Entering February, the weather began to get warmer, and Feng Ziying began to tour the entire province of Shaanxi.
With the resignation of Lu Chuan as the left chief envoy, the new left and right chief envoys of the imperial court have arrived one after another, and the situation in Shaanxi as a whole seems to be on the right track.
The new chief envoy to the left is Zhao Nanxing, who has been out of office for a long time.
Zhao Nanxing once served as the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but he resigned as early as the 40th year of Yuanxi and stayed at home. Now, at the age of sixty, he serves as the chief minister of Shaanxi Province and the left chief minister. It must be said that it is a rare move. .
It also shows that the court put a lot of thought into selecting this candidate.
Feng Ziying knew Zhao Nanxing, and he was considered a township party member of Qi Yongtai, but the two had different political views.
In Feng Ziying's view, although Qi Yongtai is square, he is flexible and can change according to the situation, but Zhao Nanxing is a strict man with no room for accommodation.
Although he is from Beizhi, he has never had any contact with Feng Ziying.
However, the veteran minister can be regarded as the leader of the older generation of scholars in the North. Even though he has been retired for so many years, he still has a strong influence among the scholars.
Therefore, Feng Ziying paid a special visit to him with great respect, and then sat there for two hours chatting with the newly appointed second-in-command in Shaanxi.
After contacting him, Feng Ziying no longer expected this person to do much in Shaanxi. What he said was mostly pragmatic, and when it came to specific administrative matters, he talked in general terms.
After talking for two hours, he focused more on the moral education of officials. Specifically, how should Shaanxi solve specific problems at the moment? Apart from providing relief, he had no other opinions.
In a word, in Feng Ziying's eyes, this is another figure similar to Wu Daonan. Of course, he may still be better than Wu Daonan. At least he can speak righteously on retreat.
Fortunately, the appointment of Li Tengfang, the right chief envoy, gave Feng Ziying a little peace of mind.
Before Li Tengfang took office, Chai Ke's letter came.
The letter also mentioned that Zhao Nanxing was getting older, and the court wanted to rely more on his reputation as a scholar. It was estimated that he would return to Beijing in a year or two, and Li Tengfang, the right chief envoy, was the one who was doing the actual work.
Li Tengfang was from Xiangtan and a scholar from Huguang. He had long-standing friendships with Chai Ke, Yang Lian, Yang He and others. He used to be the minister of the Yuanma Temple. He was extremely smart and capable and had a good reputation.
This time, he was also directly promoted to the position of Chief Envoy of Shaanxi Province, Siyou, as Chief Envoy of Shaanxi Province. It was considered that the chaos in Shaanxi Province had been basically eliminated through military operations, and more would be done next.
Going from Beijing to the local government, and not yet serving as the chief envoy to the left, seemed to be a bit of a demotion, but Feng Ziying knew that this was a sign that he should be re-employed. Zhao Nanxing left after a year and a half, and Li Tengfang took advantage of the situation and transferred to the left. Chief Envoy, if he leaves, he will be the number one person in Shaanxi.
After several contacts with Li Tengfang, Feng Ziying felt that what Chai Ke said was true.
This person has a calm personality, is very strategic in doing things, and can also listen to opinions.
I have talked with the other party several times about the next step in Shaanxi. Unlike Zhao Nanxing, the other party only talked about relief, but more about agriculture, water conservancy, and coal and iron development.
However, Li Tengfang is not optimistic about northern Shaanxi, and is more optimistic about the Guanzhong Plain.
In his opinion, as long as agriculture in the Guanzhong Plain is taken up, most of Shaanxi's problems will be solved. Northern Shaanxi is limited by the geographical and climatic environment, so we can't expect too much. If it can be maintained at its best, the province can subsidize part of it. , is also acceptable.
It should be said that Li Tengfang's view is not wrong.
Without the emergence of potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn, Feng Ziying could only make a fuss on the Guanzhong Plain.
But as the potato experiment has been a great success, it is not appropriate for Northern Shaanxi to pursue such a conservative strategy.
And if long-term considerations are taken into consideration, then the three prefectures in northern Shaanxi and even the Lintao Prefecture and Gongchang Prefecture further west, as well as the health centers of Shaanxi Xingdu Division, can be developed mainly with potatoes, supplemented by sweet potatoes and corn.
This can greatly reduce the pressure that Shaanxi needs to bear for food and wages for the three sides and four towns, especially military rations.
This part of the burden can be said to be needed by the entire Shaanxi Province
The largest part of the land tax and commercial tax was handed over to the imperial court and transferred to the three sides and four towns, or in other words, all of it.
Everything in Shaanxi that needs to be handed over to the court must be transferred to the three sides and four towns. Of course, it is not enough for the three sides and four towns.
In the past few years, Shaanxi has suffered from severe droughts, and the imperial court has also exempted Shaanxi from taxes. The expenses of the three sides and four towns are all borne by the imperial court. If the imperial court cannot afford it, then it will only default.
Fortunately, the Northwest Army left the Central Plains, so this conflict did not intensify rapidly. Otherwise, another Ningxia rebellion would not be impossible.
Feng Ziying tried to persuade Li Tengfang, but it didn't work.
Feng Ziying can also understand that for such a big matter, it is unrealistic to hope that people will be convinced with just a few empty words.
And given my age, it's already very respectable for me to be patient enough to listen to what I have to say.
Looking at the other party's expression, Feng Ziying also knew that the other party must think that she was in a fantasy. The yield was several times that of corn and wheat, and the land was not chosen. The irrigation conditions were not as high as that of corn and wheat. How can such a good thing in the world be possible? Why don't you go to heaven?
"Brother Zishi, I know that no matter what I say, you can't believe it, but you should know what Duke Xuan is like, right?" Feng Ziying said with a smile, Xu Guangqi was quite famous in the court, and it was impossible for Li Tengfang not to know about it.
"Well, of course I know about Mr. Xuan Hu. He has lived in seclusion in Tianjin for so many years, and I know that he has been tinkering with those Western crops. However, Ziying, your statement is too exaggerated. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is miraculous. This is too unrealistic." Li Tengfang shook his head repeatedly.
"I won't argue with you about this anymore. How about we see it with our eyes?" Feng Ziying said with a smile: "Among the three prefectures in northern Shaanxi, Yan'an Prefecture has grown potatoes for one season in six or seven prefectures and counties. Sweet potatoes and corn have been harvested for four to five years this year. We also have to try planting during the month to see how the harvest is. I suggest you go and take a look. Don't listen to the officials. Otherwise, lest you think that I have colluded with them to fool you, you can actually go and ask the farmers, or you can go incognito. Let’s go and find out privately. I believe based on your experience, people below can’t hide it from you even if they want to, how about that?”
Seeing that Feng Ziying was so confident and calm, Li Tengfang became a little curious, "Ziying, Zishu has always said that you are a maverick, but you are very methodical in doing things and never speak nonsense, but you are acting like this today." It really made me a little nervous. I planted potatoes for two seasons, and each season could produce 1,600 jins per acre. If done well, it could even reach 2,000 jins. Did I hear that right? "
"That's right, you can check it when the time comes. If the yield of potatoes per mu is less than 1,500 kilograms per mu, then basically no one cares about the water pipes and fertilizers, and the sheep are herded during harvesting. Anyway, I went to a few places After checking, none weigh less than 1,600 kilograms." Feng Ziying's attitude was quite firm.
"Okay, according to what you said, these potatoes taste good, and they can fill the belly at least three to one with dried corn and wheat. That means one acre of land in two crops is equivalent to at least one thousand kilograms of corn. Or wheat, according to this three-to-one calculation, it is equivalent to doubling the millet and wheat yield in Shaanxi. This is still the case where the land is not selected, and the hilly and mountainous areas are mostly chosen. This is what you Said?"
Li Tengfang wanted to hold on to his words to prevent this guy from cheating in the future.
"I will never go back on what I said." Feng Ziying smiled: "You can check and verify to see if I have exaggerated or lied. This is not just one or two places, but seven or eight states and counties, and each state and county has There are five or six pilot projects. I suggest you visit a few more and calculate the average. You can even taste the potatoes and see if they can fill your stomach. This will be more convincing."
He dared to boast about Haikou in front of him, and also had to go to several places to verify it. It seemed that this guy was really confident. Of course, Li Tengfang would not believe the other party just because he said a few harsh words. He only believed in himself. You can actually see it and touch it.
"Okay, I'm going to go for a walk. Yan'an Prefecture is just right. I'll spend a month doing a good trip to see what you said. If it's really what you said, then Shaanxi will be saved. Let alone Shaanxi, the whole Northland will be saved. It doesn’t matter whether it tastes good or not. As long as it can fill the belly, people will starve to death and eat bark, grass, roots and Guanyin soil. Do you still care about the taste?"
Li Tengfang really got a little excited, "No matter where you choose, that's what you want."
Under the best conditions, I see that the only land that can be eaten by cattle and sheep is grass. But can people eat it? The yield of growing corn and wheat is so low that it is impossible to feed people. Do you think that in addition to potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn also have such high yields? "
"The yield per acre of sweet potatoes should be higher than that of potatoes, but they need to be eaten with potatoes. They taste sweet and may hurt the stomach and heart when eaten every day. The biggest weakness of these two is that they are not storage-resistant. The yield of corn is not as good as these two, but they are suitable for mountains and fields. The soil is rich and can be stored well, but if it’s important, I still think potatoes and sweet potatoes are more suitable for us in Shaanxi.”
Feng Ziying introduced the characteristics of several crops, and Li Tengfang nodded repeatedly, but he had to wait until he made an on-site inspection before he could make a conclusion.
However, through this conversation, Li Tengfang's impression of Feng Ziying became better and better.
Chai Ke's previous introduction made him just a little fond of him, but he was still doubtful. After all, although Feng Ziying was well-known in Beijing, but her age, Li Tengfang felt more that it was because Chai Ke and Feng's father and son had formed a relationship in fighting the rebellion in Ningxia. friendship, that's why he praised him so much, but he wasn't the kind of person who would just rely on someone's words.
Now that he has been in contact like this, although he is not sure about many things, but if he turns out to be as Feng Ziying said, then Li Tengfang feels that this time the court chose Feng Ziying, a young man, to come to Shaanxi. He did not hesitate to tell the truth to the court. Report the situation here and sing praises to Feng Ziying.
