Chinese New Year

Chapter 639 Farming and Office Work

Throughout the entire month of August, there is only one thing going on in Henan Province, and that is the autumn harvest.

Shao Xun took his eldest son Jin Dao, his second son Huan Lang, and a group of personal soldiers to the fields to harvest.

There is a large piece of wasteland to the north of the sea of ​​sand, part of which was taken over by Yang Xianrong, who dispatched people from Guangchengze to grow pasture and raise livestock. The other part was used as relief land and salary land, but because there were not enough people to cultivate it, most of it was used to raise horses, and only a few hundred hectares of grains were planted. Now it is harvest time.

The sharp sickle flew up and down, cutting bundles of soybeans to the ground.

The two children followed their father, carefully picking up the bean pods and beans that fell on the ground.

As Shao Xun was harvesting, he said, "There are treasures at the roots of these plants. They can fertilize the fields. Remember this."

"Oh." Jin Dao and Hu Lang responded.

Shao Xun chuckled and continued harvesting.

He remembered that when the later generations harvested soybeans in the countryside, most people could not wait for them to fully mature, but pulled them up by the roots when they were still green beans and used them as edamame for cooking. After all, it was the era of chemical fertilizers, and the nitrogen-fixing function of the soybean roots was not valued. In addition, not many were planted, and they were eaten as they were pulled, so by the time the soybeans were fully mature, there were often only a few left.

But in this era, the nitrogen-fixing and fertilizer-making role of crops, including leguminous forage, is very important. The roots are usually left in the ground and turned over after harvesting to allow them to slowly rot and decompose.

The main reason I brought my sons here today was to let them experience the difficulties of farmers. This would prevent them from being confused and causing trouble when they are in power in the future - all of which is to exploit the people. However, knowing and not knowing often lead to two different results.

"Big brother, second brother, have some water." Fu Bao came over skipping and handed a water bag to Jin Dao and Huan Lang respectively, then looked at them with a smile.

The two brothers thanked him repeatedly and drank the wine with gulps.

At first, they were very distant from this new sister, but Fu Bao was not at all shy and was very outgoing, so they quickly became friends with her.

"Grandpa, drink some water." Fu Bao took another water bag from the personal soldier and handed it to Shao Xun.

Shao Xun was overjoyed, this little cotton-padded jacket was airtight.

Fu Bao's birth was originally an accident. But now it seems like a surprise from God. Shao Xun likes her very much and has rewarded her with many things in just a few days.

Her little mouth not only deceived her father, but also made her grandparents dizzy and received continuous rewards.

Fu Bao put the treasures he got in his own small box, which was almost full. I heard that he was looking for a second box.

I don’t know what I will be like when I grow up.

Liu also came over, sat in the carriage, lifted the curtain and looked over here.

Shao Xun waved his hand.

Because Yu Wenjun was pregnant, he stayed with Liu these days, mainly to comfort her.

We snuggled together at night, talked about the past, and said some sweet words. We didn't have to do anything, and slowly her mood adjusted.

Shao Xun is a scumbag, but he is not heartless. A woman who lost her son is in a gloomy mood. If she still does not care about it, it is unreasonable.

After drinking the water, they continued harvesting until the sun became increasingly hot. Then they stopped and rested in the woods by the river not far away.

Prime Minister Yu Chen took advantage of the opportunity and came over with Liang's Shizhong Yang Man, Lieutenant Chen Yougen, Palace Secretary Cai Cheng (formerly Weijun Prefect), and Chief Censor Cui Yu to report on their work.

Shao Xun waved his hand and asked his two sons to come and listen.

Yu Chen looked at Jin Dao and Huan Lang and greeted them with a smile.

Yang Man glanced at Yu Chen's expression.

Chen Yougen and Cai Chengze had curious but indifferent expressions. They were all Liang Gong’s children, so what was the difference?
After Erxiao arrived, Yu Chen signaled, and Chen Yougen came first and reported: "Mingsir, the general Li Chong of the front army reported that the Xiongnu cavalry broke into Jizhou and plundered everywhere. The people could not bear it and the autumn harvest was greatly affected. Please send more troops to Changshan, Zhongshan, Zhao and other counties."

"General of the Front Army" was an official position in the State of Liang. Li Chong was an old man from the Yuan Dynasty and had made many contributions, so it was normal for him to become one of the generals of the four armies.

After July, he was stationed in Zhao County as a general of the front army, and controlled the troops of various counties and states on the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain.

Chen Yougen served as lieutenant and was one of the six ministers of the Liang State. He was in charge of recruiting, training, and dispatching soldiers, but had no command or logistics authority.

In addition to the generals of the front army, there were the generals of the left army Wang Que'er, the generals of the right army Jin Zheng, and the general of the rear army was given to Hou Feihu.

Liang State currently only has these four generals, and more generals will be added later.

After hearing what Chen Yougen said, Shao Xun thought for a moment and asked, "The families of the Yicong Army are still scattered in Guangchengze, Xiangcheng, and Xuchang, right?"

"That's right." Chen Yougen replied.

"Wei County has experienced many wars and the population is not prosperous. It took two years to relocate the Yi Cong Army and their families to Liyang and grant them land and houses." Shao Xun said: "What Li Zhong asked for is approved. Send 3,000 cavalry north and hand it over to him."

After saying that, he looked at Yu Chen.

Yu Chen immediately agreed.

In front of the "founding emperor", the prime minister actually did not have much power. This was because the founding emperor had too high prestige, was very capable, and liked to care about all aspects of the affairs, and even intervened directly, which intentionally or unintentionally eroded the power of the prime minister.

However, Yu Chen had a good attitude. Even if Lord Liang bypassed him and gave orders directly to the ministers of the various departments and generals, he would have no objection. What objection could he have? What if he had an objection?

After Chen Yougen left, the Palace Secretary Cai Cheng stepped forward and said, "There are many vacancies in the Palace Guards, and they need to be filled."

After Cai Cheng was transferred back, he was immediately appointed as the chief of the Palace Cao, one of the Six Caos, in charge of the palace guards, rituals, and treasury.

Simply put, he was in charge of the palace guards, ceremonial guards, travel carriages, treasury, etc.

He just said that the imperial guards in the palace were "very short of manpower", which was a polite way of saying that there were almost no guards. Old Cai was the commander without any troops. Currently, only one Fangzhou Pavilion with more than 20 buildings was completed in the Liang Palace. The Huangnu Palace and Guanfeng Hall were still under construction, and the ancestral temple was even in the planning stage.

Shao Xun felt that this matter was not urgent. Up to now, he had been using his personal soldiers as guards.

But today, Cai Cheng mentioned it, and he thought it would be better to standardize it. After all, the imperial army is actually a field army, not a gatekeeper, so he said: "Select from the sons of the four armies of the Palace Army, Silver Spear, Black Gun, and Yi Cong. You can discuss the number of positions."

"Yes, sir." Cai Cheng slowly retreated.

Next was the Chief Censor Cui Yu.

"My lord, the censors are all ready and can inspect the counties," said Cui Yu.

"Then let's go on an external tour, in groups of two, and go to Hebei first to inspect the three counties of Ji, Wei and Dunqiu. If any officials do anything illegal, report it immediately." Shao Xun said.

The position of Chief Censor has existed for a long time and is the deputy of the Grand Censor.

At this time, his power was reduced to the point where he could only impeach officials in Beijing for trivial matters such as etiquette.

Shao Xun ordered the establishment of a censor to regularly inspect the ten counties of Liang State and impeach officials for illegal activities. Cui Yu was in charge of this work.

In fact, Shao Xun wanted Pei Xian to do this.

Pei Jingsi's practical ability is terrible, but he is an honest official, has no extra wealth at home, and has a high moral standard - he can't do things, but he can find fault!

Unfortunately, Pei Xian is still in Youzhou. Let's wait a little longer. It would be more appropriate to transfer him back next year or the year after.

When he saw Cui Yu, Shao Xun thought of Wang Jun’s wife Cui.

He now placed this woman in Junyi County. To be honest, Shao Xun didn't like her green tea nature, but he didn't know why. Every time he saw Cui, he felt angry or impulsive, and wanted to punish and ravage this woman.

A few days ago, when I was inspecting the counties of Chenliu, I stayed overnight in Junyi and crawled on Cui's body all night. I regretted it very much when I woke up. I was fooled by the ghost again!

Thinking about it carefully, it was probably because Cui liked to pretend to be scared and terrified, and kept begging in the middle, with her mouth full of flowery words, which made him more excited.

Damn it, I'll never look for her again - maybe next time.

After Cui Yu finished his report, the attendant Yang Man stepped forward and said, "Mingsir, the King of Langya sent someone to Qingzhou by sea. The envoy arrived in July and has not left yet. It is rumored that he will be enthroned as the Duke of Dongguan County and the Governor of Qingzhou."

"Is it reliable?" Shao Xun asked.

"It's most likely that it came from Mount Tai," said Yang Man.

Shao Xun believed it.

When it comes to intelligence these days, the aristocratic families are still the most powerful because they have powerful networks of connections.

As a lord, if you want to establish an intelligence organization, you have to rely on them, use local people or even people from aristocratic families.

Don't talk nonsense about sending intelligence personnel from the central government to other places. It is simply unrealistic. You don't know what fortress or manor they might be captured and made slaves on the way.

However, sending a large group of people would be extremely costly and too conspicuous, which would not be conducive to gathering intelligence.

Shao Fan, the brother of Shao Xun, is currently in a very limited area of ​​activity, mainly in western Henan, Chenjun, and large cities such as Luoyang, Xuchang, and Yecheng.

Beyond this range, it is basically useless, the personnel casualties are very serious, the costs are increasing sharply, and not much valuable intelligence can be obtained.

In ancient times, when the princes fought for supremacy, if something happened to one side, the other side would not know until a long time later. Did they really think they were stupid? Did they not know how to set up a spy organization to gather intelligence? The social environment was different!
It is difficult to recruit people, difficult to spy, difficult to pass on…

But it is much easier to rely on the aristocratic families. They get more information than you and it is more advanced because they can access the decision-making level.

If the value of the intelligence is high enough, they will even send their core members, guarded by their followers and farmhands, to personally deliver the information - of course, if it is a small matter, there is no need to do so as the cost is too high.

If Taishan Yang said this is true, then it is true and it cannot be false.

"Order: Hu Wufuzhi, the chief priest of the Western Chamber of the General's Office, goes to Xuzhou to urge Mi Huang and Liu Chou to store money, grain, and military equipment. After the autumn harvest, he will call up the men and train them strictly."

"The Right Sima of the General's Office, Yang Chen, went to Mount Tai and took charge of the military and civilian affairs of the six prefectures of Taishan, Lu, Jibei, Leling, Pingyuan, and Qinghe. He stored food and grass, and recruited soldiers for training."

"Longxiang's assistant Zhonglang Xi Jian went to Gaoping to supervise the autumn and winter training of the government soldiers and to take inventory of the arsenal."

"The General's Office set up an external military department and appointed Liu Ling as an external military officer. He went to Jibei and lured Cao Yi's followers."

"The Luoyan Army will replenish its personnel and equipment as soon as possible, appoint Su Shuyan as the commander and Duan Mobo as the deputy commander, and move to Leling."

These orders were not issued to Liang officials, but to the General's Office.

As the right chief secretary of the shogunate, Yu Chen needs to be directly involved. Later, he will cooperate with the military commander, the military commander, the chief secretary and other officials to implement these matters as soon as possible.

"Okay, everything is done, let's continue farming." Shao Xun stood up, looked at his two sons, and asked, "Did you hear clearly just now?"

"Understood." They both answered at the same time.

Shao Xun smiled. The children were still young and he didn't expect them to understand right away. They just wanted to feel the atmosphere first and be influenced by it.

"Let's go and harvest the beans." Shao Xun picked up the sickle and ordered.

The two children followed silently with bitter faces.

(End of this chapter)