Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 120 Biyang Guard
Fang Yizhi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, it was the first time he had come across this kind of bastard who asked his boss for money and was so confident... Wait a minute, he doesn't seem to be his boss!

Since Yang Menglong is not his direct subordinate, of course Fang Yizhi will not be taken advantage of. Besides, there is not much money in the treasury of Nanyang government office. As for whether the officials have money in their own small coffers, it is unknown.He asked: "Don't you have a lot of money, why, have you spent it all?"

Yang Menglong said angrily: "Nonsense! I reclaimed wasteland, made waterwheels, dug wells, accommodated more than a thousand people, built schools, clinics, bathhouses... the money is like flowing water, even if there is a silver mountain, it can't afford it." Expenses, now I’m so poor that I’m about to lose my pants!” At this point, he almost burst into tears, “The most terrible thing is that the grain depot in the guard has long been empty, and it’s all due to the people from the county. The food problem can only be solved by buying food, and now the price of food is one day, and tens of thousands of people eat horse chews, how long can I last?"

Fang Yizhi pondered and said: "It's hard for you... Well, let me tell Liu Dusi and ask him to send you the food and salaries owed to you as soon as possible. I think with these salaries, you should be able to last until the wheat harvest gone."

Yang Menglong asked with a sad face: "Can't you give me some money and food? Just treat it as my borrowing!"

Fang Yizhi shook his head resolutely: "Originally there was still a little savings in the treasury, but in order to encourage the people to cull the locusts, we had to exchange food for the locusts. After a locust plague, the treasury will be empty."

Yang Menglong sighed in frustration, and cursed in his heart: "Stingy!" He knew that Fang Yizhi was unreliable, and he had to rely on himself if he wanted to solve the problem of eating.The wheat harvest is just like this, thank God if he can barely eat enough, don't even think about having surplus grain to sell, now he can only hope to plant a season of potatoes after harvesting the wheat, in exchange for a good harvest.

Fang Yi discussed some things with Yang Menglong again, and then went back home.He, the magistrate, is in charge of several 10 people, and there are so many things to do every day, how can he have time to stay here?Yang Menglong prepared a large basket of eggs for him to take home to eat. Fang Yi was very happy and praised Yang Menglong for being sensible, but he didn't know that Yang Menglong was annoyed at him for being stingy and stingy, so he sent this basket of eggs to wish him zero eggs in the political performance evaluation.

However, Mr. Fang's trip this time is quite helpful to the Wuyang Thousand Households Institute. It is a free advertisement for the Wuyang Thousand Households Institute, so that more and more people know that the production of the Wuyang Thousand Households Institute is doing well. , Wuyang Thousand Households' harvest is in sight, and gradually, Yang Menglong has begun to gain a bit of fame in Nanyang.But with Yang Menglong's used to big nerves, it is difficult to feel the changes in this aspect. He only knows that the prefect came to visit, and there is a beautiful woman in his school to help teach, so Xiao Yufang doesn't have to work so hard. More businessmen came to Wuquan Town to do business, that's all, it's no big deal, how to live or how to live.

However, he had to listen to Fang Yizhi's words. After Fang Yizhi left, after several days of preparation, he took Xu Gong, Wang Tiehammer and other followers, rode on a horse and left Wuyang, and went to Biyang County to see The site that I will take over soon.

Unlike Wuyang County, which is gradually gaining some vitality, Biyang County has barren fields and dilapidated villages. Many wheat fields have been cracked due to the drought, and the wheat seedlings have died, turning into dry hay. Can start a fire.There are quite a lot of pedestrians on the road, and from time to time you can see bankrupt farmers dragging their families to Wuyang County, because Wuyang County is opening up wasteland and needs a lot of manpower.Yang Menglong felt sad seeing it, and said to Xu Gong: "It's really pitiful, this year's harvest is completely over."

Xu Gong was deeply moved: "It's a drought and a locust plague. No matter how much trouble there is, the crops will be ruined! Fortunately, we have water tankers and deep wells, so the crops can be watered, and the locusts can be extinguished in time. , we will not be any better than them."

Wang Tiehammer asked in bewilderment: "Why don't they learn from us and build more water tankers, and build more deep tankers to fetch water to irrigate the fields?"

Xu Gong said: "You think everyone has the ability of an adult, right? Don't forget how much money we spent to build so many waterwheels and dig so many deep wells to solve the water problem. They are willing to spend this capital? "

Wang Tiehammer said, "Yes!"

Yang Menglong didn't speak, and frowned as he looked at the lifeless Tianye.

Agriculture is the lifeblood of a country. If there is a problem in agricultural production, the whole country will have big problems. The saying "food is the first thing for the people" is not a joke.Now in the Ming Dynasty, natural disasters continued in the north, and agriculture was on the verge of collapse. It was impossible not to think about turbulence, and turmoil meant war, and war meant blood flowing into rivers!The Ming Dynasty, whose national destiny has lasted for nearly 300 years, has entered the countdown. The regimes that cannot feed the common people will be overthrown without mercy. This is the iron law.

There are two hundred households in Biyang County, with 120 mu of military land.This means that an average military household has to plow 360 mu of land, which is really hard work, but there is no way, the yield is too low. Taking wheat as an example, even in a bumper harvest year, one mu of land is only three stones, and one stone is 1000 catties, three stones are only [-] catties, pitifully low, and this is still a good harvest year, most of the time, the harvest will only be lower.A family of seven has to eat more than [-] catties of grain in a year, which is ten shi. Based on the average harvest of two shi per mu, they have to plant at least [-] mu of land if they want to eat enough and pay taxes. OK.It is not difficult to imagine how hard it is to plant so much land without oxen and only rely on hoes to plan.The wheat in these military fields grows like dogtail grass, overgrown with weeds, and it can't compare with the crops in Wuyang Qianhu. It seems that one acre of wheat can't harvest a stone of wheat.

When Yang Menglong walked into the Baihu House, he felt like he had walked into a garbage dump. All kinds of garbage were piled up under the eaves. The stench was unpleasant, and the air was filled with the smell of urine. I just vomited.The military households with dirty and tattered clothes and disheveled hair looked at them numbly, looking at the horizontal knives and machetes they were wearing, showing a trace of fear.A few young military households surrounded them and seemed to want to trouble them. Yang Menglong took out his military registration and almost scared them to pee.After a long time, an old military household dressed a little better ran over in fear, knelt down and worshiped: "I don't know that my lord is here, and I am disappointed. I hope my lord will forgive me, and I hope my lord will forgive me." Forgive me!"

Yang Menglong looked at this guy who looked to be in his fifties, and saw that his face was tanned and red, his feet were bare, covered with mud, his hands were rough and covered with calluses, and he couldn't help muttering in his heart: "What is this? A soldier is clearly an old farmer!"

He asked, "Are you the Baihu here?"

The old military household said: "If you go back to the adults, the villain is the Baihu of the Baihusuo, whose surname is Deng Mingtong."

Yang Menglong said: "Deng Baihu, get up and talk, I don't like people kneeling in front of me."

Deng Tong said repeatedly: "Yes, yes." He kowtowed again before standing up.

Xu Gong asked: "Deng Baihu, what did you do just now? Why did you come now?"

Deng Tong said: "Responding to my lord's words, the villain just took people to the fields to repair the canals, and the canals are already badly damaged. If we don't repair them, we can't water the fields."

Yang Menglong asked: "Deng Baihu, how many military fields are there in the guard now? How many military households are there?"

Deng Tong said: "My lord, our two hundred households originally had a total of [-] mu of military land, but now there are only [-] mu of land left. For military households, there are only about [-] households left."

Yang Menglong was taken aback: "How could there be such a big difference?"

Deng Tong smiled wryly: "Those military fields were seized by a few gentry forging the land deeds, and they only picked good fields to start with, leaving us only some thin fields with inconvenient water diversion. The harvest of these fields is not as good as every year. Everyone eats them. Not having a full stomach, many military households couldn't take it anymore and ran away, and the villain was helpless, so they had to turn a blind eye and let them find a way to survive." It seemed that the old military household was quite honest, Tell the truth about everything.

Xu Gong looked like he was not surprised, this kind of thing happened too often, if any guard could have enough to eat and no military household fled, it would be a strange thing!

In other words, Wuyang Thousand Households seems to be a special case...

Deng Tong complained for a while, then suddenly looked at Yang Menglong with hope, and asked cautiously: "My lord, do you still need manpower for your mine?"

Yang Menglong was startled and asked, "Why do you ask this?"

Deng Tong said: "We have received a notice from Liu Dusi that the two hundred households in Biyang are under the jurisdiction of the adults. The villain wants to find a way for the military households to survive. If the adults need manpower for the mine, please Let us go, we promise not to be lazy, let alone wages, as long as we can eat enough..." Seeing that Yang Menglong didn't speak, he realized that his request might be too high, so he quickly changed his words: "It's okay to eat half full. OK!"

The mine affiliated to the Wuyang Qianhu Office has been recruiting workers, and the number of miners has exceeded the [-] mark. Although the work there is hard, they can have enough food every day, and they can eat a meal of meat every two days. This kind of treatment It's really enviable.There are about a dozen military households from Biyang who went to Wuyang to work as miners, and they ran back once boldly, telling everyone how good life there was, which made the military households feel itchy. I want to go there to work as a miner and have enough food for a few days.Now that Yang Menglong came to him on his own initiative, Deng Tong certainly would not miss such an opportunity.

Yang Menglong was stunned.Miners, staying in the dark and sweltering mine pit, can't straighten their waists, digging the mine day and night, and there is a danger of landslides when it rains. Don't need wages, just want to have a full meal!What a humble wish, it made his nose sore!
(End of this chapter)