Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 160 The Great Disaster in Jiangnan
After the court session, Wen Shumo and Li Chengren walked out of the palace together.

Most of the court officials worked in Zhengcheng, a distance of 200 li, which would take at least four or five days to travel.

"After returning this time, I won't be able to come back until next year." Li Chengren looked at the streets outside the palace and couldn't help but sigh, "Alas! The world could have been unified, but His Majesty insisted on caring about that so-called alliance! How could the paltry things given by the Southern Dynasty be worthy of enjoying the beautiful landscape of Jiangnan!"

Li Chengren's words resonated with the people in the vicinity.

Those present were all Han Chinese, and all were talented individuals who had once wanted to serve the imperial court.

Now, they are serving the court and seeking wealth and glory, so they are not wrong.

Rong Dingwen also felt it was a great pity. "There are countless rich lands in Jiangnan, with rare treasures, beautiful women, calligraphy and paintings, and fertile land everywhere. Taking over Jiangnan now would be effortless. When the world is unified and all sides submit, we can establish an unprecedented hegemony!"

At this moment, Li Tangqing had already walked away into the distance. Wang Daoji originally wanted to chat with Wen Shumo for a few words, but after seeing that Wen Shumo was with Li Chengren and others, he left on his own.

The Wang family's position in the Wu Dynasty is still quite awkward.

The officials who had been sitting at the back were walking at the very front, including Chai Boshi.

After noticing Wang Daoji approaching from behind, Chai Boshi quickly caught up and struck up a conversation.

"Is Duke Zhao going back?"

Wang Daoji was somewhat surprised that Chai Boshi had struck up a conversation with him, but it was still good to get to know someone.

Few people in the imperial court are willing to speak with the Wang family now.

"I will have to wait a few more days before I go back. There are still quite a few days until the New Year. I will wait for now. If His Majesty launches a military campaign against the South, I will go and serve him."

Chai Boshi shook his head. "I think it's most likely not. If His Majesty wanted to attack Jiangnan, he would have done it long ago. He wouldn't have waited until now."

Wang Daoji smiled and said, "That's true."

Looking at the residential streets ahead, Chai Boshi realized that the group had already left the palace grounds.

"I am serving as a prefectural judge in Nanyang. The journey is neither far nor near, but I still have many matters to attend to in the city, so I will take my leave now. Until we meet again."

"See you later!"

Wang Daoji clasped his hands in farewell.

At this time, all the civil and military officials went their separate ways. Some went to buy New Year's goods, some went to visit relatives and friends, and some went to the post station to take a carriage back to Zhengcheng.

In the summer, you can also take a ferry down the Yellow River and arrive in Zhengzhou in one or two days.

During the dry season in winter, things are not so convenient, and it takes several days to get to Zhengzhou by land.

Wang Daoji wasn't in a hurry to return to the inn. Instead, he strolled around Luoyang, admiring the city's prosperity, which he remembered as being even more bustling than in his prime.

The city of Luoyang did not decline because of their departure; on the contrary, it became even more bustling because of the influx of ordinary people.

Wang Daoji was pondering matters in the south.

"Luoyang is the largest city, but it can only accommodate a few hundred thousand people. If there are any more, it will be very crowded, and it will be very inconvenient to get water and food."

"The Southern Dynasty hastily moved its capital, and just as Wen Shumo said, the city must be ten times more crowded, and the price of rice and grain will increase ten or twenty times."

"If the food shortage this year is so severe that people are starving, we will probably have to forcibly transfer food from other places."

"The Southern Dynasty is unpopular, and many people in the Jiangbei region are living carefree lives without having to pay taxes. I'm afraid that many places in Jiangnan and Huguang are no longer willing to obey the orders of the South."

"If you surrender to the Wu Dynasty, you can serve as a prefect or governor for life, and you can even pass it on to your descendants. The Southern court simply cannot offer a better deal than this."

"I'm afraid the people in the south have already been thinking about welcoming King Wu."

Wang Daoji discovered that there was nowhere he could serve; King Wu didn't need anyone's help to conquer Jiangnan.

If he were to accept the surrender of the Southerners, the Southerners would surrender en masse.

At most, there are a few stubborn old men who would rather die than submit; they will not amount to anything.

The common people did not support the southern court at all. Everyone wanted to welcome the mountain farmers, who did not need to pay taxes or grain, and who were provided with food, lodging, and wives, to become emperor.

No matter what the southern court wanted to do, the people below would just go through the motions and wouldn't obey orders to do anything that would harm their own interests.

Normally it wouldn't be a problem, since Arctic warriors don't accept southerners, which led to everyone being unable to contact anyone after surrendering.

Now that there is a severe drought in the Jiangnan region, there is not enough food to eat and food cannot be bought. I'm afraid that the local areas will not heed the orders of those high-ranking officials in Lin'an.

It doesn't matter who is emperor right now. In order to ensure that they can surrender with their people in the future, the generals and prefects in various places will no longer give away the food they don't even have enough to eat to the Jiangnan court for free.

If we give them food, our own people will starve to death. What benefits will we gain from this?
Wang Daoji was still concerned about the situation in the south and planned to stay a few more days to see how things went.

Back at the inn, Wang Daoji went upstairs and knocked on the door, saying, "Open the door."

"Here you are." Fang Huairui opened the door and saw Wang Daoji with a smile on his face, and immediately felt at ease.

"You're finally back! I was so worried about you. I hope His Majesty didn't blame our family?"

Fang Huairui had been worried all morning, and for months, especially these past two days she hadn't been able to sleep well.

Wang Daoji entered the room and closed the inn door.

"His Majesty did not blame me. He even said that he knew what I had been doing at home and thought I had done a good job. He rewarded me with 100,000 taels of silver, 100 sets of farm tools, and 500 draft horses for plowing."

"However, Father did make a mistake. His Majesty took back those 500,000 mu of land, saying that if any member of the Wang family becomes successful in the future, they can inherit it back."

Fang Huairui wiped away her happy tears and looked at Wang Daoji with excitement and joy.

"His Majesty is truly a wise and benevolent ruler! Our family is finally doing well!"

With 100,000 taels of silver and farming tools and horses, the family's land could be put to good use, and life would get better and better.

In particular, the relief fund of 100,000 taels solved the Wang family's most pressing problem.

Even at the height of the Wang family's prestige, 100,000 taels of silver was a considerable sum.

Wang Daoji reached out and put his arm around his wife, who had stood by him through thick and thin. "It's alright now. I'll hire some people, and then we'll take the supplies and drive back together in a horse-drawn carriage."

"Mmm." Fang Huairui leaned against Wang Daoji's chest. "My husband has worked hard too."

While the couple comforted each other, Beijiwu was alone outside the temple, enjoying the breeze and gazing into the distance.

Even though all the women and children in his family had come to Luoyang, Beijiwu still didn't have the intention of going back to visit them often.

"It's so boring."

Beiji Wu sighed. Being an emperor was tiring and unhappy.

These days, I don't want to make any inventions or creations anymore; I'm content with just being well-fed and watered.

"Let's go eat." Bei Jiwu led the eunuchs and palace maids downstairs, down from the hundred-meter-high shrine, and back to the Guanyin Palace where he often stayed.

The eunuchs and maids in the palace were not from the mountain farms, but they received the same wages and ate the same food as the mountain farmers.

They were not afraid of being replaced in their jobs by the mountain farmers, especially the eunuchs.

If people can eat and drink their fill, most wouldn't want to become eunuchs.

The palace maids were different. After Beijiwu finished eating, he said to the female official, "The New Year is coming soon. Those who are over twenty-three years old and do not have important duties, send them ten taels of silver home to get married."

Official Cui replied, "Yes."

Beiji Wu had no children who needed the care of palace maids, and he also didn't have many concubines to serve as mistresses to the palace maids.

He doesn't usually play around with women, nor does he like to put on airs or have a ceremonial guard.

We've never done anything like offering sacrifices to heaven or ancestors; every year is so relaxed it's boring to the point of being frantic.

Aside from cleaning, it's all about cleaning; even laundry and cooking are becoming increasingly routine.

The cooking is based on a set menu, with different dishes every day of the week, but it's always the same old stuff.

Grains, oils, and vegetables were all supplied by the production team, which meant that the original chefs and purchasing agents no longer had any money to make.

Of course, the Imperial Kitchen wouldn't reduce the benefits; Beijiwu is not short of money and wouldn't mistreat himself.

I only eat whole grains and light meals occasionally to maintain a balanced diet.

Beijiwu is not idle every day; he spends most of his time handling government affairs and rarely indulges in wine and women.

The Shan Nong Daily is mostly written by Bei Jiwu, with the rest of the staff handling sections on people's livelihood and fashion.

The fashion section was jointly managed by the Imperial Concubine and her mother, who had also been an Imperial Concubine, as well as the concubines and princesses brought in from various separatist regimes by the previous dynasty. These people did not enjoy the care of the Arctic Warrior for nothing.

The rule among the mountain farmers is that you only get to eat if you work, and you enjoy as many privileges as you are capable.

The mountain tribe has never spoken of equality for all, and the Arctic tribe has always promoted the simple concept of rewarding the capable and prioritizing those who come first.

***
By the twelfth lunar month, the Shan Nong Daily was selling very quickly, and many people would stand on the street and read it attentively after buying it.

Wen Shumo didn't come to 498 to buy newspapers, and 498 didn't care about him either.

Wang Daoji spent fifteen coins to buy a newspaper, and then took breakfast back to the inn to eat with his wife.

Fang Huairui had already washed her face. When she saw Wang Daoji return, she smiled and said, "I'll go out to buy food tomorrow. Many women in this city are out on the streets. Besides, this is the capital, so it won't be a problem."

Wang Daoji nodded, walked to the side, sat down, and read the newspaper.

"The newspapers are much more expensive than usual today. I had to spend a few extra coins to buy one. I heard there was a major disaster in the south."

Fang Huairui wiped her hands with a towel, walked over and sat down opposite Wang Daoji.

"It's good that everything's alright at home. We should probably head back today."

"Okay, we'll leave at noon," Wang Daoji replied, his expression focused on the newspaper.

Seeing this, Fang Huairui didn't say anything more and started eating breakfast.

These past few days have mainly been spent recruiting people. Because the journey is long and it's the dead of winter, many people are afraid of missing their chance to go home for the New Year and are unwilling to go, so we have to spend more money to hire people.

With 500 horses, 100,000 taels of silver, and 100 farming tools, you'd definitely need 100 or 200 people to feel at ease.

Wang Daoji looked at the newspaper and discovered that the problems in the south were more than ten times more serious than he had imagined.

Many areas south of the Yangtze River have suffered from a severe drought unseen in a century. The extreme heat caused the river water level to drop sharply, the land to dry up and crack, crops to fail, and countless people and livestock to die from the heat.

This disaster affected the east and west of Jiangnan, the north and south of Jinghu, the east and west of Guangnan, and the areas inside and outside Fuzhou. As long as the land south of the Yangtze River was plunged into a heat wave that lasted for more than a month, countless people died and were injured.

With the Grand Canal disrupted, local officials corrupt, and the imperial court lacking surplus grain to distribute as disaster relief, it forcibly requisitioned grain from various regions to bring to the capital.

Uprisings broke out in various places, and convoys transporting grain were looted by the rebel army.

Several dukes were constantly leading troops in the south to suppress rebellions, and gradually their own food and supplies were cut off to the point that they had to return home.

Last month, just as winter began, a blizzard struck, with the heavy snow concentrated only in the area east of the Yangtze River. In Lin'an, the snow became half a meter thick overnight, causing grain prices to skyrocket a hundredfold.

[A hundred catties of rice cost 30,000 coins. A commoner's annual income is less than 5,000 coins, leaving him with less than 500 coins. He can only exchange this for one catty of rice to eat before he departs.]

Outside the city where the Southern Dynasty emperor resided, famine victims exchanged children to eat, dismantled bones to make fires for warmth, and slept with corpses as pillows.

To cope with the food crisis, all 24 cities in Huanghuai Province simultaneously entered a state of control. Each region and team must have enough grain stored for their own city and team's needs for a year. Grain prices increased by 2-3 wen (a unit of currency). Households were encouraged to store 1,000 jin (a unit of weight) of grain to prepare for the disaster; purchasing 1,000 jin of wheat would come with a free grain jar.

[After autumn rainfall, the provinces of Shan Nong and Ping Jung experienced normal snowfall in winter. To cope with the complex climate changes and natural disasters, teams 111-115 will proceed to Cheong Ju for production tasks after the New Year.]

[Each district's thousand-household unit should strictly fulfill its responsibilities, using carts and horses to help the people within its territory purchase grain and coal for warmth. If one person starves to death, ten households will be fined.]

The Mountain Farmer Kingdom cannot support the 20 million disaster victims in the south, but it can still do what it can. Each Han household pays 500 coins in taxes, and each Han official pays 50 taels in taxes to support the Han people in the south. The Mountain Farmer tribe organizes the distribution of grain for disaster relief.

****
Amidst the terrifying food crisis reported in the newspapers, every household took out their savings to queue up and buy grain to store at home.

For many adults who had experienced famine, food was the most important thing, taking much more priority than bathing and new clothes.

The cannibalism is not just a legend; there are many people in Luoyang and among the mountain farmers who have personally experienced it.

The mountain farmers believed that the Han people should save the Han people, so they forcibly levied a "Han tax" on all Han military officers and civil officials, as well as a large number of Han ordinary families.

The people of Huanghuai Province will definitely be able to eat their fill, and almost every household can afford to contribute 500 coins. But what's disgusting is that they have to pay taxes to save those who killed their own relatives!

Most of the people in Huanghuai Province had their hometowns looted by the rebel army that invaded from the south, and fled to Luoyang from various places.

The mountain farmers of Jizhou and Qingzhou were abandoned by the Wen Dynasty people themselves, and they even looted the area after abandoning it.

The people of Qin and Jin hated the Wen Dynasty to the bone and had no intention of donating money to the Southern Dynasty emperor.

But this is a mandatory tax.

After the banner chiefs and centurions led their troops to collect taxes and register each household, both Han officials and Han civilians obediently paid their "friends' tax."

Because of a lack of money, many people accepted jobs they were previously unwilling to do.

Wang Daoji hired two hundred people to help transport silver, farming tools, and draft horses. Since he had food at home, he bought ten cartloads of grain to eat on the road and twenty cartloads of coal.

Beijiwu also sold off his stockpiled grain and took the opportunity to collect a large amount of copper and silver coins to mint new coins.

The one who must have felt the most pain was Li Tangqing, who saw countless compatriots who wanted to come and become his slaves.

(End of this chapter)