Twenty years of Hongxing, Mengdong season.

Zhu Hexing's course in Dangzhi County is not over yet, but he has learned a lot...... At least it was an eye-opener!

First of all, he presided over a noisy imperial examination, and at the same time knew that a fair examination was really a very precious opportunity for many people, enough for them to fight for their lives - for all kinds of people who can toss, if they can't use 600,000 military households to divide towns and places like Liukou and suppress them to the death, then they need to open some upward channels and let them have a head.

Secondly, after the exam, he saw the ability and ruthlessness of Ma Wanchun, an old county magistrate - one exam plus one recommendation, he collected dozens of people who could be tossed the most in Shizhu County. With them to organize and mobilize, the 4,000-strong Xiangyong did not take much effort.

And once these 4,000 Ding Zhuang are in the hands of Ma Wanchun, the 3,000 Liukou Mansion soldiers on the Great Wind Fort will not be able to last long! Most of the 3,000 people on the Gale Fort are old and weak, women and children, Ding Zhuang may not have 300, otherwise he can't let Ma Wanchun's 1,000 Xichuan soldiers suppress the situation. Now that there are 4,000 more Ding Zhuang, and the 500 guards brought by Zhu Hexing, what suspense is there in the battle of Fort Gale?

The suspense is just how many Ding Zhuang, who was deceived by Ma Wanchun, will die?

But no matter how many people die, Ma Wanchun is not distressed...... And his credit is great!

This guy is ruthless, and he is even more capable!

And such ruthless and capable officials, I don't know how many there are in the Ming officialdom today! It's not easy to make good use of them and manage them well!

Again, Zhu Hexing really saw the poverty of the people at the bottom in Shizhu!

He is now inspecting the work of dividing the fields with Ding Yuying in Xiaoli Village, Nanshan Township-the matter of dividing the fields is mainly in charge of the Sihu Captain of Shizhu County and the township officials below, Zhu Hexing and Ding Yuying took hundreds of murderous guards around to give the small people below a strong courage, let them know that the elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty have come, and the rogues on Dafeng Fort are dead, so they can rest assured that they can divide the fields......

As for the following officials doing tricks and occupying peasants' land in the process of dividing the land, Ma Wanchun didn't worry at all -- these officials were not the original scholars and landlords, and they themselves did not have much power, and it was the county government's "trial imperial examination" that gave them the opportunity to get ahead. If they don't know how to cherish it, they don't need to report to the Ministry of Officials for dismissal and investigation at any time, after all, these people are still within the "trial officer" period!

So Zhu Hexing, who had been wandering around the stone pillar countryside for twenty days, didn't find any problems, but his mood was still a little depressed.

Because in the countryside of the stone pillars, he saw poverty that he had never seen before!

Although he has always known that there are many poor and remote places in Daming, even in Yingtianfu, there are many poor people who have difficulty eating.

But he had never been so close to the real poor - those Guards soldiers could only be regarded as bitter origins, and after becoming the sharpest sword of the Ming Empire, they had long been out of poverty, and they were not really poor.

The soldiers of the New Army, although not as well paid as the soldiers of the Guards, were not really poor - their annual net income (after deducting food) was mostly more than 30 taels of silver, equivalent to 30 stone of rice, and all of them could be used to support their families or save income.

As for the poorer people, before entering Sichuan, they probably met them in Huya Town - when he was passing through Huya Town, he briefly went ashore and went to Ding Yuying's hometown for a walk, looking at the flowers and flowers without looking closely.

However, no matter how the poor people in Huya Town look at it, they are much richer than the poor people in the countryside of Shizhu County. At least they didn't look yellow-skinned, and they didn't spare any effort to open up large terraced fields on the slopes of Huya Mountain.

However, in the countryside of Shizhu, Zhu Hexing saw abject poverty everywhere, real nothing, and his family was surrounded by walls. The sloping land and terraced fields that are disliked in the southeast and the Central Plains seem to have become treasures for the people here, and the per capita can only get more than three acres of less than four acres of such terraced slopes, and they are even more happy......

"Yuying, your family is a big farmer, you know farming better than me, you tell me, there are three or four acres of terraced fields like this, can you support a five-foot man?"

Zhu Hexing, who was walking on the mountain trail with Ding Yuying, who had been in her body for three or four months, suddenly asked about farming.

Ding Yuying, who had been alone in Shizhu County for a few days (it was inconvenient for her to go too far, so Zhu Hexing didn't take her with her when he went to inspect the more remote countryside), heard Zhu Hexing ask this question, he was stunned for a moment, and then shook his head and said, "Husband, this is not easy to say...... Although the slave family is a big farmer, there is not a single acre of terraced fields and slope fields. ”

Zhu Hexing asked, "Why is this?" ”

Ding Yuying said: "There are not too many terraced fields in the southeast, and they are not valuable, and big farmers like my family generally don't want terraces, because the terraced fields are easy to grow at a loss." ”

Li Jinxue, who followed Zhu Hexing and Ding Yuying, arrived in Nanshan Township together, and is now the county lieutenant of Shizhu County, the official in charge of agricultural affairs and household registration, and the matter of dividing the fields is also under his control. Of course, he also knows how to farm, but he doesn't know what "planting loss" is.

Hearing Ding Yuying's words, he couldn't help but interject and said, "Kind of loss? Is there a loss in farming? Mrs. Zhu is talking about a bad harvest, right? ”

Ding Yuying glanced back at Li Jinxue, "What kind of business can you make a steady profit without losing money?" How can farming be an exception?

The terraced fields are all small pieces one by one, and there is no way to use a small amount of manpower to cooperate with the cattle to plant extensively, so a large amount of manpower can only be invested in intensive cultivation. Moreover, it is difficult for the terraces to store rainwater and fertility, they are not drought resistant, and they also require a lot of manpower to accumulate fertilizer...... It costs a lot of money to open up terraces on the hillside, it costs money to hire farmers to cultivate intensively, and it costs money to buy manure. How much can you gain by investing so much money? With more input and less output, how can you not lose money? Moreover, the terraced fields are susceptible to drought, once the weather is dry and rainless, it is easy to lose the grain, and it will be a loss! ”

"Farming is a matter of raising people, how can you care about profits and losses?" Li Jinxue couldn't understand Ding Yuying's words at all, "Is it because farming doesn't make money?" If you don't farm, what do so many people eat? ”

Ding Yuying shook her head, "Although there are also people who lose money first and then make money in trading, but after all, it is to make money, if you keep losing money, how can you go on?" Farming is the same, if farmers keep losing money, the capital at hand will be thinner and thinner, without capital, how do you farm? ”

"How much does it cost to farm? Isn't it enough to have seeds, a few farm tools, a piece of land, and then the strength of a handle? ”

"That's the cost!" Ding Yuying said, "Seeds, farm tools, and land are not money? Strength can also be sold for money, and a strong man with a dignified five-foot can be a hired farmer, and he can also have five or six taels to take after eating and lodging. If you go to work in the city, you will earn more, and of course the expenses will be large. In addition, you can also go abroad to make a living, the risk is great, but there are also many opportunities to make a fortune. ”

"Into the city? Going overseas? Li Jinxue was stunned and stunned, "Could it be that the Ming Dynasty can't help farmers leave the land and migrate?" ”

"I can't help it for a long time," Ding Yuying said, "and I can't help it!" Those who can live and work in peace and contentment in the township will naturally not move out, and those who can't survive, or want to go out to seek wealth and nobility, what is the benefit of forcing them to stay in the township? ”

Li Jinxue shook his head again and again, "Since ancient times, farmers have relocated to their land, if they can guard a few acres of thin fields in their hometown, who wants to leave their hometown and go elsewhere?" In recent years, the Liukou puppet dynasty also wanted to send people to Myanmar, saying that if they went, they would give land for nothing, and they could also get paddy fields. But how many people are willing to go to such a place of miasma? ”

Ding Yuying shook her head: "It is not possible to force people to move out of the country and force people to move to the township, whether you go or stay has to be up to yourself!" ”

"All by yourself? Then the court doesn't care? Li Jinxue really doesn't understand Ding Yuying's brain circuit.

"The court still cares about this?" Ding Yuying also couldn't understand Li Jinxue's train of thought - both of them have a generation gap! No, it's not just the two of them, it's the people under the rule of the Great Shun Dynasty and the people under the Ming Dynasty that have a generation gap!