Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Chapter 128

Yuanying’s preparations went smoothly. Just last year the Emperor issued an edict to update the household registration system and instructed the homeless to obtain citizenship before year end.

Therefore more households were added into the registrar. Although the number was not overwhelming, it meant that the data cannot be copied from the previous years like they usually do. Yuanying explained that Xu Jingzong wants him to conduct a population survey and wanted past examples as references. The registrar staff shared a few copies and explain to him saying that each village has a record and the numbers can be adjusted according to situation.

This so-called record has each household recorded in detail, including name, age, appearance and so on. Generally speaking, a hundred households makes up one district and five miles makes up a township.  When you get there, just refer to the person in charge to check his records.

Li Yuanying nodded. He met up with his group and everyone found out more details about how to conduct a population survey. Chengyang brought back a hand-drawn map that will guide them from village to village.

After planning, Yuanying was a little puzzled: “The county government’s record has all the details, why did the Emperor issue an edict to make people register? Shouldn’t everyone be accounted for?”

“This is a rich county so things are recorded more carefully. Not every place will be as efficient. Over time the population report might be duplicated blindly and reported without a survey done. Some people will take advantage of loopholes to slack.” (Wu Mei)

Yuanying suddenly understood.

This is a county surrounding Chang’an so many eyes are watching it and things are implemented well here. In places where the sky is high and the Emperor far away, the workers will not have such consciousness and will do whatever is convenient and beneficial to themselves!

“So that’s how it is.” Yuanying didn’t care much. The next day he packed up and took his friends to the countryside for their project.

This internship initiative is lead by him and he was motivated. When he arrived at a destination, he didn’t go playing or eating but met with the person in charge to ask questions. Although there were only 100 households in one district, Yuanying spent a long time checking because he visited each and every household. They revised the handwritten records and asked about their condition. Li Yuanying also put his fast sketching skills into use and drew a simple portrait of each person.

Many heard that a distinguished person is here to conduct census and they all came to watch out of curiosity. When it was their turn, they even warmly invited Li Yuanying in. The boy wasn’t disturbed by the attention and loved the excitement and greeted everyone cheerfully.

After checking 1 district, the record document became much thicker because pictures added. His hands were a little sore and he was invited to have a simple meal at the person in charge’s house.The group spent Li Yuanying’s money and brought food from various houses. The villagers were originally unwilling to accept money but was told that by doing so it harms the boy’s reputation. After that, everyone was happy pocketing the money.

As soon as Li Yuanying left in the afternoon, the villagers gathered to discussed about the young prince. Although Hu County is not big like Chang’an, it is still close to the capital and have seen many nobles coming and going. Some have also been lucky enough to meet other prince but none were as approachable as Li Yuanying!

“Okay, okay, go back and do your work. Are these aristocrats someone you can talk about?”

After dispersing the villagers, the person in charge looked towards the direction where the group have left and thought to himself that this little prince seems a bit naive. He wonder if he would have conflict with others if he continues to be so busy.

Yuanying didn’t think so far. After just 1 district, he was exhausted. Wei Shu and Chengyang had also learned how to speed draw and suggested that they take turns to do it so that no one is overworked.

Yuanying is not one to be stubborn. Since he is tired, he accepted the offer immediately.

He sighed: “Seems like it’s not easy taking care of a County. Just the household registrar is a headache.”

“This is already simple. If it’s Taiyuan it’ll be even more complicated.” (Di Renjie)

“How is it troublesome?” (Li Yuanying)

Di Renjie shared more with the same sentiments as Wu Mei. The land system in many counties and townships is not as well implemented. In some places, some will only  receive 20 or 30 acres of land which is far lower than the approved size.

According to the law, a male over 18 can obtain a hectare of land, of which 20 acres are permanent land that can be left to future generation. 80 acres are divided land, which means he only had the right to cultivate but not inherit.  The imperial court has dictated that these lands cannot be sold but in reality no one really stops private trade. After many years, private trading is a lucrative business especially where powerful people hoard land piece by piece.

After losing their land, the government still requires them to do unpaid labour. Those who could no longer survive will seek shelter under the wealthy and powerful families to work as servants. As long as local officials turn a blind eye to them, they can still survive!

But this creates another problem. Officials are supposed to conduct population study yearly and so the increase or decrease of citizens are an important indicator. Most would never want to admit to a decrease in population under their control and so would submit inaccurate results by slightly changing the numbers from the previous year.

In places where households have decreased, officials had to find ways to fill the gap for taxes and labor. This causes them to allocate the burden of escapees to their relatives, friends and neighbors who are mutual guarantors.

Di Renjie had encountered these problems when he followed his father to work. His father was troubled by this but he was too young to think of any good solutions.

Li Yuanying also heard about this topic from Xiao Deyan. When Di Renjie mention that this is an issue in Taiyuan, Yuanying frowned.

“Is it already that serious?” Tang is a fairly young country, how can it be like that already!

“Some stateless people would have left their hometowns during the war in the late Sui Dynasty.

Although his Majesty had order the homeless to register themselves as citizens, many have not complied to it.” (Wu Mei)

Wu Mei also shared that the early days of Tang Dynasty was filled with conflict with the regions. After Li Er came to the throne, he repeatedly fought against the Turks, Tuyuhun, Gaochang and other place. It is understandable why some would prefer to remain stateless so that they do not bear heavy duties.

Yuanying thought about blessed hands and feet by Zhang Jianzhi and said: “Therefore, the government should do things to make the citizens trust them more.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

But agreement means nothing. They have no real power and can’t do much. Yuanying was not discouraged and energetically continue collecting data and even found a family to stay with.

Early the next morning, Yuanying woke up in high spirits and journey on to the next village.

News about Prince Teng seriously working on the population survey spread to various places.

Xu Jingzong was a little surprised but he had just been audited a year ago so all should be well. He only asked more people to follow the group. If you work seriously, you should be bored after 2 or 3 days!

Just when Xu Jingzong was leisurely preparing for bed with his beautiful lover, the news about a powerful noble from the Capital running errands spread like wildfire in various villages. That night, a scrawny-looking scholar named Wu sat under a light. He was young, around 17 or 18 but had a dejected look as if there is nothing else in the world that is worthy to him.

At this time, his mother entered the door and brought him big news.

A noble person has come to the countryside. He is so noble that many county magistrates want to please him!

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