National color raw owl

The golden ears of wheat swayed in the wind, and the harvesting people were in full swing. After the war, it was possible to see such golden ears of wheat again, whether it was Chu Huan, the governor, or the people harvesting grain in the fields. Can't help being excited.

Old Mrs. Su was over seventy years old and looked old, but at this time he still seemed to be in good spirits, pointing his finger on the field ridge.

"God has opened his eyes this year, and it can be called good weather." Old Master Su had a smile on his lips, "Chu Du, if it weren't for you, Xiguan might not have seen these golden ears of wheat."

Chu Huan said with a smile: "Old man, you can't say that, I didn't do anything, it was you Xiguan gentry and Xiguan people who worked together to produce these grains, and the old man is the one who deserves the most credit. "

The old man laughed, and then said: "This year, the harvests of each family are good. In addition to repaying the debts to the customs, there is still some left over...but there will be rations for the coming year, and we need to prepare grain seeds. There is still a lot missing.”

Gongsun Chu, the magistrate of Yuezhou, also came with him this time, and said in the sideline: "My lord, after the promulgation of the land equalization order, the localities are very active, and the land inspection and population inventory are coming to an end. Entered the Department of Household Affairs. The lower officials checked carefully in the Department of Household Department. After the implementation of the land equalization order, a large area of ​​wasteland has been distributed to the common people. According to the current statistics, the original land plus the newly reclaimed land has been There are nearly 2000 million mu, and the total population of Xiguan Road according to the current statistics is about 300 million people, and more than 200 million people are engaged in production, that is to say, about ten mu of land can be produced per capita."

Chu Huan said: "If 2000 million mu of land needs to be cultivated, how much grain is needed for one mu of land?"

"Normally, ten catties of grain seeds are still needed." Gongsun Chudao: "If all the cultivated land needs to be sown with seeds, at least two million shi grains will be needed!"

"Two million shi?" Chu Huan was taken aback, then frowned, and asked, "Then how much food can be produced by all the prefectures and counties on Xiguan Road this year?"

"Xiguan has been in chaos before. There are lands to be plowed, but there is no grain to cultivate." Gongsun Chu said solemnly: "Fortunately, the old man and the Xiguan gentry borrowed grain from various places, and there are nearly 50 mu of land to plant. Food is served...!"

Chu Huan was a little surprised. The area of ​​cultivated land on Xiguan Road reached nearly 2000 million mu, but the number of people who sowed the seeds was less than 50 mu. "chaos".

It's no wonder that the people were displaced, and a large number of refugees starved to death.

"The governor of Chu also knows that the northwest is mostly sandy land, which is different from the fertile land in the pass. Even in previous years, the northwest often had to import food from the pass." Gongsun Chu explained: "The situation in Jiazhou and Yuezhou is better. The best fertile land can produce more than 800 catties of grain per mu. This year, the weather is good, and it is only five or six hundred catties... The situation in Hezhou and Jinzhou is much worse. The sandy land there is particularly serious. The land can barely be cultivated, but the output is very small, the best fields, the yield is less than five hundred catties per mu, and the lesser, two to three hundred catties are not without...!"

Old Master Su nodded and said: "Chu Du, the situation is that the northwest is not a land of water and rice, and the grain production cannot be compared with that in the Guan. In comparison, the climate in the Northwest is much worse than that in the Guan. "This year's climate is rare in the Northwest. It's not bad to have such a climate for one year in ten years. Even if the weather is such a good weather, our one mu of land can only produce [-] catties of grain at most. It is already the highest grain yield, and in the Guanzhong... let’s say Hebei Province, the yield per mu of fertile land there can exceed [-] catties, and on average, the yield per mu is more than [-] catties, while the average yield per mu in our northwest is only [-] catties. About a catty, the difference is not small."

Gongsun Chudao: "Fortunately, most of the land where the seeds were planted this year can be counted as two days in the northwest. On average, the yield per mu is about 50 catties, and nearly 300 mu of land. The combined grain harvest of all the land on Xiguan Road this year , it should be less than [-] million stones...!"

"Less than 300 million shi?" Chu Huan frowned and said, "You said just now that the grain seeds for the coming year alone will need 200 million shi. If you remove the 200 million shi, wouldn't the entire Xiguan Road only have 100 million shi of grain?"

Gongsun Chu nodded and sighed: "Exactly. There are still 300 million mouths in Xiguan. Normally speaking, to be full, one person needs a catty of grain per day on average. That is to say, nearly 1000 shi a day. If you want to feed Xiguan, you will need 500 million shi...Even if everyone tightens their belts and supplies enough food to survive, and halve the rations, there will be no way to pass this hurdle without [-] million shi of food a year...!"

Chu Huan's expression became serious, "After removing the grain seeds, there are only 100 million shi left. To keep all the people in Xiguan alive, 500 million shi is needed. This...is the gap between them too big?"

Mrs. Su reminded from the side: "Chu Du, there is no 100 million shi. The grain we planted before was borrowed from outsiders. At the beginning, we promised them that we would double the repayment when the harvest came. Dial, the remaining grain is less than a million stones."

Chu Huan only felt a splitting headache.

Gongsun Chu hesitated for a while, and finally said: "My lord, there is still an expense that you haven't calculated yet."

"what?"

"Horses!" Gongsun Chuzheng said: "My lord is expanding the imperial guards. It's fine if we maintain the current situation, but once we continue to expand the Fengziying, the horses in Fengziying will need horse materials, and the horses are different. People consume a lot of rations every day, and the better the horse, the better the food it needs, and it even needs to be fed with concentrate, which can be considered a big expense.”

Chu Huan said: "The expansion of Fengzi Battalion is imperative. On the Gobi in the northwest, if there is no strong cavalry army, the safety of Xiguan cannot be guaranteed. If the safety of Xiguan cannot be guaranteed, then the so-called Living and working in peace and contentment starts with talking.”[

Gongsun Chu nodded and said: "Your Excellency said it." Then he sighed: "We suffered too much damage before Xiguan, and fortunately the imperial court exempted us from taxes for three years, otherwise the situation would be even more dire... If we really want to fully recover , without three to five years, it is really difficult."

Chu Huan was thoughtful. As a governor, he now understands that it is not easy to really govern one side, let alone the Xiguan Road, which has been torn apart after the war.

As a parent official, the first thing to do is to solve the problem of eating for the common people. This seems simple, but it is actually the most fundamental problem. After solving the problem of eating, many things will be solved. It turned out that starving to death of the people is inevitable, but what is even more frightening is that the people who have no food to eat have no choice but to loot and rebel.

Chu Huan knew very well that if he didn't have enough food guarantees, he wanted to revitalize Xiguan and build a strong military force. No matter how many soldiers there were, no matter how strong the combat effectiveness was, and the logistics couldn't keep up, there would definitely not be an invincible and powerful army. A powerful legion, the basis for its establishment, is first of all to have a strong logistical guarantee.

In fact, Chu Huan has been thinking about the issue of food. He has thought about whether it is possible to grow more food on the cultivated land, such as potatoes, pumpkins and other crops with extremely high grain yields. It was only after inquiring that these future generations are commonplace. Such crops have not yet appeared in this era.

Chu Huan also understood that these crops were all passed on from the outside. It was a pity that the Western Regions had traded with the Central Plains, but those crops had not been passed on.

"Master Gongsun, is there any other way to solve the food problem?" Chu Huan looked serious, "The gap is too big, and there is no way to fill it."

Gongsun Chudao: "The officials have been thinking about this matter for a long time. One million shi of grain is really too little. Although a variety of grains will be of great help in the coming year, for many common people, the current Even if the food can’t be solved, who can wait for the next year? Now that they’re starving to death, what’s the point to them even if the granary is full of food in the next year? We have to be more considerate of the difficulties of the people, so...it’s impossible, we can only Reduce the area of ​​cultivated land, cut off a batch from the grain, and use it for the rations of the people... Although the grain harvest in the coming year will suffer a lot of losses, but if you don't do this, I am afraid that many people will starve to death this year people, and some people will rise up to rebel...!"

"My lord Gongsun is right." The old man nodded slightly, "Chu Du, we should try our best to plant food in fertile land. If the sandy land is too barren, we should try our best to cultivate as little as possible. For the people who are allocated to the sandy land, we will pay more for food rations." Give more relief... But even so, the gap is still too big."

"Wait next spring, when everything recovers, weeds and the like can satisfy our hunger." Gongsun Chudao: "If we can use wild food for two months, it will make up a lot of the gap."

"Is it still possible to transfer food from the pass?" Chu Huan was silent for a moment, and asked: "In the past, when there was a shortage of food in the Northwest, didn't they always transfer food from the pass?"

Gongsun Chu shook his head and said: "In the past, the imperial court could have helped solve part of it, but the situation now is different from previous years. My lord knows that when the people from Xiliang called, the imperial court also transferred a large amount of supplies from the pass. From food to luggage, there are indeed a lot. The things that were transported in those two years were the aid to the Northwest in the past ten years. Most of these materials were transported from Xishan Road and Anyi Road. According to the officials, These two things are also seriously hurting their vitality now. Chen Yangcang, one of the four major granaries in the empire, is now empty. Even if they have a harvest this year, they still have to take care of their own local people, otherwise they will have chaos on their side. In addition, Tianmen Dao in the southeast is still causing trouble, and Hebei Qingtian King is even more troublesome in Hebei. Hebei Dao is the granary of the empire. Food to calm the "chaos", in this way, even if the imperial court wants to help the Northwest, the food can be adjusted."

Chu Huan nodded. He understood this point. When he was in the Ministry of Household Affairs, he knew that the four major granaries in the empire had little grain. It is really wishful thinking to want the imperial court to transfer grain to the northwest.

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