Shu Chen

Chapter 59
In the suburbs, Zheng Pu and Liu Yin hurried to Pingyi County with more than ten retinues.

Recently, the snow has been continuous, and the mountains and trees that are still green are dyed white. The white and green blend together, which is really beautiful.

Along the way, I encountered some streams, which flowed happily. In the faint mist, the music of the earth was played, guarding the vicissitudes of the years here.

Or, for those who have been displaced and have no power to mourn, how difficult the world is.

As the city approached, there were more people who fled along the way.

Mostly in ragged clothes, which is pitiful.

Moreover, everyone is disheveled, with dull eyes, stiff and numb faces, and no anger at all.Whenever the cold winds of spring come, there seems to be a solemn feeling of "sorrow is greater than death of the heart", and it spreads recklessly.

When Zheng Pu and Liu Yin walked past, the sound of the knives and armors of the retinues colliding in the rush caused many children to burst into tears.

This situation also added a lot of gloom to Zheng Pu's heart.

The people are afraid of soldiers like tigers, can they be appeased?

When I was young, I arrived at the city gate and entered the temporary prefect mansion, which was formerly the county office.

Without waiting for a report, he was brought in by the guards on duty and saw Ma Zhong, who was bowing his head to the desk and writing dots and lines.

Perhaps it was the reason why he rushed all the way to Nanzhong, Ma Zhong's voice and appearance were quite haggard, only his eyes were bright.

Also, adhering to the capable and decisive style.

After Zheng Pu and Liu Yin saluted and took their seats, he inquired in detail about the situation of the siege and the siege, before and after the retreat of the thief Zhu Bao, as well as the surrounding areas such as Guangtan County and Tu County.

After asking some questions, after pondering for a while, he proceeded resolutely.

Directly sent Liu Yin, who had just traveled to Pingyi, to go back to guard the encirclement and bring troops, "I am here, only with more than ten servants, it is difficult to maintain the order of the hungry people in the county. Xiran, you have nearly a hundred soldiers under your command, and Bring all of them to Pingyi, protect and settle the hungry, and defend the siege and defense. You don’t need to worry about it. Within three or five days, there will be grains transported to Nanchang County, and you will protect the leader. Those who are in trouble or robbed of food and grain will be killed in accordance with the law, and there is no need to complain to me."

"No! The subordinates take orders!"

Immediately, Liu Yin took the order with a bang, bowed, and then turned around and strode away.

He also asked Ma Zhong to look at his back, licked his beard, nodded slightly, and said to Zheng Pu with a smile, "Xun Ran is quite decisive, and Zijin is also regarded as a sage in the country."

After speaking, without waiting for Zheng Pu to speak humbly, he lowered his head and rubbed his nose with one hand, and his voice was exhausted, "The imperial edict should be a few days old, and their respective responsibilities should have been known earlier, I wonder if Zijin can help the people. Thinking?"

"Go back to the prefect, you are very thoughtful."

He bowed his hands first, and Zheng Pu talked about his repeated patrols in the mountains for the past few days, and then said softly, "Pu secretly thinks that people who have permanent property are safe. Therefore, what I think about is to open up fields."

"Putian?"

Hearing this, Ma Zhong looked sideways and said in surprise.

Seeing Zheng Pu's solemn nodding, his face was full of weirdness, and he bowed his head and pinched his own nonsense.

No wonder he was surprised.

The county is famous for its vertical and horizontal mountains for several years. It can open up flat land with acres of land.It was also occupied by the big names in the county and the powerful barbarian tribes. How could they find suitable soil and reclaim the land?Furthermore, there are more than a thousand hungry people here, and most of them are old and weak, women and children. Even if Zheng Pu can find a little land, it will not help.

Could it be that Zijin wanted to find the big surnames or barbarian tribes in the county, and prosecuted them for false crimes and seized their fields to feed the hungry people?
Following his thoughts, Ma Zhong's eyes flashed a little bit of clarity.

He suddenly remembered that when he was leaving in Chengdu, the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang had said so.

"The Dexin Office is rigorous and decisive. I have nothing to say about this. However, Zheng Zijin is now under your control. Far-sightedness, but it loses its temperament and is very rigid. The advice in planning is quite hostile, and Dexin still needs to weigh it up."

Being so asserted by the Prime Minister, Ma Zhong naturally took it to heart.

He couldn't help but misunderstood what Zheng Pu said.

When there was little silence, he raised his head and said, "Zijin, let's try it out."

"promise."

Nodding slightly, Zheng Pu said, "Back to the prefect, Pu recently visited Pingyi County and saw a lot of gentle slopes and low hills, so he thought that he might be able to drive Li Shu to open up terraced fields."

"It turned out to be terraced fields."

When Ma Zhong heard the words, he suddenly realized.

Although he is from Badi, he has also heard about Nanzhong Terraced Fields.

From the Qin and Han dynasties, the Han people who migrated to the counties in Nanzhong already had precedents for opening up terraced fields.

Of course, the development and maintenance of terraced fields consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, and the grain yield is quite low.There are also people who do not know how to maintain the irrigation water system. The terraced fields are only opened and used for one year before they are destroyed by the heavy rain in midsummer.

If the gains outweigh the losses, the terraced fields are rarely re-opened.

That's why Ma Zhongming couldn't help but urged, "Has Zijin ever thought about the pros and cons of developing terraced fields?"

"Go back to the prefect, Pu You thought about it."

Zheng Pu responded with a smile, and immediately told all what was on his mind.

During this time, the hungry people did not dare to go back to their hometown if the imperial court did not kill Zhu Bao.

Gathering together to sleep in the open air, it is difficult to control the defecation, which may cause epidemics to spread. Moreover, it is the beginning of the year, and spring ploughing is in sight. In terms of time, they may not be able to cultivate and support themselves this year, which is a huge burden to the imperial court.

Therefore, Zheng Pu felt that instead of letting them waste the land in vain, it is better to send them to open up terraced fields in the way of "relief for work".

Furthermore, sending them to exchange labor for food rations can also form an order and make it easier to manage.

In this way, the problem of energy consumption of terraced fields cannot be discussed.

As for the difficulty of maintaining terraces, Zheng Pu also has a solution.

He intends to develop it in a way of "water storage at the top for irrigation, fields and acres of land descending in circular steps, vertical gullies on the left and right to drain the midsummer rainwater, and the steps and ridges are sturdy."Although the development intensity is higher, the terraces can be used for ten years or even decades.

Finally, it is the problem of poor soil.

After all, the soil strength stored in the soil of the low hills and gentle slopes cannot be compared with the acres of flat land.

If you want to harvest more abundant terraced fields, you must find a way to improve the soil strength.

Having said this, Zheng Pu's teeth were springy, "Prefect, this is the second thing I think about to care for the people, hire people to raise pigs."

It also made Ma Zhong's complexion even more different.

Originally, when Zheng Pu talked about the method of “relief for work”, his brows relaxed and his tired face disappeared a lot.

The most irritating thing about Fumin is that the people gather together, and it is difficult to restrain them.For example, because Li Shu had nowhere to exert his power, he caused troubles, fights, kidnapping, looting and other undesirable phenomena.

Moreover, there is little literature, little etiquette, and poor punishment here.

Killing it is too much, it is useless and stable.

It's too light to scare the crowd.

And Zheng Pu's method is precisely to expel the commoners who are unintentional and unable to make trouble in order to feed their belly.

As for whether the terraced fields can harvest grain, it doesn't matter.

If there is, of course it is gratifying.

If not, why would it be a pity if I didn't think about it?

But Zheng Pu is now thinking about how to make the terraced fields prosperous, which involves hiring people to raise pigs.

Today, the best place to raise hogs is the swamp and depression, followed by the mountain forest.

The swamps and tidal flats are lush with water and grass, which is the best fodder for the hogs.Its aquatic plants do not need planting management, do not need any input, and are inexhaustible, and the number of grazing is almost unlimited, so Sima Qian said "the thousand feet in the swamp".

Gongsun Hong, the prime minister during Emperor Wu's time, once studied in the mudflats.

The mountain forest to raise hogs relies on tree fruits and grass seeds in the forest, and the principle is roughly the same.

In the middle of the south, the climate is mild and the mountains and forests are all over, so it is a good choice for raising hogs.

Of course, there is also a shortcoming. Wild hogs can be grazing in spring, summer, autumn and three seasons, but it is difficult to find pasture in winter.

Today, there are no grains left in Lishu, and the county has always been in trouble. In winter, how can this hog feed the evil?

"Zijin thinks very well about building terraced fields."

Therefore, Ma Zhong first nodded his head and affirmed the suggestion to open up terraced fields, and politely rejected the idea of ​​raising hogs, "As for raising hogs, Zijin presumably uses feces to increase soil strength. However, although there are many mountains and forests in this place, raising hogs is not an option. It's not difficult, but the barbarians here also see the benefits and forget their lives, and they may steal privately and cause disputes and other unharmonious things. Moreover, the hogs and herds in the mountains and forests still need to be raised with swill, and the barbarians here have no surplus food. According to me See, the matter of hiring people to raise hogs, let it go."

"The prefect's words are really thought-provoking."

After complimenting, Zheng Pu said respectfully, "As the prefect said, raising hogs here is quite lacking in thinking. However, I think the way to raise hogs is not to shepherd hogs in the mountains and forests."

After all, he was eloquent again.

The way he thinks is captivity.

According to the essence of raising hogs, "the circle never tires of being small, and the circle is small, fat and disease", he wanted to make use of some of the steep mountains in Pingyi County, and planted all of them with pastures: Vetch.

This grass likes a warm and humid climate, and it does not have strict soil requirements. It can not only be used as forage for hogs, but also as green manure.

If the government loaned young hogs to Li Shu to raise them, it was a contract that each of them would take half of the profits, and there was no need for the government to instruct them to plant pastures, and the family of the loan hogs would do it spontaneously.

After explaining, he got up and bowed to Ma Zhong.

"Pu thinks that raising hogs can supplement the military, can benefit the natives and barbarians, and can improve the soil strength for the terraced fields.

"Why are you so polite?"

Gu Zuo scolded and scolded, Ma Zhongcai waved his hand and motioned for him to be seated, "Since Zijin's words are firm, why should I refuse to accept it? Well, both of these are your suggestions, so let me do it myself. I told the rest of the officers to cooperate as much as possible. However, I hope that Zijin will be more hands-on, so don’t let me be ashamed of the kindness of the Prime Minister.”

"No! Pu will not be humiliated!"

Immediately, Zheng Pu bowed to take orders.

Seeing that the matter has been concluded, he also made a different decision.

Two days later, when Liu Yin brought him back under his command, Zheng Pu used his soldiers to restrain the hungry, and officially implemented the work-for-relief and the raising of hogs.

Or there are those who want to exchange their strength for some rations due to slack in farming.

Or those who are greedy for the benefit of raising hogs.

There are also large households in the county and barbarian tribes outside the city who want to learn the method of opening new terraces.

The purpose is different, but the enthusiasm is high and in full swing.

In addition, Ma Zhong secretly made people deliberately noisy, and the court fed the hungry people, allocated land to the people, and granted pigs and other virtues. For a time, the big names and powerful people in the county were all focused on the county of Pingyi.

For example, privately compare the difference between the old prefect and the new prefect, the amount of benefits obtained from the betrayal, etc.

After half a month, Ma Zhong's [-] troops arrived in Pingyi County, and some people couldn't hold back.

(End of this chapter)