In December, horse-drawn wagons transporting grain from Xiangcheng, Runan, and Yexian drove to Kunyang, alleviating the increasingly embarrassing grain problem in Kunyang City, but the most fundamental core problem in Kunyang County still could not be solved.

That is, there is a lack of money and food.

The problem of food shortage does not need to be explained too much, after all, the county government still adopts the method of 'wartime control', and bears the food ration problem of all the soldiers and civilians in the city.

It stands to reason that the rebels have been repulsed and will not come back in the short term, and the form of 'wartime control' should be abolished, so as not to lose too much food to the county government, but unfortunately, the county government does not dare to do this.

When discussing privately with Zhao Yu, Li Xu, the county magistrate, proposed: "...... Once the wartime control is abolished, the people in the city need grain, and grain trading must be resumed, and the grain in circulation in the market is scarce at present, and once the trading is resumed, it will inevitably lead to an increase in the price of rice...... Most of the people are short-sighted, and when they see that there is rice to buy in the market, they will inevitably compete for hoarding, which is not conducive to the dispatch of the county government......"

Zhao Yu listened quietly.

He knew that Li Xu was right.

At present, the rations of the military and civilians in the city are still all provided by the county government, and the people do not need to worry about the daily rations, and naturally they will not hoard food - in fact, even if they want to hoard food, they can't, which allows the county government to maximize the use of the food in their hands to feed more people.

On the contrary, if wartime control is lifted and grain trading resumes at this time, it is believed that some people in the city who still have surplus money will definitely buy grain immediately and hoard grain for a few days or even months, which will create a situation of 'food inequality'.

After all, at the behest of Zhao Yu, in order to improve the morale of the Kunyang soldiers, the county government had adopted a 'merit reward system' without the consent of Yingchuan County, linking the merits of the soldiers to coins.

Although this greatly boosted the morale of Kunyang and ensured that Kunyang eventually repelled the rebels, it also plunged the county government into an extremely serious financial deficit.

“…… The people in the city, or some family members in the county army, once the grain trade is opened, the people have no money in their hands, and they will inevitably think of the 'meritorious ticket' promised by the county government before, and the county government will have to issue it, and this will further affect the price of rice......"

Li Xu made it at the meeting with a solemn expression, and the core of his view was to 'continue to adopt wartime control'.

The problem, however, was that if wartime control continued, the county government would have to continue to ensure the rations of the people of the city, which would be a huge expense, and an unprofitable expense.

After pondering, Zhao Yu opened his mouth and made a decision: "Then continue to adopt wartime control, do not resume grain trading for the time being, and wait until the grain in the hands of the county government is abundant......

So, how can we make the grain in the hands of the county government abundant?

Li Xu suggested: "You can ask the merchants of the 'Kunye Mutual Aid Association' to go to Rushui counties to buy grain, or buy grain from Henan and other places......

In his words, the county government also had a sum of money in his hand, which he could use to buy grain.

But Zhao Yu is not optimistic.

You must know that the current rebels are in turmoil and the price of rice has soared in various places, so how much grain can be purchased from other counties with the little money in the county yali?

After thinking about it, Zhao Yu believes that the only way to make up for the shortage of money and grain in Kunyang is to cultivate the land and restore or even increase the grain output of Kunyang County as soon as possible.

There is a good saying, there is food in the hand, there is no panic in the heart, this saying is applicable to everyone.

But how can we restore and even increase the food output of Kunyang County? Does it rely solely on the original farming methods of Kunyang County?

Of course not, the original farming methods in Kunyang County could not do this, not to mention that in this war, there were many orphans and widows in the city, and these families who lost their youth and strength could neither afford to cultivate nor increase food production.

Based on this, Zhao Yu put forward his suggestion when discussing with Liu Bi and Li Xu: "...... After this battle, there were many orphans and widows in the city, and they could not afford to farm in the coming year, so I suggested that the county government take over and lease the farmland in their hands, and the county government would cultivate it uniformly, and give them fifty percent of the output when the harvest was in the future. ”

“……”

Liu Bi and Li Xu looked at each other.

After a while, Liu Bi asked tentatively: "What does Chief Zhou mean to emulate...... Juntun? ”

"Yes."

Zhao Yu nodded in acknowledgement.

Zhao Yu is very clear that in the case of putting aside changing factors such as water sources and climate, farming can increase grain output by expanding the cultivated area and investing more labor, and in this regard, he Kunyang has an advantage.

First of all, his Kunyang County is close to Rushui and Shahe, with Rushui to the east and Shahe to the south, so irrigation water is not a problem.

Secondly, he Kunyang has an almost negligible cost of labor, that is, the more than 10,000 rebel prisoners, as long as they work together to manage and cultivate in the way of military cantonments, these more than 10,000 laborers may be comparable to hundreds of scattered laborers.

"Hmm......"

Li Xu groaned and asked Zhao Yu: "What does Chief Zhou mean that the people who own the fields only need to hand over their fields to the county government to take over the cultivation, and they themselves don't need to work, and they can get fifty percent of the grain harvest when the harvest is harvested?" ”

"Yes."

"Oh." Li Xu stroked his beard and asked, "What about the fifty percent of the grain harvest, including taxes and rents?" ”

"The tax rent is deducted from the fifty percent of the harvest received by the county government."

"Oh......"

Li Xu twisted his beard as if smiling, and after a while, he finally couldn't help it, and said with a wry smile: "What is left of the county government?" ”

If he was facing an ordinary bandit leader, Li Xu would naturally be wary of whether the other party would take the opportunity to oppress the people, but Li Xu had already learned a lot about this black tiger thief leader over the years, which was also the reason why he 'acquiesced' to the dark force of the black tiger thief to control the county government.

He knew that Zhao Yu would not oppress the people, because the black tiger thieves needed to win public opinion, which was their foothold, but the problem was, this was too biased towards the people, right?

As long as there is a piece of land in the family that is rented to the county government, you can do nothing all year round, and when the harvest is harvested, you will get fifty percent of the grain produced, and the taxes will be removed, this is not a thief, this is a saint!

"Will it ...... A little too much? Li Xu reminded with some embarrassment.

As the county governor of Kunyang, Li Xu naturally wanted to treat the people well, but at this moment, he had to think about it for the county government.

On the side, Liu Bi, the county magistrate, also cautiously proposed: "In my opinion, at the very least, we should at least remove the tax rent first, and then divide it into fifty and fifty shares, otherwise, ...... Leader Zhou, you have also seen the expenses of the county government, if this is the case, the county government will not be able to honor the 'meritorious ticket' for a few more years......"

"Taxes are a minor issue."

Of course, Zhao Yu understood what Liu Bi and Li Xu were struggling with, and said with a smile: "This year, my Kunyang suffered such a catastrophe, and the county and even the imperial court are embarrassed to come to collect taxes?" …… In this regard, I troubled Liu Gong, and found a way to explain to the county my current hardships in Kunyang, so that the county could exempt my county from taxes. ”

『…… That's all right.'"

Liu Bi and Li Xu nodded, and without caring about taxes, they shared fifty-fifty with the people, so that they could accept it.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu reminded again: "When the county government rents farmland from the people, it can choose good land as much as possible, but it is necessary to ensure that there is a premise, that is, those farmlands need to be concentrated, and there should be no east and west pieces, which is not conducive to reclamation." ”

"Okay." Li Xu nodded.

Immediately, Zhao Yu said: "In addition to taking over the farmland around the county, I have also decided to open up several military cantonments......"

Hearing this, Jingnu, who was standing beside Zhao Yu, immediately took out the map of Kunyang County and spread it on the table.

I saw Zhao Yu pointing to the map and saying to Liu Bi and Li Xu: "Here, here, here, and here, these four places, I intend to be a military camp." ”

The places he pointed to were located in the area of Xiangcun on the north side of the county, the area near the Shahe River in the south of the county, the area of Hekou Township in the southeast of the county, and the area of 'Beizhuang' in the northeast.

“……”

Liu Bi and Li Xu were stunned and looked at each other.

After a while, Li Xu said to Zhao Yu with a strange expression: "Leader Zhou, the first three places are okay, but 'Beizhuang'...... It belongs to the territory of Xiangcheng and is not within the scope of our county, I'm afraid it's not suitable, right? ”

"It doesn't matter."

Zhao Yu said with a smile: "When the rebels invaded the territory a while ago, the people over there had already fled to Xiangcheng. …… Isn't it a pity to be deserted when it is close to Rushui over there? ”

Li Xu couldn't laugh or cry.

It is undeniable that the environment of the Beizhuang area is like the Hekou Township area, which is located on the northwest side of the confluence of Rushui and Shahe River, adjacent to two rivers, which is naturally quite suitable for farming, and the Beizhuang area is located in the Rushui 'corner', Rushui flows from the north of Beizhuang, and then suddenly turns to the south, which also makes Beizhuang on both sides of the river, just like Zhao Yu said, if this kind of place is deserted, it is indeed a pity......

But the question is, that is the land of Xiangcheng County, and he farms in Kunyang County and plants it on other people's ground, is this appropriate?

"It doesn't matter."

Zhao Yu smiled and said with relief: "The prince of Xiangcheng is very talkative. ”

『…… I'm afraid it's just 'nice to talk' to you, right?'

Liu Bi and Li Xu glanced at each other, quite a little crying and laughing.

Of course, they didn't have the face to make fun of Wang Yong, the county magistrate of Xiangcheng County, after all, in essence, the two of them were similar.

Seeing that Liu Bi and Li Xu had no objections, Zhao Yu said with a smile: "Since the two of you have no objections, let's prepare for spring plowing next year according to this plan." ”

After Liu Bi nodded, Li Xu arched his hand and said, "Regarding the matter of persuading the people to lease the fertile land, I hope to get the assistance of Steward Chen and the Brotherhood......

"No problem, I will instruct Chen Cai and ask him to help the county."

"That's good."

Li Xu nodded, but he didn't mean to thank Zhao Yu.

After all, he knows very well that to a large extent, he Kunyang has been tied to the Black Tiger Village, which can be called both prosperity and loss, so too much politeness will seem to be raw.

In December, based on the various county policy strategies put forward by Zhao Yu, the county officials of Liu Bi and Li Xu, as well as the brotherhood headed by Chen Cai and Ma Hong, made detailed preparations.

In the intensive preparations of Kunyang County, the old is coming to the new, and the new year is coming.

A few people can know that the 'Leader Zhou' who is now in Kunyang is only seventeen in the new year.