Yueshanbei Road, Chongzhou, Qianshan County, Xiashan Village.
Yan Xiwen and his group walked through the rugged mountains and fields. The long and rugged path seemed to have no end.
Accompanying him were ten garrison soldiers dressed as porters. They were former members of the Marine Corps, and their leader was Zhang Qishan, the current commander of the garrison.
"Qishan," Yan Xiwen said, standing on a slightly wider hillside. He lifted his sleeves and wiped the sweat off his face. "Let's all take a break here. We've been climbing for half a day and we're really tired."
Zhang Qishan grinned. They were still carrying loads of over 100 pounds. If they were to be tired, it was far from the level of training they had received from Commander He when they were in the Marine Corps.
But he knew that the only mission of his soldiers on this trip was to protect the safety of Prime Minister Yan. His current leader, Commander Huo of the garrison, had repeatedly informed them that everything must be arranged by Prime Minister Yan.
Everyone put down their burdens, took off their straw hats to fan themselves with the wind, and looked down at the cliff.
A mountain breeze blew by, and the fog between the cliffs cleared up, revealing a small village faintly located under the cliff!
Yan Xiwen pointed downwards, "That should be Xiashan Village."
"It's like running to the mountain and then dying. This road doesn't look far, but..."
He looked towards the mountainside again, but there was no end to the road in sight.
He sat down on a rock. Zhang Qishan handed him a water bag and said with a smile, "Prime Minister Yan, when it comes to poverty alleviation, I'm afraid there's not much we can do in such a harsh environment. It would be better to move them all out and find a piece of land near Qianshan County for them to settle down."
After three months of getting along, the soldiers and Yan Xiwen have become very familiar with each other.
This Prime Minister of Yan, who is second only to the emperor, seems to have some common characteristics with the emperor - he treats the people very kindly and does not have the condescending attitude of a prime minister.
But he was extremely harsh on corrupt officials. Although he had not punished any official yet, after he had verified the problems of those officials, the way he gritted his teeth was somewhat frightening.
Zhang Qishan knew that those officials were doomed, and what awaited them would surely be the Ministry of Justice sending people to take them all down.
Therefore, everyone respects such a prime minister from the bottom of their hearts and feels that this is the hope of Daxia.
With such a powerful emperor and a prime minister who can distinguish right from wrong and see through everything, Daxia will surely get better and better.
Yan Xiwen twisted the water bag and took a big sip. He then wiped his mouth with his sleeve and sighed, "Qi Shan, you said that was the only solution."
"The land inside and outside these mountains belongs to Daxia. If everyone moves outside, won't the mountains become deserted?"
"So we have to go and see for ourselves whether there is any hope of saving the villages at the foot of the mountain."
As he said this, Yan Xiwen looked around. The clouds and fog had blocked the cliffs again, and all he could see was a vast sea of clouds.
"Look, this scenery is quite beautiful."
"If it were me from more than a decade ago, I might have been inspired to write poetry upon seeing this scenery. But alas, this mountain road..."
He shook his head. "To turn this mountain road into a cement road is a huge undertaking."
Zhang Qishan also took a look and suddenly said, "Prime Minister Yan, when we were in power, General He did something."
"The Xiaye training base is also outside Guangyang Mountain, but many of our training courses require us to go into the mountains. That mountain...is not much lower than this one. In order to transport supplies and baggage, Commander He mobilized the entire army to build a road."
"He once said that the Emperor said something that I still remember: Man can conquer nature!"
"We spent a full six months in addition to training, and we managed to open a road through Guangyang Mountain, where there was no road. Although we didn't use cement, if it didn't rain, we could have used mules and horses to haul the baggage in."
"So, building this kind of road is not possible for ordinary people. We need the army!"
Yan Xiwen's eyes suddenly lit up, "Really?"
"Yes, that road is still there. It is the main passage for the Marines to enter and exit Guangyang Mountain."
Daxia has eight armies with a total of 800,000 people!
Based on the current situation in Eurasia, the emperor believes that Daxia only needs six armies to defend its borders, so the emperor is considering another military reduction, and even letting the navy recruit people from the army.
If we follow Zhang Qishan's advice and form two engineering corps by using the other two armies... or by eliminating a group of people from the eight armies... this seems like a good idea.
Daxia has a vast territory, and the terrain in each place is extremely complex.
There are many mountains and wildernesses like this. If we want to build roads, only the state can invest. However, if the people doing this work are specialized engineering teams, they may be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
"Your idea is very good. I'll keep it in mind. I'll propose it to the Emperor when I get back!"
"Let's go. It's almost noon. I guess it will be evening by the time we get to Xiashan Village."
…
…
The setting sun fell on the opposite hillside, and the light in Xiashan Village under the cliff had dimmed.
Village chief Li Erniu came out of the ravine, feeling extremely angry.
Today he went to Huangtang Town to talk to the mayor Yang Wei about the spring plowing issue, because during the autumn harvest last year, Yang Wei imposed an additional tax on each village, called the military service tax. Huangtang Town was located in a remote area, and Daxia did not recruit soldiers here, so they used taxes to pay for the soldiers!
This tax was not light, it was a 30% increase on the original tax, making food rations for more than 700 people in the six villages under the jurisdiction of Huangtang Town a problem.
Of course, no one would do this, because not only would they not have enough to eat, but they would also have no seeds for next year. How could they survive?
Are we going back to the days when we had to go hunting in the mountains and rely on luck to survive?
Li Erniu had studied in a private school for two years and could recognize some words. He once went out and finally picked up a copy of the Daxia Weekly.
He was puzzled. This unknown Daxia Weekly wrote such good things about Daxia, and the emperor's policies were also extremely good!
How to implement it in Huangtang Town is completely different.
Who is lying?
As a result, when he visited Qianshan County, he found out that this damn Daxia Weekly was talking nonsense!
The old emperor is also talking nonsense!
Because the entire Qianshan County is the same!
So what's the difference between Daxia and the original Fan State? The officials are still rich, but those who tend the crops still struggle to have a full meal.
Yang Wei once said that he would go to the county government office to ask the county magistrate for the seeds for this year's spring plowing.
But he's coming back!
The county government's granary was empty, and even the rats were too lazy to visit.
Yang Wei said that all the grain had been transported out and collected by the Chongzhou government, and would be handed over to the governor to be transferred to the national treasury because there might be another war.
What can he do?
Even if you kill Yang Wei, you can’t get the seeds back!
It seems that we have to mobilize the villagers to sharpen their hunting knives and arrow feathers, and go to the mountains to look for wild boars to survive the new year.
He had just arrived at the entrance of the village when he suddenly saw a group of people walking towards him.
The man in front looks like a Confucian scholar, and the one behind...what is he doing with a dozen porters?
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