The Road to the Imperial Examinations of Farmers in Ancient Times

In the upstairs wing of a restaurant in Nanyang Mansion, Li Wen, Lu Zhishu, Zhao Xiangyi, and Xie Yunfei sat around a table, and there was no one else in there except the four of them.

Li Wen put his hands together on the table, looked at the three people in front of him, and said, "Today I will take you to Zhuangzi. I have discussed with the teacher in advance, and I will take you there to see it with the teacher's approval." Look." "You must have seen the things there. As I said before, those things on Zhuangzi are the things I have tossed about while studying in Nanyang in the past few years. Of course, those things are not mine. Without the support of the teacher, as well as the help and cooperation of Zhuangzi's stewards and the men of the household, Zhuangzi would not have what he is today."

"When I first saw the life of the serfs and tenant farmers in Zhuangzi, I wondered why these farmers worked hard and worked hard for a year, but they were still hungry in the end. , not even enough to eat. There is no idle land in the world, and farmers will still starve to death, why is that?"

Here we will talk about a serious problem of land annexation. The land is in the hands of the big clans and landlords. The second is that there are many exorbitant taxes from the imperial court. After the farmers have worked hard to plant the land for a year, after paying the rent from the landlord's family and the taxes from the court, there is not much leftover grain.

If there is a bad year, the life of farmers will be even more difficult.

Farming is dependent on the sky for food. If there is a flood and drought, when the crops in the field are not harvested, the farmers can't even pay the land rent of the landlord's family, and there are still taxes and corvees from the imperial court.Why did the people rebel, they couldn't live on, and they had no other way but to rebel against them, which is why the former dynasty perished.

If Dacheng continues like this, he will definitely continue on the path of the former dynasty's demise.

Among the four people present, except Li Wen who was born in a farming family, Zhao Xiangyi, Lu Zhishu and Xie Yunfei were all born in a big family. They live at the top of this society and cannot deeply understand the difficulties of the common people.They may see the problems that Li Wen saw today, but they don't have a deep understanding and thinking, let alone how to change the lives of these people.

Li asked the question, he didn't intend to answer it for them, because his answer would inevitably touch the social class problem, which is not something he can touch at present, so he turned to Think about another question, "After I arrived at Zhuangzi that day, I thought about it for a long time after I went back, and I thought about many problems."

Instead of thinking about this social problem, it is better to solve this problem that needs to be dealt with urgently.

Li Wen continued, "Why is it that on the same piece of land, some people grow more food, while others grow less food? Why can't all people grow the same amount of food, or even more food on the same piece of land? What about more food? If we grow more food, can we solve the problem of feeding more people?

"When we plant a tree, we must first choose a good seed, plant the seed, and carefully take care of and cultivate it so that the seed will germinate, grow leaves, and then bloom and bear fruit. In this What is needed for a seed to germinate and grow.

The same is true for farming, from choosing a seed to planting the seed, and waiting until the sapling grows leaves, blossoms and bears fruit.So in the next two to three years, I selected a group of people from Zhuangzi, and took them to try again and again, how to grow more grain in the same land, and solve more problems. people's food problem. "

Xie Yunfei nodded. He thought it made sense. This is where Li Liuyuan's cleverness lies. Li Liuyuan didn't want to touch the interests of the big family, but wanted to start with the farmers first. If the farmers had more grain, even if they paid the land rent And corvee taxes, farmers still have grain to eat.

Whether it is Xie Yunfei or Zhao Xiangyi, they all know that Dacheng has had a very serious problem since its establishment, which is the issue of land annexation.At the beginning of the founding of the country, Emperor Chengwu gave many heroes a large amount of land as a reward, but now these people have more and more land, which also leads to less and less land in the hands of the people.

And Lu Zhishu, as a child of a big family, has been familiar with the sage books since he was a child, but if he is asked to farm the land, he doesn't even know how to plant the land.

"I found a tree by accident, and the flowers it produced were a kind of cotton wool, which could be made into warm clothes after being collected, so I tried to plant cotton trees in a large area in Zhuangzi, and only then did I have today's Cotton field." The box was quiet, only Li Wen's voice was heard, and he talked about the discovery of cotton trees and cotton.

Of course, the discovery of cotton trees and the use of cotton trees were not discovered by him, but by predecessors. It is just that the cultivation of cotton trees is not popular here in Dacheng, so there are still many people who do not know about cotton.

Even in Zhuangzi, after knowing that cotton is made into finished products like clothes, shoes and hats, the farmers on Zhuangzi's side really realized the role of cotton, so this is why so many farmers on Zhuangzi's side wanted to

The reason for trying to seed cotton trees.

Li Wen mentioned why he thought of building a textile workshop in the first place, and he would inevitably mention the improvement of the textile machine and why the weavers were gathered together to weave together, "I believe you have seen it just now, if we put these people together Collective production, how much can be produced in a day, and how long does it take for a peasant woman to weave a bolt of cloth at home."

There is an improvement in production tools and a change in production methods.At the beginning, he thought of a production model in the early stage of capitalist society. Of course, today's Dacheng does not have the conditions to allow this society to enter the modern society.

According to the progress of history, Dacheng is still in a semi-slave and semi-feudal society.If he wants to put more people into productive labor, he must liberate more farmers from the land before he can put this part of the labor force into other production.

"Zhuangzi's place is just a small attempt of mine, and it seems to be a step towards success. Of course, Zhuangzi's place is only a small place. My attempt there can be successful because it can meet the conditions I need. Only then can such an attempt be made.” Li Wen does not intend to talk about social issues with people now, this is a big subject, and even modern sociologists cannot clearly explain this issue. So they still have to return to the small problems.

"You did a good job." After hearing so many words from the young man, Zhao Xiangyi said the first sentence.

Xie Yunfei thought of many things on Zhuangzi, from the grain in the field to the workshop they walked in behind, he was extremely shocked in his heart. At this moment, he looked at Li Liuyuan with admiration in his eyes, and he said, "Li Liuyuan , You are really amazing! Xiaosheng admires you."

"Hehe, where, I'm not as good as you think, I'm just trying to do what I can do." Li Wen touched his face, a little embarrassed, he glanced at Zhao Xiangyi, and found that the other party was looking at him

Looking past Xie Yunfei's face, Li Wen looked at Zhishu Lu and said, "Zhishu, don't you want to become an official later?"

Lu Zhishu nodded and said, "I'm starting to doubt myself now, whether I have the ability to be a good parent officer."

"You are so outstanding, of course you can!" Li Wen looked at Lu Zhishu with wide eyes, and said, "I will take you to Zhuangzi for a walk today, but I actually want to tell you something. If we can start with the only land we have, if more food can be grown in the land, won’t the farmers starve to death?”

Too much food is never a bad thing, is it?Only when their stomachs are full can they have the strength to think and face other problems.

The economic base determines the superstructure, at least they have to lay the foundation below before they can build the upper floors.

"As for the establishment of workshops in the future, if we wait until we can reach that foundation, then we can build workshops, won't it be easy to build workshops?" Li Wen believed that after taking everyone to the workshop today, he believed Everyone is aware of this new production method.

Li Wen knew how many people would scramble for many of Zhuangzi's things when they were taken outside.There is also the improved loom in the workshop. Once someone knows about it, they will definitely try to get it.

The reason why he brought Zhao Xiangyi and Xie Yunfei there today is actually that Li Wen decided to take everyone to Zhuangzi after discussing it with Dean Fu. It is not for His Royal Highness to find out today, maybe in the future It is someone else who knows.He let Zhao Xiangyi and Xie Yunfei see those things on Zhuangzi, which was equivalent to showing them a card in his hand, which was his sincerity.

Xie Yunfei turned his head and glanced at Zhao Xiangyi, and said to Li Liuyuan, "Don't worry, Li Liuyuan, I can guarantee for you what we saw today. Except for us, we will never let anyone who should not know about this matter. People know."

Xie Yunfei's words guaranteed that, except for His Highness the Crown Prince, the rest of the people in the court would not know about this matter.If His Highness the Crown Prince knows what is here, His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely take action.

"You can trust me." Zhao Xiangyi said.The man doesn't talk much, but he is absolutely convincing.

The eyes of the two met, and Li Wen saw what he wanted in the man's eyes. He nodded with a smile, and said, "Of course I believe you." Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought Zhao Xiangyi to Zhuangzi today. He went there because he believed in Zhao Xiangyi.

"Awen, thank you for trusting me, I will not disappoint your trust." Lu Zhishu was also shocked by what he saw today. He didn't know that during the years when they were separated, Li Wen was studying. Besides, I did so many other things.

And Li Wen did these things that Lu Zhishu had never thought about before.

If before today, Lu Zhishu only had a vague idea of ​​how to become an official, then after today, he began to have specific ideas in his heart, and knew what he should do in the future.

"Zhishu, we are best friends, I hope this will never change." Li Wen looked at Lu Zhishu and smiled.In fact, he played a little trick today, Li Wen hoped to draw his friend into his same camp, and he absolutely didn't want to be on the opposite side with Lu Zhishu in the future.

Just best friends?Lu Zhishu looked at the boy and nodded with a smile. He didn't want them to be just friends.But no matter how much he said, it was difficult for Lu Zhishu to talk to his friends, so he could only keep it in his heart.

They talked for a long time in the box that day, Xie Yunfei asked some questions that interested him, and Li Wen did his best to answer them for Xie Yunfei.

Since Zhao Xiangyi was in charge of sending him back to his hometown to visit his relatives, Li Wen knew that some things were not easy to hide. Sooner or later, people might find out. Why don't he take the initiative to show these things in front of Zhao Xiangyi.Li Wen was actually glad that the person who sent him back this time was Zhao Xiangyi, not someone else. Otherwise, he would be powerless to compete with a higher-level boss than him, as a small sixth-rank Imperial Academy editor.

In fact, he chose Zhao Xiangyi today, maybe it wasn't a bad thing?