confined to a small area.
Another factor is insect plagues. During the Qingli period, there were relatively few floods and droughts recorded, but there were many locust plagues.
In the fourth year of the Qingli period, Yu Jing and others wrote a letter to the emperor, saying that there were frequent locust plagues throughout the country. They hoped that Zhao Zhen would pay attention to God's will and make adjustments to the court's personnel and policies so that the natural disasters would disappear as soon as possible and the people could return to a peaceful life.
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