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In the area of Ganzhou, there is a special place, and many village names have a "down" character, such as under the camphor tree, under the jujube tree, under the green mountain, under the tile house, under the lotus pond, under the pine mountain and so on.

There are seven or eight days to the Spring Festival of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, last night Gannan just had a light snow, the mountains and fields in the early morning are very quiet, the branches are hung with white and fluffy edelweiss, the body is round, the beautiful coat color of the acacia bird jumps and chirps in the tree technique, and the snowflakes that fall flutter like the pear blossoms in February.

Qin Laohan's family lives in the village of Qingshanxia Village, today the family got up early in the morning, Qin Laohan walked out of the chaimen with crutches and walked to the pigsty next to him, this is his habit for many years, every morning to get up to see his own livestock, do not look at the heart is not steady.

His only son, Qin Dazhu, was chopping wood in the fence yard with a big knife, his daughter Chunxi and daughter-in-law each picked a pair of wooden buckets, talking and laughing all the way to the well at the edge of the village to fetch water, and his wife lit a fire in the kitchen to prepare to cook sweet potatoes.

The family is doing their own thing, Qin Laohan looked at his daughter-in-law's back, thinking that if the family can add a big fat grandson next year, it will be considered a success.

Thinking about this year's experience, Qin Laohan couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion, because there was no field at home, and the family had no rice to put in the pot at the beginning of spring, so they all relied on digging some wild vegetables mixed with a little coarse grain to survive, but as soon as the summer began, Gu Xiancheng's rebels rebels made trouble again, and Qin Laohan's family fled to Ganzhou City for refuge, thinking that this time they were afraid that they would starve to death on the streets.

Who would have thought that the situation would change all of a sudden, Gu Xiancheng's rebellion was quickly put down, and the government also divided the fields and land, and Qin Laohan's family was allocated twelve acres of dry land and eight acres of paddy fields.

On the night of the distribution of the field, the family hugged their heads and cried all night.

Their family has been tenant farmers for several generations for the landlord, and they have dreamed of having their own land, who would have thought that the dream of several generations would come true.

All this is because of one person, that is Qin Mu, the current governor of southern Gansu. Because of Qin Mu's arrival, the fate of his family was changed, and the day after he was assigned to the field, Qin Laohan set up an immortal card for Qin Mu at home. And in the entire southern part of Gannan, there are countless victories like his family who took the initiative to give Qin Mu the immortal card.

After checking the family's livestock, Qin Laohan had just returned to the courtyard gate, when the sound of horses' hooves broke the tranquility of Qingshanxia Village, and he saw that on the path in front of the village, there were twenty or thirty horsemen galloping towards the village, and there was still a mile away from the village. He slowed down his horse and walked slowly.

Old man Qin stood on crutches in front of his chai door and looked curiously, their village is not a big road, and there are usually many outsiders who come, not to mention dozens of people riding tall horses at a time. The people in the village were alarmed and came out to check it out.

"Fellow, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, we just want to inquire. See if there are any sweet potatoes for sale in your village. The person in front of him turned over and dismounted when he was twenty steps away, waved at Qin Laohan from a distance, and said with a smile.

This person is about 20 years old, and he wears a cotton coat that is neither new nor old. Neither luxurious nor shabby, his warm smile was full of kindness, and the twenty or thirty attendants behind him, most of whom were armed, stopped at a distance. Only the young man came forward with a few shopkeeper-like figures.

Qin Laohan hurriedly replied: "This son is not polite, dare to ask where the son is from?" ”

"The old man is invited, we are the people of Ganzhou Rentong Firm. Sent by the owner Xu Yingjie to buy sweet potatoes, I hope you will not be surprised when you are disturbed. ”

As soon as they heard that it was Rentong Firm, Qin Laohan and the villagers were much more relieved, and the young man in front of him was polite, and the vigilance of the villagers was also half gone.

Every household in the village has harvested a lot of sweet potatoes this year, and if they can really sell it for some money, it will be better to celebrate the New Year, so Qin Laohan invited guests to his home. While chatting with Qin Laohan, the young man checked several jars of dried sweet potatoes in Qin Laohan's house.

"Childe, the raw sweet potatoes will rot after a long time, when the sweet potatoes were harvested, every household sliced and dried the sweet potatoes in accordance with the notices posted by the government, and stored them in the vat, if this son wants to collect the raw sweet potatoes, we don't have much, everyone has made dried sweet potatoes, I don't know if the son will collect the dried sweet potatoes?"

"Harvest, harvest, we harvest is dried sweet potatoes, as the old man said, fresh sweet potatoes are easy to rot, we take back and store poorly, rotten is to lose money. Uncle, how many people in your family, is there enough food to eat this year? ”

"Enough, enough." As soon as Qin Laohan mentioned this, the wrinkles on his face unfolded, and he said happily, "This sweet potato is a good thing, the yield is high, and it can top half a year's grain. ”

"Okay, I came early, and I didn't eat in the morning, so I'm bothered." The young man smiled and turned back to the courtyard with the old man Qin.

Today is the twenty-third day of the lunar month, also known as the "small year", which is the day of the folk sacrifice stove, sweeping the dust, and eating the stove sugar. Zao Wang Ye had stayed at home since Chinese New Year's Eve the previous year to protect and monitor the family; On the 23rd day of the lunar month, the Lord of the Stove will ascend to heaven and report the good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor in the sky, and the ritual of sending the Stove God is called "sending the stove" or "resigning the stove". According to the report of the Lord of the Stove, the Jade Emperor handed over the fate of the good fortune and fortune that the family should get in the new year to the Lord of the Stove. Therefore, for the family, the report of the Lord of the Stove is really of great interest.

Therefore, on this day, most of the families offered sugar melons made of caramel and noodles to worship the prince of the stove, so that his old man's mouth would be sweeter, and after arriving in heaven, he would say more good things in front of the Jade Emperor.

Qin Laohan's wife was using boiled haode sweet potatoes to sacrifice the god of the stove, and the young man looked interesting, so he asked: "Uncle, how do you use sweet potatoes to sacrifice the god of the stove?" ”

Qin Laohan replied: "There is nothing else at home, the sweet potatoes we produce here are big and sweet, and when they are cooked, all the sugar flows out, and now every household in the village uses these offerings to the god of the stove." ”

"Oh."

At this time, the old man's daughter Chunxi and sister-in-law just came back with water, and the Zhuang family didn't pay much attention to it, Qin Laohan commanded, and his daughter Chunxi brought up the boiled haode sweet potato, and the young man hurriedly got up and thanked him. He also retreated.

"The Zhuang family doesn't have any tutors, and the faux pas are not strange."

"The old man is too polite, we came too abruptly. By the way, uncle, I see that your family's harvest is good, do other families have such harvests, these grains are all left over after paying taxes, right? ”

"Yes, yes, the harvest is good." The smile on Old Man Qin's face became even bigger, "Now it's a good day, and the government has halved the land tax this year." It's all handed in, thanks to Lord Qin, the governor. ”

"Oh, do the county officials still collect other harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes?"

"This year, I collected some of the original grain money, but there is nothing else, but I heard that this is afraid that it will not last long, and maybe there will be heavy taxes again next year."

"Don't worry, uncle, our owner has some friendship with the governor, and I heard from the governor that he promised not to raise taxes in the coming year. I heard that corn and peanut seeds will be distributed free of charge in the coming year, and this corn and peanuts can be planted on dry land and do not occupy paddy fields. Plant a season of corn or peanuts in spring, and then plant sweet potatoes after the corn and peanuts are harvested in May and June. You can also plant a season of potatoes, and the government has posted notices in various towns about these things, hasn't the old man heard of it? ”

"And such a thing? Old man, I don't have good legs. It's cold, no one in the village has been to the town for the past few days, I really haven't heard of it, the son is well-informed, so can you tell the old man about it, this corn and peanuts or something, is there sweet potatoes that are so easy to care for and have high yields? ”

"It's all about the same, uncle, this is ordered by the governor to promote, Lord Qin is really good for the people, if the old man can be trusted, he might as well plant it in the coming year."

"Oh, it was Lord Qin who asked me to promote it, then I have to follow the old man, listen to Lord Qin, it's right."

The young man listened to Qin Laohan's words and was greatly pleased, and he talked with Qin Laohan while eating sweet potatoes.

After chatting for half an hour, the young man said, "Uncle, our Rentong firm has a shop in the town to collect grain, whether it is rice or dried sweet potatoes, the trade is fair, the price is reasonable, if you are free, you might as well pull the excess grain to the town to sell, if our shop itself sends a car to collect, it is necessary to deduct a little car foot money." ”

"Oh, it's better for me to pull it myself, old man."

"I'm disturbed, the kid has to go to other villages to see, sit, uncle." The young man asked his entourage to put down one or two pieces of silver and was about to leave, but the old man refused to accept his silver, and the two sides gave in, and the young man put the silver by the door and hurriedly led people away.

This young man is Qin Mu, after he returned to Ganzhou, he did not stay in the city to listen to the report, but took people to visit the counties and villages on the spot, to understand the local officials and people's conditions, Sima An, Tian Yimu, Wu Wangcai and others followed, Qin Mu's trip is equivalent to checking the effect of their work in the past half a year.

Therefore, whenever they entered the village, Sima An and the others could not open their mouths without opening their mouths, and asked the local people how Qin Mu asked. The group went out of the village for two or three miles, and there were still two hundred cavalry waiting outside, and they didn't go in together just now for fear of scaring the villagers.

This time I came out to visit for many days, and seeing that it was almost the New Year, Qin Mu and the others gathered and ordered: "This time it will be over, go back to the city." ”

Hearing his words, even Sima An couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, this time Qin Mu went to all counties and villages, although he found a lot of problems, but in general, the big aspects were fine, and what he found was just some small problems.

The people's conditions are different in different places, and the ability of officials is also different, and it is normal to have some problems, such as these relatively remote villages, the promotion of new rice has not been done in place, but after these go back, let the counties send more people to the countryside to publicize, if there are no problems, I am afraid it will be hell.

Qin Mu was indeed satisfied with this trip, Gannan was regarded by him as his Zuihou stronghold, he attached more importance to Gannan than anywhere, and after checking it in person, he smiled more on the way back to Ganzhou.

"The assessment of officials in various places is a bit inappropriate to copy the original set of the imperial court, and after a long time, it will become a backwater, do you have any suggestions for this?" On the war horse moving forward, Qin Mu suddenly asked Sima An and a few people.

As soon as Sima An heard this, he knew that Qin Mu was about to make a big move again, he thought for a while and said: "My lord, all places are in urgent need of recuperation, according to his subordinates, it is better to be still motionless now, it is better to still govern according to the old system, and then adjust it in the future." ”

Qin Mu immediately shook his head and said: "Mr. Sima's words are wrong, it is the people who urgently need to recuperate, not the officials in various places, and now the administrative structure of various places has just been set up, and the resistance to movement is the least, and when the various systems are stiffened, a network of interests has been formed between officials at all levels, and it will be difficult to change course at that time;

Moreover, whenever a system is to be implemented, it is always necessary to find a few more places to try it out to see what problems there will be in the actual implementation, so that adjustments can be made. After returning to the city, we will discuss a new set of administrative plans before Chinese New Year's Eve, and first find a few counties in Gannan and Huguang for pilots. ”

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PS: Two hundred chapters, ask for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets.

(To be continued......)