Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

In February in Mianbei, plows have been put into the ground, heralding the beginning of the new year's farming work.

At the same time, water conservancy projects throughout the country have been completed one after another. When the spring floods arrive, water can be stored, diverted, and irrigated fields.

This period is also very critical for the powerful companies involved in various construction projects, because only if the project passes the acceptance inspection can they receive the complete final payment from the state capital, and this final payment usually accounts for one-third or even one-third of the entire project payment. What's more, it's all the profits they earned from working all winter long.

The acceptance process arranged by the state government is from mid-to-late February to early March. If the acceptance is passed, each company will be able to collect the project profits while not missing this year's spring plowing.

But if it fails, it will become troublesome. Rework is necessary, and the balance will not be released immediately. Moreover, the rivers rise in spring and summer, and the construction of various fortifications will be more labor-intensive and time-consuming.

At that point, either give up halfway and give up the entire project, or bite the bullet and rework it, giving up a year's work at home. No matter which choice you make, it will be a headache and heartache.

Therefore, while the acceptance process has not yet begun, each employer is also seizing the time and racing against time to make final finishing touches and repairs, trying their best to enhance the quality of the project, hoping to finally pass the acceptance.

Of course, if you want to pass the acceptance inspection, in addition to the quality of the project itself, the environment in which it is applied is also very important. Those interested construction parties will not ignore this point in order to ensure that they can get their own profits in full.

As a result, there was a wave of destruction and destruction of private weirs and ditches throughout Jingzhou. Those who are able to win the bid to take over the state capital's fortifications are inherently powerful, and their behavior is naturally biased towards forcefulness. In order to ensure their own interests, they will inevitably act roughly and tyrannically.

Therefore, from the first month to the first ten days of February, there were more than twenty rural fights in Jingzhou. These are only those that alarmed the government because of their large scale and were quelled by the government. There are even more others that have not been reported to the government.

It can be said that the order of the entire Jingzhou Township was disrupted by this, and there were almost daily fights. The vast majority of the villagers were also implicated, and there was no peace. The situation is even worse than when Nanliang invaded last year.

However, these situations were all within Li Tai's expectation. Some things indeed need to be broken and then rebuilt. Blind compromise and repair will only turn into a mess that cannot be lifted and cut.

Therefore, his instructions to the state capital and counties were that as long as no one was killed in the fighting, or it harmed the interests of the households with equal land, the government would ignore it.

This is originally a struggle between local tyrants outside the law. If you want to win, pray that you are the biggest and the evil one. There is no reason that you are usually not under the government's management, but you want the government to protect you when you lose in a rural struggle.

Of course, if you want the government to come forward to protect you, that's not impossible. After all, you must be a royal minister on the shore of Tutu. But one thing you need to understand is that it is difficult to take off the halter.

Therefore, when this kind of rural struggle reaches an extreme point and is about to get out of control, more and more people seek refuge with the government. The local customary order and ethical patriarchal laws they believed in before are no longer enough to protect them. Only the government's laws can protect them from chaos.

Therefore, more and more people from all over the country reported to the state capital for naturalization. In some places, hundreds of families from an entire clan were naturalized together. The first thing after naturalization was to file lawsuits, hoping to severely punish those bullies who were running rampant in the township.

The increase in such lawsuits has also put great pressure on state and county governments. If it had not been for a round of selection and replacement of officials at the end of last year, the records of these lawsuits alone would have been enough to overwhelm the entire state and county administrative system.

Even so, some county and county governments only serve as a recording point and are still unable to truly handle administrative affairs and resolve litigation disputes. The state government must dispatch a team of officials to handle the cases.

Li Tai attaches great importance to this issue. It should be noted that for many years, all politics in Mianbei have been superficial. Even if there are disputes, they are settled according to local customs and patriarchal laws. There are rarely lawsuits against the government, so that the people almost do not know that there is any law to follow. . This kind of custom is beautified as the people do not like disputes and the officials and the people do not litigate. As long as I can't see it, the world will be safe.

Nowadays, due to the profound conflicts and frequent fights in the countryside, the people are finally reminded of the judicial power that the government should have. Naturally, Li Tai will not miss this opportunity. Even though he organized more than ten circuit courts, he was escorted by state soldiers. Handle lawsuits between counties.

Even he himself temporarily put aside other affairs and led a law enforcement team to go deep into the countryside to try cases. Taking advantage of the boiling public dissatisfaction, this form of justice and law enforcement was deeply imprinted in the hearts of the people of Jingzhou.

Although these law enforcement teams are very busy, they actually don't know what laws they should enforce.

Since the founding of the Western Wei Dynasty, there has been little innovation in criminal law. It means that some provisions of the "Laws of the Northern Wei Dynasty" are still followed. However, many of these laws and regulations are missing or out of date, and even Li Tai himself does not know much about them.

As for those households who filed lawsuits, they were even less clear about the legal provisions that needed to be abided by and had been violated. They just felt grievances and sought justice and vent from the government.

Fortunately, the types and contents of these disputes are relatively uniform. They are basically disputes surrounding water conservancy, so it is not difficult to deal with them. Li Tai had dealt with similar matters when he served as the envoy of Du Shui to govern Luoshui in the past years. Today, some rules are still implemented as rural covenants in the Canal League. After extracting those rules and slightly changing them according to local conditions, he formulated I got a set of "Water Dividing Order".

There are more than 30 clauses in the "Water Diversion Order", which basically cover various scenarios and problems of agricultural and domestic water use. The time and amount of water for canal weir storage and release are clearly stipulated based on the distance from the canal. The order and quantity also have standards. Anyone who uses water illegally must be punished!

These law enforcement teams arranged by Li Tai traveled between counties. In addition to handling specific lawsuits, they were also responsible for popularizing the law. If we want to revive agriculture in the Nanyang Basin, water conservancy is the top priority. We must adhere to the principle of transparency and openness when using water. We must not allow stinking fish to grow in muddy ponds!

As for other serious issues arising from these rural struggles, they will be handed over to the state government for trial and treatment, and punishments will be imposed and punishments will be meted out.

As a series of rural fights and disputes progressed, the number of registered households in prefectures and counties increased by more than 2,000.

Although quite a few of them are to use the power of the government to gain certain advantages in rural struggles, it is difficult to deregister once you are naturalized. If you think about the entire clan disappearing from the register, you may be included as a slave. Registered. Moreover, even if the registered residents disappear, the registered land and property will not disappear, and the rents, transfers, and taxes will not be levied, and the pastoral land will naturally become ownerless and uncultivated land without officials.

Under the circumstances of oppression and attack by the powerful powerful people in the countryside and the government's desperate measures, some small and medium-sized powerful people have suffered heavy losses.

The construction parties who provoked the trouble were not very happy either. First of all, the local resentment and hatred were firmly attracted to them, and it did not end just because of their temporary victory.

After all, those villagers were only naturalized, not dead or disappeared. And because they have become registered citizens, it is difficult for them to carry out any operations to eradicate the roots, otherwise they may be uprooted.

Secondly, because some villagers saw the opportunity and completed naturalization early and quickly, these powerful people were also entangled in official affairs. As the state government adjudicates various lawsuits, they are in constant trouble every day.

Although some of the villagers who were killed or injured in the village fight were blamed by their disciples, they were overwhelmed by the repeated interrogations, and they also needed to pay compensation for some property that had actually harmed the villagers. In this regard, the state government did not give them any mercy because they contracted the project, which also made them miserable.

However, the good news is that the state government is still willing to abide by its promise. As long as their project acceptance is qualified, the remaining payment will still be paid in full.

After all this trouble, the flood season finally arrived. On this day, the state military and government officials and the people who came after hearing the news all gathered near Liumenyan in the west of Rangcheng.

As Li Tai, the governor of Jingzhou, who was standing on the high platform, gave an order, the sound of drums suddenly sounded all around. The pond weir, which was half full of water, was opened to release water. The original six weir gates were now increased to ten, a full ten The rushing water is like a dragon that has escaped from the gate, rushing along the ditch in all directions!

The people around them finally saw the grand opening of Liumenyan's gates and released water, which was legendary in ancient times, and couldn't help but cheered and the sound shook the field.

Li Tai, who was standing on the high platform, listened to the cheers of the people and turned to look at Huan Shuzu, the powerful chief in charge of the project. He cupped his fists and saluted him and said: "Huan Jun is virtuous and righteous, and is not afraid of hard work. He led the army." The clan slaves have done this good deed for the people of our state, and hundreds of miles of wilderness have become fertile soil. The contribution is now and will be passed down to future generations!"

"Your words are serious, your words are serious..."

After hearing this, Huan Shuzu quickly bowed and returned the greeting. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sore nose. He had paid too much for today's situation.

The most conspicuous thing on the site is a tall silk mountain made of more than 20,000 pieces of silk, and this was the final payment Huan Shuzu received after completing the project.

Hearing the envious voices of the people around him, Huan Shuzu was on the verge of tears, not because the benefits were not impressive enough, but because he seemed to have paid more.

In order to maintain the progress of the project, he endured the loss of his official position and the extension of the construction period. He made great efforts to ensure the quality of the project, and he is still involved in lawsuits to this day. Even before attending the ceremony today, he was interrogated in court at the state capital.

After the ceremony, Li Tai raised his hand to signal Huan Shuzu to go with him. Huan Shuzu followed him with a grimace. After walking a few steps in tandem, Li Taicai smiled at him and said: "The state capital will have a funeral in the near future." Are you interested in building a city? "

After Huan Shuzu heard this, he shook his head subconsciously. After a while, he couldn't help but asked: "Excuse me, envoy, how much does this construction cost?"