Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 320 The Growth of Chang Sun Chong
Li Shimin's inspection is of course very important, but Sun Xiangfu's own work is equally important. He must assign the experienced farmers brought by Li Shimin as soon as possible, and let them guide those aristocratic farmers who can't grow cotton and melons. Seedling repair, pest damage, harvesting, etc.

After receiving the news that Sun Xiangfu was going to send technicians to each family, several people started to fight again without any surprise, offering Sun Xiangfu superior conditions one after another.

However, in order for each family to have a good harvest, Sun Xiangfu can only allocate manpower to them according to the scientific ratio, but it is the official status of those assigned to them, that is to say, Sun Xiangfu By giving each family the opportunity to send agricultural technicians, Xiangfu infiltrated his power into the family's control over the bottom serfs.

This kind of infiltration will not have any effect in the short term, but when something forms an atmosphere and needs to be detonated, they can be the spark at the critical moment.

Had a whole morning meeting with the family members in the yamen. When Sun Xiangfu returned to his mansion and was about to report something to Li Shimin, he happened to see Li Shimin eating a bowl of stewed chicken soup with Hericium erinaceus. Concubine Wei, Concubine Yang, princes and daughters such as Li Chengqian and Li Tai also dined in the hall. Obviously, they have no resistance to this delicious soup, even in the hot summer, they sweat profusely. Dripping, also refused to stop talking.

This scene made Sun Xiangfu regret that he didn't hide all the good things in the house earlier, and now these things are probably all scum left.

After everyone finished their meal and returned to their rooms, Sun Xiangfu said to Li Shimin, "Your Majesty, if you don't have an inspection plan today, you can take some time to meet Qu Zhisheng from Gaochang Kingdom."

"What's the charter?"

"The black-faced minister has already sung it, you just need to sing the red-faced one. Specifically, after you read this, I will tell you."

Sun Xiangfu handed over a development plan for Tai'an City to Li Shimin, and since what he wrote was in vernacular, Li Shimin read it quickly.

"Well, very good. After I learned about your development strategy, I appointed Xu Jingzong to be the future governor of Tai'an. This is exactly the plan. Please tell me in detail!"

"Xu Inspector Xu is very wise and clever. It is just right for him to be in charge of Tai'an City. Recently, he and Tang Fengyi, the minister's aide, have been spending time in the major workshops in Shanyang, and have a good understanding of all kinds of industrial production. It is easy to get started with the routine, and when the industry in Tai'an City develops, it will definitely drive the development of Yi, Wu, Ting, Xi and other four prefectures."

The location of Tai'an City chosen by Sun Xiangfu is ingenious. It will be the westernmost city of the Anbei Dadu Protectorate, and the straight-line distance from the four states newly established by Li Shimin is not more than [-] miles. The closer ones are like Yizhou. It is only four or five hundred miles away from Tingzhou, and it can be reached in a day or two on a fast horse.

The population of the newly established four prefectures is not large, which is more suitable for the current strategic defense line. As long as this line of defense is maintained, Datang will have a strategic depth of thousands of miles outside Yumen Pass. In this thousand-mile land, there is room for maneuvering. There are too many, because the ecological environment in this period is better than that of later generations. There are many places here that are suitable for farming and grazing, not all deserts or Gobi deserts like later generations.

However, Sun Xiangfu wants to build a large-scale commodity export terminal behind this line of defense, but it is of great strategic significance, because the distance from here to the countries of the Western Regions is closer than that of Shanyang. Merchants can send goods to China two or three times a year from here. When the time comes, the development of commerce and trade will definitely boost the economy of Tai'an and the four frontier states.

You know, from the westernmost edge of the Datang territory at this time to Shanyang in the middle, it is almost 1 miles away, and if you go back and forth, it is more than [-] miles, which is about three months. Hu merchants waste a lot of time on this journey every year.

If an industrial output city is built directly close to them, it will be a great boon for the Tang Dynasty and the countries of the Western Regions.

But building a city five thousand miles away from Shanyang is not so difficult. At the beginning, it must have cost a lot of money, manpower, and more importantly, it needs to be borrowed from Gaochang Kingdom and Kucha Kingdom nearby. At most, the Anbei Dadu Protectorate can now support the development of Tai'an City, at most the herdsmen who were surrendered by the Huihe tribe, with a total of hundreds of thousands. This is because the area where they originally grazed is relatively close to there.

How to absorb people's power from Gaochang State depends on Li Shimin's red-faced means.

Sun Xiangfu's suggestion to Li Shimin is to let them willingly contribute to the construction of Tai'an City by means of kindness and temptation. When Tai'an City is really built, they will know what it means to dig a hole and bury it by themselves. It can completely destroy Gaochang's economy in minutes.

Regarding Li Shimin's ability to handle affairs, Sun Xiangfu was very relieved. After he finished what he should say, Sun Xiangfu resigned. He was about to send someone to inform Qu Zhisheng to come to see him, but he found that his eldest son Chong had entered his house from the outside. Also, it looks a little uncomfortable.

"What's wrong with you?"

"You do not know?"

"Should I know?"

"Of course, His Majesty will send that Zhang Xingcheng to be the governor of Dingxiang City, let me come back to be your chief historian, and take care of the crown prince by the way."

"Why, are you reluctant to settle in Xiangcheng now?"

"Of course, I have worked hard there for more than a year, and seeing that the new city is about to be built, I am transferred back at this time..."

"Is it just because the new city is about to be built?"

"No, you should also know that it is also very refreshing to live under the grateful and adoring eyes of those herdsmen and people."

Hearing this, Sun Xiangfu nodded and smiled, "Well, now you are definitely qualified to be the governor of a state, don't worry! I will teach you a way to make His Majesty officially appoint you as the governor of Dingxiang."

Chang Sun Chong's expression brightened when he heard the words, and he hurriedly asked, "What can I do?"

"It's very simple. Tell your Majesty your administrative methods in Dingxiang, and the details of how you get along with the herdsmen and people in Dingxiang City. Your Majesty is a wise king and knows what to do."

Hearing this, Chang Sun Chong said a little nervously, "Are you really going to tell? I'm afraid His Majesty won't let me stay in Dingxiang after I finish."

"Don't worry! Just tell me, it's just right, I can delay you for a while, go!"

Since Chang Sun Chong had something to tell Li Shimin, Sun Xiangfu was not in a hurry to send someone to inform Qu Zhisheng. Instead, he went to the barracks and asked Guo Po to send cavalry to the grassland to see the situation and meet Shiwei, Mohe, and other troops. The leader entered the city. According to the estimated distance, they will arrive almost tomorrow, and Sun Xiangfu has to tell them what the rules are for the military parade.

In the living room of the Sun Mansion, the eldest Sun Chong was given a seat after greeting Li Shimin. He made it clear that he wanted to discuss political matters with Li Shimin, so Li Shimin had no choice but to be patient and listen first.

"Your Majesty, Dingxiang City now has 14 herdsmen gathered from all over the grassland and diverted from Shanyang, with a population of about 35. As soon as I arrived in Shanyang, I was sent by Sun Zhengming to govern Dingxiang. Until now , and it has been more than a year."

"Well, since Sun Zhengming handed over 35 people to you, you must have made a lot of achievements in Dingxiang!"

"Compared with Sun Zhengming, it's not a big achievement. However, the minister is not bad. Now Dingxiang has more than 200 million acres of open land, more than 15 cattle and sheep in captivity, and five cattle and sheep are grazing. More than 30 head, more than [-] horses, in addition to self-eating or breeding, this year can provide [-] sheep, [-] yaks, and [-] domesticated war horses to the court, and the number will increase every year in the future.”

Hearing this, Li Shimin nodded in surprise and said, "It's true that you did not badly. Originally, I just wanted you to follow Sun Zhengming to learn some new government affairs management. Unexpectedly, you made achievements so quickly, let's talk! What reward do you want me to give you?"

"Well, I want to continue to govern in Dingxiang for at most two years. I am sure that I will develop Dingxiang into a city similar to Shanyang."

"Hey, the ambition is not small!" Li Shimin heard the words, although he praised him, he looked at Changsun Chong with disbelief.

"Your Majesty, there is a basis for my minister's daring to make such a bold statement. Although the people in Dingxiang City are all barbarians, they are more obedient to my minister's words, because I was the one who led them to offer cows one by one. Set up warm sheds for sheep to spend the winter, teach them to use new-style lawn mowers, hoard forage, teach them to feed cattle and sheep with fermented grass feed, and ask doctors to diagnose and treat diseases for them...

Helped them through the most difficult time. After the spring plowing, the construction of the city wall of the new city will be completed soon. Before winter, many brick houses and roads will be built, almost the same as Shanyang at the beginning of last year... ··”

The development of Dingxiang City can be said to stand on the shoulders of Shanyang. With the support of Shanyang from all sides, it will be smoother than when Shanyang was established.

Chang Sun Chong was poisoned by Sun Xiangfu's idea that being an official should serve the people, and he couldn't extricate himself from it. Therefore, he worked as a nanny for all the herdsmen who gathered in Dingxiang for more than a year. It is no wonder that the herdsmen don't like such an official who helps the herdsmen solve their problems in all aspects of life.

Li Shimin listened to Chang Sun Chong's crackling explanation, and immediately understood the whole process of how Dingxiang City evolved from a broken city to a vibrant new city that was about to go to glory.

In his opinion, Changsun Chong's experience of more than a year should be a model for all officials of the Tang Dynasty to manage the local area. He used his actual actions to influence those people who did not belong to the Tang Dynasty. It's just incredible to make it home.

After Zhang Sun Chong told all about his experience in governing Dingxiang and his vision for the future, Li Shimin was stunned for a long time, and finally said, "Chong'er, you have grown up enough to be in charge of one party. You took care of Chengqian and caused the country to lose a pillar, so you can continue to stay in Dingxiang City! After a while, I will go to Dingxiang City to take a look, and when the time comes, I will officially appoint you as the governor of Dingxiang."

"Sir, thank you, Your Majesty." Chang Sun Chong said with great joy as if he had relieved a heavy burden.

"Well, you go down first! I'm going to summon Prince Gaochang soon."

Li Shimin waved to him, after Chang Sun Chong bowed and retreated, the servant didn't come to inform Qu Zhisheng to see him right away, Li Shimin happened to reflect on what Chang Sun Chong said just now.

How can an official, like Chang Sun Chong, focus on serving the people?
Perhaps, the imperial government’s performance evaluation system should also be changed. It can’t be credited if there are no troubles, and it can’t be credited if it can’t complete the tax task. It should be judged by the growth rate, the number of new industries developed, and the per capita income of the people. , To put it simply, it is to force officials to focus on production, improve people's livelihood, and enrich the people.

After arriving in Shanyang for more than a day, Li Shimin discovered a few more areas for improvement. If such changes continue, he is afraid that he will eventually change all the political systems that followed the former Sui Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)