Chapter 292 Various Groups

Yang Bi, the governor of Jiangxi, reported that Renzhou alone had collected hundreds of thousands of shi of grain in the autumn this year.

He was very surprised.

He wrote a letter to Pei Nian in person, asking him to send 100,000 shi of grain to Yuzhang as soon as possible.

He thought that the whole territory of Jiangxi could be called a land of fish and rice, but he didn't expect that thousands of hectares of fertile land were left uncultivated, and the whole of Jiangxi could not collect more than 30% of the grain tax.

The granary was so empty that horses could run.

How could this be possible.

Doesn't he want to eat?

A bunch of lazy people, who have no means of controlling them, how can they be governed?

Pei Nian is really good!

I didn't expect that he, a scholar, could govern Renzhou well. If the whole territory of Jiangxi had full granaries like Renzhou, why worry about not being able to do something big?

Pei Nian received the letter from his superiors and had a splitting headache.

How could he collect hundreds of thousands of shi of grain? Who spread the false news?

He listened to Su Qing'an's words and just tried it out, so how could he dare to buy more land?

Moreover, he had limited manpower. There were so many hungry people and rioters outside. How could he take care of them?

Even the land he planted was robbed and harvested.

In the end, he and Su Qing'an did not get 50,000 shi of grain together.

In addition to the grain planted by the surroundings and the grain collected sporadically from various places in Renzhou, there were less than 100,000 shi.

Renzhou's land tax was paid in silver.

Everyone said there was no grain, could he bring people to rob?

Half of the grain obtained from the land bought by his wife with the silver from the dowry was sold. If he hadn't forcefully collected it into the grain depot of the state government, where would the people of Renzhou have food to eat now.

And transported 100,000 shi!

How could there be such a number! It's true that a full man doesn't eat, and a hungry man is hungry.

Don't the people in his state need food and drink?

In the end, 20,000 shi were collected and transported to Yuzhang.

Yang Xingmi was very dissatisfied when he saw the 20,000 shi of grain. There were also villains gossiping behind his back, and he gradually became dissatisfied with Pei Nian.

They thought that he collected hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, but only sent him 20,000 shi! This was not taking him, the governor, seriously.

In addition to Yang Bi, who received the news that Renzhou had collected a large amount of grain, other people naturally received this news.

This winter came early and was colder than in previous years. No one wanted to go hungry, so many people headed for Renzhou.

Let's talk about Ma Mingwen.

Last year and this year, he got a lot of silver from Su Qingmei.

In the summer, he received grain from 29 villages, which allowed the entire army to have a good meal. The granary in the army was full.

For the first time, there was no shortage of food, which made other passers-by glow.

And many people saw that the Ma family army had food to eat and would not go hungry, so more and more people defected to the army.

In the summer, a wave of grain was collected, and in the autumn, Ma Mingwen received another sum of silver and 5,000 shi of grain from Su Qingmei.

He was very moved.

His goddaughter was no different from a real one.

At first, it was just because his apprentice Lu Bocheng let him off on the battlefield, and Lu Bocheng was punished because of him, and he felt guilty.

He agreed to Su Qing'an's request and went into the mountains to help her drive away the bandits. It was just a favor.

He didn't expect to get such a huge benefit.

He not only got money from Su Qing'an, but also the most precious food. Now you can't buy food even if you have money.

The whole army has enough food to eat, and the spirit is much better.

The quartermaster never complained to him again.

He was happy to see him every day.

The soldiers were well fed, and they were willing to endure hardships in training. They were pulled out and each one was ten. The combat effectiveness was much better than other armies.

The combat effectiveness was several times that of others.

With food to eat and money to buy better equipment, the army looked brand new.

Some time ago, he received a letter from Ma Xin, saying that Su Qing'an had discovered an iron mine, and Ma Mingwen had been thinking about this for a while.

He thought that he should send someone to dig out the iron ore.

These days, whoever has a strong fist and speaks has status.

And how to have a strong fist? That is to have a strong weapon.

It's winter, and everyone is hibernating. Ma Mingwen also set up camp.

After thinking it through, he recruited a team of hundreds of people and asked them to take his letters and some local gifts to Renzhou.

In addition to Ma Mingwen's team of hundreds of people heading to Renzhou, other teams that learned about the grain production in Renzhou and the mountains also moved to Renzhou.

Su Qing'an had no idea that a large-scale fight was about to unfold around her.

It's winter, and she only has two things to think about, one is the wheat in the field, and the other is the problem of the villagers' wintering.

Last year, there was a successful experience of wintering. Each village built a kang, and each family had a fire table, fire bucket and other heating equipment. Even if they went out, each person would carry a fire basket.

It was not cold at all.

So even if this winter is cold, we should be able to survive.

But this winter, if it gets cold, I am afraid that the animals in the mountains will not be able to find food and will come down the mountain to beg for food.

If they are very hungry, it will be bad if they want to eat people.

So before winter, Su Qingmei specially arranged in the meeting of the allied villages, and arranged a series of emergency plans to prevent fire, theft and the destruction of wild animals in the mountains.

When the villages encounter danger, they need to light thick smoke to warn.

Now the villages are integrated. Some villages are short of men and have to rely on the collective strength of the villages in the allied villages.

After arranging and checking everything, and explaining it to Ma Xin, Su Qingmei went home to hibernate.

Since Wei Fuchang arranged for Su Qingliu to marry, he has also become a frequent visitor to the Su family.

With Su Dahu, who is like a godson to me, having another prospective son-in-law wouldn’t be a big deal.

Wei Fuchang also had to heat the kang and burn firewood when he was alone at home, which was a waste.

If he stayed at the Su family, the Su family would not burn more firewood just because he was there.

Anyway, there were old and young people in the family. When winter came, the house was heated with hot tables and kangs for twelve hours.

Everywhere in the house was warm.

Xiaobao and Yaya were not wearing much, and they ran around in the house without feeling cold at all.

The adults roasted dried meat and roasted chestnuts for them to eat, as well as fried beans. The two children each carried a small backpack, and from time to time they reached in to grab a few beans, threw them into their mouths, and bit them with a crisp sound.

"Grandma, Xiaobao's beans are gone!"

The little hand grabbed the small bag, but it was empty. Xiaobao yelled to his grandmother who loved him the most.

"Oh, Xiaobao's beans are gone? Come, grandma, take a look." When Su's mother heard her grandson calling, she immediately ran over eagerly.

Xiaobao grabbed the deflated small bag and opened it to show Su's mother.

"Hey, there's really no more. Then grandma will give us Xiaobao another handful."

"I want two handfuls."

He can bargain.

"Okay, two handfuls."

"Xiaobao, you've already eaten a handful, you can't eat anymore." Su Qing'an said from a distance.

Xiaobao, who was following behind Su's mother, paused.

He looked at Su Qing'an aggrievedly.

"Mom, Xiaobao still wants to eat."

"Eat too much and your stomach will swell. You can't eat anymore."

Xiaobao didn't know how to refute, aggrievedly pointed at the finger, and glanced at Qingxing: "Auntie is still eating."

Qingxing was watching the excitement, but she didn't expect Xiaobao to choke when he talked about her.

"Auntie is a big child, you are a child, you can't eat anymore." Qingxing said.

Xiaobao pursed his lips in grievance and bargained with Su Qing'an: "Can't I drink honey water later? There are also pills given by Grandpa Ling."

Because the leaves, seeds and white wax of the ash tree have some medicinal uses, Su Qing'an gave some to Doctor Mu and Ling Fenggu for research.

She also took a lot of digestive and stomach-strengthening pills from them and prepared them for Xiaobao and Yaya.

Xiaobao remembered it.

Whenever she said she had a bloated stomach, she said there were pills given by Grandpa Ling.

Mother Su felt sorry for her grandson and couldn't bear to see him unhappy, so she glared at Su Qing'an.

She pulled Xiaobao over: "Let's go, grandma will give you a few more pills. You can't eat if you eat a few more, otherwise you will have a stomachache. Grandma will grill meat for you and your sister later."

"Okay. Grilled and fragrant."

"Yeah, fragrant."