The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 59 Spread the News
Wang Wenlong didn't blush when his shortcomings were exposed. He said to Li Ding: "To be honest with you, Taoist Master, I actually compiled these contents for the purpose of promoting melon and vegetable substitutes."

He explained: "This year's autumn harvest is very unsatisfactory. A famine will definitely occur after winter. We have to come up with this method to encourage people to diversify vegetables to tide over the famine. Otherwise, most people in Quanzhou will not be willing to replant winter crops, which will only lead to famine." Even more so.”

Li Ding asked: "Can the method of replacing melons and vegetables really save the people from fire and water?"

Wang Wenlong said categorically: "I dare not say that it will save the people, but it will definitely be beneficial."

He gave an example: "We have transferred seeds from various places, and the trial plantings of potatoes and sugarcane have successfully germinated, which shows that Quanzhou can indeed grow these two crops in winter. Although these two crops are not staple foods, they can also feed people. , during the famine years, it will definitely be helpful to the people to tide over the famine. As for vegetables such as radish, winter melon, etc., they are often grown in Quanzhou in winter. After the winter, the rain conditions in Quanzhou improve, and there will definitely be a harvest of these two vegetables."

Li Ding listened carefully. After Wang Wenlong finished speaking, he looked at Li Guangjin with a look of verification on his face.

Li Guangjin nodded and said: "I have also tried planting potatoes and sugar cane in my farm, and they have indeed sprouted successfully. I think there will be a harvest."

Li Ding nodded and suddenly stood up to salute Wang Wenlong.

Wang Wenlong also quickly stood up and helped him up.

Li Ding looked ashamed and said, "I thought someone wanted to use obscene sacrifices to defraud people out of money in a time of famine, but I didn't expect to blame a good person. I would like to endorse you for your great benevolence and righteousness. I don't know." When will you need me?"

Wang Wenlong was overjoyed when he heard this and said quickly: "If the Taoist master is willing, we will open a Taoist temple in Quanzhou in five days to promote the method of melon and vegetable substitution."

Li Ding nodded without hesitation: "Okay, I just want to make some slight changes to your article."

"change?"

Li Ding said tactfully: "Sir's writing style is good, but the style of the article is slightly different from the Taoist text."

Wang Wenlong finally understood that people thought his writing was too poor.

Li Guangjin said from the side: "We also want to ask the Taoist priest to host a few Taoist temples for the immortals who survive the wilderness. The Taoist priest has a great reputation in Quanzhou. If he can personally host it, he will definitely attract a large number of Quanzhou believers to respond."

Li Ding shook his head and said: "I am from the Jingming Sect. Due to the differences between sects, it is difficult for me to preside over such a Taoist temple. I recommend several Taoist priests to preside over Taoist temples in Quanzhou."

As he spoke, he began to write a letter.

Seeing Li Guangjin nod secretly after reading the name, Wang Wenlong felt relieved, knowing that those recommended by Li Ding were all famous Taoist priests in Quanzhou City.

Li Ding said while writing: "These Taoist friends are from local sects such as the Yoga sect. Their sects are used to the tradition of worshiping local gods. If they take these letters to see my face, they will definitely come. If they have If you come to me again in the next two days, I'll go and invite you, and I'll definitely get you there within two days."

Wang Wenlong put the letter aside to dry, and then said: "Although I will not host the Taoist temple, I would like to use the Taoist Master's Fahua Temple as a place for preaching."

Li Ding nodded and agreed without thinking this time. He also wanted to do things for the people of Quanzhou. If there were no sects, he would definitely go to the altar in person.

Wang Wenlong finally felt relieved, thanked him and left.

Asking Li Ding to endorse melons and vegetables for melons and vegetables can quickly improve the reputation of this god among the people of Quanzhou. At the same time, Li Ding has also made friends with many landlords and gentry in Quanzhou. As long as he talks about the fields in these landlords' homes, most of them can also implement melons and vegetables for melons and vegetables. In this way, it will definitely greatly increase the vegetable production in Quanzhou Prefecture this winter. Even with Li Ding's reputation, many Zhangzhou and Fuzhou gentry and businessmen who are stranded in Quanzhou at this time will come to see the Taoist temple.

Part of the land in Zhangzhou and Fuzhou, which was less affected by the disaster, can also be replaced by melons and vegetables.

..."Okay, okay," Xu Xueju in the Yamen nodded in appreciation after listening to Wang Wenlong's report, "If we can invite Li Xiangong here, the local believers must be willing to implement this melon and vegetable substitution."

While the two were talking, they heard the door ring several times, and Xu Xueju said: "Come in."

Chen Jinglun opened the door and came in.

The two of them saw a worried look on his face, and Xu Xueju quickly asked: "What's going on?"

"The news just came from Fuzhou. There are reports of drought in various places. I am afraid that the imperial court will not have much food to provide relief to Fujian this year."

Xu Xueju frowned. Wang Wenlong took the letter from Chen Jinglun and opened it to see a copy of the Di newspaper. The letter was sent by Jin Xuezeng from Fuzhou.

Henan officials reported that there was a serious drought in Henan this year, and the officials sent by the imperial court to Henan had already set off. The situation they saw when they first arrived in Henan prompted the officials to discuss the exemption of land taxes for Henan this year.

At the same time, Gyeonggi officials applied for the allocation of granaries in Tianjin, Dezhou, and Linqing to provide relief to the people of Gyeonggi.

These three places were the hubs of the canal at this time, and there were Changping granaries. The disaster was so serious that food from these places had to be mobilized. It can be seen that the people of Gyeonggi were not lightly affected by the disaster.

Fengyang also petitioned the court to exempt some areas from land tax, or at least change the corn tax into silver money.

With famines raging in the north and south, there is no way to help Fujian anymore!

Xu Xueju took the letter, glanced at it, and sighed, "How could this year's famine be so serious? We can only hurry up and prepare for the replacement of vegetables and melons."

Chen Jinglun nodded, and then Wang Wenlong suddenly said: "How about spreading this news?"

Xu Xueju and Chen Jinglun both looked at him. Wang Wenlong explained: "The sacrifice of the famine-relieving melon and vegetable fairy can influence some ignorant people, but most of the gentry and big families still don't believe it, and many people will definitely still be alive. Even if the famine is about to break out, the court will There is also the idea of ​​being able to provide disaster relief.”

“Proactively spreading the news to let everyone know about the seriousness of the famine will give them more motivation to voluntarily rescue the famine.”

"It just so happens that we now have the technology of rapid mimeographing, so we can spread the news more widely. It would be even better if we can attract outside businessmen to sell grain in Fujian."

In this era, there was not too much or too much miscellaneous business information, but too little. It was so little that Fujian was experiencing a food shortage but the outside world didn't even know about it.

The people in Quanzhou are relatively wealthy compared to other places. If there are surplus grains in nearby counties, they will most likely take the initiative to transport and sell them to Quanzhou.

The imperial court was afraid of spreading news about the famine, and was afraid of merchants hoarding food in the market to raise food prices. However, according to the grain harvest situation in Quanzhou this year, even if there is no hoarding of food, there will definitely not be enough to eat.

Hoarding will happen sooner or later, so it is better to let the people know the seriousness of the matter early so that they can take it seriously.

Xu Xueju thought for a while, nodded and said: "That's the truth." He added, "We are in Quanzhou these days, and we can also write down the food shortages we investigated and the food shortages in various parts of Fujian. We will distribute them in the dojo at that time. It can be useful.”

This is convenient. He is the largest official in Fujian Civil Affairs. He has all the relevant information in the province and can get all the data without leaving the government office.

(End of this chapter)