Chapter 88: Fan Zeng’s Windfall
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At the command headquarters, Xiao Ming showed Pang Yukun the information he had received the previous night. The issue of the village heads also made Pang Yukun frown.
There were many villages within the six prefectures, and the number of village heads was equally large. While not every village head was connected to the powerful families, the previous night’s events suggested that at least thirty percent of them were.
“Your Highness, supporting a new village head is one solution, but what if the two village heads collude? Wouldn’t that make things worse?” Pang Yukun expressed his concern.
Xiao Ming had also been pondering this issue, which was why he had come to discuss it with Pang Yukun in the morning. He said, “That’s why I want to establish an organization similar to the government office in each village. This organization will be called the ‘commune,’ and the production teams will be under its jurisdiction. The commune, in turn, will be managed by the county magistrate. This will completely eliminate the village elders’ control over the villages and strip them of their influence.”
“If that’s the case, then supporting another village head wouldn’t be necessary, would it?” Pang Yukun was still confused.
“It’s different. Supporting another village head is still necessary. During the establishment of the commune, the influence of the village heads won’t disappear overnight. We need to keep these village heads focused on their rivals so they overlook the establishment of the commune,” Xiao Ming explained.
“Your Highness, this is what they call ‘building the plank road openly while secretly crossing Chencang,'” Pang Yukun said with a smile.
“Exactly. The commune is where we will truly unite the people. Once the commune system matures, the production team leaders from each village will join the commune, and from among them, a commune leader will be elected. The selection criteria will no longer be based on the village elders’ influence but on which production team produces the most grain.”
“The commune… another new institution,” Pang Yukun shook his head. He had grown accustomed to Xiao Ming’s unconventional ideas.
The only thing he was certain of was that everything Xiao Ming was doing was for the sake of the fief’s stability, and that was reason enough for him to offer his unconditional support.
“In that case, Your Highness, you’ll need to explain the details to me so I can implement them effectively,” Pang Yukun said.