Chapter 417

Lu clan nearly a thousand people moved together with us into the Northern Border; counting servants, nearly three thousand, only a few elderly clan members remained in Fanyang, and the main branch in Fanyang are all in our troop.

Fanyang Academy also had over three hundred disciples who went north with the Lu clan, so the return trip might be later than planned.

The Great King nodded, hearing that the Lu clan had moved almost all its wealth to Youzhou and also had over three hundred students, finally feeling that this trip had broken even.

The Great King's mental abacus clacked away; aside from letting Qinghe and Shangdang see some of his strength, this trip seemed to incur no loss?

As for the minor military expenses, they are not worth mentioning.

People have come into the bowl; for the Great King to scoop them back is not simple.

The Northern Border's giant, the top aristocratic clan, right? The Great King has already begun to look forward to it.

Three hundred students; if next year half of them take the imperial exams, they could score around fifty, and combined with the Northern Border Academy and the Xie clan's connections, the Northern Border's talent shortage could be roughly resolved.

You say they'll return to their hometowns after studying? How could that be! In this day and age, the Great King feels only his Northern Border is a stable pure land—just ask, it's confidence.

Upon hearing that they had also brought back over a thousand captives, the Great King immediately exclaimed, 'Don't bother hauling them back; just divert and send them straight to the iron mine in Bingzhou! Then, from the original mine workers, pick out a thousand who performed well and, on the way, send them to Anding Commandery for me.'

On this patrol of the drought situation, the Great King also saw more hardships of the common folk at the bottom.

Nearly all farming households live under the shadow of total crop failure and starvation.

They have no risk resistance at all; they consume what they harvest each year, and the copper coins in their pockets are limited to buying lamp oil and thread for the household. If this year fails completely, they will go hungry, even starve to death.

Seeing their bent backs and dark faces, the Great King could not say they were lazy or unwilling to work.

Living such days, even the Great King couldn't imagine wanting to live like that!

By day he patrols all day; by night, when idle, he thanks his father, thank you for being emperor. At the very least, when the family divided, he received three thousand personal guards and a commandery of land, not just two thatched huts and a pottery jar. He has witnessed many such scenes along the way; in poor years, even large clans with many members begin to split and seek livelihoods on their own, and all they can divide are merely the family's broken belongings.

Thus the Great King couldn't figure it out!

He now controls almost a third of Great Jin's land, yet the population is relatively sparse—how can so much land be so poor and still suffer hunger?!

After consulting with the Grand Steward, the Great King decided to launch a grand project to establish large farms in the sparsely populated Bingzhou and Liangzhou!

Regardless, he wants to become an agricultural powerhouse!

Looking at the map, Bingzhou and Liangzhou have vast stretches of flat land lying fallow, which pains the Great King deeply.

If all that land were opened for farming, even the modest grain reserves in the military storehouse could be shipped from Youzhou to Bingzhou!

Once his large farm stabilizes production, he will heavily cut taxes, making the southern folk envy him to death!

Moreover, sneaking around to buy grain elsewhere costs both money and trouble!

Transporting a large purchase of grain back is a difficult task; without the Snow Cavalry, a unit that looks formidable at a glance, moving bulk grain in these times is as arduous as the Journey to the West, and there are desperate people who would risk everything for food.

To avoid losing money, the Grand Steward's grain is usually first shipped to the coast, then transported by treasure ships via water back to the Northern Border. The cost of such a trip is indeed high; if a treasure ship is delayed by a cargo of fish, the Great King also loses quite a bit of ingots.

The large farm plan was thus put on the agenda: if wheat won't grow, plant corn; if corn fails, plant cotton; the Great King greatly approves of this plan.

He had already quickly marked two relatively good plots on the map as the first batch—Anding and Longxi—and had already ordered the chief steward to send plow oxen and farming tools here.

Coincidentally, Anding had suffered a large population loss from the war, and he said, "Sending the discharged miners to Anding to reclaim land will surely give them a better life than in the mine."

The troop wanted to change route, and Changli politely greeted the Lu family.

They wanted to turn a bit west first to go to the West River where the iron mine is located, then continue eastward back to You Prefecture.

Lu Tong's courtesy name "Tong" truly lived up to its meaning; facing Changli, he calmly nodded to show he understood, quite aloof. As soon as they left, he immediately ordered the younger ones in the family to go inquire why they weren't taking a straight route to whatever iron mine.

Lu Xiu made a trip and reported, "I've found out: they plan to send the over a thousand captives behind to West River Commandery to mine ore, and the Northern Border King has an iron mine there."

"Before, I hadn't heard of the Northern Border having an iron mine; they said you couldn't rebel for no reason, but with an iron mine you'd have armor and weapons."

"You say the armor of those cavalry outside is iron? I don't think so!"

"Definitely is; anyway I heard the sound of iron armor colliding when I got close."

"That isn't necessarily iron; the sound of copper and silver colliding is similar. Why don't you guess that color is silver?"

"No way! That's too extravagant! Does the Northern Border even have a silver mine?!"

The spacious carriage fell silent.

Anyway, the cavalry's aura makes them look like they have lots of silver.

Soon they were certain: the Northern Border definitely has more than just iron mines; at least there are also copper mines.

Before they even reached West River Commandery, they encountered groups of people entering the city in the outskirts; seeing the Snow Cavalry's banner, these people fell in behind to hitch a ride on the security. What could be safer than following the You Prefecture cavalry?

While resting, someone from the Lu family pretended to also be hitching a ride on the security and chatted with them; those people all said they were from the same village, banding together to go to West River Commandery to exchange copper coins.

"Our village is remote, we found out late; looking at the notice, it's already been seven or eight days, but we must hurry into the city to exchange for new money!"

Lu Xiu couldn't tell those people were carrying a large amount of copper coins; presumably the village isn't wealthy either. But he was still curious: "Well... you all know what you're going to do when you enter the city at this time, aren't you afraid it's unsafe? These times are very chaotic."

"Looking at you following behind the You flag, I thought you were from the Northern Border; turns out you're outsiders?"

"Yeah, we're from out of town, just happened to be going the same way; after reporting, we followed the official troops—isn't that safer?"

The crowd sitting in a circle munching on biscuits chimed in: "That's right, I may not be literate, but I recognize that flag; following the You Prefecture cavalry is absolutely safe."

"We were previously from the same village together, nothing to fear."

"You guys come from the south? Our Northern Border isn't like your south; the south is chaotic, huh, heard there are several rebel kings? Our Merged Prefecture now the Northern Border King decides everything; the Northern Border also has no mountain bandits robbing roads, our Northern Border's laws are very strict!"

Lu Xiu really didn't know about this; he previously had little understanding of the Northern Border.

He took out a few fruits he had bought in Upper Party and shared them, then hurriedly inquired in detail; those locals were happy to brag a bit to outsiders, but unfortunately they couldn't even read, let alone remember those complicated, lengthy laws.

When the laws were first promulgated, the government had sent people to read them aloud in their village line by line, but it's been a long time, and now they've completely forgotten. They only know that the laws of Merged Prefecture now are much harsher than when they were under Long Peace's jurisdiction.

Originally, crimes that warranted imprisonment were, in the hands of the Northern Border King, all beheaded outright, and moreover, any future favorable policies would also exclude the families of criminals.

Lu Xiu figured it out and hurried back to report to the several elders: "That Northern Border King actually abolished the Great Jin's copper coins, the Northern Border itself mints copper coins; these people are all from the surrounding areas, coming to West River Commandery's official money exchange to get new coins. Moreover! The Northern Border King actually re-promulgated the laws, heard they are extremely harsh and strict!"

Lu Tong was stunned, "He not only has iron mines, he mints his own currency, he must also have copper mines!" This little brat's luck is great—staging a rebellion with all the necessary elements.

Lu Jia's father, Laosan Lu Hong, obviously focused on the latter sentence; he nodded, "Nowadays, only under harsh punishments can there be peace and stability."

Lu Tong rebelled again, "Old Three, do you think that little brat of the Northern Border King still understands this? Don't forget Xie Yuan is here; this is definitely his doing."

"Second brother, even though you've arrived in the Northern Border, you're still so unrestrained in speech; under the Northern Border's new laws, we might have to often go to the great prison to visit you."

Lu Tong: ……

Old Six Lu Quan was woken up by the noise, yawned, sat up, and interjected, "Even if it's Xie Yuan's handwriting, if he's willing to listen and agree to promulgate it, that's already a win."

Lu Hong smiled and nodded, "That's right."

Lu Tong: ……