I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 940 A Group of "Righteous Men"

Everyone looked at each other, and raised their heads to look at the leader Kong Xiuwen who was sitting in the first seat in the middle, their eyes full of admiration.

"Brother, you are awesome! You actually got a standard firearm."

"Brother, with these one hundred firearms, we can accomplish great things!"

Kong Xiuwen waved his hand modestly, signaling his men to carry the wooden box away and close the door of Zhongyi Hall.

There were only him and ten of his trusted leaders in the room.

He pointed to the first leader at the bottom left.

"Chen Daya, you used to be a bailiff in the Jining Prefecture government office. You are a man of justice and righteousness. You are a hero on the entire canal. Who doesn't know Shandong Hu Baoyi Chen Daya?
You are such a good person, but you were accused by corrupt officials of being a protector of gangsters. Your family was destroyed and you were exiled to the Jiaodong Islands to perform hard labor. You repaired ports and built cities every day and were as tired as a grandson.

Now that you have finally escaped back, do you want to redress your injustice and clear your name?"

Chen Daya's two upper teeth protrude a little, like a rabbit.

What he said touched his heart and he stood up in hatred, clenched his fists, and was extremely indignant.

"Mr. Kong is right! Everyone present here knows who I, Chen Daya, am.

Among all the heroes who have passed through Shandong in the past, which one has not benefited from me?

Who didn't give me a thumbs up and say that I, Chen Daya, am the timely rain of the modern era, the Song Gongming of the Ming Dynasty! "

"That's right!"

"Yes!"

"Brother Chen is a very good man!"

Everyone in Zhongyi Hall came to show their support.

"People like me have been wrongly accused and framed. Is there still justice in this world? Is there still law?"

Chen Daya made an angrily concluded sentence, then sat down shaking his head.

The great leader Kong pointed to the first person on the right and said, "Tong Xiucai, your family has been a family of scholars for generations, and you have studied hard for fifteen years and finally passed the examination. You are ready to show your talents and show your ambition in the imperial examination, but you didn't expect that treacherous officials would take power and abandon Confucianism.

It's like turning the world upside down!

The good things left by our ancestors have been passed down for thousands of years. All the officials in every dynasty have achieved fame and success in the imperial examinations!
Names were called out at Donghua Gate, flowers were arranged at the Qionglin Banquet, and Brother Tong, the expectations of six generations of your family have been ruined in an instant.

How can this not make people feel sad and angry! "

Tong Xiucai beat his chest and cried, "My family has been kind for generations, studying the sages' scriptures, hoping to achieve great things and serve the court.

Unexpectedly, there were treacherous ministers and bad people in the court who disrupted the government and turned the world upside down, so they actually abolished the imperial examinations.

How can these disloyal, unfilial, unvirtuous, and bad people face their ancestors? "

Chief Kong nodded with satisfaction and pointed to the second person on the left, "Liang Dongliang, you castrated yourself with a pure heart in order to enter the palace and serve the king.

In order to avoid collusion with the eunuch party, they actually banned the recruitment of eunuchs. Isn't this the end of your livelihood?"

Liang Dongliang stood up. He had a majestic figure but a fair and beardless face.

He was crying and his face was distorted with pain.

"My family has been loyal for generations and has been deeply blessed by the emperor. I am always thinking about how to repay the emperor's kindness.

I was not able to study when I was young, so I could not use my knowledge to serve the court and serve the emperor. After much deliberation, I made up my mind to castrate myself, recommend myself to the palace, serve the emperor, and preserve the Liang family's loyalty for generations.

The damn traitor actually instigated the emperor to publicly ban the recruitment of eunuchs from the beginning of the Wanli period.

They also talk about new rules for the new era and how you can't have the benefits of the new era and the blessings of the old era at the same time.

What a word!

What nonsense!
The practice of castration of temples has existed since the Shang and Zhou dynasties. How can we just abandon such a good thing passed down by our ancestors?

What shall we do if she defiles the palace and pollutes the royal bloodline in the future?"

Liang Dongliang cried loudly and finally shouted: "I castrated myself in vain! Damn you traitors, I will never forgive you!"

The leaders below jumped out one after another, denouncing that the evil ones were in power and the good ones were being bullied.

Kong Xiuwen nodded with satisfaction.

His father was a great scholar in Shandong and was well-known throughout the country.

He often had close contacts with Mr. Zhichuan (Wang Cai), Mr. Zhongxiu (Ji Defu), Mr. Wutang (Min Rulin), and Mr. Simingshan (Xie Zhen), and they were on good terms with each other.

As the second generation of Confucian scholars, he has the title of scholar.

His uncle was a Jinshi, his brother-in-law was a Juren, and he himself was a Xiucai. His family was the most famous family in Dingtao. They owned thousands of acres of fertile land, hundreds of shops, nearly a hundred slaves, and more than a dozen concubines.

Life is so joyful!
Unexpectedly, the big case in the Kong Mansion first implicated my uncle, then my father and brother-in-law's family, and dozens of relatives' property was confiscated.

His uncle, father, brother-in-law and other relatives died one after another on the way to exile in the northwest, and he was separated from his wife and children, and his family was broken up!
Now that I have finally escaped back to Shandong, I must take revenge and wash away the injustice done to my family to comfort the souls of my relatives in heaven.

After Kong Xiuwen and several other leaders expressed their grievances, they cleared their throats, raised their right arms, and said loudly: "Now the evil spirits have seized the government, doing things against reason and against heaven, and implementing many unjust and unfair policies.

But today the world is full of complaints and people are outraged.

We, the loyal and righteous people, should follow the will of Heaven and fight with all our might to eliminate brutality and uphold justice! "

"Brother Kong, what do you say we should do?"

Liang Dongliang asked loudly in a shrill voice.

Other leaders, big and small, such as Chen Daya and Tong Xiucai, all spoke in agreement and expressed their loyalty.

"Brother Kong, if you say go east, we will never dare to go west!"

"Brother Kong's words are the imperial decree. If anyone dares to disobey, I will stab him three times and six times even if I risk my life!"

Kong Xiuwen looked at the dozen or so leaders in the Loyalty Hall and knew that they were all the losers in this crappy new era and had a blood feud with Wanli's New Deal. They were all loyal and reliable people.

"Okay, everyone, please be patient!" Kong Xiuwen raised his hands and shouted loudly.

The chaotic noise in Zhongyi Hall gradually calmed down, and everyone looked at him eagerly.

"I just received news that the emperor visited Baiyun Lake in Jinan. It is said that he will also visit Nanwang Lake Farm.

By then, we will lie in ambush on the road that the emperor must pass through, use these one hundred smoothbore muskets to tell us our grievances, turn our anger into lead bullets, and kill the treacherous ministers around the emperor!

Once the main culprit is eliminated, the loyal and righteous people in the court will come out to clean up the mess, and we will become the great contributors to the restoration of order in the country, and we will enjoy wealth and glory for generations!"

"it is good!"

"This is a good deal!"

"Wealth and glory! I must take back what I lost with my own hands!"

Seeing the people's indignation and their willingness to help, Kong Xiuwen nodded with satisfaction. "Everyone, be prepared and head north at any time. Also, you must keep the secret strictly. Once the news leaks out, we will be doomed."

"We will just follow your orders, big brother!"

Zhu Yijun and his party came to Jingyang Lake Farm.

Jingyang Lake is not large in area, less than two square kilometers in radius, and there are not many fertile fields. It is nominally called Jingyang Lake Farm, but is actually part of Guangping Lake Farm, and includes its 24th, 25th and 26th production teams.

Zhu Yijun pointed to a hill in the distance and asked, "What is the name of the hill?"

The director of Guangping Lake Farm replied: "To answer your Majesty, that is Jingyang Ridge."

"Jingyang Ridge? Jingyang Ridge in Yanggu County?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. This is Yanggu County."

“Three bowls and you’ll never make it past the post. This is where Wu Song fought the tiger in The Water Margin.”

"Your Majesty, this is it."

Zhu Yijun turned around and asked: "What is the relationship between Guangping Lake and Liangshan Lake?"

"In reply to the emperor, Liangshan Lake is now called Guangping Lake. Because there are Anshan Town and Anmin Mountain beside the lake, it is also called Anshan Lake."

“How big is Guangping Lake?”

“Your Majesty, the Yellow River has moved southward, and the river systems in western Shandong and eastern Henan have all changed.

The 800-li Liangshan Lake shrank to less than a quarter of its size in two or three hundred years.

It has shrunk from 800 square kilometers to more than 100 square kilometers today.

The specific area measured by the Surveying and Mapping Bureau is 149.7 square kilometers.”

"It's twice as big as Baiyun Lake. How much arable land is there?"

"Your Majesty, there are 42,670 acres of paddy fields and 41,000 acres of semi-arid land."

"It's less than twice the size of Baiyun Lake."

The two areas are large, but they only refer to the lake surface, but the surrounding fertile land is not necessarily more than twice as large. The farmland around the lake has a lot to do with the water conditions and topography.

If the terrain is too flat, it is not necessarily good, because it is easy to be flooded by lake water. If the terrain is too high, it is not good either, because water cannot reach it and it is still dry land.

Cofferdam to fill the lake?

Shandong is already short of water, and the main purpose of Anshan Lake, Nanwang Lake in the south and Zhaoyang Lake is to store water to ensure the water level of the canal. Over the past two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, the water in these lakes has been decreasing, not to mention irrigating farmland, even the water level of the canal has become more and more of a problem.

How dare we build a cofferdam and fill the lake!

Zhu Yijun continued to ask: "How much grain income and profit did your Guangping Lake Farm, including the Jingyang Lake Branch Farm, have last year?"

"In reply to your Majesty," the farm manager replied confidently, "Guangping Lake Farm harvested 11,521 tons of rice and 3,280 tons of wheat last year."

Zhu Yijun calculated in his mind, "Your paddy field rice yield is 540 kilograms per mu, and the semi-dry land wheat yield is 160 kilograms per mu, which is slightly lower than Baiyun Lake Farm.

What is the annual profit?

"Three hundred and twenty-four thousand nine hundred and sixty yen."

Zhu Yijun turned his head and looked at him, "How many people are there in Guangping Lake Farm?"

"In reply to the emperor, Guangping Lake Farm and Jingyang Lake Branch Farm have 4,167 households with employees, totaling 16,879 men, women and children."

"That is to say, Guangping Lake Farm only received 39 yuan in profit per household last year. Baiyun Lake Farm received 56 yuan per household last year."

The farm manager had sweat on his forehead and hurriedly explained, "In reply to the emperor, our Guangping Lake Farm has a large population and a heavy burden.

Moreover, our farmland is not much more than Baiyun Lake’s. On average, each household has even less farmland than they do.”

"These objective conditions do exist, but there are difficulties, and we must face them head-on. What do you officials do? To find ways to solve problems.

Have you ever summarized and analyzed where the profit gap is? "

The director of the farm quickly replied: "In response to the emperor's words, our farm officials have held a meeting to analyze and summarize, mainly in three major areas.

First of all, cash crops, Baiyun Lake Farm's rapeseed oil and rapeseed alone brought in nearly 100,000 yuan. Our cash crop, sugar beets, has a larger planting area than Baiyun Lake Farm and a much higher yield, but the income is much less, less than 70,000 yuan.

We decided to switch to rapeseed this year."

"Wrong!" Zhu Yijun interrupted the director.

The director and deputy director were stunned, as were Xu Zhenming, Zhang Siwei, Pan Yinglong, Wang Zongzai, Chen Dake and the director and deputy director of the Agricultural Reclamation Bureau.

Wrong, what's wrong?
The director reacted quickly and said, "I am ignorant. Please enlighten me, Your Majesty."

"The biggest cash crop of Baiyun Lake Farm is selling rapeseed oil, which brings in a profit of more than 70,000 yuan. Together with the income from rapeseed, it accounts for half of the total profit.

Do you know why Baiyun Lake Farm has such high profits, but you don’t? "

"I am stupid!"

“Because the rapeseed oil sold by Baiyun Lake is an agricultural and sideline product processed by their oil mill, it is no longer simply an agricultural raw material, but an industrial product that has been given added value through industrial production.

The sugar beets you sell are agricultural raw materials, and they can’t be sold at a high price. Do you have a sugar factory on your farm?”

The director shook his head.

"A ton of beets costs only five yuan at most. Do you know how much a ton of sugar costs?"

The director shook his head.

"During the Jiajing period, the price of sugar in the capital was fifteen times that of rice, about 15 taels of silver for one hundred catties, equivalent to 22.4 yuan.

After the Wanli period, the price of rice began to fall, but the price of sugar fell even more sharply, especially in the north where sugar was first extracted from beets.

The current price of one hundred kilograms of sugar is eight yuan, and one ton of white sugar is one hundred and sixty yuan.

I remember that the sugar yield of beets is 15%, that is, 15 tons of beets can produce one ton of sugar. The average profit per ton of beets is 10.6 yuan, which is more than double that of simply selling beets.

In addition, after beet sugar is extracted, 85% of the residue is left, which can be pressed and made into bean curd cakes, which can be used to feed pigs, cattle, chickens and ducks. It is a very good feed and also brings in a lot of income. "

Zhu Yijun stared at the farm manager and said word by word: "Agriculture also needs to be managed.

The new agriculture in the new era of Wanli is to use technology and industry to add value to agricultural products and bring more benefits to farmers.

Do you now understand the difference between you and Baiyun Lake Farm?"

The director nodded repeatedly: "Your Majesty, I know that the problem is that we haven't made good use of scientific and technological means and industrial production."

Zhu Yijun nodded, turned to Xu Zhenming and others and said, "We need to see more. Where is the next stop?"

"Your Majesty, it is Nanwang Lake."

(End of this chapter)