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Outside Pingyang City, the spring scenery was pleasant. After enduring the ravages of war, this land finally had time to rest and recover. Without enough clerks to survey and calculate the land, Fei Qian could only rely on his military soldiers to conduct a survey of the fields surrounding Pingyang.
Those who couldn't read or calculate used carved "正" characters on wooden boards as substitutes. Those who didn't know measurements or how to gauge used ropes and fixed right-angled wooden poles as replacements...
In any case, use wooden poles to fix a ninety-degree right angle, then extend a rope of fixed length along the extension line of the pole. When stretched to its end, drive a wooden stake along the rope. Then use the right-angled pole to determine another side, stretch another rope, until a roughly square area is marked.
Of course, this measurement method had many discrepancies, but its advantage was simplicity and ease of operation; even ordinary soldiers could manage it.
Fei Qian bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, and squeezed it. Due to long periods without cultivation, the old farmland in Pingyang's suburbs had lost some of its stickiness, becoming loose and crumbly.
This land needed deep plowing, turning up the soil from beneath, to be able to plant crops. Moreover, in the initial stages, they couldn't deplete the land's fertility too much, so yields wouldn't be very high. Only after two or three years of careful maintenance would this land recover into normal farmland.
Jia Qu came out from the city to Fei Qian's side. After exchanging greetings, he pulled out a piece of silk cloth from his sleeve, densely covered with writing.
Fei Qian unfolded it and couldn't help but take a deep breath. The silk cloth was densely packed with the Hedong Wei clan's assets in this region...
In An'yi County, a quarter of the shops and stores belonged to the Wei clan...
In Linfen County, they occupied more than half...
And other counties like Pishi County...
The industries involved included staple goods like rice, cloth, and salt, as well as other businesses like pawnshops, taverns, and even papermaking, carving, metal casting, animal husbandry, and other related trades.
One could say the Hedong Wei clan's tentacles reached into every aspect of people's lives.
Besides these street shops and stores within the cities, the most important component was land and fortified manors. In this region, the Hedong Wei clan owned six fortified village manors, large and small. The largest housed over a thousand people; some smaller ones had several hundred. Through these, they controlled the surrounding land and farmers...
Fei Qian couldn't help but click his tongue in wonder. If Jia Qu weren't himself a member of a Hedong scholar-official family, how could he have known so much?
Back in Xiangyang, the Huang clan, including the Huang clan's secluded estate, only had four fortified villages, and they were relatively far apart, not reaching the scale of the Wei clan.
Land...
Fei Qian shifted his gaze to the open land around Pingyang. Fortunately, the Han imperial house was now weak, unable to attend to some matters. If he were to encroach on the land of the old Pingyang city now, during a time of strong Han imperial authority, he'd certainly be severely criticized. Though the Pingyang Marquis was gone, the ownership of this land naturally belonged to the Emperor.
For him to cultivate and plant without the Emperor's permission... heh heh...
But now, first, this land had been plundered by the Hu people and lay abandoned; second, the Han imperial house had more pressing concerns—why would they bother with such minor matters?
Most importantly, he needed this land. Otherwise, how could he carry out military-agricultural colonies? Where would provisions come from?
Regarding the captured White Wave prisoners this time, Fei Qian planned to execute the leaders and spare the rank-and-file, keeping them. Times had changed; the situation was different, so the strategy naturally had to differ.
As for the land system, Fei Qian truly couldn't think of a better method.
During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the well-field system was used. "Opening land for service." The well-field land belonged to the Zhou King. The Zhou King granted land to feudal lords and high ministers according to their rank. The recipients only had the right to use the well-field land, not private ownership; they couldn't transfer or sell it—"fields and hamlets are not to be sold."
Because there was no buying or selling, only enfeoffment, this system gave rise to the ancient aristocracy, with slaves working the land.
Then "rituals and music collapsed." The feudal lords grew stronger, no longer heeding Old Zhou. They began embezzling the produce from these lands, arming themselves, and started seizing land from other lords through warfare—the Warring States period began.
Why did everyone in Qin rejoice at hearing of military achievements, being so fiercely warlike? Because later, the Qin state decreed that one could obtain land through military merit. Moreover, this land was privately owned, could be bought, sold, and inherited. One can imagine the immense enthusiasm the Qin commoners unleashed, contributing to Qin's war efforts.
Now, in the Han Dynasty, land in principle belonged to the state, called "public land," "loaned" by the Emperor to farmers for cultivation. But in reality, this land had become concentrated in the hands of powerful rural landowners, leading to the millennia-long struggle over land.
This model produced three classes: the upper class—the imperial family; the middle class—the landowners; the lower class—the farmers.
Then arose the conflict between feudal aristocratic private ownership of land and the farmers, the conflict over whether land circulation was government-led or individually led, and naturally the conflict between population growth and land concentration. The root of these three conflicts lay in taxes—essentially, conflict over the produce of the land.
Regarding these interrelated conflicts, Fei Qian truly had no solutions.
Where one sits determines where one stands. Now, Fei Qian was in the primary stage of a feudal lord, so naturally, he hoped benefits would tilt this way. As for future matters, well...
No one could say for sure.
In any case, wanting to reclaim land from major landowners would be like cutting flesh from these feudal lords—the scholar-official families!
Heh heh heh...
Right now, it seemed the Hedong Wei clan's flesh was quite plump!
But this also needed moderation. It could only target individuals, not smash everyone with one blow. Otherwise...
Fei Qian had no desire to end up like Wang Mang.
Being someone from a later era, Fei Qian understood some of the trickery behind later nationalization through expropriation. That law emerged under specific conditions, not a universal panacea...
Moreover, the struggles between local and central governments over fiscal interests later on... ahem...
Anyway, it couldn't be used now.
Therefore, they could only pursue privatization, or semi-collectivization.
Of course, on the surface, the land still belonged to the Han. But in reality, it could only belong to Fei Qian's small group. This was the most suitable method for the current situation.
However, future conflicts and problems would arise. But for now, they could only take one step at a time, truly unable to implement all policies at once...
These matters involved too many complexities. Thinking about them truly gave him a headache...
Fei Qian sighed softly. Suddenly, he heard the clip-clop of hoofbeats. Looking up, he saw a scout galloping from the east of Pingyang City. The rider approached, dismounted swiftly, and reported, "Hedong Governor Wang Yi, with guards, has arrived twenty li east of the city..."
Just when he was worried about lacking a blade, this Wang Yi arrived at the perfect time!
The decline of ancient dynasties had land as an important factor, but not an absolute one...