Chapter 490 Water Conservancy


Chapter 490 Water Conservancy

After Zhen Yu left, Xie Bi and Li Heng stayed in the hall.

Now that there are no outsiders, the two of them will naturally have to say something about themselves.

Xie Bi said to Li Heng interestingly:

"What do you think of this policy to clean up local social officials?"

Worried that Li Heng would not be able to open his heart, Xie Bi added:

"It's just you and me here, just say whatever you want, and we'll share our thoughts with each other."

With these words, Li Heng began to say:

"The king and many of his disciples in the political affairs hall seem to have some distrust of the social officials who have developed in Hebei."

Xie Bi did not speak, but asked Li Heng to continue:

"I can understand the distrust of these local officials. After all, these people are neither as loyal as the Fuhu veterans nor as reliable as the head of Guizhou. It is indeed difficult to trust. But I have something to say. I can’t vomit quickly.”

Seeing that Xie Bi did not stop him, Li Hengzhuang said worriedly:

"Even if that generation is not trustworthy, is it any different from the Fuhu Laojun and those who came from the head of Guizhou? For example, the Fuhu Laojun, according to my experience in the Heji area, is a powerful person who uses his wealth for his own purposes and looks like a local." In the end, all this is due to the greed of the people. Even if we crack down on a group of people now, the ones that come up will still sprout. How can the social officials who hold the power not make a profit for themselves? So instead of doing this, why not? What about using these social officials first? At least these people have power at the grassroots level and can do things first.”

Xie Bi's face became serious, because what Li Heng said at this time was undoubtedly very dangerous.

He pointed his words directly at the demobilized veterans of the Taishan Army.

In other words, Xie Bi was a rational person in the army, so he did not directly reprimand Li Heng even though he felt uncomfortable.

Of course, Xie Bi himself also recognized part of Li Heng's views.

That is, demobilized veterans in many areas do tend to become localized. Xie Bi himself had many old subordinates who retreated below due to injuries.

Generally speaking, such military officials will be transferred to local counties and counties, while the soldiers will be transferred to rural communes.

Those old officials often came to Xie Bi's place to communicate with each other in the name of sending some local specialties.

Xie Bi also learned about the situation in many places from these people.

In short, the old brothers have indeed lived a good life that was out of reach in the past.

Either this family has built a big house again, or that family has a new wife.

Xie Bi was also happy for his subordinates. These people followed him all the way and were injured and sick. Xie Bi felt that it was right to see them live a good life in the end.

But until Li Heng mentioned this matter now, Xie Bi suddenly realized that something was wrong.

Xie Biyue felt that something was wrong with the showoff of his subordinates before. Together, these people are almost becoming the same people as they used to be?

Brothers are fighting life and death just to be a local farmer?

Xie Bi suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, but he didn't intend to talk about this topic again. He changed the topic according to what Li Heng just asked:

"Well, it's still the same sentence. What our Taishan Army talks about is fairness. The distribution of land must be fair, and the cleanup must be fair. Since those social officials use their power for personal gain in the distribution of land, they must be punished. This is the iron law of policy. And it is exactly Only by clearing out the silverfish among these social officials can we continue to implement the land distribution. ”

Finally, Xie Bi looked at Li Heng meaningfully and said leisurely:

"I have been with the King for a long time, and I often hear the King like to say: 'Good gold must be tempered by fire.' Whether a person is reliable or not depends not on what he says, nor on what he does in good times. It depends on whether you can stand firm in the face of advantage and rely on yourself in adversity. Live. Whether it is the township officials below or us county officials, our attitude towards the distribution of fields, our behavior in the distribution of fields, and our performance in the distribution of fields are the basis for measuring our character, ability, and stance. .”

Finally, Xie Bi said to Li Heng with some suggestions:

"I have heard people say that the chief disciple Du Gong said more than once in the political hall: 'The bad ones will be eliminated and replaced, and the good ones will be boldly promoted.' So Qingyuan, do you know what it means?"

So, Li Heng fell silent, and finally bowed to Xie Bi:

"Thank you Mr. Fu for your suggestion. I will understand."

"Do you really understand?"

"Understood!"

……

Following the repeated orders from the Political Hall and the direct linkage of results to political achievements, a campaign to clean up local social officials began in the Taishan Army.

Not only Hebei New District, but also Heji Old District and Taishan Old District have also launched this action.

Anyone with a bad reputation, bullying and corruption, even if they came from some veteran background, were overthrown in this operation.

And compared with dealing with the previous powerful people, it is easier to deal with these lawless rural officials.

The former also relied on tribes and clans, while the latter had all power in the township and community from the Taishan Army. So once the higher authorities start to review and investigate, these people have absolutely no room for resistance.

Throughout May, a total of 2,320 social officials in counties and counties in Hebei were punished, accounting for one-tenth of all grassroots social officials. Thirty-six of them were executed, but 820 were ordered to surrender and occupy. The rest were expelled from the team after being beaten and became leaders of Guizhou again.

Nearly one-tenth of the rural commune officials were eliminated, inevitably suffering their backlash and dissatisfaction.

In the later stages of the campaign as the campaign gradually spread, a large number of grassroots township officials voluntarily resigned from their posts in township offices.

Some of them are afraid of retaliation, and some have done shameful things in the past.

The former are the most aggrieved. They always complain that the county officials will beat and kill them at the slightest move of their lips. You county officials just have to wait for the results, but they are the ones doing the work.

How can they be harmonious when they preside over the division of land? If a piece of land is given to someone else, someone else will be dissatisfied. Even after the land is given to one household, the household will be dissatisfied and feel that they should have something better.

In order to move forward, these social officials inevitably used some means. But they can pat their chests and say that their true intentions are good.

These people felt uneasy and fled overnight.

This kind of incident greatly affected the Taishan Army's control over the counties and counties in Hebei. Some lurking Han troops broke out and colluded with powerful forces to constantly provoke and stir up unrest.

However, the political affairs hall in Yecheng had long foreseen this situation and quickly dealt with such problems in a targeted manner.

Since this cleanup is to eliminate silverfish in the team, it is natural that those who can survive the test will naturally be able to withstand the test, and these people will be put to great use.

So, a batch of rural cooperatives were dumped, and soon another batch came up. Because of its reliable stance, Yuanxianglishe was promoted to a more important position.

In this way, what seemed like a toss-up actually consolidated the Taishan Army's rule at the grassroots level.

In this way, the sun shines on the Hutuo River, and the Guizhou leaders, who have been poor for thousands of years, have their own land for the first time.

At the same time, they also had hope for life for the first time.

……

In fact, while all parts of Hebei were dividing farmland and cleaning up grassroots members, Zhang Chong from Yecheng was discussing with his subordinates how to use this slack period to start building water conservancy projects.

Zhang Chong knows better than anyone else that if the distribution is only based on the stock, no matter how it is divided or who does it, it will only be temporary. Even based on the current farmland in various parts of Hebei, even distribution cannot allow the Guizhou leaders to live a good life.

Why?

The powerful and powerful people have different thresholds for land to absorb population.

For a strong man, if three hundred people can farm the land, he will not raise three hundred and one. Because when there are more than 300 people, one more person means one more burden.

But for Qianshou, it's different. We are all a family, and as long as there is still food to eat, we will continue to support them.

It's like twenty acres of land can feed one person comfortably, but the same twenty acres of land can feed three people without starving to death.

At this time, the powerful will choose the former, but the head of Guizhou will choose the latter. Because the former pursues pleasure, while the latter only wants to live.

This different psychological expectation makes the powerful people obviously have a lot of land, but only support a small number of people.

From this point, Zhang Chong had practical reasons to eradicate the powerful people.

But after finishing the powerful fight, he encountered a new dilemma.

That is, the leaders of Guizhou who have finished allocating the land may not be able to support themselves even though they own the land because the total amount of land is too small.

Judging from the current records of each county and the number of acres cleared by Taishan military officials themselves, the number of acres in You and Ji states should be around 13 million acres. And what about the number of registered households in the two states? There are approximately 1.1 million households and a population of over 6 million people.

In other words, the average household size is no more than twelve acres. This amount of land, even if completely divided, would not be enough for a family.

Taishan Army has been operating in the north for many years and knows the agricultural situation in the north very well.

Calculating the medium-sized farmland in the north, the yield per mu is one stone. But one stone obtained is millet, and the rice yield rate of millet is 60%. Millet is harvested once a year, which means that one acre of medium-sized field in the north can produce only six bushels of rice a year.

Using the above data, even if each household in Hebei was allocated a piece of land, they would only be able to produce 72 buckets of rice that year.

Even if a grain of this rice is not given to the Taishan army, it will not be enough to eat, let alone be used as grain for the coming year.

Looking at it now, even based on the per capita ration of 400 kilograms, one household would need to eat 20 kilograms of rations a year. Plus other miscellaneous things, it would need to be doubled at least.

From an average of twelve dan per household to an average of 50 dan, this figure has more than quadrupled.

This huge food gap made it difficult for Zhang Chong to imagine what kind of life the former Guizhou leaders lived.

Another unexpected thing is that there are nearly 6 million people in Youji and Hebei states. And with the increase in the number of hidden people who are defeated and liberated, this number will become larger.

Coupled with the influx of refugees from the Central Plains, Qingzhou, and Bingzhou areas, the contradiction between man and land will become more and more serious in the future.

Therefore, Zhang Chong's top priority is to solve this food gap problem.

Zhang Chong previously remembered that the cultivated land area in Hebei in the new era could reach 90 million acres. In other words, the current upper limit of cultivated land in Hebei is 90 million acres.

Now about 17 million acres have been developed, and if Zhang Chong remembers correctly, the cultivated land area on Hebei Road during the Song Dynasty could reach 27 million acres.

Zhang Chong believed that with the help of his vigorous development of iron farm tools and continuous access to cattle resources from the grasslands, the Taishan Army could reclaim so much land.

But this number is not nearly enough.

After all, the yield of millet is too low, and it is only grown widely because it is easy to feed. To keep the Guizhou leaders full, they have to eat wheat.

Wheat can be harvested twice a year in the north. In this way, the direct output per mu can be doubled. Coupled with the reclamation of acres, the food gap can basically be completed.

But growing wheat is not that easy. It requires water.

Therefore, in order to complete the above-mentioned food gap, water conservancy projects must be built in the two states of Hebei, and this is also the responsibility of the Taishan Army.

In the past, the Han Dynasty also repaired waterways in Hebei, but most of them were managing large rivers. Even if water conservancy projects are built in the future, most of them will be built in the Gyeonggi area. This is in line with their policy of strengthening the trunk and weak branches.

Therefore, in the past, water conservancy projects in Hebei were built by powerful local families, just like the Boling Cui family. However, due to the problem of sphere of influence, this kind of water conservancy is often repaired in a short period of time and lacks overall planning, which often leads to waste.

Now, Zhang Chong has to take on this responsibility. He wants to build large-scale water conservancy projects and cultivate fertile farmland in Hebei.

Moreover, this large-scale social engineering can be used to exercise the Taishan Army's dispatching capabilities.

Therefore, after Zhang Chong and other disciples quickly discussed, they first discussed the "Order of Reclamation in the Second Year of Taiwu".

The order says:

"At the beginning of peace, Youji was settled in Youji, and wasteland was reclaimed to build villages. Unowned wasteland in all counties and counties were divided and relocated to landless households. All officials gave cattle tools to plant seeds, and they started to study in six years."

Afterwards, Zhang Chong discussed the distribution of Hebei's water network with Duman, Zhuge Gui and the main officials of the Ministry of Industry.

But this process is destined to take time. It turns out that the Han Dynasty's maps of the Hebei region have not been updated for nearly a hundred years. Now that times have changed, these maps have long been unable to guide current water conservancy development.

Therefore, officials from the Ministry of Industry have to travel all over Hebei to check the distribution of water flow in various places so that they can carry out subsequent projects.

Zhang Chong agreed with the Ministry of Industry's opinion, but said that this would not affect the Taishan Army's repair of previously abandoned water conservancy facilities. And the time can be set during the slack season this year.

But Zhuge Gui had some objections. He said that this kind of large-scale manpower mobilization is often easily exploited by careerists, so large-scale manpower dispatch is not suitable. Moreover, the country's money and food supply are not that abundant now, so it cannot support such a large-scale repair.

Zhuge Gui then suggested that repairs should be concentrated on agriculturally developed areas such as Wei County, Hanoi, and Zhao State. These areas have developed agriculture, dense water networks, and water conservancy projects built by previous dynasties, so they are relatively labor-saving. Moreover, the Taishan Army has deep roots in these places, which is being used to facilitate dispatch.

Zhang Chong greatly appreciated Zhuge Gui's maturity and prudent attitude.

As a result, things began to be implemented according to Zhuge Gui's ideas.

Soon Hebei will become a large construction site, breaking the tranquility of the past, but showing infinite vitality.

(End of chapter)

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