Chinese New Year

Chapter 640 Seeking an official
After the autumn harvest, the ten counties of Liang State had autumn sowing to be completed in September, ensuring that a large amount of wheat could be harvested in May of the following year.

On the Double Ninth Festival, he brought his entire family to the Liang Xiaowang Chuitai in the southeast of Bianliang for a visit.

Wang Xuan came here to seek an official position.

Wang Huifeng also came, called by her sister Dafeng.

"You don't know, when Hutou was just born, he was so ugly that I cried." Wang Jingfeng held his sister and whispered softly, "He is only ten months old now, but he eats so much that I feel pain from his bites."

Wang Huifeng's face turned red when he heard this, and he quietly took a few steps away from his sister.

Chuitai has been repaired by later generations, but today it is almost becoming a ruin.

The high platform that had been repeatedly rammed was covered with wormwood, swaying in the wind.

The dandelions are floating around, not knowing where they are going.

There are also pink flowers blooming in every corner.

Wang Huifeng glanced at Shao Xun.

He was sitting with Yu Wenjun and was peeling grapes for his wife.

Yu Wenjun's belly was bulging, indicating that she was pregnant.

Another pregnant woman in his family, Liu Ye, did not show up. Perhaps she was too pregnant and stayed in Fangzhou Pavilion to recuperate.

The Dowager Concubine Pei of Donghai, the Dowager Concubine Liu of Nanyang, and the Dowager Concubine Lu of Fanyang gathered together, eating snacks and chatting.

The four little concubines gradually grew up. Originally only twelve or thirteen years old, they gradually developed mature temperament after several years of experience.

The former princess consort Le looked a little lonely. When Pei noticed, she smiled and waved, and the four former princesses gathered together, chatting and laughing.

Jing, Song and Zheng were not even ladies and could only be called "Ji". When they gathered together, they were very cautious, for fear of saying the wrong thing and offending others.

In this world, not only are the common people divided into different classes, but even the women in the harem have their own circles and levels.

Wang Huifeng sighed. She was reluctant to go over. But the vague pressure from her father, mother, and brother bothered her. The scariest thing was that she didn't resist Shao Xun's pressure.

It would be better to keep some distance. It might be more interesting to stay by Shao Xun's side and watch him change the world little by little. It could also better satisfy some of her fantasies.

"Mingsir, the Minister of Finance is really meaningless." Wang Xuan came forward and complained: "The Prince of Langya hastily sent a few ships of grain this year, and I don't know which palace dug up the old grain. The court is really unable to maintain itself. More and more officials, scholars, and royal family members have left the capital. It's really hard to deal with. People scold me every day, and I can't do anything about it."

"Prince Langya will not send food next year." Shao Xun said, "This is the last time. Xin'an has been conquered. Henan County can grow grain well this year. The court should collect some grain as appropriate. It is enough to feed as many people as possible. There is nothing we can do if it is not enough."

Yu Wenjun was somewhat surprised when she heard this and asked, "Isn't the Prince of Langya afraid of being questioned by the court?"

Wang Xuan was speechless.

Reducing the amount of grain sent to the capital or even stopping sending grain was not the intention of the King of Langya. That was the overall attitude of the Jiangnan nobles.

They don't care who is the master of Jiangdong, as long as he can lead them to establish their own regime, they will support him.

The legitimacy of the King of Langya’s rule did not come from the cover given by the Luoyang court, but from the support of the gentry in Wu.

Their biggest political goal is to establish their own regime. They are definitely not on the same page with Luoyang. Do you think they are afraid?
"Madam Yu, you don't know that the court has issued an order to question you, but..." At this point, Wang Xuan smiled bitterly and said, "It's probably useless. Didn't Cao Mengde have any way to deal with Han officials Sun Zhongmou and Liu Xuande?"

Upon hearing this, Shao Xun rolled his eyes at Wang Xuan and said, "Last year I didn't agree with demoting the King of Langya to a county king. The court officials insisted on issuing an edict. Now you see it? They have destroyed the last bit of prestige of the court in Jiangdong. Some edicts are most powerful before they are issued. If they don't cause any waves after they are issued, people will only look down on them. It's really a mess."

Last year, the amount of grain transported from Jiangdong to Luoyang was only 300,000 to 400,000 hu, so the emperor issued an edict to reprimand the king and demoted the King of Langya to a county king as a warning, but it was of no use.

Sima Rui reduced the amount of grain transported to the capital, which would please the nobles in Wu.

The more he opposed the Luoyang court, the more the Jiangdong gentry supported him.

This year, Shao Xun was promoted to Duke of Liang and General. This court is even more useless in Jiangnan. Because people found out that a lowly person can control the court, what prestige does it have?

"Mingsir, things have come to this point, what else is there to say?" Wang Xuan smiled awkwardly.

Last year, his father, Yu Min and others were still in control of the government. The officials were hungry and the people were furious. What could they do?
Shao Xun looked at him helplessly and said, "If you can't do it at the court, come to Liang State to help me."

Wang Xuan was overjoyed, as this was what he had been waiting for.

"However, the officials of Liang State are not as high in rank as those in the imperial court." Shao Xun added.

"I only wish to serve you, sir." Wang Xuan said solemnly.

Wang Huifeng turned his head away, not wanting to see his brother's fawning look.

"The Minister of Agriculture has left it for you." Shao Xun said, "You can go to Runan to survey the land and household registration in a while."

"Okay." Wang Xuan responded without hesitation.

"Runan is at war, aren't you afraid?" Shao Xun asked.

"When working for you, I have no reason to fear danger or hardship," Wang Xuan replied.

Runan is close to the Huai River, and Gan Zhuo often sent troops from Anfeng and Yiyang to plunder the local area with the assistance of the navy.

Ji Zhan was not as excessive as Gan Zhuo. He only occasionally went north from Shouchun and entered the territory of Qiao State to see if there was an opportunity to plunder people and food. He would rob and run, just like a bandit.

Wang Dun led the largest army. After the autumn harvest, he marched northward, conquered Sui State, and threatened Yiyang and Xinye. Le Kai gathered troops and marched southward, and the two sides were confronting each other in Sui County.

Wang Xuan also heard about these things, and overall it was quite embarrassing.

But for aristocratic families, it is normal to have officials in different places, and there is no need to be too ashamed.

Didn’t the Zhou family of Runan have people working for Duke Liang and others working for the King of Langya?
The six brothers of the Fanyang Zu family had even decided early on that the eldest, second and third brothers would stay in the north, while the fourth, fifth and sixth brothers would go to Jianye.

In this world, not distinguishing between the parties can easily lead to the destruction of a family.

"It's good that you understand." Shao Xun said, and then reminded: "Ru'nan is more complicated. Some nobles are dissatisfied with me. You should be careful and don't let others take advantage of you."

Of course, even if the Ru'nan nobles rebelled, captured Wang Xuan, and sent him to Wang Dun, he would probably not die - but it's hard to say, Wang Dun is a twisted man, didn't he kill Wang Yan's brother Wang Cheng in history? He is a rotten man!

Wang Xuan was very satisfied after getting the official position.

No matter who wants to be the Minister of Finance of the Jin Dynasty, he is unwilling to do so.

The Minister of Agriculture of Liang was bound to offend people, but he could handle it. Besides, the Duke of Liang had asked him to manage Agriculture because he wanted to use the Wang family. Otherwise, he heard that the Minister of Personnel was still considering candidates, so why didn't he consider Wang Xuan?
As for the Qingzhou governorship that had been promised to him, Wang Xuan thought it over and decided that it would be better to be the minister of one of the six ministries in Bianliang.

"Don't be so diligent on Double Ninth Festival." Pei Lingyan came over and handed Shao Xun a piece of dessert, saying, "You've been here for so long, you haven't eaten yet, right?"

Yu Wenjun's face suddenly turned red.

Until now, her husband has always peeled grapes for her, and he has not eaten any himself.

Shao Xun quietly patted his wife with his left hand, took the cake with his right hand, tasted it, and said with a smile: "It's delicious."

Wang Xuan tactfully left.

Pei Lingyan looked at Shao Xun's little action with a mixture of anger and amusement, and rolled her eyes at him.
Shao Xun was thick-skinned and covered it up with a smile.

Wang Xuan quickly got off the stage and saw his sister Huifeng.

Wang Huifeng stood on the grass, silently looking at the Suiyang Canal in the distance.

The river was filled with boats, one after another heading north.

The ship had a deep draft and was fully loaded with food and military supplies.

After arriving at the north of Junyi, these ships would turn east and transport supplies to Gaoping and Pengcheng.

Last year, Henan's reserves were all harvested. After the autumn harvest this year, we finally had some money, which we immediately sent to the east. Even this was not enough, as we also had to take into account the summer wheat in May next year.

Wars continue one after another with no end in sight.

"What are you thinking about, second sister?" Wang Xuan walked over and asked.

Wang Huifeng looked back and said nothing.

"I heard that Grandpa gave you the task of designing the honorary officer?" Wang Xuan asked for the sake of conversation.

After saying that, he looked towards a camp a few miles away from Chuitai, which was the garrison of Chuitai Longxiang Prefecture. He subconsciously said, "Chuitai, Bajiao, and Cangyuan Longxiang Prefectures have 3,600 people. I heard that they also made up for the 1,200 people missing from Puyang and Dongping. Where did so many troops come from?"

"There was a locust plague in Hedong and Pingyang, and many people fled to Bingzhou, Henei and Hongnong. Some of those who went to Henei fled to the three cities of Heyang." said Wang Huifeng.

"Doesn't that mean the Huns are unable to attack Henan and Hebei?" Wang Xuanxi said.

Wang Huifeng didn't answer, but the fact was obvious.

This incident would not shake the foundation of the Xiongnu, but it would temporarily make them unable to launch offensives north and south of the river.

In fact, Henan, Xingyang, Hongnong, Hanoi and other places also suffered from locust plagues to a certain extent, but the vast hinterland of Henan was not affected and continued to provide food and fodder.

As one side gains strength, the other loses strength. Perhaps we can try to attack Jijun and Henei, and eliminate all the Xiongnu strongholds outside the Taihang Mountains. Everyone has suffered disasters in some areas, but I have more unaffected areas. This is the case of the rich bullying the poor.

"Brother, you are now the Minister of Agriculture. Besides measuring the land, don't forget to promote agricultural techniques." Wang Huifeng turned around and said, "A few years ago, Lord Liang ordered the improvement of mulberry and hemp planting techniques. So far, only Luonan, Xiangcheng, Chenjun and other places have officials promoting it. The Minister of Agriculture is in charge of agricultural affairs. If you do a good job of this, Lord Liang will definitely look at you differently."

"Besides, if there are more mulberry and hemp, Li Yuan's livelihood will not be so difficult." Wang Huifeng looked at the boats on the river and said, "In fact, Lord Liang has done a very good job, but there are not enough people to help him..."

Wang Xuan seemed to understand something.

After a moment, he couldn't help but ask: "Amei, are you..."

Wang Huifeng shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter what I think. There are wars in the south, north, east and west. It's not easy for Lord Liang."

Wang Xuan sighed when he heard this.

The improved techniques of mulberry and hemp planting that my sister mentioned is actually to promote the knowledge in agricultural books such as "Growing Hemp Seeds" and "Essential Techniques of Planting Mulberry".

This can be regarded as learning from the strengths of various schools, bringing out the hidden skills of the aristocratic families, making them known to more people, and thus improving the overall level.

It is actually very difficult to achieve this and it is destined to be a long process.

Nowadays, whether or not you have knowledge is not the most important thing; the most difficult thing is how to spread it.

A simple two-year three-crop system can obviously increase grain production, but after so many years of hard work, it has not yet been fully promoted.

Some officials have low levels of competence, they don’t understand and don’t know how to promote it.

Some officials are lazy and do not take things seriously.

Some officials did take it seriously, but the manor owners and fort owners did not.

Some manor owners and fort owners actively promoted it, but the accountants and farmhands they sent out to promote it did not take it seriously or did not quite understand how to do it.

In short, all the nodes, upstream and downstream, need to be connected before anything can be accomplished.

It is simply unrealistic to think that something that has never been done before can be accomplished by just giving an idea or a suggestion from the superiors. It does not consider the issues at the execution level at all and does not realize that things are done by people.

"You are right. Agriculture and sericulture are the foundation of a country. I didn't know how to sort out the agricultural affairs before, but now I know." Wang Xuan said, "The descendants of Wang Clan of Langya must have some achievements to show for themselves, otherwise, I am afraid that they will be overtaken by other families."

"Brother, you can send someone back to Langya to recruit some planners and farmhands who are good at farming. The more the better." Wang Huifeng reminded.

Wang Xuan nodded secretly, and at the same time felt more pity for his sister.

If she were a man, she would have achieved more than him. What a pity.

He subconsciously glanced at the happy scene of Mr. Liang and his family on the stage, and felt helpless.

(End of this chapter)