Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 112 Father and Son
September of the second year of the Wen Dynasty

Many areas in Northwest China, including Shaanxi and Shanxi, have suffered from severe droughts for years, causing major rivers to dry up and making navigation impossible.

A great famine struck Qin and Jin, and more than half of the people died.

If there is no rain in spring and summer, the wheat will wither and die, and the people will dig up grass roots to eat.

Years of drought and locust plagued the land, rice cost a thousand coins a bushel, corpses lay everywhere, and people resorted to cannibalism.

Wan Ye felt extremely distressed as he looked at the disaster report that had just arrived.

What pained him most was not how many people died.

"Why has no disaster report been submitted from Shannong County?!"

Wan Ye raised his head and looked at the Ministry of Revenue official, angrily saying, "You are the Minister of Revenue, and Shannong County is also part of Jinzhou. Why didn't you report this?!"

All the officials knew that Shannong County was not under the jurisdiction of the Wen Dynasty, but Marquis Beiji Wu of Shannong did not attempt to become king or hegemon, nor did he wear a dragon robe, build a palace, or launch an attack on the Wen Dynasty.

Li Luyang carefully replied, "Your Majesty, Shannong County has not been affected by the disaster."

Wan Ye's expression was very bad. If Jinzhou was affected by the disaster, but Shannong County was not, wouldn't that mean that Heaven was favoring Beijiwu?
"They're all in Jinzhou, so why are Taiyuan and other places suffering from the disaster, while Shannong County is unaffected? Are you concealing this information?!"

Wan Ye's expression was terrifying. He desperately wanted to hear the good news he wanted to hear, but no one around him gave him the right response.

At this moment, Wanye is already considering the loyalty of these people!

Li Luyang hurriedly knelt down to beg for forgiveness and quickly explained, "Your Majesty! According to the description of the merchants who returned from Shannong County, the Shannong people value agriculture. Last year, the Marquis of Shannong led people to build water conservancy projects, dig deep wells, select and cultivate grain varieties, and carry out spring and autumn plowing near the riverbed to kill insect eggs."

"This year, we mobilized 400,000 to 500,000 people to take care of 4 million mu of farmland, staggering the sowing and harvesting times of rice and wheat, and using more than 300,000 people to cultivate and harvest 1.5 million mu of farmland with meticulous cultivation. Only in this way were the crops saved and the locusts controlled."

"According to the report from the Jinzhou Provincial Administration Office, Shannong County has a very good harvest of grain this year. The yield of wheat is 1.3 shi per mu. 1.5 million mu of wheat was planted, which can feed 500,000 people for a year. Another 1.5 million mu of millet is expected to be harvested in the next few days. There are also 1 million mu of farmland. According to the tax rate of 1/10, it can feed people for two or three years."

After reading the Shan Nong Daily, Li Luyang casually remarked, "In many places in Jinzhou, the wheat yield is only five dou per mu. I believe that since the Shan Nong people are good at farming, we should learn from their farming experience and make up for our shortcomings."

Everyone thinks it's normal for mountain farmers to know how to farm.

But Wan Ye's expression was icy cold. He casually said, "Go down and have someone send over the agricultural reports from Shan Nong County."

Li Luyang breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Wanye smiled and said, "Go back and prepare a coffin for yourself."

The main hall was silent, and Li Luyang, who was over fifty years old, felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

His first instinct was to breathe, to speak, and to struggle.

But recalling the emperor's actions and his domineering personality, Li Luyang lowered her head with difficulty.

"Sir, obey the order."

Saying one more word increases the chances of your whole family dying.

No matter how many people are killed on the battlefield, it doesn't change the fact that some people are the victors.

Li Luyang humbly accepted the victor's mockery and trampling.

This is something that a subject should encounter.

After returning home, Li Luyang hanged herself.

The emperor's rule was very stable. There were hardly any disaster victims left in the two places. The country had a population of over 20 million. The entire north had experienced a century of war and had been massacred many times because it belonged to different regimes. The most populous areas were still the Central Plains and the Jiangnan region.

Sixty to seventy percent of the country’s population lives in the south, while the population in the north is concentrated in the plains of Yuzhou and Jizhou.

Nowadays, both the Central Plains and the Jiangnan region have enough grain, so there's no need to worry about so many things.

Although Jizhou and other areas experienced some drought this year, the impact was not significant.

Wanye quickly summoned Wan Dai.

"You shall personally lead the troops to the Northwest to relieve the famine victims in Qin and Jin prefectures." Upon hearing this, Wan Dai happily replied, "Yes, Father! I have heard that Qin and Jin have suffered from severe drought for years, and the famine victims have been displaced. It just so happens that the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin are there. I am willing to open the granaries with my brothers to distribute grain and provide relief to the famine victims. We will replenish the grain in the granaries after we return."

Wan Di had already figured out how to provide disaster relief. This was not a difficult task, and the imperial court was not short of food.

Currently, only the Northwest is affected by the disaster. The area has been plagued by war for years, and its population is already small, so there is not much food available.

Wan Ye's face was extremely gloomy, and he coldly said to his indecisive son:

"I'm not asking you to go over there and open the granaries to distribute grain."

Upon hearing this, Wan Di hurriedly whispered, "Yes! Your subject will allocate grain there without using any grain from the Prince's Mansion or the Prince of Jin's Mansion."

Wan Ye was even more disappointed and said openly, "Take the newly trained 5,000 elite cavalry and go there to kill all those disobedient refugees who left their land, so that they won't embarrass me when they go to Shannong County!"

Wan Dai looked up in shock at his father.

The father and son looked at each other, both of them feeling like complete strangers.

"Father! Please rescind your decree!" Wan Dai knelt before his father. "Your son begs Your Majesty to spare those people's lives. This is a natural disaster, not a man-made one. If Your Majesty sends some grain over, those people will naturally return home and become law-abiding citizens!"

Wanye stood up and roared, "You fool! If you were anyone else, I would kill you right now! Either do this now, or end it yourself and save me the trouble of deposing the crown prince!"

Wan Dai cried, “Your Majesty, I really don’t understand why you have to kill those people. In previous years, the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin always said that they had too few men and that there were no people to cultivate large tracts of fertile land. It took Father Emperor a long time to settle people there. Why do you have to kill them all now!”

Wanye was completely disappointed in his son.

"You are unworthy to be the crown prince. You are indecisive and have failed to live up to my years of cultivation of you!"

Wanye wanted to depose his son, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, so he decided to give him another chance.

"I hereby order you, Hu'er, and Jun'er to go to the disaster relief site. Observe how your two younger brothers handle matters and learn from them!"

Wan Dai knew he couldn't refuse, and he had always been afraid of this father.

"Yes, I obey your orders."

Wan Shi walked out of the palace in a daze, and the next day he was urged to find his two younger brothers to work together.

Wan Hu was the King of Qin, and Wan Jun was the King of Jin.

Among the Wan family's sons, Wan Chao was the least like a member of the Wan family.

The King of Qin and the King of Jin were the two least human-like among the group of humanoid beings in the Wan family.

Because his evil deeds had become so numerous that even the most wicked people could not tolerate them, he was sent to a fiefdom to continue his lineage.

There was also a Prince of Dai in Dai County. After Beiji Wu established Shannong County, he sent him back and exchanged him for 10,000 taels of silver.

This Prince Dai was no human being either; he did many immoral things.

Such acts include summoning other people's children to the palace to be castrated, and then sending the children back to their parents.

Or they might seize the wives and daughters of their generals, commanders, and even centurions. They might seize them, but then kill them, turn their ashes into ashes, and give them to other men's husbands.

Anyone who objects will be killed.

It's no exaggeration to say that he killed countless people. He killed ordinary people, military officers, and even the palace maids and close ministers around him, betting that others were not born to rebel.

His men did not rebel, but Beijiwu did, easily seizing all the territory of Dai County, and together with the territory gained from Dingxiang County, it was transformed into the present-day Shannong County.

To this day, Lao Wan still doesn't think there's anything wrong with making his son a prince. He knows his son has committed many evils, but he just doesn't want to deal with it. He handed over the border defense task of dealing with Shannong County to a few loyal generals, and then entrusted the lives of these generals' entire families to Prince Jin.

The rebellion of Beijiwu had nothing to do with the Prince of Dai, and he never received any oppression from the Prince of Dai from beginning to end.

However, the soldiers and civilians of Shuozhou, which were closest to the Prince of Dai, surrendered to Beijiwu without any trouble and helped him lead the way to raid the homes of his lackeys.

(End of this chapter)