Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 164 The Messenger 1
Wang Mingyun received the order in the fourth month of the lunar calendar, and it wasn't until May that he led the envoy delegation to Jinling City on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

This area is still under the control of the Southern Dynasty, but people from the Northern Dynasty are already waiting at the city gate.

The sedan chair carrying Wang Mingyun was gently lowered by the sedan bearers. After the servants opened the curtain, Wang Mingyun, dressed in a bright red official robe, stepped out.

Li Tangqing, also dressed in the attire of a civil official, walked over.

Nanjing was a city south of the Yangtze River and existed as a military stronghold, possessing the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The garrison commander, Wu Jiang, quickly introduced the two parties to the high-ranking official who had come over.

"Minister Wang, this is Lord Li Tangqing, the newly appointed Prefect of Yangzhou by the Wu Dynasty."

Upon seeing this, Wang Mingyun politely said, "Lord Li, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Li Tangqing also politely replied, "Minister Wang, you are too kind. His Majesty ordered me to come here to assist with the crossing of the river and to discuss future cooperation between the two sides."

“Okay.” Wang Mingyun clearly knew about these things in advance.

The two sides then entered the city for detailed discussions.

Upon entering Jinling City, which was supposed to be heavily guarded, Wang Mingyun discovered that neither the garrison commander, the soldiers on duty, nor even some of the civil officials supervising the area seemed to find Li Tangqing's arrival strange.

There was no dike or vigilance.

Li Tangqing had a group of mountain peasant soldiers under his command who wore proper mountain peasant clothes. In the summer, these people liked to wear cloth shoes, shirts, and trousers, and had short hair that was too long to be grasped with one hand.

Several officials entered and sat down, and soon tea was served.

After the servants left, Wang Mingyun said embarrassedly, "We were supposed to set off in March after the rebels were quelled, but we spent some time capturing the rebels' families and preparing a lot of gifts from various places, which is why it has been delayed until today."

Knowing Beiji Wu's attitude, Li Tangqing replied, "His Majesty and the Wen Dynasty are brotherly nations. When brothers are in trouble, they should naturally help each other. Since the beginning of the year, His Majesty has sent me to Yangzhou to handle matters related to land reclamation and cultivation."

“Those who come from Wenchao without permission will not be executed, but they will not be allowed to cause trouble in the Central Plains. His Majesty took pity on the people of Jiangnan who were suffering from natural disasters and allowed them to stay in Yangzhou first, so as to save them from causing trouble in the south.”

"These people will not be treated as mountain farmers, nor will they enjoy the same treatment as the original Han people. His Majesty is merely managing them on his behalf. Every Han person from the Wen Dynasty who farms in Jiangbei must pay one shi of grain to the Jiangnan court. His Majesty calls this the hometown tax."

"Since the severe heat wave disaster last year, about 400,000 people from Yangzhou have gone north. Excluding the elderly and weak, 250,000 shi of grain will be transported from Yangzhou to Lin'an Prefecture after the autumn harvest this year."

Wang Mingyun did not expect the Northern Dynasty to do this. He had already gone to the Wu Dynasty to become a slave, but he still had to pay taxes to the Wen Dynasty.
This is a good thing for Wen Chao, so Wang Mingyun naturally wouldn't refuse.

"King Wu is truly a benevolent and righteous ruler!" Wang Mingyun asked curiously, "I heard that Shu has surrendered to King Wu?"

Li Tangqing replied, "This is indeed true. The King of Shu is a benevolent man. In order to enable the people and farmers of Shu to live a peaceful life, he took the initiative to come to Luoyang from Shu last month and incorporated the Shu region into the Southwest Province, which governs the three prefectures of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan."

"The people of Sichuan also enjoy the same treatment as those in the Central Plains, and are all called mountain farmers."

Seeing that millions of people in Sichuan had become mountain farmers, Wang Mingyun asked, "How many Han people and how many mountain farmers are left in the Wu Dynasty now?"

Li Tangqing was stumped by the question. He had the correct answer in his mind, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

If he were to say it out loud, it would be incorrect and would invite attacks from all Han Chinese and mountain farmers.

"The majority of the people in the Shannong Province, Pingyuan Province, Southwest Province, and Huanghuai Province are Shannong people. Originally, there weren't many Shannong people, but His Majesty was magnanimous and believed that Shannong people and Han people shared the same ancestry, so he downplayed the differences here."

"It's just that some stubborn civil officials always try to persuade the emperor with Han Chinese customs, which angers the emperor so that he puts all the Han Chinese who are in the way and unwilling to integrate into one city to manage the city."

"Now, the Three Dukes and Six Ministries, with more than 4,000 civil and military officials, manage a small city of more than 100,000 people. Half of them are family members of officials, wives and relatives, and they do not engage in production or know anything about grains. They live off the King Wu's salary every month. Apart from composing poems and discussing politics, they can't do anything else."

"His Majesty forbids these people from wearing the clothes of the mountain farmers, eating the food and delicacies invented by the mountain farmers, using the farming tools of the mountain farmers, or writing the language of the mountain farmers."

"Last month, even the newspapers stopped."

Li Tangqing sighed.

It wasn't that the Three Dukes and Six Ministries opposed the conversion of mountain farmers to agriculture; rather, it was Li Tangqing who had stirred up conflict between mountain farmers and Han people over a trivial matter, and coupled with the encouragement of Wen Shumo and others to send troops to the Northern Army, the court officials were trying to put pressure on the Northern Army.

None of the Wanhu (ten thousand-household commanders) present at the time participated in such a life-threatening activity; like many Qianhu (thousand-household commanders), they all kept a very low profile.

It turned out to be the right decision. King Wu did not take those people's lives, not because he could not, but because he felt that such punishment would be more satisfying.

As the culprit, Li Tangqing can only work quietly in Yangzhou now, and no longer mentions upholding justice.

This incident has also helped Li Tangqing grow a lot, teaching her the importance of unity and a sense of the bigger picture.

This also gave Li Tangqing a clearer and more accurate understanding of Beijiwu.

King Wu was not a benevolent person.

He was just doing what he wanted to do, not genuinely thinking about the people.

He felt that focusing on artisans and farmers was the right thing to do, so he would continue doing this kind of work.

I feel that being a mountain farmer is a matter of identity, not a matter of bloodline or custom.

Those who oppose him, whether they are mountain farmers or Han Chinese, will be killed without hesitation.

The greater good could not bind this wise and brave sage.

Wang Mingyun lacked a direct understanding of the current Wu Dynasty, and while the servants were serving dishes and pouring wine, he began to chat with Li Tangqing again.

"I've heard that Wenchao hasn't paid taxes for four or five years. Is the national treasury flush with cash?"

Li Tangqing knew that this person was trying to gather intelligence, and hoping that things would be better for the Southern Dynasty, he answered truthfully.

"That is indeed the case. After assisting Wen Chao this year, the national treasury still has a surplus of five million taels. Currently, the national treasury has an unknown amount of gold, tens of millions of taels of silver, and hundreds of millions of strings of copper coins."

The military officer and civil official eunuch at the same table, upon hearing this, all found it unbelievable. Eunuch Li Zhong asked, "If no one pays taxes anymore, how can there still be so much money?"

Li Tangqing answered truthfully: "Only farmers and soldiers do not need to pay taxes, but ordinary merchants do, especially mountain farmers."

"Most of the shops on the street are run by mountain farmers. Each shop is supplied with goods according to a quota, and they know exactly how much they sell and how much they pay in taxes."

"Brothels pay a fixed tax, which is paid for each night they are open. There is also the state-run salt and iron tax, which, apart from workers' wages, is all turned over to the national treasury."

"The imperial court organizes people to cultivate the land, and the grain produced by the farms is sold to the people. The people then grow and harvest grain, make clothes, and raise chickens and ducks. They are given various tasks to do to earn money. With money, they know how to buy firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea."

“We have to pay for drinking water normally. When there is plenty of water, it is cheaper. When the weather is bad and there is a severe drought, the price of water goes up.”

"It may seem like you don't need to pay taxes, but in reality, there are expenses everywhere."

Wang Mingyun asked in confusion, "Isn't that just like the Wen Dynasty, except that no land tax is levied?"

Li Tangqing originally intended to reveal the news to Wen Chao, but he harbored some resentment towards Wu Chao.

But upon hearing Wang Mingyun's words, he suddenly came to his senses.

At least the Wu dynasty genuinely reduced taxes, truly alleviating the tax burden on millions of Han people, allowing them to eat their fill, stay warm, and live peaceful lives, and did not deliberately oppress the Han people.

Beijiwu treated Han Chinese and mountain farmers equally. Even if he disliked some Han officials, he never took his anger out on ordinary Han people.

At most, levying a "friends tax" or a "hometown tax" will make the people below remember something.

The Wen Dynasty truly did not treat the lower classes as human beings, and taxes became increasingly heavy.

"The Wen Dynasty could actually be exempted from taxes," Li Tangqing suggested. "Tax exemptions would make many people grateful for the Emperor's grace."

Wang Mingyun smiled and said, "It has already been waived. His Majesty exempted all the families of successful candidates from taxes last year, and the ministers and meritorious officials in the court were also rewarded."

"During this rebellion, many ministers did irrational things, but His Majesty was magnanimous and did not hold grudges. He only dealt with some miners, rebels, and local scoundrels. He arrested their families and fellow villagers and sent them to the Wu Dynasty for disposal. They must be strictly guarded and these troublemakers must be punished."

Li Tangqing was utterly disappointed this time. He had put aside his national and personal grievances and hoped that the people of the Southern Dynasty could rise up, but now he knew that this was fate.

Li Tangqing wasn't the only one who would make this choice; others had already made the most reasonable choice rather than dying alongside the Southern Dynasty people and becoming their slaves.

After several rounds of drinks, Wang Mingyun asked, "I brought more than 20,000 prisoners this time, more than 10,000 of them are men. What do you plan to do with the remaining women and children?"

Li Tangqing replied, "The mountain farmers will arrange for us to work in Yangzhou. It's all hard labor, like mining, salt production, and farming."

Upon hearing about salt production, Wang Mingyun immediately grasped the key point.

"Isn't the Wu Dynasty's salt supply enough to eat?"

Li Tangqing replied, “Shan Nong Province has the Jincheng Salt Lake, Pingyuan Province has the Changlu Salt Field in the Bohai Bay, and the Jiaodong Peninsula has been a salt-producing area since ancient times.”

"Huanghuai Province had enough salt before, so it didn't open any more salt fields by the sea. Now, although it has obtained well salt from Sichuan, transportation is inconvenient due to the more than 2,000 li between east and west. So it plans to reorganize the Huaihe River salt fields. Yangzhou will mainly rely on the canal for transportation, and will mainly obtain salt from Yancheng County in the northeast of Yangzhou."

"This way, salt can be sourced locally, saving manpower and resources for long-distance transportation, and the price can also be lowered."

Wang Mingyun nodded.

The seaside is all seawater, but salt fields require favorable climate and location. Areas too close to the estuary have too low salinity because freshwater enters the sea.

The northern climate is favorable, with infrequent rain and vast coastal mudflats suitable for salt production, which is less efficient and less costly than boiling salt.

The largest salt fields have now fallen under the control of the Wu Dynasty.

Wang Mingyun smiled and said, "The Jiangnan region, including Jiangsu and Zhejiang, is also producing salt. How much does a pound of salt cost in your area?"

Li Tangqing was also interested in checking the accounts and answered truthfully: "One jin of salt costs fifty wen, and this year's grain harvest is abundant, so one jin of wheat costs four wen."

Wang Mingyun was also familiar with prices. "In our area, a pound costs forty coins. The price of rice has dropped from a thousand coins at the beginning of the year to twenty coins because the price of rice has been bad for the past two years. The price of wheat is ten coins per pound because King Wu sent a lot of grain."

"Rice prices will stabilize next year. Recently, the court has been encouraging agriculture and sericulture. His Majesty believes that the Wu Dynasty is a brotherly country and is willing to use military funds to purchase grain and ironware from the north to forge a lasting friendship."

Wang Mingyun raised his glass, and Li Tangqing also raised his glass to drink.

After swallowing the baijiu, Wang Mingyun exhaled and sighed, "This liquor is very strong. I don't understand why so many people like it."

Li Tangqing laughed and said, "Minister Wang, you may not know this, but Shan Nong wine is a strong liquor made from wheat. One hundred catties of wheat can only produce forty catties of Shan Nong wine. It is mainly used to drink and relieve worries after a hard day's work."

"This wine is easy to get drunk on. Northern Hu people love this wine, especially after winter when they have nothing to do at home and like to drink. A jar of wine can be exchanged for four or five taels of silver."

"The Khitans also like this wine. It's freezing cold there, and they need to drink to warm themselves. They often send people to detour from the grasslands to Wuzhou to buy wine and grain, often exchanging women and medicine. The Emperor does business with them and calls them Liao people. They also call themselves Liao people."

Li Tangqing smiled. When he felt sad, lonely, or troubled, this kind of intoxicating wine was like a knife that caused pain, making him unable to stop drinking it.

Wang Mingyun was amazed when he heard this, and the military officers next to him urged him to drink, so he drank another cup.

"Haha! Sure enough, after a few drinks, I'm getting a little tipsy."

Wang Mingyun got drunk very quickly; the wine was indeed potent.

Li Tangqing didn't say anything. Looking at the civil and military officials and eunuchs happily drinking and eating at the table, he smiled and drank another cup.

I've already pointed out all the downsides, but I still can't wake them up.

After the drinking party ended, the several drunken civil and military officials went back to sleep.

Standing on the city wall, Li Tangqing looked at the Wen Dynasty people who were completely unguarded against him and couldn't help but smile bitterly. Then he vomited on the city wall.

(End of this chapter)