big song poppi

Chapter 610 0607 [Reciprocate love]

"Last year, all the counties and prefectures across the country reclaimed a total of 280,000 hectares of wasteland. Among them, Hebei, Hedong and Shandong accounted for 180,000 hectares, and Jiangnan and Liangzhe accounted for 100,000 hectares..." The voice of Deng Song, the dean of the Agricultural College, echoed in the hall.

Two hundred and eighty thousand hectares is almost the limit of these routes.

During the hundred years of the Zhao Song Dynasty, the population grew rapidly, and a lot of wasteland was reclaimed.

However, with the collapse of the household system, people no longer dared to reclaim wasteland, and some even did not dare to plant the land they already had.

Because once you own too much land, you will be classified as a third-class household, and will be required to perform corvée labor and serve in the government.

In fact, one-third of the 280,000 hectares of newly reclaimed wasteland were previously abandoned land.

The common people became fugitives and fled into the mountains, so they naturally ignored the fields. The other people in the village were afraid of being classified as third-class households, so they did not dare to farm. Over time, the fields gradually became abandoned.

As for the landlords and gentry, they did not care much about it, but the problem was that they only had a few tenants and there were too many fields to cultivate.

There were not many tenants in the Song Dynasty because there were many wastelands and industry and commerce were developed. If the fields could not be cultivated, people could go to the city to find a job. As long as there was a way out, no one would become a tenant.

Many people even chose to flee to the mountains rather than become tenants.

Why?

Tenant farmers are always farming for others. Although life in the mountains is hard, the land they cultivate is theirs and they do not have to pay rent.

This is also why landlords and gentry would try every possible means to turn their tenants into serfs and tie them up in their homes.

Otherwise, if the tenants run away, who will farm for them?
Landlords had a hard time in the Song Dynasty. In addition to being taken advantage of by corrupt officials, the scarcity of tenants was also a reason.

Many landlords had land but no tenants, and finally had to become semi-self-employed farmers or sell their land to do business.

Where have all the fields gone?
Naturally, it fell into the hands of officials and aristocratic families.

This class holds privileges and cultivates their own land by keeping illegal immigrants.

Often, a seventh-rank county magistrate could have as many as five hundred illegal households under his command, and if it was a prefect or a magistrate, the number would be even greater.

When Han Zhen captured Yidu County, in addition to confiscating a large amount of land, he also seized thousands of illegal households.

After reporting on last year's work, Deng Song announced this year's goal: "Today, Daqi has a total of 5.62 million hectares of cultivated land. The goal of the Agricultural College and the Ministry of Revenue this year is to increase Daqi's cultivated land to 6 million hectares."

The Central Plains, Liangzhe and Jiangnan have basically reached the end, and what remains are barren lands that cannot be cultivated even if great effort is put into reclaiming them.

But Jinghu still has great potential.

Jinghu Lake was not really developed until the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it was not until the Qing Dynasty that there was a saying that if Huguang is prosperous, the world will be prosperous.

If Jinghu Lake could be fully developed, Qi State would have another granary in addition to Liangzhe and Jiangnan.

In addition, Jinghu is different from the Central Plains. For example, the 280,000 hectares of newly reclaimed land last year had to be planted with soybeans first to increase fertility and then nurtured for at least two to three years before crops such as wheat and corn could be planted.

But Jinghu Lake does not need it, as there is too much surplus water in Yunmeng Lake, and one of them is the inexhaustible fertile river mud.

This thing is natural fertilizer.

The development of Jinghu was put on the agenda by Han Zhen in June last year. For this purpose, Deng Song put aside his cotton research and personally went to Jinghu to conduct on-site inspections and determine the feasibility of the development.

After Deng Song finished his report, it was the turn of the Medical College.

Liu Qi lowered his head and dozed off and on. When asked to fight in the battlefield, he was more energetic than anyone else, but when he attended court, he immediately fell asleep.

Yao Pingzhong on the side was even worse than him. He was sleeping soundly against the pillar, with saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth.

However, veteran generals such as Zhong Shizhong and Wang Yuan were very excited. This was their first time attending such a unique court meeting and they found it extremely interesting.

Yao Gu's expression changed for a while. He hesitated whether to slap this rebellious son, but was worried that the noise would be too loud.

An hour later, the reporting work of various ministries and agencies was finally completed.

Han Zhen smiled and said in a loud voice: "The prosperity of our Great Qi today is inseparable from the hard work of you, my dear ministers, and the bloody battles of our soldiers. Since the beginning of the rebellion, I have established rules that merits must be rewarded and mistakes must be punished. You, my dear ministers and soldiers, should be rewarded for your achievements!"

After that, Han Zhen turned his gaze to Liu Chang and ordered, "Liu Chang, announce the decree."

"Yes."

Liu Chang responded, took out the imperial edict that he had prepared long ago, unfolded it, and sang loudly: "I have received the favor of the Heaven... to confer the title of Duke of Yue to Xie Ding, the Secretary of the Cabinet, with a fief of 1,800 households, a reward of 100,000 catties of gold, a mansion, 800 bolts of silk, two liters of oriental pearls, and a pair of jade ruyi."

Wow!
As soon as he finished speaking, there was an uproar in the hall, and countless envious eyes fell on Xie Ding.

The word "Yue" alone, plus the fief of 1,800 households, indicates that this duke is not a sixth-rank title like the founding duke, but a proper duke, the fourth-rank title, from the first rank.

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There were different systems for titles of nobility in different dynasties.

For example, in the early Han Dynasty, there was no such title as Duke, and Marquis was the highest title, such as Han Xin, Marquis of Huaiyin, Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu, Xiao He, Marquis of Ling, and so on.

It was not until the Wei and Jin Dynasties that the titles of founding county dukes and founding county dukes appeared, and thus there were many dukes during the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

During the Song Dynasty, the title of Duke was divided into Duke of the State and Founding Duke. If you were to say whether there was any meaning or difference, there really was none. It was purely for the purpose of making up the twelve ranks.

Prince, heir to the throne, prince of a county, duke of a state, duke of a county, founding duke, founding duke of a county, founding duke of a county, founding marquis, founding earl, founding son, and founding man.

How to distinguish between a Duke of the State, a Duke of a County, a Founding Duke, and a Founding Duke of a County?

It’s very simple, just look at the title prefixed with the title.

The titles with a single word "country" are Duke of the State and Duke of a County, while the rest, such as founding Duke of the State, founding Duke of a County, etc., are all prefixed with the name of the county.

For example, Liu Qi was a son of Jingning County, and Han Shizhong was a man of Suide County.

Jingning and Suide are both county names.

The Duke is the fourth-rank nobility, and the next level is the Prince. During the entire Zhao Song Dynasty, which lasted more than 160 years, there were only about 20 ministers who were given the title of Duke. Most of them were given the title during the reign of Zhao Ji. This shows that the Zhao Song Dynasty attached great importance to the awarding of titles.

The Qi State was more cautious in bestowing titles and rewards than the Zhao and Song States. That was why all the civil and military officials were so surprised and envious.

Xie Ding quickly stood up and declined, saying, "How can I be so worthy of such a great favor? I am extremely terrified. Please, Your Majesty, take back your order."

Han Zhen waved his hand and said sternly: "Thank you, you are a pillar of the country and have made great contributions. There is no need to refuse."

"This... Your Majesty's great kindness, I am deeply grateful."

Xie Ding hesitated for a moment, but finally accepted the reward and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

He knew in his heart that this Duke was the emperor's way of returning a favor.

I said I would protect your Xie family, and I will definitely do it!
(End of this chapter)