The auspicious day selected by Taishi Ling is five days later. At that time, Emperor Wu of Zhou would take the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty and his sons to the fields outside the capital to plant rice.
Every year during the spring plowing period, Emperor Wu of Zhou would take his ministers and sons to the fields to plant rice. This was an activity initiated by Emperor Wu of Zhou himself to let the people know that the court attached great importance to spring plowing.
Although this was a bit pretentious, the people were naturally very moved when they saw that the emperor attached so much importance to spring plowing.
Spring plowing is related to the year's food harvest. Every year during spring plowing, farmers are very concerned about it. Now that the emperor cares so much about spring plowing, the people will naturally treat spring plowing more seriously.
In addition to this aspect, the imperial court also showed its emphasis on spring plowing in other aspects. For example, if the grain seeds of ordinary people do not produce good seedlings, they can "borrow" good seedlings from the local government office on credit. If the grain seeds at home are gone or broken, you can also borrow them on credit from the local government office. When the grain is harvested, just pay back the credit loan.
This "credit loan" was decided by the late emperor. When the Great Zhou Dynasty was first established, not to mention food, even the seeds of food were almost eaten in many places. Many grain seeds were also destroyed.
In the ten or twenty years before the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, there were either natural disasters or man-made disasters. In addition, there were wars every year, and food was very scarce. At that time, people were so hungry that they could only eat grain as seeds.
In the first year after the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the late emperor ordered the yamen in various places to report how much surplus grain was in the local granaries and how many grain seeds were there. The number reported at that time was surprisingly small.
In order to allow the common people to plant seeds, the late emperor was very forceful and asked wealthy families to donate grain seeds. Of course these people are not willing to donate. Whether the people have food to grow, whether they have food to eat, or whether they will starve to death has nothing to do with them.
The Xie family was the first to take the initiative to donate food seeds. It stands to reason that if the Xie family donated, other aristocratic families should also donate, but these aristocratic families wanted to obtain benefits from the court by donating food and seeds, so they hesitated to donate.
The court naturally ignored these aristocratic families' ideas of exchanging benefits. There is no benefit, of course the aristocratic families are not willing to donate. The late emperor directly ordered them to be arrested and imprisoned, and their families were asked to redeem themselves with grain and seeds. If you don't give grain seeds, it will remain closed.
When they were locked up, they were not given food to let them deeply experience the feeling of hunger. If no one in their family redeems their family members with grain seeds within the stipulated time limit, then they will only have one fate - death.
At first, these people thought that the late emperor was just trying to scare them and did not dare to kill them. But in the end, the late emperor really killed them, and even took them to Caishikou and killed them in front of the people all over the world.
At that time, many people were killed, and they were all heads of wealthy families.
The first emperor was courteous first and then sent troops. He was polite first and asked these aristocratic families to donate seeds. If they don't agree, then he'll have to be tough.
Before the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the late Emperor led his troops to fight in countless battles, large and small. He was a man who emerged from the mountains of corpses and the sea of blood. Furthermore, he had seen all kinds of people on the battlefield. If these powerful families wanted to play tricks on him, they had to see if he would ignore them.
The late emperor was a decisive man who killed when he was told and showed no mercy at all. When the Great Zhou Dynasty was first established, those aristocratic families saw that the late Emperor was from a grassroots background, so they thought that he was easy to manipulate and control, but in the end, they were the ones who were manipulated and punished.
Because of the donation of grain seeds, the late emperor killed many people from wealthy families, which naturally angered them. Just when they wanted to take revenge on the late emperor, the late emperor directly sent troops to suppress them.
Although these aristocratic families are very powerful and have their own tribes, their tribes cannot compare with those of the court soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles.
The late emperor sent people to kill most of the families who were unwilling to donate food and seeds. The families who were killed were afraid. They believed that if they did not obediently donate grain seeds, their homes would be confiscated and exterminated by the late emperor.
In order to avoid the disaster of annihilation, they did not hesitate any longer and donated grain seeds obediently. From then on, when the court asked them to donate things or let them do other things, they did not dare to take Qiao again.
Until now, every year, aristocratic families take the initiative to donate some good grain seeds. In fact, after Emperor Wu of Zhou ascended the throne, the imperial court and local yamen had a lot of food seeds. Emperor Wu of Zhou did not force wealthy families to donate grain seeds like the late emperor did, but these wealthy families were very obedient and took the initiative to donate.
Compared with the late emperor, the wealthy families in the capital were more afraid of Emperor Wu of Zhou.
Even though Emperor Zhou Wu always looked smiling, he changed his face whenever he was told, without giving them a chance to react. By the time they reacted, disaster was imminent.
Before the late emperor engaged in trouble, he would first pay homage and then retreat. However, Emperor Wu of Zhou was not the same. He was a soldier first and then a courtesy. The late emperor was ruthless, and Emperor Wu of Zhou was even more ruthless. The most frightening thing is that Emperor Wu of Zhou was very smart. If a wealthy family wanted to be smart in front of him, it would be like trying to do the same thing.
Unable to play tricks and tricks, and unable to defeat him hard-on, the powerful families could only behave in front of Emperor Wu of Zhou. Fortunately, Emperor Wu of Zhou did not suppress them all the time. As long as they did not go too far, Emperor Wu of Zhou would usually turn a blind eye.
Back then, when the late emperor and his son founded the Great Zhou Dynasty, the powerful families in the capital saw that they were farmers and thought they were easy to manipulate, so they decided to let them be their puppets. Even the Xie family thought so.
After they saw the methods of the late emperor and Emperor Wu of Zhou, they no longer dared to underestimate the late emperor and the others, nor did they dare to show off their power in front of them or threaten them by relying on their status as a noble family.
What made the wealthy families in the capital completely fear Emperor Zhou Wu was the year when the late empress died of illness. Emperor Zhou Wu ordered the killing of many eunuchs, maids, and concubines.
These people were all spies inserted into the palace by powerful families, but they were all pulled out at that time.
In addition to the purge in the palace, there was also a purge in the officialdom, and many officials were eliminated. These officials were either beheaded or exiled and imprisoned. These officials were all members of well-established families, or were carefully trained by them.
Emperor Wu of Zhou directly went to court in the morning and told these powerful families with a smile not to act clever in front of him, not to mention petty tricks in front of him, and not to arrange some good or bad people under his nose. When he is in a good mood, he can ignore it. However, when you are in a bad mood, don't blame him for being cruel.
That morning, many people were so frightened that their faces turned pale and their legs felt weak. When the morning court ended, many people were so frightened that they collapsed on the ground and could not stand up for a long time.
After this incident, the wealthy family did not dare to test Emperor Zhou Wu's bottom line again. Because the consequences of temptation are not something they can bear.
Over the years, the powerful families have gradually figured out where Emperor Wu of Zhou's bottom line is, so they dare not make any big things happen again.
In addition to grain seeds, the late emperor also forced wealthy families to donate land.
These aristocratic families had already occupied a lot of land. Taking advantage of the chaos in the previous dynasty, they occupied a lot of fields, leaving the people with no land to farm.
The late emperor forcefully took back many fields from them and distributed them to the common people. The late emperor and Emperor Wu of Zhou also encouraged the people to dig wasteland. The land that is opened up belongs to the developer himself and will not be taken away by the government. In addition to this, the local government will also reward the pioneers with certain things, such as grain, seeds, and three years of tax exemption. By the way, the biggest advantage is that you can settle down.
Because of the war, many refugees appeared in various places. These refugees are moving around and have no fixed place to live.
When the Great Zhou Dynasty was first established, there were not many people in the capital. In the previous dynasty, at its peak, the capital had a population of more than one million. However, at the beginning of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the capital had a population of only 200,000 to 300,000, which was only one-fifth of the population during the heyday of the previous dynasty.
In order to increase the population in various places, the late emperor formulated a policy. Refugees can settle down locally as long as they cultivate land and live there for one year.
Because of this policy, the refugees no longer moved around, but stayed in the local area and actively cultivated fields. This not only increased the local population, but also added a lot of arable land.
So far, Dazhou has cultivated 5 to 6 million hectares of arable land. When you first hear this number, you think it’s a lot, but it’s actually not much. According to the total population of Dazhou, it was not to the extent that everyone had farmland.
In fact, during the most prosperous period of the previous dynasty, more than 7 million hectares of arable land were reclaimed. However, due to wars and natural disasters, much of the cultivated land was destroyed. Most of these destroyed cultivated lands have been completely turned into useless wasteland and cannot be restored to cultivated land.
In the early days of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there were only two to three million hectares of arable land capable of growing food. After more than ten years of hard work, the cultivated land in Da Zhou tripled to five to six million hectares. In addition, the population in various places has doubled. However, it was still far from the goal that Emperor Zhou Wu wanted.
Emperor Wu of Zhou and He Xiang decided to rest and recuperate for another five years, by which time the cultivated land and population would have doubled again. This is why Prime Minister He told Shen Hu and others before that they could not attack Shu in the past five years.
The next five years will be very important for Dazhou. As long as within these five years, the population, cultivated land, and food reach the goals set by Emperor Wu of Zhou and others. Then, there is no problem in regaining Shu. Also, there is no big problem in resisting the Huns.
Having said that, of course the late emperor encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland. He himself took the lead and led Emperor Wu of Zhou and his soldiers to reclaim several acres of land.
The fields that Emperor Wu of Zhou plowed and planted every spring were cultivated by his father and his son.
Of course, Emperor Wu of Zhou also asked the prince and the king to cultivate a piece of land of their own.
Emperor Wu of Zhou stipulated that all princes who came of age must cultivate a piece of land of their own within one year. If the fields they cultivated produced more food, they would be rewarded.
The fields he and the late emperor cultivated were quite fertile and produced quite a lot of grain every year.
Whenever he had time, Emperor Wu of Zhou would come to these fields to check on the situation. If there are a lot of weeds growing in the fields, he will go to the fields to weed them himself. If there are insects, he will go to the fields to eliminate them himself. When the harvest came, he would go to the fields to cut the rice himself.
When the late emperor was still alive, he often said that they were farmers and should not forget their roots, let alone how to farm. Even if you become the emperor, you cannot forget these, because this is the root of their Zhao family. If the Zhao family loses their country in the future, they can go back and continue to work as farmers to support themselves.
Emperor Wu of Zhou often helped his family with farm work when he was a child, and he was a master at farm work from childhood to adulthood. Naturally, he also required his sons to learn to do farm work from an early age.
None of the princes, except the youngest son Zhao Yao, did farm work in the fields. The other princes do it every year, and they do pretty well. If they did not do well, Emperor Wu of Zhou would beat them unceremoniously.
The third prince and the others were almost beaten to death by Emperor Wu of Zhou because they did not work properly in the fields. Also, if they dared to complain and complain when doing farm work in the fields, Emperor Wu of Zhou would also beat them.
The emperor and the princes all farmed and worked, so naturally did the ministers do the same. Although Emperor Wu of Zhou did not force the ministers to learn from them, the ministers did not dare not learn to do it.
They are certainly not as good at farming as farmers, but they can at least know how to farm. In addition, they can deeply understand the hardship of farmers and understand that every grain of food is hard-earned.
The most down-to-earth emperor.
Today is April Fool's Day, have you ever been fooled?
(End of chapter)
