The Yellow River's autumn flood in the seventh year of God's blessing came not violently. Not only did it not cause any trouble to Yuzhou's impregnable river defense, it also brought hundreds of hectares of fertile silt fields to Yuzhou.
Oh no, it should be called wasteland now.
The Yuzhou Prefectural Government has posted notices to encourage registered landless poor farmers in the prefecture to actively reclaim "wasteland". All acres of reclaimed land will be owned by the reclaimers.
As soon as the news came out, the whole Yuzhou was shocked.
Everyone who has farmed the land knows the benefits of silt fields. If you farm on silt fields, you can get three seasons of food. If you have a few acres of silt fields, even a poor bachelor can get a good deal.
Wife.
The common people were wondering that such a good land would be treated as wasteland. Could it be that the official took the wrong medicine?
Oh, Wei Qingtian said it!
That's okay...
The common people are not stupid either. After thinking about it for a moment, they will understand that this is Lord Zhizhou making concessions to benefit the people and trying to find ways to benefit us!
For a time, the embankment by the Yellow River was crowded with people, all carrying hoes to open up wasteland.
There are even many poor people from Xinzheng County who came with their families. Anyway, at home they are working as farm laborers for those wealthy families. They might as well settle on the edge of the embankment and concentrate on "opening up wasteland"!
Wei Chen also did not expect that the enthusiasm of the people was so high. Thousands of people came from various counties and villages in Yuzhou. Gu Tingye and his government officials were unable to control the situation.
Fortunately, the outer embankment formed a natural wall, blocking the people who wanted to flood into the embankment. Otherwise, Wei Chen would have had to ask Zhao Zongquan to mobilize the Yuzhou regiment to suppress it.
Wei Chen personally stood on the top of the embankment and reiterated the regulations. Only poor peasants without land can enter the area between the inner embankment and the outer embankment to open up wasteland. Before entering the embankment, the government will check the household registrations one by one. Once it is found that the family has land, they will immediately
Twenty whippings.
Wei Chen has long established a reputation in Yuzhou. After hearing Wei Chen's words, many people who wanted to come and take advantage of the situation gave up and went back home dejectedly.
Of course, there must be some who are still determined to fish in troubled waters. When they are found out later, Wei Chen will let him know how powerful he is.
Then, Wei Chen announced three prohibitions to the people who stayed behind.
First, houses are not allowed to be built on silt fields, and people must live on embankments.
This is to prevent the flood from coming too hard and the inner embankment cannot support it, submerging the people living inside the embankment.
Second, from April to September every year, no farming is allowed in the embankment.
Because this period is the flood season of the Yellow River.
Third, privately raising the inner embankment is not allowed.
Although the silt fields are fertile, they need to avoid the Yellow River flood season and can only be cultivated in spring and winter.
In order to extend the farming time, some people will privately raise the inner embankment, so that farming can be done all year round.
But in this way, the pressure on the inner embankment will also increase, which can easily cause danger.
If a flood occurs and the flood is not channeled properly, not only will the inner embankment built with tens of thousands of taels of silver be destroyed, but the outer embankment may also be endangered, with disastrous consequences.
This is obviously not worth the gain.
Wei Chen did not want his virtuous policies that benefited the people to harm them in the end, so he took the trouble to explain the importance of these three prohibitions to the people.
The people below nodded in agreement after hearing this. Of course, their focus was still on the silt field they were about to get, and their faces were full of excitement.
"We will have our own land soon!"
"I just saw it. This field is so fertile. Even if we can only plant it half of the year, as long as we work hard, we can harvest a stone or two!"
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"In the past, good land like this had been taken over by wealthy families, so where would it be our turn!"
"It all depends on Wei Qing!"
Wei Chen felt quite helpless as he listened to the people's praises. He didn't know if they had listened to the three prohibitions just mentioned.
Of course, Wei Chen can also understand their mood.
The Yellow River has been plagued for years, and countless people have been displaced. In order to make a living, they have to sell their land at a low price and become long-term laborers for wealthy families.
Now that they can finally get their own land, they are naturally overjoyed.
Wei Chen originally did not expect that the people would all consciously abide by the regulations. Corresponding supervision and inspections would soon begin as the people entered the embankment to open up wasteland.
Including the newly established River Engineering Department, we must also take responsibility in this regard.
Those old river workers themselves are old farmers, and they are better able to put themselves in the shoes of the people. Let them go deep into the people to promote production safety, and the effect may be much better than Wei Chen's dry talk here.
After Wei Chen gave a lecture, the household registration status was checked and the people were allowed to enter the embankment.
Sure enough, several people who were trying to fish in troubled waters were discovered, and Wei Chen was pointed out one by one by the angry people without asking anyone to check them.
After a little interrogation, Gu Tingye found out the purpose of these people's visit. It turned out that they were all servants of a large family in the state and were sent to inquire about the conditions of the silt fields.
Wei Chen immediately asked Gu Tingye to whip these people twenty times until their skin and flesh were bruised, and then hung them up for public display.
Seeing this scene, the people watching applauded.
It's okay to be bullied by these evil servants who take advantage of others. Now that life is finally about to see the light of day, they actually come over to cause trouble. Even the most honest people can't bear it.
Fortunately, Wei Chen finally vented their anger on their behalf.
Wei Chen watched several people wailing in pain while being tortured, and he couldn't help but snorted in his heart.
The thirty-mile dike has created a full three hundred hectares of silt fields, which is a full thirty thousand acres of prime farmland. Such a big piece of fat has many hungry wolves staring at it!
According to past practice, if there is such a good thing, the big gentry in the state must be followed first, and where will the small people get their turn?
The money of the wealthy gentry is returned in full, and the money of the common people is divided into 30 and 70. This is normal operation.
But Wei Chen did the opposite, only taking care of the poor and excluding the wealthy gentry, which naturally made them hate him.
Wei Chen is well aware of this. If he dares to make this decision, he will have enough confidence to deal with the storms that will follow.
In a small place like Yuzhou, there are only a few wealthy country people. Wei Chen asked himself whether he could control the situation.
Dealing with a few evil servants this time is just a small warning to those big households.
To be honest, Wei Chen wished that someone would jump out and become a target, just so he could establish his prestige and prevent others from thinking of him as a kind-hearted gentleman.
Within the next month, thousands of people came to settle on the dike one after another. Each family had a ten-acre quota, and the silt fields were quickly allocated.
It has always been calm during this period, which inevitably makes Wei Chen a little disappointed. This local tycoon in Yuzhou is a bit timid...
But think about it, Wei Chen's prestige in Yuzhou is growing day by day, and he is loved by the people. The state government is unified, and the government officials and regiment training are all firmly in their hands. At least in Yuzhou, no one can shake Wei Chen's authority.
.
Even if some people are dissatisfied with Wei Chen, they can't do anything about him. They can only make some small moves secretly, but they can't stir up any trouble.
Besides, Wei Chen invigorated Yuzhou's business, and these local big businesses also benefited a lot. It's really not a good deal to fall out with Wei Chen just for the sake of silting the fields.
As a result, the local gentry could only endure the situation and let the matter of siltation go away. Only the poor people got benefits and praised Wei Qingtian, who loved the people like his own son.