Chapter 693: People on a Business Trip
After the spring sowing ended, the counties in Liang State breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, the main scope of activities of farmers became their gardens.
Since "house" is connected with "garden", it is destined not to be small. In fact, a farm family's homestead totals about five acres.
Mencius once said to King Hui of Liang: "A house of five acres should be planted with mulberry trees, and those who are fifty can be clothed with silk."
Needless to say, the current owner of Liang knew it himself. When allocating land to the people, the home garden should be allocated a full five acres, because this is the main way to generate income during the slack period. Not only grow mulberries, but also plant other trees, fruits and vegetables, grow hemp seeds, or people who are good at bamboo strip craftsmanship can make a few Mu bamboo forest, it all depends on how you manage it.
However, among so many professional or amateur craftsmen in rural areas, those who make "fu medicine" are rare talents.
General Dongcao Pengquzhuang, Liang Guozhi Zuocheng Cai Ming, Yushi Youcheng Wang Pei and others saw it.
They just went to Jiyin for a tour to urge for grain and grass, and returned after negotiating for 300,000 grains and beans.
The resting place at this time belongs to Junyi County, not far from Bianliang.
"Birds flock to the fields and flock to peck at the ears of corn. If you are not prepared at this time, it will cause harm for a year." Cai Ming said: "However, it is difficult to find people who make the medicine, and often several counties may not be able to do it. It was very difficult to find a person, and the materials needed to be obtained were from the south of the Yangtze River. This medicine man came from Nanyang. He heard that he was a slave of Mrs. Le's family. When Liang Gong saw his talent, he abolished his slave status and made him a citizen. He taught medicine in the Liang Palace. After he taught fifty people, he was rewarded and moved out of the palace. I heard that Liang Gong also selected a beautiful palace official to give him the gift. It was nothing, but the disciples who followed Wang Pao to the west couldn't help but look at the peasant woman tending the vegetable patch in the yard. She really didn't look like an ordinary woman.
The so-called "glue" is actually a kind of glue. The farmers themselves assess the time when the birds will appear together, and then apply the poison on the stick and stand it in the field. If the birds fall on it and the stick does not fly, they will be captured.
However, the conditions for use of this medicine are harsh and can only be used during the time when birds appear in large numbers, and the effect is average - there are 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 confused about using it. When the wheat ears are jointing, birds are circling, and farmers have trouble sleeping. They have to carefully consider whether it is worth the money.
But no matter what, after this technique was licked out by Shao Xun from Le Lanji, it has spread from aristocratic families to millions of households. The positive significance is still great.
"Liang Gong really cares about the people." Wang Pei sighed, feeling more and more that this trip to the west was the right one.
Censor Youcheng seems to be a good official.
Qu Zhuang and Cai Ming looked at each other and sighed secretly.
Wang Pei is not from the same group as them - actually, if you think about it, Wang Pei can teach more than a thousand disciples in Qingzhou, which shows that Wang Pei is quite broad-minded and does not confine knowledge to one family. In, it means to treasure one's own broom.
In Liang State now, the "people" are really in dire straits!
There have been many years of war, and the noble clans have been affected by disasters in large areas, and there are countless people who have crossed south.
Chen County, which was first granted by Liang Gong, now only has one family of aristocratic families, one family of small surnames, and a few families of humble family members.
Liang County is even worse. There is no aristocratic family, only Xiao surname and Hansu.
Other counties are more or less similar. Basically, the powerful families of Runan, Chenliu and Jiyang are gathered together.
Gong Liang used "cruel officials" in Runan to control Chenliu and Jiyang himself, supervising and suppressing them right under his nose. What else is it if the people are not living in poverty?
If anyone asks how Duke Liang suppressed the wealthy families, let me tell you: taking away the fields we occupied during the Yongjia New Year, isn’t this persecution? Not suppression?
Everyone has their own standpoint. If you think something is right, from another perspective, someone may think it is completely wrong.
It's just that this level of "persecution" is a bit painful, but it doesn't turn the table off and makes people very irritated.
At this time, they had to be thankful that the world was in chaos before Yongjia (307). Through clever plunder, everyone from the aristocratic family to the rural tycoon made a lot of money. , the accumulation has been completed.
Yongjia has only been here for ten years.
The land and population occupied in the past ten years are actually a bit over-expanded, and the business conditions are average. It is not completely unacceptable to throw them away - for the rich, what they like most is peace in the world and the government's connivance. After all, they are also very dangerous during wars, and they will also lose a lot of wealth and population, resulting in inability to operate.
But Liang Gong’s appearance still made many people dissatisfied.
This kind of emotion is stagnated in my chest. If someone guides me, or I get a God-given opportunity, I will let it out all at once.
If there is no chance to vent, it will slowly calm down as time goes by. Just like the five psychological stages when people encounter unacceptable things: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance of the facts.
The wealthy families in various regions are at different stages.
As far as Liang is concerned, some people are still in the second stage of "anger"; some are in the "bargaining" stage; and some have reached the stage of "depression".
If the fifteen counties of the Liang Kingdom can be stabilized and slowly digested over time, everyone will eventually "accept" it.
By the way, this "bargaining" is not just talking, it is a game at the political, economic and military levels.
"Dong dong..." Intermittent drum sounds came from the distance.
Everyone was a little surprised. When they looked up, they saw rows of sergeants slowly appearing on the horizon in the distance.
Quzhuang and Cai Ming both served as officials in the Yanzhou shogunate and were very familiar with the army. After watching silently for a long time, I finally saw something.
The big flag of "General of the Light Cart, Governor of the Silver Spear, Zhongying Zhang" fluttered in the wind, and more than 6,000 people walked neatly along the post road.
The troops were silent and there was no noise. There was an endless stream of carriages and horses, loaded with all kinds of trophies.
At the end of the team, thousands of prisoners stumbled forward with their hands tied.
“Zhongying!”
“Zhongying is back!”
“Where is my son Xiaoqi?”
“Where is my husband? My husband What? Can you bring some things home?”
"We need a tiger at home, and I'm thinking about whether to buy one. Let's wait."
Qu Zhuang and Cai Ming looked at each other, and then they remembered that the family of the sergeant in the Third Battalion of Silver Spear had been They gathered in Junyi and Kaifeng counties and settled down.
In the countryside of Junyi County, military dependents can be found everywhere, and there should be many of them 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 looked very relaxed. Some people even winked when they saw familiar villagers.
Cai Ming stomped his foot heavily.
This action is really nonsensical, and I don’t know what he just thought of.
He is from the Chenliu family - now Jiyang County - and the great-grandson of Cai Yong, a famous scholar in the Later Han Dynasty.
It goes without saying what status Cai Yong had back then. The Cai family in Kaocheng during the Jin Dynasty declined, but as the saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. The Cai family was still a behemoth in the local area, and because of its cultural reputation, it gained a political status that surpassed that of its own family.
Quzhuang just sighed silently.
When Duke Liang was serving as military commander in Kaocheng, he suggested that Concubine Pei reuse the Yanzhou nobles, which made everyone happy and applauded Duke Liang one after another.
Unexpectedly, time has changed and Duke Liang has a "new favorite" in martial arts.
In terms of the relationship between men and women, Shao Quanzhong was going around between the two beauties, the warrior and the scholar. One moment he would coax one, the other one would show courtship...
Qu Zhuang is actually nothing.
His family is not high and his family is not here. After he became an official in Luoyang, he followed several benefactors and moved around. His family fortune was not big and he didn't accumulate anything.
Now, he doesn't even have a manor. He reluctantly bought a house in the countryside of Bianliang. He only has a dozen family members and servants, and he has more than a few acres of land. If you don't become an official, your livelihood will be difficult, so no matter how dissatisfied you are, you won't be as angry as Cai Ming.
People are poor and have short ambitions!
"I heard that in March and April, Duke Liang was going to review his troops and invited all the elders of the Liang Kingdom to attend 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 Yinqiang, Heijin, Yicong and other armies are marching eastward and westward, and they are very powerful. With them here, the fifteen counties of Liang are as stable as Mount Tai."
Qu Zhuang looked at him, secretly wondering about Cai Ming's mood when he said these words.
"I heard that the King of East China Sea lives in Xuchang?" Cai Ming suddenly asked.
"Uh...yes." Qu Zhuang nodded.
“I haven’t seen Concubine Pei for a long time after entering Huang Nu’s palace.” Cai Ming said: “When we were in Kaocheng shogunate in the past, we all relied on the concubine to appoint and promote us. We must not forget our roots. .”
Qu Zhuang was silent.
Are you asking King Sima Bi of the East China Sea to serve as the intermediary?
Quzhuang was a little scared and a little excited.
Concubine Pei gave birth to three sons for Liang Gong one after another. She was the most favored concubine in the family.
Actually, Qu Zhuang vaguely knew that after the Kaocheng shogunate was disbanded, many generals relied on Concubine Pei's help to get into new positions. Because when Liang Gong appointed an old member of the Sima Yue faction, he would always consult her, his mistress, for her opinion.
He Lun, Liu Qia, Man Heng who guarded Hebei, Mi Huang, the governor of Xuzhou, and others would still give gifts to Concubine Pei during the holidays.
Just - what do Cai Ming and the others want to do?
"Let's go back to Bianliang to deliver the errand." Cai Ming waved his hand and said: "Jiyin raised 300,000 grains and beans. Such a solid contribution, but he still can't get the favor of Liang Gong, alas."
(End of this chapter)