Chapter 227 Give Us Back Our Land...
Du Li laughed and chimed in, "Xi Mei is the most impartial judge."
Xi Mei proudly raised her head.
Du Min angrily pinched her, "What do you mean your father is a liar?"
Xi Mei glanced at him sideways, hummed a few times, and whispered, "You just love to lie."
"What lie did I tell?" Du Min couldn't remember.
“There are many,” Wang Chuan replied. “My dad definitely didn’t hit you. He never hit me. I was so small, and you’re already so big.”
“If you fought, it must be because you made a mistake.” Wang Zhou vaguely remembered that when he was a child, his father and his third uncle had fought, I think it was in Chang’an, so he thought that what happened today was probably not unfounded.
Seeing that his defeat was inevitable, Du Min shook his head and cursed him as a fool, then led the three biased individuals into the dining room.
"Have you eaten?" Yin Caiwei asked. "We didn't know when you would be back, so we didn't wait for you."
Du Min grunted in acknowledgment, then carried Xi Mei back to her chair, took the bowl and chopsticks offered by the maid, and began to eat.
The three children finished eating first, and Wangzhou took the two younger ones who were eager to talk to the adults to play in the main hall next door.
"Second Brother, come and catch me!" Xi Mei shouted from the corner of the table.
"Let my older brother catch you, I'm too full." Wang Chuan told a little lie.
“Go outside and you’ll easily trip inside.” Wang Zhou stood up. Considering that his parents would be discussing serious matters with his uncle and aunt after dinner, and not wanting to cause trouble for Wang Chuan and Xi Mei, he added, “Let’s go play at Fenglin Courtyard. Fenglin Courtyard is a big place.”
Fearing being caught, Ximei took the lead and ran away.
Wang Zhou walked to the door and turned back to look at Wang Chuan. Wang Chuan waved his hand seriously: "I'm full, I need to rest."
Wang Zhou stared at him. He knew Wang Chuan's appetite and what he looked like when he was really stuffed. Right now, he was obviously full of things on his mind.
"Big brother, second brother, come quick!" Xi Mei urged.
Wang Zhou left, telling him before he went, "Don't cause trouble."
"I won't cause trouble," Wangchuan retorted.
As soon as Wang Zhou's figure disappeared, Wang Chuan immediately returned to the dining room, circled around, and stood next to Du Li.
"What's wrong? Is your stomach upset?" Du Li overheard the brothers' conversation.
"Dad, did you really hit my third uncle?" Wangchuan asked quietly. "Tell me, and I won't tell Ximei."
Hearing this, Du Min spoke up to remind him, "Du Lao Er, don't be a coward. I, the victim, am still here."
Du Li didn't even look at him. He looked down at Wang Chuan and said carefully, "Your third uncle made a mistake. He asked for a beating, but I couldn't help it."
"My third uncle is already this old!" Wang Chuan exclaimed in disbelief.
Meng Qing vaguely understood Wang Chuan's meaning and said, "If you make a mistake in the future, even if you become an old man, your brother can still beat you."
Wang Chuan immediately put on a gloomy face.
"Oh! So that's your purpose?" Du Li laughed. "Your mother is right."
Yin Caiwei smiled; this child was too clever.
"You've wronged me, haven't you? Apologize to me right now," Du Min joked.
Wang Chuan puffed out his cheeks and said unhappily, "You're so old and you still get beaten up. It's so embarrassing."
"Is it my fault again?" Du Min laughed angrily. "You can't join the Ministry of Justice in the future, otherwise you'll be handling nothing but wrongful convictions."
Meng Qing laughed until she was full. She put her arm around Wang Chuan and touched his stomach. He wasn't full. She said to him, "Go out and play. After playing for a while, take Xi Mei and ride in a carriage to your maternal grandparents' house. Tell your maternal grandparents that your uncle went to Luoyang with the cloth merchants to transport money and silk. He will be back in seven or eight days."
Wang Chuan repeated himself to the same point before shuffling away.
"Walk carefully," Du Li reminded her.
The clattering sound immediately stopped.
The remaining three had also finished eating, and the four of them left their seats to go to the main hall next door for tea.
"Second Brother, would you like to hunt a rabbit by waiting for it to run into a tree stump?" Du Min asked.
"What do you mean?" Du Li asked, puzzled.
"I locked those five prisoners in a dark room in the governor's mansion, planning to transfer them to Commandant Yang after nightfall and have our own men guard the dark room, waiting for our prey to come to us," Du Min said.
Du Li understood immediately. "You plan to go and guard it yourself?"
“Yes, I plan to borrow a dozen or twenty men from Commander Yang to guard the secret room,” Du Min nodded.
"You don't need to do this yourself, do you? Don't take the risk." Yin Caiwei had already learned what happened on the way from Meng Qing, and she stopped her, saying, "The secret room only has one exit, there is no other way to escape. What if the people sent by the Zheng family are not here to rescue the survivors, but to silence them, and they pour a bucket of tung oil in and set it on fire? Wouldn't you be dead?"
“Caiwei’s consideration is thoughtful,” Meng Qing agreed. “You are a civil official, so don’t interfere in things that military officers are good at. Let’s leave the catching of thieves to Commandant Yang.”
"It was my oversight." Du Min realized his mistake and bowed to Caiwei, "Thank you for saving my life, my lady."
Yin Caiwei smiled; when he wasn't annoying, he was quite good at speaking human language.
“From today onwards, you should not travel far from home, nor should you visit anyone’s house, especially those of powerful and wealthy families. I am worried that someone might hold a grudge against you because of me,” Du Min reminded him. “When you go out, take more men with you and come back early in the evening.”
Yin Caiwei nodded.
"Second sister-in-law, second brother, you too, be careful when you go out," Du Min instructed. "Take care of the three children as well. The two younger ones are fine; when they go out, they either go to the Meng family to feed the geese or to the library to read and feed the birds. There's no danger in those places. Wang Zhou, be careful. It's best not to go to any more places to look at wood or the old house."
“I will make arrangements,” Du Li said. “If he goes out, I will take a few servants with me.”
As if on cue, Wang Zhou walked in holding a letter. "Third Uncle, the gatekeeper received a letter, delivered personally by a yamen runner from Heqing County."
Du Min stood up and took the letter. He tore open the envelope, glanced at it, and said, "In the letter, Magistrate Sun said that he had arrested seven suspicious people in three days. One of them confessed that he was from the residence of Imperial Censor Dou and was released that day. The remaining six insisted that they were just passing travelers. He could not find out who their master was, so he could only send over a copy of the household registration."
"Could we have arrested the wrong people? Are all these people here to kill you? The people behind this wouldn't be so bold, would they?" Yin Caiwei hesitated.
“It must be a spy. The person behind it wants to know the Third Prince’s movements. One reason is to understand the reaction after the government decree is issued, and the other is to find fault with him,” Meng Qing said. “The Third Prince is the one who responds to the government decree the most actively. Whether it is aristocratic families or commoners, they are watching his situation. The former want to bring him down to give other officials from commoner families a warning, while the latter are watching whether to follow his example.”
Yin Caiwei nodded, she understood now.
"Third Uncle, are you about to unleash another big move?" Wang Zhou asked. "This is quite a big operation; even spies from the storybooks have appeared."
“Yes, your third uncle is going to risk his life again. This time it involves the imperial court, and it’s a big deal. If we’re not careful, even the powerful families hiding in the shadows will come after us. Before the battle is decided, try to stay home as much as possible. Don’t let the villains harm the most promising descendant of our Du family. Your mother is rich. If you need anything, just have it delivered to your door. Don’t be afraid to spend money.” Du Min instructed, “Keep an eye on your younger siblings. Don’t let them go out and wander around recklessly again.”
“Okay,” Wang Zhou replied.
Du Min put the letter away and said, "I'm going out now."
"You should bring your entourage as well," Du Li reminded him.
Du Min responded and strode to the stable in the front yard to take his horse.
“I’m going to the governor’s mansion to see how the officials there react,” Yin Caiwei said.
“Third Aunt, I’ll go with you. I’m not very familiar with the government’s policies yet, and I’m a little unsure of what to do,” Wang Zhou said.
“Then come with me.” Yin Caiwei had no objection.
Meng Qing and Du Li exchanged a glance. "Shall we take the two children to my parents' place?"
"Let's go." Du Li stood up.
Meng Qing called out to Fenglin Courtyard, and the two little siblings, sweating profusely from running, happily ran out. The four of them got into the carriage and went out. Not long after leaving the alley, the carriage was blocked.
"My lord, the road ahead is crowded with people, and the carriage can't pass," the coachman said.
"It's the Lady Meng's carriage! Lady Meng is here!" someone shouted from the crowd, and the crowd immediately surged toward the carriage.
"My lady, is the decree on the proclamation real? Is the court really going to investigate households and land ownership? Will taxes be levied per mu from now on? Will the equal-field system also be abolished? How will land be distributed in the future? Will existing land be reclaimed?" a poor scholar asked loudly.
"How do we split up the households? Do the father and son have to separate their households? Our family depends on this tofu stall for a living. If we split into three households, we'll have to pay three separate household taxes. Where are we going to get the money?" one merchant complained.
Meng Qing opened the car door and got out. She looked at the faces in the crowd, some anxious and resentful, some worried and disappointed, but only the farmer with patched clothes among them was happy.
Mencius' parents couldn't squeeze in and could only stand anxiously on the outside of the crowd.
"Lord Meng, when will the land be distributed? How will it be distributed? Will the land for the male farmers be made up?" A smiling farmer squeezed through the crowd to ask.
"Let me answer the first question first. Whether the taxation based on acreage and the equal-field system should be abolished are questions for three years from now, and there is no conclusion yet," Meng Qing replied. "The current government's decrees have only one purpose: to stabilize the equal-field system. Many people are aware that the limitations of the equal-field system have become apparent as it has developed. The population is growing year by year, and the land is disappearing. Where has the land gone? Who has taken it? How can it be returned to the farmers? If the land problem can be solved, the equal-field system can continue."
"The second question concerns the division of households. This division only applies to farmers, not merchants or artisans. Under this decree, the first condition for farmers to accept the redistribution of land redeemed by merchants is to divide their households and pay an additional household tax. This is a mutually agreeable arrangement. If you do not accept the division of households, you do not have to participate in the land redistribution. If you say you do not want to divide your households but still want land, that's also possible. You can register at the government office, and the government will organize you to migrate to counties in the south with more land," Meng Qing said. "The last question is about when and how the land will be distributed. I cannot answer this question, and the government cannot guarantee it. It depends on when those who own a lot of land are willing to respond to the decree and allow wealthy merchants to redeem their land."
A cloth shoe was hurled at him by a man with eyes full of hatred, who shouted, "You're stealing my land! You're robbers!"
Meng Qing glanced at the shoes that the coachman had stopped with his whip and said, "Make way for him and let him come to me to talk."
The people in front made way, but the people behind didn't move. The local gentry and landlords protected each other and refused to let the man who had spoken up step forward and show his face.
Meng Qing sneered, "You refuse to come forward, huh? Then listen carefully. Have you ever been to school? Can you read? How dare you utter such a ridiculous statement? Seize land? The land belongs to the imperial court, how can you call that seizing? We're the robbers? You're the robbers! The law stipulates that under the equal-field system, each able-bodied man is entitled to 100 mu of land, of which 20 mu are permanent land and 80 mu are allotted land. When an able-bodied man reaches 60 or dies, the allotted land is confiscated by the government, while the permanent land can be inherited by his descendants. I ask you, how many able-bodied men does your family have? And how many mu of land do you have? Where did the extra land come from? I'm telling you, it's from seizing the land of the imperial court and the farmers. You're the robbers, the thieves that everyone wants to kill."
"The thief cries 'Stop thief!' You are the thieves!" the poor scholar shouted. "Heaven have mercy! The imperial court has finally stood up for us farmers!"
Meng Qing glanced at the expressions on the crowd's faces, then added fuel to the fire: "Hey you, why are you running? Let's go to the government office and have the magistrate decide who the thief is."
Among the crowd, a farmer carrying a basket grabbed a handful of vegetables and threw them at the well-dressed young noblemen. Seeing this, the others took advantage of the chaos to join in the commotion.
"Give us back our land!" Meng's father shouted from the edge of the crowd.
"Give us back our land!"
"Give us back our land!"
"Give us back our land!"
Dozens or hundreds of voices merged together, growing louder and louder.
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Author's Note: Only one update tonight, I'm too sleepy.
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