Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 333: Focus on the fields, rise and fall in agriculture
Whether it is the imperial capital or this mysterious island, the stories here are too far away from ordinary people.

In the same October, the autumn harvest came in the third year of Hongzhi. What ordinary people care about is the harvest in their fields and the fruits of their hard work in the second half of the year.

South Zhili, Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture.

In the second half of this year, the weather was good in the south of the Yangtze River. Xuli, which owns 1.5 acres of fertile land, had a bumper harvest, with 60 shi of grain per mu, totaling [-] shi of grain.

After deducting one-thirtieth of the regular tax and excluding various miscellaneous items, the family was left with 50 shi of grain and 40 shi of rice after shelling.

It's just that the Xu family supports a scholar who spends a lot of money, and there are nearly ten people in the family to support, so they still have to live a careful life.

"It is true that this year is a good year, but with so many mouths at home, Xu Fu has to concentrate on studying, so don't think about adding new clothes. Let's save a little food. Only when there is food at home can we not panic. Wait for Xu Fu in the future If I succeed in my studies, we will naturally be able to live a prosperous life!"

As a parent, Xu Li has his own way of life. In fact, it is mainly the ideas inherited from his father and grandfather. He gave instructions to his sons and daughter-in-law during dinner.

Although 40 shi of grain seems like a lot, in good years rice is cheap, so the amount of money exchanged may not necessarily increase.What's more, the amount of rice consumed by a family of ten is not a small amount, plus the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar need to be spent. In fact, they can live a normal life.

Due to the low productivity of this era, some mountainous areas are not suitable for growing rice. Even middle-class families are actually living a tight life.

Once they support scholars, a bottomless pit opens up in their homes.

Learning is valuable than anything else.

Many Yin families in Jiangnan are not short-sighted. They know that the only way out is to support a non-commissioned officer. Not only do they get preferential treatment from the court, but they also want to use the power of power to rise to the top.

Just like this, although their lives are ordinary, they also have the hope of rapid success.

Chief Envoy of Guangdong, Haikang County, Leizhou Prefecture.

As the entire Leizhou Peninsula was affected by typhoons, this autumn's harvest was poor.

Kang Dahai, who owns thirty acres of land, has a weather-beaten old face. He looks worried as he looks at the harvest in the drying field, chewing betel nut over and over again.

In normal years, the yield per mu is [-] jins, but this year, affected by consecutive typhoons, it was only half of previous years, with a total output of [-] jins.

Four hundred kilograms need to be deducted from the regular tax. Including various miscellaneous items from the government, the food that the family can get is 14 kilograms.

Kang Dahai spat out the betel nuts in his mouth, and his saliva turned into blood. These 14 kilograms of grain could only sustain their family's livelihood, and they would not be able to buy meat for the New Year this year.

"This year's harvest is not good, so I will eat sparingly until next spring's harvest. Use as little oil and salt as possible. When I have some savings from changing grains, I will buy a dried fish for New Year's dinner. There will be fish every year!" "

Kang Dahai also revealed his plan during dinner, and this way of sustaining livelihood has been going on for several generations.

They eat meat in good years, fish in normal years, and soil in bad years.

Due to differences in land fertility, people in Jiangnan can still think of ways to support their children in education and make a fortune, but people in remote areas are more concerned about livelihood.

As for their way out, I'm afraid they can only sneak to the sea to make a living, engage in murder and smuggling, and then get rid of this kind of life of barely filling their stomachs.

It's not that they don't want to be a scholarly family, it's just that the harvest of hard work is right in front of them. No matter how hard they work, they can only fill their stomachs. The yield of this kind of rice can't allow them to make any savings at all.

Chief Envoy of Henan Province, Fugou County, Kaifeng Prefecture.

As the management of the Yellow River continues, Zhao Laoshi's fields have been affected by flood discharges, and the crops that had just grown well were suddenly submerged in the river.

The family has been busy for half a year. Although they received tax exemption from the court, they only received one thousand kilograms of grain for the thirty acres in their name.

"The imperial court is regulating the Yellow River. As long as we survive this year, we can have enough to eat next year! Although we don't have enough to eat now, it is better than leaving home, so we all endure it and go outside more before the winter solstice. Dig wild vegetables to store food for the winter!”

Zhao Laoshi adheres to the spirit of hard work of his ancestors. Although he was weak from drinking, he still gave a speech to encourage everyone.

The soil in the area they live in is good, but it is located on the side of the Yellow River, so river problems occur frequently. Sometimes there is a good harvest, and sometimes there is no harvest.

We are now in a special period, and we can only choose to endure hardship for the present. We just hope that next spring will have a good harvest, so as to get rid of the current precarious life.

This is how we live in this era. Good or bad life depends entirely on the yield of agricultural products on the land, and the yield is almost determined by God.

It is in this golden tenth month that the entire land of China is filled with joy and sorrow.

Although literati have always exaggerated the prosperous times, the Anshi Rebellion directly exposed the lies of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Outside the Chang'an city where people were singing and dancing in peace, people died of hunger everywhere.

Xing, the people suffer!
Death, the people suffer!
……

Regardless of the period, although some people have enjoyed the prosperity brought by the peaceful and prosperous times, low productivity is destined to require more people to carry the burden forward.

It's just a pity that ordinary working people have never had a voice. History is written by literati, and even good and bad are defined by literati.

The Zhou Dynasty was obviously a slave dynasty with low productivity. However, under the vigorous exaggeration of the civil servant group, it became a benchmark for governing the country.

Miraculously, both the Zhou Dynasty of Wu Zetian and the Later Zhou Dynasty of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms appeared. It seems that the Zhou Dynasty was really an era where everyone had enough food and clothing.

To this day, even though the Ming Dynasty has fixed titles for the six ministers, the officialdom still adheres to the Zhou Dynasty titles.

The Minister of Personnel is called Tianguan or Dazai, the Minister of Industry is called Da Sikong, the Minister of Rites is called Da Zongbo, the Minister of Household Affairs is called Da Situ, the Minister of War is called Da Sima, and the Minister of Punishment is called Da Sikou.

Although it has undergone several changes, "Zhou Rites" has always occupied an important position in political thought.The subjective view is that the troubled times collapsed due to the disintegration of "Zhou Rites", while the prosperous times originated from the return of "Zhou Rites".

As for Confucius, whom they regarded as a saint, they attributed his failure to being born in troubled times, and a unified dynasty restoring "Zhou Rites" would create a prosperous age.

But now everything is quietly changing. Today's emperor does not blindly pursue Zhou rites, but focuses on the productivity of the entire society and the people's food bags.

The light of history cannot only shine on the bustling city of Chang'an, but must also focus on the ordinary people who work hard and look at their specific harvests every year.

The words are divided into two parts. The deserted island highlights the value of crop seeds.

Whether it was gold, silver or gold ore, it could never be used as a bargaining chip to stay on the island, until Li Wenyan took out the very valuable soybean seeds.

After Li Yanwen was blindfolded, he was escorted back to their camp by this group of people.

At first, the road ahead was still soft sand, but soon turned into solid soil. He even walked up a slope, and the road became more difficult to walk toward the back.But when he reached a soft place, he clearly felt that there were more people nearby, and there were still women's voices all around him. It was as if he had arrived in a kingdom of women.

At this moment, a gust of wind blew across his cheek, and the black cloth tied around his eyes fell off.

What appeared before us was a village with peach trees planted everywhere. As far as the eye could see, they were all women, and many of the women were naked.

At this moment, his brain was buzzing, and he did not expect such a scene.

Huh?
The big-assed woman noticed that Li Yanwen was looking at her, and turned around to look at this completely unfamiliar young man with confusion.

Li Yanwen was kicked hard from behind, and he immediately fell to the ground. Fortunately, the ground was soft black soil, so he was not injured.

Just this glance gave him some information.

He realized that this was a gathering place mainly for women, and judging from the age of the peach trees, they should have been living here for a long time.

Although he has read Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring", this place is full of weirdness. How did this village come into being?And why can it continue to this day?

"go in!"

Before Li Yan could realize anything, he was treated rudely again. Before he was taken to a cell, the woman behind him kicked him in and locked the door.

"What are you doing? I won't wash it!"

Just when Li Yanwen was still wondering why he didn't see his two companions, Zhao Kuo and Wang Shouren, Zhao Kuo's voice came from outside.

Li Yanwen found that the cell was surrounded by earth walls on three sides, but the bonding points of the earth walls had detached, so he could observe the situation outside through some wall holes.

Zhao Kuo and Wang Shouren received special treatment. A source of clear water was brought from nowhere, and the two of them were arranged to bathe in a pool.

"Brother Zhao, since you've come, let's be safe!" Wang Shouren is a very clean person. He was feeling uncomfortable from being soaked in sea water, and now he started to take off his clothes with great enjoyment.

Zhao Kuo was worried, so he lowered his voice and said seriously: "Could they deliberately let us two clean up, and then..."

At the end of the sentence, he made a gesture of wiping his neck.

Wang Shouren had already taken off his clothes and got into the water. He looked very calm and said: "Life and death are determined by destiny! If there is any regret, I am afraid that I will not be able to serve the imperial court in this life!"

After all these years of experience, he is no longer so obsessed with becoming a saint, but he wants to use his talents to follow the current Mingjun Hongzhi and create a prosperous age for China.

But in a twist of fate, it was obviously a meaningful overseas trip, but the three of them ended up on this desert island to avoid the traitor Cheng Si.

Now, the three of them have become prisoners of this mysterious force, and they have no idea whether they will be killed or chopped up after taking a bath.

"I must escape. That bastard Cheng Si is definitely not dead yet. I must go to the emperor in person to expose Cheng Si's crimes!" Zhao Kuo, a man who hates evil as much as he hates hatred, said immediately and hatefully.

Li Yanwen had been squatting in front of the hole in the wall and peeping. Although he could see the situation in the bath clearly, he was a bit far away, so he couldn't hear clearly what the two of them were muttering.

He also doesn't want to die here, and he still has a sacred mission to complete.

Although he knew that he would never become a royal doctor in his life, he always felt that he would make some achievements in medicine or cultivate an outstanding descendant.

As night fell, it seemed very quiet outside.

Zhao Kuo and Wang Shouren had just been put into the cell, but they were called out one after another, leaving Li Yanwen alone and freezing.

I originally thought that Wang Shouren and Zhao Kuo were called away to ask questions, but until midnight, there was still no one there.

Li Yanwen had panda eyes and angrily asked the woman who came to deliver the food in the early morning: "What did you do to my two brothers? What did you do to my two brothers?"

The woman's face turned red, she immediately dropped the food, and then fled from here without looking back.

In fact, it was not just Li Yanwen who was looking for someone. Xu Shiying, the governor of the East China Sea, also sent Huo Hai and other generals to shuttle among the islands, hoping to find the missing Wang Shouren and others.

It’s just that there are countless islands in the vast sea. How easy is it to find this place?
The city of Beijing in December was already covered in ice and snow.

The biggest calamity in the capital this year is probably the smallpox epidemic at the beginning of the year. That epidemic not only forced the closure of various buildings in the capital, but also took away some infected people.

It was only the imperial court's appropriate epidemic prevention measures that prevented the smallpox epidemic from widespread infection, and then the imperial court gradually promoted the prevention and treatment method of vaccination.

Although the epidemic recurred in May, the imperial court was always able to firmly control the situation, making the smallpox epidemic a less important memory in everyone's mind.

On the contrary, the plan to export cotton fabrics to overseas markets is progressing in an orderly manner. After a special crackdown on the financial industry, more and more elite capital has entered the textile industry, thus promoting the development of the entire industry.

Now, whether they grow cotton, become textile workers, or engage in private capital in the textile sideline industry, they can enjoy the dividends of the booming development of the textile industry.

In fact, the development of the capital is not limited to the textile industry. Since a large number of ordinary people have received dividends, it has invisibly promoted the consumer market in the capital.

Not to mention the large number of young female textile workers purchasing cosmetics, like Zhao Laosi who spent years of savings renovating his house, which is also invisibly stimulating the consumer market in the capital.

Now that we are facing the upcoming Spring Festival, everyone's pockets have become fuller. Even frugal people want to have a lively Spring Festival.

For the people of China, as long as you are alone, you can be casual, but if you can make your wife and children happy, you will not be overly stingy.

"Luxury house for sale at [-]% discount!"

“Prime location, [-]% off sale sincerely!”

“Adjacent to the school, [-]% off tearful sale!”

……

As if history was repeating itself, another wave of house sales suddenly appeared in the capital. However, this time they were not informed in advance that the court was about to introduce new measures, but that the annual financial meeting was about to be held.

(End of this chapter)