Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 166 Buying Cows and Horses
After a while, Hutou came in with two soldiers holding two thick stacks of books, and handed them to Zhou and Yang under Li Jing's signal.

The two took a look, only to see the three big characters of Daming Law written on the cover.

In the Ming Dynasty, the must-read book for scholars was the Law of the Ming Dynasty. If you don't understand the Law of the Ming Dynasty, you can't be an official at all.

Seeing Li Jing asking them to read the Law of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Hengchen and Yang Liufeng smiled wryly. They were about to memorize the Law of the Ming Dynasty, so they still need to read it?
Seeing the expressions of the two, Yuan Keli smiled and said: "Go back and take a closer look, otherwise you will suffer in the future."

"Yes, sir!" Zhou Hengchen and Yang Liufeng said hastily.

These two people are not fools, and they knew that Yuan Keli must have deep meaning when he said that.

After saying goodbye to Li Jing, Yuan Keli and others, the two returned to their residence with the book in their arms, and then read it seriously. After reading it for a long time, they knew why Yuan Keli wanted them to read it carefully.

This Great Ming Law is completely different from the original Great Ming Law, and it is completely a gimmick.

After Zhou Hengchen and Yang Liufeng withdrew, Shen Zheng said to Li Jing and Yuan Keli worriedly: "Tell them the truth so early, aren't you afraid that they will escape and leak the secret?"

Li Jing shook his head and said with a smile: "It's okay, these two are smart people, and one of them is greedy for life and afraid of death, and the other wants to support the whole family. Let's let them do things under the banner of the court. I think they will understand the way. What's more, we Occupying Lingchuan, they have to show up for many things they do, and after all, they can't hide from them for too long."

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "In addition, in addition to these two people, we also need to vigorously dig out talents. Those who are capable of doing things will let them do things, and those who are not capable of doing things will open county schools and let them teach and train us. talent."

Shen Zheng nodded and said: "With so many scholars recruited this time, it shouldn't be difficult to pick out a few who can do things. The problem of teaching is not too big. As long as we give money, some of these people must be willing to teach. The only trouble is the source of students. , this time Lingchuan was severely damaged by the bandits, and people have to work everywhere, so how can anyone be willing to send their children to school?"

Li Jingjing nodded, knowing that what Shen Zheng was talking about was the problem.

The Ming Dynasty valued scholars, but why are there so many illiterates?It's not that ordinary people don't want to read, but mainly because they can't afford it and don't have time to read.

At that time, farmers not only had to farm the land, but also had to perform various labor services. Those who had no money to pay labor fees had to do it themselves. At this time, even children were laborers. work in the field.If you don't work, you will have no harvest, and if you confiscate the harvest, you will not be able to eat, and you will not even be able to eat, and you will still be reading shitty books.

In fact, Li Jing has been thinking about this issue for a long time. Before that, he never understood why even seven or eight-year-old children have to work. It was not until the big landowners around Hongshanling began to pay taxes to Hongshanling that Li Jing finally understood. .

After Yang Baifu and others joined Hongshanling back then, they had to call in a lot of manpower to help them plant the land every time the farming season was busy. Sometimes they couldn't recruit people, or when the manpower was insufficient, they asked Li Jing for help and asked the people on the mountain to help them cultivate the land. go to work.

At this time, Li Jing finally understood why even the children had to work. To put it bluntly, it was a problem of productivity.

At that time, there were no walking tractors, and there were no mechanized farming tools, so farming could only be done by people.Of course, there are cattle and horses, especially cattle.

In ancient times, farmers loved cattle as much as they loved their sons, and even more so. Even when there was no arable land due to drought, or even when there was no food to eat, farmers were reluctant to kill cattle.When farmers are forced to sell their cattle, it is difficult to express their inner sadness and attachment to cattle. For farmers, cattle are not just labor that can help them plow the fields, but part of the family.

Such plots often appear in movies and TV. A certain hero enters a certain inn, and then shouts: "Little Er, cut two catties of cooked beef, and then have a jar of good wine."

This kind of plot is pure nonsense, restaurants and inns dare to sell beef, the boss is bored, right?Cattle killing is illegal, and a felony at that.

The law of the Ming Dynasty stipulates that if you deliberately kill another person's cattle and horses, you will be punished with seventy rods, and you will be punished for one and a half years. If you slaughter your own cattle and horses privately, you will receive a hundred rods.

Moreover, given how much the common people love cattle, it is impossible to sell cattle and let people kill them. Before selling cattle, you must find out what the cattle are for, and want to kill them?Fuck off, believe it or not, the reporter will beat you.

Although the common people cherish cattle very much, not everyone can afford cattle. Most of the common people do not have cattle at home. Even a large family like Yang Baifu cannot afford cattle.

Without cattle, farming can only rely on people, and manpower is obviously inferior to animal power.

When Li Jing realized that the low productivity was due to lack of cattle and horses, he ordered Ma Wu to send people to Yulin to buy a batch of cattle and horses back.

It is a pity that at this time, a refugee uprising broke out in Shaanxi, and with the entry of Hou Jin, Datong also cut off trade with Mongolia.The people sent out by Ma Wu almost didn't even come back, not to mention buying cattle and horses. Naturally, the matter of buying cattle and horses was left alone.

Without cattle and horses, they can only rely on manpower. Fortunately, the population of Hongshanling has increased rapidly in recent years, so there is no shortage of manpower.

But Li Jing wanted to open a school in Lingchuan for people to study, so he couldn't move the population of Hongshanling to Lingchuan, right?Even if they could move here, Lingchuan would not be able to absorb such a large population for the time being.Therefore, if people in Lingchuan want to send their children to school, they must solve the labor problem for these families.

Li Jing calculated the current situation. Now that the situation in Shaanxi has basically stabilized, it should not be a big problem to buy a batch of cattle and horses in Yulin at this time.And now there are still several months before spring plowing in the coming year, so it is enough to buy cattle and horses in such a long time.

After making up his mind, Li Jing said, "Father-in-law, in my opinion, there is plenty of time now. Let someone send a letter to Brother Wu and buy a batch of cattle and horses. In this way, the problem of labor for spring plowing in the coming year can be solved. And as long as this batch When cows and horses are bought back, given the geographical conditions of Lingchuan, as long as they are raised properly, they can proliferate, and in a few years there will be a large number of cows and horses for farmers to use.”

Shen Zheng pondered for a while and nodded, "I'll write a letter to Ma Wu right now, asking him to buy a batch of cattle and horses."

At this time, Yuan Keli continued: "Let Ma Wu's people act in batches, reduce the target, and don't attract people's attention."

Li Jingjing nodded and said: "Yes, you must pay attention to safety. Tell Ma Wu that this batch of cattle and horses is related to people's survival. .”

Shen Zheng nodded and said, "I'll do it right away."

Just as Shen Zheng was about to go out, Li Jing patted his forehead and said, "Father-in-law, wait a moment, I almost forgot the business, how much grain do we have in Lingchuan now?"

Shen Zheng pointed to Li Jing and shook his head with a smile, "There are still more than 2 stones."

Li Jingjing nodded and said: "Leave five thousand stones, if there is not enough here, let Er Zhuang go back and bring another batch over."

Shen Zheng nodded, turned around and left without asking what Li Jingliuliang was doing.

……

When Li Jing and Yuan Keli were having dinner, Gao Yingxiang was also having dinner.

But for Gao Yingxiang, tonight's dinner seemed to be extremely difficult to swallow. Seeing that it was almost half an hour after eating, the meal was not finished yet.

The reason why Gao Yingxiang couldn't eat was that several captured brothers were released this afternoon, and at the same time, these people also brought him a letter, which was from the unidentified group occupying Lingchuan City at this time. Written to him by the head of the army.

The content of the letter was to ask Gao Yingxiang to take his subordinates from Zhaojialing Village to Jincheng along the southwest direction, and then all the way west to Yangcheng and then to Wenxi County. In the letter, he also drew a detailed marching map.At the same time, the letter also told Gao Yingxiang that if they acted according to this route, they would release the captured Chuangjun soldiers and provide Gao Yingxiang with three thousand shi of food.

After reading the letter, Gao Yingxiang cursed: "Damn it, what do they want me for? Do you want me to go into the tiger's mouth?"

Before the soldiers left, they had already memorized Gao Qijiao's words, and immediately told about the current situation of the officers and soldiers, but Gao Yingxiang was so angry that he couldn't listen to them, so he kicked the soldiers out with a swearing curse.

However, after driving those soldiers out, Gao Yingxiang thought more and more that something was wrong. According to his current situation, unless he could enter Lin County, he would have to run towards Huguan.

However, the direction of Lin County was blocked by the government army, and the direction of Huguan was blocked by this army. Neither of these two directions could pass.

Moreover, the tiger's mouth that Gao Yingxiang thinks is not necessarily the tiger's mouth. You must know that a few months ago, he brought his subordinates to fight from Wenxi County, and he is very clear about the situation in these counties. The imperial edict is still in Gaoping County.

The distance from Gaoping County to Zhaojialing is about [-] miles. If you follow the marching route given by the leader of this army, it will take Cao Wenzhao at least a day to catch up, and you must send Guan Ning cavalry to catch up.

If the troops in Lingchuan did not interfere, it would not be impossible for Chuangjun to get rid of Cao Wenzhao's pursuit, reoccupy several counties in Yangcheng and Qinshui, and even return to their hometown in Shaanxi.

But Gao Yingxiang had just suffered a big loss in the hands of this army, how dare he easily believe the other party's words?

Gao Yingxiang pondered for a long time and couldn't make up his mind, so he had to order someone to bring Li Zicheng to discuss it. Who knows that Li Zicheng didn't have any ideas after he came, but he had a meal with Gao Yingxiang.

Li Zicheng ate happily, but Gao Yingxiang couldn't swallow his food, he hadn't finished his meal for half an hour.

Seeing Gao Yingxiang's absent-minded look, Li Zicheng couldn't bear it anymore, and finally said: "Uncle, you have an idea of ​​what to do! Don't you want to be anxious to death!"

(End of this chapter)