This time, he sent his younger brother to Weixue, Gu Qianhu and Gu Yunniang home, and the matter of paying homage to the commander was successfully completed, Huang Laifu was relieved. After staying in Kelan Prefecture for a few days, he also received news from his adoptive father, commander Liu Jingchun. With Liu Jingchun's personal action, the situation in Kelan Prefecture was naturally not a problem.

Regarding the cashmere incident in the ranch in Kelan, Lord Liu Jingchun has "reached a broad consensus" with Lord Tuanzhou. After Huang Laifu returned from his job, he returned to Wuzhaibao and sent someone to discuss the specific details.

Huang Laifu was thinking about his business, so after staying in Kelanzhou City for a few days, he wanted to get up and say goodbye to the capital.

Gu Qianhu and others also knew that this matter was important and was related to Huang Laifu's future, so they asked Huang Laifu to get up and leave. However, before leaving, Gu Yunniang insisted on following Huang Laifu, saying that she was following Brother Laifu outside to see the world. As a result, she had never been to the provincial capital yet.

Huang Laifu, Gu Qianhu and others naturally let her go. Anyway, she and Huang Laifu will get married soon, so there is no need to worry about gossip. Gu Qianhu and Gu Yunniang don’t care anymore, so Huang Laifu naturally doesn’t care even more. It’s also a beautiful girl next to her.

June 17, 1590 AD. Early in the morning.

With the repeated instructions of Gu Qianhu and his family, Huang Laifu and Gu Yunniang and his group stood up and came out of Kelan Prefecture City, passing through Lan County, Lefan Town, Gujiao County and other places, heading towards Taiyuan Prefecture.

Along the way, Gu Yunniang, Jiang Dazhong, Yang Xiaolu and others were all chatting about some fun things with great enthusiasm. Huang Laifu carefully observed various places, especially the humanities and agriculture situations passing through various places.

After leaving Guilanzhou City, Huang Laifu noticed that the agricultural situation in various places along the way was very bad. Except for some fields near the river, most of them were severe drought in various fields and few wheat seedlings emerged. It seems that this food problem in the Ming Dynasty this year will cause headaches for adults in the temple.

On the way, Huang Laifu also noticed a situation, that is, the refugees were endless on the way. These refugees were men and women, old and young. Some of them carried pots, some carried children with baskets, and many of them were pale and thin and ragged. However, everyone was full of hope and tried hard to go towards the direction of Taiyuan Prefecture. From the words of these people, Huang Laifu knew that because the harvest this year was hopeless, many of them were ready as soon as possible to escape the famine first. When they arrived in big cities such as Taiyuan Prefecture, they might have the opportunity to stutter.

Seeing these refugees, Gu Yunniang, Jiang Dazhong and others were talking less, while Huang Laifu was observing them carefully. From their clothes, the ingredients of these refugees were quite complicated. Some were farmers who fled to famine, some were military households, craftsmen who fled everywhere, and some were small vendors in towns.

In fact, the issue of refugees at that time was a common social problem in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The refugees were spread all over the country and the borders inside the capital. Especially after the Xian, Xiao and Wu dynasties, the number of migrants was often tens of thousands, forming a huge torrent throughout the country. The distribution of refugees was also different in various places. Generally speaking, the scale of refugees in the north was large, far exceeding that in the south.

The main reasons for refugees are natural disasters, population growth, and land annexation. Some are attracted by commerce, unwilling to farm and hang out. This power is like the tide of migrant workers in later generations. If it is well guided, it can be used as the main source of labor for urban industry and commerce. If it is not well guided, and if it is not well guided, it will all be Li Zicheng.

Huang Laifu naturally understood the power of this power. While he was secretly frightened, he comforted himself. Fortunately, after his agriculture develops in the future, if he wants to develop handicrafts, at least he will not worry about workers. This is better than the UK in decades. He does not have to drive farmers out of the land for the needs of handicraft labor in the town.

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Of course, although there were refugees along the way, the rule of the Wanli Dynasty was still very stable at this time. Except for the countryside, the towns passed by were generally prosperous, especially the closer the big city.

For example, the Loufan Town that everyone passed by today, the place called Loufan County later in life was because it was located on a transportation area, and the grain, cloth, salt and other things from Taiyuan and other places to Sanguan passed by here continuously, making the Loufan Town rich, singing and restaurants, and bustling, like an emerging commercial town.

Huang Laifu saw that there were many strong refugees in the town, sweating and scorching sun, carrying the goods for merchants. These people even only had two dou of food per month. Although the salary was low, everyone was still flocking to them. Unfortunately, there were not many jobs in the town, and most of the refugees still had to go to Taiyuan and other places to try their luck.

This situation made Huang Laifu tremble with envy. He had never encountered such low labor and such strong labor in Wuzhai Fort. Unfortunately, the Wuzhai Fort is indeed too remote and difficult to attract people.

With this emotion, Huang Laifu got on the road again. Of course, Gu Yunniang and others did not have the same feeling as Huang Laifu. The few of them were just talking excitedly, saying that they had seen something good and bought some good things.

After that, the agricultural situation was basically miserable. Many rural areas were on the verge of bankruptcy, but only some towns were prosperous in business. Everyone walked along the Fen River these days. After passing Gujiao County, the Fen River turned a big bend, and the eyes suddenly became clear. They had already left the mountainous area, and arrived at the Taiyuan Plain, which later became known as the Jinzhong Basin.

This is the catchment area of ​​the Fen River. The river network is dense, the irrigation is convenient, and the fertile land is endless. It has always been the most important grain-producing land and commercial center in Jin Province. Huang Laifu observed carefully that although the fertility of these fields exceeded that of Wuzhaibao, the growth of crops in the fields is somewhat worse than that of Wuzhaibao farms.

However, compared with the prefectures, counties and villages that have come from Kelan Prefecture, the agricultural situation here is already very good. After all, this is the most important place in Jin Province. The irrigation system is developed and the water conservancy equipment is perfect. Even if the weather is dry this year, the water in the wells in the rivers in this area is barely enough. Huang Laifu estimated that judging from the grain production in this big plain this year, it should be able to feed the people of prefectures and counties near Taiyuan, but they are powerless to ask them to transport grain from outside.

Looking at the farmers working in the fields everywhere, although their farming methods, beef and pear and other tools are more advanced than those of the prefectures and counties from Kelan Prefecture, the effect is far less than that of Huang Laifu's farm farm. If these fields belong to Huang Laifu, according to his farm plan, he is confident that the field and grain production in the entire plain can basically meet the needs of most people in Shanxi.

Unfortunately, there are dense prefectures and counties here, and most of the fields in this area belong to the households. Huang Laifu could only stare at him and drool.

The closer it is to Taiyuan, the more lively the towns and the more people there are, the more beautiful the people walking in these places, their faces are much better and their expressions are even more leisurely.

Taiyuan and nearby were the base camps of Shanxi merchants. In the Ming Dynasty, there were 33 largest commercial cities in the country, including Taiyuan, Pingyang and Puzhou in Shanxi. It can be seen that Shanxi's business prosperity was. At that time, there were countless huge merchants and businessmen with wealth, and even hundreds of thousands of wealth could not be considered wealthy. Often, only one can be called wealth with millions or tens of millions of wealth. The concentrated place of these huge merchants and businessmen is naturally a gathering of goods and wealth, and it is extremely prosperous.

This prosperity made Gu Yunniang, Jiang Dazhong and others stunned. Everyone used to think that Kelanzhou City was already very lively, but compared with the near Taiyuan, those places before now looked like a small town.

However, Huang Laifu keenly noticed the abnormal phenomenon behind this prosperity and prosperity. On the one hand, there were wealthy families who were surrounded by the city, dressed in luxury, spent money like soil, and were extremely luxurious, and on the other hand, there were displaced people with food on their faces and describing haggard appearances.

On the one hand, the rich have continuous land and vast houses, but on the other hand, the poor have no place to stand in a cone. This is a strange situation in the middle and late Ming Dynasty: land annexation, and the gap between the rich and the poor is serious.

The land annexation situation was not serious at least during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty. Gu Yanwu praised this time: "There is enough people in the family, and there are houses when they live, and there are land when they have tenants." But by the Longqing period, it was already "that is even more different. Most of the rich are rich at the end, and the rich are as rich as the rich are, the poor are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, the poor are getting richer, and the poor are getting richer, and the poor are getting richer." By the Wanli period, the land annexation, the huge gap between the rich and the poor is even more serious, "then they are very different. The rich are one hundred people, and the poor are ten but nine. The poor are not able to compete with the rich, and the few are less able to control the more. The Jin Ling Si Tian, ​​the money is very rich, the land is full of greed, and the flesh and blood are crippled."

According to Huang Laifu's observation, most of the fields on the Taiyuan Plain were occupied by officials and merchants. The consequence was that a large number of refugees were generated, which brought great unstable factors to society.

The huge gap between the rich and the poor, and the abnormal prosperity of business also led to the rapid deterioration of social atmosphere. The entire Ming Dynasty quickly became extravagant from clothing, houses, instruments, marriages and funerals. After the officials and big merchants made profits, few people did good deeds and accumulated virtues, but most of them competed for luxury and were despicable. This led to the deterioration of social atmosphere. This is the ugliness brought about by the prosperity of business. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!