stubborn thief

Chapter 373 Worry
Yang He was amazed by Liu Chengzong's request.

This person lives in the West Sea, and he knows sweet potatoes.

Yang He knows where there are sweet potatoes, Huangzhuang in Beizhili.

In recent decades, many officials have advocated the promotion of these two crops, but the promotion has not been smooth. Their advantages are not great, so the place where they are most planted can only be Huangzhuang.

As newly introduced crops, people's acceptance of them is far less than that of corn, which is a good thing and can be used as a substitute for wheat.

The yields of potatoes and sweet potatoes are quite high. It is not a big problem to produce two to three hundred catties per mu of land, but the yield of these two is very low. Because of the high water content, one person can eat eight taels of white noodles for a day, but eating half a catty of sweet potatoes, I'm hungry again after taking a pee, and I can't get enough to eat even if I choke myself to death.

At the same time, because the water is large, it is not easy to store, and the most critical obstacle is the social structure... The landlord does not recognize this thing.

It’s time to pay the grain. The landlord puts the official bucket in the courtyard, and the tenant pushes the cart to bring 25 shi of wheat and two live chickens. It’s very simple to satisfy the landlord’s mother-in-law. I’m so sensible, and I’ll return the land to you next year. .

People put the official bucket there, and the tenants poured 25 stones of sweet potatoes into it. Regardless of whether they will be beaten to death by the landlord, they will definitely complete the class transition from tenants to landless refugees.

A stone is a unit of volume. One official bucket can hold seventeen or eight catties of millet, and at most eleven or two catties of sweet potatoes. To Wuliang.

It is a matter for high-ranking officials to eat with nutrition. As early as the year of Longqing, there were charcoal-burning vegetable greenhouses in the goose pond in the Forbidden City, but what tenants had to consider was whether they could grow food for a year.

If you want this thing to be the staple food, it is cost-effective to dig 320 catties of rotten land for wheat and [-] catties of sweet potatoes and potatoes; it is cost-effective to harvest [-] catties of wheat for fertile land to plant [-] catties of sweet potatoes and potatoes.

The land in Huangzhuang, Chongzhen's family, could not produce [-] catties of potatoes.

Unless it is planted in the extremely fertile fields of Taihu Lake for two seasons, it is not impossible to produce one or two thousand catties, but intensive cultivation of rice over there can produce six hundred catties.

In Taiping years, the greatest value of potatoes and sweet potatoes is rest.

Planting staple food or economic crops continuously will exhaust the energy of the land. If you want the land to rest, plant beans, which can feed the land; but if you don’t want the land to rest, plant potatoes, because potatoes can’t grow the land but they don’t consume land energy. .

Of course, the advantages of these two things are also obvious. In places with extremely poor living standards, you will be hungry if you are hungry, and you will be thin after eating, but it can hang your life.

In the final analysis, the drought came too fast and too fast. It is more cost-effective to plant traditional crops in places not affected by drought and thieves. In places affected by drought and refugees, it is too late to plant anything.

Yang He made a lot of calculations in his mind. In all fairness, Liu Shizi's three requests, trade in Shaanxi, Lanzhou not repairing castles, and finding some sweet potatoes are all suggestions that are beneficial to the world.

Thinking of "Tianxia" instead of "Daming" shows that Liu Chengzong's theory of Daming pills is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Three years ago, no one believed this matter, but now, in the sixth year of Chongzhen, where the situation in Ming Dynasty was the worst, Yang He vaguely believed it.

However, this matter has little effect on Yang He. He is a man of a considerable age before it is over. Even if the court is bound to end, it will not be so soon. Have the courage to do things.

The most important enemies of the Ming Dynasty right now, the Houjin, Liu Bandits, and Dengzhou rebels are all irreconcilable. Only Liu Chengzong in the northwest, the war can be avoided. With the example of Liaodong in front of us, the Ming Dynasty really cannot fight for a long time. The decisive battle in the Northwest.

Therefore, in the letter submitted to the emperor, Yang He unreservedly stated the three demands of Liu Chengzong, and attributed the loss of five generals and the loss of Hehuang to Shaanxi's deliberate blockade of border defense under the condition of unfavorable food and salary. Make trouble, emphatically mentioning that Liu Chengzong can not be an enemy of the court, don't mess with him.

However, Yang He did not dare to mention to Chongzhen that Liu Chengzong looted 170 shi of grain from 50 or eight families near Lanzhou.

He was not afraid that Emperor Chongzhen would be impatient to learn from Liu Shizi, and also went to copy the homes of rich households.

The key is that he was afraid that Lord Chongzhen would be disappointed if he could not copy so much food. It is okay to be disappointed, but after the disappointment, the bad effects caused by the house copying will definitely regret it.

As soon as Lord Chongzhen regretted it, Yang He, who proposed this matter, had to offer an old head to help the fun.

Just don't mention it, whoever likes to mention it.

The letter ran quickly through the Great Wall, and it was sent to the capital on the eighth day of April. Chongzhen was dumbfounded when he read the letter.
Chongzhen was very angry, because the blockade of trade was not a private action by Shaanxi, and it was acquiesced by the court. What does this mean?

But on the other hand, regardless of whether Lanzhou will build the fortress or not, Liu Chengzong asked for a mutual market and two pockets of potatoes as war reparations?

Chongzhen felt that the battle had been lost like this, and it would be nothing to lose some potatoes and sweet potatoes, so he waved Cao Huachun to go to the goose gray pond to dig potatoes.

Cao Daban was so frightened that he was shaking like chaff, thinking that the emperor should not send us to Xining again, he never wanted to see Liu Chengzong for the second time in his life.

Fortunately, Chongzhen felt that the battle was very embarrassing, and he was unwilling to send any more angels. He picked up a few large boxes and sent Jin Yiwei to send them, and asked Yang He to swear an alliance with Liu Chengzong as soon as possible to reach a retreat.

Liu Chengzong didn't expect that Emperor Chongzhen, who had a very awkward personality in his heart, could be so forthright this time. He sent the things here in just nine days, and even sent several boxes.

He felt very refreshing, but Yang He lived like a year in Lanzhou City. Just two days before the potatoes were delivered, there were at least tens of thousands of people driving donkeys, mules, and carts to the southeast of Lanzhou. Under the escort, he walked towards Xigu along the foot of the south mountain in the city.

A group of generals are gnashing their teeth in the city, and 200 people dare to escort tens of thousands of livestock and convoys. How crazy is Liu Chengzong?

Yang He was counting in the city, there were thousands of vehicles, donkeys, mules, cattle and horses, nearly ten thousand, and some of the people pushing the carts were wearing banner army jackets, which made him anxious... How did he get robbed!

In fact, Liu Shizi reacted the same way as Yang He at first, where did he get robbed?
According to the plan, Xigu City, Jinxian City and many castles around Lanzhou City; Didao of Lintao Prefecture; Return the teacher as much as the number.

Where did these people come from?

The most bizarre thing is that the two hundred horsemen escorted the people to transport money and food to Xigu, turned around and ran into the mountains without even meeting him.

"Marshal, it's not ours."

Fan Sanlang asked the common people, and it was reported in the account: "I asked the people who delivered the food. Those people claimed to be the generals of the Shuaifu, but they acted masked and ransacked 22 big households in Weiyuan County. The distribution of food was all based on their will, and all of them were wiped out. Do you want to tell Lanzhou City?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head lightly, just asked: "How much food did you bring?"

"There are tens of thousands of large animals and more than [-] stones of grain..." Fan Sanlang said, "There is no money."

Liu Chengzong laughed lightly: "It's very clever, it's alright, the person who did this is in Lintao Guard, don't need to tell Lanzhou, just take it as me."

He never expected that in such a short period of time, imitation crimes would come out.

Liu Chengzong's robbery experience is so rich, the first time he heard about it, he wanted to understand the ins and outs.

The person must be in Lintao Guard, and it is very likely that he led the Banner Army to join Liu Chengzu's looting of Didao and Lintao Guard before, at least participating in the transportation operation for money and food.

Because apart from the people of Lintao Guard, it is difficult for others to gather hundreds of troops in a short period of time, and it is also difficult to break through Dahuzhuang; and if they did not participate in Liu Chengzu's looting, it would be difficult to find the key to inciting the people in such a short period of time.

After all, in this line of work, experience is still very important.

Liu Chengzong estimated that the reason for transporting the grain to Xigu was to clear the suspicion on the one hand and blame him on the other hand. Can't finish.

So most of the food and livestock were brought in, and the money and a small amount of food were left by themselves.

Liu Shizi reckoned that this person was a middle-ranking officer of Lintao Guard, and it might not be long before he would be exposed because of his extravagant spending of money. If he hadn't been exposed because of this, then he would soon know this young man from the list of promoted generals. clever ghost.

In any case, Liu Chengzong felt that the price of the hush money for [-] large animals and [-] shi of rice grain was enough for him to hush up.

Fortunately, these things are not too much and are very easy to transport. Just as the last batch of money, food and livestock crossed the Yellow River, Lanzhou City also sent a messenger, saying that Yang He was going to invite him to the middle of the battlefield to make an oath, and the potatoes and sweet potatoes sent by the emperor arrived.

"You tell Yang He that he will come to my camp again to make an oath. Also, Jin Yiwei and the officers and soldiers are not allowed to enter the camp, so tell them to wait outside."

Liu Chengzong is actually very concerned about his own safety, but sometimes he is the morale of the army on the battlefield. In order to boost morale and win, he needs to take some risks.

But under the circumstances at this time, it is impossible for an old man like Yang He to assassinate him, but if there is a Jin Yifan who doesn't want to live anymore, he takes out a flintlock pistol and kills him, there is no need to take the risk at all.

Yang He in Lanzhou City had no choice but to ask someone to carry the box to the camp, and at the gate of the camp, the sergeant of the Marshal's Mansion would bring the big wooden box in.

Liu Chengzong counted from a distance, seven lacquered wooden boxes, all six were the same, and one box looked more plain.

"Master Yang, is this the potato sweet potato sent by the emperor?"

Although no one followed, Liu Chengzong still gave Yang He a good treatment, suppressed his excitement, and first asked Yang He to sit on the chair prepared outside the tent. After all, he was old, and it was very hard after running. .

At this moment, the guards had already stepped forward to inspect the seven wooden boxes, and opened them carefully in case there were steel wheel mines tied with wires inside. When they opened it, they found that the six boxes contained sweet potatoes and potatoes with soil and leaves, and there were three boxes in each. .

Seeing that Liu Chengzong was extremely happy, he applauded and said: "It is all thanks to the old governor's efforts to make it happen at this time. In the future, those who can survive in the northwest because of these two crops should be grateful to the old governor's kindness."

These things mean that the endless rotten land in his hands has a place to use.

Liu Chengzong valued these two things, not because of how high the yield per mu was, but what he cared about was having property.

The Hehuang Valley is narrow and densely populated, with the lowest elevation and even stretches of good fields concentrated in the river valley, but the Hehuang Mountains are vast and sparsely populated, and the scattered plots are planted with horse grass and alfalfa all over the mountains and plains.

If a person can grow strong by eating hay, then he doesn't need to worry about food at all. The land suitable for growing food under his control may not be 300 million mu in Xining Prefecture, including the mountain fields that have not yet been counted. The pasture... Liu Chengzong didn't even want to talk about it.

He doesn't know that Daming's total population is in the tens of millions, but what he can be sure of is that one person per acre of pasture is definitely not enough.

In the two counties of Haixi and Haibei alone, he has more than 1000 million mu of grassland.

It’s useless for him to need so much fodder. Instead, he’s farming. Even if only half of Hehuang’s 200 million mu of mountainous land is planted with potatoes, and he can only produce one hundred catties of potatoes for one mu of land, it will still allow everyone in Hehuang to eat two more months. meal.

The extra two months of rations are divided into one year, which is equivalent to a bumper harvest.

Looking at Liu Chengzong who was dancing with joy because of several boxes of potatoes and sweet potatoes, Yang He sighed.

He asked: "Marshal, did you go to Lanzhou to grab food for the people of Hehuang?"

Liu Chengzong's eyelids twitched, and General Liu became the Generalissimo. This old man is deceitful. He suppressed his doubts, raised his finger and smiled at the soldiers in the camp: "Old Governor, look at my soldiers, which ones look like they are starving?" , why do you think I fought?"

"The people of Hehuang are starving because of my soldiers. Of course I have to feed them... Maybe they won't live well, because I have too many soldiers."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and smiled wryly, then said with firm eyes: "But I won't let people starve to death because of me."

Yang He looked at Liu Chengzong and nodded slowly. The young rebel commander in front of him seemed to really want to feed more people.

There are not many people in this world who want to support more people, but in the Northwest, if they really want to do this, and they may even succeed, Yang He only knows Liu Chengzong.

He once also wanted to feed the common people on the three sides of Shaanxi. He tried to appease, persuade the people, avoid wars, and tried everything he could do, but they all failed.

Yang He sighed quickly and lightly, raised his finger to the slightly plain wooden box, and said, "The old man knows that Liu Shuai likes to read, and that box contains books collected by King Su to teach the people how to farm."

"Ok?"

Liu Chengzong took a closer look at the wooden box, which was full of books, including Wang Zhen's agricultural books, Xu Guangqi's manuscripts, and various books, which he did not expect.

He turned to Yang He and asked, "Why did the old governor find these books for me?"

"The old man also wants to..." Yang He hesitated to speak, sighed quickly and softly again, and then said in a relaxed tone: "His Royal Highness Su said, since Liu Shuai wants to grow potatoes in Hehuang, please plant them well." Don't keep thinking about his Wangzhuang, Gansu only charges 3 shi for more than 7000 mu of land, if the land is in your hands, it will definitely charge more than him."

Liu Chengzong laughed and did not refute.

There is no way to refute that the rent of Suwang Zhuangzi is indeed not high.

At this moment, he saw a messenger waiting not far from the commander's tent, Fan Sanlang went over and took a letter and came back, Liu Chengzong left Yang He and went, and Sanlang said: "It's a letter from home."

When Liu Chengzong opened the letter, his brows frowned, and he was a messenger again.

Only this time, it was Hou Jin's envoy.

Liu Chengzong put the letter away, turned around and said to Yang He: "I appreciate the old governor and King Su sending me agricultural books, but please go back to Beijing and tell the emperor that the five towns can't defeat me, and it's not the fault of the five towns. As for political affairs, fighting with me will only cost the lives of heroes...Maybe Lanzhou will send more troops in the future, it doesn't matter."

"If the people in the world are happy and the six animals are prosperous, Liu will not worry about the people who punish the people and punish crimes. I encourage the emperor to work hard to govern, to practice more lenient and benevolent policies, and to focus on the east. He has nothing to worry about in the west."

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)