The autumn harvest is over.
But Zhang Wenhan, the county magistrate of Pingling County, was extremely troubled.
This damn Captain Gong, the northern border troops have entered Pingling Mountain to suppress bandits. Once this large army moves, it will require a huge amount of food and fodder.
I heard that the Ministry of Revenue allocated a lot of food and fodder to Xincheng, but Pingling County, which belongs to Yongning Prefecture, was still allocated a lot of food and fodder.
Last winter, there was heavy snow in Yongning Prefecture. Others considered it a sign of a good harvest, but in Yongning Prefecture it turned into a disaster.
Many houses collapsed and many people were displaced. Pingling County naturally launched rescue efforts, but the granary was so empty that even rats didn't come in. What could this rescue do?
It was during that time that Gong Shenchang took advantage of to recruit many displaced people.
They abandoned their broken homes and went to the deep mountains to become bandits in order to have something to eat.
This led to a sharp drop in the number of people participating in spring plowing this year, and a lot of wasteland appeared in Pingling County - these fields were already barren and had extremely low yields, and after deducting taxes, they were barely enough to feed people.
The common people were living a miserable life. Those who had some connections had all left. Even the former magistrate of Pingling County had quit his job and run away - it was untenable to be an official like this. Not to mention getting any benefits, even your very bones would be drained away in this shabby place!
Zhang Wenhan came here with high spirits and wanted to make a career, but only nine months have passed and he is already exhausted.
He was once the chief scholar of Linjiang, the elegant young man of a wealthy family, but now he has been tortured beyond recognition.
He had lost a lot of weight, and his originally rosy and fair face had now become dark and dull.
The hands that used to write poems with a pen have now become rough, like an old farmer - when the fields were left fallow, he took the lead in leading all the officials in the yamen to plant a lot of fields!
Then he deeply understood that this field was indeed difficult to cultivate. When the golden autumn harvest season came, he found that the harvest was completely disproportionate to the effort - one acre of land produced only about 100 kilograms of rice!
Less than half of Linjiang!
But the hard work they put in is greater than that of the farmers in Linjiang!
He clearly realized that it would be a joke for this poor place to turn around by relying on farming.
The imperial court has included Pingling County in the economic pilot area, but if that guy Gong Shenzhang is not dead, not to mention attracting businessmen to invest, even his own father would not be willing to come to this place.
To use the words his father wrote to him in the letter: My son, you are the only one suffering now. If your father really sets up a textile workshop in your place, I am afraid that your whole family will suffer!
Who dares to come?
Invest real money, and then wait for the Palace Master to come and ask for money from time to time?
So the economic strategies proposed by Fu Xiaoguan were not wrong, but as long as Gong Shenchang is still alive, those strategies cannot be implemented in Pingling, or even in the huge Yongning Prefecture.
"Your Excellency, the final payment of grain and fodder is in three days. This is an order from the imperial court. If you fail to pay..."
A teacher beside Zhang Wenhan whispered, looking at Zhang Wenhan's face which was so gloomy that it looked like it was about to rain, and continued:
"Your Excellency is devoted to Pingling, and we all see it. However, this place has been in this dilapidated state for thousands of years, and now it is even worse. I think that the County Magistrate of Quyi County, Yan Linqiu, and Your Excellency have a past in Shangjing. Your Excellency Yan Linqiu is the grandson of the Prime Minister Yan, and it seems that his Quyi County still has some grain reserves. How about..."
Zhang Wenhan nodded and said, "Prepare the car. I'm going to Quyi right now. I need to deal with this matter first. I hope General Peng can capture Captain Gong alive!"
The teacher went down to arrange the carriages and horses. Zhang Wenhan sat in the empty hall, thinking that General Peng was now stuck in a quagmire and the situation was extremely bad. If the bandit suppression became a protracted war...how could Pingling County afford the long-term supply of food and grass?
Even though the proportion of grain and grass collected from his Pingling County was extremely small, Pingling itself had already been in danger and still wanted to beg the court for some. How could there be any extra to support the war?
If Fu Xiaoguan were sitting in this position, how would he handle it?
Zhang Wenhan thought of Fu Xiaoguan. This guy really had the talent to save the world. The policy of promoting both commerce and agriculture that the Yu Dynasty was currently implementing was correct. It was a pity that this guy died in the Wu Dynasty. It was really that God was jealous of talented people.
In the past when I was in Shangjing, I had many grievances with him, but now it seems that they were all jokes of my youthful recklessness.
Poetry and articles do not exist.
Even the sacred learning, Zhang Wenhan no longer touched it.
I don't have the time, let alone the leisure time.
The people under his rule can't even get enough to eat, so how can they dream of writing poetry and prose? That's simply impossible.
It is already late September and the end of October, and heavy snow is about to come again.
This winter...
Zhang Wenhan walked out of the dilapidated government office and looked up at the clear blue sky. "God, please don't let it snow again this winter. Give the people a way out!"
…
…
Zhang Wenhan went to Quyi County to borrow grain, and the caravan that Fu Xiaoguan was accompanying also arrived in Pingling County.
But they did not go into the city, and were resting in a remote village.
Fu Xiaoguan was still wearing a conical hat and a mask, but almost all of the four thousand special forces soldiers knew him.
He stood by the field and looked at the village, frowning slightly.
It was already noon, but there was no smoke rising from the roofs of the dilapidated houses in the village, and there was not even the barking of dogs.
He and Bai Yulian left the caravan and walked to the village, only to find that many of the houses in the village had been abandoned.
They met an old man lying on a broken chair basking in the sun, so Fu Xiaoguan walked over and scared the old man.
"Uncle, where are the people in this village?"
The old man looked at Fu Xiaoguan and the other man. They were obviously from other places. They were dressed so elegantly and must be from a wealthy family.
"People? Most of them fled during last year's snowstorm. They went into the mountains and became bandits. They lived well, so most of them left again. There used to be over 860 people in Zhaojiatun, but now there are only about 20 left, all of them elderly..."
"What do you two do?"
Fu Xiaoguan smiled and said, "We are traveling merchants and happened to be passing by here."
"Oh, you're a businessman?" The old man shook his head, a look of sarcasm on his face. "You guys are doing a really special business. You actually dare to come here. If anyone tells the people in the mountains, none of you will survive!"
"Isn't the imperial court suppressing bandits?"
The old man laughed. "Suppress the bandits? Suppress them! Even if General Gong is really suppressed, won't General Zhao and General Li rise up?"
"Life is unbearable. These bandits are endless. If I weren't old and didn't want to leave this place, I would become a bandit too!"
"Uncle, being a bandit is illegal!" Bai Yulian said.
The old man laughed heartily. "Breaking the law? Breaking the law of what? What's more important, life or the law?"
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