Chapter 693: People on Business Trip
Chapter 693: People on Business Trip
After the spring sowing was over, the counties of Liang State breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, farmers' main activities became their homes and gardens.
Since the "house" is linked to the "garden", it is bound to be large. In fact, the house and garden of a farmer's family add up to about five acres.
Mencius once said to King Hui of Liang: "If you plant mulberry trees in a house of five mu, people aged fifty can wear silk."
Needless to say, the current Lord of Liang knew that when distributing land to the people, five acres of house gardens must be allocated, because this was the main way to generate income during the slack season. Not only mulberry trees, but also other trees, fruits and vegetables, sesame seeds, or those who were good at bamboo strip crafts could build a few acres of bamboo forest. It all depended on how they managed it.
However, among so many professional or amateur craftsmen in rural areas, those who make "fu medicine" are rare talents.
Generalissimo Dongcao Yuan Qu Zhuang, Liang State Duzhi Zuo Cheng Cai Ming, Yushi You Cheng Wang Pei and others saw it.
They had just gone to Jiyin for a visit, urged the procurement of food and fodder, and returned after negotiating 300,000 hu of grain and beans.
The place where they rested at this time was in Junyi County, not far from Bianliang.
"Birds flock to the fields, eating the ears of corn and leaving. If we are not prepared now, it will cause harm for a year." Cai Ming said, "However, it is difficult to find someone who can make duck medicine. Often, several counties may not be able to find one person, and the materials used must be obtained from the south of the Yangtze River, which is very difficult. This medicine man is from Nanyang. I heard that he was originally a servant of Lady Le. Lord Liang saw his talent, abolished his slavery, and made him a commoner. He ordered him to teach the method of making medicine in the Liang Palace. After teaching fifty people, he was rewarded to leave the palace and become a commoner. I heard that Lord Liang also selected a beautiful palace maid to give him as a gift."
Qu Zhuang and Wang Pei didn't think much of what they heard, but the disciples who followed Wang Pei on his journey west couldn't help but look at the peasant woman tending to the vegetable patch in the yard. She really didn't look like an ordinary woman.
The so-called "duck medicine" is actually a kind of glue. Farmers estimate the time when birds gather together, then smear the duck medicine on a stick and stand it in the field. When the birds land on it, they are glued and do not fly away, so they are caught.
However, the conditions for using this medicine are strict. It can only be used during the time period when birds gather together, and the effect is average - with so many birds, how many can you catch?
In addition, the raw materials of this medicine are produced in the south. In the context of frequent wars and inconvenient transportation, the price is high, and ordinary farmers are very entangled in using it - when the wheat ears are growing, birds are circling, and farmers can't sleep well. They have to carefully consider whether it is worth spending this money.
But no matter what, after Shao Xun learned this technique from Le Lanji, it spread from a secret technique of aristocratic families to thousands of households, and it still has great positive significance.
"Lord Liang really cares about the people." Wang Pei sighed, and felt more and more that this journey west was the right one.
It seems that I can take the position of Right Prime Minister.
Qu Zhuang and Cai Ming looked at each other and sighed secretly.
Wang Pei seems to be a different kind of person from them - in fact, think about it, Wang Pei was able to teach more than a thousand disciples in Qingzhou, which shows that he has a relatively broad mind, and he does not confine his knowledge to one family or one surname, nor does he cherish what he has.
The people of Liang State are now living in misery!
There had already been many years of war, and the nobles had suffered widespread disasters, and countless of them had fled south.
Chen County, which was first established by Duke Liang, now only has one aristocratic family, one minor family, and a few poor families left.
The situation in Liang County was even worse. There was no aristocratic family, only small families and poor people.
Other counties are more or less similar, with the power of the wealthy families basically concentrated in Runan, Chenliu and Jiyang.
Lord Liang employed "cruel officials" in Runan and governed Chenliu and Jiyang himself, supervising and suppressing people right under his nose. How could this not make the people's lives miserable?
If someone asks how Lord Liang suppressed the powerful families, let me tell you: He took away our land that we occupied during the chaos during the Yongjia years. Isn’t this persecution? Isn’t this suppression?
Everyone has their own stance. What you think is right may be considered totally wrong by others from another perspective.
It’s just that this level of “persecution” is a bit painful, but not enough to make people flip the table and become very annoyed.
At this time, they had to be thankful that the world had been in chaos before Yongjia (307), and through cunning and plunder, everyone from the wealthy families to the local tyrants in the countryside had made a fortune and had completed their accumulation.
The Yongjia period lasted only ten years.
The land and population occupied during the past ten years were actually a bit excessive, and the business situation was average, so it was not completely unacceptable to throw them away - for the big families, what they liked most was to seize and plunder when the world was peaceful and the government was condoning. After all, they were also in danger during wars, and would lose a lot of wealth and population, resulting in their inability to manage their businesses.
But many people were still dissatisfied with Mr. Liang's behavior.
This kind of emotion accumulates in the heart, but if someone guides it or it gets a godsend opportunity, it will be vented all at once.
If there is no opportunity to vent, it will slowly calm down over time. Just as people go through five psychological stages when they encounter unacceptable things: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance of facts.
The powerful families in different regions are at different stages.
As far as the Liang State is concerned, some people are still in the second stage of "anger"; some are in the "bargaining" stage; and some have reached the "depression" stage.
If the fifteen counties of Liang State can remain stable and slowly digest the situation over time, everyone will eventually "accept" it.
By the way, this “bargaining” is not just about talking, it is a game at the political, economic and military levels.
"Boom boom..." Intermittent drum sounds came from the distance.
Everyone was a little surprised and looked up, only to see rows of soldiers slowly appearing on the distant horizon.
Qu Zhuang and Cai Ming had both served in the Yanzhou government and were familiar with the army. After watching silently for a long time, they finally figured out something.
A large banner with the words "General of the Light Chariots Leads the Silver Spear Camp Zhang" fluttered in the wind, and more than 6,000 people walked in an orderly manner on the post road.
The troops were completely silent, without any noise, but carriages and horses were constantly passing by, loaded with all kinds of spoils.
At the end of the procession, thousands of prisoners stumbled forward with their hands tied.
"Central Camp!"
"The Central Camp is back!"
"Where is my son Xiaoqi?"
"Where's my husband? Where's my husband? Can I bring some utensils home?"
"My family is in need of a tiger cub. I was wondering whether I should go buy one. Let's wait a little longer."
Qu Zhuang and Cai Ming looked at each other and then they remembered that the families of the soldiers from the Third Silver Spear Battalion had been gathering and settling in Junyi and Kaifeng counties.
There are many military families in the countryside of Junyi County, so there should be many in this village. No wonder, no wonder!
The soldiers of the Silver Spear Camp did not stop, but continued to move forward. However, everyone had a smile on their face, and their expressions were extremely relaxed. Some people even winked at the villagers they knew.
Cai Ming stomped his feet heavily.
This action is really nonsensical, and I don’t know what he was thinking of just now.
He was a member of a noble family in Chenliu—now Jiyang County—and the great-grandson of Cai Yong, a famous scholar of the Later Han Dynasty.
It is needless to say what status Cai Yong held in those days. The Cai family of Kaocheng in the Jin Dynasty declined, but as the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. The Cai family was still a giant in the local area, and because of its cultural fame, it obtained a political status that exceeded that of its family.
Qu Zhuang just sighed silently.
At that time, Duke Liang was the military commander in Kaocheng. He suggested to Concubine Pei that she should make use of the nobles of Yanzhou, which made everyone excited and they all applauded Duke Liang.
Unexpectedly, with the passage of time, Lord Liang has a new favorite among military men.
In terms of love between men and women, Shao Quanzhong was maneuvering between the two beauties, the warrior and the scholar, coaxing one and showing his courtesy to the other...
There is actually nothing special about Quzhuang.
He was not from a high-class family and his home was not here. After becoming an official in Luoyang, he followed several benefactors and wandered around. His family fortune was not large and he had not saved anything.
At this time, he didn't even have a manor, and he could only afford a house in the countryside of Bianliang. He had no more than ten family members and servants, and more than an acre of land. If he didn't become an official, it would be difficult for him to make a living, so no matter how dissatisfied he was, he would not be as angry as Cai Ming.
Poor people have short ambitions!
"I heard that in March or April, Lord Liang will review his troops and invite all the elders of Liang to watch the ceremony." After calming down, Qu Zhuang said softly.
Cai Ming slowly calmed down.
After a moment, he suddenly smiled and said, "That's right. The Silver Spear, Black Jade, Yi Cong and other armies have conquered the east and the west, and they are very famous. With them, the fifteen counties of Liang are as stable as Mount Tai."
Qu Zhuang looked at him, secretly wondering how Cai Ming felt when he said these words.
"I heard that the King of Donghai lives in Xuchang?" Cai Ming suddenly asked.
"Uh... yes." Qu Zhuang nodded.
"I haven't seen Concubine Pei for a long time since she entered Huangnu Palace." Cai Ming said, "When we were in the Kaocheng Shogunate, we all relied on Concubine Tai to appoint and promote us. We should not forget our roots."
Qu Zhuang remained silent.
Are they going to let Sima Pi, King of Donghai, act as a middleman to pass the message?
Qu Zhuang was a little scared, but also a little excited.
Concubine Pei gave birth to three sons for Lord Liang, and she was the most favored person in the harem.
In fact, Qu Zhuang vaguely knew that after the dissolution of the Kaocheng Shogunate, many generals and officers relied on Concubine Pei's help to get new positions. This was because when Lord Liang appointed old people from Sima Yue's faction, he would always seek the opinion of her, the mistress.
He Lun, Liu Qia, Man Heng, who were stationed in Hebei, and Mi Huang, the governor of Xuzhou, would still present gifts to Concubine Pei during festivals.
But - what exactly do Cai Ming and the others want to do?
"Let's go back to Bianliang to hand in the work." Cai Ming waved his hand and said, "Jiyin has raised 300,000 bushels of grain and beans. Such a solid contribution still does not win the favor of Lord Liang. Alas."
(End of this chapter)