Chapter 149: Shizong’s Failure
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling turned around and walked to the man’s side. She asked, “How much is your maize?”
The man’s eyes lit up. He quickly straightened his back and said happily, “Whatever. You can pay whatever price you want.”
Mu Yangling looked at his mother. Seeing that she was tightly wrapped, she asked, “You brought your mother to see a doctor? What illness did the doctor say it was?”
The man wilted and muttered, “Yes, the doctor from the Benevolence Hall said that my mother is old and exhausted herself in her younger days. As such, she has to buy a lot of warm and nourishing medicine. When they saw that I didn’t have money, they didn’t charge me for the consultation fee, but they refused to agree to exchange the maize for medicine.”
Mu Yangling sighed and touched her purse. “Let me see your corn.”
When the man heard this, he quickly opened his pocket for her to see. Mu Yangling held it in her hand and took a closer look. When she realized that the corn had dried very nicely and could be used as seeds, she threw it down and said, “I don’t have enough money on me, so you have to go somewhere with me. If you’re lucky, I can buy all your maize.”
In Xingzhou Prefecture, the only person Mu Yangling could seek help from was Qi Haoran, so Mu Yangling brought him to the entrance of the military camp.
When Qi Haoran ran out, he saw the two of them squatting in front of the cart. He glanced at the man curiously and asked Mu Yangling, “Who is this? Why are you looking for me?”
“Something major.” Mu Yangling patted her butt and stood up. She asked, “Do you know about the corn that Emperor Shizong mentioned?”
Qi Haoran responded with a blank look. He had no idea.
Mu Yangling pursed her lips. As expected, she couldn’t count on him. She looked at Fan Zijin, who was slowly walking out of the military camp.
Fan Zijin asked slowly, “Why are you looking at me?”
“Wherever Qi Haoran is, you can be found. Wherever you appear, there will be an encyclopedia. Fan Zijin, give us an introduction to the corn that Emperor Shizong mentioned.” Actually, Mu Yangling did not know about this historical event either, but she felt that Fan Zijin must know. Without going through the history books, she could only find out from Fan Zijin.
Sure enough, Fan Zijin only glanced at him before starting to explain, “The corn was something that Emperor Shizong had painstakingly sent a fleet down to Nanyang to find. Back then, Emperor Shizong had once said in front of all the civil and military officials that corn is high-yielding. If the Central Plains obtained it, they would not starve even in the desolate years. The officials believed him and agreed to Emperor Shizong sending troops out to sea to search for corn. However, by the time the corn was found, Emperor Shizong had long passed away. The farmers planted the corn according to Emperor Shizong’s wishes. Despite careful cultivation, the harvest was not good, causing farmers to suffer huge losses. In addition, the corn was not delicious, so they gradually abandoned it. Because the corn was well wrapped, everyone started calling it ‘maize,’ but it was actually a satire on Emperor Shizong. Maize is not the noble rice of the aristocracy.”
Fan Zijin sighed before continuing, “Actually, Emperor Shizong has great talent and great strategies. He rarely makes mistakes, but he has suffered setbacks repeatedly in agriculture. One year, Emperor Shizong held a banquet for hundreds of officials. After getting drunk, he said that in the future, wheat and rice could be produced at a high yield of 1000 catties per acre. However, in fact, no matter how hard the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue tried, they could only increase the entire country’s production yield from 110 to 150 catties per acre. Jiangnan is better, and it’s not difficult to produce 200 to 300 catties of rice per acre. However, because our Xingzhou Prefecture’s land is of poor quality and water conservancy facilities are inconvenient, a yield of 200 catties per acre is the maximum it can reach. No one has ever dreamed of yielding 1000 catties per acre. Because of this, Emperor Shizong’s wisdom has been discounted a bit. However, it’s undeniable that it was Emperor Shizong who pacified the war and unified the world, allowing the people to live and work in peace. He even established a policy that’s beneficial to helping the people to recuperate and build up strength. Unfortunately, Emperor Shizong died too early.”
Fan Zijin did not say the rest, but Mu Yangling already understood because of the many sighs she had heard in the teahouses and restaurants.
Mu Yangling’s focus was on corn now. She asked, “Then how did you plant them? Why isn’t the harvest as high as wheat?”
“I’m only half-experienced in agriculture. Coincidentally, there’s no record of the planting of maize in the agricultural books I read.” Fan Zijin continued after a pause, “Actually, it’s precisely because this corn was so highly praised by Emperor Shizong that everyone was so unwilling to mention it after it failed. Now that no one is planting maize anymore, why are you asking?”
Mu Yangling pulled open the man’s sack for them to see and said, “He planted this. It’s said that most of their village is planting this because their county magistrate said that whoever can grow corn of high quality and high yield will be rewarded by the emperor. This order was passed down by their ancestors by word of mouth, therefore they had actually been planting this for decades. Because they haven’t left the mountain much, they actually don’t know that the world outside has changed.”
Stunned, Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin widened their eyes and asked, “Don’t tell me the county magistrate in charge of their county, as well as the registrar who went to collect taxes, also have no idea?”
Wiping his tears, the man said, “Back then, after our village planted corn, we sent it to the county magistrate. The county magistrate didn’t give us the reward money and only said that we would be exempted from taxes in the future. He only asked that we keep planting corn. No one came to our village to collect taxes for so many years. We have to cross three mountains to get out of our village. The terrain is steep and the village has everything, so we never came out. We had no idea that the emperor had already been replaced several times. Someone even said that our village was no longer part of the Great Zhou but the Jin Kingdom. Isn’t that nonsense? Our household registration passes were issued by the Great Zhou.”
This time, Mu Yangling, Qi Haoran, and Fan Zijin opened their mouths wide and asked in unison, “Where exactly do you live?”
The man said blankly, “It’s in the mountains. Our village is called Four Tray Village.”
“No, I mean which town, county, or prefecture do you belong to? You should know this, right?” Qi Haoran asked anxiously.
The man looked at him blankly, not understanding what he was asking.
In the end, it was the old person on the cart who lifted the blanket with difficulty. She exhaled and said, “We live in Qingshu Town in Baoshan County. My son has never left the mountain, so the children don’t quite remember since the elderly don’t really mention it.”
The elderly woman panted a few times as she spoke. The man quickly went forward to support his mother and looked at Mu Yangling eagerly. “Young lady, didn’t you want to buy my corn? Are you going to buy it or not? I need to bring my mother to get the medicine.”
“Yes, of course we’ll buy it.” Qi Haoran jumped out and said, “How much is it? I’ll buy it all. But since I’m buying your things, you have to do me a favor.”
Miraculously, Fan Zijin did not object.
Mu Yangling blinked and immediately understood their plan. Baoshan County had been occupied by the Jin Kingdom four years ago and was indeed under the Jin Kingdom’s rule now. The Four Tray Village they were in might have escaped a calamity because of its isolation and remoteness. Since they belonged to Baoshan County, they definitely had a way to reach Baoshan County. However, he actually chose to come to Mingshui County to seek treatment. What did that mean?
This meant that there was a path that they did not know that led to Baoshan County from Mingshui County.