Chapter 2204 Gui Zi Scroll: Start the layout, build the foundation and calm down
Entering February, the weather began to get warmer, and Feng Ziying began to inspect the entire province of Shaanxi.
With the resignation of Lu Chuan as the left chief envoy and the arrival of new left and right chief envoys from the imperial court, 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 envoy to the left of Shaanxi Province. It must be said that it is a rare move.
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It also shows that the court put a lot of thought into selecting this candidate.
Feng Ziying knew Zhao Nanxing, who was considered a township party member of Qi Yongtai, but the two did not have the same political views.
In Feng Ziying's opinion, although Qi Yongtai is upright, 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 came to visit 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 two hours of talking, it was more about 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 clearly and logically about 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 one or two years, and Li Tengfang, the right chief envoy, was the one who would do the actual work.
Li Tengfang was from Xiangtan and a scholar from Huguang. He had long been friends with Chai Ke, Yang Lian, Yang He and others. He used to be the minister of 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 had been basically eliminated through military operations, and more would be done to calm him down.
Going from Beijing to the local government, and not yet serving as the chief envoy to the left, seemed to be a bit derogatory, 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.
If the Chief Envoy himself leaves, then 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.
Moreover, long-term considerations should be taken into consideration, so 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 has to bear for food and salary 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, it will only default on the payment.
Fortunately, the Northwest Army left the Central Plains and this conflict did not intensify rapidly. Otherwise, another Ningxia rebellion would not be impossible.
Feng Ziying tried to persuade Li Tengfang, but to no avail.
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 is already very respectable for me to be patient and 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 is in a fantasy. The yield is several times that of corn and wheat, and the land is not chosen. The irrigation conditions are not as high as that of corn and wheat. How can such a good thing in the world be possible? You
Why not go to heaven?
"Brother Zishi, I know that no matter what I say, you won't believe it, but you should know what Mr. Xuan Hu 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 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 matter 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 will also try planting during the month to see how the harvest is. I suggest you go and take a look. Don't listen to what the officials say. Otherwise, lest you think that I have colluded with them to fool you, you can actually go down and ask the farmers, or 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 now you are acting like this
It really made me a little nervous. I planted potatoes in 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 majority of the land is hilly and mountainous. This is what you
Said?"
Li Tengfang wanted to hold back what he said 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 every 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 himself, 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 making a 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 got really excited, "No matter where you choose, that's what
The best conditions, I see, are only the grass that cattle and sheep eat. But can people eat it? The yield of growing corn and wheat is so low that it can't feed people at all. You said that besides potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn
Is there such a high output?"
"The yield per acre of sweet potatoes should be higher than that of potatoes, but they need to be eaten with potatoes. The taste is sweet, and eating it every day can hurt the stomach and heart. 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 count.
However, through this conversation, Li Tengfang's impression of Feng Ziying became better and better.
Chai Ke's previous introduction made him somewhat 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 formed a strong alliance in fighting the rebellion in Ningxia.
That's why he praised her so much, but he's not the kind of person who just trusts someone's words.
Now that he has been in contact like this, although he is still not sure about many things, if he turns out to be as Feng Ziying said, then Li Tengfang feels that the court made the right decision to choose Feng Ziying, a young man, to come to Shaanxi this time, and he will not hesitate to tell the truth to the court.
Report the situation here and sing praises to Feng Ziying.