On the third day of June, Li Zhi was riding in the countryside of Shandong, watching the people harvest a bumper harvest of wheat.
Looking from Li Zhi's perspective, he could only see golden patches everywhere under the bright summer sky. The golden wheat seemed to be the clothes of the earth, covering the entire field of vision in golden yellow.
After a year of disaster relief, Shandong has survived this year's drought. Now that the new year's winter wheat has matured, people have begun to harvest the fruits of their labor. The countryside is full of laughter and laughter.
Seeing Li Zhi's official guard of honor, the common people harvesting crops bowed to Li Zhi from afar, and then continued busy with their farm work.
Huan Yihua, the "newspaper manager," said with a smile: "My lord, there were no droughts or floods last year, and the people had a good harvest. After being hungry for a year, the people can finally have enough to eat."
Li Zhi nodded. Although the weather was not smooth last year, there were no prolonged droughts or floods in the fields, and wheat production was relatively stable. In this way, Shandong's disaster relief was considered a complete success.
This year, Li Zhi invested 13.5 million taels of silver to purchase sweet potatoes, rice and rice noodles for disaster relief. Although Li Zhi earned 7 million taels of silver from the gentry by manipulating grain prices, he still spent another 600,000 taels of silver.
Fifty taels of silver. It can be said that all the silver seized after the Zheng family was destroyed was put into disaster relief.
However, when Li Zhi's finances were tight, he grabbed another 10 million taels of silver and two million stones of rice in Japan. Li Zhi planned to store the rice for emergencies. And the silver he grabbed in Japan, Li Zhi
Prepare to expand the size of the army.
There are currently 5,000 troops stationed in Japan, and Li Zhi's available troops are only 25,000, which is not sufficient. Li Zhi plans to recruit another 10,000 troops.
Li Zhi was roaming freely in the countryside when he suddenly saw a newly built small ancestral temple in front of him. The small temple was obviously renovated from an old building such as the Earth Temple, and it looked a bit old. However, there were many women and children coming in and out of the door of the small temple.
There are still a few children playing with mud at the entrance of the temple, looking like they are enjoying the incense.
Li Zhi walked to the door of the small temple and saw "Li Guogong Temple" written on the door.
Huan Yihua saw the plaque and said loudly: "My lord, this is a shrine built for you by the people!"
Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, jumped off his horse and walked into the temple.
When the people offering incense in the temple saw Li Zhi's guard of honor, they were so frightened that they fell to the ground. Li Zhi walked into the small temple and saw his immortal tablet in the middle of the temple. There were dozens of burning incense burners in the in front of the tablet.
It was clear that the people were very grateful to Li Zhi and many came to offer incense.
Li Zhi smiled and felt it was new. In the past, I had only heard that bureaucrats flattered Wei Zhongxian and built a shrine for the Nine Thousand Years Old, but he did not expect that someone in Shandong would build a shrine for himself.
Li Zhi rested in the ancestral hall for a while, and then walked out with the guard of honor. But as soon as he reached the door of the ancestral hall, he saw dozens of old people and farmers walking up holding altars and pots.
Li Zhi was stunned and stopped his horse.
The farmers walked up to Li Zhi, knelt down on the dirt one by one, kowtowed to Li Zhi, and then got up. A gray-haired villager held a big cake in his hand, and said loudly with tears in his eyes with excitement:
"My lord, your Majesty, I and I are villagers in Hanjia Village. We have been able to survive this year thanks to your sweet potatoes."
"Now that the crops have been harvested, we have survived. We have nothing to repay the great kindness of the Duke of Guo. This big cake is made from the newly harvested wheat in our crops and ground into flour. Please have a taste of it.
"
Li Zhi had just been assassinated and did not dare to eat strangers' food at will. He looked at Huan Yihua. Huan Yihua took the old farmer's big cake, took a bite, chewed a few mouthfuls, and said with a smile: "This winter wheat grinder
The flour tastes good and there will be no problem with the people’s food rations this year.”
When the village elders and farmers saw Huan Yihua eating the cake, they all knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Li Zhi, who had saved a whole province of people.
Li Zhi smiled and helped up the white-haired old man who was delivering the cake, and said with a smile: "Why does the old man need such a big gift?"
After a pause, Li Zhi said: "Don't worry, everyone, the days from now on will only get better and better!"
####
Mr. Cai, a farmer in Jinghai County, Tianjin, pushed a cart of wheat into the barn in his yard and wiped the sweat from his head.
The weather in June is really hot. After harvesting more than 40 acres of wheat fields, Mr. Cai and his wife were so busy that they felt exhausted. The sweat on their bodies soaked Mr. Cai's coarse clothes, and he looked like he had just been fished out of the water.
.
However, although he was tired, Boss Cai was full of joy.
This year's harvest is very gratifying.
Mr. Cai stood in front of the high pile of grain in his warehouse, full of pride. He grabbed a few handfuls of wheat in the pile with his hands and felt the feeling of the grains rubbing on his fingertips, and then he was satisfied.
Walked out of the warehouse.
As soon as he went out, he saw his second brother Cai Laoer running in sweating.
"Brother! Good news! Good news!"
Boss Cai clapped his hands and asked calmly: "What's the good news?"
"The Duke of Jin is recruiting new soldiers again. This time he is recruiting 10,000 people. This is a good thing that is hard to find even with a lantern!" Cai Laoer grabbed the eldest brother's arm and said loudly: "Brother, let's go and apply together. If so,
Once you become a soldier, your good life will be endless!"
Boss Cai looked at his younger brother, thought for a moment, and said, "I'm not going to apply, you can go yourself!"
Cai Laoer was stunned and asked: "Brother, don't you want to join Duke Jin's team and stand out?"
Mr. Cai laughed and said: "Even if I don't join the army, I will still have a good life. I still like to grow crops, so I won't join in the fun."
Boss Cai does have the confidence to refuse Master Huben's temptation. His income this year is really good.
The Cai family has 21 acres of dry land. In the past, these dry fields required a land tax of seven dan, which made the Cai family miserable. The four members of the family only had a ration of ten dan each year, and they could not eat enough. The eldest son Cai gave birth to three children.
They both died of starvation, and only the smallest and thinnest one was still alive.
But in the past few years, with the deepening of Jin Guogong's rule in Tianjin, the Cai family's life has undergone earth-shaking changes.
After the government of Tianjin equalized the land tax, the land tax was seven liters per mu of land. The Cai family only had to pay a land tax of one and a half stones, and their income suddenly increased by five and a half stones. Because of this reform of equalizing the land tax, the Cai family
The income doubled.
This year, his family's 21 acres of dry land harvested 20 dan of grain. After excluding the land tax and seeds, there was still a harvest of 16 dan. This is an income of forty taels.
Not only that, the Duke of Tianjin has expanded water conservancy projects in Tianjin in recent years, and has also sent a large number of young laborers to Taiwan to cultivate wasteland. Tianjin has a lot of vacant fields, and the per capita farming area has continued to increase. Especially after the opening of the Tianjin Court, the social atmosphere
Things are getting better, and the phenomenon of relying on power to usurp other people's fertile land has been completely eliminated. Private property rights have been protected, and many landlords and farmers have taken the initiative to build small water conservancy facilities and open up wasteland for irrigation. The total number of fields in Tianjin has increased rapidly.
Mr. Yu's 22 acres of dry land in Yujia Village, where Mr. Cai is located, had no tenants to farm it. Mr. Cai, Mr. Cai's second wife and Mr. Cai's wife still had enough energy to rent these fields. This year, there was a harvest on these fields.
Twenty-one dan of grain, excluding land rent and seeds, brought home nine dan of grain. This was another harvest of more than twenty taels.
All told, Cai Huaishui could bring in twenty-five kilograms of rice and flour into his warehouse in a year.
Twenty-five shi of grain is equivalent to sixty-two taels of silver, and a family of four can live a decent life. Mr. Cai has a family and a family, and does not want to be a soldier.
