When dawn broke and Yun Ye rode his horse out the city gate, the entrance was surrounded by many people. Forget carriages and horses—not even a single horse could squeeze through. Wasn’t it said that the Great Tang’s population had dwindled? What was this dark mass of people?
When the Great Tang’s military might awed the four seas, even the frontier was as safe as the interior. Ten mu of wasteland in exchange for one hundred mu of good farmland—this was a windfall from heaven. Not to mention the new policy of three years’ tax exemption.
The steward had long ago mentioned that now, no matter who applied to go to Yunzhong, they would receive government assistance. Whether you were from Guanzhong or not, as long as you found a guarantor, you could take your whole family to farm at the frontier. Even refugees—the government would pretend not to know and register new household records for you, then escort your whole family to Yunzhong.
In the second month of Wude Year Two (619), the Great Tang initially established the rent, corvée, and調 tax system. Five years later it was promulgated and implemented along with the equal-field system. Based on the premise of granting each adult male one hundred mu of land, it implemented the taxation principle of “with land comes rent, with household comes調, with person comes corvée.” This was reasonable in the early Tang. Soldiers hidden among farmers—farmers in peacetime, soldiers in wartime. The saying went “those without constant property have no constant heart.” When a person fought to protect their own interests, even the most cowardly weakling would become a beast.
But this good method was destined not to be implemented long-term. As the population increased, the land in government hands would gradually decrease. Eventually, it would be impossible to evenly distribute so much land to everyone.
Annexing land had always been the nobility’s greatest hobby. Old Madam Yun still believed to this day that the Yun family’s most valuable asset was the two thousand mu of enfeoffed land. As for the money in the storehouses, she had little interest. Though old, riding the carriage to inspect Yun family land once a month still kept her tirelessly engaged.
If a thousand strings of cash disappeared from the storehouse, she wouldn’t furrow her brow. She never felt bad about relieving refugees in daily life, but if anyone dared chop down a single tree sapling on Yun family land, she would discover it and fly into a thunderous rage.
Growing crops had almost become a burden for the Yun family now, yet agriculture remained the top priority each year—worshipping gods, praying, wearing tattered clothes to glean wheat, storing new crops in the storehouse with large red seals and auspicious words written on them. Even the rats in the granary received preferential treatment. Habits passed down from the ancestors—changing them definitely wasn’t a matter that could happen overnight.
Ever since Ma Zhou exposed the facts about nobles annexing farmland, the court’s land management had reached its limit. For three consecutive years, Yun Ye hadn’t heard of any family’s land increasing on a large scale—even princes were the same. However, the Yun family suddenly gained a plot of land beyond the passes, right at the foot of Yin Mountain, connected to Na Rimu’s pasture. Supposedly Qiebi was so envious his mouth watered. He wanted to exchange his large tracts of land with the Yun family, but Na Rimu would rather jump into a well than agree.
“Chilei River, beneath Yin Mountain, the sky like a dome tent covers the four wilds. Sky vast and grey, wilderness boundless, wind blows grass low revealing cattle and sheep”—this was Na Rimu’s favorite song to sing. Though she loved singing all songs, especially that circle song she’d sung, which was her treasure, she always had to sing a verse when happy.
They say people become cheap when they leave home, but under the temptation of good farmland, for their perpetual holdings, many farmers packed their belongings, preparing to venture beyond the passes to begin their new lives there.
On the roads one could always see men pushing wheelbarrows or carrying poles—wives sitting on the wheelbarrows, or couples carrying poles together, one carrying household goods, one carrying children. Unlike the destitute helplessness of refugees, they all laughed loudly greeting fellow villagers, their dark faces full of hope.
Only the spontaneous was the most orderly. This time the government also showed the greatest sincerity and patience. The Emperor specially dispatched three thousand troops from the Right威 Guard as escorts. All along the way they bristled with killing intent. The bandits suffered great misfortune—countless mountain strongholds were wiped out. In the end, these strongmen also became farmers going to reclaim wasteland in Yunzhong, except they needed to labor under the surveillance of blades and spears. Local governments sent many large livestock—almost every family of three received one draft animal. This spared the emigrants the suffering of a thousand-mile trek. All gritted their teeth and pressed on. When they reached their destination, spring would arrive, and there’d still be time to plant the first crop.
The villagers didn’t know, but Yun Ye was very clear—the ruthless Hou Junji was currently conducting a new round of purges on the great grasslands. Any tribe with even the slightest dissenting voice would often disappear from this world overnight. When others inquired, the government’s answer was that those herders had migrated elsewhere.
Ma Zhou was right there, still living at Na Rimu’s pasture. He was very familiar with Yun Qi and had specially set up his office at Na Rimu’s pasture—this was the only place where he wouldn’t receive cold looks.
After Hou Junji’s round of sweeping, the great grasslands probably had the Great Tang’s bright red seal stamped even on wild wolves’ backsides. Emigrants from Guanzhong were about to arrive and begin large-scale sheep raising and farming. This was the wool-producing area Li Er had prepared for the Great Tang—no room for error. Only Yun Ye knew what kind of destruction an agricultural people would wreak on the grasslands. The Han people were originally a farming people who loved planting. Wherever they went, they had to try planting something in the soil before feeling at ease.
So in the Gobi, in the wilderness, in the desert, on islands, in high mountains—wherever human traces reached, crops always grew from the soil. And the land always listened very well to the Han people—whatever was planted would grow. When you saw layer upon layer of terraced fields on mountains, lush crops in the desert, and fresh vegetables—don’t be surprised. For a people who could grow watermelons on rocky islands, those miracles weren’t miracles, just part of their life.
Woolen fabric had now appeared in small quantities. The price was very expensive. Besides getting some back to make cloaks, Yun Ye did nothing else with it. Though the previous bright red cloak looked good and flowed gracefully when riding horses, draped behind the body, the freely flowing tears and snot always ruined the heroic spirit.
Wool was most suitable for making blankets. The crisp fabric was also most suitable for military uniforms. Only this kind of fabric could bring out a soldier’s temperament. Li Er expressed deep agreement with Yun Ye’s words.
The only unchanged place in all of Guanzhong was the Yun family estate. The market remained bustling with people coming and going. At the entrance of the Du family’s newly opened shop, clerks were hoarsely soliciting customers. Yun Ye asked Xinyue curiously through the small window: “In just two days, the Du family’s business has already opened?”
Xinyue covered her mouth and laughed: “My confused husband! The Du family originally had business at the market, but the location was rented from our family. Now that the land has been transferred to them, this business truly belongs to the Du family. Not like before—if our family wanted to evict them, they had to leave. Unable to feel secure, the business couldn’t grow. Now that the land and shop belong to their family, naturally their spirit is different. Yesterday I gave Lady Du a letter saying we were preparing to sell that plot of land they rented, asking if she was interested in taking it over. As a result, when the steward returned, he brought back eight hundred strings of cash in notes, saying if it wasn’t enough they’d add more. They’d anticipated this long ago, had already inquired about the price, just waiting for our family to nod.” Only someone with Du Ruhui, Du Keming’s brain could do this. Yun Ye smiled. When passing the Du family shop, he looked inside—quite a few customers!
No young people could be seen at the Yun family estate, neither male nor female—none visible. Only old men and old women sat on long benches sunning themselves, occasionally pushing the cradles beside them. A few toddlers in split-pants crawled everywhere.
After entering the gate, Wang Cai ran over. They hadn’t seen each other for several days and missed each other. Wang Cai, like Yun Ye, disliked Chang’an. Yun Ye didn’t like seeing Li Er and Zhangsun. Wang Cai disliked it because kind-hearted people always prepared to lead him home to raise. He’d already kicked several people. So he felt Chang’an was just a big stable, full of grooms everywhere.
Qian Tong had long ago taken the horsetail duster to dust off the Marquis. Yun Ye stretched out his arms, accepting Qian Tong’s attentiveness. After he finished his work, Yun Ye asked: “Steward, I saw many people on the road dragging their families preparing to go beyond the passes. How many does our family have? Count them up and have them go out with our family’s caravan—no need to squeeze together with those people.”
Qian Tong was stunned for a moment. After figuring out the Marquis’s meaning, he smiled and said: “Marquis, you worry too much. No one from our estate is going beyond the passes. We already have far too few hands to use at our own estate—who has the mind to go beyond the passes? Only second-rate idlers go beyond the passes. The caravan managers constantly ask this old slave for hands, specifically requesting people from our estate. Those with quick minds, this old slave stuffs into the caravans to temper them. As for those with one-track minds, they honestly farm at home and work in the home workshops. Year-round there’s no idle person. This old slave wishes those youngsters would grow into strapping lads overnight. Every day I want to pull their ears, but those children just won’t grow up.”
The old fellow was joking, his words full of confidence. The Lantian County registrar had also come to the Yun estate to inquire whether anyone was willing to go beyond the passes. The result was very poor. He sat under the signboard waiting all day—not a single person came. Finally one person approached—a little brat who pointed at the signboard insisting there was a typo, despising the registrar for not studying well, writing a character with many missing strokes. He prepared to teach the registrar on a sand board but was kicked far away by the black-faced registrar. You don’t even recognize cursive script, yet dare to lecture me?
After hearing the steward’s joke, Yun Ye grinned and walked from the front courtyard into the rear hall. He paid his respects to grandmother, chatted with the old lady for a while, then prepared to return to the study to look at the new court gazettes again. Lately the gazettes always had many interesting things.
Before reaching the moon gate, he heard the voices of Cheng Yaojin and Niu Jinda outside. He didn’t know what had happened, but both old commanders’ voices were full of urgent alarm.