"How is the harvest this year?" Shao Shude suddenly walked into a household in the countryside of Shuofang County and asked.
"The weather is good and the weather is good." The farmer's name is Fan Yanbo. In his early years, he went to collect skins from the Dangxiang people to do business. Later, he was robbed and the business went bankrupt, so he returned home to farm. He had seen a little bit of the world, so he faced Jie Shuai.
I don't have too much stage fright.
"Are you happy?" Shao Shude asked.
"Not happy."
"What is unhappiness?"
"There are two people in Dingkou, one in Zhongkou and two in Xiaokou. They cultivate fifty acres of land and harvest seventy dendrobiums of millet every year." Fan Yanbo sighed and said: "The government has to take away more than fifty dendrobiums. The family is hungry and needs spring food.
Flowers, stems are eaten in summer, fruits are eaten in autumn, and fruits are eaten in winter, so as to keep the belly full.”
Shao Shude was silent. It is normal for people of this age not to have sufficient supply of staple food, because all the staple food is used by the generals to feed the army. Like Fan Yanbo's family, they need at least more than 20 husks of dendrobium millet a year to feed the whole family. If
When there is a little bit of corvee work and heavy physical work, you have to supplement nutrition, which consumes even more.
When food was scarce, people ate bran vegetables, fruits, acorn squash, elm leaves, and mulberries. During lean times, these things were even served as staple foods on the table.
As for the sergeants, they are given two husks of food every month, and there are rewards during the New Year and festivals. If the family still has farmland, then the whole family will be well fed throughout the year, and they can often eat meat, and they will have enough money to buy all kinds of things.
Spend with confidence.
The lives of soldiers and civilians are indeed very different!
Shao Shude suddenly remembered that in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong also called on the people of the country to eat bran vegetables half a year and eat more when busy. Food issues have been a focus issue from ancient times to the present. Relying on improved seeds has no real effect, and can only
It can be solved by relying on chemical fertilizers, but it is impossible for us. Now we can only expand the cultivated area to alleviate it, but it cannot completely solve it.
According to people's general consensus, if there is no famine, after three years of farming, there will be a year's surplus of food. Of course, that was in the early days of the country when taxes were lighter. In today's world of vassal towns and frequent wars, farming for three hundred years will not produce enough food.
There was a surplus of food, because the generals raided it fiercely and put all possible resources into the war. Sometimes they even took away the rations that the people needed to survive, leaving the people to fish in the lake.
"I see that your family has five or six acres of garden. You grow some fruits, vegetables, mulberries and dates, and you also raise livestock. You should still have some income." Shao Shude said.
"Commander, a family of five has five pieces of spring clothes for one year old and five winter clothes for two years old. There are also shoes, headscarves, skirts, pants, and socks, which consume a lot." Fan Yanbo said: "This cow,
I bought it for more than 3,400 yuan back then, but it could only be farmed for ten years, which cost more than 300 yuan a year. Oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, bowls, hoes, sickles, and axes all cost money. Three meals a year and two communes.
I also have to help with a bushel of millet and some wine. When I still have free time, I have to cut grass and chop firewood. The officials send people to collect it at any time, but there is no leisure all year round."
This squeeze was quite thorough.
He thought that Fan Yanbo's family was pretty good, and their living standards were probably average. After all, Shuofang County was the first county, and there were rivers close to the city. During the Zhenyuan period, water was diverted for irrigation, so they were not that poor. The really poor ones were those families.
There are not enough households, farmland, and cattle. They can barely cope with the official uniforms and reminders, let alone live a good life.
"Let's go and check out the next house." Shao Shude waved his hand and started walking around the village with his soldiers.
The main burden on farmers is government collection, and the second largest burden is the various activities or social affairs carried out by village elders. If I order to cut down part of the various messy activities of village elders, it should be able to reduce the burden on the people.
Right? The expenses of the activities are mainly borne by farmers. To a certain extent, it has even become a means for village elders to make money.
In addition, you can also find a way to let farmers graze cattle, and the rent will be a nominal fee or even no rent. This is the most immediate way to increase the grain sown area and yield. There are some cattle and sheep in Yinchuan Ranch, but most of them are horses and cattle.
problem, and then think of a solution.
"Why doesn't this family even have any farm tools?" Standing in the yard, Shao Shude asked as he looked at the empty woodshed.
There was only one woman in this family with three children, standing timidly in the corner of the courtyard.
The woman should not be old, but she has done a lot of farm work. Her skin color is darker and rough, her hands are full of calluses, and her clothes are full of patches. The child looks like there is not much flesh on his body, his expression is dull, and he is hiding behind his mother.
He didn't even dare to look at himself.
The soldier quickly went to ask the villagers, and after a while he whispered: "His husband died of illness, and he was just a brother-in-law. They used to live together, but the brother-in-law has been in the army for many years and there has been no news. I don't know whether he is dead or alive."
"Where did you join the army?"
"Seven years ago, I went to Lingzhou to prepare for the autumn. I was severely defeated. I didn't return to the camp. According to people who were traveling with me, I think he died."
"No pension?"
"I was given several bolts of silk."
After a sergeant dies, his family will be given one bushel of food per month for ten years. This is the rule Shao Shude set in Suizhou. Now it seems that Xiazhou does not have this pension.
"Xiazhou also needs to have military farms. The soldiers are fighting on the front line, and the family has to live in such fields. How can they feel at ease?" Shao Shude said: "Give them another five bolts of silk and three huks of millet to make their lives more comfortable."
He can only do this for the time being.
Many sergeants were killed in Xiazhou in the past, and Shao Shude could not reimburse them one by one because of financial constraints. But starting from next year, the construction of military farms in Xiazhou should be put on the agenda. Suizhou Military Farm
This year we have sown more than 1,000 hectares and harvested more than 113,000 hu of grain, as well as a small amount of pasture, fruits, beans, vegetables, and cloth. We have been providing pensions to soldiers killed or disabled in battle to prevent their living standards from plummeting.
Shao Shude knew very well where his power came from. In this era, soldiers were the privileged class, and they could not be treated badly. As for the lives of the people, he slowly figured out how to do it. Free renting of cattle, farm tools, expanding the number of acres of land, etc.
can effectively improve their lives.
Things should be done slowly. Xia Sui, this mess, will always see results as long as he perseveres. If it doesn't work in one year, it will take two years, if it doesn't work in two years, it will take five years. Zhu Wen can recruit refugees and cultivate wasteland on a piece of white land.
Oh, can't I do better than him?
As for Li Keyong, let's not talk about it. This man's military ability is quite good, but his political ability and administrative ability are a mess, and he has no benevolence towards the people. If there are no outsiders to intervene, he will definitely not be able to defeat Zhu Wen.
You don’t know how to farm, but you still want to win?
On the way back to Xiazhou City, Shao Shude stopped in a river valley. As far as he could see, there was a meandering river and endless grassland.
These grasslands have not been developed because they are pastures enclosed by the imperial court. Envoys were once sent to supervise and raise cattle and sheep. Over the past hundred years, the pastures have been poorly managed and internal and external collusion has resulted in theft, and there are not many cattle and sheep left.
There is still readily available land in Xiazhou. The imperial court can't control it too much. In the future, it can safely and boldly cultivate land.
But then he thought of Xia Sui's animal husbandry. This was a large-scale industry. During the Zhenyuan period, there were hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep owned by the imperial court. Now they are basically abandoned, and the only remaining achievements are
Located in Yinchuan Ranch in Yinzhou, it is still tenaciously supplying military horses to the imperial court.
Animal husbandry has great potential, and we cannot just focus on planting. If animal husbandry produces more, it can be exchanged for money, it can produce cloth and leather, and it can also collect less taxes from the people who farm the land.
The four prefectures of Xia and Sui are vast in territory, stretching north to Fengzhou. Now they govern twelve counties (not counting the two counties of Youzhou). After three years of hard work, they only have only 200,000 Han people, which is far from the
To the limit of the land's carrying capacity. Grassland should be another major source of finance and taxation that you should consider, but you need to face the backlash from party members.
In a few days, it’s time to go to Yinchuan Ranch to have a look. General Pei has been in charge of the ranch for many years, and I heard that he has a lot of insights into animal husbandry. I should be able to provide you with some suggestions. By the way, take stock of your assets. This year, Sgt.
Our reward was passed by relying on the eight counties of Fuping. What about next year?
Twenty thousand soldiers were all looking at me eagerly!
