Outside the camp of the Southern Army, there were several uninvited guests.

Several small men in soap clothes surrounded an elderly man, gathered outside the camp, saying something, the two soldiers guarding the gate quickly noticed them, this old man was dressed extraordinarily, they didn't want to drive away, but the other party stopped here for too long, it was really a little strange, a soldier walked in front of them, and said unhappily: "The southern army camp, don't approach!" ”

The old man smiled and said, "The old man came here to visit relatives."

"You can't enter without the captain's order!"

"Alas, the group of soldiers who returned from Liangzhou a few days ago are in the big camp?" The old man asked again.

The soldier pondered for a moment and said, "They are preparing to return to the southwest campus. ”

"Thank you!" The old man smiled, and then ordered the little guy around him to take out some money, to hand it to him, the soldier did not reach out to ask for the money, turned around and left the place, and returned to the door, the old man was a little embarrassed, got on the ox cart, and rushed to the direction of the southwest school field, the southwest school field is in the west of Luoyang, it is a small school field, can only endure more than 100 soldiers, the location is more remote, away from the county and city and rural pavilions.

The old man rushed to the outside of the schoolyard, and ordered the little guy to go and ask, and the little guy came to the school gate in a few steps, and the soldier raised the spear in his hand, and the little guy hurriedly said: "I am here to find Yuan Sima, and I hope you can tell me a word."

The soldier was stunned, nodded, one continued to guard the door, and the other went in to pray, Yuan Shu was practicing the soldier in the school field, and suddenly heard the soldier's warning, stretched out his head, and glanced outside the camp tent, the little guy was also looking at the school field, after seeing Yuan Shu, he grinned, Yuan Shu frowned, ordered the soldiers to continue to practice, and turned around and walked out.

Walking outside the school grounds, the old man hurriedly walked up and said with a smile: "Meet the young gentleman!" ”

Yuan Shu arched his hand, the person in front of him was the manager of the Yuan Mansion, the steward looked at Yuan Shu in front of him with some excitement, looking at the young general who was completely different from before, and there was a heroic atmosphere all over his body, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, he said: "Shaojun, I haven't seen you for a long time, I don't know if I can take time out of my time, go to the mansion, and when I see the head of the family, I often mention the young man, and I miss it very much."

Hearing him say this, Yuan Shu was silent for a moment, and then said: "There is no military order, you don't dare to leave the barracks without permission, and go back, tell my father, at the latest next year, I will ask the captain for a few days off, return home to visit, tomorrow, I will lead the army back to Liangzhou At this time, it is too late to resign."

"Alas"

When the old steward heard this, he just shook his head and said nothing.

Yuan Shu returned to the camp tent, the soldiers did not ask, these days, there are a lot of people who came to look for Yuan Sima, before came an arrogant little fat man, Yuan Sima was in a hurry to go out to greet, the two in the camp tent for a long time, the man just left, and then came a young scholar, and also sent a few carts and horses of charcoal, today again, it seems that Sima in Luoyang still has a lot of friends.

The next day, Yuan Shu led his soldiers and returned to Liangzhou.

He proposed to the Son of Heaven that money should be allocated from the treasury to cultivate fields in the border areas, and to send iron plows and oxen to Youzhou, Sanhan, and Hexin Prefectures, and in addition, to take out some money to build houses in these areas to help the people survive the cold winter, and for other areas, it is reasonable to take measures such as light taxes and exemptions to encourage local development.

Hearing the news, Wen Rengong was like a tanuki who was stepped on its tail, jumping three feet high, almost fighting with Wang Fu, the most painful thing for him was that the Son of Heaven actually accepted Wang Fu's proposal, and implemented a light tax exemption measure for the local scale, and the money of the treasury was scattered around.

Regret is clearly useless, though.

After receiving the support of the temple, all regions of the country ushered in a new development, and the people began to have food in their homes, and even some spare money, which has not been seen in nearly a hundred years, and these are to further encourage the development of the handicraft industry, the scale of many local cities has developed, and the harsh commercial tax has not been able to suppress such a sign.

The Son of Heaven also ordered Liangzhou Thorn Shi Zheng Xuan to allocate money to carry out large-scale procurement and cultivation of cotton, from the previous year's trial farming, cotton in the West Liang land, is a big deal, although in terms of quality, not as good as the white cotton purchased from outside, but it is also a pale yellow cotton, can still be used for weaving, the previous year Zheng Xuan organized more than 50,000 cultivators, cotton planting.

In the Han Dynasty, the people have always been engaged in grain farming, only a few strong and strong, will make the tenants to plant tea and fruits, because the temple to the people to pay the tax is paid in grain, a few industries are converted in money, the people are afraid that if they cultivate other crops, they will not be able to pay the tax, Zheng Xuan in the mobilization of these people, or declare, exempt them from this year's tax, this let them rest assured of farming.

However, what Zheng Xuan didn't expect was that after the people engaged in cotton farming, they sold cotton, and the money they obtained was enough for them to exchange for more grain than they had cultivated in the past.

Zheng Xuan was a little flustered and confused about this matter, he had not encountered such a thing, he did not cultivate grain, but obtained more grain, on the one hand, he felt that more people should be encouraged to cultivate cotton, but he was worried that if everyone cultivated cotton, the grain production would not be enough, which would cause a food shortage and a disaster in Liangzhou.

After getting the order of the Son of Heaven and the money from the treasury, Zheng Xuan decided to mobilize 100,000 people to carry out cotton cultivation next year, and at the same time to promote cotton cultivation in Liangzhou.

In the end, the Son of Heaven will use the remaining money for mineral development, and the focus is naturally on copper, iron and charcoal, especially ink charcoal, and requires counties and counties to vigorously mine, so that after this year, the people everywhere can use ink charcoal to withstand the cold winter.

Wang Fu has already listed the goals of these, he wants to cultivate cotton on a large scale in the northwest and sell it to Yangzhou, Yanzhou, Jizhou and other regions, in addition, to sell the ink charcoal produced in He, and Xinzhou to the south and northwest, Wang Fu's initial goal is to make the five frontier states become rich continents, so that they will not continue to drag down the treasury of the Han Dynasty, and can turn into one of the financial sources of the Han Dynasty in the future.

In the fifteenth year of Jianning, this is a year in which the people cheered, the businessmen rubbed their fists and sharpened their palms, and the scholars held the lamps and read at night.

At the same time, it is also a year of great joy and sorrow and blood in my heart.