Chapter 3212 National Policy
"Sir, sir, someone is coming from the capital."
The Luojiang County Magistrate stood up and asked happily, "Where is it? Please come in. Is it an official document or an imperial edict?"
"It's someone from the Ministry of Revenue, accompanied by officials from the Mianzhou Governor's Office. They said they're here to purchase and arrange for new rice seeds..."
The magistrate froze, "Huh?"
Qili Village planted a lot of new rice seeds, and the Zhou family planted the most. As soon as Zhou Lizhong was summoned to the capital, the county magistrate sent people to the village to tell them that the new rice must be kept and no one was allowed to sell it at will.
During this period, he had been asking people to contact the people of Qili Village, hoping to buy new rice to use as seeds, but because he offered a low price, he didn't buy much.
He could forbid Qili Village from selling the new rice, but he could not force them to buy it. In the past, the villagers of Qili Village might have been panicked and dared not refuse to sell.
But now they are not very afraid.
First, the villagers were not short of money. Over the years, they had made a lot of money by following the Zhou family in planting ginger, yam, Ligustrum lucidum and other medicinal herbs.
The second reason is that they have Zhou Man as their backer.
Zhou Man's official position is much higher than that of the county magistrate, so they are not afraid of the county magistrate. If he forbids them to sell the goods outside, then they will just replace him.
Exchange some new rice for friends and relatives, one pound for five or six pounds, and then sell the exchanged rice.
If it doesn’t work, I can hand it over to Mr. Bai.
The county magistrate has no control over Mr. Bai. I heard that Mr. Bai has already selected new rice seeds to sell, and the price is more than twice that of ordinary rice seeds, making him very profitable.
Officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Mianzhou Provincial Governor's Office went to Qili Village together to purchase new rice seeds.
The new rice from the Zhou family is purchased at the normal price, while the prices from other villagers can be negotiated by them.
However, with Mr. Bai here, the court would not treat Mr. Bai too badly when purchasing new rice seeds from him, and Mr. Bai would not take too much advantage of his relative, so things went relatively smoothly.
The rice seeds were sent to the Mianzhou warehouse, and then the calculation of the rice seeds needed to be distributed to each county began...
Although the magistrate of Luojiang County could participate in this matter, he did not have much say. He regretted it to death when he returned to the county government office.
"I should have agreed when Zhou Lizhong first proposed sowing new rice seeds."
The legal advisor and the county magistrate were also filled with regret. "County Magistrate, we can only wait and see. After all, the first batch of new rice seeds were planted in Qili Village. The farmers there must have kept a lot of new rice seeds. Next year, our county will definitely plant more new rice seeds than other counties. This will also be a political achievement."
The county magistrate could only comfort himself in this way.
In comparison, things are going more smoothly in Qingzhou.
Because the new rice seeds were basically planted in Beihai County, and most of them were government fields, Governor Guo came forward in person. Bai Shan only left a batch of rice seeds for next year, and sold the rest to the Governor's Mansion at market price.
The provincial governor's office then distributed it to the counties.
By the time these things were done, winter had already arrived in Qingzhou. Zhou Man wrapped himself in a cloak, and little Bai Jingxing was dressed like a ball. He sat on the couch surrounded by a circle and played with colorful wooden blocks. He used the blocks to build something that no one could understand.
Bai Ruoyu was sitting on the other side, and he kept stacking the blocks. When they reached a certain height, the blocks fell down with a clatter. He was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at Bai Jingxing.
She leaned forward and swept her little hand, knocking down the wooden blocks that Bai Jingxing had put up.
This was not the first time, so Bai Jingxing turned around without hesitation, clenched his fist and beat him.
Bai Ruoyu screamed and the two children rolled over together. Bai Jingxing pinned Bai Ruoyu down and beat her.
The servants quickly picked up the two and separated them, and Bai Ruoyu burst into tears.
Mingda, who was standing by, calmly wiped his tears and said to him, "You can't beat her every time, so why do you always provoke her?"
Zhou Man also said to Bai Jingxing, "Don't do it. You are still young and can't control your strength. It hurts if you hit someone."
Bai Erlang brought in a plate of grapes. Seeing that his son was crying again, he sat aside as if it was nothing unusual. He peeled a grape, picked out the seeds and stuffed it into his mouth. Bai Ruoyu stopped crying instantly.
Zhou Man was curious: "Where do the grapes come from at this time?"
"It was sent from the capital," Bai Erlang said. "They said it was tribute from the Western Regions. It's been kept in ice and was delivered yesterday along with the winter solstice gifts."
Zhou Man: "Isn't it still a long way to the winter solstice?"
Bai Erlang nodded and said, "Yes, I think they just want to find an excuse to send us something. They should send us some more around the winter solstice."
He paused and looked at Zhou Man, "Your Majesty sent a letter asking when we will return to the capital."
Zhou Man looked back innocently, "Why are you looking at me? Go back if you want."
Bai Erlang scratched his head and said, "I can go anywhere, but we're worried that it will be difficult to get out again after we go back. Besides, the child is still young. Will it be too cold on the road?"
This means that I don’t want to go back yet.
Zhou Man looked back and forth between the two of them, and said thoughtfully, "So you mean to let me?"
Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly, "You can also write a letter to His Majesty and send it back together with our letter."
"Okay," Zhou Man said, "It's a good opportunity for you to experience Qingzhou's New Year's gift."
Zhou Man went to write a letter to the emperor.
When the emperor received these two letters, even though his daughter and son-in-law had sent him a generous winter solstice gift, he was still so angry that his beard stood up.
"Mingda has no intention of coming back since she left. She used to be so well behaved. It must be Bai Er who has corrupted her."
The Queen was much more fair and said, "I don't think it's the Prince Consort who doesn't want to come back, but it's Mingda's idea. Her ideas are much more righteous than the Prince Consort's."
The emperor curled his lips, muttered a few words and stopped talking. Forget it, it is better to follow his daughter's wishes than to follow the wishes of the prince consort, right?
Mingda was the only princess of the Jin Dynasty who lived as freely as she did.
It was because of this recklessness that the emperor did not think of giving Bai Er another official position. If he had become an official, Mingda would not have been so reckless.
However, although Bai Er did not hold any office, his name could often be seen in the memorials sent from Beihai County, and he basically had a share in all the achievements there.
The court officials also knew that the current Beihai County salt fields, docks, official fields, and even the Salt Transport Bureau that had just been established in Beihai County were all due to the contributions of Bai Cheng and Yin Huo.
Neither Bai Shan's memorial nor Governor Guo's memorial concealed this point.
When they come back from Beihai County in the future, if there is a reward based on merit, they will also have a share, even if they are not in office.
The 22nd year of Dazhen was destined to be a year with a strong mark in history. In this year, penicillin was introduced, two new rice varieties were introduced, the salt administration of the imperial court was reformed, the Salt Transport Bureau was established, the Imperial Medical Bureau was reformed, and two pharmacies that would later be of great significance were established.
The Jin Dynasty lost a capable minister...
In the following years, the imperial court and local government offices, in addition to their daily affairs, firmly implemented the national policies formulated that year.
I'm having a serious writer's block, so I'll only update one chapter today. I'll make up for the two I owe tomorrow. Good night.
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(End of this chapter)
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