Chapter 386 Encouraging the People to Plant Cabbages
"Well, I'll have someone send a message later. It would be best if I could send a message once a day so that I can keep abreast of the news from the Imperial City."
Yuan Xiu nodded seriously. They were paying close attention to the situation not only in the imperial city but also in the Binzhou battlefield. At present, the two armies were on the verge of a war and might break out at any time. On the surface, the rebels had no chance of winning, but because of the emperor and the court's outrageous actions, they once again ignored the victims. Their morale was extremely high, and it was not impossible for them to hold off the Binzhou army and drag the battle to next year. As long as they dealt with the Western Hu people, the court's army would no longer pose any threat.
"Okay, as for the resettlement of refugees."
Speaking of this, Wei Chengyi also felt a bit of a headache. There were really too many people. They had already told him about the situation in each village before. It was indeed not a problem to continue to cram people into those villages.
"Or we can relocate them to Daping County, Dalin County, and Dafeng County."
Looking up at him, Yuan Xiu suggested in a deep voice that only these three counties could continue to accommodate people. Moreover, due to the special geographical environment, these three counties cover a vast area, almost half the size of the entire Chenzhou. Even if they accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees, it would not be a big problem. The only troublesome thing is that they may have to help the refugees build houses, and there are not so many ready-made houses to allocate to them.
"Um···"
Wei Chengyi didn't respond immediately. He lowered his eyes, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table. After a while, he said, "Okay, relocate them to Daping County, give them some food, and let them all grow vegetables, so that they can harvest something before winter comes."
"Okay, I'll contact Lao Xie right away."
Yuan Xiu spoke as he picked up the intercom. The refugee issue was giving them a real headache, and they also hated the wealthy grain merchants. Their actions were more than just a trap for them. If anything went wrong with the military and government, and the Western Barbarians invaded next year, all of Chenzhou would suffer. If they had no evidence, they would have suspected that those people were spies planted by the Western Barbarians in Chenzhou.
The next morning, Wei Chengyi took Yuan Shu and several guards to the provincial capital, ready to personally command the arrest of the four major grain merchants and the wealthy families involved in the case. Shen Xiangwan did not sleep in as usual, and got up early to go to the county town with Yuan Xiu. The areas that planted the second season of grain earlier were ready for harvest, and she also wanted the people to rush to plant a season of cabbage.
"Is it really only going to take 40 to 50 days to harvest? And can the yield per mu reach 5,000 to 10,000 kilograms?"
In the side hall of the government office, after hearing what Shen Xiangwan said, Fu Qiuhua jumped up excitedly. He knew that they had a bumper harvest of cabbage last year, but he was not sure how much. He did not expect it to be so high. Most importantly, its growth cycle is so short. After they harvested the second crop, they could plant another crop. However...
"But even if we store it in the cellar, the cabbage can only last for ten days at most. If the yield is really that high, it will flood the area and people won't be able to eat it all or sell it."
Thinking about this practical problem, Fu Qiuhua couldn't help but frown. It would be great if cabbage could be stored for a long time like potatoes and corn.
"Have you forgotten that Chinese cabbage can also be made into kimchi or spicy cabbage?"
Seeing him so worried, Shen Xiangwan smiled and shook her head. Last year, all the cabbages she and the military harvested were made into kimchi and spicy cabbage. They were still eating them until now, but there were not many left at home. The main reason was that the army consumed too much, and what they made themselves was not enough to eat. Almost all the cabbages at home were sent to the military camp.
"I haven't forgotten. Doesn't making kimchi or spicy cabbage require a lot of salt? Although Chenzhou no longer has a shortage of salt after we refined our own snowflake salt, and the price of salt is almost the same as outside, the people are used to being frugal. How could they be willing to spend so much money on making kimchi or spicy cabbage?"
Ordinary people don’t make kimchi, and they don’t even know how to make it. The main reason is that salt is too expensive and they can’t afford it.
"It's okay. I've already discussed it with Cheng Yi. We'll supply the county government with a large amount of snowflake salt, which will then be sold to the people at a low price. We'll also teach them how to make kimchi. We'll pickle all the cabbages and save them for eating slowly during the winter."
This was a temporary decision she and Wei Chengyi made last night. Not only did they have to provide high-quality seeds to the people of Chenzhou to encourage them to plant another season of cabbage, they also had to provide snowflake salt at a low price and teach them how to pickle kimchi, so as to prepare as much food as possible to survive this year's cold winter. Moreover, after the people planted, the government would also collect taxes, and they would have more food to accommodate the refugees.
"real?"
Fu Qiuhua jumped up excitedly, staring at her intently.
"Um."
Nodding, Shen Xiangwan met his expectant gaze and continued, “As long as the people are willing to grow cabbage, we will provide a large amount of snowflake salt for sale at a low price.”
They had considered distributing snowflake salt for free based on the amount of land owned by the people, but who would cherish something for free? Too much distribution could easily spoil some people, so they decided to sell it at a low price. Of course, to prevent some people from buying large quantities and then selling them elsewhere at a higher price, they would also limit the amount. This required the involvement of the government, as only they knew who had paid how much tax, how much cabbage was left, and how much salt was needed.
"Okay, I'll issue an order later for the people to start harvesting sweet potatoes and try to finish planting the cabbages before September. As for the seeds, I hope Madam can have them delivered to the government office as soon as possible. We may have to deliver them to the people one village at a time."
After getting her confirmation again, Fu Qiuhua no longer hesitated. The Second Master and his wife were so decisive, so what did he have to worry about?
"No problem, I'll have it delivered tomorrow."
Shen Xiangwan stood up as she spoke. She had a lot of things to do today. She had to go to several other counties and ask all the county governments to mobilize the people to actively plant cabbages. As for the snowflake salt, Wei Chengyi had asked Yuan Xiu to give orders before leaving, to increase production as much as possible from today. By the time the cabbages were harvested, they should be able to store enough for all the people in Chenzhou.
"Madam, take care."
Fu Qiuhua personally sent them to the outside of the yamen. Seeing that they were actually sitting in a strange iron box, his head was full of question marks. But when he saw the iron box turn around and drive away quickly, his eyes almost popped out of his head. He didn't know how long it took before he came to his senses because his lawyer came to look for him.
That day, Shen Xiangwan and Yuan Xiu ran through six counties and did not return to Yong'an Village until dark. The next day, after arranging for the guards to deliver cabbage seeds to several counties, she went out with Yuan Xiu again. It also took a whole day to run through the remaining Daping County, Dalin County and Dafeng County, and thoroughly implemented the policy of encouraging the people to grow cabbage.
[End of this chapter]
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