336. Appoint you as the county magistrate

Xia Erduo listened to Xu Renjie and Xue Hongqi's bickering all the way, and followed the convoy all the way to Baishui. As soon as the 9 convoy entered the realm of whitewater, Xia Erduo's eyes lit up, because ...... Whitewater is really an ideal country to grow potatoes.

I don't know how many friends still remember the introduction of Baishui in the first chapter of this book, the land here is a barren land compared to other places, the landform is complex, the terrain is broken, there are three mountains entrenched, five undulating hills, two rivers crossing the border, and 1,178 ravines are intertwined......

There are no large tracts of fertile land here, only rolling ravines, and there are not a few decent square fields to be found. It is impossible to grow grain such as rice, only wheat and millet (millet) can be grown, and the yield of these two crops is not high, because the land here is really not fertile enough, compared with the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River, it is simply the difference between heaven and earth.

"Wow!" Xia Erduo looked left and right on the carriage: "I finally know why Xu Yuanwai bought my taro, I don't know how many times stronger it is to grow taro here than to grow wheat and millet." ”

Xu Renjie spread his hands, he was not interested in any rice, millet, or taro, in fact, he had completely lost interest in running merchants, except for fighting, he didn't want anything now.

Instead, Zhu Yuanzhang leaned over, sat next to Xia Erduo, and said in a low voice: "After looking at the land here, I think you can also understand why we invited you here." ”

"Oh? Will I teach your tenants how to grow taro? "Xia Erduo is not stupid in this regard.

"Exactly, I wonder if Mr. Xia is interested?"

"Well...... It's not that I don't want to teach, it's just a matter of hands, but it takes a few months for this thing to be harvested from planting to harvesting...... I can't put it down at home...... I still have tens of thousands of pounds of taro at home that I haven't sold......"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled: "Those potatoes, you let the guys transport them, and we will buy them all." The important thing is not those potatoes, but you, what we want most in Baishui is you! ”

Xia Erduo hesitated.

If in the later life, someone asks you for agricultural planting techniques that can save the drought, you can raise Erlang's legs, swagger twice, and discuss the problem of collecting hundreds of thousands, but in ancient times, farming techniques were worthless, and could even be said to be cheap skills. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's request was not a surprise, and Xia Erduo was only worried that he would not be able to return to his hometown for a long time.

"If you're willing to stay, we'll get you a place in the county!" Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "Think about it, Baishui is a poor place, and the imperial court has not appointed a county minister to Baishui, so how about succumbing to you to serve as a county minister?" ”

"What?" Xia Erduo was really shocked now, what kind of character is this person in front of him? The officials in the county opened their mouths to promise, and they didn't even have a little embarrassed expression on their faces? After being shocked, there was a burst of joy, you must know that the people of the Celestial Empire want to be officials in their bones, and countless people have sharpened their heads and want to get into the official system, and now someone actually allows him to be an official...... Xia Erduo was so happy that he almost fell off the carriage, what kind of hometown is this? He didn't care if the tens of thousands of catties of potatoes at home rotted in the cellar.

"Do you really want me to be a county magistrate?" Xia Erduo said excitedly.

"Hmmm! Seriously! Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "You are a down-to-earth person, if you become the county governor of Baishui, it will definitely be beneficial to the people of Baishui...... But I have to say it first, because Baishui is too small, there was originally no county prince, after we push you to be a county minister, the court will not recognize your official position, you can only be regarded as a private guest hired by the summer master, just like the master. ”

"Huh? I see, I see......" Xia Erduo saw disappointment on his face again.

"But don't worry......" Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "As long as you do well, we will let the court approve it in the future." ”

Xia Erduo's spirits were lifted again, since he had the opportunity to be an official, he always had to do it, this is like someone telling you: The city hired you as the deputy mayor for a few years, if you do it well, do you do it? Nonsense! Of course you do! Only people with blocked cerebral blood vessels do not take this errand.

Xia Erduo couldn't help but think: What is the origin of these people? When I saw them hit people, I felt that they were not ordinary people, it was really mysterious...... Aren't they kidding me?

At this time, the convoy was already approaching Baishui City, Zhu Yuanzhang lifted the hat on his head, revealing the true face of Lushan, but Xu Renjie confessed, saying that there was something urgent to do, and he took another carriage with Xue Hongqi and went to the fork in the road.

He and Zhu Yuanzhang came to Whitewater City together!

The camouflage of Zhu Yuanzhang's army going to Shanxi is still being done, and this camouflage will continue until the imperial court discovers them, so Baishui City does not show a picture of falling into the hands of thieves, as if facing a great enemy, but it is no different from an ordinary county town, but those township soldiers guarding the left side of the city gate are all due to the disguise of the soldiers in Huanglong Cottage.

When these soldiers saw Zhu Yuanzhang coming to the city gate with an unknown person, they saluted respectfully, and on the occasion of outsiders, they would not call them "Zhu Bugs", they just saluted, this is also Zhu Yuanzhang's order, and in the coming year, maybe several years, they must maintain such vigilance.

Seeing the city gate guards saluting Zhu Yuanzhang, Xia Erduo was really frightened, and now he was even more sure that he was a big man, and even the city gate soldiers had to salute respectfully? Where does this come from?

Then something even more interesting happened, the carriage actually came all the way to the county yamen, Zhu Yuanzhang pulled Xia Erduo's sleeve and led him straight into the lobby. Xia Erduo, an honest man, walked to the front of the yamen hall, his legs were scared and weak, and the good people didn't dare to enter the yamen these days, because that place was not a good place for the good people. In fact, this habit also existed until later generations, and ordinary people did not like to enter the police station, except for things such as ID card procedures, entering and leaving the police station made people feel embarrassed......

Xia Erduo was cautious, and entered the lobby competently, and saw the county commander Cao Baoxiang sitting on it, as soon as he saw Cao Baoxiang's official uniform, his body was weak, and his knees were folded forward, so he wanted to kneel down to meet the county lord...... However, Zhu Yuanzhang next to him stretched out his hand to support him, but he didn't kneel.

Xia Erduo was so frightened that he didn't kneel when he saw the official, what kind of trouble was this? Beware of being beaten to death with sticks!

He was in shock, and suddenly saw the county lord jump up from the chair, and ran to the two of them, with a flattering smile on his face, and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Big ...... Cough...... My lord, are you back? Sit down...... Sit down...... Come on, serve tea ......"

Xia Erduo: "......"

Zhu Yuanzhang was not polite to Cao Bao, pulled a chair over and sat down, and pulled Xia Erduo to sit down, Xia Erduo was already scared stupid and was at his mercy. Zhu Yuanzhang pointed to Xia Erduo in the hair, and then said to Cao Baoxiang: "I'll find someone to be the county official, what do you think?" ”

"Oh? County Cheng? No problem! Cao Bao replied without thinking about it: "I have long wanted a county prince, thank you for helping me solve problems." ”

Xia Erduo: "......"

He was really speechless, and thought that it would be very difficult to intercede with the county order to ask for a county prince, but he didn't expect it to be a matter of one sentence, which made him even more surprised by Zhu Yuanzhang's identity. He carefully recalled what the county lord said, and found that he had been using "I" to refer to himself, and he didn't use any titles such as "this official", which seemed to be ...... The county lord didn't even have a status in front of this swordsman brother......

Zhu Yuanzhang said lightly: "From this spring, I will promote the planting of taro in Baishui, Chengcheng, and Dali counties, and this Xia Erduo County Cheng will take care of this matter, Cao Baoxiang, you will give me full cooperation with his work, and there must be no slackness." ”

"Yes!" Cao Baoxiang's biggest advantage is that he is well-behaved.

Xia Erduo heard this, and was a little embarrassed: "Isn't it Baishui?" And add Chengcheng and Dali? ”

"Hmm!" Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it carefully, and then said: "Just let you serve as the county governor of Chengcheng and Dali at the same time, so that it is more convenient to promote potatoes, but you have to work hard for the Xia brothers to go around and suffer a little." ”

"Not bitter! Absolutely not bitter! Oh, my mother, I never thought I could be an official in my life, and I was three officials...... "Xia Er was so happy that he almost fainted.

"The matter of the taro, the Mengxia brothers bothered a lot." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"Don't worry, it's on me...... Hahahaha. Xia Erduo was simply dizzy, he quickly ran out to find his guys, and ordered: "You go back to your hometown and bring all the rest of the taro, I will stay here and not go back, hahaha, hahaha......"

"Sir, why are you laughing?"

"Master, I'm an official, haha, I'm an official!" Xia Er danced with many hands: "You go to work quickly, and the master will promote you in the future." ”

Thereupon...... In the spring of the sixth year of Chongzhen, under the auspices of Xia Erduo, the county lord of Baishui, Chengcheng and Dali, three poor places that were barren and suffering from drought began to cultivate and plant potatoes at the same time.

The people led by Wang Er, Miao Mei, Yang Hong, Desperate Saburo, One City, One Cloud and other "big landlords" took the lead in planting in their fiefdoms, bringing a little confidence to the people.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang instructed the three counties to issue a notice to the squires and landlords, where the field of potatoes is planted, the tax standard can be reduced to ten taxes and two, and the fields that are not planted with potatoes will be charged the autumn tax according to the standard of ten taxes and five...... Led by them, ordinary people finally took the first step ...... tremblingly.

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