The residents of Fenyin and Pishi are still old residents of the old Wei Dynasty. After living under the rule of Qin for half a century, they had long lost contact with Wei. Zhang Lu found that farming here was developing very well, with acres of land facing each other, and cattle and iron tools could often be seen.
Zhang Lu greatly praised the magistrates of these two counties and said: "Encouraging farmers to work on their fields, and their industry prospering the people, how can they succeed in their achievements!"
Pi Shiling's words made Zhang Lu seem to understand something: "When I first arrived, I followed Qin's orders, but they couldn't succeed. But I realized that the winds are different in ten miles, and the customs are different in hundreds of miles. The skills in Guanzhong cannot be used in Fen."
Zhang Lu said: "I see that in the governance of Anyi, it is difficult for farmers to prosper. It is not because of incompetence in the courts, nor because of the cunning of the people. There must be differences in their skills. Can they be managed?"
Pi's order said: "Anyi is different from Pi's. Pi's people are quite old people, and their skills are still there. But if they follow the people's will and slightly change the Qin law, their business will flourish. Anyi is the land of Wei. It will return to Wei. In the Qin Dynasty, all the Wei people came out, and their skills did not survive. Now the people in this area have all left the pass, and their skills are all Wei. They are definitely different from Fen, and they may still be difficult to connect with Anyi. They will surely gain the people of Wei Anyi. If you know your old skills, practice them and teach them, and give them instructions, your career will flourish."
Zhang Lu pondered for half a minute, then cupped his hands and said, "I should remember Pi Ling's teachings. I will definitely be rewarded."
Zhang Lu hurriedly ended his inspection in Anyi and returned to Xianyang. Without having time to rest, he visited the princes one by one and reported what he saw in Anyi. He especially mentioned that the lagging agricultural development in Anyi might affect the road construction project in Anyi.
The King of Qin brought Zhang Lu's words to the court for discussion. Zhang Lu suggested that the nine counties in Hedong be established as Hedong County, which should be governed by Jin law. After several days of debate, the King of Qin decided: "Yes!" He ordered the guest minister Zhang Lu to be the governor of Hedong, Pi Shiling's official Duke Pi Wan to be the captain of Hedong, and the newly promoted official Zheng Anping to be the prime minister of Hedong, and Hedong County was established.
Before Zhang Lu took office, he issued an edict: "Those who are good at planting in Anyi will be given land and a title. Those who are good at farming and mulberry farming will be rewarded for their merits." He invited them to Xianyang Palace. The person carved it on the wooden board, filled it with vermilion, and made nine pieces. After receiving the Festival Talisman, take all your family members with you to take office.
Zheng Anping's quota of five personal guards was also approved. In this way, after Wu Wang leaves, Zheng Anping's land can be temporarily cultivated by these five people; they usually live in Zheng Anping's house. ——Of course, they must first complete legal education in the countryside. The reason why these five people are willing to come to Xianyang is that they have no family in their hometown, they are wanderers, they have broken the law and become prisoners, so they have no family members to welcome them.
Although they hurried and hurried slowly, it was still time to start plowing when they set off. The family went straight down from the Wei River to Puban and went to the county to urgently summon officials and announced the establishment of Hedong County. At the same time, they issued an order to recruit talents. Ask Pu Ban to send a post and send an order to Pi Shiling to take office immediately. The county captain will act as Pi Shiling's post.
Zhang Lu asked Pu County to put the mobilizable forces into spring plowing first, and immediately rushed to the next county Yishi before Pi's order arrived. Yi's order was appointed as the county magistrate with military merit. He enforced the law very strictly, and the people of the city were tied up and beaten almost every day. Even though the Yi clan was so martial, the Yi clan only had a hundred soldiers, and they could only maintain local security and beat a dozen villagers.
After Zhang Lu conveyed King Qin's edict to establish Hedong County and issued the order to seek talents, he immediately rushed to the next county: Jie County next to Yanchi. If Puban and Yishi are still engaged in agriculture even though they are not doing well in agriculture, then there are almost no farmers in Jie County. People here are basically drying, packaging, and transporting salt. This is the most populous county among all counties.
Jie Ling reluctantly explained to Zhang Lu that despite his best efforts, no one was farming. Zhang Lu conveyed the edict establishing Hedong County. It was also announced that counties in Anyi could temporarily implement the old Wei law. Jie County used to make a living by selling salt, so he can continue. Jie Ling was relieved and thanked him profusely. Zhang Lu asked Jie Ling to erect the recruitment order. Jie Ling did not hesitate to send people to copy ten of them and set them up next to major salt fields and roads.
Finally arrived in Anyi. The Anyi Ling, like the Pi Shi Ling, was also a public official and had a higher title than other county magistrates. Correspondingly, he was also under great pressure: the previous Anyi orders were rated as "inferior" and were demoted. Hearing that a county was set up in Hedong, and that the county guard was the guest Qing Zhang Lu, Anyi Ling was both happy and sad: the happy thing is that when the evaluation function is delegated to the county guard, his evaluation grade should not be bad; the sad thing is that he may There is no chance to return to Xianyang. When he heard Zhang Lu's policy strategy, which was to recruit the original Wei people to return and let them assist in the production arrangements of Anyi, he felt angry and felt that he had underestimated the Qin people. However, seeing Anyi declining day by day, he seemed to have no good solution, so he had to just obey the order and talk about it later. He also made ten copies of the recruitment order and erected them on various important roads.
Quwo is the real front line. Qu Woling tried his best to maintain a force of 500 people, hoping to defend the city, but he had almost no extra energy to develop production. Zhang Lu also only conveyed the decree of King Qin to establish Hedong County and issued the order to recruit talents. Qu Wo Ling also let the tree be erected at the intersection.
Returning to Jie County, Zhang Lu asked Jie Ling to find a group of salt merchants going south and lead the way to Wucheng. This precipitous mountain road is rugged and difficult to navigate. The salt merchants either use oxen or mules and horses to carry bags of salt to traverse this dangerous road with difficulty. When they arrived at Wucheng on the other side of the mountain, Zhang Lu still only conveyed the edict establishing Hedong County and issued a recruitment order. Then he turned west and arrived at Weicheng.
Weicheng is the place where Bi Gongwan, the ancestor of the Wei family, was granted the title. It is also the hometown of Zhang Lu. All Zhang Lu's relatives are here. However, because he had become anonymous, Zhang Lu did not dare to visit him at home. He still just announced the decree and issued the recruitment order as a routine. Then go west and return to Puban through the Grand Canyon. In this way, Zhang Lu traveled throughout eight counties in Hedong except Fenyin, covering thousands of miles and taking about a month.
Back at Puban, Pi Shiling had already arrived. Instead of chasing Zhang Lu, he brought some farmers from Pishi and went to various villages to teach planting techniques. It turns out that in addition to growing millet, millet and millet can also be grown here. The latter two were unknown to the people of Qin. The planting season of millet can be later than that of millet. In this way, the same farmer can interplant three different crops.
Another group of people taught people to fish in the lake. Although there are fish in the Wei River, Qin people hardly know how to fish. The completion of net-making, net-casting, and fishing requires repeated practice.
There are also people who teach herding. Herding cattle, sheep, chickens, and pigs are very popular industries in the Central Plains. Due to the professional division of labor, the Qin people basically have these skills in the hands of professionals, concentrated in the government. Most of these people who go to Anyi are prisoners. Most people on the fringes of society basically don’t know how to do it.
Pi Wan, who had been promoted to Hedong Lieutenant, asked Pu Ling to organize all the Qin people who could still be organized and arrange their work according to their positions in Shiwu Township.
Since most of the labor force was attracted to sell salt, and only a thousand people remained in the countryside, Pu Ling had to organize women and children and arrange appropriate production for them. ——Actually, some women and children are more capable than those men!
When Zhang Lu arrived at Puban, Pi Wan had already gone to the next county, Yishi. Zhang Lu was surprised to find the changes in Puban: If Puban was lifeless a month ago, it can be said to be thriving now! It already has three major industries: agriculture, animal husbandry and fishing.
Zhang Lu was very happy to let Pu Ling accompany him on a tour of various villages. He asked Pu Ling to focus on the area around Zhang Yangze and, if possible, try to arrange farmland and villages in this direction. Then, he asked Pu Ling to recommend several people to him as officials. Pu Ling said: "There are few people who can write well in Puban. I have an official who is good at writing, and I would like to recommend him!"
Zhang Lu said: "Pu Ling gave me this gift, and I am deeply grateful."
After staying in Puban for two days, I talked with Pu officials and found that they were quite familiar with documents, so I ordered them to be in charge of documents. The group set off towards Yishi. In Yishi, Zhang Lu finally met Pi Wan. Pi Wan still relied on the farmers he brought with him and went to the countryside to teach various agricultural techniques. There is no lake here, so fishing skills are useless, but dates can be grown on the idle land on the hillside. The Yi family used strong methods to promote the skills taught by Pi Wan and others. Zhang Lu and others felt funny in their hearts as they watched him blow up every day and frighten the villagers. Although Yi's order was famous, he always took the lead in everything. He was always the first to learn whatever Pi Wan taught, and he had a strong learning ability. This also made Zhang Lu secretly amazed.
Wuwang was particularly emotional and was eager to try farming several times. Others didn't learn, so he took the initiative to help. It's a pity that he has a Wei accent, which many Qin people don't understand. Pi Wan naturally knew that Zhang Lu was a guest from Wei, and most of his disciples were from Wei; but the Yi family did not know this, and thought they were Wei people invited back by Zhang Lu.
Yi's order's simple and crude method was extremely efficient. It only took Yi's less than twenty days to complete the transformation, implement agriculture, and arrange a year's work. Zhang Lu also asked Yi's order to recommend a subordinate to him, and Yi's order recommended a warrior to him.
The situation in Jie County is the most complicated. Pi Wan summoned the owners of large salt farms who knew the county well and announced to them the tax collection method. The salt farm owner naturally disagrees. Pi Wan said: "Since the Shang Dynasty, Qin has focused on the benefits of mountains and marshes. Salt is also the benefit of mountains and marshes. Therefore, those who have not mastered the benefits of mountains and marshes cannot bear to compete with each other. Now I will share it with you." After some hard and soft tactics, including coaxing and intimidation, the salt farm owners finally agreed to a 50% tax rate. In exchange, Pi Wan agreed that the salt merchant's money would not need to be withdrawn from the treasury, but would be converted into commodities needed by the government at market prices, and the salt merchant would handle it on his behalf.
In addition to recommending a subordinate official according to the order, Zhang Lu also specifically asked the salt merchants to recommend a subordinate official.
When we arrived in Anyi, it was already early summer, and the millet harvest in Anyi had begun. It's just that because of improper planting, it didn't grow strong.
The group stayed at Guanyi in Anyi. Pi Wan continued to teach planting techniques suitable for Anyi. Anyi is the center of gravity of the entire region, with the largest number of Qin people immigrating and the best conduct. Under Pi Wan's teaching, he quickly mastered new technologies.
