Chapter 2976 Persuasion
Nowadays, the only area where people can be migrated outwards is the Central Plains. The rest of the places, such as Jiangnan, Lingnan, the north and the west, are all sparsely populated. How can there be any population migration outwards?
But if we migrate from the Central Plains...
Censor Ning looked around. Not to mention that people feel inferior when they leave their hometown, most people in this world do not want to leave their hometown. Just think about moving from the prosperous Central Plains to a poor place. Many people cannot accept it not only psychologically but also physically.
The prince's personality is overbearing to begin with. If he were to relocate the people, who knows how many families would be separated.
It would be bad if the family was destroyed and people died.
Therefore, Censor Ning was very dissatisfied with Bai Shan's slander that the prince helped him to migrate the population through the back door.
Bai Shan could only put the matter aside for the time being and took the prince and Governor Guo to visit Dajiawa, and by the way, they also visited the nearby villages to learn about the customs and folkways of the people.
There are very few villages nearby. Xiaowa Village is the nearest one. Apart from Xiaowa Village, there are two other small villages. One village has only about ten households, and the other has only about twenty households. The rest of the land is uninhabited.
Because the three villages are close to the sea, they all make a living by fishing. They rarely grow crops, and even if they do, the harvest is very small.
A new salt field was opened in Dajiawa. Not only young men could work in the salt field, but women could too. As a result, they had a lot of extra income. Now, even if they didn’t go out to sea, their wages alone could support their families.
Of course, in order to make life easier, except for those who applied to work in the salt fields, everyone else in the family would go to sea.
Although going out to sea is dangerous, fishermen have their own experience. Generally, they will check the weather one day in advance and decide whether to go out to sea the next day.
Of course, sometimes they can't see clearly, and then it all depends on luck.
Their fishing boats are not good enough to compete with technology at sea, so they can only rely on luck.
The prince stayed for two more days and watched them go out to sea to fish in the wind and waves. Sometimes they went out to sea at dawn and came back at dusk, but they might not bring back many fish.
Since Dajiawa is some distance away from the county town, the fish that can be caught are kept in the sea water and sent to the county town or Qingzhou city for sale later.
Of course, now that the prince and his entourage are here, people who have rarely eaten sea fish can buy all the fish directly, but normally, most of the fish are eaten by their families, and the rest will be processed into salted fish and dried outside.
Every time the prince walked by, he could smell the strong odor before he got close.
This made the prince sigh, "People's lives are so difficult. There is a lot of open land here, and they could have just reclaimed it and cultivated it, but they didn't. Obviously, for the common people who farm the land, just having land is not enough. That land also needs to be able to grow food."
He reminded Bai Shan: "Don't just focus on the salt fields. This land still needs to be managed. If you can reclaim these wastelands and turn them into fertile fields, that will also be a great merit."
Bai Shan said, "...Your Highness, do you know why this flat land doesn't allow us to grow enough crops?"
The prince shook his head decisively, "I don't know."
"Because this place is near the sea," he said, "sometimes the sea is very rough, and when the tide comes in, the seawater floods in. The soil is salty, so the grain yield is very low."
The prince asked: "Does the land have salty or fresh soil?"
"Of course, the land has its own fertility, so naturally there are different levels of saltiness." Bai Shan paused and thought of something, then said, "It should be salty and sour."
The prince asked curiously, "Does wheat prefer salty soil or acidic soil?"
Bai Shan kicked the ground under his feet and said, "No matter what kind of soil it likes, it definitely doesn't like this hard sand."
Maintaining the land is much more difficult than building salt fields and ferry crossings because it takes longer. Even if there is no lack of fertility, it will take at least ten years to cultivate such land.
But this matter does need someone to start doing it. He will do it for six years first, and his successor will do it for another four years, and it will be almost done.
So after hesitating for a moment, he nodded to the Crown Prince and said, "Your Highness is right. I will do my best to nourish the soil, but this will require more manpower."
We still need people.
The prince turned and left.
Bai Shan glanced back quietly and saw that Censor Ning had not caught up with him. He was probably guarding the allocated salt field in the salt field.
Bai Shan immediately followed the prince and whispered to him, "I also know that Your Highness cannot force people to move now."
The Crown Prince, who had been caught and admonished by Censor Ning last night, looked at Bai Shan and said, "Since you already know, why bother mentioning it again? I have already promised to allocate 200 soldiers to you."
He emphasized: "Don't worry, they are all bachelors."
Bai Shan: "...Your Highness, I don't mind soldiers getting married. If they are willing to come with their families, I will not only give them land, but also money."
The prince raised an eyebrow, "Sharing the money?"
Bai Shan immediately responded, saying, "Your Highness, this is exactly what I want to say. If we can't force them, we can bribe them."
"I've been to Qizhou before. Many young men there, having lost their land after reaching adulthood, are now forced to work as temporary laborers. Many farmers, having lost their land for various reasons, are forced to become tenant farmers. If I'm willing to allocate land to them and provide them with a settlement allowance, they should be willing to come to Beihai County."
The Crown Prince: "...Didn't you and Tang He bring back a large amount of land? The new Governor Yu has divided it all up."
Bai Shan: "It's just a drop in the bucket. There are still many people who lost their land in Qizhou, and there are many places like Qizhou in the Central Plains.
The Central Plains stabilized relatively quickly. Coupled with its good land and developed economy, many people stayed in the Central Plains after peace was restored. People in the Central Plains are also particularly fertile.
There were many aristocratic families and they had even more children. They competed with each other for land, and when the permanent land was divided in the early years, they were already unable to make ends meet.
There are not many natural disasters every year, but there are always people who lose their land for various reasons. In order to avoid paying taxes, they wander around. These are refugees.
When the prince heard his hint, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes and asked, "Where do you want to start?"
Bai Shan felt that this kind of thing should start from a familiar place, so he said: "The capital, Yongzhou and Qizhou are good, especially Qizhou."
Pick the softest persimmons to squeeze.
The Crown Prince asked: "Will Governor Yu agree? Or will you make me and Governor Yu enemies?"
"Your Highness, this matter was done by me. You only need to mediate. How could I allow you to become enemies with Governor Yu?"
The Crown Prince said, "Tell me first, what are you going to give to Governor Yu in exchange?"
He snatched people from other people's territory. How could Governor Yu not hate him?
Bai Shan cleared his throat and said, "I have some friendship with Governor Yu."
The prince looked at him suspiciously.
"Okay, Your Highness, Feng Zongping will be exiled to Taibai County in Qizhou."
After all, they had been classmates for several years, so Bai Shan felt that this matter could be discussed with Feng Zongping.
The prince suddenly understood, thought for a moment, and nodded, "Alright, go ahead and do it. If Governor Yu makes a scene, I'll mediate for you."
Bai Shan was overjoyed. It was worth it that he and Manbao had listed the places and people that could be robbed last night.
See you at 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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