Chapter 26

In the crisp, cool air of an autumn day, the countryside is always tranquil. Some are busy in the fields—their own fields; others are also busy in the fields—someone else’s fields. Some wish to work the land but cannot, so they wander about seeking odd jobs, sweating profusely as they labor. Some do not even wish to be laborers; they only know how to find a tree, lie down, and lazily bask in the sun.

In any case, if Xingyuan Prefecture lacks anything else, it certainly has plenty of mountains and, naturally, plenty of trees.

There are also those who have not gone to the fields, hiding in groups of three or five within the shadows of the mountains, whispering about something in hushed tones. They say that if not for Zhang Shuye and Zhe Kecun, Duke Song would not have been defeated. They also say that if not for the eunuch Tong Guan, Saint Duke Fang La would not have been defeated either. But now, Zhang Shuye is not dead, Zhe Kecun is not dead, and Tong Guan is not dead, yet Song Jiang and Fang La are dead. What is to be done?

Should they simply continue being obedient subjects?

For generations, they have been obedient subjects for many, many years. They have diligently tilled the land, submissively paid taxes, delivered grain, and performed corvée labor according to the seasons and the law. In the end, even their land was taken away. The only reason their wives, children, and parents have food to eat today is that they still have a small amount of grain left. But once that is gone, who will provide them a way to survive?

Their faces are gloomy and stern, yet filled with hesitation and pain. Rebellion means death, but not rebelling also means death. Although they have begun to harbor fierce and grim thoughts, their numbers are still small. They have not yet united all the displaced farmers of the Lizhou Circuit; they still have to cross mountain after mountain, pass through village after village.

"It must be planned carefully," someone said. "Once this step is taken, there is no turning back!"

"Do you think they would allow you to turn back even now? If you turn back, do you have a home to return to? Do you have land to till?"

As they were speaking, they crossed a mountain and entered a village more than thirty miles from home. Suddenly, they saw a crowd gathered around a large tree at the village entrance, bustling and chattering like a chicken coop into which a weasel had been thrown, refusing to settle down.

"Have you seen this!"

"This must be a hoax! How could such a thing exist in this world?!"

"But this is an official document from the government, it has a seal!"

"It is precisely because it is an official government document that it cannot be believed!" someone shrieked. "Is this daring to sprinkle dirt on the head of the King of Hell? It is simply treasonous!"

A group of idlers gathered around and roared with laughter.

The men who had come up the mountain path exchanged glances. One slender young man stepped forward, carefully joining the crowd. "What kind of order is this that it even involves the King of Hell?"

One of the idlers turned to look him up and down, then glanced at the men behind him. Though somewhat dismissive, he was unwilling to provoke this group of able-bodied men, so he actually explained it to them.

"What is on the head of the King of Hell?"

"Is it... the beams of the Yama Hall?"

"Above the beams?"

"The tiles?"

"Above the tiles?"

What is above the tiles? Only a witty cynic could say: "Above the tiles is dirt! Our local officials only know how to fawn over eunuchs; they have stripped the soil of Xingyuan Prefecture so bare that the King of Hell is about to be exposed to the sun!"

Some snickered, but the slender young man remained unmoved after hearing the joke and continued to press, "So what official document did the government issue that offended the King of Hell?"

"They want to return the land!" someone shouted.

The young man's eyes brightened. "Are we to redeem the land? How much money?"

The idler pointed at the document. "Not a single coin! They’ll lease it to you for a lifetime; do you want it?"

Some continued to chatter and mock, some had eyes that dimmed once more, and others clenched their fists tightly.

"How can they push us so far!"

No one wanted to take back the land. Even when the minor officials found the displaced farmers, their reactions were surprisingly consistent: the land was an offering to the Lingying Temple, a token of their sincerity and filial piety. If they took it back, even Heaven would not tolerate them!

The news traveled back as if it were a lie. The Princess, still recuperating, could not jump out of bed. She could only send the second-eldest of the Gao brothers—who had been rained on but had not yet come down with a fever—along with a few attendants to go into the countryside and see if Liu Jingwang was untrustworthy, allowing his subordinates to fabricate a story and deceive a young girl like her.

Gao Erguo crossed two mountains and even brought back a load of wild mushrooms and fruits—intending to offer them to the Princess, but Ji Lan quickly threw them away—and reported that what the minor officials said was true. Not only did they not want the land, but if the Princess wanted their rivers, they would immediately dam the upstream and catch all the fish, turtles, shrimp, and crabs downstream, bleed them dry, and send them all to the Lingying Temple.

When Zhao Luming heard this news, she was stunned and instinctively touched her nose. Peilan immediately pulled out a pristine white handkerchief and gently wiped the Princess's small nose.

"There is no dust," she said.

Under the power of suggestion, the Princess still uneasily wiped it with her sleeve.

*A sense of déjà vu,* she thought. The villagers had refused, but this attitude was very strange.

Just as she was wiping her nose, Peilan suddenly shrieked toward the doorway.

"How bold! How dare you spy on the Princess's bedchamber!"

Wang Chuanyun’s face, etched with terror, retreated.

"I didn't! I didn't!" she tried to defend herself at the door. "I only wanted to see the Princess!"

The Princess sat in her chair, surrounded by her maids. As a laborer in the reform period, Wang Chuanyun had no chair, but the Princess, in her mercy, had granted her a small cushion, on which she sat.

"You want to see me," Zhao Luming said. "What for?"

Wang Chuanyun's gaze drifted over, fixed on her nose, and then quickly looked away.

"I heard the Princess wants to return the land to the commoners for perpetual tenancy..."

"Yes," she said. "I just don't know why they all refuse."

"My family is willing!" Wang Chuanyun said quickly. "Although my family has fallen on hard times, my brothers are still here. They can beg their relatives and friends; we can certainly scrape together some money to redeem the land! But I do not know how much the perpetual tenancy fee is, or how often it is assessed?"

The Princess widened her eyes and looked at her. "Perpetual tenancy fee?"

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the concept of "field bottom and field surface" rights became well-known, but few knew that this custom began in the Song Dynasty. Simply put, a landlord could lease land to a farmer for a short or long term. Short-term leases were self-explanatory—they split the harvest however they agreed—which was very unfavorable for the tenant. But the landlord didn't find it favorable either! Tenants and laborers were clever and picky. A wealthy landlord who could bribe officials in the capital to marry into the family of Prime Minister Cai wouldn't care, but most small-to-medium landlords had to work the fields themselves, and that land could absolutely not go to waste!

So, if a reliable farming family was willing to rent long-term, the landlord kept the "field bottom" (ownership) and the tenant kept the "field surface" (usage rights). The tenant would pay a perpetual tenancy fee as a deposit, and after it was registered with the government, the family could farm that land for ten or twenty years. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Of course, besides the rent paid to the landlord, the tenant also had to bear the grain taxes, corvée labor, and transportation duties. This was unavoidable; the lowest classes were always very resilient. As long as they could fill their families' stomachs after a year of farming and save a little, they could endure the bitterness and toil.

Moreover, "the land in Shu is fertile, an acre worth a thousand gold." There was little land, but it produced crops abundantly. The "field surface" was quite valuable. If one could lease the land, what was there to be dissatisfied about?

Now, look back at the conditions the Princess had offered:

To be her tenant, one only had to pay the grain tax originally owed to the government; beyond that, nothing else.

No need to bear corvée labor or transportation duties, no need to split the harvest with the Lingying Temple, and not even a perpetual tenancy fee was required. What did this mean?

In a word: "The village is giving out gold bars!"

Anyone who believed that was an idiot!

The Princess, with her red-tipped nose, fell into deep thought.

She did not ponder for long before initiating a tentative negotiation.

"The perpetual tenancy fee must be paid," she said. "Ten strings of cash per acre, no less."

Wang Chuanyun lowered her head and calculated silently for a while before looking up. "For how many years does this lease run, Princess?"

The Princess had originally intended it to be for a lifetime, but upon hearing this, she immediately said, "You must pay the taxes, otherwise it will be reclaimed."

Wang Chuanyun looked troubled. She pondered deeply on her cushion for a while, then probed, "There are years of famine. If the taxes cannot be paid in full this year, perhaps the Princess could show mercy if we make it up next year?"

Several young maids behind the Princess frowned and looked at each other.

The Princess, who had been so detached from worldly affairs in the Baolu Palace, was now seriously haggling with a convicted criminal!

Just like a street vendor! It was too strange!

Wang Chuanyun did not notice the strangeness of it. She viewed herself as a small adult, and she viewed the Princess the same way. She actually counted on her fingers while debating with the Princess, using all her cunning to account for natural disasters that almost never occurred in Shu, refusing to stop until she had secured benefits for the tenants.

It was truly difficult!

Zhao Luming listened to her half-seriously, half-mockingly. Some of the things she said were transparently false, making her smile, but others were real struggles and encounters experienced by the small-landlord class.

"How about this," the Princess finally decided. "We do not need to calculate the tenancy rights every year, but every twenty years, it must be reassessed! If there are years of unpaid grain or money, the Lingying Temple will certainly reclaim the land!"

Wang Chuanyun nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"Also!" the Princess said, with a wicked and sharp tone. "The Lingying Temple’s mountains are permitted for the commoners to gather firewood, and the river below can be used freely, but the Temple’s daily needs must also be covered by them! Those who cut wood must give the Lingying Temple one bundle of firewood each month! Those who fish must bring the Lingying Temple one large fish each month!"

And those who grew melons! Those who grew vegetables! Those who raised pigs had to raise one pig for the Lingying Temple each year!

A wicked landlady! She wrote out exactly what she wanted, clear and distinct, giving no one a chance to profit from the middle!

The day the minor officials posted the documents, the guards at the gates of Nanzheng City were loitering, feeling quite bored. The eunuchs of the Western City Office had been arrested, but news from Bianjing had yet to arrive. The Princess of Lingying Temple was getting better day by day, but there had been no celebrations. Some time ago, there was word of bandits in nearby villages, but the bandits dared not attack Nanzheng City.

Bored, very bored.

They could only watch the familiar faces entering the city, occasionally cracking jokes, occasionally being sarcastic, occasionally nitpicking.

Suddenly, a guard noticed a few faces that shouldn't have appeared in Nanzheng City.

"Isn't this Little Nine from the Liu family? Didn't your family say you were going to Chengdu Prefecture to beg—"

"I'm not begging! I'm not begging! The Lingying Temple is leasing land! Twenty-year leases! Farm as much as you want!" the small landlord shouted while riding his mule. "It was my family's land to begin with, and the perpetual tenancy fee can even be deferred for a year. I, a man standing tall, was losing my mind to go begging to relatives and friends!"

The man standing tall squeezed his mule with his legs and charged into Nanzheng City in a cloud of dust. The guards at the gate were so stunned they forgot to collect the entry fees.

But they didn't lose out! After hearing this, they immediately perked up, and one clever fellow even expressed his willingness to stand with the city gate and work extra shifts! Because soon, their purses would be filled by the overwhelming tide of people entering the city!