Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 161 Enjoyment
The food crisis in the Southern Dynasties was enough to ignite an already fragmented regime.

The coastal areas around Lin'an Prefecture were the hardest hit by the disaster.

The farmers and their cattle are all dead, and the seeds have all been eaten. Even if next year is a good year, they won't be able to survive.

Knowing they couldn't survive, the displaced people quickly united in various regions and marched south together.

The rebel army, composed of miners, boatmen, and mutinous soldiers from various regions, surrounded the imperial army, which had been cut off from supplies, and wiped out the last few imperial troops.

Several major cities in Jiangnan were plunged into fierce warfare. Houses were burned, prisoners were eaten, and the once prosperous cities were quickly turned into hell on earth.

Cities closed their gates to protect themselves, but were still breached by starving and freezing refugees who disregarded the cost, leaving both officials and civilians in chaos and devastation.

Secret reports of surrender requests from various regions poured in like snowflakes, but Beiji Wu didn't even glance at them. He spent one night with his wife and children during the New Year holiday, and then continued to enjoy the snow and listen to songs in the palace.

Several inland cities along the Yangtze River frequently corresponded with those in the north, knowing that if they surrendered, they could inherit high-ranking official positions, and that the people in the cities would be their servants.

The officials in various cities were also aware of the current situation. The mountain farmers neither killed prisoners nor plundered the people. Everyone shared information, and both the higher and lower levels believed that the mountain farmers had a conscience.

In addition, Beiji Wu did indeed do good deeds, refraining from levying grain taxes and killing officials indiscriminately. He even tolerated and spared the lives of those who repeatedly defected to the enemy, such as the Duke of Yan and the Duke of Wei.

Most importantly, no one is confident that they can stop Arctic weapons.

The Wen Dynasty was almost entirely destroyed by Beiji Wu alone. He also annihilated the Mongols and Khitans, and even destroyed a country in a single day.

They just declared themselves kings here, and now that the Arctic Warriors are coming, who can stop them?
In densely populated areas where decisions could be made, food shortages had reached the point of cannibalism, and the situation inside and outside the city was appalling. At this point, anyone who tried to stop people from surrendering was courting death.

As a result, everyone generally adopted the idea of ​​protecting their own people and surrendering, resolutely refusing to rescue the most severely affected areas such as Suzhou and Hangzhou.

If they are saved, they will not surrender; if they do not surrender, they will face certain death.

Because many regions failed to provide assistance, the Wen Dynasty's army was gradually devoured by the rebels in less than three months, leading to the complete collapse of the Wen Dynasty. Only the million people in Lin'an City were left to fight desperately against the siege from the outside.

The people in the city all wanted to surrender, but the garrison commander refused to surrender, and the emperor refused to surrender either, resulting in the killing of many of their own people every day.

"The grain has arrived! King Wu has brought the grain!"

The morale of the troops in the Suzhou and Hangzhou area was greatly boosted, and they quickly went out of the city to suppress the bandits.

The Han Chinese rebels who rebelled in the Southern Dynasties were deeply betrayed by King Wu. Unexpectedly, Emperor Beiji Wu, a farmer from the mountains, actually saved the emperor of the Southern Dynasties.

The rebellious Han Chinese were quickly killed by other Han Chinese. After the rebels killed many people and the government troops also killed many people, there was enough food left to feed several million people.

Emperor Wan Hu of the Southern Dynasty regained his throne and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Kill all the rebels! Kill all the officials who betrayed me this time! Send their wives and daughters to Empress Wu. Minister of Rites, go there in person to express my gratitude to Empress Wu for her benevolent assistance!"

Wan Hu was thirty-eight years old, in the prime of his life, and had calmed down and felt at ease.

Beiji Wuzhen really had no intention of attacking him; otherwise, given the strength of the Shan Nong Kingdom, the Southern Dynasty would have been powerless to resist.

This time, Wanhu also saw the most realistic contrast: almost the entire country was thinking about surrendering to the Arctic military.

However, because of the covenant, the mountain farmers, who valued their promises, not only did not take advantage of the situation, but also transported a million bushels of grain and three million taels of silver to help.

The Shan Nong Kingdom does not accept the surrender of people from the south, and even dislikes the Han Chinese from the south coming to join them.

Because Wang Mingyun had served as an envoy to the Shan Nong Kingdom, he had always held a very stable position as Minister of Rites.

"The minister obeys the order!"

***
April, the busy farming season
"Shannong Daily! Shannong Daily! Spend the old money and keep the new money; we won't collect the old money next year!"

"Shan Nong Daily! Shan Nong Daily! Grain has been transported to the south. More than three million Han Chinese in the south have died from natural disasters and man-made calamities. The disaster is over."

"Mountain Farmers Daily! Mountain Farmers Daily! Spring rain fell yesterday, saving us from irrigation. King Wu has decreed: unless there is a severe drought, water fees will not increase this year."

"We are recruiting men and women to manage the river and repair dams. Men will earn forty coins per day, and women will earn thirty coins per day!"

"This year, wages for farmers who go out to work have increased. Whether you work or not, your daily basic wage has increased by five cents."

498 shouted loudly as he sold the neatly arranged newspapers one by one.

The younger sister next to her was responsible for counting the newspapers and putting them aside. Starting this year, she had to sell 300 newspapers every day, which weighed about 30 kilograms.

After selling another newspaper, Si Jiuba took a break and said to his sister, who was sitting at the table counting newspapers, "What are you doing here? I can do it myself. I'll sleep a little longer at home."

Xiao Ya said, "I heard you say the newspaper was heavy, so I came to help you with the work."

"I can pick her up myself." 498 didn't feel tired, but seeing that his younger sister had nothing to do, he accepted the offer. "How's school going?"

The eight-year-old girl smiled and said, "I can recognize almost all the words on the newspaper! I want to sell newspapers when I grow up!"

The previously happy 498 could no longer smile.

Work and household registration are closely linked. Now, each job is strictly set up according to number and team, and the difficulty and content of each job are taken into account, so there will be no increase in personnel.

Not only are thousands of households hereditary, but the workers, farmers, and soldiers of the mountain people are also hereditary.

The farmers refer to the Wanhu production teams directly under King Wu. They received good treatment and wages, and were special positions where only one person was given per household.

Even if the entire family pitches in, they'll only be paid the salary of one person.

However, the wages were very high. In the main production team that specialized in farming, each person could earn a huge reward of eighty taels of silver per year.

Si Jiuba is a worker. Even with the recent wage increase, he only earns 3.8 taels a month, less than 40 taels a year.

Soldiers receive a monthly salary of five taels of silver, plus food, lodging, subsidies, and rewards.

Si Jiuba was very worried at this moment, his mind filled with a jumble of troublesome thoughts.

“This spot was given to me after my father died. If it's passed down from father to son, it will be passed on to my younger brother or my son. What about my sister?”

"There are only a hundred positions at the newspaper. Even if someone dies, their child will take over. It's the same everywhere." "Sigh! I hope she gets married soon."

Si Jiuba quickly came up with the best solution: once his sister got married, he wouldn't have to worry about her anymore.

I'll have to support her for another ten years...

498 regained his spirits and shouted, "Shan Nong Daily! Shan Nong Daily! A detailed report on the entire process of this Southern Rebellion!"

Not long after, the little girl happily stood up and started packing her long-strapped blue cloth schoolbag.

"Sister! Selling newspapers is so easy, they're all sold out in less than half an hour! Three hundred newspapers cost 1,500 coins, let's keep 150 coins for ourselves!"

Si Jiuba reached out and picked up the small table. "Come on, let's go pay the social security fee. Leave the new money behind, and exchange the old money for new money."

Xiao Ya slung her schoolbag across her shoulder and waist. "Okay! Sis, I'll help you sell newspapers tomorrow, you can sleep in at home."

"No way!" 498 resolutely refused. "You stay home obediently tomorrow, I can sell newspapers by myself!"

The little girl looked pitifully at 498, "I want to help you with some work."

498 said irritably, "Just study hard."

The little girl said angrily, "What's the use of studying? It's useless! Those Han Chinese officials are all worthless."

498 didn't refute, casually saying, "That's true."

The two walked past a breakfast stall, where several writers who were eating silently lowered their heads and did not say anything in defense.

Beijiwu felt that Han civil officials were useless, so he only allowed them to manage affairs in a small part of the Yellow River flood area and not to interfere in the affairs of Shannong Province and Pingyuan Province.

They are not consulted for important matters, nor are they invited to meetings, nor are they cared for in ordinary times, and they are not replied to letters.

However, wages are paid on time.

We also contacted them to collect taxes during the Chinese New Year.

Fifty taels must be given, after all, it is to save the Han people. Han officials should save the Han people. If they don't pay taxes, they should be dismissed from their posts. Even if it's borrowed money, it must be given!
***
"Your Majesty, a message was sent by carrier pigeon from Jiangnan Province. Five pigeons were sent, and four have returned. The messages are all the same."

Tong Xi, the eunuch in charge of Baiyu House, came to report on his work.

Bei Jiwu was busy reviewing memorials in his study when he asked directly, "What did they say?"

The eunuch Tong Xi lowered his head, not daring to look at the man five meters away, and respectfully looked at the carpet, answering the question in the most respectful tone.

"About a million people died this time. The situation in the south has been handled properly, and they have sent envoys with gifts to express their gratitude."

"Ah."

Beijiwu said calmly, "Go down."

"Yes!" Tong Xi carefully withdrew, only breathing a sigh of relief after leaving the house. She didn't dare linger and quickly left.

In the study, Beiji Wu began calculating the population of the south.

When the Wen Dynasty was first established, it had a population of about 40 million. Later, natural disasters, wars, plagues, floods, droughts, locust plagues, earthquakes, typhoons, and snowstorms repeatedly ravaged the country, resulting in a population loss rate of one-fifth to one-quarter.

Although the Jiangnan region and other areas experienced unprecedented high temperatures, heat waves, and snow disasters, the situation was not particularly serious due to the absence of floods and epidemics, with only a million people dying.

The rescue was quick enough to save so many lives. If the drought and locust plague are followed by a common flood, and the flood is compounded by plague and blizzard, plus cannibalism, then if it lasts for more than half a year, 90% of the population could die.

There are many reasons why only one million people died. Besides the fact that the disaster area was not wide, many people also believed that after surrendering, the system would be hereditary, and the people in the city would become their slaves and tenants. So they robbed the rich and distributed the food to the people in the city.

But because these people felt they could surrender, most of the people were able to receive relief, and the situation was quickly stabilized.

Now that it's late spring and early summer, unless there's a severe drought, people won't starve, so there's no need to transport grain south anymore.

This time, not only was a large amount of grain transported, but the cattle and horses that died from exhaustion during the transport were also given directly to the local disaster victims and the garrison troops as extra food.

The Wu Dynasty is now in its fourth year, and the number of cattle and horses in the north has more than tripled, now boasting over six million oxen and three million horses.

Cattle are an important source of labor; if they can survive, they won't be slaughtered.

The north experienced many major upheavals, but people in the Central Plains mostly died from plagues and wars, and very few died of starvation.

Because they successfully took over the wealthiest region of Luoyang, the core agricultural area in the north with the highest concentration of cattle, and because the rebels generally did not kill cattle, they easily took control of 500,000 head of cattle.

With the addition of cattle from Jizhou, Jinzhou, and the grasslands, there would be a million cattle initially. If the ratio of females to males is controlled, the number can double in two or three years.

In a few more years, the number of cattle and horses will grow to tens of millions.

It won't even take five years; once all the cattle and horses are integrated, they'll break ten million next year.

Arctic military calculates its current arable land and population.

"Last year's birth rate was ridiculously high. If this continues, the population will reach 100 million within a hundred years."

"After having enough to eat and drink, people would have children. In a situation where there was no war, no worries about food and drink, and plenty of farmland to cultivate, the more children the better."

"Even if we take into account plagues, smallpox, and natural disasters, as long as the Mountain Farming Kingdom provides food relief, the population is still growing."

"Let's talk about it in ten years. We don't need to worry about it now. Once condoms are invented, the birth rate will naturally decrease."

Beijiwu became increasingly frustrated and quickly changed his approach.

"Why the hell should I care about this crap? If there are too many people, they'll just emigrate. I don't care about my reputation, I'll just fight my way out."

“I shouldn’t impose moral constraints on myself. The national treasury has more money than it can spend and more food than it can eat. It’s time to enjoy life.”

(End of this chapter)