"So big!"

On February 19, with a team of thousands of people, Xu Shuo, as the prefect of Zunyi, finally arrived at the former Banzhou City, now Zunyi County.

Miles away, he could already see the rice fields around him, and the Banshu Castle standing on the side of the mountain in the distance.

In Guizhou, which is full of mountains, it is still a little shocking to suddenly see a dam as big as Zunyi.

Because there is no shelter, the entire Zunyi Dam is unobstructed by Xu Shuo.

The dam that appeared in front of him alone contained hundreds of thousands of acres of cultivated land, and then there were river valleys and plains.

It can be said that the situation in Zunyi County is far beyond Xu Shuo's imagination, and even several officials who followed him breathed a sigh of relief and showed a relieved smile.

"Let's go! Check it out! ”

Xu Shuo came to the strength and led everyone towards Zunyi City.

When they came to Zunyi, they could also feel that the local army was visibly increasing, and there were always soldiers and horses stationed at the mountain pass, even Xu Shuo, they needed to be checked.

Such an atmosphere reminded everyone that Guizhou was also experiencing war at the moment, although Zunyi Mansion was relatively safe, but there were endless rebellions in the south and east.

It was Qu Yu who stayed in Zunyi City, while Mu Chun, Qu Neng, Mu Sheng and others were quelling rebellions in various places.

Qu Yu didn't greet Xu Shuo, but Xu Shuo didn't care, they walked on the solid dirt road and approached Banzhou City.

Outside Banju City, people dressed in various ethnic costumes are farming in the fields, and there are even concrete canals next to the fields.

Xu Shuo was a little surprised, but when he thought of Mu Chun's original governance of Kunming and the opening up of 300,000 acres of cultivated land, he thought of all this to him.

"Just the cultivated land and canals on this dam will produce an indispensable amount of Yamen this year."

Behind Xu Shuo, Zhao Liang, who was also known in Zunyi Mansion, opened his mouth and sighed, and Xu Shuo also nodded and said: "Use this as a foundation to support the counties, let Zunyi Mansion resume output as soon as possible, and continue to reclaim wasteland while supporting the supply of the army." ”

Xu Shuo saw a lot of sloping land that had not yet been reclaimed as cultivated land, and the slope of those sloping lands was not too large, and it could be reclaimed as terraced fields to grow crops.

When he was in Ba County, he presided over the development of many terraced fields, although they are all knowledge in books, but after actually applying them, the effect is very significant.

In the midst of their thoughts, Xu Shuo and the others also came to the city gate of Zunyi County, and there was a guard commander waiting at the city gate.

Seeing Xu Shuo coming on foot, the commander was slightly surprised, and then said, "Dare to ask if it is Xu Mengming and Xu Governor?" ”

"It's me, it's the official seal and the paperwork." Xu Shuo took the official seal and document from the official next to him and handed it over.

Commander Wei nodded after inspecting it: "Governor Qu has replaced the plaque of the Xuanwei Division's yamen, and I will send someone to take you there now." ”

"In addition, the officials going to the other three counties will be escorted by us starting tomorrow."

Commander Wei's words made Xu Shuo nervous: "What's the matter, is there a war?" ”

"Some small toasts do not accept to change the soil and return to the stream, wandering in the mountains and forests, don't worry."

Commander Wei didn't take this kind of thing seriously, but the other three county officials behind Xu Shuo had a worried face.

Although they came to Guizhou spontaneously, if they lost their lives for this, it would be regrettable.

"It's okay, don't worry, with my army, a little toast won't make the climate."

"If you're worried, I'll go with you."

As the prefect, Xu Shuo smiled and spoke at such a time, calming everyone and making everyone aware of his gaffe.

"I'm just nervous, so I don't have to worry about the prefect."

Everyone shook their heads, Xu Shuo nodded when he saw this, and then said to Commander Wei:

"We have brought 17,000 stone of food, if the army is short of food, you can discuss with me to transfer it."

"Thank you!" The commander of the guard saluted in return, and then leaned back and motioned for them to enter the city.

Seeing this, Xu Shuo returned the salute, and the officials behind him also returned the salute, and then followed Xu Shuo's footsteps into Zunyi City.

As soon as they walked into Zunyi City, the situation in the city made everyone gasp.

As a place where the Banzhou Yang family has been operating for more than 500 years, Zunyi Castle is paved with stone bricks made of river stone, and the roads are very wide.

The main road of the central axis of the city is three zhang wide, and the buildings on both sides of the street are mostly about one zhang and six feet high, there are Han family buildings, and there are also some small brick and stone buildings similar to stilted buildings.

Because it is in the city, there is no railing corridor like the stilted building outside the city, where people live upstairs and stables downstairs.

Most of the people who can live in Banzhou City are related to the Yang family, so the sinicization is very obvious.

Except for a small number of people who still wear collarless kaftans dyed blue and blue with linen, the rest are basically wearing Han underwear and trousers.

People who can wear underwear basically don't go to work, such as Xu Shuo and they went all the way just now, but all the people who want to work will wear short clothes to the field, and when they arrive in the field, they will take off their clothes and work shirtless.

As Xu Shuo, who has been fishing at the beach since he was a child and helping to cultivate the land, he knows very well that this is a last resort made by farmers who are worried about wearing out their clothes.

"Do all the people in this city have arable land outside the city?"

Xu Shuo asked the Qianhu official who led the way, and when the Qianhu official heard this, he responded while walking: "Originally, there were all of them, but after the land was changed and returned, the fields related to the Yang family were confiscated. ”

"There are the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Atlas at the Yamen, both of which were measured by the brothers."

"According to the new policy of the imperial court, how to divide this field is something you need to deal with."

"But although we took the land, they confiscated their money, so the money they had saved before was enough for them to squander for several years."

Qianhu Guan led the way as he spoke, but there were relatively few people on the streets, thinking that it was because he had been moved out of Guizhou.

Xu Shuo, as the magistrate of Ba County in Chongqing Prefecture, naturally understands the matter of the people who moved out of Banzhou.

He not only understood, but also participated in it, preparing a lot of food for the displaced people.

In the past six months, at least a few hundred thousand people have moved out of Banshu.

Because of this, the Sichuan Political Secretary delayed for so long, and did not transfer them to Zunyi until February of the first year.

"Here, this is the former Yamen of the Propaganda Division."

The voice of the Qianhu official woke Xu Shuo up, and he looked ahead, but he didn't want this Xuanwei Si Yamen to be built on the mountain, and compared to the Yamen, this place was more like a military fortress.

Fortunately, this hill is not high, otherwise the next time it is estimated that I will be tired and out of breath.

"Thanks for leading the way." Xu Shuo returned the favor and took out a hanging of money from his sleeve.

Although it was only a hundred words, no matter how small the mosquito was, it was meat, and the Qianhu official smiled and accepted the return gift, and then left.

Before leaving, he also specially instructed the soldiers guarding the yamen to work hard and not to neglect everyone.

"Let's go, go into our yamen and see what the situation is."

Walking into the Zunyi Mansion, although many of these things have been moved, the expensive wood used in the construction of the yamen cannot be taken away.

The government is 200 steps long from north to south and 120 steps wide from east to west, which is enough to accommodate hundreds of people to work in it, and there are pavilions and water pavilions for people to rest.

"This government is almost comparable to the government secretary's yamen."

Walking to a water pavilion, Tongzhi Zhao Liang sighed, and Xu Shuo also sighed a few times: "I don't know how much money it took to build it." ”

"No matter how much it costs, it's ours now." Zhao Liang chuckled, he and Xu Shuo were the same Jinshi, but one was from Jilin City and the other was from Changchun City.

"Prefect, the documents have been taken."

Outside the Water Pavilion, the general judges, and the magistrates and inspectors of Zunyi Mansion walked into the Water Pavilion with the papers, and Xu Shuo and Zhao Liang also walked out of the study and sat down with everyone in the main hall of the Water Pavilion.

They began to look through the "Yellow Book" and the "Fish Scale Atlas", and soon learned about the general situation of Zunyi Prefecture and Zunyi County.

Zunyi Prefecture has more than 569,400 mu of cultivated land, but Zunyi County alone has more than 246,000 mu, and the remaining three counties have a total of more than 323,000 mu.

From this point of view, the situation of the other three counties is not bad, and the worst should be Wang Zhang's Tongzi County.

In the Yellow Book, the population of Tongzi County is recorded as 4,224 people, which should include those people who migrated in the past, but it is still the least among the five counties.

Zunyi Mansion has more than 176,000 people, more than 3 acres of cultivated land per capita, 562 cattle, and 677 horses, which is not much.

After inspecting the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Atlas, Xu Shuo urgently summoned all the officials to the government hall, and after everyone was seated, he spoke:

"I've seen it all, the situation in Zunyi Mansion is like this, it's better than the Pingyue Mansion that was established next to it but no one has served yet."

"Three days later, everyone is ready to go to their own counties to verify the situation."

"If the situation is correct, then the first thing to do is to ask each question, whether there is a lack of translators, or a lack of teachers, clerks, and craftsmen."

"This time, the political envoy of Jian Bu gave us a lot of support, not to mention the support given by the imperial court."

Sitting in his position, despite his young age, Xu Shuo is very official, and he can suppress everyone in terms of momentum.

"Everyone has been an official in the county, and you should know that agriculture is the foundation of the economy, followed by handicrafts."

"However, the relationship between agriculture and handicrafts does not have to be prioritized, what we need to do now is mainly to see which county is suitable for building a cement yard, which county is inconvenient for transportation, and we need to apply to the Sansi Yamen for gunpowder to widen the road, which ......."

Xu Shuo said a lot, the main thing he said was that if something was missing, he would say it, and he would find a way.

However, after the arrival of the missing things, he must see the real achievements, and the things must be used in practice.

Although he is very young, Xu Shuo is very old-fashioned and sincere.

He got straight to the point with everyone, and everyone was embarrassed to make small calculations with him, after all, few people who could take the initiative to apply to come to Guizhou were afraid of poverty.

"I'll give you one last word."

In a quarter of an hour, Xu Shuo explained everything, but in the end he added:

"Zunyi Mansion is not as good as other places, there are fewer people here, and language is our biggest problem."

"Therefore, when facing the people, everyone should speak well and be calm, so as to avoid the escalation of contradictions and delay your career."

After saying the last sentence, Xu Shuo stood up and bowed to everyone: "There are more than 176,000 people in Zunyi Mansion, please leave it to you." ”

Seeing this, everyone returned the salute one after another, and then dispersed.

After they left, Zhao Liang stayed behind and Xu Shuo walked out of the yamen with an interpreter.

They went to one of the more prosperous streets in Zunyi County, which was more prosperous than the others, as can be seen by the white-painted second-floor shops on both sides of the street.

Looking for a tavern, the two walked in and saw a young man who was dressed as a Han Chinese, but spoke a Gelao dialect.

"Are you Han?"

"It's a Han Chinese, who followed the officials to deliver supplies today, but I'm leaving tomorrow."

The translator responded with a smile, and the little guy was also interested when he heard this: "Where are these officials?" ”

"Of course I'm here to take up my post." The translator man responded, and the little guy hurriedly asked, "How are you officials?" ”

"It's not bad, I heard that he was on an errand in Ba County before, and some people in Ba County were reluctant when he left."

The translator said while looking at Xu Shuo, Xu Shuo didn't say anything, just looked at the little guy and the translator, because he couldn't understand the language of the servant, so he could only stare at Zhao Liang with big eyes.

"Li Bai, what do you say?"

Zhao Liang asked, but Li Bai waved his hand and signaled that he would tell him.

"Is there really such a good official?" The little guy didn't believe it, but poured a bowl of water for the translator.

Li Bai smiled and picked up the bowl and took a sip, and said with a smile: "I don't know, but I came here with them along the way, and they were quite easy to talk to." ”

"On the way, I also heard that they were coming here to divide the fields, as if ......"

"Really divide the field? How much? The little maid's voice couldn't help but raise when he heard this, and the sound also made the few diners around pay attention to this side.

"I don't know, anyway, it's going to divide the field." Li Bai felt that it was a little noticeable, so he prevaricated.

"Just divide it, just divide it, and I'll make money if I divide the field."

The little guy laughed happily, and the rest of the diners got the news and chatted excitedly, obviously they were also looking forward to sharing the land.

"What are you going to do with Tian? Stopped doing work? ”

Li Bai asked the little guy curiously, and the little guy hurriedly shook his head: "Do it!" Of course you do! ”

"Do you still do it with a field? Don't care for the fields anymore? Li Bai was surprised, but the little guy said:

"You tell you what you want to eat first, and I'll tell you."

"What's the food?" Li Bai looked back at the menu hanging on the counter, and his eyes widened.

There are Chinese characters and multiple languages on the menu, but this is not something that surprises Li Bai, but the price under the menu.

【Twenty pieces of preserved quails, ten pieces of fried cabbage】

"A fried cabbage is ten cents?!"

Li Bai looked at the little guy in disbelief, and the little guy said in disbelief: "Our place is like this, there is no salt, and it must be expensive to eat hot food." ”

"How much is the price of salt now?" Li Bai asked, and the little servant said, "You can order first." ”

"A fish, a plate of pork, a slice of duck, and three bowls of rice."

Although he already knew that the dishes were expensive, Li Bai still ordered three dishes.

After he finished ordering, the little guy spoke: "Twenty wen for a pound of salt." ”

"Twenty Wen?" Li Bai was surprised: "Isn't the official salt only a dozen Wen?" ”

"You also said that it is official salt, but we don't have official salt here, and now the price of twenty wen a pound of salt is sold cheaply by the officials and soldiers, otherwise it will cost thirty or forty wen a catty."

"Before the change, some people who couldn't afford to eat salt had to burn grass ashes to eat."

The servant wrote down the name of the dish, answered the question about the price of salt, and asked the cook to cook.

After he left, Li Bai told the news he had just inquired about.

Hearing that the price of Zunyi salt was twenty wen a catty, Xu Shuo and Zhao Liang couldn't help but gasp.

"You have to hurry up and approve salt to the imperial court and find merchants to sell salt."

Zhao Liang looked at Xu Shuo and reminded, Xu Shuo also said: "I also know that Guizhou is short of salt, but I don't know that there is a shortage of salt to this extent." ”

"But there is no way to solve the problem by transporting salt alone, and we have to look at other problems."

Thinking so, the three of them chatted without saying a word, and then asked the location of the vegetable market when the meal was served.

After eating and drinking, the three of them got up and continued to wander around the county, and soon saw a vegetable market with sales.

Since there is no special market, there are people from outside the city who come to sell vegetables near the four gates of Zunyi City.

Xu Shuo squatted down to pick vegetables, and at the same time asked the old man in front of him, who was less than five feet tall, "How much is a catty?" ”

"If you don't sell a catty, ten catties a penny, or three taels of grain."

The old man said the price, and Li Bai was in charge of translating.

Xu Shuo paid the money happily when he heard this, got up and said to Zhao Liang at the same time: "It seems that their currency here is still relatively small, otherwise they will not continue to maintain the situation of bartering." ”

"If salt is brought here, the first thing is to let the people have money in their hands."

"We brought more than 5,000 new dollars this time, which can just come in handy."

After Xu Shuo said that, Zhao Liang reacted: "Are you going to pay the people?" ”

"Yes, these days are busy farming, and when the farming is over, hire people to widen the roads in each county, as for the specific wages, we can ask again, and then set the price."

"When the time comes, you can set up a stall near the salary to sell official salt, so that the road will be repaired and the salt problem will be solved."

Xu Shuo said his opinion, but Zhao Liang poured a basin of cold water on him: "This is not bad, but our money is not enough to repair so many roads." ”

"It's not enough, but you can find a way." Xu Shuo said, and then communicated with Zhao Rail:

"I have a senior who has been studying in Taixue for three years, focusing on crops, if I can invite him to come here for the summer vacation, I may be able to see something different."

"Don't worry about the travel expenses, I invited him out of my own pocket."

"Not really." Zhao Liang shook his head: "As long as it is for the affairs of the house, the money should come from the house." ”

"I'm just envious that you can actually get in touch with the seniors of Taixue, Changchun City has a small population, and no one has been admitted to Taixue so far."

"Why don't you and me?" Xu Shuo joked about Zhao Rail, and Zhao Rail also smiled heartily when he heard this.

Indeed, as long as they can be admitted to Taixue, who is willing to participate in the imperial examination.

Although none of the Taixue students have held official positions so far, everyone knows that the people who enter Taixue are the real protégés of the East Palace.

After entering Taixue, are you still worried about the lack of official positions?

"By the way, you have to think of a way to do the things of official learning, and language is a big problem."

Xu Shuo mentioned the issue of official learning, and Zhao Liang also nodded and said: "Did you see the meeting just now, the four county teachers all had sad faces, and they probably had a headache." ”

"I'll ask people to go to the army to find Governor Qu Yu, and then conduct language training for the teachers and teachers."

"You take someone to see it tomorrow and find a suitable place to plan and build an official school."

"Good!" Zhao Liang nodded, and then continued to walk around the streets and alleys of Zunyi City with Xu Shuo.

Here, language is the big problem that hinders the two, and without Lieber, they almost become deaf and mute.

A language problem was enough for them to have a headache for a long time, so the language learning that was originally limited to teaching and learning eventually evolved into a study for the officials of the whole government.

After a few days of visits and investigations, Xu Shuo wrote a note and wrote out all the policies.

Since the officials of the three divisions of Guizhou have not yet been gathered, his recital is still sent to the capital by the Sichuan political envoy.

When this note was sent to Zhu Gaoxu's desk, Zhu Gaoxu almost frowned and read everything.

"This Xu Shuo is still good, he went to Zunyi to figure out the problems of the local people in just a few days, as well as the problems of governing Zunyi."

Sitting in the Chunhe Palace, Zhu Gaoxu took the song and discussed with Yishiha beside him, but Yishaha smiled and said: "Even this person wants too many things." ”

"Hmm......" Following Yi Shuha's gaze, Zhu Gaoxu also saw the amount of materials that Xu Shuo hoped for the imperial court to support.

Not to mention the 2,000 head of cattle, 100,000 stone rice, 40,000 catties of salt, and 150,000 catties of iron alone are enough for a headache.

"Put aside the ploughing cattle for the time being, first transport grain and salt to them, and then transfer officials from Siyi Pavilion who learn Miao, Ge, Dong, Yao and other languages to Zunyi to help them divide the land equally."

"If we want to make Guizhou long-term stability, the first thing is to let the local people feel that their lives have changed."

"Yang Sheng and they are reluctant to invest in the people, but the court can't be reluctant."

Zhu Gaoxu used a pen to write down the ploughing cattle pen red to be determined, and the materials behind it were circled and written down for approval.

Seeing this, Yishu picked up the song, and mentioned it by the way: "Your Highness, this Xu Shuo is a jinshi from Jilin Mansion. ”

"Oh?" Zhu Gaoxu became interested: "Is it Jilin City or the surrounding area?" ”

"Jilin City, but they migrated to Jilin City from Shandong." Yi Zha added, but Zhu Gaoxu heard the words and said:

"It's okay, the people of Jilin City originally migrated from Shandong from the beginning."

"In this way, although there are no two thousand ploughing cattle, didn't Mu Chun capture a lot of horses in southern Qiannan?"

"Write a letter to Mu Chun and transfer it to Zunyi Mansion, Zunyi Mansion will resume production as soon as possible, and the logistics pressure on the army will be reduced."

"Yes!" Yisha smiled and nodded, and wrote a letter to Mu Chun in Qiannan by hand, and Zhu Gaoxu did not forget to remind:

"Let Mu Chun solve the problem of Daxue Mountain first, so that King Han can set off to Nanjing."

Yisha nodded when he heard this, and then added this sentence.

After doing all this, he asked people to send the song Shu and the handwritten letter back to Guizhou, and Zhu Gaoxu also remembered a Jilin Jinshi named Xu Shuo.

(End of chapter)

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