Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 495 Sending You to Meet My Chief Governor (Please Subscribe!)
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Liu Qi quickly came out of the rice field, and while washing his feet by the field, he said to Ma Kuo: "I wanted to pick you up in person, but unfortunately I have a task, so you are tolerant."

Ma Kuo came to Liu Kai and squatted down, saying, "I was surprised that your Uncle Liu Xin planted rice himself."

Liu Kai smiled and said, "What is this? My family's chief governor has been working in the fields for more than ten days."

Ma Kuo was even more surprised. He never expected that Li Yan would go to the fields to do farm work in person!

While being surprised, Ma Kuo's heart tightened—from Liu Kai's tone, he heard Liu Kai's respect and affection for Li Yan, and then thought: "I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete this task."

Although he thought so, Ma Kuo asked, "Are you a military colony?"

Liu Kai said: "Part of it is, but more of it is farming for the people."

It was useless to ask Ma Kuo, Liu Qi then explained: "Didn't we fight with the Liao, Xixia, and Mongolian allied forces some time ago, Mr. Zhao dispatched a lot of civilians to transport supplies. Unfortunately, it was just in time In the seedling transplanting period, some time was delayed due to lack of manpower, so my family’s governor ordered that, except for the soldiers on duty, the whole army will go to the fields to help the people regain this time.”

In fact, the lack of manpower is not all because Zhao Ding recruited many peasants during the seedling transplanting period, but also because Li Yan distributed the land so that the people in Yundi, regardless of gender, age or age, got a lot of good land (rented to For ordinary people, the lease period is five years, and the rent is zero), and large households with a large population can even be allocated [-] or even [-] acres of fertile land. Because there are too many fertile lands, they are somewhat unable to grow them.

Ma Kuo said in his heart: "It seems that Li Yan doesn't plan to leave this place to win people's hearts so much... It is said that Li Yan is going to rebel, so it seems to be true."

On the way back, the group passed by a tributary of the Sanggan River.

Ma Kuo saw many soldiers walking out of the river in neat rows, and asked Liu Kai, "Where are they?"

Liu Kai said: "They are here to clean up the river."

Wang Yi, Ma Kuo's deputy, said: "You Liangshan army is really interesting. You are farming and digging rivers. You are both soldiers and civilians."

Liu Kai said disapprovingly: "We Liangshan Army officers and soldiers don't care about conditions. Everyone is a brick. Wherever it is used and where it is moved, the governor of my family can do whatever it is."

Ma Kuo is not Wang Yi who doesn't understand soldiers. He knows that this kind of army is the most terrifying, because they are absolutely obedient from top to bottom, and orders are unified.

Ma Kuo finally knew why the Liangshan army was able to wipe out the same number of horse troops with infantry.

Ma Kuo was deeply afraid: "This army that has not been established for a long time is definitely a first-class powerful army in the world. I should remind Prime Minister Xuan to be careful!"

When approaching Huanzhou City, the group passed by another market-like place.

Ma Kuo saw that many people lined up there, and the line was several miles long, and there were no fewer than ten thousand people.

Ma Kuo asked Liu Qi, "What is this place? What are they doing?"

Liu Kai said: "This is the cattle and horse market, and they are queuing up to buy cattle."

Ma Kuo was puzzled: "The cattle and horse market? Line up to buy cattle?"

Liu Kai explained: "We seized 10,000+ military ration cattle from the coalition army. The governor said that it was a pity to eat these cattle as military rations, so he ordered that they be sold to the common people for one yuan."

Ma Kuo knew about the Yancoin issued by Shuibo Liangshan, and he had studied the Yancoin specially.

After research, Ma Kuo found that the Yancoin issued by Shuibo Liangshan was far more advanced than their Song Dynasty Qianyin, especially the Yancoin was based on gold and silver, which ensured that the value of the Yancoin would not fluctuate easily.

However, through research, Ma Kuo also found the weakness of Yancoin, that is, it can only be issued in a small area, and it is impossible to issue it in a big country like the Song Dynasty, because there is not so much gold and silver at all—not just Li Yan. It is possible to get so much gold and silver, even if all the gold and silver owned by the entire Song Dynasty, including the Liao Kingdom and the Jin Kingdom, are added, it is definitely not enough for Li Yan to issue coins in the Song Dynasty.

Ma Kuo, who knows so much about Yancoin, naturally knows that one yuan is roughly equal to consistent money.

Nowadays, a cow is worth about ten guan in the Song Dynasty (the quality is different, the price is also different, and the price of male and female is also different), and even a newborn calf is worth at least two guan.

Therefore, Li Yan's selling cattle for one yuan is indeed beneficial to the people.

Ma Kuo said: "Don't worry about scarcity but unevenness. What if some people take advantage of the opportunity to take more, and some people choose strong cows to buy?"

Liu Kai laughed and said: "My family's chief governor had expected this a long time ago, so he issued a purchase restriction order and a shaking order, that is, four people can buy a cow with the household registration issued by me in Shuibo Liangshan. Luck, you can buy whichever you get. In addition, Shuipo Liangshan also accepts cattle at a price slightly lower than the market price. First, this is to prevent the lack of cattle. Disputes, in fact, we have a total of more than 60 people in Yundi. The 10,000+ cattle we seized should be enough, so they don’t need to line up to buy them, but they are worried that the cattle will be bought up by others. It’s their turn Time was running out, so we waited in line all night.”

Ma Kuo was a little curious about what the household registration was, but he didn't ask because he couldn't care less about it.

Although he has just arrived in Yundi, Ma Kuo has confirmed that Yundi has stabilized, and the people of Yundi have begun to accept the rule of Shuibo Liangshan. What's more, the people of Yundi may be happy to be ruled by Shuibo Liangshan them.

Ma Kuo is sure that if Shuibo Liangshan is allowed to rule in Yundi for a year or two, Yundi will completely become the territory of Shuibo Liangshan.

When he arrived outside Huanzhou City, Liu Kai did not lead Ma Kuo into the city, because he did not live in the city at all. No, it should be said that, except for a small part of the army maintaining law and order, all Liangshan troops were stationed outside the city. of.

Ma Kuo joked about this: "Is it because your governor is afraid that you will disturb the people, so you are not allowed to station in the city?"

Liu Kai said with a smile: "All the soldiers of our Liangshan Army trade fairly and never disturb the people... The army is not stationed in the city, just because we don't want to put pressure on the people."

The more he learned, the colder Ma Kuo's heart became - he felt cold not only for the mission of this trip, but also for the future of Da Song!
Ma Kuo has a feeling that if Li Yan competes with their official family, the loser will most likely be their official family!

The food that Liu Kai entertained Ma Kuo and his party was not good, it was two vegetables, one meat, one soup that the whole army ate, and there was no wine.

For Wang Yi and others who are used to delicacies from mountains and seas, such a simple meal is really hard for them to swallow. Only Ma Kuo ate so deliciously that he ate four big bowls of rice.

After Ma Kuo put down the bowls and chopsticks, Liu Qi glanced at Wang Yi and the others who were no longer planning to eat, and asked Ma Kuo, "Should we take a rest for a while, or should we leave now?"

Ma Kuo had already guessed Liu Kai's plan, but he still asked with a smile, "Where are you going? Are you going to rest?"

Liu Kai smiled and said, "I'll send you to see my great governor."

……

(End of this chapter)