On the endless farmland, there are busy figures of farmers.
At the moment when the emperor was traveling, it was also the time of busy sowing in spring.
After Li Shimin walked around, he felt sticky and greasy all over his body. He sweated for a while and couldn't help but hide under a tree to enjoy the cool air.
"This body's bones... are not as good as before."
He sighed,
"I remember that during the war, I could survive no matter how difficult the environment was, but now... I can't take more than two steps and I'm out of breath."
"Wealth makes one weak..."
As he spoke, Li Er took out a piece of hawthorn cake from his arms and threw it into his mouth.
The sweet and sour taste is the best for digestion.
Plop.
While he was chewing, he saw an old farmer carrying a hoe and sitting on the other side of the tree. He took out his water bag and drank a few big gulps before letting out a long sigh of relief.
"Comfortable..."
The old farmer adjusted his straw hat, murmured softly, turned to look at Li Shimin, and said with a smile,
"Young man, which field do you farm in? Why hasn't this old man seen you?"
As soon as he spoke, he had a Guanzhong accent, which sounded friendly to Li Er.
"I...I was passing by and stopped here."
Li Shimin responded with a smile,
“Isn’t farm work hard?”
He wore casual clothes when he went out for a walk, so he was not afraid of being recognized.
"How can we not work hard? If we don't work hard, we are not farmers. We will work hard all our lives!"
The old farmer waved his hand, but his eyes fell on Li Shimin's hawthorn cake, and he chuckled,
"Young man, are you a loser?"
Li Shimin raised the cake in his hand.
"This, this hawthorn cake."
He handed it over and said,
"Want some?"
The old farmer wiped his hands and smiled innocently, a little embarrassed.
But in the end, I still took the hawthorn cake.
"It's not free for you. I'll bring you some steamed buns and some noodles from my daughter."
The old farmer replied, sniffed the hawthorn cake lightly, and then threw it directly into his mouth.
Bang Chi Bang Chi.
"Um……"
His mouth stopped.
"How is it? Is it delicious?" Li Shimin said cheerfully.
The pastries he ate were all specially made by the royal chef and used the best ingredients. It would be no exaggeration to say that they were the most delicious snacks in the world.
However, the old farmer waved his hands repeatedly.
"It doesn't work, it doesn't work... It's sweet or sweet, it's sour or it's sour. The key is that the more you eat, the hungrier you get!"
He stroked his belly and said,
“The old man was already hungry, but now he’s even hungrier!”
Li Shimin couldn't help laughing when he heard this.
That's right, he had forgotten about this incident.
Hawthorn cake is used to appetize and digest food. It searches for oil and water in the stomach. There is no oil and water in the stomach of the old farmer. If you scrape it again, will you die?
"Then don't eat it and spit it out."
Li Shimin said,
"The more you chew on this thing, the hungrier it becomes."
The old farmer looked a little confused, but in the end he shook his head.
"This stuff is a good thing and can't be wasted!"
He said,
"Well, let's eat. We'll wait for a while after eating and wait for my daughter to bring food."
"Today we have oily noodles to eat..."
As he talked, he became more and more greedy, and his stomach began to growl unsatisfactorily.
"Old man, let me ask you something."
Li Shimin suddenly said,
"How is the food harvest now? Is the water source enough? Are taxes still high? Can the family... have enough to eat?"
The court has a set of answers to these questions.
That set of answers can be used as a beautiful political achievement and is the result of the court's efforts over the past year.
But Li Shimin wanted to hear the voices of the people more. Whether the people were living well or not, the most authentic voices could only be heard here.
"Last year's harvest... it's still done."
The old farmer leaned against the tree trunk, raised his head and said,
"The water is still adequate. Last year, for some reason, the officials suddenly sent people to dig ditches. The water was cut off for a while, but the ditches were dug."
"Since then, hey... there's really no shortage of water, and the old man finally doesn't have to carry a hoe to fight with the Erniu Village! This year... there are still a few girls from our village who have married into the Erniu Village next door. , there are also several girls married in Erniu Village, they are very beautiful."
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows.
"This is a good thing!"
He was in a happy mood and praised.
Because of water source issues, there will always be conflicts in the surrounding villages, and they may even develop into feuds! The two parties have never interacted with each other, so it is naturally impossible for them to intermarry!
This is certainly not a good thing and greatly limits reproduction and flow.
Now it's better. Once the water source problem is solved, everyone has water, so there is no need to fight. The two sides have turned their hostility into friendship, and the relationship between them has naturally become closer, and they have begun to move around and intermarry.
As an emperor, he is naturally willing to see such reconciliation!
Not to mention too much, it would be nice to mention the population of Datang!
"It's a good thing, there are even better things."
The old farmer opened his chatterbox and said,
"The government exempted us from the previous head tax and taxed it according to the land."
"This is a huge relief! In the past, when I had a baby, I had to worry about whether the money would be enough to pay taxes. Now I no longer have such worries. Just give birth to a baby!"
"Anyway, farmers like us don't have much land. No matter how much we have children, we won't have to pay more taxes. On the contrary, those wealthy families have to pay taxes every year even if they don't have children. Look at them, they are all suffering. !”
He said, but his expression was a bit gloating.
Li Shimin snorted softly.
"Why are they suffering? If you have more fertile land, you will pay more taxes. This is what you should do! If you become a poor peasant, you won't have to pay a penny!"
He said,
"Ask them if they would like to be poor peasants?"
Xu Fenglei originally came up with this method of 'dividing a small family into an equal amount'. Once it was proposed, there was a lot of resistance.
There were even many ministers in the court who opposed it, especially those from aristocratic families.
They have a lot of fertile land in their hands. Once this tax law is introduced, it will really kill them! Naturally, he tried his best to stop it.
But who is Li Shimin?
You can conquer the world, but you still can't implement a policy?
Once a decree is issued, no matter how unwilling it is, it must be implemented and the new policy must be followed!
And obviously... the effect was immediate.
The wealth of wealthy families has been harvested, the burden of ordinary people has been lightened, and the tax collected by the state treasury has increased.
At this moment, Li Shimin couldn't help but feel a little proud.
It seems that from last year to now, the people are living and working in peace and contentment! Everything is in order and moving in a better direction.
His confidence in becoming a Zen master suddenly became stronger.
Open up and expand territory to the outside world.
There is plenty of food and clothing for the interior.
With such achievements, who would dare to say that he is not qualified to be granted Zen status?
He is more qualified than the emperors of all dynasties...!
Li Shimin looked at the old farmer and asked the last question:
"Okay, okay...old man, can your family have enough to eat?"
He was sure that he would get a positive answer.
But the old man shook his head.
"Not enough to eat, not enough to eat at all..."
He sighed,
"It's better to have a full meal and a hungry meal. Let alone a full meal, just a bowl of gruel every meal, that's good!"
Li Shimin looked stunned.
"How...how could this happen?"
He said with great confusion,
"The water source is also available, taxes have been reduced, and the food harvest has been bumper."
"Why can't we still have enough to eat? This shouldn't be the case!"
Every link is fine, but why is the final result wrong? ?
He doesn't understand.
"Then it's just not enough to eat... I won't lie to you, old man."
The old farmer grinned and said,
"For a family like ours, it's fine if they don't starve to death. What else do you want?"
"Look, my daughter is here. I'll give you a steamed bun later..."
Li Shimin looked at the thin black woman trotting up and stood up slowly, feeling a little uncomfortable in his heart.
"No need, old man, it's important that you feed yourself. I'm not short of this steamed bun."
He waved his hand, turned and left.
"Hey, young man..."
The old farmer looked at his leaving figure and wanted to call him to stop him, but his daughter was already approaching him.
"Da, there is no oil noodles today. The baby at home needs some..."
"Just make do with a few steamed buns."
The old farmer was slightly disappointed, rubbed his belly, and finally nodded.
"It's important for the baby to eat, it's important for the baby to eat..."
He sighed,
"Baby is hope!"
…
On the edge of the field, Li Shimin walked slowly with his hands behind his back.
He felt a little depressed...because he really couldn't figure it out.
Why don’t people still have enough to eat?
Just as he was getting under the horns, he saw someone coming towards him, smiling and approaching him.
"Your Majesty, are you taking a stroll here? Come on, have a cigarette."
Xu Fenglei said with a playful smile,
"I went out in a hurry and didn't bring it with me."
Li Shimin rolled his eyes.
"Go, go, go!"
He said with a look of disgust,
"I just know that you are smoking, you can't live without cigarettes!"
"I'm annoyed!"
Xu Fenglei curled his lips.
"A cigarette after a meal is better than a living god!"
He said,
"Don't be stingy, the quality in your hands is the best..."
Saying that, Xu Fenglei immediately started to take it out of Li Shimin's arms.
"Go away!"
Li Shimin pushed him away and said angrily,
"As you said, I'm worried!"
"Then I'm going to get even more upset..." Xu Fenglei still refused to give up.
no way.
Although there is no shortage of tobacco supply in Chang'an now, tobacco leaves are also divided into several grades.
The best of them are naturally supplied directly to the emperor and the emperor, which they cannot buy even if they have money.
Therefore, if you want to get the best, you can only ask the emperor for it.
And the one with such courage is Xu Fenglei... Even Yu Chigong's carefree temperament wouldn't dare.
"Do not you upset!"
Li Shimin took out the box from his arms, threw it at Xu Fenglei, and scolded,
"Smoke it, smoke it, take it and smoke it! I can't beat you to death!"
I was so annoyed by this kid that I cursed!
Xu Fenglei was thrown away like this, but he was not annoyed. Instead, he put the cigarette case into his arms with a smile, took out two cigarettes, lit one for himself, and stuffed the other one into Li Shimin's mouth. He lit.
"Your Majesty, you can relieve a thousand worries..."
He said,
"Come on, let's take it easy first."
"What troubles you encountering? Tell me. Maybe we can help you solve it?"
As he said this, he took a deep breath and spit out the eye sockets.
So refreshing!
This top-quality tobacco specially supplied to the emperor is just different! This time I got a package, so you can save some money on the road and enjoy it beautifully.
"snort."
Li Shimin was stuffed by him, but he didn't refuse.
After taking a mouthful of god-level food, his depressed mood was relieved a bit.
"I can't figure something out."
He held a cigarette in his mouth and frowned,
"Why don't people still have enough to eat?"
"Grain prices have reached their lowest point. If they go any lower, Wei Zheng will say that low prices will hurt farmers."
"The water source problem has also been solved; taxes have been reduced to the greatest extent."
"These are obviously perfect! But the old farmer still said just now... It is impossible to have a full meal. It would be good to have a meal of gruel. This..."
Xu Fenglei couldn't help but smile when he heard this.
"Hey, Your Majesty is unhappy about this matter?"
He smiled and shook his head and said,
"I thought it was something."
Li Shimin glanced at him.
"Do you have an answer?" he urged, "Speak quickly and don't be too pretentious!"
Xu Fenglei took another puff, and a puff of old smoke sprayed on Li Shimin's face.
Li Shimin was angry and was about to explode when he heard him say:
"Actually, it's very simple. His Majesty overlooked one thing."
"population."
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and waved the smoke in front of him.
"population?"
He seemed to have caught something and asked,
"What's the explanation?"
"What is the first thing an ordinary farmer considers when food production increases and taxes decrease?"
Xu Fenglei stretched out his finger and said directly without any hesitation,
"The answer is two words, have a baby!"
"In the past, taxes were collected based on head count and there was no food, so the common people did not dare to give birth. But now, they all dare to give birth!"
"After giving birth to a baby, there is an extra mouth in the family. After all, you have to raise a baby! This is a big expense."
Li Shimin nodded slightly.
He hadn't considered this, and he didn't ask just now.
"It makes some sense...but just giving birth to a baby won't make the family hungry, right?"
he asked again.
"Who told you that you only have one child?"
Xu Fenglei asked rhetorically.
Li Shimin was startled.
"When conditions permit, of course it is best to have as many children as possible. The more children, the better! Because with more children, a family will grow bigger!"
Xu Fenglei said seriously,
"In rural areas, if a family does not have a male, they will be stared at and exterminated!"
"And if you have more children at home, you will be more confident and powerful whether it is working or fighting for the interests of your family!"
"You know, there is no fairness in this world. Many things have to be fought for, so why fight? When your Majesty conquered the world, he relied on having more soldiers! When it comes to ordinary people, it's just a lot of soldiers!"
"So, having as many children as possible while keeping yourself from starving to death is the best way to benefit your family! Now you know, why the farmers don't have enough to eat? They don't have enough to eat. But there are more and more people in their family! This is to make yourself hungry for a while, so as to live a better life in the future! It is very simple and very effective!"
After hearing these words, Li Shimin finally realized.
It turns out that’s the case!
"You kid, you really hit the nail on the head!"
Li Erlong looked delighted, praised Xu Fenglei, turned around and ran away.
"Hey, Your Majesty, where are you going?" Xu Fenglei shouted.
"I'm going to ask the old farmer...how many children he has at home!"
(End of chapter)
