When Zhu Pingjin returned to the palace, it was already the time when the lights were shining. Li Chongwen was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

Since passing the pre-holiday interview, Li Chongwen's good days have returned. Early in the morning, the prince's mansion sent a gift of money. Not counting grain, silk, and other articles, the silver alone was a hundred taels. This money can not only make his family happy for the New Year, but also enough for his family to spend a whole year. Li Chongwen has endured for many years in the heat and coldness of the world, relying on the alms of teachers and classmates and the education of several children. Thinking about his father and mother who died tragically, and looking at the current downfall, Li Chongwen, who was in sorrow, had the idea of suicide many times. Fortunately, his wife is sensible and considerate, and always thinks of comfort, so he has persevered until now. The court's affirmation of Shi Shizi and the subsequent generosity made Li Chongwen unable to help but be grateful to Zhu Pingjian, and once shouted three times at home: 'Death for a confidant'! Today, the prince flew to pass on him, and he left home without saying a word. From the mouth of Wang Sizhong, who served tea, he knew about the prince buying people to build roads and fill the village today. Therefore, he judged that the fact that the prince had called him so late must have something to do with the use of this group of people. Li Chongwen racked his brains and tried to come up with a foolproof solution to the question of the prince. Of course, what he wants to know most is Zhu Pingjin's use of him.

Zhu Pingjin was sitting at the table in the East Pavilion, stuffing snacks into his mouth indiscriminately. The restless Li Chongwen sat on the other side, and the stool only touched half of his buttocks. Zhu Pingjin saw it in his eyes and smiled in his heart. Suddenly, food choked on his throat. Li Chongwen moved faster than Cao Sanbao, and had already handed over the teacup. Zhu Pingjin took a sip, and the food reluctantly softened, and it slid down the esophagus obediently.

After a few pieces of dim sum, Zhu Pingjin picked up a silk cloth to wipe his mouth, and smiled at Li Chongwen: "Zhou Gong vomits and feeds, and the world returns to the heart." The food and drink in front of the people of this world, the rudeness made Mr. Li laugh! ”

Li Chongwen hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Zi said: People are not benevolent, what is the courtesy? People are not benevolent, how can they be happy (Note 1)? The students heard that the son of the world collected the hungry people, did not abandon women and children, and did not eat for themselves, which was truly benevolent and righteous, and the students were extremely impressed! ”

Zhu Pingjin waved his hand and said with a smile: "The gate of the sages is as high as the top of the clouds. This son is just looking at the poor of the hungry. Tonight, Mr. Li, there is an important matter related to these hungry people! ”

As soon as he heard the opening of the matter, Li Chongwen hurriedly sat up straight and listened carefully. Zhu Pingjin didn't rush to say something, but returned to his main seat, and made a gesture to signal Li Chongwen to sit closer. After Li Chongwen sat down again, Zhu Pingjin frowned and said:

"The last time I met with Mr., Mr. Chen said that the Shu people were in distress, and this son also had relatives. Today, the people of Dongmen City saw that there were many hungry people, and they felt that people were like ants and their lives were like grass mustard! Mr. Today didn't see it, those hungry people were all yellow-faced and thin...... so Zhu Pingjin told Li Chongwen in detail what he saw and heard today. Li Chongwen maintained his demeanor at first, but then he couldn't help but shed his tears, hid his face and sobbed, and Cao Sanbao was next to him to cry.

Zhu Pingjin was also a little damp as he spoke, wiped his sleeve and said: "The incompetence of hundreds of officials has caused the lives of the people of Li in the world to be miserable!" Presumably, what this son sees today is just a drop in the ocean! This son wants to save the people, but he has no heart! Last year, the prince of this world had 3,000 stones, and the court had 2,000 stones in arrears. The old storage of the palace is also limited...... These many hungry people have to eat and clothe, and they are not a small number all year round. If you have any good ideas, please teach me! ”

When Li Chongwen heard this, he already understood the reason why the prince was looking for him to enter the mansion, and hurriedly replied: "What good plan does the student have?" If you want to make the people safe, it's just food! ”

He continued: "If the people have no food, they will be hungry, and if the country has no food, they will be in chaos. Before the holiday, students went to the street to buy food, and the price of food exceeded two or three yuan. The people rumored that the spring famine was coming, and the price of grain might exceed three taels, so the families of the silver were all stockpiling grain to prevent hunger...... Looking at the thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, if you talk about the severity of the famine, it is none other than Shaanxi and Henan. The students heard that there was no rain in Sanqin and Henan, and the grass and trees were scorched. The bucket grain counts two, and it is still priceless! ”

What Li Chongwen said, Zhu Pingjin knows some historical background. Since the advent of the Age of Discovery, China's advanced productive forces have caused foreign trade to surpass year after year. A large amount of silver from Japan and South America poured into China, causing a huge amount of silver precipitation, so China is also known as the black hole of the world's silver. The combination of these sharp increases in monetary stocks against the backdrop of a severe reduction in grain production during the Xiaoice period led to severe hyperinflation in the domestic food market. Since the end of Wanli, grain prices have been rising desperately. For example, the current grain price in Chengdu has doubled compared with the last year of Wanli. However, the hyperinflation of food prices should not overemphasize its negative aspects. Since commercial grains account for only a small fraction of total food production, hyperinflation in food prices mainly affects the livelihoods of urban people. More people are farmers than a small urban population, and they also live in the countryside where their ancestors have lived for generations. In the countryside, the commercialization of agricultural products was mainly forced in the form of taxes. The impact of hyperinflation on the vast rural areas of Sichuan, where the commodity rate is very low, is not big in itself, and it is even beneficial to them. Because the peasants always want the price of grain to rise, they will sell more silver with less grain to pay off the national tax on imperial grain!

Therefore, the crux of the matter is neither hyperinflation nor excessive monetary overpurchase, but a nationwide reduction in grain production!

A big reduction in production will inevitably lead to a great famine! It will inevitably lead to great turmoil!

Thinking of this, Zhu Pingjin said to Li Chongwen: "Shu has been in turmoil, so that the price of grain is expensive, and the people are not able to make a living. The government can't control the collection of silver and grain, and my palace collects grain, so it is appropriate to use its true colors. This son will soon play his father, the queen and the princess! There is a folk proverb that says, 'If there is grain in the warehouse, there is no panic'. This is true for family affairs, and it is also true for state affairs. What Ben Shizi is worried about now is: how to increase Zhuangzi's grain production! I wonder what the gentleman has to do? ”

Li Chongwen lowered his waist and said: "The student has only been teaching in the countryside for two or three years, and he only has some vulgar knowledge in farming. If it is said to increase the output of acres, it is better than the old farmers in the countryside. However, according to the students' observations, increasing the output of acres of land is nothing more than water and fertilizer! ”

To increase agricultural output, water, fertilizer, light and heat are the four basic conditions. In addition, seed selection, field management, etc. are also important. The biggest side effect of the Xiaoice period on agricultural production is not only low temperature frost damage, but also water shortage and drought. But now is not the time to sit and talk about the Tao, but we need people to do it in a down-to-earth manner!

Zhu Pingjin said: "There have been droughts year after year over the years, and water for crops is a big problem!" The Zhuangzi on the other side of Renshou has less flat land and more hills. The weir pond ditch here in Chengdu is not easy to use in the hills? ”

As soon as the prince opened his mouth, he said that on the key point, Li Chongwen hurriedly said: "The weir pond in the hilly area is also available. There are also some hills in Chengdu, and the weir pond is built in the mountains or on the top of the hills. In case of drought, open the sluice gate to release water and take advantage of the situation to irrigate the field, which is very labor-saving. It's just that digging the weir pond costs labor and silver, and it is difficult to rush it in a hurry. The people level the hillside for the terraced fields, take the kan as the dam, the winter is full of rainwater, the spring comes to plant rice and rice, it is very convenient, the folk call it the winter paddy field. Only the construction of Kan Pingtian cannot be achieved without more than ten years of hard work. As for those dry areas where there is little rain, the students once asked the old farmers for advice, and they replied: 'You can dig a water cellar in the mountains'. The students went to see the water cellar, which had a large belly and a small mouth, and a lid on the mouth, and was mostly built in low-lying places in the mountains, and collected rainwater from the sky along the terrain. The large one has a wide abdomen and a depth of two zhang, which can store 100,000 catties of water; The small one has a belly width of seven or eight feet, a depth of one zhang, and can store 25,000 catties of water. With the water storage capacity of a small water cellar, it can be used as a strong man to carry water down the river 500 times. The difficulty of the water cellar lies in the excavation, and it is even more difficult in the prevention of water seepage. If the cellar is dry for a long time, the walls of the cellar will crack, so it must be drained cleanly and filled with clay ramming......"

It seems that Li Chongwen's three-year grassroots training has yielded results. Zhu Pingjin nodded and said: "The methods of diverting springs, drilling wells, waterwheels, water cellars, waterlogging ponds, weir ponds, and water cellars are all good strategies for water conservation and drought resistance. Where there is a small river spring at the foot of the mountain, you can also try to build a dam to hold back the water, and you can get dozens of acres of lake surface. It can not only resist drought and store water, but also borrow the lake to raise fish, which is a way to kill two birds with one stone. However, this method is very labor-intensive, and it requires careful survey. As for the water seepage in the cellar that Mr. just mentioned, I once heard people say that this gypsum is burned to ashes, and after mixing water, it is smeared on the cellar wall and tamped to prevent water seepage. Sir, you may wish to give it a try. ”

Zhu Pingjin's words were not long, but Li Chongwen was very surprised. This nobleman of the weak crown was so proficient in farming, which he didn't expect at all. He wanted to ask for advice carefully, but he heard that Shizi had already changed the topic: "Winter wheat is drought and low temperature resistant, so you can try to change rice to wheat." Sweet potatoes, corn, sorghum and other grains can also be eaten. The yield of sweet potatoes and corn is very high, so you might as well teach the villagers to plant more in the idle places on the side of the mountain. In this famine year, it doesn't matter what you eat, it's the most important thing to eat! ”

Corn is also known as Shu millet, Li Chongwen has seen and eaten it. What the sweet potato was, Li Chongwen didn't know anything. But the prince had already talked about accumulating fat, and Li Chongwen hurriedly responded and listened carefully.

"The gentleman just said that the importance of the farmer's accumulation of fertilizer, and this son of the world deeply agrees. People often use human and animal manure to make manure, but also use plant ash, river mud compost, there are a few methods here in this world, all of them are good methods that people have tried, Mr. may as well try. Fresh cow dung and cooked gypsum powder can be sealed for a few days in a ratio of ten to one, and it is a good fertilizer (calcium fertilizer) to be applied with water. In the rainy season, the grass, tender green straw, rotten vegetable leaves and other things, crushed into the manure, river mud into the cellar to seal the fertilizer, seven to ten days to open the cellar and turn it once, it is good fertilizer (green manure) when it is ripe. This son has never done farm work, and these methods only hope that Mr. can be ashamed to ask the farmer and try more diligently. If you try it, Mr. Yu Shu can be described as a great miracle! ”

Because of his unique experience, Li Chongwen has always been proud of his knowledge of agriculture among his classmates, which is one of the reasons why Master Shu recommended him. Today, the prince came to him, although he said politely, but Li Chongwen listened to Fang Cai's views on water and fertilizer, and then he understood that the prince did not want to ask him for advice, but asked him to go down and do it himself. So Li Chongwen put away the remaining trace of pride, and respectfully left the table and bowed down: "The son of the world cares about all the people, and he will be the lord of the Shu domain." There are sages Zhuge Kongming in Shu, who enjoy eternal admiration. Students are not talented, they should follow the example of the sages, do their best, and die! The son of the world has been sent, and the students will never give up! ”

Li Chongwen's statement made Zhu Pingjin very satisfied, so he told him about his work arrangement. When Zhang Xianzhong besieged Renshou County last month, several Wangzhuang villages around Renshou County were consciously harmed by Zhang Xianzhong, and two of them were not heard from at all. Li Chongwen's task was to become the head of these two Zhuangzi, try to gather the scattered Zhuangtou Zhuangzhuang households, settle the straw labels he bought today, and restore agricultural production.

Special policies for special periods. One should take measures and take care of it yourself. In short, he wants to strive for self-sufficiency within one year, surplus within two years, and become a model village in the king's village. Zhu Pingjin stressed: It is necessary to make use of the limited time before spring sowing to concentrate manpower and material resources on building houses, water cellars, accumulating fertilizer, and clearing wasteland. In addition, it is also necessary to mobilize villagers to raise chickens, ducks, pigs, cattle, and sheep on their own by using their homes, bamboo forests, barren mountains, and other places, so as to increase the quantity of agricultural products as much as possible.

In the end, Zhu Pingjin said sternly to Li Chongwen: "Taizu has a cloud, 'use heavy codes in troubled times', thieves and bandits are rampant in the world, and the old grain chief of the township set up by the imperial court, but he only knows that he collects taxes on grain, but he can protect the township and protect the people, but he can hold his breath and shrink his hand!" There is no county in Renshou County, and my Wang Zhuang must obey the instructions of the head of the village. Anyone who is rude and troublesome will be subject to the punishment of the head of the village! But Zhuang Tou does not have the right to kill, and murder needs to be reported to this son! In the slack time, the head of the village should also gather strong men, organize and train the army, and prevent thieves and thefts. Mr. Benshi knows that Mr. is kind, but I am afraid that Mr. will be merciful and soft when he has something to do, and he will miss a big event, so I will explain it to Mr. tonight. ”

Li Chongwen's face was a little red, cowardice and timidity were indeed his weaknesses. Therefore, he hesitated for a long time before saying to Zhu Pingjin:

"The student has a classmate, who is a general, a heroic and righteous person, and Shen Hong has a bearing. I wonder if the son of the world can use it? ”

Note 1: From The Analects of the Eight Hundred