Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 197 Autumn Harvest Log
Shortly after the autumn planting season ended, the autumn reports that everyone was eagerly awaiting were released on time.

Li Tangqing did not receive the newspaper immediately.

Yangzhou is 1,400 to 1,500 li away from Luoyang, and even at the fastest horse, it would take three or four days to get there.

Fortunately, after waiting patiently, the newspaper finally arrived.

The newspapers issued on this day were doubled every year, and local government offices were required to post this autumn report on bulletin boards throughout the city for people to see.

"As of the autumn of 8 AD, the total population of the country was 5124 million. This year, 398 million newborns were registered, and the population is expected to exceed 100 million within ten years."

"The country has 6 million mu of public arable land, which yields 6000 million tons of grain, enough to feed 6 million people for a year."

"The total area of ​​millet, barley, buckwheat, soybeans, and forage grass is 100 million mu."

"One hundred million mu of cotton, sesame, peas, flax, etc."

"Personal grain is not included; everyone has the right to dispose of their own grain as they see fit."

"The national stock of draft cattle is 1071.5 million. In the north, since there are enough draft cattle, people can slaughter useless draft cattle themselves without having to report to the government."

"Abolish taxes related to cattle, and allow private individuals to freely trade draft cattle."

"There are 10 million horses in the country, mainly used for expeditions in the west and farming. Currently, there are 1000 million horse-drawn harvesters in the country. This year, 859 million horses were used, and 504 million agricultural workers were employed. The harvesting time for 170 million mu of winter wheat has been shortened to 4 days."

"The western expedition used 173 million warhorses, and the remaining horses were mostly used for hauling goods and commercial purposes. In order to reduce the consumption of feed and hay, the number of horses will no longer be expanded blindly. Public horse-drawn carriage companies will be built in various regions, and people will travel by paying a fee to ride in a horse-drawn carriage. The first phase will be opened in Luoyang and major provincial capitals. See the Commercial Daily for details."

"There are 60 million sheep in the country, including 45 million sheep and 15 million goats, producing 1.1 million tons of mutton annually, with an average consumption of 44 jin (22 catties) of mutton per person."

"After verification by the censor, it was found that this year, officials in various regions were issued an average of 100 jin of meat, soldiers were given meat once every three days, the average annual consumption of mutton in Luoyang was 81 jin, the average annual consumption of mutton in provincial capitals was 61 jin, and the average annual consumption of mutton in prefectural capitals was 35 jin. The data are basically consistent."

"Considering the impact of lower cattle, sheep, and horse prices on the livestock industry in the province of Kwai Nong, we will increase the quantity of wool purchased, raise the price of milk, reduce the livestock transaction tax, and increase the household income in the province of Kwai Nong."

“公元八年，全国人均可支配收入3两244钱，比上年增长4.9%。居民人均消费支出2两109钱，增长6.8%。”

"By place of residence, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was 4,303 yuan, an increase of 4.1%, and the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents was 2,608 yuan, an increase of 6.4%."

“农村居民人均可支配收入1两874钱，增长6.0%，农村居民人均消费支出1两462元，增长6.9%。”

"The average annual income per household in the public household is 45,541 taels, and the average consumption expenditure per household is 25,100 taels."

"The country produces 80 tons of iron annually, which is used for agricultural tools, weapons, ordnance, bridge construction, road paving, shipbuilding, etc."

"By the end of autumn, a total of 600 million strings of cash had been distributed for military pay throughout the year, and 300 million strings of cash had been spent on military expenses and the purchase of land in West Asia."

"A total of 12 million strings of cash were distributed to officials (including cadres and workers from mountainous areas) throughout the year."

"The total amount of disaster relief funds for the whole year was 00,000 taels (there was no disaster this year). 5 million taels were spent on the compensation of the children of the war dead, which was used to support their schooling, marriage and house building. The compensation was provided on time every year and every month until the children reached adulthood (18 years old)."

"A total of 170 million taels of silver were awarded throughout the year, which were used for King Wu's rewards and individual relief."

"The total fiscal revenue for the year was 4000 million taels, and the total expenditure for the year was 2770 million taels."

"Due to the abundance of grain, there is too much stockpiled. Next year, all regions will prioritize purchasing grain from their own areas, and will encourage the production and sale of grain in border and southern regions. Northern grain will not enter the south to compete with the people for the time being, in order to protect the grain production within the territories of each lord. Each province will provide a grain safety net."

"The governors of each province are required to purchase grain from local lords at market prices. Lords may also sell grain on their own. Next year, 100 million mu of wheat will be cultivated in the three northern provinces to ensure the basic food supply for 100 million people. Excess land will be left fallow to restore soil fertility."

"Agricultural workers mainly engaged in digging canals, building houses, repairing waterways, and planting crops. Farmers were also encouraged to keep up their farming skills and cultivate their own land."

"It is expected that, without increasing consumption or raising the prices of daily necessities, the income of migrant workers will be increased by 0.5 to 1 tael."

"We encourage migration to places such as Nanzhao, Western Xinjiang, Western Regions, and West Asia. For details, please refer to the military section."

"To increase the income of farmers and workers, a palace will be built in Ezhou, in the central part between the north and the south. The estimated investment is 8000 million strings of cash, and the project is expected to be completed in 10 AD. The initial phase will involve site surveying and design. Ten thousand households will be relocated, with priority given to families with more than seven children (and at least three male members)."

"The relocated public households will each be provided with three separate household registrations and three city work registrations, such as shop salespersons, messengers, administrators, patrolmen, and post station staff. Housing will be provided free of charge by King Wu. This relocation is a mandatory order and will only be carried out from the directly affiliated public households. Those who have not received the order need not inquire or pay attention to it."

"Considering that eight years have passed since the city gates of Huaidong were looted, and for the past eight years, people have been unable to work and earn money, and the poor conditions of commerce, transportation, and living environment have meant that they can only engage in farming, resulting in an average income of less than 1000 wen per person and an average meat consumption of less than 1 jin per person."

"What's past is past. After the construction of the Huaidong region in 10 AD, the officials and commanders of the Huaidong region should build a road as soon as possible. The specific details should be coordinated by the prefects of each region. Priority should be given to eliminating bandits and highwaymen and eliminating wild dogs and other animals that can threaten passersby."

"Public household registration is linked to hereditary succession, and the household registration can only be inherited by one person. When changing jobs, the household registration must also be transferred. Non-household registration holders will not receive wages. Fathers can help their sons get familiar with the work, but only in the form of assistance. Other people are not allowed to participate in the work privately, so as not to affect the work of others."

"Houses, land, and jobs are all based on household registration. The public households are all hereditary servants, and all assets belong to King Wu personally. Due to the increasing population, the number of public households will reach tens of millions in less than ten years, far exceeding King Wu's personal needs."

"This allows public households to apply for deregistration. Those who deregister will still be citizens of Shan Nong Guo, and their ethnicity will be Han."

“Regardless of their parents’ place of origin, those with public household registration are considered mountain farmers, while those without are considered Han Chinese. Those who have not inherited the territory or the work registration are all Han Chinese, including those who have not inherited the throne.”

"The Shan Nong people are Han people, and the Han people are Shan Nong people. The Shan Nong people need to solve the problem of national security and stability, just like King Wu, who worked diligently for eight years to support the Shan Nong people for ten million people, and the population has grown rapidly from ten million to 5124 million today."

"Those who do not work or labor are not considered mountain farmers. Every mountain farmer is required to participate in agricultural labor once every three years, or master an industrial skill, limited to: mechanical repair, metal smelting, or gun manufacturing."

****
The report contained a lot of information, and Li Tangqing quickly found the news that she was most interested in.

"Finally, we can treat everyone equally!"

Li Tangqing let out a long sigh, sat down in the chair, and gave a bitter smile that was both helpless and relieved.

The people of Shannong are mainly good to Luoyang and the two northern provinces, and incidentally also good to the Sichuan region.

From the time he officially took control of Luoyang in 2 AD until now, the core of the Northern Army has been in the Luoyang Prefecture area and the Shannong Province.

Pingyuan Province was only formally developed a few years ago, and it only began to receive special attention after the capture of eastern Liaoning.

The same applies to the Shu region; it was acquired gradually, with virtually no action taken within the first year or two after its acquisition.

Even today, various regions in the Jiangnan region remain autonomous.

It wasn't until this year that the development of the Ezhou area began. This central area had actually been Beijiwu's territory for seven or eight years, but they had always been too lazy to manage it.

After the hereditary governor of Ezhou was killed by local troublemakers, the region ceased to have hereditary titles. Now, the plan to build palaces and cities in Ezhou, and relocate a large portion of the population there, clearly indicates an intention to develop the south in this waterway city connecting east, west, north, and south!
Of course, the most important thing is that King Wu forgave the people of the Central Plains who opened the city gates to welcome the southern rebels, and who were then brutally murdered by the southern rebels before surrendering to King Wu.

These people have been extremely poor in recent years. No one cares how many die, and they are never invited to benefit. They produce and use everything they eat, drink, and use themselves.

Although life is indeed much better than before, it is hard not to feel a huge sense of disparity when you find out what kind of lives other people are living.

The tax exemption in the Arctic only applies to public households and ordinary people; in regions ruled by thousands of households, the tax rates are set by the individuals themselves.

In the south, for example, local powerful families adjust taxes themselves. It's not that ordinary people don't pay taxes, but they pay much less than before, and they still have to work.

If taxes were not paid, no one would kill officials, the governor of Ezhou would not have died, and the Lingnan region would not have fought to achieve a peaceful tax rate.

The Northern Army doesn't accept grain from just anyone; it only accepts the grain from the thousand-household lords it has enfeoffed. As for those who surrendered in the south, it has never bothered to care about their lives.

It was Wan Hu who represented Wen Chao in surrendering, not the various landlord families in the south.

From both a moral and logical standpoint, these people haven't made any contributions, so it's fine to leave them alone.

The key to favorable weather and abundant harvests is not to collect statistics. As long as the disaster-stricken areas along the southern coast are not counted, there will naturally be favorable weather and abundant harvests, and the world will be at peace.

Even if southerners cry foul, it doesn't matter; the Han people and people from the three northern provinces don't care about their lives or deaths at all.

The people of the grasslands of Gui Nong Province, the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan region of the Southwest Province, the West Asia Province, the Xinjiang Province, the Western Regions Province, and the East China Sea Province also do not care about the life or death of the remnants of the Wen Dynasty.

Snowfall on the grasslands or not is not considered a disaster; sandstorms in the Western Regions are to be expected; and the deaths of thousands in Western Xinjiang and West Asia are not a big deal.

As long as there are no large-scale droughts or locust plagues, and as long as the Yellow River and the Yangtze River don't cause trouble, the world will be at peace.

With over four million births each year, it is enough to support Arctic forces to conquer the entire Eurasian continent within the next ten to twenty years.

As long as the population continues to be exported, the surrounding countries with populations of less than one million will soon become the territory of the Mountain Farmer Kingdom.

Today, the purpose of immigrants to Ezhou is not only to develop the fertile land of the Jianghan Plain, but also to open up a migration channel to Southeast Asia through the Yangtze River waterway and the sea outlet.

With abundant food and a secure environment, the population growth rate of the Mountain Farming Kingdom is comparable to the combined growth rate of all other countries in the world, allowing it to dominate the entire Southeast Asia on its own.

At this time, the countries in the southeast were still in the primitive tribal stage, and were all referred to as the islands of the South China Sea, without a complete national government.

Even if you add them all up, let alone 400 million births, the total population might not even reach 400 million.

Four million is just this year's figure. The main force of childbirth is not young people, but men around thirty years old. These men usually have two or three wives and have children faster than cattle and horses.

The number of palace maids and foreign female captives sent out by the Northern Emperor through several downsizings of the palace alone is close to one million. In addition, he forced thousands of households in various places to allocate women to their subordinates, forced nobles in Luoyang to sell their maids and concubines, and prohibited mountain farmers and most people from going to brothels.

Southern nobles and aristocratic families are also slimming down to appease single men who are constantly comparing themselves to those in the North.

This top-down supervision benefited the middle and lower classes, as anyone who was physically able and capable of working could leave behind their descendants.

Beiji Wu was not interested in women, did not hold imperial concubine selections or recruit palace maids from the common people, which naturally benefited many ordinary people.

***
Champa Commandery, Linyi County

Liu Jingshun returned to his palace, where more than ten wives were eating and playing with more than twenty children.

As a wild man who grew up in the mountains, Liu Jingshun's requirements for women were that they be obedient, hardworking, and able to bear children.

The more women, the better.

In his early twenties, Liu Jingshun harbored an extremely strong desire to leave behind descendants!
Although his Han Chinese comrades all died from malaria, and many locals also died from an unknown virus transmitted by mosquito bites, Liu Jingshun was exceptionally gifted and survived.

Eating, drinking, having children, fighting, hunting – this is Liu Jingshun's daily routine.

Unlike Beijiwu, Liu Jingshun did not engage in domestic affairs or care about military matters.

Many people from the north went to Jiuzhen County and Lingnan to eat free rice, because the climate in the south was too harsh for even the locals.

The other kingdoms were also frightened by the Shan Nong Kingdom's constant annihilation of other nations, and dared not set their sights on Shan Nong County.

As more and more southerners returned, Liu Jingshun gradually built a county town tribe of more than 4,000 people and became the leader of a group of southern Yue people.

There are many people like Liu Jingshun who have settled down in the frontier. In Liaodong, Mobei, the Western Regions, Southern Xinjiang, and the East China Sea, many people have begun to stand out and start to integrate the manpower and resources of the surrounding areas because of the liberal attitude of the Arctic Army towards the frontier.

Where there are many men, there are bound to be brilliant ideas.

Fortunately, the Mountain Farming Kingdom is now too powerful, and those who have left are extremely afraid of it, so any rebellion would certainly not receive the support of the others.

Everyone thought that if they dared to rebel and declare themselves king today, someone would come and kill everyone in the region in less than a month!
Liu Jingshun still dares not say that he is a commander of a thousand households, nor does he dare to frequently impersonate a mountain farmer.

The same applies to the others; the power of the Mountain Farming Kingdom will forever be imprinted in the minds of this generation.

As long as the second generation lives in an era with Arctic weapons, they are destined to have similar attitudes.

At this moment, even if all the other countries in Eurasia united, they could not withstand the power of a single province of the Mountain Farming Kingdom.

The three departments of Gui Nong Province are certainly not the strongest military force in Shan Nong Kingdom. These three departments have always been beaten to the ground by the Arctic Martial Army, and have been forced to beg for mercy.

Although there is no record of the Turks in the central region of the clouds fighting against the Arctic Wu, no one thinks they are that strong.

What are Wen Chao's defeated opponents anyway!

The Liaodong region had previously been beaten by the Wen Dynasty's army, but the Shan Nong people still managed to crush them to the point of mental collapse.

There was no war, no famine, no widespread natural disasters, and no heavy corvée labor.

People began to have time to learn, create, and rest.

Whether it's the Renaissance or technological advancements, they all basically occurred in an era when people had enough to eat.

(End of this chapter)