The rain wasn't heavy, but it was still annoying. The entire Lishan Mountain was covered in hazy rainwater. From the bottom of the mountain, it was hard to see clearly what was going on at the top.
On Lishan Mountain, the younger brother and sister ate barbecue and then worked in the library. Three huge charts were hung on the wooden boards. The charts recorded the year, region and grain harvest. The other two charts recorded the types and seasons of crops in various places. .
Zhang Yang looked through the booklet he had just sorted out, "Is that all there is?"
Xu Hui raised her head and looked at her master's frowning expression, and then said, "It probably didn't fall."
For this reason, she stood on tiptoes and glanced at the booklet.
Looking back and forth, Zhang Yang asked puzzledly: "Are there no records of crops outside the customs?"
Xu Hui blinked and thought, "What Master said should not be in the records of Taifu Temple."
"Huh?" Zhang Yang was surprised at first.
Xu Hui further explained: "Taifu Temple records crops and grain harvests, but the crops outside the customs belong to the customs outside the customs. Such records should be in the Imperial College or Hongwen Hall, or the current Diplomatic Academy."
Otherwise, Xu Hui comes from a scholarly family.
I almost forgot about this when I slapped my forehead. All the ministries in the DPRK and the Central Government perform their own duties, and there are very few opportunities to communicate with each other. Taifu Temple, which is in charge of agriculture and mulberry, will not ask what the various ministries in the DPRK and Central Government have done. Compared to For the reports submitted by various ministries, the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China took on the responsibility of classifying and distributing information.
Things have priorities, and most of the time Zhongshu Sheng just takes a look at them, just like reading a newspaper, and forgets it.
Since Wude's previous descriptions of the affairs inside and outside Guan were very scattered, Zhang Yang sat down helplessly, "This job is really difficult to handle. The things at the dinner table seem simple, but I, a Taifu Qing, have to collect information from the most basic start."
Xu Hui replied: "Master, Taifu Temple has a chief registrar and a supervisor. You can ask them to look for relevant files."
Taifu Temple was not fully organized and only had three people. Zhang Yang said worriedly: "It is impossible to rely on a chief registrar and supervisor to check the files of various departments. The official rank is too low."
"Master, don't worry too much. The minister of Taifu Temple is actually a very leisurely job. Master has been busy and worried about the country for several years."
Thinking of the fact that her master often lost his temper at home for no apparent reason, she said: "The important ministers in the court were transferred to leisure positions because His Majesty wanted to let the master relax and feel at ease. He will not have to worry about these things in the future."
Hearing this, Zhang Yang looked at her strangely. Xu Hui was a very smart child, and he had been reminded by the teacher before.
But Xu Hui can tell the truth in one sentence.
She is indeed smarter than other children.
After speaking, she went to sort out the files with Xiao Wu.
Li Shimin wants to gather power. Based on his mentality, he will never put the power of diplomacy in my hands alone.
The so-called transfer was first to give a false title to a Minister of the Ministry of Finance, and then to concurrently serve as Minister of the Taifu Temple.
This means to support oneself in old age, which means that if Ruwu changes, Ruwu will need to sit in the position of Tai Fuqing for many, many years.
Just concentrate on studying the crops, and there is no need to participate in other matters in the court.
Zhang Yang couldn't help but smile bitterly and felt a little satisfied.
The reason for the bitter smile was that Li Shimin had finally emptied out the power of the Foreign Affairs Council, thereby taking the hearts and minds of Xu Jingzong and others for his own use. It was uncomfortable to be plotted by the emperor, and the situation was settled with a few words of understatement.
I am satisfied that I only need to take care of the crops and do not need to participate in other things.
Zhang Yang walked into his greenhouse. Cabbage seeds are actually similar to rapeseed. His family had a lot of them last year.
Take some seeds from the greenhouse and wrap them in cloth into small packages.
He glanced at his daughter who was learning to write under the supervision of her mother. Whenever she wanted to be lazy, Li Yue always gave her a serious look, and she pouted aggrievedly and continued to hold the pen and learn to write on the paper.
Zhang Yang took one more look and then went down the mountain with the seeds.
It's still the first month of the New Year, and the village has already begun to get busy with this year's farming. The busy farming season has not yet come, but this year there has been continuous heavy snow, and it has rained continuously in the past two days. The fields need to be plowed again to let the sun shine. Sigh.
After blowing a whistle and waiting for a moment, the three-hemp horse came in a hurry.
Holding its reins, Zhang Yang said to Shangguan Yi, who was eating a meal at home, "Brother Shangguan, can you come with me to visit the surrounding villages and counties."
"That's fine."
He put down his bowl and chopsticks and responded immediately.
There are also horses raised in the village. Except for those horse dealers in Guanzhong who have black and white connections, powerful families cannot raise too many horses, otherwise they will be questioned.
The two horses raised in the village are usually used to pull goods.
The two of them left the village. Zhang Yang let the horse walk slowly and headed southeast along the Weishui River.
Observe the conditions in the fields along the way.
Shangguan Yi was riding a horse aside. The horse under him was one head shorter than the Sanhe Horse of the County Marquis. The horse at the foot of Tianshan Mountain looked extraordinary, it was a fine war horse.
Zhang Yang asked in a low voice: "Are these fields used to grow food?"
"They are all used to grow food. This is true in every township and county."
Over-cultivation of fields in Guanzhong has become the norm. They cut down forests, dug holes into fields, and bulldozed mountains and forests into fertile farmland.
During the war, the walls were fortified and the fields were cleared, so the vegetation in Guanzhong was severely damaged.
When passing by a village, Zhang Yang got off his horse and pulled the reins into the village. It was lunchtime, and he could see that every household was eating.
This is a small village on the border of Weinan. The people are not well dressed. They are all mended clothes made of old cloth. Some people even wear straw sandals in this still cold season.
Zhang Yang asked curiously: "Big brother, what will your family eat today?"
The old man was around sixty years old. Facing the man holding the war horse, he looked at the man's clothes and was confused for a moment.
Logically speaking, those who own such war horses should belong to powerful families, judging by their simple attire.
Zhang Yang introduced himself: "I am the Minister of Taifu Temple. I am here to ask about the food of my neighbors. I live in Lishan."
The old man's eyes became more and more suspicious, "You people from Lishan don't usually come out."
Zhang Yang smiled awkwardly, "Really?"
As he spoke, a woman walked out of the door behind the old man and brought a bowl of millet porridge.
Zhang Yang looked at the porridge in the bowl. The porridge was not too thin, and there were a few pieces of dried meat on it.
"This is what we eat at home. If you are hungry, this bowl will be given to you."
The old man was talking, and looking at his appearance and hearing that he was from Lishan, he naturally couldn't afford to offend him.
Everyone in Weinan knows that Lishan is a very noble place. It is said that Tian Khan often goes there, and Tian Khan's children and Tian Khan's father live in Lishan.
No one in the surrounding villages and counties dared to offend, let alone get close to Lishan Mountain.
It is said that even wild rabbits that approach Lishan Mountain will be shot to death with one arrow.
In these rumors, Lishan Mountain has long become a forbidden area in Weinan.
The old man handed over the bowl of porridge with the intention of not offending him, hoping that the other party would not embarrass his family.
"Does everyone in your family eat these?"
The old man replied: "A certain family is going to work, so naturally they can eat some meat. There is salt in the porridge water. The women and children at home just have light porridge."
Under the leadership of this old man, Zhang Yang and Shangguan Yi walked into this family.
This is a typical Guanzhong family. The family is not rich and very poor.
The grain is put in an earthen jar.
The women at home and their children lowered their heads and bowed their bodies, not daring to raise their heads when facing the people in front of them. This was also because they saw the horses outside the door.
They can't afford to offend families with war horses.
Zhang Yang walked around the house and found some vinegar.
Look at the child's face again. The child is about ten years old, about the same age as Li Zhi, and his face looks yellow.
This was because he had not eaten vegetables for a long time. Zhang Yang looked around again and handed the old man a cloth bag, "This is a vegetable seed. If you plant it at this time, it will sprout in half a month. It takes two months to grow.”
The old man took it with both hands respectfully.
Zhang Yang asked again: "Don't your family plan to raise some chickens and ducks?"
The old man replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, you don't know something. These chickens and ducks all eat food. How dare you raise them?"
Zhang Yang went out and pulled the horse's reins again. He went to several houses and encountered similar situations.
I did find a family raising some chickens and ducks.
Zhang Yang waved over a child and asked curiously: "I see that no one around here raises chickens or ducks. Why do they raise chickens and ducks?"
The child looked back at the three or five chickens, and then at the strange man in front of him who didn't speak.
Zhang Yang took out a copper coin and said, "If you tell me, I will give you this copper coin."
The child looked at the copper coins eagerly and replied: "Because their family used to be tenants."
Zhang Yang asked again, "Even if you are a tenant, you can't just raise chickens and ducks."
"The adults said that their family has a relationship with the county magistrate."
That's right. Raising chickens and ducks seems like something that cannot be mentioned.
Under the child's resentful gaze, Zhang Yang put the copper coins back into his belt, handed him two dried dates with his backhand, and then walked away...
Shangguanyi explained: "In order to make the reported grain taxes generous, villages and counties naturally collect grain as much as possible."
The harvest of grain is related to political performance. The more grain there is in local counties, the less food the villagers have in their hands.
The beginning of the Tang Dynasty should not have been like this.
The power of Tian Khan is getting stronger and stronger, and the people's hearts are the simplest, but the lives of the villagers have not changed much.
Zhang Yang left this village and walked to another village. Every time he visited a house, he gave them the seeds in his hand.
After sending out another packet of seeds, Shangguan Yi finally couldn't help but asked, "Even if the county marquis gives them the seeds, they won't plant them."
"I know that under the strict requirements of the township and county on food, the county will not let the excess farmland be used to grow vegetables."
As the saying goes, under this situation of involution among counties, vegetable planting and poultry breeding have been unable to develop in a high-pressure environment.
As Shangguan Yi said, if the ideas above do not change, it will be difficult for the villages and counties below to change.
It was already evening when we returned to Lishan. Zhang Yang returned home and was in a bad mood.
Li Yue asked curiously: "What did your husband do today? He seems to be in a low mood."
She took out a piece of paper with three characters written crookedly on it. This was her daughter's name, Zhang Qingqing.
The characters are large and the handwriting is very ugly.
Zhang Yang looked back at his daughter. She was eating the mutton roasted by her aunt with great satisfaction. She had been thinking about barbecue for a long time.
The younger brothers and sisters were still grilling meat, and in the quiet Lishan Mountain there was only the sound of little bears swimming in the pool.
Speaking of which, my daughter is only over two years old and will be three this year.
Being able to write your own name is already amazing.
The daughter-in-law has very high demands on her daughter.
Zhang Yang drank tea and said, "My daughter is really talented."
"Where does the talent come from? She just followed what was written. It would be impossible for her to write it alone. It would be like drawing a picture."
"Today I went to visit the villages and counties near our Lishan Mountain, and I got a glimpse of the hidden phenomena behind the Central Plains' grain harvest. Although I can't generalize, I think it's time to change..."
Listening to my husband talk about what he saw and heard during today's trip.
Li Yue whispered: "As my husband said, the situation in one place cannot be generalized, but when towns and counties compete for credit, it is not uncommon for other places to be like this."
Food is the first priority for the people, food is the top priority, people's livelihood belongs to the people, and food belongs to food.
We cannot kill people’s livelihood just by blindly planting more than one and a half acres of land.
Overcorrecting will stifle crop diversification.
In the library pavilion, there are piles of files placed. Looking at the huge charts, except for the drought in the Central Plains from the second to the third year of Zhenguan, the grain dropped sharply. The grain harvest did not pick up until the fifth year of Zhenguan.
Since the sixth year of Zhenguan, food has become abundant in the Central Plains.
A memorial written by Zhang Yang was based on the purpose of diversifying the planting of crops, increasing the circulation of food crops from the north to the south and encouraging villagers to raise their own free-range chickens and ducks.
At least in this prosperous age, it shouldn’t be difficult for ordinary villagers to eat chicken and duck eggs.
This is the most basic nutritional requirement for people besides meat.
Zhang Yang wrote in the memorial, "For everyone in the Tang Dynasty to have richer dishes on their dining tables, for the children of villagers everywhere to thrive, so that the elderly can no longer share food with the young, so that the children can be more Health, so that the needs for growth and physical strength can be better supplemented. Your Majesty, please give Taifu Temple the right to adjust crops and relax the restrictions on acres. However, if you have any measures, please ask the Ministry of Education for approval..."
Then he continued to write the reasons and his own experiences in the sequel of the memorial, and a memorial of more than 300 words was completed.
Zhang Yang read it again. This was the first time in all his years as an official that he had written a memorial with so many words.
Whether he is the Vice Minister of Zhongshu or the Minister of Rites, this is the most serious time he has ever been an official.
This position in Taifu Temple has to be certified, and there are teachers to teach and manage the dining tables of the Tang Dynasty. How can we relax and underestimate this kind of thing.
Putting down the pen in his hand, Zhang Yang looked out the window. The night was already dark.
Li Yue soaked her feet in hot water and looked at the book in her hand quietly.
"Daughter-in-law, I seem to be able to see what I will look like in my old age."
Li Yue chuckled and said: "As long as your husband does not get involved in the power struggle in the court, this is fine. You can still take care of your daughter in your free time."
Xiao Qingqing was sitting with her short legs crossed, looking solemnly at the new puzzle piece in front of her. This was her next challenge.
