zChapter 853 - Ji An Prefecture (1/2)
Thinking back to when Da Shun was still being built up, the ancestors that established Da Shun might have chosen some lands to be fiefs that could be awarded in the future, these fiefs originally had owners. At the very least, the founding ancestors had already decided who to give these lands to, but who knew that one of the lords would incorrectly guess the ancestor’s intentions. Believing that the ancestor did not want to give him a fief as a reward, he started a rebellion in anger and moved to revolt.
Da Shun deployed soldiers to subdue him, and his forces were quickly suppressed, but it was this that caused the ancestor to note the potential abuses of the fiefs. The lord would reasonably raise a personal army. One generation would be fine, but the position would be hereditary! With it being handed down like this, would this not cause troubles for the Xuan family’s later generations? What if some lords had bad intentions? At that time, their fief would have plenty of troops and weapons, and Da Shun would have a difficult time suppressing them.
Realizing this point, he gritted his teeth and gave up on the idea of rewarding the officials with fiefs. Instead, it was replaced with gold, silver and treasures. As for those officials, they understood the reasoning and were totally loyal, thus they did not dispute this matter.
Later on, the fiefs that the ancestral emperor had designated were slowly canceled. They were slowly reclaimed as part of Da Shun’s territories until the current emperor’s generation, where only Ji An Prefecture remained.
Da Shun’s administrative areas were designated as “province, zhou, county, town and village.” Aside from the capital, the largest were provinces, which were governed by provincial prefects. Below provinces were zhou, which were governed by prefects. Below zhou were counties, which were governed by county magistrates. Below that would be towns and villages, but there was no such existence such as a “prefecture.” There was only one fief in the entirety of Da Shun that was a “prefecture,” and this was a unique existence in Da Shun. Because it did not fall under anyone’s responsibilities, the court had not paid too much attention to the maintenance of the area. Only a position to guard the prefecture was placed there.
Xuan Tian Feng had been obsessed with traveling in his earlier years, and he had once been to Ji An Prefecture. His book told Feng Yu Heng that the current Ji An Prefecture’s guard was surnamed Teng, and his name was Teng Ping. Calculating it, he should be 45 years old this year. Because they had been guarding the land for generations, and the fief had never been rewarded, gradually, the Teng family has already begun to think of Ji An Prefecture as their own family’s land. In that bad land, they build their buildings and act in defiance of the law. But the development by the Teng family allowed Ji An Prefecture to flourish quite a bit more than expected. Although it cannot compare to zhou and counties, it is not as destitute a land as others might believe.
Feng Yu Heng massaged her temples and did not know whether to laugh or cry. The Teng family believed the fief belonged to them? Carrying out large construction projects was welcomed, but acting in defiance of the laws needed to be reigned in. She still recalled when she had first obtained this fief, and she had thought of having Wang Lin expand Hundred Herb Hall over to the fief, but after having people ask about it, she found that there were too few people over here. It was called a prefecture, but even with all of the residences added together, there were still fewer than in a village. There was no real purpose in opening a Hundred Herb Hall in this area. Later on, Wang Lin suggested just opening one in Yu Zhou City. Like this, it could take care of the fief and the jade mine.
In regards to the fief, Feng Yu Heng did not manage it much. Although she knew that she would need to expand to this place eventually, over the past two years, she always had something happening around her. She had also gone to Qian Zhou for a battle. Gradually, she had put this matter aside. She had also sent someone to collect taxes from this area, but the response without exception was that the people were too poor, thus she did not argue about it. She always thought that she would wait until she began building to take over managing it, but it seemed that she needed to take care of the local bully before building up Ji An Prefecture.
She rubbed her forehead. The matter would not be difficult to do. It was just very annoying. Because they had been stationed there for a long time, they had forgotten their identities? While collecting salaries from the court, they wanted to appropriate the land. The people of the old Teng family really knew how to calculate their debts!
Wang Chuan quickly noticed that she was rubbing her temples then quietly asked: “Young Miss, what’s wrong? Is the bumping of the carriage uncomfortable? How about Young Miss lies down for a bit, and this servant will help massage your head? We will enter Yu Zhou City in another two hours. After reaching Yu Zhou, we can get some good rest.”
“No need.” Feng Yu Heng waved her hand. Seeing that Wang Chuan’s words had woken up everyone inside the carriage, she did not let the atmosphere remain quiet and said: “Do you know what sort of people are managing the fief?”
Xiang Rong and Shan Cha would definitely shake their heads; however, Huang Quan pondered for a while then said: “I heard that there’s a position called the prefecture guard.”
“That’s right.” Feng Yu Heng nodded and analyzed the situation outlined in the travel notes for everyone. Her original intent was to tell everyone that they could not relax upon reaching the fief. It was possible that they would need to have a difficult fight, at the very least, they would need to deal with the Teng family.
However, who knew that the inside the carriage, which had been drowsy and quiet, would become lively because of her explanation. Even Xiang Rong and Shan Cha had become spirited. Xiang Rong held her arm, as her eyes shone: “Second sister, the fief is your domain. With this, that prefecture guard has bumped into the tip of a sword, right? Second sister won’t let them off easily, right? They’re acting in defiance of the law! How should they be dealt with?”
Even the maidservant Shan Cha clenched her fists and said: “Confiscate their properties! Eradicate their families! Either way, they must not be let off easily.”