A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 929 Who doesn’t have a few poor relatives?

Standing on the upper floor of the Ganlan wooden house, Wu Huaiyu looked at the village which was still very simple but full of vitality.

The stilted buildings are neatly planned, and the villages are full of guards. Among the immigrants, they are in better condition. Every family is a farmer or even a small landowner. Many families also own slaves and raise cattle and horses.

In addition to reclaiming wasteland and farming, the family also raises chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep.

The black pig wanders around the village, getting along harmoniously with the chickens and ducks.

The dog is lying in front of the house,
The children sang the Three Character Classic taught by the teacher in the village school.

Looking outside the village, there is a vast expanse of green. In the rice fields, rice is growing well. In the sweet potato fields, vines are climbing all over the ditches. Corn and sugar cane are growing into green gauze tents. In the fields, beans, cucumbers, eggplants and other vegetables are also hanging on the branches.
"We will definitely have a good harvest this summer." Brother Seng stood aside, his eyes full of joy. Today, his son is one month old, and the Prime Minister of the Military can congratulate him, which is really even more joyful.
Wu Huaiyu also had a smile on his face. Although the land in Liuqiu was not as fertile as the black soil and could sprout even if you inserted a chopstick, the land here was indeed very good, especially the climate. There was no such thing as two crops a year in Anping. The problem is that the southern part of Liuqiu is already tropical, and like Hainan Island, it can be harvested three times a year.

However, agricultural cultivation in Liuqiu is also afraid of typhoons.
Liuqiu did not encounter any major typhoons last year and this year. For immigrants like Brother Seng, they have not yet truly experienced the horror of coastal typhoons.
The passage of a typhoon is terrible. Not only will it destroy houses, but the heavy rainfall it brings will also cause disasters such as floods and even seawater intrusion.

The atmosphere of this village is very similar to that of Longqiao, Qinghe, Sanyuan County. Most of the villagers in Longqiao were soldiers of Emperor Yuan Cong's imperial army placed by Li Yuan after he invaded Chang'an, and the villagers in this village were all Shouzuo Lang who guarded the camp.

These days, those who serve as soldiers and feed themselves are not some lowly people. Soldiers have a very high status.

Originally, food was not valuable in this kind of border area, but now that there is a large influx of people, the demand for food is still quite large. Wu Huaiyu also intends to provide some support to the new immigrants, so he is willing to increase the purchase price of food.

With several children studying, the family really doesn’t need any additional expenses other than sending some salted fish and bacon to the teacher. Even considering that the children have to help the family, the school still only has half-day classes every day, and there is also a holiday during the busy farming season.

After visiting the village, we went to the crop fields outside the village for a walk.
The Shouzuolangs in the village have a lot of land, and their family was allocated 200 acres of land. After a year of reclamation, the land is now almost completely reclaimed. Because it is newly reclaimed land, the land is now being cultivated extensively through rotation.
Each family basically grows sugar cane, and then some grows rice, sweet potatoes, and corn. Rice is a ration, and sweet potatoes and corn are eaten together with other coarse grains. They are also feed for raising pigs, cattle, chickens, and ducks. Sugar cane is the most grown. They make money by selling it to sugar mills and making sugar.

Although it is newly reclaimed wasteland, the climate and soil fertility are not bad, and even rough farming can yield good harvests. After all, paddy rice is definitely better than the dry land in the Central Plains, but it is still not as good as the mature fields and fertile soil in the inland plains, but it is not suitable for immigrants. For us, after all, we have a lot of land, and we still own it, and we don’t have to pay rent. Moreover, there are preferential policies in the first few years, so we don’t have to pay taxes.
Whatever you sow and whatever you reap is yours.

The high price of food will naturally encourage immigrants on the island to order a variety of food, which is actually more cost-effective than transporting food across the sea.

At the home of villager Song Wei, Lao Song is also very satisfied with his current life. When he reaches middle age, he never thought he could turn around.

"This year's production should be okay,"

Wu Huaiyu quite appreciated Song Wei's arrangement. If a family wanted to develop in the long run, it really had to attack from many aspects.

Song Wei smiled loyally, "These kids in my family are stupid and old. It is enough to study in the village school for a few years to open their eyes. I plan to send the eldest to study medicine and the second to work as a clerk in Anping Port. , the third child is farming at home,"

"It's all thanks to the Prime Minister. The village has arranged for a gentleman to teach, and he doesn't charge tuition fees. He also gives out books, pens, and ink,"

"The guide price for purchasing summer grain this year has been released, it's five cents per bucket of rice," Wu Huaiyu revealed the good news to the villagers. This grain price is already the same as that in Chang'an.

Food and clothing,

Students who were students of state and county officials were people of status. They would at least be officials when they came out, and with good grades, they could be recommended to the Imperial College or take part in the imperial examination, which would be even more remarkable.

That was something that he never dared to think about before, but now he can control slaves. What he wants now is to have children immediately, and he must have more children in the future. He is the only one in his family. He wants to have more children, so he can It's lively, and the Mao family can flourish here. It would be better if they could save more money and food to buy more slaves.

"I can eat two meals a day. I have a farm and a house, a wife and children. I can still eat some meat every now and then. There are often oil stars in the dishes. I couldn't even think about it before. Now I often wake up laughing in my dreams. "

"Let the children study hard. If they can read, the village society will recommend them to take the exam in the county. If they pass, they can enter the county school or the state school. Then they will be official students,"

The purchasing price of sugarcane is also pretty good. If there are no natural disasters such as typhoons, the harvest will still be good.

Now he has land and a house, and his sons are studying in the village school for free. Although his sons are old and stupid and can't learn well, he is still willing to let them study for half a day every day. If you have the opportunity to study and read, you must cherish it. He should Only after joining the army did I know the importance of reading.
"The boys in your family are all quite strong. Are they all studying in the village school now?"

In Wu Huaiyu's eyes, the huts where everyone lived were small and crude, and they wore simple clothes and ate average food, but the villagers were extremely satisfied, with happiness in their eyes.

Villager Xiao Mao sighed. He used to be a bachelor and still couldn't fill his belly. But now, he is a guard and married to Brother Seng's sister. He still has 200 acres of land at home and a slave. There is a cow down there,

Wu Huaiyu went downstairs, and Brother Seng accompanied him around the village, looking at each house. Although he had just immigrated here, it had been a year, and he had established a firm foothold here, and his life was pretty good. .

Liuzhou supports the people to develop more cash crops, but there is also a red line in food cultivation. It must ensure self-sufficiency in food and have some reserves.

"Peanuts and rapeseed can also be planted in the future,"

Oil can be extracted from peanuts, rapeseed, and they are very good oil crops. However, these days, oil is always very expensive and is also a very important basic material in life. Although many people are reluctant to eat oil or light oil lamps, they still have it all year round. The more food you have to eat and the better your living conditions are, the more oil you will use.

Generally speaking, the demand for oil is always there and the supply is always in short supply, so the price remains high. If people don't have oil and water, they will be hungry easily, and the sources of oil are few these days.

Vegetable oil is also good. It is easier to obtain in large quantities than animal fat. The conditions here are suitable for planting, but the ceiling limit for growing grains is severe. Self-sufficiency is sufficient, but planting too much is not suitable.

On the other hand, we can develop cash crops such as sugar cane, cotton, peanuts, and rapeseed. We can grow as many as we want without worrying about selling them.

In fact, the Wu family's manor in Liuqiu is run in this direction.

Rice is also mainly grown in glutinous rice, which is used to make wine. Then a lot of sweet potatoes, corn and other coarse grains were grown for breeding.

Then there is the planting of sugar cane, cotton, peanuts and rapeseed, all in order to increase economic output value.

Just like raising pigs, Liuqiu now has a huge demand for pork. The Wu family built a pig farm here and raised many sows and boars, and started breeding.
In Brother Seng's village, every family is now raising pigs, and their piglets are all bought from the Wu family's pig farm.
Raising sows is more profitable than raising pigs.

For the villagers, if they raise a few pigs at home and feed them sweet potatoes, corn, radish, rice bran, etc., they can convert them into pork. They can not only make money by selling them, but also improve their lives by slaughtering them themselves.

It is very cost-effective to convert the worthless sweet potatoes and radishes through breeding.

This is not only true for raising pigs, but also for raising chickens, ducks and geese at home.

No matter how much grain you plant, you won't be competitive and the price won't go up. But if you plant some miscellaneous grains, you can also rest and replenish the soil.

"Prime Minister Wu, when will we attack the barbarians again?"

In the sugar cane field, Xiao Mao couldn't help but ask,

Wu Huaiyu looked at this young man and was not surprised to see the desire to fight in his eyes. He could even tell his thoughts at a glance.

He wanted to fight and make meritorious deeds, and even wanted to obtain slaves from the island barbarians through fighting.

Now they have land, a house, and a wife, but Xiao Mao's family has 200 acres of land. It's just the couple plus a slave and a cow. There is a serious shortage of labor. And there is a shortage of people here in Liuqiu.

If you can't recruit tenants, it's hard to find long-term workers, and even short-term workers are hard to find.
The land has just been reclaimed, so extensive farming and rotational cultivation are still barely possible, but they will definitely not be possible in the future.

But there is a shortage of people everywhere on the island.
All the prisoners in mainland prisons were brought over.

But it is indeed difficult to immigrate these days. Many people find it hard to leave their homeland. When they hear that they are going to Lingnan or overseas, they are even less willing to do so.

Even the Wu family recruits workers in the mainland through various companies.

Even if many people are poor, they are unwilling to immigrate. The Wu family can only advertise for workers through various business houses and offer good conditions.

The Wu family's business actually has a good reputation in various places, and the conditions for employees are better in the local area, so many people want to join the Wu's business, but the places are limited.

The Wu family is now recruiting workers. Although they have to go to other places to work, the conditions offered are excellent. Although the recruitment period starts from one year, and there are two and three years, the longer the period, the better the treatment.

There are still many people willing to be recruited.
Anyway, I am just getting paid. As for going to other places, it doesn't matter.

Under this situation, the Wu family is now continuously acquiring land on the island to build manors, opening docks and building workshops everywhere, and has even gone into the mountains to cut camphor and dig mountains, all of which recruit workers from the mainland through various companies. ,

These are not immigrants, just hired workers,
But Wu Huaiyu believes that recruiting people to the island is a good start. Hiring workers can also develop and construct the island, as long as the people recruited can get the promised benefits here and stay here for a year or two after they arrive. , then get used to the climate and life here, and even understand the situation here,

There will definitely be people who are willing to immigrate and settle here. After all, those who are willing to recruit workers are young and poor, and if they settle down, they will get land. This is definitely attractive to them. They didn't dare to come at first, but they just didn't understand it.

"Recently, the Yi tribe on the island is getting along well with us. There is no need to fight and kill them." Wu Huaiyu said to Xiao Mao.

Wu Huaiyu was not lying to Xiao Mao. He was telling the truth. After the "battle of two thousand and six thousand", the Tang people had completely established their prestige on the island. The subsequent recruitment policy, a big stick and sweet dates, made the tribe now They are all honest and hospitable.
Although the conflict is still there, and there will definitely still be conflict in the future, at least it is good now and there is no need to blindly kill again.

"You can write a letter back to your hometown and see if you can recruit some people from your hometown. Then you can work on the fields together or hire long-term workers." Wu Huaiyu also knows the situation of Xiaomao's family. It is true that there is a shortage of labor force, but now he wants to buy Slaves, he doesn’t have that kind of money, so it’s even more impossible to hire servants or tenants directly on the island.
"Write a letter back to your hometown to recruit people?"

"Whose family doesn't have a few poor relatives?" Wu Huaiyu reminded Xiao Mao.

(End of this chapter)