Chapter 177 Switching to Cash Crops
"Lord Guo has a heart that loves the people, which is admirable," Meng Qing said. "From the perspective of ordinary people, I agree with your idea more. They can't even get enough to eat, yet they are asked to contribute to the ten-year plan and the hundred-year plan. This is exploitation and tyranny."
"Second Sister-in-law!" Du Min was so angry she wanted to slam her fist on the table. "Are you implying that I intend to exploit the people through tyranny?"
“I’ve farmed before, so let me make a statement. For farmers, nothing is more important than the harvest from the land. Without land, they can’t get enough to eat, and a single illness can force them to sell their children,” Du Li said.
"But focusing only on the present and not looking to the future will only worsen the situation in Wen County, which will suffer from disasters every year. Without thoroughly resolving the issues of Yellow River siltation and course diversion, the disasters in Wen County will only intensify. Magistrate Guo's plan to convert the old Yellow River channel into farmland for displaced farmers does indeed preserve the livelihoods of some people, but it also means sacrificing the livelihoods of others. How many irrigation canals did the old Yellow River channel supply? How much fertile soil did it nourish? Without irrigation, can the fields along the river survive a drought? Not only will the harvests on both banks be lost, but the crops planted along the old Yellow River channel will also wither and die." Du Min was furious. "Magistrate Guo, tell me, if next year is another drought like this year, how are you going to solve the irrigation problem? If next year is a flood year, with the old Yellow River channel flooded and the wheat drowning, and the bean stalks rotting, how are you going to protect the farmers' harvests then?"
Meng Qing looked at Magistrate Guo, awaiting his reply.
Magistrate Guo couldn't answer that question; he couldn't solve it.
“Following your method, these disaster-stricken people will starve to death sooner or later, and they will eventually sell their children and become homeless and landless refugees,” Du Min asserted.
Magistrate Guo's expression shifted several times. He held back, but finally couldn't help but retort, "Chief Clerk Du isn't much better than me. Wen County has suffered from severe disasters for years, and most of the people in the county have no surplus food. They exhaust all their energy in the fields, and after paying the grain tax, their annual harvest is barely enough to make ends meet. They are unable to bear the heavy corvée labor. Chief Clerk Du, if you conscript laborers to dig canals, you'll kill them! You ask me how to solve the people's livelihood problem, and I'll be honest, I can't. What about you? If the laborers die from exhaustion while performing corvée labor, how will you silence the gossip? How will the people who have lost their land solve their livelihood problems?"
“Alright, you two have pointed out the flaws hidden in your respective plans. Now all we need to do is come up with a solution.” Meng Qing said, “Don’t get agitated. I’ll settle this dispute for you. Whoever has the solution has the right to execute those responsible for the old course of the Yellow River.”
Du Min and Magistrate Guo exchanged a glance.
"Shall we have a contest?" Meng Qing asked. "Magistrate Guo, let me ask you first: if Chief Secretary Du can come up with a solution, will you be willing to obey his orders wholeheartedly?"
Magistrate Guo pondered for a moment and said, "I have only one condition: the lives of the people of Wen County cannot be used to fill the canals."
"Du Changshi, is there a problem?" Meng Qing asked.
“No,” Du Min replied. “However, I do not adopt the suggestion of a contest. Magistrate Guo loves the people like his own children, and my position is the same as his. We are both for the livelihood of the people. He understands the situation in Wen County better, and I need his help to advise me on the decisions I make.”
Meng Qing secretly gave him a thumbs up.
Magistrate Guo breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his teacup to Du Min and said, "Please forgive my rudeness and offense, Chief Secretary."
Wang Zhou hurriedly picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea into Du Min's teacup.
Du Min picked up his teacup, tilted it slightly, and drank it all in one gulp. He said, "Lord Guo should have spoken up your thoughts long ago. You've been hiding your intentions and have been paying lip service to me, which has resulted in me coming to Wen County for almost half a month without making any progress."
Magistrate Guo smiled apologetically.
"I have two purposes for converting the old course of the Yellow River into an irrigation canal. First, it's for building river embankments. After the Yellow River changes course, the water flows along the ground, and siltation is inevitable. In two or three years, it will form a new suspended river. We can't dredge it now, so we can only build embankments on both banks. The soil excavated from the old Yellow River course can be transported there to reinforce the embankments," Du Min said calmly. "The second purpose, as I mentioned before, is to protect the farmland on both banks. It's perfect for growing two crops on one plot of land: wheat in summer and rice in autumn, increasing the harvest. As for the people who have lost their land, the newly built embankments will be distributed to them, and they will be exempt from taxes for three to five years, which will alleviate some of the pressure."
"It's taking too long," said Magistrate Guo. "This project will really exhaust a lot of people."
Du Min remained silent. He had only recently arrived in Huai Prefecture and lacked influence to mobilize the merchants and gentry of the entire prefecture to donate money. If he had the funds, he could employ laborers to dig the canal, providing the farmers with wages, good food and drink, and reducing the chances of them dying from overwork. If he were to ask the imperial court for money, the first hurdle would be the prefect of Huai Prefecture. Even if he did manage to get the funds for the canal repairs, half of it would be lost after passing through Prefect Xu's hands.
"Let me think about it some more. Let's have dinner and not discuss official business anymore." Du Min planned to consult his second sister-in-law before making a decision.
Magistrate Guo should be the one.
After the meal, Magistrate Guo took his leave. As soon as he stepped out, Du Min immediately asked, "Second Sister-in-law, now that you understand the situation, what are your thoughts?"
“The problem of the people having no land is easy to solve; just relocate them.” Meng Qing slowly unfolded her plan.
"Move away? Where to?" Du Min asked in astonishment.
"You came to Wen County about two weeks ago? Meng Chun should have left before you. Did you go to look for him after you came to Wen County?" Meng Qing asked. "Do you know where he went?"
Du Min shook his head. "I thought he was with you in Heqing County. Yes, where's Meng Chun? Didn't he come with you?"
"He went back to Wuxian to do business and make money."
Du Min looked thoughtful. "Is the migration related to the beginning of spring?"
“When I went to the palace to meet the Empress before, she asked me for my opinion on the water conservancy in Huai Prefecture. I proposed a solution: if Huai Prefecture suffers a severe disaster and the fields cannot be saved, the lives of the people should be saved first. Relocating the northern people to the south is a good solution.” Meng Qing moistened her index finger with water and drew two circles on the table, then connected them with a line. “The south has fewer people and more land. Take Dujiawan for example. Families with two generations of adult men have at least two hundred mu of land. A clan with over a hundred people owns a thousand mu of land. People your age and your second brother's age have elderly parents and young children. The elderly can no longer work, and the young are not yet useful, which leads to a lot of land being left uncultivated. Relocating some people there would be perfect. These people can rent and cultivate the uncultivated land, thus solving their livelihood problem, and the landowners can also collect rent.”
“Another advantage is that northerners love wheat-based foods. They bring their wheat cultivation techniques to the south to grow wheat, and once the wheat has a market, a wheat-growing trend will emerge in the south,” Du Li continued. “I grew rice in Heqing County the year before last and again last year, but few people followed suit. I think the biggest problem is the lack of a market. The local people don’t eat it themselves, and grain merchants don’t buy much rice, which is why farmers are unwilling to grow it. You might think that diverting water to grow rice along the old course of the Yellow River is not feasible. The local people might prefer to grow purslane and radishes in the fields after the winter wheat harvest, unless you can find grain merchants willing to come and buy rice.”
Du Min fell silent.
A thought suddenly flashed through Meng Qing's mind, and she began to ponder it.
"Second sister-in-law, what is the female saint's attitude towards the migration of northern people to the south?" Du Min asked. "Let's not talk about rice cultivation for now, let's talk about this first."
"The female sage said nothing, neither objecting nor approving, only that she entrusted the water conservancy of Huaizhou to you and me," Meng Qing said. "I've thought it over. If there really is a day when the disaster is severe, it's feasible to protect the people rather than the land. So I sent Meng Chun back to Wu County. He can take advantage of the paper-making funerary objects trend and make a fortune in the next two or three years. If there really is a day when the northern people migrate south, he can donate money to build houses and buy land, thus contributing to the resettlement of disaster victims."
Du Min understood. "You want to take a gamble and use this to get him removed from the merchant register?"
Meng Qing nodded, "I'll need your help then."
“The idea is good, but it’s difficult to implement.” Du Min said with a heavy expression. “It would be feasible to relocate only a few hundred or even a thousand households, but that’s too small a scale. Meng Chun would hardly be able to use this to get rid of his merchant status. If we relocate several thousand or even tens of thousands of households, it could solve the problem of uneven distribution of land and population in Huai Prefecture, but the governor would not agree. If the number of households decreases by tens of thousands, Huai Prefecture will be downgraded from an upper prefecture to a middle prefecture, and the governor’s rank will also be lowered. Correspondingly, the taxes and corvée labor of the entire Huai Prefecture will be affected by the relocation.”
Meng Qing gasped, "I've never considered this question!"
Du Min smiled and said, "But it's not impossible. If the disaster gets out of control, the court will still favor the northerners over the northerners. At that time, I will bypass Governor Xu and submit a petition directly to the court."
"Will you be affected?" Mencius' mother couldn't help but ask. "If the disaster in Huai Prefecture gets out of control, will you be punished by the imperial court?"
Du Min nodded, "There's nothing I can do. Neither the Yellow River nor Heaven listens to me. I can only accept my bad luck."
“The migration of northerners to the south might allow you to atone for your sins. You might not be able to keep your land, but you could save the lives of the people,” Du Li said.
Du Min remained silent. He pondered for a while and realized that the southward migration of northern people was the best way to ensure the safety of the people and protect their wealth. He had been in Huaizhou for more than four months and had traveled to all five counties of Huaizhou. He could not solve the problem of the Yellow River siltation. All he could do was follow behind and clean up the mess, and gradually improve the situation. It would probably take decades to see any improvement.
“Let’s wait for the right time and place.” Du Min made his choice. “As long as there is prolonged rainfall in the upper reaches of the Yellow River or in Huaizhou, Wenxian, Wuzhixian and Henanxian will definitely be flooded. At that time, I will submit a petition to relocate people.”
"Do we still need to dig up the old course of the Yellow River? Do we still need to build dikes?" Wang Zhou asked.
“Of course we have to.” Du Min tapped Wang Zhou’s head with his finger. “Even if ten thousand households are relocated from Huai Prefecture, there will still be more than thirty thousand households left. These people will still have to make a living on this land. If we let the Yellow River wreak havoc in Huai Prefecture, the people will all become refugees, and the officials of Huai Prefecture will all go to the execution ground. Alas! In the end, we still have to clean up the mess caused by the Yellow River changing its course. Money! Money! Where will the money come from?”
"Third brother, are there many families in Wen County who grow hemp?" Meng Qing asked.
“Almost every household grows it, not only hemp but also rattan. The biggest customer for hemp and rattan is the Meng family paper mill,” Du Min replied.
“I have a way to save the crops on both sides of the old course of the Yellow River. Aren’t you worried that the lack of irrigation will turn the fertile fields on both sides into inferior land and cause a complete crop failure in drought years?” Meng Qing said, “Hemp is not afraid of drought, is it? Why not switch to growing hemp? I will contact merchants to come and buy it for you.”
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Author's Note: There will be another update at 12 o'clock.
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