Chapter 557: Water Conservancy and Farmland

Wang Anshi was puzzled: "What do you mean?"

Su You patiently explained: "After the prosperity of the salt industry in central Sichuan, merchants in Wu mostly used the products from the two routes south of the Yangtze River and transported them to Kuizhou for exchange."

"In order to reduce transportation costs, they joined forces with businessmen from Sichuan to develop land on Jinghu North and South Road, plant rice, ramie, and breed silkworms."

"On Jinghu Road, in addition to the two big lakes Pengli and Dongting, there are also Chaohu between Luchao; Caizi Lake between Tongchi and Tongchi; Hukou, Leichi to the north of Pengze; southwest of Pengli, covering the south of the Yangtze River

The entire Ganjiang River system along the West Road has great potential."

"However, due to the miasma, most of the fields developed today are still around cities and towns, and because there is no state leadership, large-scale water conservancy projects cannot be built, so development is slower and the scale is smaller."

"Everything has advantages and disadvantages. In the same way, there are disadvantages and advantages. There are many mosquitoes, snakes and miasma in the watery areas south of the Yangtze River, but once the excess water is drained away, the land is very fertile, and farming is much easier than in the north."

"When the wild swamps are turned into fertile fields, the mosquitoes will disappear; when the thorns are turned into the countryside, the miasma will disappear. To achieve these two points, we need to cooperate with rural health and epidemic prevention regulations, personal hygiene and epidemic prevention regulations, mosquito nets, mosquito coils, medicines and other guarantees."

"

"Many farming implements have been developed in Sichuan, such as Meishan. The farmland is located on the mountain, so it is not suitable for oxen to plow. Those who work the fields must use hoes instead of oxen."

"There are also seedling beds, seedling-planting horses, tillers, and tillers. These are all newly made in Sichuan. There were no such devices in ancient times, and the work and rest are as good as heaven and earth."

"Two people using poles to raise mud can rival the power of one ox; two people using grinding and raking to grind it can rival the work of three oxen."

"The mud under water is very easy to plow, and it can be harvested twice a year. This is a great benefit for rice fields."

"After the harvest is completed, the rice piles are stepped into the mud, which will be the base fertilizer for the next year. In addition, there are fish and shrimps in the field, chickens and ducks on the edge of the field, human and animal manure, green grass retting, mud from dredging rivers and ponds, as well as distiller's grains and sugar residues.

Bean dregs, oil residue, etc., because of the mild and humid climate in the south, can easily be turned into agricultural fertilizer."

"As for large-scale water conservancy projects, the imperial court may allocate funds to recruit civilian laborers; the commander-in-chief may lead the Xiang army to provide relief with work; the local government cooperates and provides farm tools, livestock, seeds, tax exemptions, etc. as rewards to stimulate local construction of pond weirs.

Enthusiasm for building water conservancy projects.”

"With the momentum of the Farmland Interest Treaty, several major projects can be built."

Wang Anshi said: "Mingrun, why are you so keen on this method?"

Su You said: "Because this is a good law for all ages! The way to cultivate the foundation of the country!"

"What I just said is to demonstrate the feasibility, but we should pay attention to some problems in implementation."

"The first is the choice of region. In areas with developed agriculture, such as central Sichuan and Zhejiang, farmland water conservancy is already well understood. It is almost impossible to tap the potential in this area."

"To implement this method in these areas, we can only focus on dredging and consolidating existing facilities, while opening new fields, which is half the result with twice the effort."

"The places I just mentioned are underdeveloped areas that can be profited without much effort. They are close to a flat lake, with convenient transportation, mild climate, and easy results."

"Participating in politics has many benefits, not just farming."

"First of all, it can turn the army into the people and solve a considerable part of the redundant army problem in the Song Dynasty."

"It is imperative to reduce the army, select soldiers, and improve combat effectiveness. However, if we do not find a good way out for the reduced army, chaos will inevitably occur. Therefore, a large amount of arable land is needed to accommodate the reduced army.

purpose."

"Secondly, there were more and more officials waiting for election in the Song Dynasty, and redundant officials were also a big problem."

"If you ask officials who are on assignment to do this, they will definitely be cunning and cunning, but it is different if you ask officials to be elected to do it."

"The imperial court can use this matter to test their ability, use it as a talent reserve, expand the scope of governance, and solve some of the disadvantages of redundant officials."

“I have said before when we were discussing the Young Crops Law that we should transform those people who have labor force but are idle due to lack of means of production from being a burden to the country into people who are beneficial to the country. This is the fundamental way to solve social conflicts.

."

"These new districts are like a blank sheet of paper, which is also of great benefit to clarifying the land administration and yield per mu."

"Management of officials' food fields can also rely on this. The planning of these areas must be careful. Officials' food fields and officials' private fields must be clearly demarcated. Private fields outside of the officials' food fields must be fed together!"

"This measure was implemented in the old territory of the Song Dynasty. It was complicated and difficult, but the development of new fields is an opportunity!"

"This is actually Meishan's old policy. Later, I implemented it in areas such as Kuizhou and Weizhou where the annexation was not violent or had been abolished, and achieved remarkable results."

"The first step is to take advantage of the country's opportunity to develop Jinghu and rebuild Hebei. The inner court's field supervisors and the outer court's field officials and foreign ministers work together to supervise each other and properly handle the regulations on measurement, measurement, and unified verification."

"If it works, the second step is to measure the acres of land across the country, assess the number of households, clearly sort out the public land, private land, and official land for officials to live in, and strictly separate the tax-free land from the non-tax-free land.

!”

"Official land and acres other than public land should not be included in the tax exemption. This is supported by laws!"

"In the Song Dynasty, there were only a few thousand officials who were promoted to the dynasty. Among them, the tax-free land for officials of the first grade ranged from fifty hectares to five hectares for the ninth grade. There are already laws and regulations that can be checked. The tax-free land is only tens of thousands."

"Including the public fields used for local chores, schools, and food fields used by local officials, the tax-free land only amounts to a few hundred thousand hectares."

"Then how many acres of land should we pay taxes on? It should not be less than five million hectares! So how much should the annual tax be? Whose pocket is it all?!"

"The state promised to rule the world together with the scholar-officials, and it gave such generous treatment to the scholar-officials because of their contribution to governing the country and benefiting the people, and because of their achievements in protecting and rejuvenating the country."

"Giving everyone honor and position is not for the purpose of enriching the people, taking advantage of others, taking bribes and perverting the law!"

Wang Anshi: "But who is going to measure it?! When the top and bottom deceive each other and hide from each other in embarrassment, how can the court get the truth?"

Su You laughed angrily: "You can still commit crimes with confidence? If you participate in politics, they are violating the law of the country!"

"Give a time limit and report it to the government within the time limit. Then forget about it. If you don't report it after the time limit, it will be measured according to the records at that time. Those with more will be included in the public land. This is called leniency for those who confess and strictness for those who resist!"

"However, the old land can take its time and use Jinghu to develop first, but the new land must be strict and not cause any more losses to the country."

Wang Anshi asked: "Why should powerful merchants be involved? Can't the state directly dispatch Xiang troops to develop it?"

Su You smiled: "Of course it is possible to develop the country, but how many available assets does the country have now? Both methods were used up, consuming 8 million guan from the national treasury; green crops method, consuming 16 million guan from the national treasury. Both.

The total amount is 24 million yuan. Now that the Farmland Interest Treaty has started again, coupled with the national fiscal deficit in recent years, we can no longer be anxious to participate in politics."

"Besides, can the country be managed in such a meticulous way? It's impossible. It's better to give up some of the benefits, do a good job in big projects, and enjoy the achievements. As for the peripheral parts, just leave them to social forces."

"When it comes to participating in politics, I still have the same view. In order for a system to be implemented and no one to be involved in politics, it must try to win the support of the majority of people and fully embrace the righteousness. Otherwise, even if it works for a while, it will not last long."

"I think the other methods can be slowed down for a while."

Wang Anshi stood up and said: "If you work hard, you will be exhausted again and again. There is no need to persuade Mingrun to be benevolent and righteous. Even if there are thousands of people, I will go!"

Su You was speechless, the stubborn donkey was still the same stubborn donkey.

However, he is weak in strength and speaks softly. Forget it, as long as he can maintain the basic base of the Song Dynasty, listen to him if you like. If you don't listen, businessmen in Sichuan will take advantage and consolidate their mass base.

I dare not expect more.

…

Nowadays, Su You mostly lives in Zhengzhou, and he hardly even goes back to the capital for fear of making a fuss.

Even Shi Wei is here most of the time now, because the military's patent medicines often require her guidance, and she is regarded as a supernumerary director of the Medical Department.

Shi Wei is good at martial arts and likes new weapons very much, so she is still a weapons tester, shooting targets every day, and going to the depths of Songshan Mountain to look for prey when she has nothing to do.

Shi Fu obeyed the little girl's words and got whatever she wanted. A magical gun with the highest accuracy was now in her hand. She even spared no effort to get twenty brass bullet casings and shot them with her own hands every time.
Chapter completed!