Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 550: Popularity and Reputation

The watermelons grown in the rocky fields of Hangu City became famous.

The first batch of melons freshly picked from the melon fields were divided up by merchants and wealthy gentry from all over the country. The reputation of the melons spread throughout the northwest.

Originally, due to the rise of border trade, the cities around Hangu City also became lively. Cities that were a little further away also had more and more surplus laborers looking for work in the cities around Hangu City because of the convenience of horse-drawn carriages traveling back and forth.

As soon as the watermelons from the rocky ground were picked, their fame spread quickly.

The first batch of melons was sold at a high price, 100 coins per pound, which was a sky-high price. But there was no shortage of wealthy families, and no shortage of people who wanted to try new melons.

The first batch of melons picked from the melon field were quite a lot, but they were all sold.

Those who didn't get one rushed to order the next batch of melons. The melons in the field were not hard to sell. Some people even complained that there were too few melons to share.

This made the generals who had melon fields very happy.

The army at Hangu Pass was mainly responsible for guarding the pass, and they had hardly attacked cities and plundered land in recent years, so they didn't expect any spoils of war. The soldiers in the northwest lived in poverty. As a result, the King of Yue rewarded them with a few acres of melon fields, and their pockets were filled.

One acre of land produces thousands of kilograms of melons, which can be sold for hundreds to thousands of taels of silver? How many acres of melon fields can be sold for thousands of taels of silver in a year?
Meng Yan looked at the five hundred taels of silver in his hand and felt a little dazed.

"Eight carts of melons sold for so much silver?"

The housekeeper smiled and nodded, "That's right, Master. I have been farming for so many years, working hard all year round, and I am thankful to God if I can make a few taels of silver. It's all because you are generous, Master, and have people send several carts of melons to your brothers, otherwise we could have sold even more!"

This is the first batch of melons and we have sold so many. This time the King of Yue distributed land according to merit, and gave me ten acres of melon fields. If all ten acres of melons are sold, I am afraid I can get tens of thousands of taels of silver!
Of course, if the master wasn’t so loose.

But even if he asked the master not to send him off, the steward couldn't say anything. The soldiers under the master had followed him through thick and thin, and only when the master was loyal would his soldiers support him.

"Master, look at this, our ten mu of melon fields alone bring in this much profit a year. Now that the northwest is stable again, do you want to bring your wife and sons over?"

Meng Yan's family had been making a living from the fields for dozens of generations. I don't know if it was because of good fortune that a general like Meng Yan was born.

If the children at home hadn't been hungry, Meng Yan wouldn't have secretly run away to join the army, just to save food for the family.

The wife he married was also a woman whose ancestors had been working the fields for a living. Even after Meng Yan became a general and sent his salary back home, his family lived a better life and built a big house, but the whole family still worked the fields for a living.

Meng Yan was a fourth-rank loyal and martial general, with a monthly salary of eighty taels and eighty hu of rice. If one had a small family, he could live quite well.

But in recent years, the Qi Dynasty has valued civil officials over military officials, and the rations at the borders have always been insufficient. If only 80% could be distributed, it would be considered a favor from the court. Meng Yan would keep a little for himself, and the remaining 50 taels could be sent back home. The whole family depended on him for support, so the general's mansion was just an empty title.

The family has been relying on farming for a living over the years.

As a result, the King of Yue gave him ten acres of melon land, and he got five hundred taels of silver after selling the first crop of melons?
The land your family has bought in recent years, can it earn you 100 taels a year?
"Bring them here! Bring all the ladies and gentlemen here! And tell my parents to bring along any of my brothers who are willing to come to the northwest to help me manage my land!"

Meng Yan finally figured it out. Following the King of Yue was definitely the right thing to do, as the King of Yue had a way to make money!
Otherwise, how would he support the million-strong army in the northwest!

Now the King of Yue has allocated a melon field, and everyone's pockets are fatter. Look at what the King of Yue had the Wei camp grow before, such as potatoes and cotton, they must be able to make money!
He had to call his brothers and nephews over, buy a large piece of land in the northwest, and farm with the King of Yue!

If anyone tells him that farming can’t make him rich in the future, he will be angry!
Moreover, he hadn't seen his children for many years, and he missed them. Letters from home always said that the children had no talent and could not study. Meng Yan originally thought that there was no seed of study in his family. But now he doesn't think so. It's not the children's problem, but the children haven't met a good teacher.

Look at the two boys from Lin Jingning's family. They are now auditing the prince's two teachers. I heard that their academic performance has improved by leaps and bounds.

It’s not that his child has no talent, it’s that he hasn’t met a good teacher!

Yes, we must bring those kids here.

But coming to the northwest, I can't just follow him and eat nothing, I need to have an industry. No one in my family knows how to do business, but I have been digging for food in the fields for so many years, can't I be better than others?

Meng Yan excitedly left the house with five hundred taels of silver in his pocket. He was going to buy land!

County Magistrate Wu is now in pain and happiness. There is no other business in the government office, but countless people come to him every day to buy land! He is also annoyed, and he cannot offend anyone. Now all the land in the corners has been bought by others.

In the past, who would want that land? Even if it was given away for free, no one would want it.

As a result, people are now scrambling to get it. A rising tide lifts all boats.

If he was more unscrupulous and raised the price of the land, the county government would probably have to build several more warehouses to accommodate the silver boxes.

But he didn't dare.

He finally realized that the King of Yue wanted to develop the northwest!
The northwest is vast and sparsely populated, and Hangu City is close to the border, so the population is even smaller. As a result, with the issuance of various decrees by the King of Yue, Hangu City is now overcrowded, and there are no vacancies in inns or foot shops.

He could imagine that in the near future, the population of the Northwest would explode.

This is the achievement of an official! He must accept the overwhelming wealth given by the King of Yue, and must not offend the King of Yue! Magistrate Wu touched his earlobe, which was twisted blue by his wife, and sent away waves of wealthy people who came to buy land.

Just when he was about to take a break, he saw General Meng walking towards him with big strides, and County Magistrate Wu wanted to escape.

"Wu County Magistrate, why are you hiding? Can I eat you?"

"Nothing happened. I just suddenly remembered that I had some government affairs to deal with, and I didn't see General Meng." He forced a smile, "General Meng is a distinguished guest, do you have something to ask me?"

Meng Yan slapped a bag of silver on the table and said, "I'm here to buy land."

Just know.

Magistrate Wu was both happy and worried. "I wonder where the general wants to buy land? Now all the better land has been bought, and only some inferior land is left. I'm afraid General Meng will not be interested in it."

"I know farming better than you do. Bring me the fish scale book."

Meng Yan was a fourth-rank military officer, and Wu Kangan was only a seventh-rank officer, so he could not afford to offend him. He immediately ordered someone to bring the fish scale book.

As a result, Meng Yan looked around and found that all the land that was originally quite large had been bought. "Is this all that's left?"

"That's right. General Meng doesn't know that now it's not just the local people and merchants who are buying land, but also the wealthy families from outside. These days, General Zhao, General Lu, General Chen and others are here to buy land."

Meng Yan was stunned. He was late?
Meng Yan carefully compared the land on the fish scale book. He was born in a peasant family and knew well what crops could be planted on good and bad land and how much grain could be harvested from the land. He was not satisfied with the existing land. "No other land? You didn't lie to me? Don't you want to sell it to me?"

"Oh, my dear General Meng, I wouldn't dare to lie to you even if I had ten guts. The land prices are all the same, so it doesn't matter who I sell it to. It's true that you came too late, and the good land has been picked up by others."

Seeing that Meng Yan was unhappy, he thought for a moment and gave him some advice, "Look, the land around Hangu City has been picked up, but there is probably still a lot of land in nearby Zhoucheng. Why don't you ask someone to buy it nearby?"

Go to another city to buy?

Meng Yan was somewhat unhappy. He didn't want land that was too far from Hangu City. He would bring his family here and settle them in the General's Mansion in Hangu City. If the land he bought was too far away, how would he take care of them?
Seeing him hesitate, Wu Kangan added fuel to the fire, "I heard that the magistrate of Hualong County wrote a letter to the King of Yue, saying that the land prices in the northwest have been set too low in recent years, and suggested that the prince should compare the land prices in the Central Plains and other places and re-price them."

But don't hesitate. Many people are buying land now. If the land price goes up, firstly, the cost of buying land will be higher, and secondly, you may worry that good land elsewhere will be picked up by others.

Huh? Meng Yan was stunned after hearing this.

After thinking for a while, he bowed to Wu Kangan and said, "Thank you, Magistrate Wu, for telling me. I'll have someone buy it somewhere else." He grabbed the silver, stood up and left in a hurry.

In the study of the Prince of Yue's mansion, Zhao Guangyuan was looking through various letters while Lin Zhaoxia was looking through the account book.

From time to time, Lin Zhaoxia picked up small pieces of watermelon from the plate and fed them to Zhao Guangyuan's mouth. Zhao Guangyuan didn't even look at it, but tilted his head to catch it accurately and ate it with relish.

"Which is better, the watermelon from the rocky ground or the melon from the hillside?"

Zhao Guangyuan paused and thought about it carefully. "Ling melon is delicious. The flesh of Ling melon is more delicate. But the sweetness...they are about the same."

Lin Zhaoxia laughed and nodded in agreement. "Mrs. Jiang and the others also said that the melons from Ling are more delicate, but when it comes to sweetness, Deyang said that the melons from Shitoudi are sweeter."

"It's probably because it's hotter here during the day, so Deyang thinks the watermelon is sweeter." It's probably because the northwest is not as good as the capital, so the watermelon is more precious.

Lin Zhaoxia nodded. "The sunshine time is longer here, so the melons are sweeter."

After that, he laughed again, "This morning, Magistrate Wu's wife came and brought many gifts. She especially thanked you for supporting Magistrate Wu. She said that with the melon fields at home, the income is more than ever before. She also gave me a box of gems from the Western Regions. I said I didn't want them, and she thought I didn't like them."

"As a princess, you cannot accept any gift."

Zhao Guangyuan didn't think so. Besides, it was just a box of Western Region gems, probably given to Wu Kangan by someone else. Compared with the few hectares of melon fields he bought with him, it was nothing.

"I won't accept it without any merit. Here's a box of jewels." Lin Zhaoxia was still not used to accepting generous gifts from others and felt burdened.

She also talked about the joke that Mrs. Wu told her, "It was said that Magistrate Wu originally had too much land to sell, but now he felt that there was not enough land to sell. It was said that people came to Magistrate Wu every day to buy land. It was said that many generals in the army also went to him to buy land."

Zhao Guangyuan nodded, he already knew about this.

He also heard about Meng Yan and others buying land. Now almost all the generals in the army followed suit and bought land, and even Fang Sheng asked his family to buy a lot of land.

"Once the cotton and potatoes are harvested, there will be enough seeds to share with everyone. Then the land in the northwest will not be barren in large areas like before."

"Then the county governments in various places can collect a lot of money just by selling land. I'm afraid they can collect a lot of taxes this year. I'm afraid the capital will not remain indifferent."

If these taxes and tariffs on trade exceed the money needed to maintain the army, the capital will definitely take action.

"That's okay. I didn't intend to withhold the tax money." When the court distributes rations to the army, it will also bring up the issue of rewarding military merits.

Lin Zhaoxia flipped through the account book and said, "We still have enough money to support ourselves." She didn't want him to compromise with the capital because of money.

"I know." But the court would not allow this situation to continue for too long, otherwise the court soldiers would really become his private soldiers in the Yue Palace. The prince would not just sit there and watch.

The master said not to act rashly and let the prince move first. He deeply agreed with him. But how could he make the prince move?

There were not many watermelons in the first harvest, as they were all divided up by the wealthy and merchants, and they were rarely seen on the market. When the second harvest of watermelons came on the market in large quantities, some people began to sell watermelons on the market.

Since the beginning of spring, the northwest has been extremely prosperous due to the rise of mutual trade, and people from all over the country have come to the northwest to open shops and workshops. Because the Western Regions like the porcelain of the Great Qi, more than a dozen kilns have been opened. Under the advocacy of the King of Yue, various places have started a craze for hoarding land, and there is a shortage of people to open up wasteland and cultivate land everywhere.

There is no shortage of work, and no shortage of wages. With their pockets full, the people are willing to spend some money to eat this precious watermelon.

On a hot day, the best way to cool down is with watermelon. No sour plum soup or mung bean drink is as good as this watermelon. I want to eat it every time.

The watermelon stalls in the market are doing extremely well.

There are many people coming here every day.

Having tasted the sweetness of selling melons, the Northwest Army started a craze of buying land and planting crops.

In addition to the group of merchants who regretted buying melon fields before and not taking good care of them, the enthusiasm for buying land in various parts of the northwest has increased, and more and more people have come here to find work.

Zhao Guangyuan not only used the horses and cattle compensated by the Western Rong, but also the old horses retired from the army to transport people and goods between the cities. He also built dozens of post stations and foot inns between the cities. On the surface, they were for traveling merchants to rest, but secretly, they were used to collect information and release news.

Any local decrees or jobs looking for laborers would be posted at the post station. The people nearby had formed the habit of going to the post station to read the decrees and look for jobs.

As the number of soldiers recruited by the guard camps in various places increased, the correspondence between these soldiers and their families would be sent to the post stations, and then distributed to various towns and villages by the veterans in the post stations.

So people from all over the country also used the post stations to send letters to their families in different places.

In the past, people like Bao Xia, who brought his son out to find work and left his wife and daughter in his hometown, found this post station very convenient. They not only communicated with their families through the post station, but also sent their monthly salary back to their hometown through the post station. Relatives in their hometown would also send parcels and hometown specialties to their family members who were working outside through the post station.

The communication service of the post station is becoming more and more prosperous.

Since the people who delivered the letters were all wounded and disabled veterans of the Northwest Army, and there had never been a case of lost or stolen letters for such a long time, gradually merchants from various cities also asked the post station to deliver goods.

The business of the post station was growing. Every day, teams of people wearing the uniforms of Northwest Army soldiers transporting people and goods shuttled between cities, towns and villages.

The convenience of life, the fact that there were jobs everywhere in the northwest that could save lives, and the fact that the King of Yue had millions of soldiers guarding the area, ensured security, attracted more and more people to come to the northwest.

The King of Yue's reputation among the people soared.

Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, the potatoes in the field can be harvested.