After leaving Kaifeng City and heading west for more than 20 miles, there were no more Zhuangzi, villages or pedestrians. The population had declined to this point, which made Guo Zongyi feel sad. He revitalized the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and his sense of mission to continue the peaceful and prosperous era became more and more urgent.
.
Li Gu drove his horse to Guo Zongyi and asked: "Your Highness, this place belongs to Xiangfu County, between Yuetai Township and Banqiao Township. It is bordered by Baigou River in the north and has a radius of fifty miles. It is full of fertile plains. It is not as good as generals."
Is the refugee city built here?”
Guo Zongyi did not agree immediately and only said: "Go to Baigou River and have a look."
At that moment, officials from Kaifeng Prefecture rode forward to lead the way.
There were not many of them, only about a hundred cavalry. Except for Kaifeng and the subordinate officials of the Third Division, the remaining sixty cavalry were all escorted by Guo Zongyi.
The official road was very close to the Baigou River, and everyone arrived in a short time with their horses and tea cups. When they reached the river bank, they saw a small river with a width of only three feet and a flow of less than one foot flowing.
Guo Zongyi was a little dissatisfied. He frowned and looked at it for a moment. Seeing that the river slope was relatively high and the surrounding area was mostly flat wasteland, with an unobstructed view, he ordered Yuan Ai beside him: "Get a map of the river course."
Not long after, a small official presented it, and Guo Zongyi slowly unfolded it. He was a little surprised. There were so many waterways in Kaifeng that it was staggering.
The territory of Kaifeng Prefecture is only 100,000 hectares, but it is crossed by the Yellow River in the north, Qinshui River in the east, Caishui River in the south, Wushi River in the south, and Bian River, Qinshui River, Zheng River and Baigou River in the west.
This is just the big river in the picture. If you include the tributaries and streams, there are probably more than a hundred rivers in Kaifeng.
"Kaifeng is really the place where water and land meet." He sighed as he closed the book.
"Prime Minister Li, Yuan Mansion, I want to build three small towns along the Baigou River. What do you think?"
Yuan Ao didn't say anything. His idea was very simple. He could just do whatever the above said. Knowing that he was in the Kaifeng Mansion, he often had no decision-making power on major affairs in the Mansion.
Li Gu was confused and asked: "What does your highness mean by building three separate buildings?"
Guo Zongyi handed him the picture and explained: "The Bianhe River has been silted up in recent years, causing water transportation to be blocked. This river crosses Kaifeng City and directly merges with the Huaihe River. In the future, if the Bianhe River is diverted into the river upstream, it can be expanded to
Caoqu. Three refugee cities are built across the river, forming the corners of each other. When Kaifeng becomes prosperous, these three cities will build long embankments and form a neat wharf."
Li Gu looked at the map and then at the surrounding terrain, and he understood something. He sighed: "Your Highness has a far-reaching plan, I admire you."
Guo Zongyi smiled and waved his hands. People said similar words in his ears every day, and he could hardly hear them anymore.
"Since you two have no objections, let's have someone check the cadastre and mark out the land. Each city must occupy at least one thousand acres."
"only!"
The upper ones moved their mouths, while the lower ones ran and broke their legs. Immediately, dozens of officials came out on horseback, scattered in groups, and left in all directions.
After the new city was selected, Guo Zongyi looked at the cadastre and saw that there were only more than 60,000 acres of unowned land that could be distributed to the people, so he asked Li Gu: "Is it possible to find a way to replace the owned land nearby? Or use gold and silver."
, or use fertile land elsewhere.”
Li Gu asked for the cadastre, and after reading it for a while, he replied: "Most of the land in the west of the city is owned by veterans of the court. If the price is right, it should be possible to exchange for another 50,000 acres."
"That's enough, let's do it as soon as possible." Guo Zongyi nodded.
Nowadays, it takes at least five acres of land to feed one person, and if we count that there are 200,000 refugees, one million acres of land will be needed to allocate them. Naturally, it is impossible to get such a lot of land around Kaifeng. Fortunately, Guo Zongyi is already
There is no intention for this group of people to make a living by farming.
Li Gu responded, then hesitantly said: "Your Highness, it is not difficult to exchange land, the price is fair, and the officials in the court will not appreciate it. The difficulty is that this land is unclaimed, and now I want to take it back."
trouble."
Even Li Gu felt that the troublesome things must not be small troubles. In his mind, Guo Zongyi suddenly realized that this unclaimed wasteland in the cadastre had probably been occupied by others in reality and was still being cultivated.
for a long time.
Regardless of who occupies the land, as long as it is forcibly taken back, many farmers and tenants will be displaced. If there is some trouble, the people may rebel. The landlord class and the small peasant economy, land is the basis for the people's survival.
.
"It is indeed a big trouble." Guo Zongyi rubbed his little finger, "But trouble must be dealt with. In this way, the Third Division and the Kaifeng Mansion will send people to find out who is occupying it, how much is occupied, and who is occupying it.
Please investigate your family situation and report it to me at the beginning of next month at the latest."
"Wei." Li Gu accepted the order and said yes. Now he can only find out the details first and then see if there is a gentler way to take it back.
"All living beings suffer."
Guo Zongyi sighed and looked at the sun hanging high in the sky. He finally learned to look at the sky. He estimated that it was already midnight, so he asked Yuan Long next to him: "How long does it take to measure the land?"
"It takes more than two hours to measure the land by horseback. It's a thousand acres in circumference." Yuan Ao answered with his hands crossed.
Guo Zongyi nodded: "In that case, let's wait here."
The guards immediately set up camp on the spot. They said they were setting up camp, but in fact they just set up a simple tent for their royal highness to rest.
However, Guo Zongyi walked to the river and sat on the ground. Chai Wang wanted to follow him, but he waved his hand to stop him. The scenery here was beautiful and had the image of Jiangnan, which was very similar to a certain place. He didn't want anyone to follow him.
The Baigou River gurgled eastward, and Guo Zongyi kept sitting there. Even when everyone was having lunch, he had no appetite.
Li Gu's eyes drifted to the river from time to time. Yuan Long sat aside for a long time, and finally couldn't bear it any longer. He said, "Xiang Li, if you want to go, just go. Why are you glancing towards His Highness?"
Li Gu chuckled and said, "I don't want to go. Your Highness doesn't even have an appetite for food. How can he care about an old man like me?"
Yuan Ao rolled his eyes, as if he thought of something. He chuckled, squeezed towards Li Gu, and said in a low voice: "Tell me, is His Highness thinking about a girl?"
Li Gu shook his head without even thinking about it and said, "Definitely not. Although His Highness is young, he is not that coy and pretentious. Besides, with His Highness's identity and appearance, which girl wouldn't be eager to throw herself into his arms? Do you still need His Highness to commit such a crime?
The pain of lovesickness.”
"What you said is true, but I heard someone say a few days ago that since His Majesty released the news that he wanted to marry the only son and grandson, all the high-ranking families in Tokyo who heard the news started to send gifts to the concubines in the harem, secretly or openly.
Well, even those who couldn't enter the palace found Li Chongjin's wife."
Li Gu glanced at him sideways and joked: "I heard that there are many talented and beautiful women in the Yuan Mansion. Have you gone and walked around?"
Old Yuan Ao looked slightly embarrassed and waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no one can afford to be a high official. Those who are thoughtful are the commanders of the town or the commanders of the Imperial Guards."
Li Gu looked at him with a smile, but didn't point it out.
Yuan Ao felt guilty for a while. He looked around and saw that the people around him were busy and far away from each other, so he leaned close to his ear again and said in a low voice: "I heard that Guo Shuai's renewal has been completed."
It’s decided, she is the eldest daughter of Fu Yanqing’s family. She used to be Li Shouzhen’s daughter-in-law. After Li Shouzhen and his son rebelled and committed suicide, they were sent back to the Fu family by Your Majesty. From there, Your Majesty has been thinking of asking her to be your daughter-in-law."
Li Gu frowned and said, "Where did you hear this from? How did I hear that the Fu family girl was sent by Guo Shuai himself to write to His Majesty?"
"Hey, it's all just hearsay. How can I be sure of this kind of thing?" Yuan Ao said with a smile.
Li Gu stopped asking and glanced at Guo Zongyi, who was sitting alone in the distance. He tugged on Yuan Long's sleeve: "But speaking of which, His Highness is also fourteen this year. It's time to find a good match. A certain family has a granddaughter.
Fang Fifteen, born with a beautiful face, gentle and virtuous temperament, and good at poetry, painting, piano and chess, Yuan Mansion is a close minister of His Majesty, why don't you ask me, brother, to tell me something?"
Yuan Ao looked at him in surprise and asked doubtfully: "When did I become your Majesty's close minister? Mr. Li, please don't talk nonsense."
Li Guwen threw away his sleeves and said displeasedly: "Huh, you are just a common man, you are just pretending to be confused. If the Xuanhui envoy is not a close minister, who is? Forget it, I'll ask Princess Shou'an for help.
"
Yuan Ao laughed and was not upset. He knew that Mrs. Li Gu died young and never remarried. There was indeed no one in the family who could come forward easily in the matter of men and women, so he reminded: "I heard that Zhang Yongde asked Princess Shou'an to be a matchmaker, and she was scolded.
pause."
"Where did you hear this from?" Li Ge asked curiously.
"Hey, I know that I am the Hui Envoy of Kaifeng Mansion. How can you hide all the big and small things from me inside and outside the palace? At Concubine De, the threshold has been broken for those who want to marry each other. If you really want to talk to Your Majesty,
As an in-law, you can't take the path of a virtuous concubine, so it's better to take a different approach."
Seeing Yuan Long's proud old face, Li Ge couldn't help but feel angry. This old thief, now he admits that you are a close minister?
After a few words, he still patiently thought about it and asked for advice solemnly: "What is the biased move? Please give me some advice from Yuan Mansion."
"You invite His Highness to the mansion for a banquet, and then ask your granddaughter to come out to serve the wine. If you like her, you can directly ask her to follow His Highness back to the mansion, close to the water tower, and cook the raw rice first. We will talk about the wedding later. And I
I see that Your Highness is also a person who values love, so I will definitely not treat you unfairly this first time in my life. Even if I cannot become my wife in the future, a concubine is indispensable." Yuan Ao replied firmly, as if he had a chance to win.
Li Gu was silent for a long time after hearing this, and then he became furious and cursed: "Old man! How dare you insult me! That's the granddaughter of a certain family, not a singer or concubine!"
As he spoke, he let out a cry, pulled his sword out of its sheath, struck it with his head, and struck. Yuan Long was a military commander after all. He rolled to the side and said hurriedly: "You're joking, you're joking!"
