Chapter 46 The family members of loyal ministers are not necessarily bad people
The busy farming season of summer has passed so peacefully. Time has entered July in a blink of an eye, and we have survived the hottest days.
Regardless of whether it is an area controlled by the imperial court or an area controlled by bandits, they must focus on resuming production without incident, otherwise large areas of people will starve to death in winter.
The bandits in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen had not yet widely shouted the slogan "No food will be paid when King Chuang comes", not to mention that the Fifth Battalion of Ge Zuo was not considered to be part of Li Zicheng's faction.
They all know that food must be grown by the people in the areas they occupy. It is impossible to feed so many people just by looting, and they cannot feed war with war.
After more than a month of Chen Shuren's efforts to persuade farmers, green seedlings were everywhere in Qizhou, Huangmei and other places, lotus roots sprouted, and taro sprouts began to sprout.
Many swamps and wetlands that the local people were originally too lazy to take care of were tried to make full use of them under the guidance of Suhu farmers brought by Shen Shuren.
Especially around Qixian County, the lotus ponds and swamps managed directly by the Shen family's tenant farmers were also put into some Southeast Asian, Indian and even East African fish fry that Shen Shuren had just obtained from Zheng Chenggong a few months ago, plus some exotic fish from India. Chicken and duck breeds.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the maritime trade routes had become very developed, and European colonists had been running routes from East Africa to India and then to Southeast Asia for hundreds of years.
Although the Zheng family does not travel much, they can easily find some red barbarians and pay them a lot of money to pilot them, and they can also travel to Southeast Asia and India. Therefore, the acquisition of these species is completely logical.
Shen Shuren also pays great attention to the pace of project planning, and arranges the priority of these breeding work to be lower than that of summer double rush, and only arranges it in the off-season after the busy farming season is over.
Breeding animals does not require considering the seasonal climate like growing crops. They can be raised all year round, so there is no need to miss the farming season.
The number of these alien species is still very small today. Even though Zheng Chenggong sent nearly ten sea ships to various places to help the Shenshu people search for them, in the end they only brought back alive a hundred or so fish of each type.
Bringing back freshwater fish across continents has always been the most challenging transportation problem in ancient times, because it is necessary to set up an additional airtight cabin in the sea-going ship to put in fresh water to feed them, and it must be docked every ten days at most to find a port for fresh water. The water quality changes. There may also be many dead ones, so they should be fished out and thrown away in time.
In short, Zheng Chenggong must have spent a lot of resources in the past six months. Sometimes a large ship could transport thousands of fish with fresh water, but in the end only two or three hundred survived.
Fortunately, these fish will also produce roe on the way, and the roe can be stored in the cabin water for a long time. After returning, you can slowly breed some of it.
Compared with fish, poultry such as Indian chickens and ducks have a much higher survival rate. Those brought back after sailing for several months at sea can still survive by several percent. When the Zheng family merchants were looking for purchases from the colonists, they would try to choose the best female poultry. For laying eggs, some of the eggs laid on the way back can still retain hatching activity.
Because of their scarcity, the Shenshu people did not let the local poor farmers raise them. Instead, they gave them all to the direct tenants of the Shen family for them to raise carefully——
Of course, even if they are raised to death, it is not completely hopeless. At least Zheng Chenggong has a foresight. When he had people get these varieties back, he had already bred them himself in Fujian.
So even if all the Shenshu people are raised to death here, they can still go to Fujian in a few months to get a batch of reserved seeds.
Tilapia brought back from East Africa and pangasius from Southeast Asia, these fish that can survive in fresh water and low-salinity brackish water, soon survived tenaciously in the lotus ponds and taro ponds around Qixian County.
These two types of fish generally grow faster, produce more meat, and have fewer fish bones. They are also the most suitable species currently available to Shenshu people.
Others, such as the dragon fish in South Asia, although the meat quality is better than pangasius, can only be raised along the coast, not in inland fresh water. After Zheng Chenggong obtained the dragon fish, he mainly raised it himself in Fujian and gave it to Shen Shuren. It can only be raised in Chongming County on the coast of Suzhou, and it is not popular in Huangzhou.
As for the Qingjiang fish native to the Americas, it is currently not possible to transport live fish back across the Pacific Ocean in fresh water, and neither can the Spanish.
At the same time, the Indian Xiong chickens, which carry part of the paternal genes of later generations of white-feathered chickens, also began to be reared and bred freely in the forests of farmers around Qixian County.
(It is a type of chicken with extremely thick breast meat and high meat production rate. In terms of meat structure, it is close to that of white-feathered chickens. However, it does not have the rapid growth genes of later generations of white-feathered chickens that grow in six weeks. It still takes several months or even It takes half a year to grow up. During the same period, domestic chickens need to be raised for a year.)
Seeing these strange-looking chickens, ducks and live fish, local officials and squires were skeptical at first. After a few months, they saw that Shen Tongzhi could really feed them and seemed to grow meat quickly, so they all began to Take it heartily.
"Your Excellency's talent in persuading farmers is really no less than that of Mr. Xu Ge and Song Changgeng. I admire you, it is true that a capable person can do anything." Zhao Yunfan and two county magistrates of Jiangcheng personally visited Chen Shuren's "demonstration farm" Afterwards, I admired from the bottom of my heart.
Shen Shuren didn’t put on airs and expressed his kindness sincerely:
"As a parent, if you can do more things for the people, do as much as possible. This is your duty. You just need to make it clear to the noble gentry below and work together with me to tide over the difficulties. Don't focus on those little things. A small profit, and everyone will be happy in the end.
I happen to have a few old hens from the first batch here that can no longer lay eggs. I will kill them in a few days and treat the wealthy gentry from the three surrounding counties to a meal to let them know who cooperates well with the government. I will distribute these improved seeds to them first. "
Although patents and biological variety protection do not exist in this era, these high-quality varieties will eventually be spread to the people for free. But the number is still small now, and there is still a big difference in who gets it first and who gets it last.
If you can plant high-yield crops and raise high-yield poultry and fish a year or two earlier, you will be able to make profits first. I believe everyone with a discerning eye will know what to do.
…
The day for Chen Shuren’s Hongmen Banquet was finally set on July 15th, the Ghost Festival.
The wealthy gentry from all counties in Huangzhou were informed five or six days in advance and hurried to Qixian to listen to Master Tongzhi's advice.
Of course, these gentry would not watch their new comrades do whatever they wanted to do whatever they wanted to do to seize the gentry's farmland, or forcibly distribute military rations and donations. On the way to the banquet, everyone naturally formed a group and inquired about each other's information.
On July 13th, the wharf of Huangqikou Town at the mouth of the Qishui River.
Several groups of ships from Huangmei, Guangji and other counties in the south came to dock at the pier one after another. Many well-dressed and luxurious country squires disembarked and lingered in the town to rest, but they were not busy entering Qizhou City.
Qizhou City is on the bank of Qishui River, about twenty miles upstream from the mouth of Qishui River where it enters the Yangtze River. Huangqingkou Town is a relatively prosperous trading town nearby, where ships are exchanged for river transshipments.
If it is a normal day, cargo merchants will stop at Huangqinkou to wait for loading and unloading. Passengers will usually go directly to Qizhou City. It is only twenty miles away anyway. If you are tired, you can just walk a few steps and there is no need to stay in the town. overnight.
But today's situation is very different. Yuan Zhongyi, a wealthy gentleman who just arrived from Jiangxi in a hurry, took his servants and disembarked at Huangqikou Pier. He noticed that the inns in the town seemed to be full, and all the passing passengers were stranded here. , but in no hurry to enter the city.
"It seems that the wealthy gentry in various counties in Huangzhou are a little undecided and are hesitant to go directly to meet the new colleague. Do you plan to meet here first and unify their rhetoric?"
After all, Yuan Zhongyi was a large non-taxpayer who had been fighting with the government for many years, and he was very experienced in this area. Seeing that the inns in Hekou Town were full, he immediately judged that everyone was hesitant to move forward.
He sneered and rode slowly through the town. Before he had taken a few steps, he was immediately surrounded by acquaintances who appeared one after another from the inns on both sides of the street.
"Young Master Yuan! You are finally here. I heard that the newly arrived Shen Tongzhi this year will expropriate the farmland left by the fleeing squire and rent it to the tenant farmers who stayed behind. How should we deal with this matter? Everyone is counting on you to follow suit. !”
"That's right, Mr. Yuan is a righteous man. If your family hadn't stood up to Yan Zhifu last year, our fields would have been planted by those mud-legged white people. You have to help us make the decision. Whatever you say, we will do it. Everything will be done." It’s up to you to make the decision.”
It turns out that Mr. Yuan Zhongyi is from Jiujiang Prefecture in Jiangxi Province on the other side of the river. A local prominent family has tax-free farm quotas using his family name in the three prefectures at the junction of Huguang, Jiangxi, and South Zhili. The total area It definitely goes beyond the laws of the imperial court.
Of course, if they had only produced a few Jinshi, promoted people, and had abundant land and wealth, then the Yuan family would not be so highly regarded by the wealthy gentry in Huangzhou. His family obviously had other backgrounds.
This Yuan Zhongyi had a distant uncle named Yuan Jixian.
When Xiong Wencan recruited bandits two years ago, Yuan Jixian was stationed in Hubei to prepare for military affairs, and he was responsible for the defense of Xiangyang, De'an and Huangzhou——
The big deal that the Ministry of Personnel offered Shen Shuren was that if he could eliminate Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng, he could have his fellow magistrates of Huangzhou become magistrates and be granted the title of Hubei Military Preparation Officer. So this position happened to be for Shen Shuren. On the upward path in the future, you will be very powerful locally.
The current Huanggang County seat of Huangzhou Prefecture was built during Yuan Jixian's term. Yuan Jixian also defeated Ma Shouying, the most powerful man in the Gezuo Fifth Battalion at that time, in Huanggang.
Last year, after Zhang Xianzhong rebelled and Xiong Wencan was imprisoned, Yuan Jixian was also implicated in some cases at first.
Fortunately, after Yang Sichang took office, he realized that Yuan Jixian's talents were available, so he transferred him to the Western Front and was responsible for the Yunyang and Xiangyang defense areas. As a result, De'an and Huangzhou were empty, and the new man only worked for more than half a year. Yan Zhifu, who was killed by bandits, took over and took charge of Huangzhou.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination families in Jiangxi were very powerful because there were so many Jinshi from Jiangxi and they were very experienced in occupying tax-free land.
This Yuan Zhongyi was not only a tycoon from the Jiujiang imperial examination, but also had a distant uncle who had served as a high official in Huangzhou and De'an two years ago. The local gentry who wanted to resist taxes and collect more tenants had to follow his lead.
After reading everyone's statements, Yuan Zhongyi felt determined and assured in a very coquettish manner: "Don't worry, everyone, no matter what the background of this new colleague is, he cannot be allowed to break the laws of the court and the dignity of the gentry.
We don’t cheat the imperial court, but what the imperial law has promised us, we will definitely get every penny! Otherwise, any foreign official who comes in the future will think that we Jiangxi gentry are easy to bully!"
"Young Master Yuan is mighty!" Everyone saw his generous words and instantly had a backbone.
For a while, all the gentry either helped Yuan Zhongyi with his horse, or invited him to drink, gave him the best guest room in the town, and invited him to stay, and carefully discussed the countermeasures together.
Of course, it must be clarified here that his distant uncle Yuan Jixian did not know what Yuan Zhongyi did. According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty", Yuan Jixian was a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty.
At the end of history, when Zuo Liangyu rebelled, he was sent by the Southern Ming court to persuade Zuo Liangyu to surrender. However, Zuo Liangyu died of illness in the end, and his son Zuo Menggeng surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Yuan Jixian was kidnapped and presented to the Qing court, but Yuan Jixian refused to surrender.
He was killed by Dorgon.
It can only be said that many honest ministers in the late Ming Dynasty were helpless in terms of being greedy for money. At that time, almost everyone was greedy. According to the salary of the Ming Dynasty, if there were no other legal sources of income, it would be impossible to live without being greedy.
A big family.
Zhu Dadian also had integrity, but in the end, it was also true that he was "corrupted for millions". Yuan Jixian himself had no clear evidence that he was corrupt, but those prominent families in Jiangxi's imperial examinations had great careers, and their clansmen were doing all kinds of things, including tax fraud and tax plunder.