The 15th day of July will arrive soon.

In the Qi County Yamen, Chen Shuren set up dozens of simple banquets to entertain officials from various counties and gentry with great reputations.

Everyone knows that Lord Tongzhi is going to talk about military rations and tax exemptions today.

Fortunately, those gentry have already united around Yuan Zhongyi, who has a backstage, and have figured out how to argue with the government and engage in "non-violent non-cooperation".

In the evening, Yuan Zhongyi and dozens of gentry came to the county government on time.

"Zhao's parents, magistrate Jiang, are you fine. You are really diligent and loving the people. I heard that the new Shen Tongzhi is young, so you have to worry about them a lot."

When he saw Zhao Yunfan and Jiangcheng, Yuan Zhongyi was not surprised and got close to them.

His distant uncle was a former Taoist and a fourth-rank official. He defeated Ma Shouying in Huangzhou. Although he had been transferred, his remaining power was still there. As the spokesperson of the Yuan family in Jiangxi, he did not have to be cautious in front of the magistrates.

Seeing this, Jiang Cheng was a little timid for a moment, and seemed to recall the days when he was suppressed by Yuan Daotai.

Zhao Yunfan was obviously more backbone, and said seriously with his waist, "Young Master Yuan, don't deceive the young master of the Tongzhi. He is a real Jinshi in the two lists, and he is really capable of governing, otherwise he would not have been valued by the Ministry of Personnel in an extraordinary manner.

For today's matter, please restrain all the companies and put the overall situation first. I will try my best to deal with it, at least to take care of both of you."

After hearing this, Yuan Zhongyi felt a little unhappy.

But Zhao Yunfan is a good official and is cautious in his work. When Yuan Jixian was the Hubei military preparation road, Zhao Yunfan worked hard to help raise logistics, so Yuan Zhongyi did not care about him for the time being.

"It seems that this Chen Shuren has some skills. Zhao Yunfan was impressed so quickly. He couldn't be proud of it for a while. I heard that Chen Shuren is very young and has rich family. He should be the one who spends money to get the job." Yuan Zhongyi thought to himself.

The guests arrived soon, and the Shen Shuren appeared just in time. The officials and gentry hurriedly greeted him.

Chen Shuren said a few words of scenes and then announced the banquet.

Everyone was nervous and always hoped that Tongzhi would first make clear the price so that they could eat and drink with peace of mind. But Chen Shuren insisted on not saying it, so they had to be unwilling to eat.

However, Yuan Zhongyi and others soon noticed the abnormality.

The table surface tonight looked very simple, and the wine was very thin and turbid wine, almost fermented glutinous rice.

Vegetables are mainly vegetables. Local lotus roots and taro have been made in different ways. The only meat dishes are just a chicken and a fish.

The number of chickens is relatively small, and there are only one chicken per table. There are more fish, and there are several fish on each table, so I cooked several flavors in a different way.

In fact, this is no longer bad in the year of disaster, but it is quite different from the lifestyles of those high-ranking blood-sucking gentry. Originally, when other officials were to be entrusted, they would have asked for a better job.

"What's the medicine sold in this gourd? Could it be that you pretend to be poor and cry, and force us to donate more or less rent? Forget it, then we pretend to be poor, just pretend that we can't even eat these chickens and fish at home!"

The gentry led by Yuan Zhongyi thought so, so they pretended to grab the chicken ribs and chew them very much, and then carefully picked up the fish and tasted them carefully with chopsticks.

In fact, they also wanted to pretend to eat fish and eat voraciously, but aren’t they afraid that they will be pierced by fish bones and they have to settle for the second best.

"This chicken is so dry and doesn't have any chewyness. It's like eating bean dregs. How can there be such a chicken in the world?"

After taking a bite of chicken ribs, Yuan Zhongyi's face collapsed involuntarily. His family had never eaten such a stupid and fibrous chicken. It was unexpected that it would naturally reveal flaws.

Most other gentry were like this, and they all showed a bad look after they were in their mouths. Then they realized that they should pretend to be delicious and pretend to be poor.

They were afraid of showing flaws, and after tasting, they all secretly looked up and observed the Shenshuren. However, they saw that the Shenshuren also shared the joys and sorrows with the people, and they also ate this kind of chicken and fish, and they did not make it special. Moreover, when the Shenshuren ate this kind of chicken, their expression was very calm, with only a hint of relief, and they did not seem to be disgusted with meat.

"This Shenshu Ren is good at Kung Fu. I heard that he is the richest family in Suzhou. Even such a terrible chicken can be eaten without changing his face." The gentry's impression of him was slightly changed.

However, although the chicken was unpalatable, everyone soon discovered another benefit of this strange chicken - the meat on the chicken ribs was really thick.

Everyone quickly remedyed the poor and praised them:

"In ancient times, Yang Dezu said that chicken ribs are 'tasteless, and it's a pity to throw them away'. This is outdated today. The breast meat on the chicken ribs is really thick enough. How much meat does this chicken have?"

"If it weren't for Lord Tongzhi's place, we wouldn't have seen this kind of fatty and delicious food in our entire life!"

As we ate, everyone seemed to make up for the unpleasant expressions they showed when they first ate Indian chicken, and their eating habits became increasingly ugly.

After the chickens were finished, they began to eat fish in a concentrated manner, and they also pretended to be voracious.

At first, people were afraid of being stuck by fish bones, so they were careful when acting, but after eating a few more bites, they soon found that the meat of this fish was thick and had only big ribs, which was not as small as other crucian carp.

So everyone's acting skills became even more exaggerated. In a short while, they ate all the tilapia on the table, and even the fish soup was left. The tilapia tasted good, not just the portion but no taste like the Indian chicken just now.

Chen Shuren waited for everyone to eat almost the same food before he started talking about serious matters.

He first smiled and said indirectly: "Everyone, you are all decent people who are ranked among the counties in Huangzhou. I have long known that you have a good time.

However, in the year of great disaster, even His Majesty saved money in the capital, allowing all the civil and military to overcome difficulties together. My official treats him to the guests, so he has to use these more productive chickens and fish to make excuses.

I saw it just now. Everyone looked embarrassed when they ate this new chicken, but I told you a message: the meat production of this kind of chicken is higher than that of the native chickens, and the growth time is much shorter, so it can also be raised freely. Ordinary tenant farmers have a little raising three or five, and they don’t have to worry about the feed. It’s enough to let the chickens look for insects and worms on their own.

As for this fish, everyone knows that its meat is delicious, thick and has few thorns. It can grow in just five months from the fish roe production.

These are all good varieties entrusted by the official to trade with overseas red barbarian merchants by the General Zheng of Fujian Haigong. The origin can be traced back to the farthest place Zheng He had visited the West. These fish can adapt to slightly salty water, but cannot survive completely in the sea for a long time.

I got it back thousands of miles away, but I had to transport the tamasu water from the bamboo step together. The tamasu water was replaced twice by Tianzhu and Manraga. It was hard to come by for more than half a year.

However, today, this official wants to raise military rations for Liu Xiyao and Lin Yangcheng, so he gives you a chance. Whoever can respond to the call of the court better will give priority to these good varieties for them in the future.

In addition, I also brought red potatoes and corn that have been introduced in many places in Fujian. I think there are few people growing this place in Huguang, so I will help people to the end.”

The "Bamboo Step" mentioned by Chen Shuren is the "Juba" city in Somalia, East Africa in later generations. The transliteration of Zheng He's voyage to the West was still "Bamboo Step".

Lord Tongzhi proposed such generous conditions, and some gentry who were more active in understanding the benefits of introducing new species were immediately shaken.

If we can breed high-yield crops in the future, we will give up some rent in the past two years or give more military rations to the government. In general, we will still make a profit.

As for those crops native to the Red Barbarians, although there are them in Fujian, most of these local gentry are not able to organize fleets to purchase goods in Fujian. Shenshu people save them trouble, so why not take a step back and strive for a win-win situation?

For a moment, many gentry began to take the initiative to inquire, wanting to test Chen Shuren's request: "I don't know how to cooperate with Master Tongzhi."

Shen Shuren was not polite, and finally saw the dagger. He stretched out two fingers:

"I don't want many officials. Now Huangzhou is still fighting against the bandits, and the imperial court does not need Huangzhou to pay taxes. This official only collects four dou of military rations per mu of land to fight against Liu Xiyao and others.

In addition, in the past month and a half, this official has organized the newly affiliated refugees to restore the settlement and replant the farms abandoned due to the escape of the gentry. The specific amount of this kind of land has been registered. I hope you will claim that any registered land will not be allowed to collect rent from farmers within two years. These farmers will only bear the military rations of the government!

In addition, fighting wars requires not only food, but also military funds, gunpowder, and steel. In addition to paying for food, those who are willing to allocate these military funds will give them priority to chickens, fish, and potatoes."

After his conditions are set, it depends on who supports and who opposes the rest.

Some gentry from Qizhou, Qishui and other counties whispered after hearing the conditions, and soon a group of gentry surrendered. Then, the gentry from Huangmei County also surrendered a little, and they were about to be defeated and spread and disintegrated.

Yuan Zhongyi was very anxious when he saw this and hurriedly spoke out:

"Sir Tongzhi! This is probably unruly. There is no reason why the family leader leaves and the land is temporarily shelved, so that people will not be allowed to come back to collect rent for two years! Even if it is according to the "Da Ming Law" and the Ministry of Revenue for many years, it is unreasonable!

We are not unwilling to donate these buckets of food. If the unruly people who occupy the land do not pay the rent for two years, they will be hard in the future. If they try every means to make trouble, this kind of thing has been happening in ancient times, so we must be careful!

As for levying military funds, it is of course what we should do, so don’t worry about this!"

Yuan Zhongyi did not dare to refuse directly and completely, so he finally used "willing to levy" to block Chen Shuren's mouth. At least they cooperated with the request of Lord Tongzhi.

But in fact, everyone knows that the "gentle levy" in the late Ming Dynasty was like Chongzhen asking court officials to donate money, and it would be enough to give it symbolically in the end.

Yuan Zhongyi was really not short of this food. He was afraid that the poor would recover and that the annexation of land would be even more difficult in the future. Moreover, once the poor gained a foothold, they might become nail households and occupy the land and have other ideas, which would be unfavorable to rule in the future.

Even if Chen Shuren had to sort the promotion of new species according to the amount of donations he had to pay, Yuan Zhongyi was not afraid.

Ordinary squires who have no waterway and trade channels may have to count on the Shenshu people to give them eggs, fish and corn.

But the Yuan family in Jiujiang is a very powerful business in Jiangxi. The wealthy businessmen in Jiujiang and Hukou have all the goods from the entire Ganjiang River Basin, and the southernmost trade range is close to Fujian.

Since Chen Shuren said that these things were also brought back by the Zheng family in Fujian, there was no need for Yuan Zhongyi to be extorted by Chen Shuren! He could have his own inland river merchant fleet to use the Ganjiang inland river trade to get Fujian goods!

Maybe they can be sold to other gentry who are unwilling to cooperate with Chen Shuren, so that they can continue to follow the lead of the Yuan family.

Among the several prefectures at the junction of Huguang and Jiangxi, who doesn’t know that the Yuan family’s fleet is backstage with troops and preparations. They can also get what the Shenshuren can get.

Chen Shuren didn't know his inner psychological activities, but after reading his statement, he knew that this guy was fearless.

He was so angry that he was so angry, but his face was full of sarcastic smile:

"I would like to discuss it today. We can talk about it. We can speak freely. However, Liu Xiyao is now rampant, no more than in previous years. The court has no money in Huangzhou. Wuchang has deployed the Jianghukou Division. The official raised military rations and military funds for everyone's safety. I hope you can do it yourself."
Chapter completed!