Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 126 Chaos
Bai Tu pretended to have no ambition in front of Cao Cao. He was just trying to make things easier for the future and was not in a hurry. Even if he told Cao Cao directly, "The only heroes in the world are Sikong and Tu," he could not fly over and kill Bai Tu. So he turned to confirm other things with Lu Su.
"What are the drawings of the dragon-bone waterwheel and the results of the hydrological surveys in each county?" Bai Tu asked Lu Su about the tasks of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The digging of deep wells has come to an end, but the Ministry of Civil Affairs cannot sit idle. Now is the spring ploughing period, and if it is possible not to conscript corvée, then do not conscript it. However, when drought strikes and there is no land to farm, everyone cannot sit idle.
Droughts and low water levels are also the best time to clean up the river and prevent future floods. Bai Tu gave the Ministry of Civil Affairs the theoretical drawings of the waterwheel of Tang Dynasty technology and ordered the craftsmen of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to restore and test-build it...
"The basic sample of the keel waterwheel has been realized, but we are still simplifying it as much as possible, and developing different styles of samples for different water flow environments... The progress of hydrological surveys cannot meet the needs, and there are too few grassroots officials in this area." Lu Su reported his estimate.
"Then you should work hard first and survey the areas with different feng shui as much as possible." Bai Tu sighed secretly.
Or maybe there was too little time. County schools had just been established, barely allowing ordinary wealthy families to have the opportunity to teach their children to read... As for the education of practical technologies such as hydrological detection, it was still a long way off.
Lu Su's "observation of the earth's energy" is not omnipotent, it is mainly about the judgment of "feng shui".
Some small-scale climate fluctuations will not cause changes in the ground's atmosphere.
As for observing hydrology and geology, its efficiency is only equivalent to that of ordinary experts in water conservancy and geology - this effect was .
The main advantage is that you can "observe the earth's atmosphere" on the map out of thin air, but this long-distance observation will further reduce the accuracy.
Moreover, "observing the earth's energy" consumes mental energy, and Lu Su cannot maintain it for too long every day.
Therefore, it is impossible for Lu Su alone to support the entire hydrological survey of Jiangdong.
If we want to achieve all-round potential improvement, the number of capable officials at the grassroots level is very important. This is a demand that cannot be met in a short period of time with the current recruitment halls and examinations, and it also requires training in schools at all levels.
Even as Bai Tu's reputation grew, the number of middle and low-level officials absorbed by the Naxian Hall was already very enviable in the eyes of other princes, and there were even some top talents among them, but it still could not replace the role of consolidating the foundation.
Now we can only give priority to investigating the hydrological environment of the area where Lu Su feels the fluctuations in the earth's atmosphere, and then design plans for dredging the river and digging the ditches.
As for the placement and configuration of dragon-bone water wheels, priority was given to Poyang County and the northern part of Wu County, corresponding to the two most fertile and flat plains in Jiangdong - the Poyang Plain and the Taihu Plain. The latter was called "Zhen Ze" in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Theoretically, in the Jiangdong region, the two major plains in the east and west alone are enough to reclaim 1.5 million mu of arable land according to the Han system, and as long as the water conservancy facilities can keep up, all of them can become fertile fields.
Moreover, the concentration of land is conducive to large-scale official and military settlements. Bai Tu most wants to control these two major granaries. If he can control these two plains in the hands of the provincial governor's office... even if it is only half, coupled with the improvement of waterwheel irrigation and the increase in per mu yield, Bai Tu can confidently give up the land taxes in other counties in Jiangdong!
Of course, there are many difficulties in reality. It is easy to reclaim wasteland, but who would be willing to give away the already cultivated land for nothing?
Wu County was originally one of the two most powerful regions in Jiangdong. Not to mention the aristocratic families, even ordinary farmers could not just move away as Bai Tu said. Even if Shennong were alive again, he couldn't do that...
In comparison, the situation in Poyang County is better, because the Shanyue people are a nuisance, the power of the aristocratic families themselves is relatively weak, and the population density is also very low. There are plenty of wastelands waiting for Bai Tu to reclaim, and the arable land that already has owners can also be slowly exchanged.
The benefits of large-scale military farming are obvious. The future official farming of Cao Wei in Huainan is the best example.
However, the reason why Cao Wei was able to establish official settlements in Huainan was because Huainan first experienced severe droughts in the second and third years of Jian'an, which resulted in nine out of ten houses being emptied. Later, in order to guard against Sun Quan, Cao Cao forced the people of Huainan to relocate, causing a large number of Huainan people to cross the river to the east, filling the population of Jiangdong...
When Deng Ai was cultivating land in Huainan, the place was quite barren, so there were no disputes between officials and the people due to the lack of land.
Bai Tu can't possibly destroy Jiangdong to pieces just to have a place for farming, right?
Bai Tu, Yu Fan and Lu Kang also hinted at the exchange of land in Wu County, but even with how close these two people were to Bai Tu, they expressed their stance by not responding and pretending not to understand.
But Bai Tu also has his own way, he can do things that others can't do...
For example, I heard that the Zhang family of Wujun and the Yu family of Kuaiji were both big salt contraband dealers, and "boiling sea to make salt" accounted for a large proportion of their wealth.
In this day and age, we can't turn against these big families just because of selling illegal salt. After all, Bai Tu doesn't want to make things too bloody. It's just that... Bai Tu just happened to have figured out a "ditch beach salt drying method" recently. It's not too good, but it's more than a thousand years more advanced than the current salt boiling method. It has higher quality and dozens of times higher efficiency. Moreover, because it doesn't require fuel, it has lower environmental requirements. It can easily crush the existing sea salt market in Jiangdong into slag...
As for the few companies that occupied the mines and relied on "turning mountains into copper" as their economic pillar, Bai Tu did not need to specifically investigate their private occupation of mineral resources . Bai Tu did not really want to show off their blast furnace ironmaking and steel pouring methods.
Bai Tu feels that as long as he is given time, these noble families, as long as they are not stubborn, should be easy to talk to and have a win-win spirit.
"How is the 'Deep Well Disease' issue going?" Bai Tu asked.
Lu Su rolled his eyes at Bai Tu's enthusiasm - this was probably the willfulness of being famous. Bai Tu didn't care about this level of ridicule at all and was not worried at all that this ridicule would turn into public resentment.
Instead, I am looking forward to seeing who will cry after the deep well comes in handy.
…
Before the end of the first month of the lunar calendar, some discordant things were happening in a village under the jurisdiction of Yangxian County, three hundred miles southeast of Jinling.
Pan Zhang, who was introduced into the Naxian Hall and promoted by Zhou Tai and Chen Gong because of his bravery and outstanding performance in the previous suppression of bandits in Wu County, is now the Sima of another department. At this time, he is carrying large and small packages and directing his soldiers to move some jerky and other valuables from the village.
"Hahaha, you are just too polite! Okay, I know you are grateful to this general for helping you eliminate the banditry, so you don't have to see me off!" Pan Zhang laughed.
Several old men in the village who were swept by his eyes also forced a smile, and some young and strong men in the village who couldn't stand it were also pulled back, either openly or secretly.
This was not the first time Pan Zhang had done this, nor was he the only officer to do so. In fact, if it were somewhere else, the proportion would be even greater...
However, today was a little different. Just as Pan Zhang was about to leave with the spoils, a young man from the Li family at the village entrance, who was about eleven or twelve years old and full of vigor, rushed out to stop them without being noticed. As a result, he was kicked far away by a du bo under Pan Zhang's command.
The Li couple hurried forward to plead for mercy. When the unmarried sister came out to support her brother, she was suddenly noticed by Pan Zhang, and he discovered that...this girl was actually quite pretty for a country girl!
Ma Zhong, another Du Bo who had not moved at the side, noticed that Pan Zhang's eyes were not right and he seemed to want to step forward, so he quickly persuaded him: "General, it's enough, in case we are discovered..."
"Discovered? So what if discovered? Everyone wants to get a title for his wife and children. With my contributions, she is just a village girl... Even if I report it to them, can General Zhou and Governor Chen really take it seriously?" Pan Zhang pushed Ma Zhong away impatiently.
