Chapter eight hundred and thirty nine selling officials
On the fifth day of November, Wang Chengen stood in the farmland on the outskirts of Tianjin, looking up into the distance.
At this time, winter wheat had been sown for three months, and the wheat seedlings were already three inches high. There were lush green wheat seedlings everywhere in the field ridges. Looking from Wang Chengen's point of view, he just felt that the entire land on the plains of Jinghai County, fifty miles south of Fanjiazhuang, was
green.
There were very few farmers on the fields, but there was a small village very far away. It was noon, and according to the custom in other parts of the Ming Dynasty, farmers had to eat twice a day, without lunch. But Tianjin was prosperous, and the people were encouraged by newspapers.
They eat three meals a day. At this time, the smoke from the chimneys of the small village is curling up.
There is a small river to the east. The small river is only half a foot wide, but the farmers have dug square holes in the river. Dragon-tailed carts are set up on the holes to carry water. Wang Chengen saw a man wearing new clothes.
The shepherd boy sat lazily in the hut reading a book, while the old cow next to him kept pulling the dragon tail cart to carry water.
The distant smoke, the studious shepherd boy, the leisurely waterwheel and the green wheat fields combine to form a picture of a prosperous and leisurely farmhouse.
Li Zhi looked at Wang Chengen and asked: "Young nobleman, how is the countryside under the rule of a few people?"
Wang Chengen took a breath, raised his hands and said to Li Zhi: "Your Highness, this is really a blessed place on earth! It is the paradise described by Tao Yuanming, and it is nothing more than this."
When Li Zhi heard Wang Chengen's praise, he was very proud and laughed.
Li Zhi waved his hand and introduced to Wang Chengen: "What the nobles don't know is that six years ago, this wheat field was not a field, but a deserted wilderness outside the city. Because the terrain is high, irrigation is inconvenient, and there are no farmers farming here.
It has always been abandoned."
"In the past, Tianjin was in chaos, and the laborious task of cultivating new fields often ended up being occupied by powerful people for various reasons as soon as the new fields were opened, and no one would do it."
"Later, the widow set up a court and affirmed the inviolability of private property rights, so the farmers became interested in this wasteland. Later, twenty-one farmers nearby collected 117 taels of silver and bought it at the city hall.
In this wasteland, canals were dug, waterwheels were set up, and 4,000 acres of wheat fields were cultivated on this wasteland."
"Now the wasteland bought with more than one hundred taels of silver has been turned into fertile land worth ten thousand taels."
As a time traveler, Li Zhi can proudly announce that he has endowed this seventeenth-century town and seven provinces with the rule of law that will only be available in later generations.
Once the rule of law is established, social order will be protected and all kinds of abuses will be eliminated.
"Do the nobles know? This is the power of the rule of law. The court has maintained order in Tianjin and clarified private property rights. The people understand that no one will come to rob the pie if they want to make it bigger, so they will spontaneously open up new fields."
After hearing what Li Zhi said, Wang Chengen seemed to understand. This is the power of reform. Once everyone in the society abides by the law, there is no need for the government to bother to shout, and the people will develop agriculture and industry and commerce. Once the people are rich, the country will naturally become strong.
Every time Wang Chengen comes to Tianjin, he will gain a deeper understanding of the social changes brought about by Li Zhi's reform. As for the prosperous markets in the prosperous countryside created by the reform, Wang Chengen's values have been impacted more strongly every time.
It is indeed a good idea for the emperor to imitate the reform of the King of Tianjin.
However, Wang Chengen came here not to observe the effectiveness of the rule of law, but to buy cheap food.
Wang Chengen raised his hands and said to Li Zhi: "Your Highness, does your Highness know the predicament of Shaanxi?"
Li Zhi smiled.
Han Jinxin had an informant in Shaanxi, and Li Zhi certainly knew that the entire province's grain was being taken away by Li Zicheng.
"Why do noble people ask me?"
Wang Chengen raised his hands and said: "Your Highness, the court is willing to provide disaster relief but cannot afford to buy food. We can only rely on Your Highness for this matter."
Li Zhi smiled and asked: "The Holy One won't let me pay for it, right?"
Wang Chengen quickly said: "No, no! Your Majesty heard that the price of spring wheat harvested by His Highness in Liaodong is cheap, and I hope that His Highness can make it cheaper... I hope that His Highness can sell a batch of spring wheat to the court at cost price to solve Shaanxi's urgent needs.
.”
Hearing Wang Chengen's words, Li Xing, who was behind Li Zhi, burst into laughter.
Everyone looked at Li Xing.
Li Xing said jokingly: "The imperial court came to Tianjin to buy cannons. They said that as long as Brother Wang sold the new cannons and explosive shells to the new army, the new army could annihilate the intruders. Who knew that after buying the cannons, not only would the intruders be killed?
We captured Henan and also entered Shaanxi."
"As a result, the imperial court urgently mobilized Brother Wang to quell the thieves. Brother Wang had just beaten the intruders to the ground and recovered Henan. The imperial court said that the final blow to quell the intruders should come from the imperial court. They refused to allow my Tiger Army to enter Shaanxi.
Let the new troops from the Beijing camp take the credit."
"As a result, the new troops from the Beijing camp entered Shaanxi, but were trapped in the central county by the intruders using rain warfare. They were unable to advance or retreat. They came to Tianjin to seek equipment for rain warfare and night warfare."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh when they heard Li Xing's words. The emperor had painstakingly trained a new army. He was eager to build prestige with this new army, and even took away the credit of the Tiger and Ben Army regardless of dignity. However, when the new army was actually used, it failed.
Asking Li Zhi for help everywhere is really laughable.
"It's so hard, it's so hard to overcome the shortcomings of the rain battle and the night battle, and occupy Shaanxi, but there is no food to help the victims, and I need my brother Wang to help!"
When Wang Chengen heard Li Xing's sarcasm, his face turned red and he was speechless.
Before he came to Tianjin, the thing he feared most was Li Xing. Li Xing relied on Li Zhi as his brother, and he was always the most unpleasant to speak without restraint. Moreover, when Li Xing was about to take advantage of the situation to take over Shaanxi, he was stopped by the emperor.
, has always been resentful of the emperor's behavior of grabbing merit.
Li Xing laughed and said: "I think it would be easier to let our Tiger and Ben army pretend to be the new army and invade Shaanxi and announce it to the world in the name of the Beijing camp!"
Li Xing's words made Wang Chengen blush and wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
Li Zhi looked at Wang Chengen's face and shouted sternly at Li Xing: "Presumptuous! Li Xing, you are so presumptuous in front of angels again! Do you know how to talk to a noble person?"
When Li Xing heard Li Zhi's scolding, he bent down and cupped his hands, saying, "Brother Wang has taught you a lesson!"
After taking a few steps back, Li Xing retreated to the back of the crowd and stopped talking.
Wang Chengen's face looked a little better when he saw Li Xing retreating. He sighed and looked at Li Zhi eagerly, waiting for Li Zhi to say whether it was okay or not.
Li Zhi smiled and said slowly: "Tianjin does have such cheap food. It is not difficult for Tianjin to save Shaanxi Province."
After a pause, Li Zhi said: "It's just the noble people! The noble people don't know what's going on in Tianjin. Now the generals under my command have made great achievements in the north and south, and they have made great achievements! But their official positions only stay at the level of general soldier and governor, and they cannot
It is indeed a pity that Ju Bo was granted the title of Marquis!"
Wang Chengen understood what Li Zhi said.
Li Zhi asked the court to exchange his title for cheap food.
This is forcing the imperial court to sell its official position!
