After dressing as a widow

Lizhou is poor and can't produce much food. The imperial court obviously allocates food and money here every year, but no one has seen the food and money. Only the ghost knows where it went.

These inspectors only know that they haven't received their food and salary for three years, saying that they are soldiers, they dare not even let go of farm work on weekdays, and their families will starve as soon as they let go.

But Che Luoguo, who invaded the border every year, was not tired, which made them more and more overwhelmed.

The patrol inspector who spoke was obviously a little bit resentful, and he didn't care about 21 as soon as he opened the chat box, he just wanted to talk happily: "Master Zhizhou, not only did the food and salary three years ago not be paid, but the soldiers under the subordinates... To tell you the truth, many of them are three or five people and seven or eight people using a knife!"

"Let's not talk about armored horses, I can't even see them!"

"The imperial court knew that Lizhou was bordered by the Cheluo Kingdom, and that the Cheluo Kingdom was looting every year, and they didn't give a grain of money to them, so they let us take this rolled knife and fight people with hunger. I can't afford it."

As he said, the other inspectors were sitting there. There were few people in Lizhou, and there were not many counties. There were 37 counties in total.

In order to notify them and the magistrates of various counties and counties to the state capital, the state government office has sent people out half a month ago, and now only two-thirds of them have come.

Gu Lin sat at the top, followed by Guan Peng, Qualcomm, and Jiang Jing.

The food and salaries were allocated from the household department, transported to various places, and then distributed to the sergeants according to the number of people.

Gu Lin had learned from officials and friends before that Lizhou had indeed not paid any food and salary for three years, and Xu Zhizhou also wrote a note and handed it in, but nothing came of it.

The problem remains to this day.

Gu Lin looked at the resentful inspector, and said, "I will send the brochure to Kyoto as soon as possible to inquire about it."

The inspectors below obviously heard what Xu Zhizhou said, but in the end nothing was done, and they turned their heads and ignored it.

Gu Lin said again: "This year's autumn harvest, the villages around the state capital have better harvests. At that time, the tax paid to the imperial court will be removed, and the annual grain and salary will be distributed to the counties first."

"Next year, all parts of Lizhou will implement this year's farming strategy, and then pay for another two years."

The inspectors and the county magistrate below all raised their heads and looked at the handsome but unkind young Zhizhou in front of him.

A county magistrate who had already heard the news said: "My lord, I only know that the crops in the villages around the state capital are growing well, but I don't know the specific harvest?"

The smile on Guan Peng's face couldn't be suppressed, his snow-white teeth matched his purple complexion, and he even made a rare joke: "You take a guess."

He has always shown people with a serious face. No one in the county has ever seen him like this. The county magistrate who asked the question was stunned and said a bold number: "120 catties per mu?"

He had heard before that this year's crops grew very well because the ground was dug deep and dung water was used. Adding [-] catties to the previous year's crops was already thinking big.

Guan Peng's teeth were showing more, and his voice was a little fluttering: "Two days ago, I took people down to the countryside, and saw with my own eyes a family harvesting grain, with two hundred catties per mu of land."

As soon as these words came out, both the county magistrate and the inspector were shocked, their eyes widened and their mouths widened, unable to believe what they heard.

From the original [-] catties per mu of land to [-] catties per mu, is it a miracle!

The areas where these county magistrates are located are far away, and they haven't caught up with the cultivation this time, so they want to beat themselves to death at this moment.

This time, they must follow in Master Gu's footsteps and make an early decision on the farming next year.

In a blink of an eye, the bustling autumn harvest kicked off. As soon as the grain tax collection officer went to the village to say something, people from several villages brought their families to the yamen with grain on their backs to pay the grain tax.

Grain tax is collected on the basis of head count, and anyone over the age of eight must pay the tax.

At this time of the past, every family is miserable. Even though their stomachs are not full, they have to watch the food handed in, and there is no place to express their grievances.

But this year is different. They don't need to pay taxes on the land they opened up wasteland, and the land in previous years has had a bumper harvest that has never been seen before. The grain tax is paid willingly.

Lin Zhen, who was resting in the yamen, saw many village households. Although they came to pay the grain tax, their faces were full of joy of harvest, as if a handful of honey could be squeezed from their faces.

In addition to this grain tax, they also had to return the grain seed money and plowshare money owed to the Yamen on credit, which could be settled with money or grain.

Lin Zhen saw an old man with a rickety back and said straightforwardly: "Using food, our family brought food, sir, our family can collect so much food this year, it all depends on the adults, paying these food taxes, we are so worried." comfortable!"

The yamen servants wearing official robes and carrying wide flat knives have passed through the past few months, and their thoughts are different from before. They talk to the old people with a pleasant face, and when they see some with heavy backs, they even help them.

Lin Zhen stood under the corridor, watching quietly.

Suddenly, familiar footsteps came from behind.

He turned his head and knew it was Gu Lin without looking. He looked at Gu Lin and said, "When my people went to collect pigs a few days ago, they found important raw materials suitable for making the cement I mentioned. After the autumn harvest, everyone When you are not busy, you can burn cement to pave the road."

"First take the state capital as the center, and gradually spread to the surrounding counties and counties, especially Dongyang County, which is now an important channel for transporting goods from the state."

"With the roads open, not only goods from the state capital, but also specialty products from Lizhou can be circulated quickly, and the lives of the people will be easier."

It is true that if you want to get rich, build roads first. Once the roads are clear, there are more things that can be done.

Digging and filling roads, including making cement, can produce a lot of work, so that the people can get some wages.

Gu Lin heard him talk about the beauty of cement roads, and knew that if such a road was built, it would be more convenient than imagined.

He said to Lin Zhen: "The black stone they were looking for also has some clues. In an uninhabited place eighty miles away from the state capital, someone once dug out an identical black stone there."

"There is news about coal?" Lin Zhen was a little surprised. It was only autumn, and he obviously felt that the sky was getting colder, and it was getting colder every day, which was almost the same as the winter in Anyuan Town.

It hasn't snowed yet, and when the real winter arrives, it's unimaginable how cold it will be.

Gu Lin nodded: "I've confirmed that it's the black stone that Uncle Lin you showed me."

"Okay, with coal, we can live a warm year," Lin Zhen shrank his shoulders from the sudden cold wind, and said to Gu Lin, "Coal is very useful, and the heating and heating are very stable. It’s better for the government to control it.”

"Coal mines discovered in the future must be managed by the government in a unified manner, strict mining regulations must be formulated, and follow-up measures for mining must be done well."

Lin Zhen explained the dangers of mining coal mines, the dug holes, and how to deal with the waste coal slag to Gu Lin one by one.

After finishing speaking, he looked at Gu Lin's eyebrows, eyes and body that had completely transformed into an adult.

After this year, Gu Lin will be 17 years old, and many boys at his age have already become fathers.

And he is 28 years old.

Suddenly, just when Lin Zhen felt a little emotional, a person he had never seen before walked in from the outside, and came straight to Gu Lin: "Master Gu."

Gu Lin seemed to know him, so he asked him to wait aside, and continued to talk to Lin Zhen for a while, and only after Lin Zhen left did he return to his usual expression.

The man handed him a letter in his arms: "Master Gu, this is the letter that the master has promised to destroy if it cannot be delivered to you, and must not fall into the hands of others."

There was no mark on the envelope, and Gu Lin took a thumb-sized porcelain bottle that he handed over with the letter.

After returning to the house, he soaked the letter paper in water and poured the powder in the porcelain bottle.

The powder dissolves instantly when it meets water, and a few lines of words appear on the originally blank paper.

Gu Lin picked up the paper and looked at the content on it. After a while, he tore up the paper and threw it into the brush washer.

The person who successfully delivered the letter stood aside, like a wooden sculpture of clay, without saying anything.

This is the second letter that Gu Lin has received, and the person who wrote the letter is no stranger, the person who was rescued by Wei San on the boat that day, Dayu's eleventh prince, Qin Ziwen.

The last letter described the situation in the DPRK. Because of the living evidence of Qin Ziwen, he traveled safely from Xuzhou to Beijing. Several high-ranking officials in the DPRK were sacked, their homes were ransacked, their heads were beheaded, and the floor tiles at Caishikou were stained red. Half a month.

The six ministries of the cabinet were jittery, and they were deeply afraid that the knife would fall on their own heads.

But according to Qin Ziwen's words, the people hidden behind did not hurt the real thing except for some loss of manpower.

The Holy One is old and frail, the position of the East Palace has not been determined for a long time, and the prince below has been in business for many years, and the undercurrent in it is very conceivable.

But today's letter said that the Holy One suddenly fell into a coma ten days ago. Although he woke up quickly, the undercurrent that was hidden underneath was uncovered.

Qin Ziwen played a role in it, he was testing Gu Lin, and wanted Gu Lin to hide some manpower from Lizhou, which is often overlooked because of its vast land and sparse population.

manpower?

Gu Lin looked at the shredded paper in the brush washer, the so-called manpower was just a nice word for private soldiers.

Lizhou is poor, but it is not far from the capital, and it only takes four or five days to travel by boat. It is definitely a good move for people to hide here, even if they turn things around, it is very possible.

The specially processed handwriting on the shredded paper slowly dissipated. Gu Lin looked at the messenger and said, "Go back to your master, people from the caravan want to enter Lizhou to do business, follow Lizhou's rules."

"Yes." After hearing his words, the waiting person turned and left after confirming that he had no letter to hand to him.

Gu Lin sat on the grand teacher's chair, pondered for a while, then rubbed the ink slowly, and wrote a word on the flat paper with the pen: true

The handwriting is wild, as if it is about to break through the shackles of paper and rush out.