Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 618

Things really happened as Sun Xiangfu guessed, as soon as Li Shimin arrived in Shannan Road, Wang Xu and the others took action. In the past few days, more and more people came to No. [-] paddy field to attend lectures. Sun Xiangfu didn't believe that everyone was so free, not only that, but the people who started to return north from various construction sites, as if they had made an appointment, all ran to the No. [-] paddy field to say goodbye to Sun Xiangfu, and then set off to turn around.

Soon, this situation was reported to Li Shimin by the secret guard, which instead gave Li Shimin, who had no plan to go to Jiuyuan County, the idea of ​​going there.

It's not that he cares too much about Sun Xiangfu's popular appeal, which affects Li Tang's rule, because he knows that this is a small trick created by the family to separate himself from Sun Xiangfu, and it is all false imagination. It's just that he was a little curious that Sun Xiangfu would take this opportunity to convey something to these people, the means to disintegrate the family.

After wandering around the surrounding area for a few days, Li Shimin, Empress Changsun, Concubine Wei, Concubine Yan, and Concubine Yang arrived in Jiuyuan County by boat under the simple protection of a few guards.

This time when Li Shimin came here, he didn't even bring Qin Qiong, Yu Chigong, Dugu Mou and other conspicuous generals of the old guard. Instead, he did a round of make-up for himself and the concubines just like when he was in Shanyang. , and then mingled among the common people, he even wanted to see Jiuyuan County without Sun Xiangfu's knowledge.

Not to mention, due to the improvement of makeup technology, after they are dressed up, even some ministers who often see them can hardly recognize them, let alone ordinary civilians.

Under the assignment of Changsun Wuji, Changsun Chun became their guide for this trip. Since Changsun Wuji took office, every time he went to Sun Xiangfu's side, he would take him with him. Therefore, he is quite familiar with the specific situation here. .

"Your Majesty, after turning this river mouth, you will reach the Jiuyuan River. From the Jiuyuan River, you can quickly lead to various towns under the jurisdiction of Jiuyuan County. Do you want to go to the No. [-] Yuantian where the county seat is located, or go directly to a No. Yuantian, look at the experimental field?"

"Let's go to the county first! Remember, when you get there, just call me Master." Li Shimin looked at the levee slopes where the grass was very lush, and reminded Changsun Chundao.

Changsun Chun smiled when he heard the words, nodded and said, "Okay, master. Let's set off now."

Li Shimin is most interested in the official management system of Jiuyuan County and the daily work of the county government. He wants to see with his own eyes how a local government is dominated by others in business, medical care, education, pension, labor, etc. After working in all aspects, you can still maintain a sense of presence.Can the management mode here really be copied to other places as it is?

Not long after, Li Shimin and the concubines disembarked together. After overturning the embankment, they entered the main road in the fifth embankment, but instead of using a carriage, they boarded a local boat on the wide river The awning boat specially transports foreign guests.

There are many small passenger boats of this kind in the main canal. There are only simple lattice wooden boards for riding on the boats, with a black canopy on the top, and the sides are transparent, so you can watch the scenery on both sides. The boat is not big, but more than ten people ride side by side. It doesn't look crowded, and after being propped up with pennies, the speed is very fast. This is the advantage of the wide river of the boat.

It is precisely because the channel of the main canal is wide enough that there are so many small boats coming and going on the channel, Sun Dali has formulated a set of water traffic rules long ago. The fast boats pass through the left and right sides of the central three-foot area, and the paddle boats carrying cargo need Using pennies to support the hard soil on the shore is more forceful and slower, and it is divided into a channel with a width of three feet near the shore, which is divided into left and right directions.

Moreover, the county government has expressly stipulated that when a boatman sails a boat on the waterway, when he sees someone falling into the water or a boat capsizes, he must do his best to rescue them and try his best to protect the lives of others. There is no maintenance fee, nor is there a toll for passage of any boats within the county.

Li Shimin just took a ride on the boat for a while, and realized the benefits of this kind of water traffic rules.

The river channel of the main irrigation ditch is very wide, and the concrete road beside the river channel is not narrow enough for several horse-drawn carriages to pass side by side. The neat road protection forest and river protection forest have already grown to several feet high, which can avoid the road surface in summer. Being exposed to the sun, it can also shade passers-by on the road or river at any time. The entire traffic environment looks much better than that in Guanzhong.

On both sides of the river, there are rows of villages with brick and tile houses, and rice fields that are as neat as a knife, quickly pulled back in the sight of Li Shimin and others. The paddy field will be so productive, and the denseness of the rice seedlings in the field cannot be seen in any place where rice is grown.

"Master, there are still more than a month to go. These rice fields are about to be harvested. It is said that this year, the yield of most farmers can reach nine stones of dry rice per mu. On the experimental field, the expected goal is to produce ten stones of dry rice per mu." See Li Shimin paying attention The rice fields along the coast, Changsun Chun explained.

"Nine stones of dry rice, that is seven or eight stones of rice. It seems that the people here only plant [-] mu of paddy fields, and they can produce more than other places planting [-] mu of Yongye fields. The report of Miwei What you said is true!"

Hearing Li Shimin's exclamation, Concubine Wei, who was born in a family in Guanzhong and had never worked in the fields, answered, "Why doesn't the master let the people here plant [-] mu of land like the people in other places! Anyway, this Haven't you seen many places in the past few days, and they all said that they are good lands that can be developed into high-yield paddy fields, and there is no shortage of land in Tang Dynasty!"

Hearing this, Changsun Chun hurriedly said, "If the land in this embankment wants to have a high yield, it takes more effort to take care of it. In fact, 25 mu of land per household is already the limit. With these [-] mu of land, the common people At most, only [-] mu of paddy fields will be planted, because planting double-cropping rice requires rushing to the sky. Although the people will be a little leisurely after planting, the time for rushing to plant and fertilizing the whole field is very busy. If you miss it Time may not be able to complete double-season planting, and if they are asked to plant [-] acres of rice fields, then, even if there are enough farming tools for farming, they can only sow and manage randomly. The final output is actually similar to planting [-] acres. "

"The imperial court only gave them [-] mu of land, which is [-] mu less than other places. Will they be happy?"

Changsun Chun smiled and replied, "I am willing! And I am very happy. The more land the better, the land that can allow them to live a life without worrying about food and clothing is within the acceptable range of the people's power. Quantity is the most appropriate.

Now, only other people envy the local people who can get a good harvest by planting only [-] mu of land. There is no situation where local people envy others who plant [-] mu of land and their harvest is not as good as their own. "

As soon as Changsun Chun finished speaking, Li Shimin's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he thought of a very serious problem.

After Li Tang established the country, because of the large land and sparse population, the number of Yongye Field and Koufen Field was particularly large, exceeding the previous dynasties. Many Fubing families also gave extra land because of their military merits, which led to the Many people need to plant more than 100 mu of land in their homes, but with so much land, can the people really plant it?
Li Shimin, who has actually cultivated the fields several times, feels that there must be many families with insufficient income who cannot grow them. However, before the imperial court, they would collect taxes every season according to the number of divided fields, which may lead to In one situation, a family with insufficient income only planted a small part of the land, but had to pay taxes on all the land.

Moreover, this phenomenon may be very common, accounting for at least [-] to [-]% of all farmer families. For example, when Sun Xiangfu first came here, his family did not cultivate all the Yongye fields allocated by the court. People, in the case of backward farming tools, it is impossible to plant more than [-] mu of land without more than three young and strong laborers.

Among the aborigines in Xingfu Village, only Sun Dali and other few families, who were originally four young and strong laborers, reclaimed all the fields. Moreover, within a year or two, the main laborers were exhausted.

Then, when encountering such a situation, most of the common people may use the output of a small amount of fields they planted to make up for the court's tax revenue.

That is to say, when he was in the Minister's order, the set of land allocation policy formulated was actually harmful to the people. It did not combine the actual labor force of the people to divide the land reasonably. Effect.

"It's no wonder that the population growth is so slow and the people's lives are so poor in places where the New Deal has not been advanced. It turns out that I have harmed them."

Li Shimin muttered in a low voice with guilt on his face, but these words were heard by Empress Changsun, who was sitting next to him, patted his hand, and whispered in his ear, "You are a piece of land for everyone!" Heart of the people, it's not your fault, it didn't cause any catastrophe at all, and there is nothing better than knowing a mistake and correcting it. Isn't your current reform of various livelihood policies gradually making people's lives better? ? There is no previous cause, but there is no present effect.”

Hearing the words of Empress Changsun, Li Shimin felt better. Although he did not calculate the power of the people well at the beginning, and allocated too many fields to the people, which caused them to bear heavy taxes, but at that time, the national When the great war just ended, the people all over the country were eager to get a piece of land of their own. The significance of these fields was not only reflected in taxation, but also to distribute more fields to the people. At that time, it was possible to Helping Li Tang gain more popular support may have greater political significance.

"Yes! It needs to be changed. Tomorrow, I will send a letter to Chang'an, asking Chengqian to preside over the nationwide agricultural tax reform, and only collect taxes on the actually cultivated land. Although we will completely exempt agricultural tax in a few years Yes, but let the common people know that we are correcting our mistakes."

"So, I'm afraid Chengqian will be busy again." Empress Changsun said with a smile when she heard the words.

She is very satisfied with the current state of Li Shimin leaving government affairs to Li Chengqian. The husband and wife are harmonious, and her son is capable and a qualified successor. It can be said that her life is never more satisfactory.

The point is, Li Shimin also felt the same way, and said with a smile, "Chengqian's internal affairs ability is not bad, at least he has got Sun Zhengming's seven-point true biography, and with him sitting in Chang'an, I can go around and see the beauty that I have laid down for half my life as a soldier. country."

The two couples were at the bow of the boat, looked at each other affectionately and smiled, then turned their eyes to the surrounding scenery. Not long after, the passenger boat entered the urban area of ​​Jiuyuan County.

"In front of the gate, under the bridge, a flock of ducks swam past, come and count them, two four six seven eight, quack, quack, there are so many ducks, I can't count how many ducks, I can't count to the end, How many ducks..."

The largest building complex in Jiuyuan County is the school. There are more than 7000 children from more than [-] households here. There are more than [-] Mongolian children around the age of seven, and there are more than [-] young students from various towns. , is the place where Sun Dali first worked hard to repair it. It was the afternoon, and the children who had taken a nap were woken up by the teacher. They were cheering up their spirits and preparing for the afternoon homework. The boat had just passed by the school building. , Everyone heard the singing of the children in the schoolhouse, and the boatman laughed when he heard the sound. His two children were both sent to study in this school!
And this scene naturally attracted Li Shimin to go ashore to have a look. When he was ashore at the small pier in front of the school building, the boatman elder brother reminded them friendlyly that the school does not accept foreign visitors during the school period. There is a quarter of an hour or so of rest time between them. Maybe they can say hello to the uncle who guards the gate, and go in to ask the teacher inside to ask something.

(End of this chapter)