Chapter 138 Hong Fei Yu Tian
This fire...
It’s enough to ignite people as well.
Wei Ji was extremely fortunate at this moment that he had already made up his mind on his position long before. After Qiao Yan ordered Lu Yuan to come and persuade him, saying "I admire your wisdom, but I deeply understand your hidden flaws. You must know that the opportunity cannot be missed", he thought deeply and did not miss the choice of welcoming the noble family to the throne and wait for the army to quell the rebellion.
He was sure that he did not make such a rash decision because he should be counted as a young man and because the Hedong Wei family lacked the most critical springboard and was restricted to Anyi.
Rather, it was because he clearly saw the hope she had woven at a time when the world was in chaos.
This is by no means a flower without roots.
To facilitate the relocation of the people from Luoyang who crossed the Yellow River, Qiao Yan dispatched carts and horse-drawn carriages from Bingzhou to provide supplies to those who still had some surplus wealth. At the same time, he set up more than a dozen temporary post stations on the road from the bridge on the north bank of the Yellow River to Hedong and then to Taiyuan County.
You have to know that the migration of people, especially the relocation of families, is much slower even compared to a large-scale march. It will take at least several days.
It was summer now, and although Qiao Yan was thankful that it was not yet the harvest time, he could still put the Bingzhou army into farming in time after returning to the state, and it was not impossible to hire Bingzhou people to assist in the relocation. However, he was also worried about the high risk of heatstroke in this climate.
Fortunately, after entering Hedong from Chenguanxing, most of the roads we traveled were close to the Fen River, making it convenient to get water along the way and the roads were mostly smooth, which greatly reduced the consumption during the migration along the way.
The floating bridge over the river will last at least two months.
Once this first group of people who moved to Bingzhou have settled down, she will probably have a chance to absorb another wave. And then she will have to digest these two groups of people completely within Bingzhou before she can expand enrollment.
But at that time, she was not limited to Bingzhou...
With this careful thought in mind, Qiao Yan rode his horse back to the provincial capital, checking all the resting places and related signs along the way.
Cai Zhaoji obviously understood the meaning of the letter she sent back to Bingzhou.
In order to ensure that the people's physical strength was distributed reasonably along the way and that they could understand the signals conveyed by Bingzhou, Zhao Ji led children of similar age in Leping Academy to complete the production of these road signs.
These road signs make people smile when they see them while walking on the road.
The childlike brushstrokes, painted on the wooden supports, did not delay these road signs from successfully conveying the signals they were supposed to convey to pedestrians.
Ren Hongchang followed Ma Lun, so she naturally did not need to walk into Bingzhou. She sat in this simple open carriage and could see the passing sign very clearly.
The one closest to them had a kettle and a berth painted on it, with a shed on top, and a mark on the right indicating a distance of one mile.
Seeing that she had been looking at the sign for a long time, Maren asked, "Do you think this is different from other places?"
Perhaps it was because Qiao Yan, the governor of Bingzhou, showed his welcome to the people who came to surrender in these details, these people, who should have been worried about leaving their homes, had more longing on their faces, which also made Ma Lun unconsciously relax a little.
Ren Hongchang shook his head, "No, it's not just that."
She looked towards the mountains in the distance. The green mountains flanking the Fen River were so dark and green that they looked blurry in the sunlight. At first glance, they didn’t seem much different from other mountains, but—
"Teacher, you don't know that I'm originally from Bingzhou."
Since Ma Lun decided to accompany Qiao Yan to Bingzhou, she naturally could no longer address him as the Grand Historian. She asked Ren Hongchang to just call her teacher.
She replied: "Your accent doesn't sound like you're from Bingzhou."
"My father left for the capital to take up his post when I was less than four years old. Later, he was convicted and my sister and I were confiscated and sent to the palace. My sister died early, and I was left alone in the palace." Ren Hongchang tried to straighten his face when he said this. "Let's not talk about these sad things. Let's talk about Bingzhou."
While they were talking, they passed another sign with a picture of a steaming pancake on it. They didn't know whether the sign was meant to cheer people up and hurry on with the thought of having a hot meal early, or whether the picture made them hungry.
The nostalgic feeling that Ren Hongchang had just felt was diluted by the sign. She continued, "My impression of Bingzhou doesn't seem to be like this."
When she left Bingzhou, Tan Shihuai was building his kingdom on Danhan Mountain.
As the leader of the Xianbei, Tan Shihuai divided his jurisdiction into three parts. Bingzhou belonged to the area from Shanggu County to Dunhuang County, known as the western part. They would come to plunder every year. Even in Taiyuan County, there was a rather unstable atmosphere.
But at this moment, when she looked around, she saw the carriage drivers passing by on the road between the two mountains. They did not seem to have been interrupted in their original plans and had to come here to help. They also looked more respectable and had more plump complexions than the residents who had moved from the capital Luoyang.
The driver who was driving the carriage for them heard her words and said, "You will be even more surprised when you get to the front."
This originates from the Fen River at the foot of Guancen Mountain in Ningwu, which flows from north to south. When they entered Bingzhou, they headed towards the source.
The scene before our eyes seemed to be heading towards the source of the people's confidence.
Even without the coachman's words, Ren Hongchang realized that the road towards Jinyang seemed to be much smoother than ordinary roads, at least it had undergone some filling and repair.
This is not strange in other places, but it is somewhat strange in Bingzhou, a place where this happens so frequently.
This is what she thought and asked.
"You mean this? We didn't build this." The driver replied, "The year before last... was it the year before last? When the Lord of the Mansion hadn't become the Lord of the Mansion yet, we captured all the bandits hiding in the Taihang Mountains and proposed a rule of exorcising the death of the Hu people with their heads. However, during these three expeditions to the border, some of them still failed to win any military merits. The Lord of the Mansion probably realized that they really weren't cut out for fighting."
"In the winter when there was no war, we had the extra soldiers involved in the construction of roads in the state. This year, we only let those who were not suitable for fighting exchange food for the distance they built. The road we built was the one from the state capital to Hedong."
"Those of us who don't leave Bingzhou often don't feel anything, but it is much more convenient for merchants to travel to Bingzhou in April and May."
Qiao Yan had thought about this.
First build the roads that connect the inside, and then build the roads that connect the outside. Now that Bingzhou's military strength is sufficient to protect itself, it does have the capital to use traveling merchants to promote itself to the outside world.
Chu Yan was also appointed as the gatekeeper to guard the important entrances and exits of Bingzhou, thus guarding against malicious bandits.
What's more, she didn't try to fix anything inappropriate like cement roads, but just asked people to make some repairs to the potholes. There was limited waste of manpower, but it also facilitated the relocation of Luoyang residents.
It sounds simple to be a coachman, but Ren Hongchang, who still has some impression of the situation in Bingzhou in its early years, feels that this is by no means an easy task.
Tan Shihuai's invasion was like opening an opening to the chaos. In such a dilapidated place, the poor will only get poorer and the rich will get richer. Most of the bandits who came under the name of survival would not rob the rich to help the poor, but would strike in the places where it would be easiest to plunder.
But now, these people seem to have become laborers in Bingzhou.
When the carriage went forward for some distance and entered an open area with fields visible in front, she realized more and more what the driver meant by "even more surprised".
She had been in the palace for many years and had not been out for a long time. From the northern suburbs of Luoyang, she had gone out of Mang Mountain and crossed the Yellow River, and could not see the fields of Luoyang. However, she had heard some rumors about the poor harvests in recent years.
Before entering Taiyuan County, they passed through Hedong and saw many farmlands within the territory of Sili.
Hedong is a rich land, and it is also irrigated by the Fen River, but still...
It was still far from comparing to what she saw before her eyes!
"This is the field division method." Ma Lun was knowledgeable and immediately determined that the field she saw in front of her was planted using the furrow digging and spot sowing method.
It was recorded in Si Sheng's book.
But you have to know that the district field system consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, especially the need to apply heavy fertilizers in the districts. At best, it can be promoted on a small scale in the high-standard fields of powerful landlords, and it is difficult to implement it on a large scale.
During the period when Ma Lun was in charge of the Yuan family's finances, he inspected the land under their name, but only a small amount of land could be used for this purpose.
But the scene of gradual harvest was right in front of her, as if it had been successfully promoted, which made her shocked.
Judging from the driver's behavior, this is probably not a unique phenomenon here, so the subtext is very interesting.
First of all, Bingzhou either made some changes in agricultural tools to ensure that deep plowing and sowing as well as the inter-row cultivation and weeding steps could be successfully implemented.
Secondly, we must teach the people of Bingzhou about this method of sowing and cultivating in a way that they can accurately accept.
Finally, we have to find some new ways to improve fertility. We can't just pile up more manure to create the current scene.
This doesn't seem to be a change caused by quantity.
Sure enough, she heard the news she wanted to know from the driver.
"This is the merit of the Lord and Qin Gongseng. They drew the standard of deep digging in the form of a pattern on Lepinghou paper and posted it in each county. They also took out the curved plow and iron harrow during the farming season. The Lord also ordered the new fertilizer for the fields to be made and distributed everywhere."
"Do you know how much the yield per mu in Bingzhou was last year?"
The driver's somewhat smug tone made Ma Lun smile knowingly.
In their performance, they did not regard those people who came from Luoyang as superior people from big cities. Instead, they listed all the things that could be said about Bingzhou, which was enough to prove the success of Qiao Yan, the governor of Bingzhou.
She did not interrupt the other party's eagerness to show off, but showed an attitude of listening, and listened to the driver saying: "Compared to Baidaochuan managed by Qiao Hou, it is still less, only a little more than five stones per mu."
"Cough..." Ren Hongchang choked and coughed when he heard it.
What on earth is a mere five stones?
Is this how these two words are used?
Ma Lun patted her on the back, still smiling warmly at the driver, and pointed to the surrounding fields with his other hand, "I see that your crops are growing well this year, I'm afraid they will be more than five stones."
"You have good vision," the driver praised her. "This year, we followed the advice of the Lord and buried bone meal in some fields as base fertilizer before sowing. With last year's experience, we are more familiar with these farming methods, and we can always get a yield of six stones per mu."
"Your Excellency has not imposed additional taxes. This year, because the late emperor passed away, the land tax previously issued by the late emperor has been exempted. People like us can live a better life."
Although it seems wrong to show any gloating over the emperor's death.
But this decree to exempt the land tax could spread from Leping to the entire Bingzhou, which made people feel that the national mourning was actually a happy event.
"My eldest son fought in the army of the governor. While guarding Yanmen, he was lucky enough to shoot and kill a few Hu people. In addition to his military salary, he also brought back 70 dan of grain. This is real income. With the increase in production from the fields, in another year or two, if I tighten my belt, maybe I can even let my second son learn a few more words and pass the entrance examination of Leping Academy." The driver calculated the income and his face showed a bit of longing.
The more Ren Hongchang listened, the more she felt that this was definitely not the Bingzhou in her memory!
That Qiao Hou is really amazing!
She had a feeling of admiration for him, so she went to rest at the post station ahead. Just as Qiao Yan came in with his personal guards, she looked at him with a sharp gaze.
This overly direct look made it impossible for Qiao Yan to ignore it.
As soon as she raised her eyes, she met Ren Hongchang's overly handsome face.
Because she no longer had to maintain a submissive demeanor and had wiped off the yellow powder on her face, she looked even more outstanding.
Qiao Yan took the opportunity to ask her name. When he heard that she was once a court lady of the palace, a subtle smile appeared in his eyes.
"What does the word Hongchang mean?" she asked.
Ren Hongchang replied hesitantly: "It means prosperity."
"Then how about I change your name?" Qiao Yan asked again with interest.
Ren Hongchang could be considered to have defected to Bingzhou at this time. Just as Cheng Yu's name change was actually a reward from his lord, her proposal to change Ren Hongchang's name at this time was by no means an offense, but a sign of her respect for her.
Seeing the other party nod in agreement, Qiao Yan reached out to the servant for paper and pen, wrote a word on it, and handed it to Ren Hongchang.
She took the paper and saw a word written on it -
"Hong".
Ren Hong?
"Isn't this name too masculine?" Ren Hongchang asked in a low voice.
Qiao Yan smiled and asked her back: "Hongyu does not fly low, between heaven and earth, who says this word can only be given to men?"
She looked at the assistants brought to Bingzhou by Ma Lun, and the hope in her eyes was not difficult to recognize.
Even if Ren Hongchang's sudden gaze hadn't caught her attention, she would have come over and walked around a few more times.
It takes much less time to train these girls who have some literacy and arithmetic skills to become successful than it does to train them from childhood until they grow up.
This is indeed the most valuable treasure she brought back from this trip to Luoyang!
The emotion in her gaze was clearly conveyed to the eyes of the person she was looking at, causing her heart to be moved.
When she moved around the Han Palace in the past and performed the role of Diao Chan, she was just a synonym for an official title, rather than a person who was highly expected by others even with her name. However, the various lively things she saw along the way in Bingzhou made her see a ray of light in this exemplary order.
And this name change gave her a new beginning.
Ren Hong held the Leping Marquis paper with the word "Hong" written on it in his hand and nodded heavily, "I will change this name!"
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