I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 279 Establishing a Prefecture and County
Yang Lian has always had a deep understanding of the situation in Liaodong.

After this period of inspection, he discovered two serious problems.

One is the problem of people's hearts, and the other is the problem of environment.

The imperial court has always been aware of the problem of people's hearts. The most typical example is that the Liao people do not have a strong attachment to the imperial court and often defect to the Jianlu. Even Yang Lian has heard about this situation before in the capital.

After he came to Liaodong, he found that this problem became more serious.

After the Battle of Sarhu, the reason why Kaiyuan, Tieling and other places fell into each other's traps was because someone secretly withdrew money. Thanks to him and Xiong Tingbi, they teamed up with Yang Yishan to punish spies in Liaoyang and killed a large number of Liaodong rich people with double-minded intentions. Only then did he barely stop this rebellious wind.

But Yang Lian is a smart man, and he is very clear about the situation in Liaodong. He naturally knows that the reason why the Liao people are not strong in their attachment to the imperial court is not because of the Liao people, but because the imperial court is too harsh on them, which leads to the lack of support for the Liao people. Sincerely attached.

Therefore, he clearly knew that the key to regaining the Liao people's attachment to the imperial court was not to block them, but to isolate them. To chase them and intercept them and to go to Jianlu was simply to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. They had no support, and the more they besieged them, The more it will arouse their resistance.

What needs to be done now is for the imperial court and even the Liaodong capital to change their previous attitude, severely punish traitors, and be lenient and kind to the Liao people who did not defect.

That's why he left Liaoyang and began to inspect the area. The purpose was to understand the actual situation in Liaodong and implement the farming. Only by easing the difficulties of the Liao people and allowing them to make a living could they avoid being resentful or even betrayal of the imperial court.

But the wish is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

After visiting the field during this period, he lamented even more about the harsh natural environment and climate in Liaodong, which made even farming very difficult.

Liaodong was originally located outside Shanhaiguan, and most of it was located in a bitter cold land. There was the threat of Mongolia to the north, and there were intrusions from Jianlu to the east. It was really besieged on all sides.

Not only is the situation dangerous, but the terrain is also very bad. According to Yang Lian’s previous understanding and field visits, he found that every year the Liaohe River flows southward from the north. Because the terrain becomes flatter and low-lying as you go south, the flow of the Liaohe River changes from rapid to slow, just like the Yellow River. The lower reaches are generally prone to widening of river beds and flooding of rivers, thus forming large areas of rivers, lakes and swamps in Liaodong.

Yang Lian also checked the history books and knew that Liaoze had always existed since ancient times and had always been a shackle for the development of Liaodong.Liaoze suddenly divided the outside of the pass into two halves, into western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning. As a result, every time you went to Liaodong, Liaoyang and other places, you had to travel along the edge of Liaoze. The journey was long and the movement was very inconvenient.

Liaoze is not only not conducive to travel, but the wetlands are suitable for breeding mosquitoes in summer and are difficult to cultivate. The imperial court also encouraged the Han people to move here several times, but failed. As a result, this area has few residents outside the Yibao Pier. There is no smoke in all directions, but the reeds rustle in the ears.

But it would be fine if Liaoze was simply flooded, but natural disasters are far from that simple.

Liaoze only appears during the annual summer flood season.Starting from late autumn, when the rainy season ends and the swamps dry up, Liaoze will slowly shrink until it disappears. The Mongolians in Chahar and Nekarkha in the north can easily break through the border walls and become a serious problem in Liaodong.

Today's inspection of Caotan Village is proof. The more Yang Lian inspects the actual situation, the more he feels that the Liaoze problem has not been completely resolved. Not only will there be military threats in Liaodong, but agricultural production will also be restricted.

It can even be said that the Liaoze issue is an important factor in the current failure of Liaodong to develop, and it is also the key to solving the livelihood problem of Liao people.

Because in order to solve the problem of people's hearts in Liao, we must treat Liao people well and let them have a livelihood; but if they want to have all their livelihoods, they must farm and encourage farming; the prerequisite for encouraging farming is to solve the flood problem in Liaoze.

He had worked in Jiangnan before and had some understanding of the flood problem. After this period of inspection, he also had a common solution to the flood problem in Liaoze, which was to build water conservancy projects.

As long as we build water conservancy projects, dredge waterways, build dams, and divert water into the fields, we can turn waste into treasure. We can not only solve the flood problem in Liaoze, but also feed back the soil and increase production. It can be said that there is no harm at all.

It's just that it has been more than [-] years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and Liaodong has been operating for more than [-] years. Didn't so many governors and governors of Liaodong think of this before?

Yang Lian has also searched through the archives over the years and learned a lot about this matter. He also saw that many governors and governors had submitted similar papers or issued documents requesting local governments to build water conservancy projects, but they all had no effect. Very little, basically sinking into the sea, without making any waves, with little movement and results.

He had also been very confused about this phenomenon before. Isn't it the responsibility of the local governor to appease the local area, help people's livelihood, and build water conservancy projects?But after his field visits during this period, he also understood the reason. The problem lies with Liaodong Dusi.

The full name of Liaodong Dusi is Liaodong Dusi Commanding and Envoys Division. It can be seen from the name of Liaodong Dusi Dusi that the main responsibilities of Liaodong Dusi do not lie in civil affairs, education, money and food, but in the military.

Therefore, there are no prefectures and counties in Liaodong, only various military forts and garrison posts. Officials in various places are not magistrates or county magistrates, but garrison, generals, etc. For these generals, the task of military garrison is the first priority. As for what Building water conservancy projects, recuperating with the people, and allowing them to live and work in peace and contentment are all secondary.

In this case, it is understandable that the water conservancy facilities are not perfect. Even if the Liaodong Dusi finally implemented civilian officials as governors and governors to check and balance Liaodong, it would not be able to change the status quo. Under the rule of this high-intensity military system, Liaodong The lives of the common people are naturally incomparable with those in the pass.

This is the crux of the Liaodong issue, and it is also what Yang Lian has always wanted to do. He wants to have Liaodong set up three divisions, change the military forts inside Liaodong into prefectures, and set up magistrates and magistrates to rule.After all, Yang Lian still trusts the governance ability of civilian officials more than military generals. No matter what, he will make some achievements in improving political performance, and will not just line his own pockets and do nothing.

Yang Lian clarified his thoughts and immediately began to write vigorously. Today he will write a secret report to the emperor, asking the emperor to consider changing the Liaodong Dusi to the Liaodong Third Division and establishing prefectures and counties.

Because he had been planning this for a long time, his thoughts were naturally clear and smooth. After a while, Yang Lian's secret music was written. He checked and read it carefully for a while, and felt that there was no problem. He found a sealed iron box and took it out. He opened it with a close-fitting key and carefully put the secret music inside.

"Come on."

With a "squeak" sound, the study door was opened immediately.

"My lord, what are your orders?"

"Give this secret message to Yi Cheng and ask him to hurry up and get to the capital."

The Ming Dynasty now has a complete post station system, and it has not yet reached the time for the Chongzhen Dynasty to lay off the post stations, because the post station system is still complete, not to mention this is the secret order of the governor of Liaodong, no one dares to neglect it, so there will soon be The postman took Yang Lian's secret book and set off at starry night. The first stop was Guangning.

After handling the matter, Yang Lian did not immediately leave for the next stop. In the following days, he continued to stay in Niuzhuangbao, presiding over the recruitment of refugees and farming.

Niuzhuangbao originally had a large number of refugees, but after hearing the government recruitment notice, they immediately gathered in front of the government office to apply. In the next few days, more than a thousand people had been assigned the land, which was officially cultivated by the imperial court. "Sir, Li Shouguo, the head of the Li family, who previously asked Liu Qingming, the guard of Niuzhuang Fort, to buy the court land, asked to see him. He sent a greeting card outside the house and said that he had been deceived by a traitor, otherwise he would not have purchased the court land.

Now I am willing to give the 5 taels of silver in exchange for the imperial court to you, to use it to buy farm tools for the refugees, which is also a token of my gratitude. "

When Yang Lian heard this, he put down the account book in his hand with disdain on his face.

"Hmph, this isn't a gift at all. It's just a sign up. I accepted the post and told him that I was feeling unwell, so I won't see him."

"Then what should I do with this money? Should I collect it or not?"

Seeing Yang Lian expressing his position so angrily, the subordinates were a little flustered and undecided, and cautiously asked Yang Lian for his opinion.

"Take it, why don't you take it? Aren't we just worrying about money and food? Since he has the nerve to come to our door, why not take it! Now there is no need to give Xiong Tingbi a headache. Someone has come to help in the snow. It was accepted in the name of the Zhuangbao garrison, and all the money and grain were used to buy farm tools, seeds and cultivate farmland."

When Yang Lian heard this, he immediately shook his head. If you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are, you are not a pedantic and stubborn person now. Given such a good opportunity, he will naturally not refuse if others give you money to do things.

"I understand, I'm going to tell you now."

"Wait a minute, how many refugees have been recruited during this time?"

The official thought for a moment, then immediately raised his hands and said:

"Recently, the propaganda has been gradually effective. The refugees from Xiningbao, Shalingyi and other places in the west have gradually come over after hearing about it. At present, 610 refugees have been recruited. Calculated based on ten acres per person, Niuzhuangbao fifty The hectares of land have almost been divided.”

When Yang Lian heard this, he silently calculated in his heart.After he came out of Liaoyang, he went all the way south through Anshanyi, Dongshengbao, Dongchangbao, Guchengtun and other places, resettling refugees in each place.

Along the way, basically all the newly reclaimed farmland has been resettled, but at full count, more than 3 people and more than 500 hectares of farmland have been resettled. Now it seems that this number is still far from enough. You must know that there are 7000 reported farmlands in various parts of Liaodong. There are so many hectares of land that he can't finish even if he tries his best to deal with it.

"I heard that Guan Yingzhen sent many refugees from Shandong to southern Liaoning. I wonder if the resettlement is now in place? And is there any news from Guangning, Liaozuo? How is the progress of the farming there?"

Seeing that the progress was much slower, Yang Lian was a little impatient. It seemed that he could not fight alone, but had to take a multi-pronged approach.

These subordinates all knew Yang Lian's questions well. Seeing Yang Lian asking questions, he immediately started talking about them like a treasure trove.

"The Gaizhou Guard and Jinzhou Guard in southern Liaoning have sent news one after another, saying that there are [-] or [-] refugees stranded in southern Liaoning in Denglai. Currently, the entire southern Liaoning is busy resettling the refugees, but there are too many people there, so I have already written three times to request the Dusi Yamen to allocate funds for support, and I have requested to write to the court not to allow Denglai to deport any more refugees.”

Hearing that Guan Yingzhen had sent so many refugees, Yang Lian felt a headache again. He thought that Guan Yingzhen really only wanted to save people and didn't care about the lives of these refugees. They didn't die at his place anyway.

"Haha, didn't Liaonan always write letters saying that many people from Liaodong ran to Shandong? Now it's better, the situation has reversed. But now there are so many people that we can't ignore it. Let's ask the Liaodong Dusi to allocate some funds and give them some support, otherwise five They don't have the financial resources to absorb the [-] refugees, and they will be in trouble if they cause trouble. As for Liaozuo, has Wang Huazhen, the governor of Guangning, sent a letter about the farming."

Compared with southern Liaoning, Yang Lian is more concerned about the problems of Liaozuo. Liaozuo is close to Shanhaiguan and the land is relatively fertile. A quarter of the population of eastern Liaoning is in Guangning.

"I have sent messages to Guangning many times before, and the replies there were all extremely perfunctory, and they didn't pay much attention to the farm matter. But I don't know why, but there were a lot of articles last month. Judging from the content of the articles now, The two thousand hectares of land in Liaozuo have been completely divided and given to the landless refugees."

Yang Lian shook his head when he heard this. After this period of inspection, he didn't believe at all that the land allocations in documents from various places said that they were allocated to landless refugees.

"It's good to have news from Liao Zuo. Since the incident in the court last month, Wang Huazhen will definitely be more obedient and will not be as domineering as before. He should learn to restrain himself."

Yang Lian had already known what the Wenhua Palace was about. Although Ye Xianggao was brought back by the emperor, his power was no longer what it used to be. Everyone could see the current situation, which was completely incomparable to Liu Yishen.

As a student of Ye Xianggao, Wang Huazhen, the governor of Guangning, now saw the situation clearly and knew that his teacher was not as good as before. He was naturally more deferential to Xiong Tingbi and Yang Lian than before.

After hearing about the situation in Liaonan and Liaozuo, Yang Lian calmed down a little. No matter whether they were perfunctory or not, they finally settled down the farming matter. Thinking of this, he felt much better.

"Now that the matters here are almost settled, let's get ready to set off. Where is the next stop?"

"Sir Governor, according to the planned itinerary, the next place is Gaizhou Guard."

"That's good, let's set off the day after tomorrow."

Gaizhou Guard is the gateway to Liaonan. As long as you pass Gaizhou Guard, you will reach the border of Liaonan, so a guard station will be set up here to protect Liaonan. But Yang Lian knows that the purpose of going here the day after tomorrow is not only to inspect the farmland, but also to inspect the farmland. To inspect the harbor over there.

Because Gaizhou is to the west with the Bohai Sea and a natural bay where ships can berth, it is a famous port in southern Liaoning.

After the Battle of Sarhu, the imperial court ordered the Chief Secretary of Shandong to transport military supplies to Gaizhou for military supplies.Therefore, the purpose of his trip this time was to inspect the Gaizhou port and prepare for the future water transportation of grain and wages from Tianjin, Denglai and other places.

But just as Yang Lian was thinking about his next plan, there were rapid footsteps outside the door.

"Report to the Governor, Liaoyang Army Report!"

　Please subscribe, please vote, thank you all for your support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)