Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 168 A Strong Ruler and Weak Ministers
Everyone knows about the selection of concubines by the Northern Martial Emperor, and the entire city of Luoyang is discussing it.

Yan Shuangli walked through the city gate of Luoyang Imperial Palace and entered through a side gate.

The main gate is only opened during grand ceremonies; normally, people use the side gate nearby.

Entering the palace required a body search. After entering, one had to pass through a narrow, long alley, which was mainly used to prevent too many people from entering if someone broke in.

The high and narrow terrain makes those who enter realize the profound majesty of this high-walled compound.

Yan Shuangli felt that this design was useless.

For a powerful figure like King Wu, not only were his bodyguards useless, but even the places that protected the emperor seemed like mere decorations.

After Yan Shuangli entered the alley, he was touched on the body to check if he was carrying any weapons.

This was the rule of the imperial court, and Yan Shuangli dared not object.

As one of the few generals in the Shan Nong Legion who had seen the world, Yan Shuangli was well aware of how fortunate he and his men were to have succeeded.

King Wu's conquest of the world may seem like luck, but Yan Shuangli knew very well that it was strength.

Even if Emperor Wen hadn't died, he still wouldn't have been able to defeat the mountain peasant army of Beijiwu.

King Wu conquered the world with his strength, possessing top-notch civil and military achievements, and was also blessed with a divine mandate.

On the contrary, the fact that we have come this far is entirely due to luck.

The Wen Dynasty's army had many people who were ten or even a hundred times more capable than themselves. They surrendered faster than the others, and they surrendered voluntarily.

Many surrendered together. While others developed their hometowns, he followed King Wu to continue conquering the world. If he was lucky enough to go out with King Wu, he would return as a marquis with ten thousand households!
Not long after walking out of the alley, Yan Shuangli saw Lang Wubing and the others standing in front of him.

Lang Wubing, Yang Xiangyun, and Xue Chonghu were all watching him.

Yan Shuangli stepped forward and asked, "What is the purpose of His Majesty's summons us?"

Lang Wubing said casually, "It should be about us offering beautiful women as tribute. That's very simple. We can find some in the city."

Yang Xiangyun calmly said, "The King is not a man who lusts after beautiful women. Since he has summoned us, he must have something to discuss. Let's wait and see."

Lang Wubing looked at the main hall ahead and said, "Have a eunuch announce that we have all arrived."

Xue Chonghu didn't want to be implicated. "Standing for a while won't kill you. The Emperor isn't your uncle; he won't always indulge you. Don't drag us into trouble for no reason."

Lang Wubing angrily said, "What do you mean by that? When did I implicate you? Let's talk this out today. Did I offend you, or are you deliberately trying to cause me trouble?"

Just as the group was about to start arguing, a eunuch quickly walked down from above.

"Generals, His Majesty instructs you to proceed once you have all arrived."

The eunuch conveyed the Emperor's decree.

Lang Wubing glanced at Xue Chonghu, snorted, and strode forward, shaking off the other three.

The other three looked very uncomfortable, but they didn't seem to want him to go in alone and embarrass himself.

It doesn't matter if he loses face, but if King Wu finds out that they don't get along, he'll probably blame them all.

The four arrived at the main hall one after another. Beiji Wu was sitting on the dragon throne, writing something on the table.

Hearing footsteps, Beijiwu looked up and glanced at the four people.

The four knelt down and said in unison, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Bei Jiwu didn't waste any words and said directly, "The Yellow River flooding issue has been temporarily resolved a few days ago. Compared to the Huanghuai Province, the Pingyuan Province is more suitable for developing large-scale agriculture."

"Next year, I will focus on the Plains Province, where I will clear out a large amount of farmland and relocate people, livestock and machinery there."

"The Khitans still pose a threat in the north. Now that we have had two years of rest and recuperation, it is time for you to set off for Youzhou immediately to prepare for war."

"I have already sent people to transport supplies. Next spring, I will lead 50,000 troops to attack the Khitan. Youzhou has enough warhorses and provisions for you."

Upon hearing that it involved Khitans, the four immediately replied, "As you command!"

Yang Xiangyun knelt and said, "Your Majesty, what are the plans this time? How should we fight?"

Beijiwu casually said, "You can decide for yourselves. Nowadays, the Mongols will no longer obey the Khitans' orders, and many Khitans have already surrendered to me."

"The nomadic tribes in the north, mainly Khitans, numbered about four million, but had fewer than two hundred thousand soldiers available."

"I'm giving you the best armor and warhorses, as well as the best weapons and treatment. Fight if you can, and continue to defend if you can't. It's all up to you."

"I'll give you two years. You can decide whether to attack or defend based on the situation. If there's no opportunity, then wait for me to come over."

Lang Wubing immediately replied, "As Your Majesty commands! Your subject will certainly not fail in your trust!"

Arctic Martial felt that these people had been fighting for four or five years and didn't need to explain everything themselves.

Logistics were fully in place, soldiers, armor, and warhorses were all in place, and they were given plenty of money and liquor. They also had the authority to make their own decisions.

Any military strategist with even a little ability wouldn't need to waste any more words.

If you can't win, then you're incompetent.

After the four people left, Beijiwu continued working.

More than an hour later, ten more people arrived.

Nine out of the ten people looked very nervous, and the only one who seemed normal was Wan Qizhen, who came here often.

Wan Di was still handling matters in Shu, while Wan Qizhen stayed in Luoyang to help Beijiwu with his affairs.

"Greetings, Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor!"

Ten people knelt down together.

Arctic Martial raised his head and looked at the ten people.

"Get up, Qizhen. Take five thousand men to Jingzhou. There is a rebellion in the nearby mountains. They claim to support the civil officials and destroy the military officials. The locals will tell you the details. If they are Han Chinese, you can take them in, or go to the Wen Dynasty of the Han people in the south."

"If they are of foreign races, kill them all to avoid repeated conflicts and disturbances to people's livelihoods."

Wan Qizhen immediately replied, "Your subject obeys the decree!"

Even the emperor of the Southern Dynasty would have executed someone for supporting the civil officials and suppressing the military officials.

Wan Qizhen, who has already surrendered, must be able to handle this matter more correctly than ordinary households.

Beijiwu added, "Resolve this matter as soon as possible. Once it's resolved, just send someone to reply. We can also go to Sichuan for the New Year and come back in February or March next year."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Wan Qizhen had originally planned to spend the New Year in Luoyang, but he agreed nonetheless.

The people of Shannong do not pay much attention to various festivals. Whether it is the Spring Festival or the Mid-Autumn Festival, they do not hold any activities. Most of the time, the atmosphere is dull and lifeless.

Arctic Martial looked at the other nine people.

These nine men were all subordinates of the Southern Uprising Army.

Apart from the ringleader, the rest of the bandits were exiled to places like Yangzhou, Yanzhou, and Luzhou to work.

“I will give you nine men, each with a thousand men. You will first go and wipe out the bandits who occupy the mountains and make themselves kings in various places, mainly in the mountains and lakes within the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, a total of four mountains and four lakes.”

"The bandits in Funiu Mountain have been wiped out. As for the Tongbai Mountain, Dabie Mountain, Mangdang Mountain, Hongze Lake, Chaohu Lake, Weishan Lake, and the water system near the Huai River, you nine people should discuss it yourselves. Two people will be in charge of logistics, and the remaining seven will be divided into the army and navy to go out and suppress the bandits."

"I will give you nine thousand elite soldiers, ships, warhorses, armor, bows and crossbows, food and wine, and you can send messages directly through the post stations. You will also have tents, bedding and cotton clothes. I will give you ten thousand taels of military expenses. You must not disturb the people."

All nine men were subordinates of the rebels. For the past three months, they had been digging sand and mining in the northern part of the Yangtze River. They never expected to be brought to the court by the mountain farmers to meet King Wu, let alone be valued by King Wu.

Wan Qizhen immediately said, "Hurry up and thank the emperor!"

The nine people, young and old, immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"This servant thanks his master!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The group was shouting all sorts of things; it was clearly a mob.

Beijiwu waved his hand, "Go down. Go to the post station to rest for a day, write a letter to your family to explain the matter, and tomorrow go to the military camp to lead a thousand troops and supplies to suppress the bandits. The navy's ships and soldiers are all docked at Guazhou Ferry, so you can go there."

"The soldiers you are being given this time are elite troops transferred from the Shanxi Province. You can also go back and select a hundred men to assist in suppressing the bandits. They will all be treated equally."

"My request is simple: don't let these bandits affect shipping and land transportation. As for specific bandit threats, you can ask the locals directly."

"No need for formalities, all of you go and do your work."

Wan Qizhen replied, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Seeing this, the others also echoed, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Beijiwu continued to work with his head down, carefully drawing a transportation route with the tip of his pen, avoiding all the lords' fiefdoms and major cities.

Now that the world is at peace, it's time to build roads. A highway, a railway.

In the future, thousands of households will be directly sent to the frontier, and their farm tools will be sufficient for their own production teams. The rest will be sold to people from other places.

Unless it's a vast plain, the cost of using a combine harvester is far less than that of using a sickle to harvest wheat.

Harvesting wheat too quickly is useless; even ten machines won't make a ripple.

The fiefdom of a thousand households is 50,000 mu, with additional mountains, lakes, and grasslands as rewards.

The 50,000 mu of land could not all be flat, nor could it all be by water or river. There were hills, slopes, mountains, ditches, forests, and all sorts of obstacles.

A thousand households can survive on just 30,000 mu of arable land. If managed well, it can support six or seven thousand people, and possibly even ten thousand.

However, the agricultural era consumed a great deal of food. Every extra grain a farmer produced would result in the birth of another child.

The pressure on land will increase, and the food production that originally fed two or three thousand people to provide 10,000 people will gradually become a food production that feeds 20,000 people to provide 10,000 people.

They went from eating and drinking their fill three times a day to eating only bran and thin gruel twice a day.

Arctic Martial Arts doesn't need to worry about things a hundred years from now. If there are many people, they can eat less. As long as they have enough to eat on their own, that's fine.

When people can't survive, they will go out to find a way out. That's how humans spread outward from the Yellow River region.

Smallpox prevention and control were also carried out quietly. Nowadays, horses and cattle are raised in the Central Plains, and large areas of fertile land have been turned into pastures with inexhaustible resources.

The Yellow River, like a stepmother, has given us a large expanse of water and grassland. The sun shines brightly here, water resources are plentiful, and the temperature is just right. From now on, the cattle and horses will have even more to eat.

With more cows, dairy cow breeding will follow suit, and cowpox will eventually appear, indirectly leading to a solution to control smallpox.

The fighting can be left to my subordinates; the current priority is to reduce steel production capacity.

As the output of harvesters and threshers increases, the number of laborers needed each year is steadily decreasing.

The surplus people were used to build railways, cut down trees and build rails, and manufacture more sophisticated containers and parts.

There was more grain than could be eaten, and nowhere to store it, so they used it to brew wine in exchange for slaves and cattle. Many people even sold their daughters for a sip of wine.

For people in ancient times, this was a perfectly normal thing.

Selling one's daughter for a meal of meat and wine is far more common than having more grain to eat.

The former would be normal in any period of ancient times, but the latter is somewhat fantastical.

Arctic warriors not only have an endless supply of food and ironware, but they also have more money than they can spend.

The first highway must have been the official road connecting the three provinces: Luoyang to Wuzhou, Wuzhou to Tiezhou, Tiezhou to Jizhou, and then the road split into two from Jizhou.

The route follows the foot of the Taihang Mountains, starting from Baoding Prefecture, then circling south along the Taihang Mountains, passing through Handan Prefecture, Ye City, Chaoge, and Jiaozhou, before building a bridge across the Yellow River to reach Luoyang.

Another route was from Jizhou to Laizhou and Qingzhou, transporting grain into Jizhou via the Jiaolai Corridor and transporting resources from the Jiaodong Peninsula out, passing through Xuzhou, Xuchang and other places to reach Luoyang.

Highways should primarily serve public land, and even if they involve longer detours, they must not disturb the residents.

It must be at least 30 miles away from someone else's fiefdom, and a highway-style road must be built specifically from the hills to prevent others from taking advantage of the highway at night.

Gunpowder is currently mainly used for fireworks, and the threat from the Khitans and the south is very low.

Merchants from the Western Regions also brought intelligence from the West.

Currently, the West is still dominated by low-intensity warfare waged by cavalry knights, and has not yet entered the Castle Age.

Given this overarching security context, the primary focus should still be on developing agriculture and managing the Yellow River.

After the first wave of population explosion, people were filled in the northwest. By this time, the Qin and Jin regions had been developed and maintained, and could accommodate a population of tens of millions.

The second wave of population growth involved filling Huguang (Hubei and Hunan provinces). During this period, there was basically no flat land left, so people went to the mountains to develop terraced fields.

The third wave of population growth in Northeast China meant that, sixty years later, there was sufficient manpower, resources, and pumps to deal with the swamps and floods in the region.

The main reason you can scoop fish with a ladle is that the area experiences regular floods, and the swamp expands and shrinks periodically. Once the water recedes, the fish in the ditch become abundant.

Now that area is just a wasteland, like an undeveloped mountainous region; it was never known as a land of fish and rice before.

Before the plains, there were swamps and mud, and parasitic diseases were rampant in the water-rich areas, making it difficult for both people and livestock to survive.

After the swamps receded, they became crisscrossed by waterways, making transportation difficult and prone to flooding.

Only by building water conservancy facilities to block and drain the water, filling in the large and small waterways like a spider web, and then introducing high-yield rice, can the land be transformed into fertile plains.

The Jiangnan region is still under development today, and after hundreds of years of development, it is only halfway complete.

In Arctic military's comfortable budget, the fourth wave of population growth would be enough to push them outwards.

Eighty years from now, it's none of my business. By then, the South will have been taken over long ago, and we can occupy large tracts of land and settle people in any direction, east, west, north, or south.

By directly resettling five million people into a small country with a population of several hundred thousand, there is no need to worry about the issue of governance.

The civil officials in Zhengcheng were in charge of things like public security, agriculture, official appointments, imperial examinations, and tax collection.

In the Mountain Farming Kingdom, not only do the major lords manage their own people and land, but even the production teams are responsible for solving their own problems. If they can't solve a problem, they let their superiors make the decision.

Most things are handled internally, so Arctic Martial doesn't need to worry about those trivial matters all the time.

The appointment of officials follows its own selection process. The head of the thousand households elects the head of the hundred households and the banner chief. If they are not managed well, they are all replaced.

Even the thousand households need to be replaced.

If Sang Yang'an's subordinates are incapable of handling the established procedures and cannot unite his men, then he too must step down.

He can use nepotism, or he can arrange for them all to become his trusted subordinates and lackeys. If something goes wrong, they will be held accountable together. Arctic Martial has never hesitated to kill his own people and is not afraid of his subordinates rebelling.

If you want to place your own people in your positions, then so be it. You can't even manage ten centurions, yet you want to rebel and become emperor?
Agricultural matters can be handled by a few people, so there's no need for so many people to manage them.

Because of the enfeoffment system, the people of Zhengcheng had nothing to do all day.

Agriculture and industry were directly managed by the mountain farmers, and the Han people were not responsible for fighting; Beiji Wu and his generals could simply give orders.

After three or four years of development, Tiezhou could sustain the daily needs of over 100,000 troops on its own, and Wuzhou and other places could also transport supplies directly without the need for coordination from the Central Plains.

The appointment of officials was not their business. For four or five years, the emperor of Beiji Wudang did not undertake large-scale construction to build palaces. Apart from letting the mountain farmers build ditches themselves, the main task was water management.

They manage all kinds of public security incidents themselves, and the villagers of Shan Nong solve their own corruption problems without accepting external supervision.

In Zhengzhou, tens of thousands of officials and their families receive fixed salaries but cannot even find any extra income from embezzlement.

If you're only handling meat, where does the oil and fat come from?

They do not have the power to enforce criminal law or appoint officials, nor do they have the power to mentor younger generations or speak on their behalf, nor do they receive gifts from anyone for no reason.

A few dozen taels of silver a month is not enough to support a few dozen maids, several beautiful concubines, and a constant supply of fine silks and satins, wine, and meat.

They couldn't take concubines frequently.

Without their official authority and power, the brothel madams treated them like poor, penniless old men.

Arctic Army never consults with these officials before doing anything.

Zhengcheng was a newly built city, with a core group of 2 people including officials from the capital, members of the imperial family, and nobles.

There were approximately 130,000 servants, female relatives, and maids.

The total number is 150,000.

These 150,000 people were supported by the salaries of 2,400 officials in the capital.

Of course, the Arctic Army would also send officials and their families whom they disliked to the area, ostensibly to learn governance experience.

Some members of the imperial clan had long since lost their stipends and were now relying on their family fortunes; only those who worked for the mountain farmers received money.

A considerable amount of land was allocated to the area surrounding Zhengcheng. Officials received hundreds or even thousands of acres of land to build houses and estates, and then unified a district within the city for office use.

Nowadays, every household is extremely poor, barely able to afford enough to eat, but they have to grow their own vegetables and buy their own alcohol.

Of the 150,000 people, less than one-thousandth are engaged in farming; most of them grow vegetables, and no one grows grain anymore.

The core of power is imperial power.

The biggest drawback of the enfeoffment system was that it distanced the emperor from imperial power, making it impossible for court officials to manage local areas.

If you can't govern the local area, the local area naturally won't give you money as tribute.

Beijiwu has been in Luoyang for several years, but he hasn't frequently engaged in activities like confiscating property.
However, as the bureaucratic, noble, and royal families of Zhengcheng squandered their wealth day by day, a considerable portion of their fortune was quickly depleted.

***
"His Majesty is choosing a concubine!!!"

A clear spring flowed into the stagnant waters of Guancheng.

In the capital, there is no shortage of beautiful young ladies, concubines, and maids from the families of high-ranking officials and nobles.

(End of this chapter)