Xinshun 1730

Chapter 163 Speculative Grain Planting

Wendeng Zhouzhou Mu Baiyunhang's eyes were red, and his mouth was covered with blisters.

As soon as he saw Liu Yu, he immediately offered a big gift.

Seeing that there were no other people around, just a common confidant, Kang Bushao, directly handed over a heavy brocade bag in his hand.

"Master Liu, here is a hundred taels of gold. It's not a bribe to the lord, it's just an expression of gratitude to the lord."

Liu Yu weighed the gold, thinking that a hundred taels of gold is really a bit short, human favors are priceless, why do you need this hundred taels of gold?
Throwing the gold back to Bai Yunhang casually, he said with a smile: "I don't eat invitations, and I don't accept gifts, as I said before. And I also said that this little gold is too little, if it is a hundred times more, I must Just take it."

"Hehehe...Your Excellency was joking."

After an embarrassed smile, Liu Yu said: "I understand this matter. For you, Mr. Bai, you can protect your future. For me, I want next year's grain, and I will collect [-] catties per mu of land. The goods will be sent to someone It’s not too much for each village to collect it, right?”

"It's not too much, it's not too much! If it's really possible to live the people of a state, the adults will personally send people to collect them. There will be no additional assignments, and no subordinates will charge more. I think everyone will be happy to charge an extra fifteen catties per mu."

This speaks the truth.

As soon as the disaster year came this year, Liu Yu went to see Bai Yunhang and talked about disaster relief.

There are too many places that Liu Yu can't control, but he doesn't want Wendeng to mess up, and Wendeng will still need to provide food, clothing, housing and transportation here in the future.

In the future, Weihai will gather 3 to [-] people, some of whom will eat imperial food, and the other will run some shipyards, arsenals, etc. Wendeng must ensure that these people can feed.

At that time, he told Bai Yunhang three things.

First thing, cattle.

When the famine comes, the cattle die first.

When people are hungry, they must survive first.Everyone knows that if there is no cattle in the next year, it will be a hundred times harder to farm, and a cow will cost more than ten taels of silver.

So Liu Yu directly borrowed [-] shi of grain from Bai Yunhang, and at the price of seven shi of grain for a cow temporarily, he first took over the cattle that had no grain at home but had a farm cow in three or five households, and took them as official possessions.

The invoice is issued as a proof, and the original owner will be asked to redeem the cattle after the disaster year has passed.The wear and tear during this period is of course borne by the original owner.

The food fed in it was taken from Chang Ping's warehouse, or Bai Yunhang recruited people to do labor to cut the wheat grass.Liu Yu doesn't care.

He also told Bai Yunhang clearly that if the entire Jiaodong area was affected by the disaster, only Wendeng Prefecture could handle it well. Not only did he not flee the famine on a large scale, but he also kept hundreds of cattle, so could this state's pastoralism last for a long time?

I'm afraid I will be in Beijing for a few years as a Beijing official.

The second thing is that the Changping warehouse can only be managed to the prefectures and counties, but not to the villages.Regardless of whether people in the village can buy cheap food, who can travel dozens of miles to the city to buy food for the day?how to eat?What about the elderly and children at home?
So Liu Yu paid a sum of money and food, and Bai Yunhang recruited some people who had run out of food and were going to flee the famine to beg for food, and then recruited a group of laborers to transport the food.

As long as you dare to bet, before the imperial court's order to open warehouses for relief, the [-] shi of grain in Changping warehouse and the [-] shi of grain lent by Liu Yu will be distributed to several counties and large villages under the rule of Wendeng Prefecture.

It doesn’t matter whether this amount of grain will be increased in the future, or the imperial court will be begged to sell the number of "supervised students". If there is a catastrophe, the imperial court will issue policies.

The prefectures and counties may not be chaotic, but the villages must be chaotic first. Before each household runs out of food, the food must be transported to and scattered in various counties and villages.

Ensure that large-scale fleeing from famine and starvation will not occur.

The normal food cut-off starts in May, because the wheat is harvested in May. If there was no large-scale fleeing before the wheat harvest, then as long as everyone’s emotions are stabilized and people really see the food, there will be no problem before May.

If the weather improves in the second half of the year, it needs to be supported until September.

If the weather hasn't improved in September, then it's useless to say anything, Liu Yu can't save him, just wait to escape famine and eat with others, and then just report it, the previous investment is considered in vain.

In Wendeng Prefecture, there are basically 37 to 40 people in need of relief, calculated according to [-].

Liu Yu's loan, together with the Changping warehouse, righteous warehouse, and donations from wealthy households, can squeeze out a total of 50 to [-] shi, which averages out to each person, [-] catties of grain.

After three months, in July and August, if the imperial court's brains are not so slow, they should be able to provide relief as soon as the summer grain in the south is harvested.

Half a catty of grain per person per day is definitely not enough to eat, but if you mix it with wild vegetables and leaves, you won’t starve to death too much—the premise is that it starts to rain in the second half of the year, otherwise there will be no leaves.

The third thing is disaster relief food.

Arranging disaster relief preparations in various places in advance will allow most people to ensure that the seeds of summer grain are left behind.

It’s okay if it rains after the wheat harvest in May, but if it doesn’t rain, you have to think about it.

Since Bai Yunhang was a county magistrate in Fujian, he should have seen sweet potatoes.This thing does not need to think too much about solar terms, the most important thing is that sweet potato leaves can also be eaten, unlike wheat that must be ripe to eat, as long as it is swollen, it can be eaten, and at least it will not starve to death if there is something to eat.

In addition to sweet potatoes, carrots, and mung beans are all used for disaster relief.

Although the yield of potatoes is large, it is not suitable for replanting, and the stems of potatoes are not as edible as the stems of sweet potatoes. The key to the disaster resistance of sweet potatoes is the leaves of sweet potatoes, which can at least ensure that they will not die of starvation.

Let Bai Yunhang recruit a group of people to learn sweet potato planting techniques and prepare for popularization.

Liu Yu was in charge of transporting a batch of sweet potatoes, carrot seeds, and mung beans to the south.

Once the solar term of summer planting is missed, the people should be organized to plant these disaster-relief crops.

If these three points are done well, Bai Yunhang will outshine the surrounding states and counties.

The imperial court is not blind, and such capable officials will naturally use it.Moreover, Bai Yunhang was trying to figure out Shangyi's teaching plans in Fujian, no matter what his real intentions were, there must be people in the court who supported him.

After these three points were finished, Bai Yunhang was also very grateful, and his sober mind allowed him to ask Liu Yu carefully what he wanted.

Liu Yu's request was also very simple.

Next year, [-] catties of grain will be expropriated per mu of land, and seven catties of summer grain and eight catties of autumn grain will be given in return.

He will send troops to various villages to collect them, but this matter must be clearly explained to the people in advance to confirm that the people agree.

However, it cannot be said to be harvested, but to say that the people thanked them and volunteered to donate military rations.

Wendeng Prefecture has 300 million mu of land, so it can receive more than [-] shi of grain.

Especially after the catastrophe, the imperial court will inevitably save it for at least one to two years. If the weather turns better, there will be no middlemen to make the difference, and fifteen catties of grain per mu of land will not be much.

In this way, at least for a few years, there is no need to worry about the food problem of those who do not eat imperial food.

The recruited disaster victims only need to be fed with food within three years.

Three years later, after the gratitude period, when it's time to give silver incentives, the value created should be enough to pay their silver salary.

It rained a few days ago, and it seems that the weather is not so dry.

Bai Yunhang couldn't wait to find Liu Yu, and asked Liu Yu if he had obtained sweet potatoes, mung beans, and carrot seeds.

He has collected some by himself, but the quantity is far from enough to spread across the state.

Now scholars from various counties have been summoned by him and asked to learn how to grow sweet potatoes. There is also an introduction to planting sweet potatoes in the "Agricultural Administration Complete Book".

It's just because Jiaodong experienced wars in the late Ming Dynasty, the population dropped sharply, and the conflict between people and land was greatly eased, and not many sweet potatoes were grown.

There are more in the south, and more in Fujian, but it takes a slow process to spread to the north.

Bai Yunhang is not the kind of person who is dedicated to serving the people. He even laughs at the words of the sage in his heart. It is just a gamble to cater to Shangyi, so he made a teaching plan in Fujian.

Now hearing that there is an opportunity to stand out from the crowd and be promoted from the state shepherd to the capital official, how can I still sleep?

Really try our best and serve the people wholeheartedly: Corruption is going to be done, but it takes time.At this time, it is natural to do our best to provide disaster relief, especially when there has been a large-scale fleeing of famine in Lin County, and my side can basically maintain stability.

It is only the last few months. As long as sweet potatoes, mung beans, and carrots can be widely promoted, the famine will be saved, and the chance of promotion will be at hand.

How can we not rush?
In fact, Liu Yu was also anxious.

The boat that went south has not returned yet. After finishing the Japanese trade this year, the boat was sent to the south to buy sweet potatoes and seeds.

This is related to whether the grain equivalent to [-] shi invested in Wendeng Prefecture can be increased by three or five times next year.

It is also related to whether this human investment of oneself can flourish in the future.

After secretly observing these days, Bai Yunhang is capable, and he really dared to do it.

At least Bai Yunhang dared to bet.

According to the usual practice, disasters are not divided into scores, and relief cannot be violated.

The court's response has always been slow.

As for asking for relief in violation of the regulations, it is not without reason: if the local officials have too much autonomy, they will "relieve disasters" almost every year, using the name of disaster relief to enrich themselves.

Moreover, the food in the Changping warehouse can only be cheap, once the relief goes out, you will not be able to get it back in the future...or if the imperial court asks you to use the Changping warehouse for relief, but you run out of food, that is a big deal.

However, Bai Yunhang dared to release the Changping warehouse at the end of April and spread it to surrounding counties and towns to stabilize the people's hearts and let the people see the food.

In May, it was confirmed that there was no harvest of summer wheat, and immediately organized people to cook porridge, with a fixed amount every day, trying to last until September.

Before May, he had set up a donation bureau, led by local Gongsheng and Jiansheng.

Advise and implore gentry, merchants and wealthy households to understand righteousness, be kind and charitable, actively donate, or help money, or help rice and noodles.

Of course, it's not very useful.

If the disaster is serious, the imperial court will definitely show mercy and allow food donations in exchange for the qualifications of supervisors.

If you donate again at that time, you will be famous and gain real benefits, and you will be qualified as a supervisor.

Donate now, isn't that a fool?
It can't be said that everyone is like this. The donation bureau finally raised 400 taels of silver and 120 shi of grain, which is better than nothing.

Then the Cattle Bureau was established. According to what Liu Yu said, cattle were collected to prevent them from being killed for meat, and it was also convenient for the cattle to be used for farming once the weather improved.

Children's Hall, Salesian Hall, and Burial Bureau, no matter whether they are useful or not, at least the institutions should be established first.

I also selected local scholars, supervisors, and tribute students to host, begged my grandpa to sue my grandma, paid some money myself, and Liu Yu bought some children himself, and finally made it look like that.

Originally, the matter in Fujian, even though there was an element of speculation in mind, Liu Yu still thought that this was a "Confucian paladin" or a "Confucian heresy referee".

However, now it seems that he is a competent official, and he is not such a rigid person, who has revealed intentionally or unintentionally in several exchanges.

Obviously, speculation was the main driving force in Fujian.

In any case, what is happening in Wendeng Prefecture is not just about Bai Yunhang's future, nor is it just about Liu Yu's harvest next year. The two are temporarily tied together because of their interests.

Bai Yunhang's mouth was full of froth, and Liu Yu was also impatiently looking forward to the good news brought by the southern fleet.

With such a big event, there are many uses for the fleet.

Ships are needed to transport people to Vladivostok.

Shipping goods to Japan to earn money, "sending charcoal in the snow" in exchange for trade letters, and surviving the most difficult year with the most unbalanced income and expenditure and the largest expenditure, ships are still needed.

If the trade route to Japan is broken this year...or if no more Nagasaki trade cards are licked this year, Liu Yu can disband the navy and recruited craftsmen, and just toss the new army with tens of thousands of people. .

(End of this chapter)