Chapter 226: The Teaching of Exhausting the Land's Productivity

Winter wheat is sown in the eighth month of the Xia calendar and harvested in the fourth or fifth month of the following year. This crop is mostly grown in the north and is rarer in the south. Probably after Anlu County submitted this method last year, the Commandery Governor Teng could not be sure whether Anlu's results were coincidence or genuine, and was anxious to know its effectiveness, so he ordered increased planting in various places.

Jiangling, Ying County, Zhijiang, Yiling, Dangyang — under the Commandery Governor's orders, nearly every county increased planting by several hundred mu of winter wheat.

As the Commandery Governor's carriage arrived at the edge of these fields, Heifu gazed into the distance and saw that the winter wheat in the fields had already formed ears. A summer breeze blew, making the golden wheat waves rise and fall unsteadily, and a scent of wheat mixed with hot air rushed into his nostrils...

Because of the hot weather in Nan Commandery, the harvest was half a month earlier than in the north. Sturdy women brought water to the fields, and farmers toiled, cutting the wheat with sickles — a scene brimming with vitality. Seeing the insignia and mounted retinue of the Commandery Governor and County Magistrate arrive, they all dropped their tools and prostrated themselves.

Commandery Governor Teng had changed his demeanor. He personally went down into the fields and helped the farmers and their wives to their feet. This provincial leader seemed to have no airs at all and amiably asked the farmers how their harvest was.

"We venture to report to the Commandery Governor."

The old farmer in charge of this wheat field was very emotional and said in a trembling voice: "Originally, the field clerk told this humble one to pile human and animal dung together to compost. We were very puzzled, thinking that piling up manure stank to high heaven — what difference was there from spreading it directly on the fields? Yet after these winter wheat were irrigated with composted manure, the yield per mu was thirty percent more than in previous years! Thirty percent!"

The old farmers had even given a name to the manure after piling and composting: they called it "fine dung."

Ye Teng laughed: "Fine dung — a good name. Though it is filthy, stinking dung, it can make the fields fertile and beautiful."

Ye Teng had the Zhijiang County field bailiff bring up the bamboo slips recording these wheat field yields. After carefully leafing through them and comparing them with the data from Jiangling and Ying County that his Chief Clerk carried on his person, he let out a long breath.

Adding Anlu, that made four counties' fields where, because of applying the "fine dung" obtained from piled and composted manure, the yield per mu had markedly increased. This fully proved it was no coincidence, but an established fact!

He called Heifu over to the edge of the field, pointed at those plump ears of wheat, and asked: "Heifu, do you know how great a service this manure-piling and composting method your family has presented has done for Nan Commandery and for Qin?"

Heifu could not fathom what this crafty old fox meant, and he did not like the feeling of having everything under someone else's control, so he woodenly said he did not know.

Commandery Governor Teng also knew that ever since he had frightened Heifu that one time, Heifu had been on guard against him, so he went on directly: "Agriculture is the fundamental occupation of the people. When sage kings guided their people, they gave first priority to farming. However, ever since the House of Zhou declined, rites collapsed and music was corrupted. Feudal lords and tyrants encroached upon one another. Corrupt local officials imposed corvée labor rampantly. Government decrees were not trusted. Superiors and inferiors deceived each other. Public fields went untended. Famines were frequent..."

"Until two hundred years ago, Li Kui of Wei presided over legal reforms. He composed 'The Teaching of Exhausting the Land's Productivity' for Marquis Wen of Wei. Li Kui calculated that within a hundred li square, there are ninety thousand qing of land. Excluding mountains, marshes, and human habitation, which take up one-third, sixty thousand qing can be opened up as farmland. If farmers tend the fields diligently, the yield per mu increases by three dou; if not diligent, it decreases by three dou. This means that over a hundred li of land, the annual yield, due to diligence or its lack, can increase by one million eight hundred thousand dan or decrease by one million eight hundred thousand dan. From this one can see that farmers must be encouraged to produce — this is what is meant by the Teaching of Exhausting the Land's Productivity!"

"Wei's field-mu and dan measures differ slightly from Qin's. Nan Commandery has many rivers, marshes, mountains, and forests, and the farmland it possesses is also less than Hedong's. But with the method you have presented today, the yield of every mu of farmland can be increased by thirty to forty percent! As the common saying goes, a hundred mu of superior land feeds nine people; the next grade feeds eight; the middle grade feeds seven; inferior land feeds five. But with this method, by increasing the fertility of the fields, inferior land can become middle land, middle land can become superior land, and superior land becomes even better! According to last year's annual report, if this method is implemented across all eighteen counties of Nan Commandery, by the time of the autumn harvest, adding together rice, millet, and wheat, I fear the increase could reach three million to four million dan of grain!"

Although Heifu had long known the historical significance of this method, when he heard the amount by which Nan Commandery could increase its annual yield, he was still slightly astonished: "So much!"

Calculated this way, the increased grain from Nan Commandery alone could feed the six hundred thousand troops campaigning against Chu for three to four months!

For a moment, Heifu felt as if he and his elder brother Zhong had practically become the Yuan Longping of this era.

Ye Teng nodded and said: "In short, this is a matter of great benefit to Nan Commandery, great benefit to Qin, and even great benefit to all under Heaven. For the one who discovered this method, a mere single step of rank is far from sufficient. Your elder brother can be directly promoted to Bugeng! And rewarded with ten thousand cash! After this method is reported to Xianyang following the autumn harvest, he may even be promoted again to Grand Master, with even heavier rewards."

At this point, Ye Teng revealed his trademark smile again: "A pity, though. From the assistant field clerk of Yunmeng Township to the field bailiff of Anlu County, the merit was reported under your elder brother's name. If it were changed now, that would be dishonesty and deceiving the sovereign. Heifu, have you ever regretted this?"

Heifu, however, smiled: "Looking at it from a high perspective, this method, implemented by the Commandery Governor, will soon greatly benefit Nan Commandery and greatly benefit Qin. Looking at it from a low perspective, I merely mentioned it in passing, while my elder brother toiled for a year to research and develop this method. Fertile water has not flowed into outsiders' fields — what is there to regret?"

Ye Teng was slightly surprised, then burst into hearty laughter.

"Good, a fine 'fertile water has not flowed into outsiders' fields'!"

On the road back to Zhijiang, Ye Teng sat in his canopied carriage in excellent spirits. Even the scenery along the way seemed much more pleasing.

Stroking his beard, he said to the Chief Clerk beside him: "At the end of the eighth month last year, after receiving the report from Anlu, this Commandery Governor immediately ordered every county to plant winter wheat on a trial basis, without a single day's delay, precisely so that this matter could be confirmed as early as possible before this summer, allowing it to be implemented across the entire commandery. That way, after the farmers finish weeding the fields, they can apply top-dressing in time. We managed to catch up, more or less."

This government order had indeed been very rushed. The Chief Clerk, as its executor, offered a flattering remark: "Even a thousand-li horse needs a Bole to recognize its worth. Only you, Commandery Lord, could possess such vision and be so decisive."

Ye Teng, not modest in the slightest, magnanimously accepted this flattery and laughed: "This old man is not boasting, but had someone else been Commandery Governor, they would certainly have delayed for another half year. Although they would have missed the campaign against Chu, they could still eventually confirm its effectiveness and then submit it to Xianyang for the King to know. Even the worst, most inferior clerk would not dare to ignore it, because this is Qin — from the King down to the commandery, county, and township clerks, everyone takes the Legalist Teaching of Exhausting the Land's Productivity as their fundamental duty!"

"But what if it were not in Qin, but in some other feudal state? If Heifu and his elder brother Zhong's method were submitted there, what would the consequences be?"

The Chief Clerk cupped his hands: "This humble clerk does not know. I beg the Commandery Lord to enlighten me."

It seemed that today's events had stirred Ye Teng's emotions and brought back memories, making him want to say many things. So he told this trusted aide who had followed him for ten years about a past incident from when he was a clerk in Han.

"Come to think of it, today's situation bears some resemblance to that year. Over twenty years ago, I had just entered official service, working as a minor township clerk in Han. The land of Han was harsh and treacherous, with many mountain ridges. The five grains that grew there were either wheat or beans. What the people ate was mostly bean rice and bean-leaf stew. Life was extremely bitter."

"By chance, while inspecting the hamlets, a farmer under my jurisdiction told me that placing crop stalks or cut grasses and woods into the fields and letting them rot on their own could also increase the land's fertility and slightly improve the next year's harvest. I was immediately overjoyed and promptly reported this matter via official dispatch to the County Magistrate, hoping that by implementing this method, the common people could gain a little more yield..."

"Yet a year passed, and there was no response whatsoever. I could not bear it any longer, so I used my clan's connections to go to the county seat and inquire. Only then did the County Magistrate say he had been busy with affairs and had forgotten about it. After I pressed him, he finally reported it to Xinzheng. And then, two years passed, three years passed. Xinzheng still gave no response whatsoever. They did not even send anyone to question me whether this matter was true or false. Although my clan had some influence in Ye, compared to those ministers and grandees in Xinzheng, we were merely minor rural gentry and could not help me..."

"It was not until many years later, when I went to Xinzheng as an official and found an opportunity to inquire, that I learned my submitted method had only been cursorily glanced through and was not taken seriously by the important ministers in the capital. So I could only wait until I myself reached the rank of Acting Commandery Governor before I could have the common people of various counties implement this method. But by that time, twenty years had already been wasted in vain. The old farmer who discovered this method had long since died, and his descendants had not received any merit reward from Han either."

"At the same time, Zheng Guo, who was traveling around Han persuading the King of Han to dig canals to increase agricultural output but failing, was sent by the King of Han to Qin. Although it was known that the canal would require countless funds and manpower to excavate, the King of Qin immediately approved Zheng Guo's plan and treated him with the ceremony due an honored guest."

"Zheng Guo was deeply moved and began to devote all his efforts to directing this project. By the time his mission to exhaust Qin was exposed, he had already forgotten his original purpose. He personally went to see the King of Qin, kowtowed, and said: 'In the beginning, your servant was a spy; however, once the canal is completed, it will also benefit Qin.' Do you know what the King of Qin said at that time?"

The Chief Clerk replied: "This humble clerk does not know."

"The King said: 'Building this canal will merely extend Han's life by a few years, but it can establish a legacy of ten thousand generations for Qin! If you die, who can succeed you? Proceed with all haste!'"

Knowing full well it was poison, yet beneficial to himself in the long run, the King of Qin still drank it down without hesitation! He let Zheng Guo continue building the canal for Qin. The canal was completed, irrigating over forty thousand qing of land, and the Guanzhong region became rich and fertile from it.

"From that day on, Zheng Guo became a loyal minister of the King of Qin. He was once ordered to carry out Commandant Wei Liao's stratagem, bringing gold and silk to lobby me. He said to me: 'A fine bird chooses the tree to roost in. Han is already rotten wood; Qin is your parasol tree!'"

"I had heard about what he experienced and also learned that Qin placed such importance on agricultural affairs. I was greatly shaken. Only then did I understand that Qin's victories through six generations were not luck, but destiny!"

"Only he who can elevate the farmer and exhaust the land's productivity can win all under Heaven!"

Had Heifu been present, he might have deeply agreed and replied with a line: Institutions are the cornerstone for developing productive forces. Whoever can develop productive forces to the greatest extent will win this protracted war!

After speaking, Ye Teng turned his head and saw Heifu dozing off in the carriage.

There was a love for talent, and also a trace of envy for this young man.

"Though this lad is of humble origin, he was born in Qin, a state that esteems agriculture and values merit, and he has encountered me as Commandery Governor. What difficulty is there for him to soar straight up?"

"With just a little prodding and spurring, he will be a thousand-li colt! His future is bound to be limitless."

Ye Teng narrowed his eyes: "The only question is, who can serve as his Bole?"

(End of chapter)