Kingdom of Heaven and Han

Chapter 427 Food Protection Price

March is almost over, and the weather is getting hotter day by day.The reorganization of Li Yanxian's original troops is proceeding in an orderly manner. The busy spring farming season in several states has passed, and the government slowly began to relax.

In the back office of the Zhenfu envoy, under the tall ginkgo tree, Wang Xiaolie chatted with Chen Qiudao and Chen Yuyi.

A soldier came over, crossed his hands and said, "Report to Zhen Fu, Yu Huan and Zhang both ask to see you."

Wang Xiaolie said: "Let them come over."

Not long after, Yu Huan and Zhang Jun came in and sang promises.

Wang Xiaolie said: "Are you two ready? Counting the days, it's time to set off. It's best to negotiate in time. After autumn, we will start delivering food and grass to the Hedong rebels. Although they have built cottages and opened up wasteland The land does not produce much food.”

Yu Huan said: "Report to Zhen Fu, it's ready. This time, I'm saying goodbye to Zhen Fu. We expect to leave tomorrow."

Wang Xiaolie nodded: "This is the best. Before setting off, think carefully about everything and prepare more things. Ding Jin is a rough man at first glance, but in reality he is meticulous, and he attaches great importance to money. If it is not possible, we Give him some favors."

Yu Huan and Zhang Jun crossed their hands: "I will understand in the end."

After finishing speaking, Yu Huan said again: "There is a Luan Qingshan, who is highly appreciated by Ding Jin's subordinates. When he was in Beiwu Town, he rotted a leg to save some prostitutes. A woman named Yu Nu in Xiangyang City, and Luan Qingshan is familiar with him, and we want to take Yu Nu with him."

Wang Xiaolie said: "I still remember Luan Qingshan. This man was originally a soldier in our army. He escaped because he refused to obey the strict military discipline. Seeing what he did in Beiwu Town, he still has some chivalry. He said he deserves Ding Jin Appreciation may not be able to speak up. You can figure it out."

Yu Huan and Zhang both agreed.

If Wang Xiaolie knew that Yu Huan forced Yu Nu to go there, he would definitely disagree.But as the appeasement envoy, how could he know everything from aloof?This matter was mainly about Yu Huan, he said he would take it with him.

Watching the two leave.Wang Xiaolie said: "Ding Jin is in the area of ​​Songshan Mountain. It originally covered our north road and separated us from the Jin army. Now it seems that it blocked our connection with the Hedong rebel army."

Chen Yuyi said: "It's better to take this opportunity to annex Ding Jin. To avoid a lot of trouble."

Wang Xiaolie shook his head: "Recently we have merged Li Dutong's department. Even if Li Dutong is the deputy, there is still a lot of gossip. If we annex Ding Jin again, there will be too much gossip. At least one or two years, don't do this Intend."

Chen Qiudao said: "Xue Cheng came back and said that the Hedong Rebels really selected more than 1 troops with combat effectiveness. But they claimed that they would say tens of thousands at every turn, and some even dared to say hundreds of thousands. According to their own words, I'm afraid there are not more than 50 in total. The number of people is too high, and it is a lot of inconvenience for us to support them. Isn't it—"

Wang Xiaolie waved his hand: "With the living conditions of the Hedong Rebel Army, it is impossible to have too many off-duty soldiers. Xue Cheng said that there are more than 1 people, but it is only based on his impression that they will only be available after reorganization. The actual off-duty soldiers can have many soldiers." A few thousand people is not bad. Don't care about these details. Most of the rebels are located in the south of Taiyuan Prefecture, right on the side of the Liangjing area, and their strategic position is extremely important. With them, within a few years, the Jin people will not be able to rule the East Road. For us For them, this is the most important thing. No matter how many people there are, we can’t support them. We can only transport as much surplus grain from Ruzhou as possible to help them when they are in need. There is no river in Ruzhou that connects with Xiang and Deng areas. The grain and grass cannot be transported, so it happens to support the East Road."

There is Fangcheng Mountain between Ruzhou and Dengzhou, and the river is blocked.During Taizong's time, he once wanted to dig a canal across Fangcheng Mountain to connect the north and the south. It took a lot of manpower and material resources, but finally failed.It was not until nearly a thousand years later that the canal was built, but it was still not navigable.In this era, there are no waterways, and it is very uneconomical to transport food.It is not the case of war that does not care about the cost, and there will be no food trafficking.

What Wang Xiaolie said about supporting the Hedong army was to use the grain and grass that Ruzhou could not transport to help them when they were in short supply.The two places are too far apart, and Wang Xiaolie's power is limited, so it is impossible to raise them all.

Chen Qiudao and Chen Yuyi seldom intervene in military affairs now, so they didn't talk much about this matter, but only mentioned a few words.

Wang Xiaolie said: "Look at the beginning of April, the wheat has grown. In less than two months, it will be the harvesting season. I heard that many people in nearby states and counties will plant rice after harvesting the wheat. They Is it too late?"

Chen Qiudao said: "It's not easy. Everyone is used to planting one season of grain, but instead of two seasons, they are naturally in a hurry."

Chen Yuyi said: "I heard that Jianghuai likes to harvest wheat and grow rice. They harvest two seasons a year, and they are very rich. When the wheat is harvested in the north, the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the south are fine. So they go north by boat to help harvest wheat there. These people It doesn’t cost money to help harvest the wheat, only half of the wheat.”

Wang Xiaolie said with a smile: "If you want half of the wheat, the wages are not cheap. The imperial court has always collected taxes only for one season. In the eyes of many people, this season of wheat is free, and the wages are generous. But there is another point, which means that harvesting wheat The time is very short, and it is really too busy."

People in later generations are used to cropping twice a year or cropping three times every two years. Continuous cropping of wheat and corn, wheat and rice, rice and rapeseed is very common.But in history, the two-season rice and wheat crops did not appear on a large scale until the Song Dynasty, and it was only limited to the Jianghuai area in the early Southern Song Dynasty.As for the two-crop rice and three-crop rice in the south, they appeared later.At this time, I want to plant rice, but there is no suitable rice seed, and the land is not tight.

People at this time are willing to crop rice and wheat continuously, the main reason is not the lack of land, but the tax for only one season.If the rice tax is collected, the wheat is equivalent to being tax-free.If the wheat tax is charged, the rice is tax-free.

After sighing for a while, Wang Xiaolie asked: "We have an agricultural officer who specializes in instructing the people to grow grain. I heard that we have achieved a lot. What is the grain output of the states under the rule last year? How much can one mu of land produce if you plant wheat?" ? How much can rice be produced?"

Chen Qiudao said: "According to our statistics, if it is only planted for one season, one mu of rice here in Xiangyang can produce two stones and eight buckets per mu, and wheat one stone five buckets. Dengzhou is slightly lower, with two buckets less rice and about the same amount of wheat. The same is true in other areas. .Only in Tangzhou and Ruzhou, Michael received a lot of money with one stone."

Wang Xiaolie nodded.Said: "I have always been worried that collecting three buckets of tax and grain per mu is too much. Judging from this output, the common people can still have a lot of grain left. We need to think of ways to let the common people do farm work faster and save labor. .”

The yield per mu of rice is high, but it also requires a lot of manpower.Under Wang Xiaolie's rule, the land under the rule is basically controlled by a family of 25 mu.If there are too many peasants with little land, we will attack the powerful landlords.Most farmers have land, so they are relatively relaxed.In fact, if it is to grow rice, a family of 35 mu of land cannot grow it.According to last year's statistics, it is very difficult for a family of five to have [-] mu of land.People who are not particularly hardworking can't grow it at all.The ideal situation should be between [-] mu and [-] mu per household.If wheat is planted, it is about [-] mu.

Chen Qiudao said: "The population between Xiang and Deng has never been dense, and many lands have been abandoned for a long time. The township has exempted all miscellaneous taxes. In the past two years, the people have tasted the sweetness. Everyone wants to grow more grain and sell more money. Only two Over the years, rice-wheat continuous cropping became popular."

Wang Xiaolie sighed: "The low price of grain hurts the farmers. The more grain is harvested, the price of grain will inevitably drop. This is not a good thing. From this year onwards, until the harvest season, the government will offer a minimum price. After collecting the tax and grain , if the price of grain is lower than this minimum price, it will be purchased by the government. Although the government may lose some money, it is always good for the people.”

This is the food protection price policy of the previous life, which has a very important role in stabilizing the rural order.Although the official will spend more money, it is worth it in general.This method is also a means of injecting money into the countryside to stimulate farmers' consumption.

Wang Xiaolie feels that there is a great lack of currency in society at this time.As long as the official means are right and care is taken not to cause inflation, printing paper money can be a great fortune.This will be the case for a long time as the economy develops.It's just that as the money is released, it is necessary to ensure that there are sufficient commodities in the society, so that the people cannot buy things with money.

(End of this chapter)