Chapter 386 Encouraging the People to Plant Cabbages

"Well, I'll have someone send a message later. It would be best if I could send a message once a day so that I can keep abreast of the news from the Imperial City."

Yuan Xiu nodded seriously. They were paying close attention to the situation in not only the imperial city but also the battlefield of Binzhou. Currently, the two armies were on the verge of a war and might go to war at any time. On the surface, the rebels had no chance of winning. However, because of the emperor and the court's outrageous actions, they once again ignored the victims. Their morale was extremely high. It was not impossible for them to hold off the Binzhou army and drag the battle until next year. As long as they dealt with the Western Hu people, the court's army would no longer pose any threat.

"Okay, as for the resettlement of refugees."

Speaking of this, Wei Chengyi also felt a bit of a headache. There were really too many people. They had already told him about the situation in each village before. It was indeed not a problem to continue to cram people into those villages.

"Or we can relocate them to Daping County, Dalin County and Dafeng County."

Looking up at him, Yuan Xiu suggested in a deep voice that only these three counties could continue to accommodate people. Moreover, due to the special geographical environment, these three counties cover a vast area, almost half the size of the entire Chenzhou. Even if they accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees, there would not be much problem. The only trouble is that they may have to help the refugees build houses, and there are not so many ready-made houses to distribute to them.

"Um···"

Wei Chengyi did not respond immediately. He lowered his eyes and tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically. After a while, he said, "Okay, place them in Daping County, give them some food, and let them all grow vegetables, and strive to have a harvest before winter comes."

"Okay, I'll contact Lao Xie right away."

Yuan Xiu picked up the intercom while talking. The refugee issue really gave them a headache. At the same time, they hated those grain merchants. Their behavior was more than just cheating them. Once there was any mistake in the military and political affairs, the Western Hu people would invade next year, and the whole Chenzhou would suffer. If there was no evidence, they would suspect that those people were spies planted in Chenzhou by the Western Hu people.

The next morning, Wei Chengyi took Yuan Shu and several guards to the provincial capital, ready to personally command the arrest of the four major grain merchants and the wealthy families involved in the case. Shen Xiangwan did not sleep in as usual, but got up early and went to the county town with Yuan Xiu. The areas that planted the second season of grain earlier could already harvest, and she also wanted the people to rush to plant a season of cabbage.

"It really only takes 40 to 50 days to harvest? And the yield per mu can reach 5,000 to 10,000 kilograms?"

In the side hall of the government office, after hearing what Shen Xiangwan said, Fu Qiuhua jumped up excitedly. He knew that they had a bumper harvest of cabbage last year, but he was not sure how much. He did not expect it to be so high. The most important thing is that its growth cycle is so short. After they harvest the second crop of crops, they can rush to plant another crop. It's just...
"But even if it's stored in the cellar, the cabbage can only be kept for ten days at most. If its yield is really that high, it will flood the market and people won't be able to eat it all or sell it."

Thinking about this practical problem, Fu Qiuhua couldn't help but frown. It would be great if cabbage could be stored for a long time like potatoes and corn.

"Have you forgotten that Chinese cabbage can also be made into kimchi or spicy cabbage?"

Seeing how worried he was, Shen Xiangwan smiled and shook her head. Last year, all the cabbages she and the military harvested were made into kimchi and spicy cabbage. They were still eating them until now, but there were not many left at home. The main reason was that the army consumed too much, and what they made themselves was not enough to eat. Almost all of the cabbages at home were sent to the military camp.

"I haven't forgotten. Doesn't a lot of salt be needed to make kimchi or spicy cabbage? Although there is no shortage of salt in Chenzhou after we refined our own snowflake salt, and the price of salt is almost the same as outside, but people are used to saving money. How could they be willing to spend so much money on making kimchi or spicy cabbage?" Ordinary people don't make kimchi, and they don't even know how to make it. The main reason is that salt is too expensive and they can't afford it.

"It's okay. I've already discussed it with Cheng Yi. We will supply the county government with a large amount of snowflake salt, and then the county government will sell it to the people at a low price. We will also teach them how to pickle kimchi. We will pickle all the Chinese cabbages into kimchi and keep them for eating slowly during the winter."

This was a temporary decision she and Wei Chengyi made last night. Not only would they provide high-quality seeds to the people of Chenzhou to encourage them to plant another season of cabbage, they would also provide snowflake salt at a low price and teach them how to pickle kimchi in order to prepare as much food as possible to get through this cold winter. Moreover, after the people started planting, the government would also receive taxes, so they would have more food to accommodate the refugees.

"Really?"

Fu Qiuhua jumped up excitedly, staring at her intently.

"Ah."

Nodding, Shen Xiangwan met his expectant gaze and continued, "As long as the people are willing to grow Chinese cabbage, we will provide a large amount of snowflake salt for sale at a low price."

They had thought about distributing snowflake salt for free according to the amount of land owned by the people, but who would cherish something for free? If it was given too often, it would easily spoil some people, so they decided to sell it at a low price. Of course, in order to prevent some people from buying a large amount and selling it at a high price elsewhere, they would also limit the amount. This required the power of the government. Only they knew who had paid how much tax, how much cabbage was left, and how much salt was needed.

"Okay, I'll issue an order later to have the people start harvesting sweet potatoes and try to finish planting cabbages before September. As for seeds, I hope Madam can have someone send them to the government office as soon as possible. We may have to deliver them to the people one village at a time."

After getting her confirmation again, Fu Qiuhua no longer hesitated. The Second Master and the Madam were so decisive, what did he have to worry about?
"No problem, I'll have someone deliver it tomorrow."

Shen Xiangwan stood up as she spoke. She had a lot of things to do today. She had to go to several other counties and ask all the county governments to mobilize the people to actively plant cabbages. As for the snowflake salt, Wei Chengyi had already asked Yuan Xiu to give orders before he left, to increase production as much as possible from today on. By the time the cabbages were harvested, they should be able to store enough for all the people in Chenzhou to use.

"Madam, walk slowly."

Fu Qiuhua personally sent them to the outside of the yamen. Seeing that they were actually sitting in a strange iron box, his forehead was full of question marks. But when he saw with his own eyes that the iron box turned around and drove away quickly, his eyes almost popped out. He didn't know how long it took before he came to his senses because the lawyer came to look for him.

That day, Shen Xiangwan and Yuan Xiu ran to six counties in a row and did not return to Yong'an Village until dark. The next day, after arranging for the guards to deliver cabbage seeds to several counties, she went out with Yuan Xiu again. It also took a whole day to run through the remaining Daping County, Dalin County and Dafeng County, and thoroughly implemented the policy of encouraging the people to grow cabbage.

【End of this chapter】

Today is still the fifth update, please vote!!!