By the end of April, there was a pause here in Jiangning. Salt, silver, and taxes were all transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Overseas taxes were also controlled by the Lijin Bureau directly under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. The political hall and the inner court could not control financial power, so the room for tossing was limited...
Lin Fu did not need to stay in the center to take charge. He left Jiangning in late April to inspect the defense. His first stop was to go eastward along the river, first to the five counties of Chongzhou in the feudal state, and then to the north along the defensive sea embankment.
Chen Huazhang also fulfilled his promise when he said goodbye in Jiangning. When Lin Fu arrived in Chongzhou, he crossed the river and offered to serve under his command. He was temporarily appointed as a counselor and accompanied him north to inspect defense.
Chen Huazhang traveled all over the world when he was a boy, and lived in Haiyu after he was middle-aged. He rarely traveled out. Of course, Chen Huazhang had heard about all the changes in Huaidong over the years, but he had never seen it with his own eyes.
The Lianghuai Sea Dike is far more magnificent than imagined - in fact, at the beginning of the construction of the sea dike, mud was piled up to build the embankment, but in the later period, a large amount of money and food were transferred from the villages inside the dike every year for reinforcement and maintenance, which has formed a large section.
A large section of the embankment is a mixture of stone on the outside and soil on the inside. In the section with strong waves and dangerous waves, there is also a curved embankment outside the embankment.
The East China Sea Post Road with the sea wall as its core has also been built. Every few dozen miles, there is a large market town that is as lively as a small county. Such prosperity was created by Lin Fu in just a few years.
Haiyu is close to the sea, and Chen Huazhang feels deeply about the dangers of ocean tides - when it comes to floods, surviving them can also increase the fertility of the land. Usually, wheat and cotton can be planted after floods, and you can have a good harvest; let the ocean tides
If it is poured in, the entire field will turn into salty soil, making it difficult for any grass to grow.
The beach is so vast, and we don’t encounter high tides every year. But if you grow rice and wheat on these salty soils, you can harvest seven or eight buckets of rice a year. Thank God. Generally speaking, if you are dozens or even hundreds of miles offshore,
In depth, if there are no seawalls to seal off the sea tide, the soil quality will become extremely poor as long as the spring tide floods it, and it cannot be improved by fertilizing in a short period of time.
The suffering of the people on the seaside is unimaginable to others.
Even after walking for dozens of miles, the wheat fields in the embankment were growing very gratifyingly. Chen Huazhang couldn't help but go down to the embankment and grab a handful of soil. He stretched out his tongue and licked it. It was astringent but not salty. He asked Lin Fu: "There is something, Huazhang."
Do you want to ask my lord for advice?"
"Tell me and listen." Lin Fu saw that Chen Huazhang went down the embankment to taste the dirt, but he was really a practical man, so he smiled and asked him to tell him.
Song Fu stood aside with his hands in his sleeves. During this inspection, Song Fu was the only adviser who accompanied him. Gao Zongting stayed in Jiangning to handle military aircraft.
"It may not be difficult to build the embankment, but it is not easy to replace the soil in the embankment," Chen Huazhang asked. "It only took a few years to build the embankment. The wheat fields should not be growing so gratifying..."
"It's not a secret. Every summer flood, all the villages will do one thing," Lin Fu said. "They will open river embankments to flood and control the flood from flowing through the salty soil. There are two reasons for doing this.
Benefits: One is to excavate soil, and the other is to accumulate silt. Zhu Ai, who followed Hua Wen westward to Luzhou to join the army, advocated this method, and it is indeed effective - there is a difference in grain production between those who have silted out and those who have not silted out.
It is very obvious that the fields within this embankment can almost be called cultivated land."
Song Fu sighed in his heart: In the tenth year of Chongguan, Lin Fu had just won the great victory at Huaisi and controlled the Jinhai grain road. If it were anyone else, he would have recruited troops to expand his territory. However, Lin Fu could resist not to expand his troops.
The more than one million taels of silver obtained from the Jinhai grain road were used to build sea-defending embankments, construct water conservancy projects, etc.
Not counting the five counties of Chongzhou, from the mouth of Yunyan River to the north to Qingjiangpu in Yandu, the sea dike is two hundred miles long. In addition to the construction of both sides of Qingjiangpu, the additional grain fields will be two million acres.
Most importantly, the three counties of Jianling, Gaocheng, and Yandu, which have always been places of bitterness, have millions of acres of bad farmland. The farming conditions have been greatly improved, and grain production has increased significantly.
Lin Fu promoted administration in Huaidong, carefully measured the acres of land, checked the grain fields that were concealed by local forces, classified the grain fields, and calculated taxes, which greatly increased the annual income of Huai'an and Hailing Prefecture.
Lin Fu was also able to exercise restraint and leave a large amount of the increased taxes to local governments for water conservancy, roads and other matters, which actually further increased the tax potential of the two governments.
If not for this, even if Huaidong could purchase nearly one million tons of grain from Haidong, Nanyang and other places every year, the food shortage in the Seven Prefectures of Jiangnan would not be so easy to get through...
Jiangning is still short of food. Food prices are high in other places in Jiangnan, but the gap is not big. A total of millions of grains can be imported, which can be greatly alleviated. In addition to hundreds of thousands of refugees in Jiangning, only Jiangning City
The 160,000 households in the city need to import 300,000 tons of rice every month, which may keep the price of food down.
After the war, the price of grain in Jiangning once soared to 100 yuan per liter. With the price limit in the later period and Huaidong's lifting of the grain ban on Jiangnan, not only the price of grain in Jiangning dropped to the pre-war level, but also in Pingjiang, which is close to Chongzhou.
In the government, food prices have dropped to a low of 12 yuan per liter.
In just three months, the amount of rice exported to Jiangnan from Chongzhou, Hailing, Huai'an and other places each month amounted to millions of dan.
Although the grain ban has been lifted and grain prices in Huaidong have been pushed up, they are all within controllable limits. Furthermore, moderate increases in grain prices will also benefit the businessmen and people in Huaidong. The main reason is that this can be inferred by the people in Huaidong.
Sufficient grain storage and transportation capacity.
After more than a year of recuperation, production in the Xuzhou area has resumed; Hangzhou, Huzhou and Kuaiji have separated from the war zone, and the Eastern Fujian area will also be further consolidated. Directly paid taxes may not be as good as before. As long as the people have
The surplus grain should be exchanged for other production materials and daily necessities, so that a large amount of grain can enter official reserves or flow to other food-deficient areas for adjustment.
In fact, grain has been imported to Eastern Fujian from the beginning of the year on Yizhou Island.
As long as we survive the spring famine and wait for the first crop of wheat to be harvested and stored in warehouses, the situation will be further alleviated. Perhaps by then, we can formally formulate plans to completely quell the chaos in Fujian and Jiangxi and the Northern Expedition.
It's not possible now. All aspects are focused on reorganizing and guarding the defensive line.
Chen Huazhang did not expect that Song Fu might be setting foot in the core area of Huaidong for the first time. He was filled with emotion. When Lin Fu mentioned Zhu Ai, he remembered that he had met Zhu Ai.
Zhu Ai was born a cattle herder. He stole his master's cattle and sold them as road supplies and went to Chongzhou where he was appointed. He accumulated meritorious service and joined the army. However, he was ugly and did not like to talk. Chen Huazhang did not have a deep impression of him, but he knew that Lin Fu sent Zhu Ai
Ai's departure to Luzhou is not as simple as any Cao Cao joining the army under the government.
This period was also a period when Huaidong made large-scale adjustments to the generals of various ministries. It was not a simple matter to digest the seven Jiangnan prefectures and Luzhou. Lin Fu rose from running Chongzhou to taking root in Huaidong.
It took about six or seven years.
It was getting late, and I had to rush to Jianling to meet Liu Shidu, but I didn't talk about the affairs of Luzhou in detail. I heard that Zhu Ai advocated the method of removing silt, and it can really turn salty soil into good land within three to five years. Chen
Hua Zhang was wary of Zhu Ai and thought: I'll just ask for more details when I meet him later.
Lin Fu inspected the defense area. The first stop was along the sea wall to the north, and he met Liu Shidu at Jianling. In fact, it was for the sake of salt. He stopped on the way and continued on his way to Jianling under the escort of the cavalry camp.
The controversy over the salt issue in Jiangning has also subsided, but the rectification of the salt issue is far from over yet.
There are more than 100,000 soldiers working in the salt households in the Huaihe River, including 20,000 salt guards and nearly 100,000 salt cooks.
In addition to salt merchants, there are also many people who dare to violate the ban in smuggling salt in Lianghuai Dingzu. Of course, many of them are poor salt households who are unable to struggle in this land because of the salt household system.
What does the Lianghuai Salt Farm need to raise 20,000 salt soldiers?
In addition to a part of the transportation army responsible for transporting salt, almost half of the salt soldiers can be laid off; the salt field defends against pirates and has its own water camp warships cruising in the East China Sea to take advantage of the benefits gained from the official salt bank.
After being merged into the local government, Lin Fu intended to integrate the responsibility of detecting illegal salt into the local security forces.
The key is still the problem of salt households - the Lianghuai Salt Farm maintains so many salt workers, and the salt households live in extreme poverty, and frequent riots are also an important factor.
When Lin Fu arrived at Jianling County in the evening, Liu Shidu had already been waiting for him by the post road. Standing with Liu Shidu was Wang Chengfu, the former magistrate of Yudong County.
In the early years of Yongxing, Yudong Gongzhuang was removed from the village and established as a county, and merged into Huaidong. Now it is divided into Lin Fu's private fiefdom with the other four years of Chongzhou. Wang Chengfu has been appointed magistrate of Yudong County for three years - Yudong was originally
It was also used as a pasture but was transformed into a palace to provide money for dressing up the concubines of the imperial court. In the early years, the grain fields were only more than 100,000 acres. In the Delong period, it was officially allocated as the private property of the Empress Dowager Liang. Miao Shuo ran it for more than ten years, making Yu Dong
The grain fields increased to more than 400,000 acres.
In fact, just like Hecheng Grassland, Yudong has a lot of land resources that can be cultivated.
Like the offshore area of Huaidong, it is greatly affected by the recharge of the sea tide. The proportion of mature fields in Yudong is low and the overall output is not high. After Yudong was established as a county, Lin Fu appointed Wang Chengfu to govern Yudong. First, he relocated people
On the ground, one is building embankments to protect the sea, and the other is cultivating grain and cotton. Great achievements have been made in three years. Now Yudong has a population of 200,000. Although it cannot be compared with Chongzhou, Pingjiang, Danyang and other large counties, it is placed in the central and western regions.
, is also an absolutely large county.
It was difficult to open up wasteland. Everything in Yudong County was systematic and had rules and regulations. Other officials could do the job, so Lin Fu transferred Wang Chengfu and planned to entrust him with another important task.
Lin Fu dismounted his horse, handed the reins to the accompanying guards, and asked Liu Shidu: "I heard that Lord Jiang and Lord Liu have already gone to the salt pond with Chengfu, so it saves me the trouble of making another trip. How do you feel?"
"The method of digging a pond to dry salt has been passed down for more than a hundred years. It has been occasionally tried in the salt fields of Dengzhou and Jimo, but it has not been implemented. The effect does not seem to be obvious. What is recorded in the book is also very crude and difficult to impress.
Just a glimpse of its appearance," Liu Shidu said, "But looking at the Hecheng Salt Pond is really eye-opening: a shallow pond of hundreds of acres, several miles away from the sea. When the pond is empty, the gate is opened to attract the salty tide into the pond, and the door is closed to wait.
When the tide recedes and is exposed to the sun for more than ten days, it becomes salt brine. To say that this is also boiling salt, one must have the spirit of using heaven and earth as a furnace..."
Song Fu and Chen Huazhang did not know about the salt pond. They went up to defend the seawall from Hecheng and did not go to the southeast seaside. However, looking at Liu Shidu's demeanor when he talked about the method of digging a pond to dry salt, we can also know that the salt pond in Hecheng is really real.
Liu Shidu was shocked.
Lin Fu shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Here at the Huainan Salt Farm, I had hoped that Mao Wenjing could change the boiled salt to sun-dried salt, hoping to reduce the pressure on Hecheng to provide grass, and even gave him 20,000 taels of silver every year. Who knew he would
He accepted the money but did nothing good, and the method of drying salt was only implemented hastily in three or five areas, which fooled me! In the end, I was forced to dig a pond in the south of Hecheng to test the method of drying salt, and it was considered successful."
Chen Huazhang thought to himself: Is it any wonder that Mao Wenjing ended up like this? Mao Wenjing and Huaidong can be regarded as having a common friendship to fight against the East China Sea invaders and win the battle of the East China Sea. If Mao Wenjing can be more restrained, Huaidong will not use him.
Sacrifice the sword used to clean up the salt incident.
Liu Shidu said: "If the method of drying salt can be implemented in salt farms, half of the salt households can be transferred to farming, and all the pastures originally prepared for boiling salt can be converted into cultivated land..."
"For the time being, we should focus on cooking and drying at the same time. We must first ensure that the output does not decrease. The price of salt cannot withstand the ups and downs," Lin Fu said, "Master Liu, what do you think of Chengfu being your assistant?"
"Master Wang is powerful enough to defeat the Huainan Yanlin envoy." Liu Shidu said.
Lin Fu nodded and said: "Master Liu thinks it is feasible, then I will propose tomorrow - to set up a village directly on the confiscated privately cultivated land in the salt farm, and compile the cut off salt soldiers into villages. The salt drying pond
The expenditures are earmarked for special use. I think the savings from the abolition of salt soldiers should be used to subsidize salt households first. Speaking of this, what is the difference between village households and salt households? Look at who is covered in patches.
You can tell by looking at who has a sallow complexion. In addition, the labor camp will recruit some people from the salt households to relieve the pressure on the salt works. When I go back this time, I must get rid of the system of low status..."
Boiling salt consumes a large amount of grass. Therefore, the Lianghuai Salt Farm has surrounded a large area of land around the salt boiling land specifically for grass planting. Hecheng Grassland, which covers an area of hundreds of acres, is just one of them.
Salt households paid salt to the Salt and Iron Department for only ten yuan per catty. However, in the early years, illegal salt was rampant and salt merchants secretly communicated, so salt households could get a slightly higher price. As the war spread, the sales area of Lianghuai salt expanded.
The scale was reduced, and Huaidong itself used salt produced on islands and other places, so it naturally strictly controlled the inflow of private salt, which led to a sharp decrease in sales of salt in the two Huaihe Rivers, and the lives of salt households naturally became more difficult. After the sea wall was built, Huaidong
A large number of rural households have moved into the inner side of the sea wall, and they almost live together with the salt households. In the past three to five years, I have only heard of some salt households marrying off their daughters, but I have never heard of any salt households marrying off their daughters. Repeatedly.
Some households are starving to death and freezing to death, and the situation has reached a point where relief is inevitable.
Changing the method of boiling salt to drying can greatly reduce manpower. The most important thing is to save a lot of land resources to resettle salt households.
Twenty thousand salt soldiers and one hundred thousand salt households are mainly concentrated in the Huainan salt field. We really need a capable person who can straighten out many things.h!~!