In the seventh month of the first year of Yuanyou (Wuyin 23), the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager Kuncheng Festival.

As the nephew of the Empress Dowager, Gao Gongji gathered officials and nobles in Xizhou City early on this day to celebrate his aunt's birthday.

In the Song Dynasty, Emperor and Hou Sheng Festivals were also legal holidays.

Therefore, almost half of the dignitaries on Xihe Road gathered in Xizhou City.

As the magistrate of Xizhou, You Shixiongzi was also invited to attend the meeting.

However, You Shixiong’s character doesn’t like too lively scenes.

Therefore, after he arrived at the official office of the "Xihe Lanhui Roadside Finance Department" in Xizhou City, he congratulated Gao Gong, presented a congratulatory form, and asked him to forward it to the Empress Dowager Bianjing. Ji arranged a quiet wing for him.

Gao Gongji naturally would not refuse this, and immediately ordered his servants to invite You Shixiong to a secluded wing in the back of the official residence.

You Shixiong entered the side room, took out the Xizhou official documents he had brought, and began to review them.

Hengqu's followers pursue restoration and yearn for the rule of three generations.

It is precisely because of this that the students under Hengqu's sect have strong pragmatic abilities.

The reason is very simple - Zhang Zai was giving lectures in Hengqu and he admired the Three Generations and Jingtian system.

Therefore, he needs to prove one thing to his students and the outside world: three generations of morality and well fields can solve contemporary problems.

Naturally, this matter cannot be said through mouth.

But take practical action!

Therefore, when Zhang Zai was lecturing in Hengqu, he led his students and contemporary villagers to try to replicate the well-field system of the Zhou Dynasty in the local countryside of Hengqu.

In order to win the support of the imperial court, Zhang Zai also wrote a letter requesting that Hengqu can be turned into an experimental site for the well-field system.

After receiving support from the court, Zhang Zai and his students spent money to purchase land in Hengqu and distributed it to the local landless people and poor people.

And organized these people to dig channels in Hengcan and build water conservancy facilities.

In this way, Hengqu's family was in Hengqu, and he participated in the construction of the local well field system while studying.

It means that during the study period, I have personally participated in actual grassroots work.

Therefore, many people under Hengqu's sect, despite their low rankings in the imperial examination, have outstanding political achievements, and ordinary subordinates cannot fool them at all.

You Shixiong is even more outstanding in this regard.

Since arriving in Xizhou, he has been working almost day and night.

Relying on rich grassroots experience and fanatical work attitude.

He quickly established a foothold in Xizhou and received support from above and below.

Moreover, because he was the magistrate of Xizhou who was personally eliminated by the official family.

Therefore, the local wealthy families are also very supportive of his work.

However, it was precisely because of this that You Shixiong did not dare to neglect him.

He knew very well that today, when Master Zhang passed away, Hengqu's power was in decline.

I want to revitalize Hengqu College, make it more prosperous, and promote Master Zhang’s knowledge.

He must prove to the people of the world, especially the officials in Bianjing, that the ideas and ideas of Hengqu's lineage are useful and can save the times.

Under such pressure, You Shixiong, who had only been in office for a year and was less than 49 years old, was already turning gray on his temples.

About half an hour later, You Shixiong heard footsteps coming from outside the door.

"Is Uncle Jing here?" A rich male voice sounded outside the door.

You Shixiong quickly stood up and replied: "Yes!"

Then he opened the door and bowed his hands to the person standing at the door, saluting: "I am the official You Shixiong and pay my respects to the envoy."

The person who came was none other than Zhao Xi, the pacifying envoy of Xihe Road.

"Uncle Jing, there is no need to be polite." Zhao Xi smiled and helped You Shixiong up: "This is not an official office, so you and I don't need to be polite."

You Shixiong replied: "The lower official is now wearing official uniform, so he must not use the courtesy of the court."

Zhao Xi shook his head with a smile and said no more.

Because he knows that it is useless to say anything!

All members of Hengqu's family are like this. They are rigid in their etiquette and refuse to be flexible.

Fortunately, Hengqumen in other places are still willing to compromise with reality.

You Shixiong welcomed Zhao Xi into the wing, asked the superior to sit down, and then asked: "Is the envoy here to see my subordinate for something?"

Zhao Xing hummed, looked at You Shixiong and said, "It's just a private matter."

"May I ask the envoy what's going on?"

Zhao Xidao said: "I heard that Uncle Jing has invited his former disciple Hengqu to come to Xizhou to give lectures?"

You Shixiong nodded and replied: "I have invited all of my fellow disciples who are idle at home. Now I have received letters from several of my fellow disciples, saying that they are willing to come to Xizhou to give lectures."

Hengqu's disciples were the most willing scholar-bureaucrats to endure hardships.

Back then, Zhang Zai took them to study at Hengqu Academy while participating in the construction of local well fields in Hengqu. In addition, they had to grow their own food, vegetables, cooking, and laundry.

This is also related to the origin of Hengqu's disciples - Hengqu is also known as Guan Xue.

The students basically come from all walks of life in Shaanxi, and their family conditions are not very well-off, which is the so-called poverty.

From childhood to adulthood, I grew up working part-time and studying part-time.

Therefore, other scholar-bureaucrats regarded Xihe Road as a fearful road and refused to come to give lectures.

Even last year, the imperial court extended its favor and gave a way out to specially named Jinshi who were willing to come to Xihe to serve as professors of state studies.

But those who are willing to come are still very few.

Even here in Xizhou, only five people were willing to come. In the end, two more people abandoned Xizhou's mission.

But with just a few letters from You Shixiong, he was able to invite several scholar-bureaucrats with Jinshi status under Hengqu's family to give lectures.

Zhao Xi looked at You Shixiong and said, "This is exactly why I came here."

"Huh?" You Shixiong didn't quite understand and asked, "What does it mean to make an envoy?"

"I would like to ask Uncle Jing to take the few Hengqu disciples for a walk after they come to Xihe Road to see the scenery and customs in various places in Xihe." Zhao Xi said slowly: "Uncle Jing should know

, Xihe Road is different from other places.”

"Xihe has his own secret."

You Shixiong immediately understood why Zhao Xi came to him specifically - he was afraid that the fellow disciples he had invited would not be able to bear it after seeing the current situation on Xihe Road, and would end up getting into trouble. Even after returning, they would be criticized in public opinion.

Criticize Xihe.

You Shixiong sighed, cupped his hands to Zhao Xi and said: "The envoy should understand what is happening in various places in Xihe today."

"The cotton villages in various places are almost like the Wubao of the wealthy families in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties."

The current Mianzhuang on Xihe Road will be familiar to anyone who has read history books - isn't this the powerful Wubao Manor that once spread all over the north during the troubled times of the Southern and Northern Dynasties?

Except for the lack of solid fortresses, powerful defenses and well-trained troops.

Those cotton field manors scattered on both sides of the Weihe River, Taoshui River, and the Yellow River were Wubao in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

They have so many similarities!

In fact, maybe these cotton villages on Xihe Road are not as good as Wubao in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

In the Wubao Manor in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, at least the tribes and villagers might have their own land and some property of their own.

What about Cotton Village on Xihe Road?

The Han and Tibetan people who worked there could only work for the proprietors in exchange for pitiful wages.

Even in the slack season, they are not allowed to rest.

They need to dig channels, repair water conservancy, roads, and build warehouses...

Where is the Uburg Manor in the Northern and Southern Dynasties?

The villagers in Wubao in the Northern and Southern Dynasties were much more relaxed than the people in the cotton fields of Xihe Road today!

In You Shixiong's eyes, the people working in the cotton fields on Xihe Road are now.

Except that they are not shackled, they are almost the same as the serfs in the serf manor of the Tubo and Dangxiang people.

Of course Zhao Xi knew this, and he corrected You Shixiong's mistake with a chuckle: "Uncle Jing, in Mianzhuang, whether they are Han people, Tubo people, Qiang people, or Dangxiang people, all signed contracts with the owner of Mianzhuang under the witness of the government.

The customer who signed the contract hired workers!”

"They are all voluntary and there is no coercion. The clients are not shackles. The shackles restrict their freedom, which is proof!"

You Shi ambitiously said: "There are no shackles on their bodies, but their souls are bound by invisible shackles."

This is also the paradoxical place of the Cotton Field Manor on Xihe Road.

It is a deformed body stitched together by the Uburg Manor and Tubo in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the serf economy of Dangxiang, and the unique employee-client system of the Song Dynasty.

Moreover, almost all cotton farm estates have the evils of the above three systems.

It not only had Wu Bao's strict control over the tribes, but also had the extreme exploitation of Tubo and Dangxiang's serf economy, as well as the non-stick pans of the Song Dynasty's customer servants.

Why do you say that?

You Shixiong personally inspected and asked the employees of his clients who worked in the cotton fields and estates.

So he knew very well the operating rules of the Xihe Cotton Field Manor economy.

First of all, all client employees are registered with the government, and their contracts with Cotton Village are protected and recognized by the government.

This means that they cannot terminate their employment relationship with their employer during the contract period.
To be continued...