Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 116 Investigation ([-])

"How is the harvest this year?" Shao Shude suddenly walked into a folk house in the countryside of Shuofang County and asked.

"The weather is good and the rain is good." The farmer's name is Fan Yanbo. In the early years, he went to the party members to collect furs for business. Later, he was robbed and the business went bankrupt, so he returned home to farm.It can be regarded as having seen a little bit of the world, so he was not too stage fright when facing Jieshuai.

"Happy?" Shao Shude asked.

"Not happy."

"Why are you unhappy?"

"There are two people in Dingkou, one in the middle and two in the small. They cultivate [-] mu of land and harvest [-] dendrobiums a year." Fan Yanbo sighed and said, "The government has to take away more than [-] dendrobiums. The family is hungry and eats in spring." Flowers, stems in summer, fruits in autumn, and fruits in winter, are barely enough to satisfy one's hunger."

Shao Shude was silent.It is normal for the people of this age not to have sufficient supply of staple food, because it is all taken by the generals to support the army.Like Fan Yanbo's family, it takes at least 20 dendrobium millet a year to feed the whole family.If there is a bit of corvee, when heavy physical work is required, nutrition must be supplemented, which consumes more.

If there is not enough food, they eat bran vegetables, melons and fruits, acorns, elm leaves, and mulberries.These were even served as staples during lean times.

As for the sergeants, they are given two dendrobiums of food every month, and rewards during festivals. If the family still has fields, then the whole family will have enough to eat all year round, and they can often eat meat, and have spare money to buy various things. Consume with confidence.

Sergeants and civilians, life is indeed very different!

Food issues have been the focus of attention since ancient times.Relying on improved seeds has no real effect, and can only be solved by chemical fertilizers, but it is impossible for me. Now I can only expand the cultivated area to alleviate it, but cannot completely solve it.

According to the general consensus of the people, if there is no famine, there will be a surplus of grain for one year after three years of cultivation.Of course, that was when the taxation was relatively light in the early days of the Kingdom. In today’s vassals and towns, when wars are frequent, there will be no surplus food for 300 years, because the generals searched hard and did everything they could. Even the rations for the people's lives were taken away, and the lake was dried up to fish.

"I see that your family has five or six acres of garden, and you have grown some fruits and vegetables, mulberry dates, and raised livestock, so you should have some income." Shao Shude said.

"Marshal, there are five people in a certain family. There are five pieces of spring clothes for one year old and five pieces of winter clothes for two years old. There are also shoes, scarves, skirts, trousers and socks, which consume a lot." Fan Yanbo said: "This cow, I bought more than 300 yuan that year, and I can only farm for ten years, which is more than [-] yuan a year. Oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, bowls, hoe, sickle, and ax all cost money. I have to help with a bucket of millet and some wine. When I have free time, I have to mow grass and chop firewood, and the government will send people to collect them at any time, but they are never free all year round."

This squeeze is quite thorough.

According to him, Fan Yanbo's house is not bad, and his life should be average.After all, Shuofang County is the first county, and there are also rivers near the city. During the Zhenyuan period, water was diverted for irrigation, so it would not be too poor.The really poor are those whose households are short of food, farmland, and cattle. They can hardly even cope with the government's reminders, let alone live a good life.

"Let's go, let's go to the next one." Shao Shude waved his hand, and led his soldiers around the village.

The main burden of the peasants is government expropriation, and the second biggest burden is the various activities or social affairs of the village elders.If I ordered to cut some of the various messy activities of the villagers, it should be able to reduce the burden on the people, right?The expenses of the activities are mainly borne by the farmers, and to some extent, they have even become a means for the villagers to collect money.

In addition, you can also think of ways to graze cattle for farmers, and the rent will be charged at a symbolic level or not.This is the most immediate means to increase grain sown area and yield.There are some cattle and sheep in the Yinchuan Ranch, but most of them are still horses. For the problem of cattle, we need to think of a solution.

"Why doesn't this family have any farm tools?" Shao Shude asked as he looked at the empty woodshed while standing in the yard.

There was only one woman in this family, with three children, standing timidly in a corner of the courtyard.

The woman should not be very old, but she has done a lot of farm work, her skin is dark and rough, her hands are full of calluses, and her clothes are also full of patches.The child didn't have much flesh on his body, and his expression was dull. He hid behind his mother and didn't even dare to look at himself.

The soldiers quickly went to the villagers to ask, and after a long while, they whispered: "Her husband died of illness, and she was just a younger brother-in-law. They used to live together, but the younger brother has been in the army for many years, and there is no news. I don't know whether it is dead or alive."

"Where did you join the army?"

"I went to Lingzhou to prevent autumn seven years ago. I was defeated in a big defeat. I didn't return to the camp. According to the people who went with me, I should have died."

"There is no pension?"

"I gave a few bolts of silk at that time."

After the death of a sergeant, the family members will receive grain and one Dendrobium per month for ten years. This is the rule set by Shao Shude in Suizhou.Now it seems that Xiazhou should not have this pension.

"Xiazhou also has military farms. Sergeants are fighting on the front line, and their families live in such a field. How can they feel at ease?" Shao Shude said: "Give five more silks and three dendrobiums, so that they can live more comfortably."

He can only go so far for the time being.

Many soldiers died in Xiazhou's battles in the past, Shao Shude couldn't reissue pensions to them one by one, financially it was not allowed.But starting from next year, the construction of military farms in Xiazhou should be put on the agenda.The Suizhou military farm has sown more than 1000 hectares this year, harvested more than 113000 dendrobium grains, and a small amount of pasture, melons and fruits, beans and vegetables, and cloth. It has been providing pensions to soldiers killed or disabled in battle, so that their living standards will not be drastically reduced. decline.

Shao Shude is very clear about where his power comes from.In this era, soldiers are a privileged class, and they cannot be treated badly.As for the lives of the people, I will slowly figure out a way by myself.Renting cattle and farm tools for free, expanding the number of acres, etc., can effectively improve their lives.

Things, take your time.Xia Sui's mess, as long as he perseveres, he will always see results.If one year is not enough, it will be two years, and if two years is not enough, it will be five years.Zhu Wen can recruit refugees on a piece of white land, reclaim wasteland and farm land, can't he do better than him?

As for Li Keyong, let’s not talk about it.This man's military skills are quite good, but his political and administrative skills are in a mess, and he has no sense of benevolence and righteousness towards the people.If there were no outsiders to intervene, he would definitely not be able to defeat Zhu Wen.

Don't know how to farm, but still want to win?

On the way back to Xiazhou City, Shao Shude stopped in a river valley.As far as the eye can see, there is a meandering river and endless grassland.

These grasslands have not been developed, because this is a pasture enclosed by the imperial court.Envoys were once sent to supervise and herd cattle and sheep.Hundreds of years have passed, the ranch has been poorly managed, and internal and external collusion and theft have left, and there are not many cattle and sheep.

In Xiazhou, there is still ready-made usable land.With the state of the imperial court, they can't control too much, and they can cultivate the land with confidence and boldness in the future.

But then he thought of Xia Sui's animal husbandry.This is a large-scale industry. During the Zhenyuan period, there were hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep belonging to the imperial court.Now it is basically abandoned, and the only remaining result is the Yinchuan Ranch in Yinzhou, which is still stubbornly supplying military horses for the imperial court.

Animal husbandry has great potential, and we should not only focus on planting.If there is more livestock output, it can be exchanged for money, and it can produce cloth and leather, and it can also collect less tax from the people who cultivate the land.

The four prefectures of Xia and Sui have a vast area, going north to Fengzhou.Now I rule 20 counties (excluding the two counties of Youzhou), after three years of tossing, there are only [-] Han people, far from the limit of the land's carrying capacity.Grassland should be another major source of revenue that I should consider, but I just need to face the backlash from party members.

In a few days, it's time to visit Yinchuan Ranch.Old General Pei has managed the ranch for many years, and I heard that he has a lot of insights into the matter of animal husbandry, so he should be able to give himself some advice.By the way, take stock of your assets.This year's rewards for the sergeants have been fooled by the eight counties of Fuping, what about next year?
The [-] big soldiers are all looking at me eagerly!
(End of this chapter)