After rebirth, I went from a peasant girl to the richest man

"I have a plan here, I hope it can help Master Wen!"

Jiangzhou will be where everyone lives in the future. If this kind of chaos continues for a long time, it will be detrimental to everyone's stable life.

"Please enlighten me, Miss Bai!"

Wen Zhao was very humble and did not show any disrespect towards Bai Qingyun because of his status or age.

But Wen Zhao himself knew clearly that the princess's handwritten letter clearly stated that if it was Miss Bai's opinion, he must take it to heart.

When he saw this sentence for the first time, Wen Zhao thought to himself: Am I crazy or is the princess crazy?

How could a peasant girl, who was not even an adult yet, be able to compare with me, an official who had served for many years?

Although Her Royal Highness the Princess is young, she has foresight, which is the result of her careful education in the palace.

And because of the favor he had done him, Wen Zhao could only keep the doubt in his heart.

But Bai Qingyun's next words completely dispelled Wen Zhao's doubts.

"Jiangzhou is located in the southeast. Compared with Pingcheng next door, the land is fertile, and compared with Bingzhou next door, the area is wider. But even in such a place, the annual harvest is not as good as those of the two prefectures. Do you know why, Prefect Wen?"

After hearing this, Wen Zhao sighed deeply.

"How could I not know! Although Jiangzhou is not as rich as Jiangnan, it has many rivers and the land along the rivers is fertile. However, farming is more dependent on the weather."

"When the rainy season comes, the rivers swell and the land along the way is flooded. But it was already past the planting season, and many crops were submerged by water at that time."

"We managed to salvage some rice, but there was little rain in the fall, the riverbed dried up, the land was without water, and the crops lost nutrition. The rice ears were thin and dry, so the harvest was naturally not high."

The rivers here are all intricate and the riverbeds are not deep.

When the rainy season comes, the water will naturally rise and spread to the farmland. Although rice likes water, long-term accumulation of water will cause root rot. At the same time, the nutrients in the soil will be diluted, which will also reduce rice production and quality.

When the dry season comes, there is no water in the riverbed, which also affects the growth of crops.

As a result, the harvest will naturally not be high.

"Master Wen, have you ever thought about building a canal that runs through the entire Jiangzhou?"

Wen Zhao was shocked by Bai Qingyun for a moment.

"Canal? No! This is a costly project. Although Dazhao is no longer invaded by foreign enemies, it still faces internal troubles."

"Let's not talk about Bingzhou first. There are still a lot of people in Jiangzhou who need to be resettled. How can they have the energy to dig a canal?"

Wen Zhao waved his hands repeatedly, rejecting Bai Qingyun's idea.

Bai Qingyun was not in a hurry. He slowly drank a sip of tea to moisten his throat before continuing.

"I wonder if you have ever heard of work-for-relief?"

Seeing Wen Zhao looking at her with confusion, Bai Qingyun continued speaking without waiting for Wen Zhao to answer.

"There is no construction in general because the court has regulations that emphasize local production."

The imperial court deliberately suppressed commerce, attached importance to agricultural production, and ensured Dazhao's annual grain harvest.

Otherwise, the people would know how to make money by doing business, and would switch from farming to business. Without people to grow crops, the people of Dazhao and the soldiers on the front line...

These people rely on purchasing food from neighboring countries, which is tantamount to putting their lifeline in the hands of the enemy.

Whether Dazhao lives or dies is no longer up to the Wei family.

"But now, the thing that Jiangzhou lacks the most is the people! If my guess is correct, Lord Wen will plan to open the granaries and release grain in a few days, right?"

Now that His Majesty is seriously ill and the court is in chaos, it is definitely impossible to wait for Wei Xi to stabilize the situation in the capital in the short term.

But the people who fled to Jiangzhou could not wait until that time.

If Wen Zhao and others waited until Wei Xi ascended the throne to deal with the matter, the people of Jiangzhou would surely be filled with resentment at that time.

"Yes, the food from several nearby granaries has already started to be distributed, and it should arrive at Jiangzhou City in the next two days."

"But Lord Wen is also worried. If most of these people are lazy and like to eat, it would be a waste to feed them with all this food!"

The prefect of Jiangzhou had experienced ups and downs in officialdom, but this was the first time he heard Bai Qingyun speak so bluntly.

But I have to say, it does sound great.

As he is an official, it is not easy for him to say this explicitly, but Bai Qingyun has no worries and is the best mouthpiece at this moment.

Every time the court provides disaster relief, various incidents occur and the people blame the court for doing nothing, but sometimes it is difficult for officials to do their job.

The granary is not a bottomless pit; there will always be a day when it is empty.

In the past, all the government had to do was to find ways to keep the people alive and prevent them from starving to death. One or two meals of thick porridge a day were already good enough.

Occasionally, when there are people being recruited in the city, we will do our best to arrange them, but most of these people are craftsmen.

The people saw no way out and could only eat and wait to die, thinking that the government would distribute food to them every day.

These are still considered good. Those desperate criminals gather together, kill and rob in the dark of night, and pretend to be good citizens during the day. The government can't do anything to them!

What happened in Dayang Village that night is nothing new in the Jiangzhou area and happens from time to time.

If the Bai family did not have the means to protect themselves, the people who disappeared silently from this world would be from Dayang Village.

"The government should use work instead of relief. It should not waste people's money to build water conservancy projects. The people outside the city are ready-made labor. But in the past, the government paid people in silver every day when hiring them to work. Now, they can exchange it for food!"

Twelve and Wen Zhao were listening the whole time, and when Bai Qingyun got to the key point, they suddenly understood!

"Please tell me in detail, Miss Bai!"

If the previous doubts were buried deep in his heart, Wen Zhao would now only have admiration for Bai Qingyun without the slightest doubt.

I have recently discussed this for a long time with my subordinates and county magistrates, but none of them has found a more effective method than this.

Bai Qingyun was just a seven-year-old peasant girl, how could she come up with such a brilliant plan!

If the princess had not stated in the letter that the Bai family's actions must be concealed, Wen Zhao really wanted to bring Bai Qingyun in front of that group of people in official robes who only knew how to frown and give them a slap in the face!

"Jiangzhou has many water areas, and it is not difficult to connect these scattered water areas. The difficulty lies in deepening the riverbed to ensure the water storage of the river, which requires a large amount of manpower..."

"In the early stages, we can divide the manpower into different types of work. There must be carpenters and blacksmiths among these refugees. We can build houses on some high ground along the way as temporary resettlement areas..."

"At the same time, we must establish an assessment system to allocate farmland to those people with outstanding performance. As for those who are cunning and treacherous, Lord Wen can make free arrangements!"

Bai Qingyun didn't say much, he just provided a general idea. He believed that Wen Zhao would definitely gather people together to discuss the details later.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!"

"This method can not only resettle the people, but also help them live in Jiangzhou in the future. It's really killing two birds with one stone!"

"No! Kill two birds with one stone!"

"I'll notify them right away and we'll have a meeting at the government office tonight!"

After saying that, he ran out excitedly, but turned back halfway.

"Oh~ Miss Bai, please sit down for a moment~"

"Master Wen, please go and do your work. I have Twelve by my side, so you don't have to worry!"

The governor of a state was already busy, and it was difficult for him to chat with a little girl like her for such a long time.