Ning Chen Ling Xiao

The season of spring plowing is coming soon, and Ling Xiao only discovered the weakness of agriculture in the north when he intervened in farming recently.

"But as far as irrigation is concerned, why are human waterwheels still being used now?!" Ling Xiao looked at last year's taxes and had a headache. Some don’t even have waterwheels.”

Liang Qiujie, the official in charge of this area, immediately came forward and said: "Lingxiang doesn't know, this animal-powered waterwheel is good, and the imperial court allocated money to build it, but it must be done if the farmer has livestock at home. …The north is not as rich as the imperial city and the south is rich, so it is not easy to popularize it.”

At this time, Ling Xiao could see more clearly the difference between pointing out the country in the imperial city and doing practical work in the local area. In the imperial city, the ministers summed up and thought it was a good thing. It would be enough to report it to the emperor and get a big seal. As far as irrigation is concerned, which one has really done it, the officials or the emperor?No need to do it, not even a field trip.

Ling Xiao thought about it in his heart, thought for a while and said: "This year is the first year for the prince to take office, and he must make achievements..."

Ling Xiao looked at the situation of last year's harvest and said: "Irrigation with animal-powered water trucks must be popularized within three years. This will free up a lot of manpower, and the people will have more energy to go to work after freeing manpower. develop wasteland."

"Develop the wasteland?"

Ling Xiao nodded: "Yes, to develop wasteland, yesterday I counted the arable land and arable wasteland in the fiefdom, the northern part is vast and sparsely populated, and there are so many arable wastelands, but only a few thousand acres are developed every year. That means there is a serious shortage of manpower.”

Liang Qiujie hesitated for a while: "Lingxiang is right, but in the end it is still a matter of money. This is what the common people can earn from farming. In the end, there is no spare money to buy it. This is the same thing."

"So that's what I'm talking about." Ling Xiao said in a deep voice, "The first one, the tax paid to the prince this year will be exempted, and the farmers only need to pay the royal tax. The second one, the imperial court allocated it for the construction of waterwheels The money still needs to be used. According to other people’s statistics, those who have livestock will build animal-powered waterwheels for them, and those who do not have livestock will deposit this money in the treasury first. Explain clearly to him that the family will buy it within three years. If the animals get up, the money will be given to him, otherwise it will be confiscated in three years."

"Third article..." Ling Xiao paused, and continued, "I checked, and now the money to be paid to the public for reclaiming wasteland is two taels of silver per mu. The farmer's family is already poor. When will he pay the two taels of silver? Can you save enough? In the next three years, all those who reclaim wasteland in my fief will receive half of the silver, and one tael of silver is enough."

The clerk on one side wrote down all the three items Ling Xiao said, and his subordinates couldn't help trembling. If Ling Xiang could really implement these three items...it would be a great blessing to the people.

The officials in the council hall glanced at each other, and couldn't help saying: "Mr. Ling... If this is the case, the taxes collected by the prince this year will not be much, and they can only be collected from merchants. It will also be affected in the next two years. The prince may promise?"

"I have already discussed with the prince before discussing the politics. The prince has a compassionate heart. He immediately agreed to such a thing that is beneficial to the people." Ling Xiao made it up. He is now the leader of the fief. Ling Xiao brought Chu Yifeng out when he raised an objection. In fact, what he said was correct. Chu Yifeng would definitely agree to the decision he made. What difference does it make if you don't ask?

All the officials felt sorry for each other, and they thought about what you decided all morning, how could you tell the prince in advance?Do you think everyone is stupid?But no one dared to speak out. Chu Yifeng didn't say anything when Ling Xiao dismissed the three officials in a fit of anger a few days ago, and now he probably agrees. This one is favored now.

"My lords, what else do you want to say?" Ling Xiaofeng raised his eyes slightly and smiled, "It's good to have something to say. Now you and I are working for the prince. Maybe everyone should work together and brainstorm every day to discuss politics."

Liang Qiujie hesitated for a moment, stepped forward and said: "If these three policies of Prime Minister Ling are implemented, it will really benefit the people and the country, but... the officials are afraid that it will not be easy to promote it. There is a large population in the fief. First of all, the prince can really Do you accept so many tax reductions? Now the farmer’s tax is [-] per [-] taxes, if you don’t pay taxes to the prince, it will be [-] per [-] taxes, and what the prince loses at once is [-]/[-] of the rice grain in the fief.”

What he said just now is so deadly, this person dares to say that... Ling Xiao chuckled, this Liang Qiujie seems to be a useful talent, at least he really wants to do something, Ling Xiao smiled gently: "Liang Don't worry, my lord, what I just said is true, the prince has already agreed."

Liang Qiujie looked at Ling Xiao suspiciously, nodded and continued: "There is also the matter of building an animal-powered water truck. Prime Minister Ling wants to withhold the money first, and those who have livestock will allocate water trucks, and if they don't, they will replace it." In order to save this amount of money, the lower officials thought it would be better to build human-powered waterwheels for farmers without livestock, wouldn’t it be better?”

As soon as many officials agreed with this statement, Ling Xiao smiled: "Liang Qiujie is really thinking about the common people. I have thought about this too, but I want to keep this money instead, and make it clear that I will still raise the money after three years." Those who can’t afford livestock will confiscate this money, just to stimulate the people to buy livestock. Now there is no point in using this money to build human-powered waterwheels for them. What? As I said, animal-powered waterwheels must be popularized within three years, and this must be done.”

Liang Qiujie was thoughtful, and Ling Xiao stood up and said in a deep voice: "To put it bluntly, the first two of these three policies are for the third service. Our ultimate goal is that the people can collect more food and get more food. To pay taxes to the country, we need to open up more wasteland and grow more grain.”

"The requisition of grain for the imperial city cannot be moved, so we will not collect it in the fief. Let the farmers save more grain. If they save more, they will have enough money to buy livestock and wasteland."

"My lords also have Zhuang Zi, who naturally knows that it is acceptable for farmers to pay the state [-] taxes after a year of hard work, but how much should the tenants who have no land pay to the landlord? It can be as little as five taxes, and as much as two taxes. one!"

The officials were a little embarrassed, but Ling Xiao ignored them. He didn’t have a Zhuangzi in Beidi, so what was he afraid of? Ling Xiao continued: “I don’t believe that the tenants are willing to give half of the rent and are unwilling to open up wasteland by themselves. It’s just that there is no money. Now that the money is reduced by half, the tenants will naturally know what to do."

Ling Xiao had no intention of offending the interests of the nobles, and said indifferently: "With this policy, the tenants will not open up too much wasteland. After all, reclaiming wasteland is also a skill. Although a tael of silver per mu is cheap, it is not so easy for farmers to take it out. It’s just to let them collect more rations, and it will definitely not hurt the interests of the landlords.”

Liang Qiujie thought about it for a while, and said again: "It's very good, but... I'm still worried about the prince's side..."

Coming back again, Ling Xiao smiled: "Don't worry, my lords, the prince has already agreed, and the prince will issue a seal when he comes back from the army at noon. I understand that everyone is afraid of hurting the prince. I promise, follow this policy." , after three years, the fiefdom will only receive more food."

Ling Xiao had already figured it out in his heart, how could he do a loss-making business, it's just that the speed of getting back the money was a bit slower.

All the officials nodded and said yes, Ling Xiao explained a few more words and then left.

After Chu Yifeng came back at noon, Ling Xiao told Chu Yifeng about it when they were having dinner. Chu Yifeng heard it in a daze, half understanding and half understanding, and nodded: "Just do what you think is good."

Ling Xiao smiled: "I knew you had to agree. It took me a lot of effort to discuss with those people in the morning. Next time, if there is any big event, I will let you go too. They will think that I am over the line."

"It's okay, who dares to blame you." Chu Yifeng smiled, "Although I don't understand what you said, I know that what you said is very good, just like when I first started training soldiers, it didn't matter if I spent so long training him I feel, but looking at it a year later, the effect will come out slowly.”

Ling Xiao nodded and smiled: "It's still Feng'er who understands. It is much more transparent than those civil servants in front of me. After all, they are still afraid of hurting their own interests. In fact, I still don't know how to move this part." Ling Xiao is not so naive, rashly The result of advancing the relationship of production over productivity is bound to be failure. Ling Xiao just wants to do his best to make political achievements for Chu Yifeng in the fief. In a short period of time, Chu Yifeng will gain prestige in the fief, but these achievements will be in the future. The meaning is great.

Chu Yifeng felt happy when Ling Xiao praised him, he put a piece of bacon in Ling Xiao's bowl, and said with a smile, "I tasted this delicious food, is it also made by our cook?"

"No." Ling Xiao tasted a little and smiled, "Didn't you say that porridge in the morning was tasteless last time? I thought that the venison smoked by a recipe I saw before was delicious, so I asked them to follow that recipe. Grabbed spices and medicinal materials, only the tenderloin was picked out when smoking, and the meat was broken up and marinated with the back of a knife, so that the meat is soft and marinated, and this is the smell that comes out of the smoke."

Ling Xiao also picked up a piece for Chu Yifeng, and said with a smile: "When it's smoked today, it will be served first. If you like it, then let them make it for breakfast. This is good for porridge."

Chu Yifeng nodded: "It's delicious. From now on, we'll eat this in the morning, and we don't need to make ham and sausage, it's too greasy."

"Well, I'll come back and tell them."

Chu Yifeng simply picked up a lot of bacon and mixed it with the rice in a bowl. After a while, he picked up two bowls of rice. Ling Xiao looked at it funny: "What's wrong with it, that's what you like to eat."

Chu Yifeng smiled foolishly, and after a while the two of them finished eating, Ling Xiao called someone in to clear the table, then followed what Chu Yifeng had just said, and took him by the hand to go inside: "Don't go to the army this afternoon, Go to military training all day, do you see which prince is like you? No matter how busy you are, I will give you the salary."

Chu Yifeng also knew that he was a bit too busy recently, so he smiled and said, "You know, I like training soldiers..."

Ling Xiao pulled him to sit down, took the small cup of hawthorn sauce he had made, took a small silver spoon, dug a few spoonfuls of sauce into the tea cup, and poured the simmering hot water into the tea cup In the middle, he stirred it with a silver spoon and handed it to Chu Yifeng: "I made this with wild honey, it tastes better than before, try it."

Chu Yifeng's appetite is so good, Ling Xiao is always afraid that he will not digest well after meals and hurt his stomach, so he has to coax him to digest with some hawthorns after meals every day at noon and evening. Fortunately, Chu Yifeng also likes the taste of these sweet and sour snacks .

Chu Yifeng held the small teacup and greedily smelled the sweet and sour aroma washed out by the hot water. He couldn't wait to taste the hot air. Ling Xiao rubbed his forehead and said, "I wanted to discuss it with you a long time ago. Now we are in The fief doesn’t need to work so hard, so there are still so many officials, as long as there is no major event, we will work in the morning and rest after a while, okay?”

Chu Yifeng thought about it carefully, now the military affairs are about the same, and besides Lu Weishan, Chu Yifeng nodded and smiled: "Sure, I'll listen to you."

"You're really obedient." Ling Xiao smiled, hugged Chu Yifeng and waited for him to drink up, "Lie down for a while?"

Chu Yifeng nodded: "Lie down for a while."

Ling Xiao didn't have the habit of taking a nap at first, but after being with Chu Yifeng, Ling Xiao paid more and more attention to the way of keeping in good health. After lunch every day, he would lie down with Chu Yifeng for a while, and the two of them would cuddle up and talk warm for a while if they couldn't sleep. Words, quietly enjoy the peace of two people.