Chinese New Year

Chapter 666 Recruitment
On July 317, the first year of the Shengui reign of the Great Jin Dynasty (), upon receiving an urgent message from Liang Xiang Yu Chen, he immediately sailed south and arrived in Chen County on the th.

As one of the earliest counties to resettle refugees, the five counties of Chen County have developed over the years and now have more than 30,000 households and 160,000 to 170,000 people.

Over the years, farmland that was once abandoned has been restored to cultivation.

The mulberry orchards that were once on the verge of death due to drought and locusts are gradually recovering.

The village, which was once uninhabited for hundreds of miles, is now full of the sounds of chickens and dogs.

After the wheat harvest in May, each camp, team, township, village, fort and manor planted various grains according to the system established by Liang Gongli, which could be harvested in early September.

When Yu Chen arrived here, he saw rice seedlings growing in the fields, fruits and vegetables growing all over the countryside, and cattle and sheep wandering on the riverbanks and grasslands.

This is the old background of Liang State!

The counties and towns that Liang Gong carefully nurtured for several years and slowly recovered were also the basis for his arguments with scholars.

"Greetings, Prime Minister." On the bank of Suiyang Canal in the suburbs of Chen County, Prefect Hao Chang bowed and saluted.

Yu Chen returned the gift.

Hao Chang was born in a poor aristocratic family in Hebei and was a former subordinate of Sima Ying. For many years, he had always been known as a warrior, although he had learned both civil and military skills since he was young and was not a rough man.

But he did lack solid experience in managing local counties. When Duke Liang appointed him as the prefect of Chen County, it could only be said that he was appointing someone based on personal connections - the core area should be managed by someone he trusted as much as possible.

Following behind Hao Chang was Chen County Magistrate Tian Mao.

This gentleman is from Chang'an, a student of Lord Liang, 25 years old this year, courtesy name Baozhi. He served in the Silver Spear Army for three years, but later, Lord Liang was short of local officials, so he was transferred out. He first worked as an official in Chen County for two years, and became familiar with government affairs. A while ago, he was quickly promoted to county magistrate.

There is a reason why he was promoted so quickly.

On the one hand, he was one of the few students of Mr. Liang who had a high level of cultural education and his handwriting was quite good.

On the other hand, he was handsome and elegant, and stood out among the rough guys in the Silver Spear Army.

Of course, the above two reasons may be ignored.

In fact, he is the nephew-in-law of Mr. Liang. The truth is so simple.

Yu Chen couldn't help but look at Tian Mao twice more. He was born into a Chang'an merchant family. He studied martial arts in Liang County for four and a half years, led troops in battles for three years, and worked as an official for nearly two years. This was quite a rich resume.

After retracting his gaze, Yu Chen looked at Hao Chang and said, "It is really surprising that Chen County is in such a state today."

There are crisscrossing paths and fields on both sides of the Suiyang Canal. The fields are full of crops, and even the ridges are planted with beans.

Some fields are planted exclusively with mulberry trees, and there are silkworm rooms in the fields.

This is relatively rare. As far as Yu Chen knows, this is the custom of the Le family in Nanyang, which makes it easier to pick mulberry leaves and raise silkworms.

"Seven years ago, locusts were everywhere and mulberry and hemp in Henan were almost destroyed." Yu Chen looked at the lush mulberry trees not far away and said with emotion: "Mr. Liang had the patience to clean up the area bit by bit, and now we can see the results."

After saying that, Yu Chen came to the mulberry forest by the river with great interest and gently stroked the tree trunks.

The slopes along the river are covered with all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

"Is this Yue melon?" Yu Chen asked, pointing at a green fruit and vegetable the size of a fist.

"That's right." Tian Mao stepped forward and answered, "When I was stationed by the Ru River, I often ate this melon after training my troops. I heard that it was introduced from the Wu and Yue regions."

Yu Chen nodded and looked at a small pond.

This pond was obviously dug artificially and is connected to the Suiyang Canal.

There are lotus roots in the pond, and the lotus leaves are swaying gently in the wind.

The fish snorted bubbles and swam past the lotus roots.

Aquatic vegetables are also planted in the shallow water beside the pond.

Yu Chen raised his head and looked towards the other side.

Behind the endless fields, the village is visible in the distance. As evening approaches, smoke from cooking fires rises.

Children were playing at the entrance of the village, fighting with each other with wooden swords.

There were only a dozen or so children, but they were given official titles such as "General", "General of Chariots and Cavalry", "General of Materials", and everyone was a general...

In the bamboo forest behind the village, tired birds returned to their nests, chirping.

There are jujube trees, elm trees and mulberry trees planted in front and behind each house.

The sheep were tied under a tree, lowering their heads to nibble on the grass and even the bark, until they were pulled back into the pen by the farmer, bleating loudly.

Another shepherd boy rode on the back of a cow, walked across the narrow wooden bridge and headed home.

Some families have already prepared dinner.

After a busy day, the young men sat under a big tree next to the drying yard, eating and chatting happily...

Yu Chen suddenly felt a sense of unreality.

Before this, he had just read official letters sent from Yecheng and other places, which were full of shocking words such as "locusts everywhere", "crops are badly damaged", and "crying for food".

When we arrived in Chen County, we saw another picture of a remote and peaceful countryside.

Is this really the same world?

In addition, he also found that Chen County was full of villages, not forts or manors. Although he had known this for a long time, after all, he had served as the internal historian of Liang, and his main task was to collect and resettle refugees, but seeing Chen County like this was still very shocking.

Since the Later Han Dynasty, scholars have regarded manors as a place to settle down. As time goes by, villages are no longer to be found, and forts and manors are everywhere. But in Chen County, everything is reversed. There are only a dozen forts and manors left, and the refugees who were once settled in camps and teams have slowly taken root.

After the establishment of Liang State, the team (50 households) became a village, the camp (500 households) became a li, and the township area was redivided, each with its own lizheng, xiangzuo, and xiangzhang.

I heard that in a certain place in Hebei, there is a system of one insurance for several households, and it may be implemented in Henan in the future.

Seeing the big picture from the small, Lord Liang's determination to build his own foundation is really firm. Thinking of this, Yu Chen sighed.

Many scholars still think that Lord Liang must have them, and they should really come to Chenjun, Nandun, Xincai, Runan and other places to take a look.

Earth-shaking changes have taken place in the local area. After a few years of training at the grassroots level, Liang Gong's disciples are fully capable of taking over county-level official positions.

There is no restraint from powerful families.

There were no nobles to cause trouble.

The county magistrate directly liaises with the township head.

The township head was originally a battalion commander, and was very familiar with the ten villages in the township. He could directly find his former ten subordinates (team leaders) - it sounds a bit militaristic, but the refugees were previously governed according to military law.

This is a "manor" that belongs exclusively to his son-in-law, an extra-large manor covering several counties.

"Duke Liang has issued an order to collect additional grain and beans from the ten counties of Liang State, and to send them to Qingzhou and Jizhou for disaster relief." Yu Chen turned around and looked at the governor Hao Chang, and asked with a serious face; "It is possible to collect ten hu of grain from each household."

Hao Chang thought about it.

It can definitely be done. The people of Chen County have surplus grain, and ten hu can be squeezed out. It is not a big number, but he is an experienced person and knows that this number can be bargained.

So he said, "When the Liang Palace was built, Chen County had already sent 300,000 hu of grain. If we collect grain again this year, the burden will be a bit heavy."

Yu Chen glared at him.

Hao Chang remained calm and looked at Yu Chen calmly.

Yu Chen turned and left.

The staff members understood his hint and came over to bargain with Hao Chang, and finally decided on a figure of seven hu of grain and beans per household.

The five counties of Chenjun can provide more than 200,000 hu of disaster relief grain. After collection, it can be loaded onto ships and shipped to Bianliang, and then transported to Qingzhou along the Jishui River, with little loss along the way.

Yu Chen did not stay in Chen County for long.

On the 23rd, he arrived in Nandun, and the prefect Wei Jun came out of the city to greet him personally.

Nandun had a large mansion. After some discussion, they decided to transfer 150,000 hu of grain from the mansion to Qingzhou, and Wei Jun, the governor of Nandun, collected grain from his hometown to fill the mansion.

On the 25th, Yu Chen arrived at Xincai County and collected 80,000 hu of grain.

On the 28th, we arrived at Runan County and collected 600,000 bushels of grain...

******
"Sister, why are you here?" At the construction site of Guanfeng Hall which had been suspended, Yu Liang was directing the laborers to collect and store the construction materials, but he saw from afar his sister Yu Wenjun, who was escorted by the Shangshu of the hall, Cai Cheng.

"Brother, my husband said that Si, Ji, Qing and other states were hit by disasters and he couldn't sleep at night. Did you..." Yu Wenjun left the guards, walked a few steps closer, and asked softly.

"Grandpa has gone south to Chenjun and other places to collect grain." Yu Liang looked at his sister's slightly anxious expression and felt a little uncomfortable.

Before she got married, my younger sister was very considerate of her brothers and sisters. She often studied the "Food Guide" and occasionally made some cakes and meals for them. She also never forgot about them when she was doing needlework.

But once you get married, these things belong exclusively to your husband.

She is brainless and talks about her husband all the time. No matter how angry she is, she will smile after her husband coaxes her a few words.

This locust plague affected all the counties, and Lord Liang was extremely worried. He might have mentioned it a few words in his letter to his sister, and this silly woman became anxious and wanted to help her husband solve the problem.

He is so stupid, I don’t know how to fight against smart people like Pei.

But he had to admit that his sister was lucky. Lord Liang really liked her. This might be her only advantage.
"Don't worry about this." Yu Liang said, "I will go back to Yingchuan tomorrow and meet with the talented people from various counties. If the Yingchuan scholars take the lead, the nobles of Yuzhou will not refuse."

Yu Wenjun lowered her head and thought about it.

Although she was not very well versed in political affairs, she still understood the nature of scholars. Were they really willing to pay taxes so readily?
She looked at Yu Liang and said, "Brother, you need to put more thought into this matter."

Yu Liang waved his hand impatiently and said, "Sister, your most important thing is to take good care of the world - take good care of the children. There are some things I know how to do, and I don't need you to teach me."

When my father was away, he was the leader of the scholars in Yingchuan. This time I went back to see if his words were effective.

"Yeah." Yu Wenjun lowered her head happily when she heard her brother's words.

She always listened to her father, her elder brothers and her husband.

It was not her style to take the initiative to look for Yu Liang this time. It was just that her husband had told her many times to have her own opinions and take responsibilities, and she did not want to disappoint her husband, so she mustered up the courage to discuss it with her brother.

"The sun is scorching, go back and rest." Seeing the beads of sweat on his sister's forehead, Yu Liang sighed, then signaled to Cai Cheng to take his sister back.

Cai Cheng didn't move.

Yu Liang was stunned for a moment and his face didn't look very good.

"Minister Cai, go back to Guanfeng Palace." Yu Wenjun reacted and gave the order.

"Yes." Cai Cheng asked the guards to drive the carriage over and escort Yu Wenjun back to Guanfeng Palace.

Yu Liang left angrily.

Under the scorching sun, he was tanned like an African and walked on the construction site, inspecting every place.

While inspecting, he sighed inwardly, thinking that probably no other scholar in Yingchuan had a life as hard as his, as they were either doing flood control, forging iron, or repairing houses.

After sighing, he began to think about raising food.

The scholars in Yingchuan would not pay taxes happily. Wen Taizhen suggested that they could look at the progress of grain collection in the ten counties of Liang State, and he agreed with her.

If Liang could collect more than 1.5 million hu of grain and use it as pressure, the persistence of the scholars in Yingchuan and even Yuzhou would not have much meaning, and they would not dare to ask for too much.

If he can do this efficiently, not only will his father be impressed, but Lord Liang will also praise him.

In this way, many problems were solved. At least he could be protected from the damn scorching sun, which would have made him lose all his gentlemanly demeanor.

(End of this chapter)