jdhmnovel Chapter 652: A Person's Name, a Tree's Shadow
Chapter 652: A Person's Name, a Tree's Shadow
Whether Dengzhou Prefecture has government-run reclamation farms or not, others may not know, but do you think I, Yang, don't know?
All I wanted was for them to cultivate more land and help the College of Agriculture at Dengzhou University test new high-yield seeds. I wanted them to live better lives. What wrong could I have done?
Yang Shaofeng glared at Chang Xiaojiu and said, "Hurry up, don't delay things, or someone else will steal it from us."
The lame man who had just come over muttered in a low voice, "Look at what the master is saying. Nobody else knows about this. Who can come and steal it?"
Yang Shaofeng snorted coldly, "Nobody else knows? Making so many soldiers leave the garrison, such a big matter, shouldn't we have made it clear to His Majesty in advance? Once His Majesty knows how the farm works, how can he not be interested?"
Old Deng had three things he was most proud of in his life.
First, he married Empress Ma, who was the white moonlight in Lao Deng's life, his savior, his first love, his wife during his downfall, his virtuous helper, and the mother of his children.
Secondly, he has a fine son like Zhu Biao.
Back when he was fighting against someone and couldn't win, his eldest son was born, and then he won. Moreover, this eldest son was filial to his parents, loving to his brothers, and lenient to his subjects while also being shrewd. He was a perfect black sesame dumpling, and could be considered the most perfect candidate for crown prince in all dynasties.
The third thing is the garrison system.
"To maintain an army of a million men, without costing the people a single grain of rice."
Previously, it was one thing to reorganize Ningyang Thousand-Household Garrison and Dengzhou Guard, since Ningyang Thousand-Household Garrison was not large in scale, and Dengzhou Guard was a special case. Both Emperor Zhu and the Governor's Office tacitly ignored Dengzhou Guard, intending to let Yang Shaofeng do whatever he wanted and see what kind of results he could achieve.
Dengzhou Guard has now developed the prototype that Yang Shaofeng wanted, and Ningyang Thousand Household Office has also proven the necessity of the reform with its own strength.
The saliva drooled by Xu Da and Chang Yuchun is the best evidence.
Therefore, Yang Shaofeng's desire to carry out sweeping reforms of Lingshan Guard is perfectly acceptable.
However, Zhu Chongba, that old man, has always been a greedy and insatiable person.
Now that he knows the benefits of the garrison reform, the different nature of the combat corps and the reclamation corps and the many benefits of their separation, how could he not forget these soldiers who retired from Lingshan Garrison?
"Moreover, this requires coordination with Laizhou Prefecture and other prefectures and counties to help with the registration procedures, which also involves the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission. How could Provincial Administration Commissioner Wang not be interested?"
Zhu Chongba, that old scoundrel, was no good, and Wang Guangyang, who appeared to be a nice guy on the surface, was no better.
Just as Dengzhou Prefecture is now extremely short of personnel, the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission under Wang Guangyang is even more desperately short of staff.
The Shandong Provincial Administration Commission at this time was not the same as the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission after the Yongle era.
During the Hongwu era, the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission, which had not yet been fully divided, governed Shandong, Hebei, western Liaoning, eastern Liaoning, and even a part of southern Mongolia. Its directly administered territory was much larger than that of Southern Zhili.
To govern such a large territory, one must cultivate and reclaim wasteland, dig irrigation ditches, build reservoirs, construct roads, plant trees, and establish a variety of miscellaneous workshops such as cement plants, iron smelting plants, and brick kilns.
All these factors combined mean that even if another million people were relocated to Shandong Province, it would only be a drop in the ocean.
So how could Wang Guangyang possibly abandon the soldiers of Lingshan Guard who were about to retire?
Perhaps the men that old scoundrel Wang Guangyang sent to snatch people are already waiting outside the gates of Lingshanwei.
Yang Shaofeng, his face dark, ordered Bo Wu and Chang Xiaojiu, "Hurry up and get all those who want to go to the farm to settle in Dengzhou Reclamation Farm. If someone snatches them away, you two won't have a good month!"
Thinking of her husband's endless ways of causing trouble, Chang Xiaojiu quickly sighed and ran to find someone who could handle the household registration.
Yang Shaofeng led the lame Wu back to the drill ground, where some soldiers who were planning to register at the reclamation farm but still had doubts gathered around.
One of the bolder soldiers asked directly, "May I ask, Your Highness, if we are registered at the reclamation farm, and if there are managers like Commander Xiang who bully us again, which government office should we go to?"
Yang Shaofeng chuckled.
These soldiers asked which government office to contact if they were being oppressed, but in reality they were asking their son-in-law whether the so-called reclamation farm could guarantee their future livelihood, and whether he, as their son-in-law, would take responsibility if they were ever oppressed in the future.
In other words, they wanted to know whether their son-in-law, or the Emperor Zhu, was genuinely considering their interests, or merely using them as tools to fight against the gentry and military leaders.
Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "I cannot guarantee anything about the future, especially not a few years from now."
Seeing the soldiers looking at each other in bewilderment, Yang Shaofeng continued, "Although you have been in Lingshan Guard, you should have heard about Dengzhou Prefecture and Dengzhou Market."
"I am currently in charge of managing the Dengzhou market. In a few years, it may be transferred to a department under the Central Secretariat for management."
"The so-called reclamation farms are naturally the same."
"For the time being, it will be under the management of this official and the Dengzhou Prefecture. In the future, it may be transferred to an office under the Central Secretariat, or it may be transferred to an office under the Governor-General's Office."
"It is even possible that it could be directly transferred to the management of local government."
"However, I can assure you that if the farm is managed by the government offices under the Secretariat and the Governor-General's Office, the land belongs to the imperial court."
“If it is placed under the management of the local government, the farm land will directly become your personal land. Even if the local government wants to take it away, it will have to give you at least fifteen acres of land in exchange.”
"What I've said will become part of the Great Ming Code. If you feel you've been oppressed, feel free to file a complaint with the Censorate, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, or the Military Governor's Office."
"You may also come to see me."
“They could even beat the petition drum and directly appeal to the emperor.”
As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, the soldiers present fell silent once again.
Although Yang Shaofeng did not make any direct promises, he clearly explained the possible future direction of the reclamation farm.
As the saying goes, a man's reputation is like the shadow of a tree.
Yang Shaofeng's reputation in official circles was certainly not good; in fact, it could be said to be quite bad.
But no matter how bad his reputation was, it couldn't change the fact that Yang Shaofeng was the prince consort and held the imperial edict.
While the soldiers were still considering, Yang Shaofeng added, "By the way, although the reclamation farms have been removed from the military, they will still undergo some organizational restructuring."
"The so-called organizational system means that you people will still need to be organized into the ranks of 100 households and 1,000 households. Two additional trial 100-household positions will be added to the 100-household office. The selection of these two trial 100-household positions will not be decided by the farm, nor by the Governor's Office or the Ministry of War, but will be directly appointed by the two generals."
"Before the formation, you must first elect your own squad leaders, and then the squad leaders will elect two general squad leaders."
"The 'Baihu' (hundred households) plus two 'Zongqi' (general banners) are responsible for the education, supervision, and management of the entire Baihu Office."
"In addition, you must also elect six more representatives to form a small office with the centurion and the probationary centurion. This office will be responsible for your reading and writing, managing your meals, and all the money and expenditures of the centurion's office will go through this small office."
"These six representatives are elected once a year."
"In short, you may not trust the imperial court, you may not trust the governor's office, you may not trust me, and you may not even trust His Majesty the Emperor."
"But can you trust the people you yourselves have nominated?"
Just copying homework.
It doesn't make sense that what worked at Ningyang Thousand Household Garrison and Dengzhou Guard wouldn't work at Lingshan Guard and the reclamation farm.