On the third day of October, autumn planting has been completed for more than half a month. With the support of Yang Peng's disaster relief grain, almost all autumn planting work in Shandong Province has been completed. After having enough food, the farmers worked smoothly. Yang Peng was riding a horse on a field path and saw green wheat seedlings growing in the wheat fields on both sides.
After walking for an hour, Jing Yishan pointed forward and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, our prince is in the Crucian Carp Valley in front of us. There is still one mile to go." Yang Peng nodded and continued to ride forward. When more than a dozen personal guards heard that their destination was approaching, they galloped forward to see if there was any danger on the Crucian Carp Ditch.
Yang Peng asked casually: "Jing Yishan, how much dry land can be irrigated after the Prince's Pit is repaired?" Jing Yishan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will explain it to you in detail when we get to the Crucian Carp Ditch."
Yang Peng was inexplicably hit by Jing Yishan and was speechless. These days, when Yang Peng lets other people speak, who doesn't talk respectfully and reveal everything he knows? This Jing Yishan is really good, he doesn't bother to talk about it in person until he is there. Yang Peng looked at Zheng Hui and thought to himself that Jing Yishan was too arrogant.
Zheng Hui was a little anxious when he saw Yang Peng looking at him. He looked at Jing Yishan hurriedly, his eyes widening as if urging Jing Yishan to speak quickly, but Jing Yishan was riding his horse leisurely, not even looking at Zheng Hui. A few drops of cold sweat broke out on Zheng Hui's head, but there was nothing he could do about Jing Yishan. He said, "Your Majesty, Jing Yishan will explain it in detail when we get to Crucian Carp Valley."
Yang Peng frowned and secretly thought that Jing Yishan relied on his talent and Fang Kuang, but he couldn't be reused. In order to obtain a satisfactory water conservancy project, Zheng Hui could endure the unruliness of his subordinates and really devoted himself wholeheartedly to the construction of Hsinchu. Yang Peng thought about it for a while, and his evaluation of Zheng Hui was even higher.
When he arrived at Crucian Carp Valley, Yang Peng walked to a small mound and saw tens of thousands of people digging and carrying loads and filling in the channel of a small river. The busy farmers had enough to eat and worked very hard, and the scene was in full swing.
Jing Yishan jumped off the horse, took out a few drawings from under the saddle, opened one of them in front of Yang Peng, and said: "Look, Your Majesty, we are going to build a hundred and one on the river course of this small river, Crucian Carp Ditch, and in nearby low-lying areas." The 13-foot concrete embankment, with the highest point of the embankment being 2-3 feet high, blocks the river and stores water, turning the low-lying land behind the Crucian Carp Ditch into a large reservoir that is higher than the surrounding dry land."
"The bank walls on both sides of the embankment inside and outside are made of long strips of stone that are interspersed and stacked in layers. The middle of the embankment is filled with clay, and a layer of cement is filled on top. The top surface is paved with stone slabs to form a 'Picheng'. There is one every two feet. The embankment pier is three feet long and two feet wide, with long strips of stone inserted into the ground for two feet. The embankment built in this way is durable, not afraid of water and fire, and is the strongest."
"There are ten sluice gates on the dam. In case of drought, the gates are closed to store water, and in case of floods, the gates are opened to release water to keep the water level in the reservoir at a high level."
Yang Peng asked: "How long will this dam last?" Jing Yishan said proudly: "There is a sand sluice on the dam. Even if the sediment accumulates, the sand sluice can be opened to flush away the sand. It needs to be redone every five years. Sluice. If the entire dam is properly maintained, it will last fifty years without any problems. If you repair it, it will last even a hundred and fifty years."
Yang Peng nodded and said nothing. Jing Yishan took a picture of the drawing and said: "Master Guo, answer your question. After the construction of Prince Pai, the water level of the reservoir will be raised. Seventeen irrigation inlets will be opened from the east and west sides to irrigate the nearby wasteland, and Tian 2 can be used One hundred and seventeen thousand acres.”
Being able to open up 270,000 acres of new farmland is indeed a big project worth flaunting. Yang Peng seemed to understand why Jing Yishan was so arrogant. He smiled and said, "Jing Yishan, do a good job. If the project is completed well, I will reward you with two hundred taels of silver!"
Jing Yishan smiled and said: "Your Majesty is more generous than General Zheng. I commanded a large dam that irrigated 500,000 acres of farmland in Hsinchu, and General Zheng only rewarded me with one hundred taels of silver." After thinking about it, Jing Yishan He said: "My mother-in-law likes to make satin clothes and buy rouge. She comes to me for money every three days. If the Duke of Guo really rewards me with these two hundred taels of silver, I will not be short of money to spend! It is really money to save money."
Yang Peng heard Jing Yishan's words and laughed dryly, secretly thinking that Jing Yishan really didn't have any humility as a subordinate in his words. Yang Peng said: "Jing Yishan, do your best, and I will reward you with so much money that you can marry a little wife!"
Zheng Hui laughed loudly when he heard this. Yang Peng looked at Zheng Hui, stopped talking to Jing Yishan, and just rode his horse towards the working people below the hillock. The common people were stunned when they saw Yang Peng's royal guard of honor moved to the construction site. Looking at the golden melons and golden staffs, they all felt that this must be a high official. The common people stopped what they were doing and knelt on the construction site, not daring to look up at Yang Peng.
Yang Peng waved his hand and motioned for the people to get up. Yang Peng's personal guards shouted loudly in the crowd, calling out all the people kneeling on the ground. Yang Peng walked up to a woman in her thirties and asked, "Woman, is it hard for you to work here?"
The woman raised her head and said, "Master, it's a hungry year now. Prince Yan gave us sweet potatoes to save our lives. We can't thank you enough. Now Prince Yan even gives us rice and noodles so that we can eat twice a day." , how can we not work hard? We must be conscientious. If it were not for Prince Yan, Shandong would have been in chaos. Maybe the bandits had already come in. My two daughters and one son are still young, and they will definitely survive. No. Prince Yan gave my three children sweet potatoes to eat. Not to mention asking us to build water conservancy projects, he even asked us to open mountains and fill the sea."
After the woman finished speaking, she looked at her husband beside her, as if asking her husband if what he said was right. Her husband was a little nervous in front of Yang Peng and nodded cautiously. The woman received her husband's approval and smiled happily. But in front of Yang Peng, a high official, she did not dare to be presumptuous and quickly covered her smiling face with her hands.
Yang Peng looked at the woman's husband. Seeing Yang Peng looking at him, the man said solemnly: "My lord, there are floods in the Crucian Carp Valley every now and then, which is a hazard to us. Now Prince Yan is building a dam to control the water. From now on, there will be no floods in the Crucian Carp Valley. All the people in the township will benefit. Everyone is doing this work vigorously!"
Yang Peng nodded, then looked at a thin young man next to him, and asked: "What about you, do you feel tired from doing this work?" When the young man heard Yang Peng's question, he knelt on the ground with a plop and shouted loudly. Said: "Master, I don't feel tired at all! The officials sent by Prince Yan said that the poorest tenant farmers like me can rent the fields irrigated by the government in the future. My wife and I can share the land." Rent 40 acres. King Yan only charges 30% of the land rent."
"With these forty acres of good land, my wife and I will have a good life. Not to mention working for a few months without getting tired, even if we work for a year, we will only be happy." After the prince's farm was repaired, he irrigated The new land will be used as Yang Peng's private land and will be leased to local poor tenant farmers for farming.
Although Yang Peng had not yet equalized land tax in Shandong, no local official dared to collect more than Yang Peng's land tax from King Yan's private land. Yang Peng has informed the local officials that the annual land tax for these new fields is six liters of wheat per mu. In fact, if Yang Peng equalizes all the land tax in Shandong and does not increase the land tax, the land tax per mu will be about six liters per year.
In fact, even if Yang Peng did not pay the land tax, the local officials had nothing to do with Yang Peng. But Yang Peng thought about equalizing the land tax every day. Of course he had to set an example and pay the land tax, otherwise he would have to teach others the truth.
Yang Peng charged 30% of the land rent from each person who farmed his own land. Based on the average yield of one stone of wheat per mu, excluding the land tax, Yang Peng could get two buckets and four liters of income per mu of land. Two hundred and seventy thousand acres of new fields, which works out to a net income of 65,000 shi of wheat per year, worth 160,000 taels of silver.
Yang Peng did the math and asked Jing Yishan: "How much labor and materials were used to develop these new fields?" Jing Yishan was promised a reward of two hundred taels of silver by Yang Peng, so he was more cooperative than before and replied: " This prince's palace required 35,200 people to work for three months, and cement, stone and other materials cost 87,000 taels of silver."
Yang Peng turned around and asked the ambassador of the shogunate's tax department, "Good friend, how much money is this?"
Xie Liangyou does tax statistics every day, and his calculation ability is very powerful. He handed over his hand and said: "Your Majesty, the labor cost plus material cost is 150,000 taels." Yang Peng nodded, the cost of building this irrigation reservoir, one year's land rent It can be taken back. By the way, when building projects, labor costs are included in the projects, allowing people to work for relief, and also reduce the cost of disaster relief.
No matter how you look at it, developing water conservancy and reclaiming new fields is a sure-profit business. However, this situation was only true for Yang Peng. The politics of the Song Dynasty were chaotic, and local bureaucrats and gentry were eyeing him. The people were afraid that others would care about them even if they had a few acres of fertile land, let alone develop new fields through water conservancy.
If a person without power comes out to organize a water conservancy project, I am afraid that before the project is completed, the new land will be divided up by landowners with various names. For powerful people, if they can bankrupt the people who have good land and annex the people's good land, they can directly benefit, so why bother to carry out water conservancy in a big way? If we really create a lot of fertile land, other powerful gentry people will come up to share the pie.
In a politically corrupt and disorderly society, benefits are distributed based on power rather than contribution. In such a pattern of interests, no one is willing to contribute, and everyone is focused on dividing the existing cake. In the end, the cake will only get smaller and smaller.
A person like Yang Peng who worked hard to make the cake bigger, armed with strong soldiers and defended it to the death, and did not try to snatch the cake from the powerless people, was an isolated example in a society like the Song Dynasty.
However, the seventeenth century was no longer a closed era. The Manchu Qing Dynasty, Western colonists, and even the ethnic minorities in the southwest all looked covetously at the decadent Han society. If the Han people do not manage their own cakes well and make the country bigger and stronger, the history of being enslaved by foreign races will be told.
Whether for himself or for the nation, Yang Peng must persevere in his isolated case.
Yang Peng nodded and then helped the thin young man on the ground. Xie Liangyou thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, these farmers who are renting our new fields can harvest fourteen shi of grain per person per year, which is equivalent to thirty-five taels of silver. These people's previous income was only eight or nine taels a year. Shi, life has suddenly changed drastically... Is the land rent we charge too low? I think even charging 10% more land rent is not an exaggeration."
Yang Peng said with a smile: "Thirty-five or two years of income is nothing. It only allows a family to have food and clothing, but it is not a well-off society. I am determined to let the people under my rule live a good life. In the future, I will let Hebei When all the people in Shandong and Shandong become rich, of course they cannot charge high land taxes. Just charge 30% of the land rent."
Xie Liangyou raised his hands and said, "Your Majesty is kind, and the people of Shandong and Tianjin are blessed!" Yang Peng inspected the construction site for a while, and then asked Zheng Hui, "How many new fields can be reclaimed in Shandong this year?"
Zheng Hui said: "We have planned eight projects like Wangyepi, but the scale is slightly smaller. After all are completed, we will have 1.1 million acres of new land. Excluding the land tax, the annual land rent income alone will be 6 More than one hundred thousand taels of silver."
More than 600,000 taels of silver is not a small number, and can greatly enrich Yang Peng's finances. Yang Peng patted Zheng Hui on the shoulder and said: "Zheng Hui, after the project in Shandong is successfully completed, I will report to the court and promote you to the rank of maritime deputy general!" Zheng Hui flushed with excitement when he heard this.
On the fifth day of October, Yanwang tax offices opened one after another in various prefectures, prefectures, and counties in Shandong.
Like the tax offices in Tianjing New City, these tax offices were purchased and renovated from houses in downtown areas of various cities. The basic principle of the tax office is that merchants file their own taxes, and the tax office levies taxes based on the business volume declared by the merchants, with a tax rate of one per thirty. Of course, businessmen often take desperate measures to evade taxes. Each tax office has a large number of tax accountants who serve as supervisors to randomly check the turnover of merchants.
Yang Peng stationed 150 tax accountants in each prefecture, 100 tax accountants in each state, and 50 tax accountants in each county. The daily job of these tax accountants is to visit vendors' business locations and verify whether vendors' actual turnover is reported truthfully.
If a businessman is found to be evading taxes, he will be severely punished in accordance with the principle of "one evasion and five penalties". If the tax evasion exceeds one hundred taels, the tax evader will be handed over to the Dali Temple Court for punishment. Yang Peng flipped through the account books at the Jinan Tax Office and asked Xie Liangyou: "How much will it cost to account for this year?" Xie Liangyou sniffed and said seriously: "Your Majesty, in order to cover Shandong Province , we employ 5,637 accountants. The monthly salary of these accountants, site maintenance expenses and various miscellaneous expenses cost 300,000 taels a year."
Xie Liangyou shook his head and said: "There is a severe drought in Shandong this year. The farmers are relying on Prince Yan's disaster relief and have no money to buy goods. Shandong's economy is very depressed. It is estimated that this year, Shandong will only receive more than 600,000 yuan in commercial taxes." Liang." Yang Peng said: "Isn't that a net income of only more than 300,000 liang?"
Xie Liangyou nodded heavily and said: "Your Majesty, it is indeed the case. But next year the farmers will have profits, and the situation will be greatly improved. It is estimated that next year, the business tax of 1.6 million taels will be collected, and after excluding the expenses, the situation will be much better." There can be 1.3 million taels."
On October 10th, Shen Congdao, a well-known gentry from Tianliu Town, Shouguang County, could not stand the suffocating atmosphere in Tianliu Town and wandered to the county town to get some fresh air. In the past few months, Shen Congdao has lost both his wife and his troops. The grain collected for five taels and five cents was finally sold on the market for one to two and eight cents, resulting in a loss of twenty-nine thousand taels. He had saved more than 30,000 taels in total for more than ten years. What does it mean to lose 29,000 taels? Even the mansions in the city were lost.
However, the house in Fucheng was gone and they moved to Tianliu Town in the countryside, but the matter was not over. Shen Congdao hoarded food to attack King Yan for disaster relief and lost all his wealth. This became the biggest joke in Tianliu Town, and this joke spread throughout the town. After the people tell this joke, they always add a curse: "This thief wants to starve us to death!"
Now in Tianliu Town, Shen Congdao's reputation is completely bad. As he walked in the market in the town, people would spit on the ground at him from time to time. How could anyone have any respect for him as a scholar? Shen Congdao rarely goes out now, and gets angry every time he goes out. On weekdays, he would ask his servants to go out and do whatever he wanted to buy or do.
But staying in the house for a long time is really uncomfortable. On this day, Shen Congdao let someone carry the sedan and slipped out of the back door and walked quickly to the county town. Shen Congdao secretly said that few people in the county knew him, so he went to the county to take a walk and get some fresh air.
Sure enough, no one in the county recognized Shen Congdao, and no one knew that Shen Congdao was a gentry who was against the King of Yan. Shen Congdao finally breathed a sigh of relief and walked around the commercial street of the county town with ease.
Walking to the door of the largest teahouse on this commercial street, Shen Congdao suddenly saw that the spacious teahouse was full of people. Even the aisle next to the tea stall was full of people. As soon as Shen Congdao saw this posture, he knew that the tea guests were waiting for a big show. I guess this is a very popular show, attracting so many tea drinkers.
Shen Congdao walked to the door of the teahouse and asked the waiter who was waiting for the guests: "Waiter, which song are you singing today? Is there still room to sit?" The waiter looked Shen Congdao up and down and said with a smile: "Master, this show is You must not like it, so stop asking!" Shen Congdao raised his eyebrows and asked, "What are you talking about? Waiter, you must have taken advantage of others to reserve a seat for others! You are afraid that I will steal what you left. Location! I must see it!”
The waiter looked at Shen Congdao with a little embarrassment and said: "Master, to tell you the truth, the few gentry men who watched this show quarreled with other ordinary tea guests, and all of them were beaten by the tea guests. Yes. If you insist on watching it, you can agree not to cause trouble and leave after watching it."
Shen Congdao was stunned, and became more and more curious about the play, and asked: "What kind of play is this? Is it so evil?" The waiter said: "Sir, this is a troupe from a small shop who went to Tianjing Xincheng Opera Academy to perform new roles. I learned a play called "Relief in Shandong", which tells the story of King Yan's relief work in Shandong. Standing seats cost 2 cents, and ordinary seats cost 10 cents. They were all sold out. Only the front row seats were left, which cost 20 cents. We only have money for one person, sir, how many people can you buy?"
After hearing what the waiter said, Shen Congdao was stunned. Shen Congdao of the Opera Academy in Tianjing New City knew that this matter was published in the newspaper last month. It is said that because the people's cultural and entertainment activities were too single, there was no new opera in the opera program for a long time. Even if some opera troupes launched new operas, the quality of the opera troupes varied, so the King of Yan gathered outstanding opera masters from all over the country to set up this opera academy.
The best opera actors in Tianjing New City and Shandong gather in the Academy of Opera to present a new play every month. The new drama closely follows current events and reflects the things that people are most concerned about, so it is bound to attract people. Shen Congdao didn't care much after reading the news. These days, most of the things the government does are failures, and nine out of ten things go unanswered. Therefore, when King Yan wanted to establish an opera academy, Shen Congdao subconsciously felt that this matter would not stir up much excitement.
I didn’t expect that this would be accomplished, that the track would be released so quickly, and that it would be so popular. Shen Congdao became more and more curious and waved to the servant beside him. The servant took out forty cents and handed it to the waiter and said, "My master is buying two places." The waiter got forty cents and thought for a long time before taking the two of them in. Through the crowded audience, the three people squeezed to the front row and found the seats at the front.
Before the waiter left, he didn't forget to say to Shen Congdao: "Master, after the play is over, you must not cause trouble. Do whatever you have to do!" Shen Congdao was too lazy to pay attention to the waiter, and started to enter the stage with a teacup. . After a while, the opera started.
"Shandong is experiencing a severe drought this year!" At the beginning of the opera, a white-bearded actor came onto the stage holding a hoe. The old man sang in a high and steady tone, which immediately attracted thunderous applause from the tea guests.
Shen Congdao also liked going to the theater and cheered with the other tea guests. But as he looked at it, Shen Congdao realized something was wrong. The "Relief to Shandong" choreographed by Tianjing Xincheng Opera Academy this time is to beat the gentry who are hoarding food to death. The whole play revolves around the issue of grain for disaster relief in Shandong, with ups and downs in the plot. It portrays King Yang Peng of Yan as a great hero who does not hesitate to benefit the country and the people, and portrays the gentry who hoards grain and hinders King Yan's disaster relief as despicable and shameless. A stupid and ignorant villain.
At the climax of the play when the gentry was hoarding food, a silver-haired old woman walked out on crutches, holding a little girl and a broken porcelain bowl, and said tremblingly: "I am going to go there this year." Southern Zhili is fleeing famine! I just don’t know if Jiangnan is so rich and prosperous that I and my granddaughter can survive until next year.”
Seeing this, the theatergoers sighed, and many felt the same and even shed tears.
In this era, entertainment means are extremely limited, and people are very involved in watching dramas, let alone this kind of period drama that reflects the lives of people in Shandong? Seeing this scene, the theatergoers shouted loudly:
"God damn the rich dog! How dare you drive up food prices!" "Chop these evil gentry and feed them to the dogs!" "Thieves kill talented people, don't let the old man meet these cheap bastards!" The people were so excited that Shen Congdao's face turned pale with fear. He was afraid of being recognized as the evil gentry who hoarded food. The drama on the stage took a turn here, and suddenly large ships came out from behind the scenes. It was Prince Yan who had transported a large amount of sweet potatoes from Xiaoliuqiu.
Now all the gentry who were collecting grain went bankrupt. In the play, a wealthy man from Shandong with a sinister look used his family's house as collateral to borrow money from a pawn shop in order to stock up on food. In the end, he lost all his property. Seeing this, the people in the teahouse were all happy and burst into laughter. "These thieves are so arrogant. Now they know what it means to bring it upon themselves!" Shen Congdao, who was sitting in the front row, shrank his head and did not dare to express his anger in the crowd of common people surrounding him from all directions.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
