Chapter 235 Patrolling the Territory
Seeing Richard's gloomy face, the villagers present also knew the seriousness of the matter. Some people wanted to make a fuss and beat the poor-looking new freedmen.
Richard glared and ordered the guards to hit the noisy villagers with a few sticks, and the scene became quiet.
A few hours later, the bureaucrats from Vickburg also arrived at the scene.
The young bureaucrat in charge of land distribution was a young man with a very tender face.
"What's your name? How old are you this year? Are you a student who graduated from He'an Primary School?"
Some of the grassroots bureaucrats in the territory graduated from Henan Primary School. These students are usually very young, the oldest is 17 or 18, and the youngest is only 15 or 16.
Seeing that the bureaucrat who distributed the land was so young, Richard asked casually.
"My Lord, my name is McCaroo. I am sixteen years old and graduated from Riverbank Primary School last year."
"Are you responsible for the distribution of land for the freemen here this year?"
McCaroo nodded and said, "Yes, Lord."
"According to the regulations, how is the farmland in this village divided?"
"According to the plan, each freeman in this village will be granted five acres of land, one acre of paddy field and four acres of dry land."
Because the scale of farmland that can be reclaimed near each village is different, the quality of farmland that the freemen can get is slightly different. Some villages have good conditions and are naturally richer. Some villages have poor conditions and are slightly poorer.
Generally speaking, the city hall and the Ministry of Agriculture will plan in advance to control the number of village populations and try to achieve balance.
Most freemen have one acre of paddy field and four acres of dry land. According to this standard, the territory tax is three silver coins per person, or 270 kilograms of wheat.
But in this village, the new freedmen have no paddy fields to cultivate, and the dry fields have a serious reduction in production this year. The harvest of one mu of land is less than 100 kilograms. One person pays 270 kilograms of grain tax, and the remaining grain is less than 200 kilograms.
200 kilograms of grain is not enough to eat, and they have to reserve grain for next year, so the freedmen in this village are starving.
If Richard inspects next autumn, this village may starve to death.
"Joseph, tell everyone how many paddy fields and dry lands you have been allocated?" Richard pointed at Joseph.
"Lord, all the new freedmen who were allocated to this village this year have no paddy fields?"
"McCarew, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, are there enough paddy fields in this village? Why did this problem happen? Since they encountered injustice, did these freedmen go to Vickburg to complain? Why did no one deal with it?"
Hearing that Richard meant to seriously investigate the responsibility, Tony Bourne, the civil affairs officer of Vickburg, changed his face and hated the village chief to death.
But at this time, he could only bite the bullet and answer: "I was negligent here. When the villagers came to Vickburg to complain, I handed it over to the village chief Wals to deal with it."
"Tony, you are an old man in the territory, and you have made some minor contributions in the past. I think I have treated you well and promoted you to the position of the city governor of Vickburg. As a person born as a slave, you should be satisfied with your achievements today. Why do you want to protect Wals?
You know how much I trust you when I handed Vickburg to you to manage?
You repay your lord and manage the people in this way?
You have failed my trust in you. In this case, what use do I have for you?"
Tony Bourne was a slave purchased by the Harland family for many years. Before William was granted the title of hereditary baron, Tony Bourne was the male servant of the Harland family. When Richard was young, Tony was his personal follower for a period of time.
After William obtained the fiefdom, Tony Bourne was the director of a cement factory. In the few years as the director, he was also dedicated.
The people in Harland Territory are developing very fast, and they are very short of qualified grassroots bureaucrats.
Tony was promoted to the position of Mayor of Vickburg by Richard because of his good performance and good opportunities.
Unexpectedly, Tony had problems less than two years after he came up, and serious things happened under his rule.
Tony Bourne was very familiar with Richard. When he heard this, he immediately understood that Richard had the intention to kill. He knew Richard and knew that he couldn't quibble at this time. The more he quibbled, the more Richard would hate him.
"Because Wals's sister became my secret lover."
After listening to Tony's explanation, Richard sneered and said, "It turns out that there is a problem with the lower body. In this case, what is the use of your lower body?
Come on, pull this dog out, execute it immediately, throw the body into the mountains to feed the wolves, and send all his family members to the mines, and never forgive them."
There are a large number of orcs in the mines. Sending humans to the mines shows how terrible the situation will be.
Sometimes orcs will choose to eat people because they cannot complete the mining task and there is not enough food.
According to statistics from Bernard, who manages the orcs, the average life expectancy of humans sent to the mines is only two months.
"Tony has been dealt with for covering up a crime. McCaroo, you are the official in charge of land distribution. There was a problem with the land distribution work in Carlo Village. Your supervision was not in place. You are guilty of dereliction of duty. Your salary will be fined for two years and your position will not be promoted within ten years.
Wols, you are a wounded veteran, right?"
Seeing that the high-ranking Vickburg City Governor was executed on the spot by Richard, and his family was also sent to the mines to be killed. Fear immediately penetrated into Wals's bones, causing him to tremble violently and unable to speak, as if he had lost his mind.
Seeing that Wals had lost consciousness due to fear, Richard turned around and said to the officer in charge of intelligence beside him: "Check Wals's file to see if he is a retired veteran? If so, spare his family's life. If not, send his family to accompany Tony's family."
Among the bureaucrats, McCaroo had the lightest responsibility. It was difficult for a young man like him to handle the affairs within the village. He did not know the free people in the village when he went down to divide the land. He basically had to rely on Wals to do his work, and it was easy to be fooled by the people below.
Besides, McCaroo's original intention was not too bad. He was only jointly responsible for this matter.
Wols and Tony were the main people who colluded with each other and oppressed the people.
Among the two, Richard hated Tony the most because Tony was the person Richard paid special attention to and was also an important civil servant in the territory. Richard valued him more and often told him to be better to the people under his rule, not to oppress the people, and not to force them to death.
But the situation in the village was that a large number of people would starve to death after the spring plowing next year.
After this incident, Richard had the worst impression of Tony and hated him the most.
Richard glanced around and stared at other officials in Fort Vick. He sneered and said, "The free people in Carlo Village suffered injustice. I don't believe you don't know, but no one has reported to me in the past six months. You are all responsible for this matter. Officials in Fort Vick cannot be promoted within ten years. Just like McCaroo, everyone will be fined for two years.
If I find problems again, I will punish you for multiple crimes. Not only will your head be in danger, but your family will also be sent to the mines to accompany Tony's family. I hope you cherish your beautiful life today and don't be greedy. Treat the people under your rule better. If you make mistakes in the future, I will be more tolerant of you."
The intelligence officer quickly found the file. Wals was indeed a retired grassroots officer.
Hearing this news, Richard suddenly felt a little discouraged.
Because Richard cares most about the army. He is with the soldiers almost all day long. Relatively speaking, the army is cleaner than the local area.
I didn't expect Wals to become like this just two or three years after retiring from the army.
Not only did he send his sister to Tony as a lover, he also occupied several women in the village, robbed the free people's fertile land, and killed people, becoming a tyrannical local tyrant.
Unlike Tony, Walls had been a soldier and fought in wars.
The army is the core force of the Harland territory and the basic base for Richard to control the territory. All cadres involved in the army will be sentenced lightly.
Although Tony has a higher position and is a servant of the Harland family, it is easy to deal with him. Walls has many old comrades-in-arms. In order to avoid their death, he must be nice to Walls' family.
"Walls was executed immediately because he had made meritorious deeds and was injured. His family was given a break and moved to Fort Wick. His wife was arranged to work in a clothing factory and given a job to earn some money to support the family."
Richard knew that corrupt officials could not be killed, and Zhu Yuanzhang could not stop officials from embezzling even if he skinned them and stuffed them with straw. Richard's family was sent to the mine, but he could not stop officials from embezzling and killing people.
However, harsh punishments can still play a role. At least, they can prevent bureaucrats from provoking civil unrest.
If anyone dares to provoke civil unrest, Richard will deal with the bureaucrats in this area on a large scale and kill people with butcher knives.
After several incidents in a row, some smart officials in the Harland Territory have mastered the balance.
Compared with other areas of the Grant Kingdom, the northern border is vast and sparsely populated, with more arable land per capita, no shortage of water sources, and high grain production, so life can barely get by.
Richard found through continuous inspections that most free people live a good life, and it is rare to be poor.
Because of the disaster this year, Richard is also preparing to give some food subsidies to the free people.
After returning to the mansion, Richard gathered all his relatives and told them what happened today.
"You are all relatives of Sofia and me, and you are considered the ruling class of the Harland Territory. The development of the territory is closely related to you. For people like us, we must look at things in the long term and not be greedy for money. As long as we hold power, our descendants can live a prosperous life and become the best.
Every free man in the territory is a fortune to us. If they live a prosperous life, the goods we manufacture can have a market, and then the industry and productivity of the territory can develop. We should support any policy that can make them rich, and we should oppose any policy that makes them poor.
The same principle applies to the selection of officials below. We will vigorously promote those who can develop productivity and make the people rich, and we will promote those who hinder the development of productivity. We should immediately dismiss those who make the people poor.
You are all my relatives, connected by blood with my husband and me, and you should support me even more. If you find any problems below, you should report them immediately. If you need money, talk to me and Sofia. You must not collude with the bureaucrats below to hinder the development of the territory.
That’s all for today. Once I find you for corruption and dereliction of duty, I will never show mercy. I will even use your heads to intimidate and deter officials in the territory and teach them not to commit crimes.
Please remember this. Don’t think that just because you are Sofia’s brother, nephew, my brother and sister of Richard, and a member of the Harland family, you can do whatever you want without scruples. In the rules I set, if you commit a crime, the punishment will be more severe than that of outsiders.
You should be careful, do your own things, and improve your self-cultivation. My moral requirements for you are higher than those for ordinary people. No matter who breaks the law, I will not show mercy. "
Richard's murderous words confused many people. Soon they heard that Richard killed Tony and sent Tony's family to the mine, and they felt terrified.
Many people asked themselves, bullying men and women, corruption and dereliction of duty, some people also did a little.
After hearing Richard's words, they immediately began to wipe the shit off their butts to prevent someone from poking Richard's ears and angering him and losing his life. They were afraid of Richard's cruelty, even his relatives.
Richard wanted them to be afraid. If he If they have no fear, they will act recklessly, and the upper beams are not straight, the lower beams will be crooked.
If they can't even manage their own families, there is no reason to manage the officials in the territory.
If the upper level is rotten, the lower level will be rotten.
If the official administration is rotten, no matter how good the policy is, it will be rotten when implemented.
Through continuous inspections, discovering problems and solving problems, Richard found that the most serious problem in the territory now is that there is a shortage of oxen.
Using oxen to plow the land is the most immediate way to increase the area of grain planting.
The average free people in the Harland territory If a household has 30 mu of farmland, it is impossible to cultivate 30 mu of farmland by manpower without oxen.
However, the price of oxen is not cheap. A mature bull sells for more than six gold coins, and the price of a cow is slightly more expensive. Without three to five years of accumulation, freemen cannot afford to buy oxen.
In the past, Richard helped freemen to farm by renting cattle, and his rent was very little, just a symbolic amount.
As the number of freemen increased, the number of official oxen was somewhat short. This year, some freemen could not rent cattle and could only use manpower to farm, resulting in The output has decreased a bit.
If Richard had not used a large number of Warcraft horses to plow the fields during the spring plowing, this year's spring plowing task would not have been completed.
Richard sold 20,000 tons of grain and obtained 46,000 gold coins. Counting the liquid funds saved in the treasury, he already had about 100,000 gold coins in his hand.
The reason why there is so much money in the treasury is entirely because of the unexpected wealth of 40,000 gold coins obtained from the secret base of the Venus family, plus part of the surplus funds from last year. Unknowingly, the treasury actually saved a huge sum of 100,000 gold coins.