Liao Wenchang sat on the carriage and left Shanyin County, passing through Yingzhou, Wuli Village, Xi'an Fort, Huairen County, and Xiami Village. As he walked, his face became more and more ugly.
Wherever he passed, most of the fields were planted with jade and wheat, and some fields were planted with crops he was unfamiliar with.
And unlike Taiyuan Prefecture where production is either reduced or the fields are abandoned every year, the land here is covered with green and lush grain.
Regardless of whether it is corn, wheat or other crops he is not familiar with, they are all food in his eyes.
With food, the people will have something to eat, as long as the people will not starve to death. In other words, whoever gives the people a bite to eat, the people will sell their lives to whomever.
Walking along the way from Shanyin County, he found that the place under Liu Thief's rule did not see the destruction that should be caused by the chaos at all. Instead, there was a vibrant scene everywhere.
If this kind of scene happened in Taiyuan Mansion or other places in the Ming Dynasty, he would be happy, but it happened that a place under the rule of a group of bandits had such a situation where the people were peaceful and the grain was abundant.
This may be a good thing for the people in Xuanda and other places, but it is not a good thing for the Ming Dynasty, because it means that the people's support has turned against the rebel bandits entrenched in Xuanda.
As a Ming minister, the last thing he wants to see is such a situation, which means that it will become more difficult for Ming to regain Xuanda in the future.
"Captain Yan, along the way, you have planted a lot of jade and wheat. Although the growth seems to be very good, after all, no one has ever planted it. You let the people plant so much jade and wheat. If the harvest is not good, then the harvest will be bad." The people will starve and suffer." Liao Wenguang sat in the carriage and talked to the captain of the Tiger Flag Cavalry who was riding outside the carriage.
Along the way, he got to know the other person a lot, and found out that the other person's surname was Yan and that he was a captain, so he called him Captain Yan.
Captain Yan glanced at the jade and wheat on both sides of the road and said with a smile: "Jade and wheat are a rare thing for you. In our Tiger Banner, they have been planted on a large scale for a long time, and the harvest is higher than ordinary cereals. , now it’s just being promoted in Xuan Da.”
"Is it really higher than the wheat harvest?" Liao Wenguang's eyes lit up.
Captain Yan said proudly: "How can you lie to me? If the harvest is not good, how can my general vigorously promote it and let the people grow jade and wheat?"
"How much more grain can be harvested?" Liao Wenguang asked.
Captain Yan glanced at him and said: "I don't know very well. The people in the specific harvest agriculture department know best, but I am a military commander and I am not very interested in this kind of thing."
Liao Wenguang looked disappointed.
Although he didn't know whether the other party was hiding it from him on purpose or if he really didn't know, one thing he could be sure of was that the harvest from growing jade and wheat would definitely not be less than that from wheat.
"Consultant Liao is so concerned about jade and wheat. Could it be that he wants to promote the cultivation of jade and wheat in Taiyuan Prefecture?" Captain Yan suddenly asked.
When asked, Liao Wenguang chuckled and nodded, saying: "I have this idea. The weather has been bad in the past few years. If I can give the people an extra mouthful of food, maybe one more life can be saved."
"It's good to think about it, but it's a pity that it won't succeed." Captain Yan curled his lips.
After hearing this, Liao Wenguang asked curiously: "Since jade and wheat can have a good harvest, it is natural to promote jade and wheat. I believe that General Liu is by no means such a narrow-minded person and only allows his tiger-character flag to promote jade and wheat." , and don’t allow others to do the same.”
"Don't worry, as long as it is good for the people, my general will not stop anything, but will support it." Captain Yan defended Liu Heng.
Liao Wenguang said in confusion: "Since General Liu has no objection, why do you say that my promotion of Yumai to Taiyuan Prefecture cannot be successful?"
In his opinion, as long as the Liu thief does not cause trouble, he can declare that the Councilor of the Political Envoy wants to promote jade and wheat in Taiyuan Prefecture. Not to mention that the entire Taiyuan Prefecture grows jade and wheat, but some states and counties will definitely follow his instructions. Ask to do it.
"Do you know when the land in front of you started to be planted with jade and wheat?" Captain Yan pointed to the fields on both sides of the road.
Liao Wenguang frowned and thought for a while, then said: "The Tiger Flag has always been in Datong. I wanted to come here to plant jade and wheat long ago."
"Wrong." Captain Yan said, "This is the first time that jade and wheat are planted here. If my general hadn't taken over Datong Prefecture and divided the fields among the people, there would have been so many people planting jade and wheat. I'm afraid it's hard to see now. Most of the ones that arrive are wheat."
"Have you, General Liu, distributed all these fields to the people?" Liao Wenguang heard another piece of news from the other party's words that made him panic.
Captain Yan nodded and said: "Why not divide the fields? Since my general has captured Datong, he can't watch the people starve to death. You have to know that the food we eat is all grown by the people from the fields with hard work. .”
"You are robbing other people's land by doing this. Aren't you afraid of offending the local wealthy gentry?" Liao Wenguang felt incredible.
Captain Yan sneered: "Which squire from Datong dares to stop the division of land? It depends on whether he has a tough neck or my general's sharp knife."
hiss!
Liao Wenguang took a breath of cold air.
When he was in Taiyuan Prefecture, he also heard about Liu Thief's move to allocate land in Datong. However, he thought that Liu Thief was robbing and annexing other people's land for his own family. He would not offend too many wealthy squire families. After all, Liu Thief was not It is possible to make the entire Datong land their own.
But he never expected that Thief Liu would be so courageous. Not only did he not protect the local squire family, but he also robbed the property of the squire family and distributed it to ordinary people.
All the worries I had before were now gone.
Offending the local wealthy gentry is tantamount to destroying the foundation. Even if Liu Thief is proud for a while, in his opinion, it will be destroyed sooner or later.
The rioters are the rioters after all. They cannot stand on the stage and do not know the importance of the people's hearts.
Captain Yan on horseback naturally could not guess what Liao Wenguang was thinking.
However, even if he knew, he wouldn't take it seriously.
He had seen a lot of the Ming Dynasty officials' idea that the people's hearts were those of the wealthy squires. However, General Liu said that the people's hearts were all the people in the world, including these wealthy gentry families, but the people at the bottom who had a large base were more important.
Therefore, he didn't care at all if the wealthy squire households in Datong Prefecture were unhappy about their land being allocated to higher prices. As long as the majority of the people were happy, that was enough.
"By the way, you haven't made it clear why Yumai can't be promoted in Taiyuan Prefecture?" Liao Wenguang didn't intend to say anything more about Liu Thief's self-destructive behavior. He was more concerned about Yumai's affairs.
In any case, he believes that he can be regarded as a conscientious official who can change the planting of crops to give the people more harvests. He is not averse to doing such a beneficial and cost-effective thing.
