Most of the scholars brought by Professor Renqiu County are also young people.

When they saw Chen Ao going into the water to collect lotus roots, they were not far behind, and they stripped off and jumped into the lake.

Usually this is insulting, but in front of the emperor, he is unruly.

Everyone picked a lot of lotus roots, and Zhu Ming ordered: "Take it to cook and share it today." ”

Renqiu County Commander hurriedly beckoned to the officials, arranged a few words in a low voice, and quickly took the lotus root away.

There are a lot of people, and there is definitely not enough to eat.

Where the emperor could not see, these officials went to the villagers for help.

At this time, it was not the busy agricultural season, and when the common people heard that the emperor wanted to eat lotus root, they all laughed and went to the nearby to help collect it.

By the way, get some fresh lake food, the county order guessed that the emperor might like it.

The south wind blows and the lake is sparkling.

Zhu Ming traveled all the way, and he was in a good mood standing on the boat at this time. He said to the prefect Liu Yizhi: "The name of Liu Xiaoxing, I am also like thunder. Why don't you make another song today? Poetry is acceptable. ”

"Xiaoxing" is not a table word, but a poem written by Liu Yizhi.

He couldn't get into the Jinshi for half of his life, and Taishou pushed him as a scholar of the Eight Elements, and wanted to recommend him to get an official. But Liu Yizhi did not accept that he finally passed the exam in his forties, and it was too difficult to make up for the lack at that time, so he was directly thrown away to collect the liquor tax.

Put yourself in your shoes, you have taken the imperial examination for half your life, but you only got a petty official who collected the liquor tax. And the country is still devastated, and there is nowhere for your ambitions.

It was not until the Zen position of Song Huizong that Zhao Huan recalled Liu Yizhi to the capital.

At that time, the whole country was already in chaos, Liu Yizhi was on the way to Beijing, and when he got up in the morning, he saw the waning moon shining on the sparse forest. He remembered that the traitorous ministers of the Manchu Dynasty had troubled the country, and he remembered that he had been in an uncertain future for half of his life, and his wife had not been reunited for a long time.

This phrase caused a sensation in the capital at that time, and quickly spread all over the country, because it poked the tears of too many readers.

Liu Yizhi said: "In a hurry, the minister did not have a good sentence. However, when the rice was planted this year, there was a slight spring drought in Xiong'an Mansion, and the minister saw that the people were irrigating the fields with water wheels, so he wrote a poem that was not yet seen by others. ”

Zhu Ming smiled: "Let's listen to you." ”

Liu Yizhi said: "The name of this poem is "Water Wheel". ”

"Murata is high and low and there is an equal difference between the streams. I want to soak the fields, and God will not send thunder whips.

The old dragon drank the bones and drew the mud on the water. At first suspicion, the earth axis was moved, and the wind wheel rotated and hooked.

My wife and son don't stop walking, and they don't leave home every day. The green mangs pierce the first buds of the water seedlings, and when the snow waves turn over the ridges.

The farmer has nothing else to think about when he works, and his ears are not tired of vomiting and being hoarse. I also hope to be full in my last years, and I say that this is the best way to preach the frog. ”

Zhu Ming really didn't know about this poem.

From the perspective of a farmer's mother and son, the poem shows the peasants' heartache and hard work, as well as their desire for a full meal.

Moreover, the description of the waterwheel is also extremely wonderful, and the imagination is both majestic and simple.

"Good poetry," Zhu Ming clapped his hands and praised, "The Emperor will definitely like it when he sees it!" He loved farming and built a watermill with his own hands. ”

Liu Yizhi arched his hand and said: "It's just clumsy, which makes the official family laugh." ”

Zhu Ming looked at Chen Kangbo again: "What about you?" ”

Chen Kangbo opened his mouth and read: "The people of the sea are all prosperous and righteous, and the Huangchi thieves have stopped fighting." The four realms of agriculture and mulberry have many abundant years, and the flute and drum are blowing a lot in thousands of villages. ”

"It's also a good poem!"

Everyone was amazed.

In front of the emperor, this poem is even more pleasing.

The four seas are stable, and the soldiers have stopped. The country has had a bumper harvest, and the world is peaceful.

This is a celebration of my Ming Dynasty, and I also faintly stepped on the former Song Dynasty.

Chen Kangbo is twenty years younger than Liu Yizhi, full of spirit, pioneering and enterprising, and naturally focuses on the good side.

However, Liu Yizhi is over half a hundred years old, has experienced too many setbacks, and can better understand the suffering of the world.

Chen Ao crawled out of the lake and the water stains were not dry, half-dressed and open-topped, and quickly recorded the poems of the two at this moment.

Several county orders and principals also came to compose poems, in fact, they were all thought of halfway, the content was mainly to praise the Ming Dynasty, and there were also those who wrote about the great governance of Hebei in recent years.

Then, those scholars also took out their works and recited, wanting to take the opportunity to show their talents in front of the emperor.

Everyone asked the emperor to leave a poem, and the emperor gladly accepted.

Zhu Ming did not change the song "Receiving the Infinite Blue of the Lotus Leaves", but used poetry to explain his intention.

Su Qin brought a pen and paper, and Zhu Ming waved his hand to write: "Spread it to all prefectures and counties in Hebei, let them recruit and send people to fight with the army after the autumn harvest!" ”

"Yes!"

Su Qin recited: ""Military Music".

"Plug the autumn wind drum horn, and the sunset flag at the head of the city. The juvenile pommel horse is suitable. From military music, don't ask who you are from.

Waiting for the ride to pass through the north of the thistle, the first voice has moved Liaoxi. The return date is still with Liu Yiyi. In the spring boudoir month, the red sleeves do not need to cry. ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, although they had already guessed it, but at this time it was finally confirmed that there was going to be a war.

Liu Yizhi arched his hand and said: "Official, rice is planted in several counties on both sides of the Juma River, which is later than the harvest season in the south. Once a large number of people are requisitioned, it may affect the autumn harvest, and the people will complain. ”

Zhu Ming said: "In the states and counties where rice is grown, only one young and strong person in the family is not levied. If it is a busy farming season, a people's husband will be levied and ten acres of tax will be deducted. ”

Liu Yizhi finally smiled and said: "In this way, everyone is happy to follow it." ”

In the entire Hebei region, the newly recovered Youyan people are scarce, and the lower reaches of the Yellow River are also withered and impoverished.

It is also the three prefectures of Zhending, Baoding and Xiong'an, which are the closest and have a large population, so of course the people have to come from these places.

Zhu Ming took another boat ride for a while, and then ordered to return to the shore.

The meal had already been prepared, and Zhu Ming sat on the ground, inviting everyone to feast and drink together.

……

Cross the Juma River and continue north.

Leaving the rice-growing areas of the North Shore, the scenery instantly becomes desolate.

The land along the way is vast and sparsely populated, and the wind blows the grass and sees the white bones.

Only when you get close to the county towns do you feel like you're back in the world.

The entire Youyan area is about the same, and only a few miles around the county town can see signs of human activity.

Even small towns are rare, and there are deserted villages everywhere.

The ancient house covered with vines shows that it was once a large family.

Occasionally, there is a post station, and a fence is erected around it to guard against wolves and wild dogs.

Including Zhu Ming, all the entourages came to the north for the first time after the Jin people ravaged them.

In fact, it can't be dumped all the blame on the Jin State, because in the last years of the Liao State, it has experienced a decade-long war and famine.

The Song Kingdom bought it for several years and shipped countless money and grain. Either they were corrupted by civilian officials, or they were used to maintain the troops of Guo Yaoshi and others. There was a famine every year, thieves were rampant, and it was repeatedly invaded and looted by the rebel generals of the Jin State.

Immediately after, Jin Bing came again.

Instead of giving relief to the people, they continue to exploit them to death!

How many people are left?

Arrived outside Yongqing County, the county commander led the officials out of the city to greet him.

Zhu Ming asked, "How many people are there in the county at this time?" ”

The county order replied: "More than 20,000." A small half is in the county seat and suburbs, and more than half is on the north bank of the Juma River. ”

"I'm recovering well." Zhu Ming nodded in approval.

It is indeed recovering well, and the more than 20,000 people in Yongqing County are either ethnic groups who are unwilling to evacuate with the Jin State, or criminals and their families who have been exiled and migrated.

The Han people, Khitans, Xi people, and Bohai people in the north got along well with the exiled criminals.

There is wasteland everywhere, and if they reclaim it, there is no conflict of interest at all.

In order to obtain tax exemption and exemption, various ethnic groups also responded to the government's call to take the initiative to intermarry with the exiled Han Chinese.

A few decades later,It's estimated that it's all sinicized.。

Further north in Anci County, Zhu Ming asked, and the county's population was only a little over 10,000.

Miaoyin County is even worse, with only more than 6,000 people in the county.

Continuing eastward to Xianghe County, there are less than 3,000 people in the county, half of whom are exiles and their families......

There are few shops in the county, and most of the people live on the outskirts of the city to farm. Here, you don't even need money, and you go back to the era of barter, taking the harvested grain and raising poultry, and going to the city to exchange for salt, cloth and other supplies.

"People's livelihood is decaying!" Zhu Ming couldn't help but sigh.

Chen Ao said: "When the official family destroys the Jin Kingdom, you can recuperate, and after 30 years, you will definitely be prosperous." ”

After staying in Xianghe County for two days, Li Bao came from Yanjing to meet him.

The monarch and the ministers were quite happy to meet, and Zhu Ming pulled Li Bao to drink.

After drinking a few cups, Zhu Ming talked about the ruins here, and Li Bao shook his head again and again: "Continue to the east and north, and the counties will decay even more." In the entire Shicheng County (Kaiping), there are only more than 100 households. And the population of each household is not large, only three or four hundred people in total. There are jackals, tigers and leopards everywhere, and the common people are afraid of farming, and there are no dozen people who dare not go out at all. ”

In this hellish situation, if the Jin soldiers were killed from Xifengkou, the government would not even need to organize a strong wall to clear the wilderness.

Shicheng County doesn't even have a county ordinance because it has been downgraded to a town. The government is also too lazy to collect taxes, because the cost of collecting taxes is far greater than the income from collecting taxes.

Zhu Ming said: "After the war, our army will save the enemy. Even if Wanyan Zonghan wanted to fight in Youzhou, the other nobles of the Jin State, as well as the gentry of all ethnic groups, would force the Jin State to transfer troops to Liaodong. ”

"I personally command the Liaodong battlefield, you command the Youzhou battlefield, and Zhang Guangdao commands the Shanxi battlefield."

"Once you seize the opportunity, you and Zhang Guangdao will break through and go north. Don't worry about my side, you have been fighting north, taking the opportunity to recover the homeland of the Han family. ”

Li Bao said with a smile: "Even if the main force of the Jin soldiers is in Youzhou, I am not afraid." First fortified the wall and cleared the wilderness, so that the Jin soldiers could not rob the grain on the spot, and then forced the Jin soldiers to fight a decisive battle with me. ”

Zhu Ming admonished: "Be careful in everything, Wanyan Zonghan is not an easy person. ”

During the confrontation between the two countries, the Ming Dynasty forced the nobles of the Jin Kingdom to join forces and maintain a relatively peaceful political situation.

But if the Ming army kills Liaodong, factional contradictions within the Jin State will erupt.

In later generations, Liaoning Province was the core elite area of the Jin Kingdom and the main grain producing area of the Jin Kingdom. Once the Ming army crosses the sea to attack here, Wanyan Zonghan will not be able to withstand the domestic pressure at all, and he will not be able to fight where he wants to fight, and he must mobilize the main force to fight a decisive battle at that time.

As soon as Liaodong fights, the Ming armies in Shanxi and Youzhou will storm Xiongguan.

In the three battlefields of Liaodong, Youzhou, and northern Jin, the Daming field army will be exhausted, and the garrison will be mobilized to the north.

Excluding the people, the Ming Dynasty will send 300,000 troops!

(End of chapter)