Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 137 Self-Preservation
Beijiwu rode his horse to inspect the area, traveling west from Luoyang to Chang'an.

Chang'an was the largest city in Qin territory. Beiji Wu looked at the report presented by the Chang'an magistrate.

"Is there only 100,000 people left?"

Beijiwu never expected this place to be so poor. As the largest city in the Northwest region, it only has 100,000 people left.

Tang Boyong sat opposite the officials from Chang'an. Beiji Wu gave the officials face, allowing them to sit in chairs and talk during the meeting.

"Your Majesty, because the Tibetans, Turks and other foreign tribes in the west often invade, and in recent years there have been frequent disasters, resulting in year after year of crop failure, the people have fled to other places."

Tang Boyong replied with a bitter face, "There's really nothing we can do about matters of fate."

Beijiwu casually said, "If someone attacks from the west, we just need to hold our ground and not come out. I think the ethnic composition here is quite complicated, with all sorts of people. After I finish harvesting this year and plant wheat, I'll come and help you tidy up this area."

Tang Boyong immediately replied, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Beijiwu smiled and said, "I'm not sure what your abilities are, but just by opening the gates and surrendering the city, handing over to me Chang'an Prefecture, which is well-preserved and still has a lot of gold, silver, farming tools, grain, cattle, and people, you have done a great service."

"You can take charge of this place for now. My requirements are simple: make sure you have a clear count of all the wasteland, green land, and sandy land, and determine the current amount of arable land and the number of registered households. Next year, all the land will belong to me, and I will then distribute the land according to my position."

"Whether you become a centurion or a thousand-household commander depends on your own abilities."

"Give each soldier one tael of silver. Do not levy taxes or grain this year. The treasury has enough for you to eat for a year. Let the people in the city rest and recuperate. Do not disturb those who wish to farm. If there is anything, send someone to Luoyang to deliver a message. Someone will take care of it."

Tang Boyong breathed a sigh of relief, calming down his tense and uneasy speculations.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Arctic Wu has taken over several cities, and cities in the central and western regions have successively come under his rule due to his occupation of Luoyang and his defeat of the southern army.

Luoyang, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Xuchang, Nanyang, Xiangyang, Jiangling, Hankou, Xuzhou, Hanzhong, Chang'an.

These places are well preserved, unaffected by the rebellion, and their treasuries are full.

Jiangning Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture, Runing Prefecture, as well as parts of Huainan and southern Henan, were looted by the rebel army, leaving their treasuries empty and their populations greatly reduced.

In some other places, floods, locust plagues, and epidemics ravaged the area last year, resulting in population decline, disorder, and many people taking the opportunity to rebel, causing even greater losses.

The entire Wen Dynasty was far wealthier than Bei Jiwu had anticipated. Even the prefectural cities with a population of over 100,000 had workshops producing everything from grain and fodder to weapons, from disaster relief seeds to various farming tools for land reclamation.

There was no shortage of civil and military officials, and the people's hearts were relatively stable. However, it was like a righteous heroine from a prestigious sect who had just descended the mountain to venture into the martial world, only to be knocked unconscious by a single blow.

Beijiwu was the one who dealt a heavy blow to the Wen Dynasty, causing it to collapse.

Fortunately, Beiji Wu did a decent job. Although he turned a unified dynasty into a three-way power struggle, he at least drove out the Khitans who had occupied Youzhou for nearly two hundred years.

The Wen Dynasty people didn't care about unification; they just thought the mountain farmer in front of them was quite good and a great ruler.

Even if the national treasury's treasures were to become moldy, it would have nothing to do with the people, as Emperor Wen of the Wen Dynasty would not distribute them to the lower and middle classes.

On the contrary, after Beiji Wu became emperor, he was willing to share wealth and honor with everyone.

If the biggest problem of the Wen Dynasty was the Northern Wu, then the biggest problem of the Wu Dynasty was the even stronger Heaven.

The war has ended, but the natural disasters have not.

Despite having endless gold and silver to spend and countless beauties to sleep with, there was no inexhaustible food to eat.

After inspecting all the regions, Arctic Army discovered that the food consumption rate for more than four million people was extremely alarming. The current food reserves were only enough to last for 13 months, and much of the food was estimated to be moldy, with a conservative estimate of less than a year left.

"We've had snowstorms and earthquakes this year. I hope the Yellow River will calm down for a while, otherwise we really won't have enough food to eat."

"In some places, not a drop of water has fallen since the beginning of spring. When will we finally have favorable weather for crops?"

Arctic military officials are not optimistic about the current situation.

If a natural disaster were to occur in the area under my control one day, I would have to fight fires everywhere.

"If something happens to the people who were sent out, can I just ignore it? After all, the purpose of sending them out was to save trouble."

Arctic Martial's initial intention in giving his subordinates hereditary land was simply to avoid managing it. Now, however, he has become much more diligent and wants to do something, but he also hopes that his subordinates will not impose their own fates on him.

Beijiwu rode back to the city in a dragon carriage, surrounded by an honor guard holding up signs and various useless guards.

In reality, it wouldn't matter if one of his subordinates declared himself king, as long as they weren't in his sight.

Going to the frontier is fine, but staying in the present is not.

"Let's leave it at that for now. This is pretty much the same as a feudal system."

Beijiwu has already spoken with the administrators of Chang'an and other cities. If he can demonstrate good governance skills, complete his tasks, and support the court's orders, then he can continue in his post without having to step down.

If you feel that your son, a member of your clan, or a subordinate you approve of is suitable to succeed you, then you should take over.

The appointment of officials within the city was also entrusted to the highest administrator within the city. He could freely manufacture agricultural tools and weapons for military purposes, raise horses, and adjust taxes at will.

However, unless on official business, no official, whether from agriculture, industry, commerce, or military households, may leave their fiefdom.

For people of this era, this was not a restriction at all; it was a law protecting those in power, ensuring that people within the territory would work diligently and not run away.

The feudal system is indeed bad, but the Northern Army doesn't care about so many things. In this year of disaster, people are dying randomly, so everyone taking care of their own affairs is the best strategy.

It is indeed possible to concentrate resources on major tasks, but if we spend ten years every day on disaster relief and there are ten disasters a year, the people will inevitably complain.

Floods, droughts, locust plagues, sandstorms, snowstorms, typhoons, tsunamis, and earthquakes—this isn't a peaceful year where one or two deployments a year would suffice. Now it's a year of major disasters; we haven't even finished dealing with the previous ones, and now something even worse is coming.

Luoyang was more than 1,400 li away from Tongzhou, and it took the grain transport convoy a month to arrive.

Luoyang is nearly 2,000 li away from Shanhaiguan, and it would take the grain transport teams two or three months to arrive.

It is 900 li to the west of Chang'an and 1,300 li to Hanzhong.

1,400 li to the east is Qingzhou, which is also more than 1,000 li from the Yangtze River in the southeast.

Given the frequency of natural disasters and transportation capacity today, the army and the conscripted laborers would surely rebel after running around in all directions a few times.

For example, when there was a heavy snowfall in the Northwest, the snow would probably have melted by the time the army arrived. The snow disaster would then turn into an avalanche, a mudslide, and if people caught a cold, it would become an infectious disease.

Not long after we returned to rest, drought and rebellion struck. After suppressing these rebellions, we were about to encounter the Khitans and Mongols who were raiding southwards due to the White and Black Disasters.

The locust plague and floods occurred in the latter half of last year. While the army was fighting in the north, the central regions were ravaged by locusts and floods. This kind of thing had probably happened many times before, so Emperor Wanye was very experienced in handling such situations and chose to travel light to resolve the problems quickly.

This year doesn't look peaceful either. There was a snow disaster in Yuzhou, a major earthquake in Shaanxi and Gansu in the northwest, drought and no snow in Tongzhou and the grassland areas, and floods in Jizhou and Qingzhou after the locust plague last year. If it rains in humid areas, the locusts will definitely take flight again this year.

And then there's the most troublesome Yellow River flood, that wretched thing happens once or twice a year.

At times like these, authority should be delegated, allowing local authorities to decide for themselves whether to open granaries and distribute grain, to oversee farming and defense, and to determine taxation.

If they still can't handle the situation after a year of tax exemption and further decentralization of power, then they're incompetent and should be replaced.

The focus of the Arctic military is to protect the Huanghuai Province, which has the largest population and the most land.

After one inspection tour, having decided to relinquish control and responsibility for several major cities, Beijiwu focused on managing his own small territory.

When he returned from his inspection tour, the court officials came to report on their work.

Minister of Revenue Li Chengren said, "Your Majesty, only one-third of the area received spring rain in March this year. Local agricultural officials are leading people to irrigate and plant crops. Fortunately, it snowed after the New Year, so it did not affect the germination of the crops."

“I have an official under my command named Zhang Weicang, a native of Suzhou in the south. He is fifty-one years old this year. He used to manage land affairs in Xinyang and planted fifty mu of rice in Nanyang. A few days ago, he proposed that 100,000 mu of southern rice could be planted in Xinyang, with a yield of 160 jin per mu, which can be harvested in October.”

Beijiwu said with satisfaction, "Good, let Zhang Weicang go to Xinyang to serve as the prefect. Previously, Xinyang had sided with the bandits in the south, which led to the city being looted and the people being displaced. Let the prefect recruit 10,000 people from the displaced people to go back and grow rice."

Li Chengren lost one man, but gained a friend who became a prefect.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Li Chengren cautiously said, "Your Majesty was on a western tour and has not returned. In order not to delay agricultural production, I took it upon myself to send people to the south to purchase high-yield rice seeds and water buffaloes for rice planting. There are also water buffaloes from Xinyang in the local area, but they have all been robbed and killed, and there are not many left. That's why I sent someone with 100,000 taels of silver to buy cattle and rice seeds and to redeem some local old farmers who know how to grow rice."

Beijiwu laughed and said, "It's alright. I always thought that wheat was grown here and neglected to grow rice. Northern cattle are indeed not suitable for southern paddy fields. In the future, we can just follow this approach. It's easier to do things if there are clear guidelines."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Li Chengren had done many things that would have been considered against the rules in the past, but here, as long as it was a task, he could do it first and then submit a report.

Of course, there must be an explanation. If you act first and then report later without explanation, you might very well end up being the one who gets killed.

The mountain farmers have killed quite a few people recently, but most of them don't make it into the newspapers.

Minister of Works Lin Xi stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works has created a drip irrigation waterwheel that travels through the fields to irrigate by inserting bamboo into the waterwheel. Currently, it can produce five waterwheels per day, with an annual output of two thousand."

Beijiwu said, "We should set up a factory to manufacture wheels. Nowadays, different vehicles in the city, such as horse-drawn carriages, harvesters, handcarts, and waterwheels, all need wheels. Making them individually would be time-consuming and laborious. By having a factory specialize in manufacturing wheels, we can improve our skills through practice and have all the necessary tools to make them faster."

Lin Xi replied, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Arctic military is still facing a severe labor shortage and slow industrial development; therefore, it is necessary to prioritize the improvement of agriculture.

"How is the spring millet planting going?"

Sang Yang'an replied, "From the beginning of spring until the beginning of March, I have led 50,000 people to work from dawn till dusk. In 15 days, we have cultivated more than 7,435,000 mu of land. More than 300 cattle and horses have died from exhaustion. In order not to delay the spring planting, we dare not add any more land. Now the cattle and horses are free-range, and we are sowing and watering the seeds."

Beijiwu laughed and said, "Use the dead cattle and horses as a supplement to our meals. This is just the beginning of the year, so let's plant this much for now. After the millet harvest, I'll give you some more people and expand it to eight million mu."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Sang Yang'an knew that as time went on, the number of farm tools, livestock, and workers would increase.

An old man dressed as a high-ranking official next to him seemed puzzled and raised his head, saying, "More than seven million mu of land can be cultivated in half a month? I have heard that it is already considered a lot if one person and one ox can cultivate five mu a day. Even if 50,000 people cultivate 250,000 mu a day, it would still be less than four million mu in half a month."

Before Sang Yang'an could explain, Beiji Wu said, "The Grand Minister of Agriculture is right. It's just that the mountain farmers use fine steel plows for farming. An ordinary steel plow with one horse can plow twenty acres a day. If it's a large steel plow with multiple horses, it can easily plow forty or fifty acres a day."

Sang Yang'an then said, "If there are enough horses and plows to pull the plow, only 20,000 people are needed to plow 500,000 mu of land per day, and 8 million mu can be plowed in just ten days."

Grand Minister of Agriculture Yuan Fengchun asked, "What about the wheat harvest? How many people are needed to harvest eight million mu of wheat?"

Beijiwu calmly advised, "The Grand Minister of Agriculture should learn the script of the Mountain Farmers, and not be so narrow-minded as to look down on the affairs of the Mountain Farmers."

Yuan Fengchun carefully bowed, "Your Majesty, I am deeply apprehensive. I will certainly be humble and eager to learn from you in the future! I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness!"

Chen Fa from the Ministry of Personnel explained: "The mountain farmers are known for their agriculture. Last year, they made a very sophisticated horse-drawn harvester that could harvest more than 100 mu of wheat a day. It is said that they have now produced 2,000 machines."

Beijiwu said directly, "Large machines are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and inconvenient to operate. Now we have replaced them with medium-sized models that can only harvest 60 mu of wheat per day. Five horses and two people are enough."

"More than 2,600 of these horse-drawn harvesters have already been made. I have instructed craftsmen in Luoyang and Tongzhou to work hard to produce them. In fourteen months, when it is time to harvest wheat, there should be 10,000 of them."

"If we can harvest 600,000 mu of wheat a day, then 8 million mu will only take a little over ten days. 50,000 people are enough to manage 8 million mu of wheat fields."

Minister of Personnel Chen Fa immediately said, "Your Majesty is divinely gifted and possesses both literary and moral virtue! A stroke of the pen in the imperial court can bring peace to the world, and a sword at the gate can pacify the four directions. You are truly a sage ruler for all ages!"

Seeing this, the others exclaimed in unison, "Your Majesty is wise! You are divinely gifted and your virtue is boundless!"

Beijiwu didn't care about such praise. He was naturally indifferent to other people's opinions and also indifferent to their life or death.

"You ministers should focus on practical work. Whether you are a civil official or a military general, your achievements and results speak for themselves. The two things you really need to do are water management and agriculture. Do not slack off in these two areas. How is the water management going lately?"

Qi Tian, ​​who was in charge of flood control, replied: "Your Majesty, I was previously digging waterways in the eastern part of the Yellow and Huai Rivers to divert water and alleviate flooding. However, last winter, the ice upstream from Shanzhou to Mengjin was three feet thick, and the boats were frozen solid. This spring, the river rose sharply, and a large number of ice blocks appeared near Luokou and Kaifeng."

“The ice blocks piled up and blocked the dikes on both sides of the village, causing more than a hundred deaths. I have been repairing the dikes these past few days.”

Arctic Martial showed a distressed expression, not because of the life and death of more than a hundred people, but because of the unbearable itch of the Yellow River stepmother.

Without modern machinery and millions of manpower and resources, it would be difficult to manage this river.

"Let's stabilize the situation first. Continue repairing the river. You can make decisions on anything beforehand; you don't have to wait for my approval for everything. If there's going to be flooding, move to the less populated north!"

Arctic Martial Arts directly gave the bottom line: if the Yellow River's water must flow to one place, then it should go to a less populated area.

People from the north were concentrated in the high-altitude tea-growing and mining areas, or they migrated to the mountains behind Kyushu and Youzhou.

"Let the people in the north find good places to build their cities. In the future, cities should not be built with walls. They must be located in high-lying areas. When there is no rain, drainage facilities should be built to prevent major flooding!"

"Each commander should also learn how to build castles and water conservancy facilities. If a flood occurs, don't wait for me to rescue people; figure out a solution yourself first!"

Faced with a difficult problem, Beijiwu decisively shirked responsibility and delegated authority to his subordinates to protect themselves.

When the floodwaters rise, the shorter people get enough to drink.

During the great flood in Yuzhou, Luoyang, located in the hilly area of ​​western Henan, was at a higher altitude and its urban area was more than 20 kilometers away from the main channel of the Yellow River. It was mainly affected by the Luo River and the Yi River.

When the Yellow River floods, the floodwaters mostly flow eastward, and low-lying plains such as Kaifeng and Shangqiu are frequent targets on the list of disaster victims.

(End of this chapter)