The most arrogant in history

Chapter 791 Farmhouse Meal.

Jiang Yourong smiled and said to Chen Liang's wife, "Sister-in-law, the children are hungry. Let them eat first."

Chen Liang's wife nodded and served rice and dishes to the children.

The children divided the egg custard among themselves like hungry wolves.

Weiwei really liked the plate of dried fish and asked Jiang Yourong in a low voice: "Mom, can I have a bowl of rice here? That dried fish smells so good."

Jiang Yourong was angry and amused. She took out a silver coin and handed it to Chen Liang's wife: "Sister-in-law, I'll buy you a bowl of rice for my daughter, okay?"

"No, no, no, you are guests, we can't charge you."

Chen Liang's wife quickly refused, and served Weiwei a bowl of rice, put a few small dried fish in it, and handed it to Weiwei: "Girl, eat it."

Weiwei thanked him, tried the dried fish and millet rice, and took a piece of cut sweet potato from the pot and ate it with relish.

Chen Liang rubbed his hands and smiled at Ye Kun: "Sir, how about...you guys eat some too?"

"I'm not hungry."

Ye Kun shook his head and asked again: "There are six people in your family. How much land do you have in total?"

Chen Liang shook his head: "Only 20 acres of cropland and 10 acres of mulberry garden."

Ye Kun frowned and asked, "Why is there only so much arable land? Is there not enough arable land nearby?"

"We were allocated several dozen acres of arable land, but we can't open it up," Chen Liang sighed.

"It's very difficult to reclaim land on the mountain. The land is full of broken stones and trees. To reclaim the land, we have to cut down the trees, dig up the tree roots, and pick up all the stones. We are just my husband and I, and our children are too young to help."

"How much tax do we have to pay every year?"

"Two thousand kilograms of millet every year, the best millet or sun-dried corn kernels."

"Then is the remaining food enough to eat?"

"Then we can only save our food. Fortunately, we have sweet potatoes and corn now, so we won't starve to death."

“It’s still not easy for the people living in the mountainous areas.”

Ye Kun sighed and said to Ding Ding beside him: "Junior sister, I remember when we were repairing the road two years ago, didn't we provide assistance here? Why does it seem that this place is still very poor?"

Ding Ding shrugged: "It's a mountainous area with poor transportation and irrigation conditions. That's it. In the past two years, due to large-scale road construction and our assistance, the conditions have improved a lot.

Two years ago, one-third of the people here were struggling to make ends meet.”

Jiang Yourong looked around and frowned, "The population in the mountainous area is also growing rapidly. Won't life be even more difficult in the future?"

Chen Liang continued, "Yes, some families have two wives, one Han wife and one foreign concubine. They have more than ten children and eat a big pot every day. Everyone says that there will not be enough land and no food to eat in the future."

Weiwei was eating and giving Chen Liang some advice: "Doing business is very profitable, Uncle Chen, why don't you go out and do business?"

Chen Liang smiled bitterly: "If I leave, my family won't be able to farm. What will the children eat?"

"Let's go out and do business as a family. Go to Zhuo County and start a small business that can support the whole family." Weiwei said without hesitation.

"It's not that easy. We are unfamiliar with the place." Chen Liang shook his head and smiled foolishly.

"Weiwei, stop giving me bad ideas."

Ye Kun rolled his eyes: "Do you know how much money a family of six would need for travel expenses and money to go to Zhuo County? If we can't find a job after we get there, where will we live? How much capital do we need to start a business? Which kind of business is easy to make money, do you know?"

Weiwei smiled awkwardly: "Father, can't you just help them?"

"But there are so many people in the world. I can't solve the problem by helping one or two families. So, we need an effective way to make everyone rich."

Ye Kun smiled and asked Chen Liang, "Now that the road in Taihang Mountain has been repaired, it will be of some benefit to your life, right? For example, will it be more convenient to go out and sell some mountain delicacies or food?"

Chen Liang nodded. "It is indeed better. People from outside the mountain come to buy dried vegetables. We grow a lot of lentils and beans, which we dry into dried vegetables and sell to supplement our lives. We also have sheepskin and Chinese herbal medicines, which people come to buy. In the past, the roads were not good, and vendors were unwilling to come."

"If you want to be rich, build roads first. This principle is eternal."

Ye Kun nodded and said to Ding Ding: "Junior sister, the people in the mountains will remember you."

"Brother, building the road was your decision, I am just the executor."

Ding Ding smiled and whispered, "Senior Sister Gongsun once told me that the taxes in the mountainous areas are still a bit heavy. Two out of ten taxes are too much for many families to bear. Now that the court is not short of money, can the taxes in the mountainous areas be reduced?"

Ye Kun smiled and said, "After we go back, we will demarcate the poverty-stricken areas across the country and reduce the tax rate to 10%. For the particularly poor areas, we will provide further assistance and arrange for troops to come and open up wasteland, expand the arable land, and further build roads."

The Eight Passes of Taihang are eight main roads.

But there are still many small paths deep in the mountains that can also be repaired.

Only by making roads well-connected and reducing transportation costs and time can it be easier to get rid of poverty in mountainous areas.

Jiang Yourong said: "There is still a lot of arable land in the Jianghuai region. Can we allow the people with poor conditions to migrate out?"

"Immigration is of course better and cheaper, but I'm afraid the people won't be willing to do so."

Ye Kun looked at Chen Liang and said, "Captain Chen, if the imperial court helps you migrate to the plains and gives you a farmhouse like this and dozens of acres of paddy fields, would you be willing?"

Chen Liang frowned: "The court helps us build houses and gives us paddy fields?"

"Yes, all expenses will be charged to the court. Are you willing to move away?"

"Then of course I'm willing to move away."

Chen Liang grinned: "I heard that some people immigrated to Jiaozhi with their entire family and became farmers. The court also assigned free laborers to help with the work. It's a pity that we can't go."

Ye Kun laughed when he heard this: "Who said you can't go? The court has a policy now. As long as you are willing to immigrate with your whole family, you can go to Jiaozhi or Tianzhu and become a farmer. You will be given at least 500 acres of paddy fields, four or five unpaid laborers, and two concubines to help you work. As long as you apply, your whole family can immigrate.

All the food and drink along the way will be considered as the court's."

Chen Liang didn't believe it and frowned, "Is there really such a good thing? What does the court want?"

"If the imperial court wants to control overseas land, of course we Han people should be sent there. There are too many arable lands overseas, and without anyone to manage them, they become abandoned."

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Our people went overseas and became big landlords. They lived a comfortable life. They ate delicious food and drank spicy drinks every day. They didn't work themselves. It was all the foreign laborers who did the work."

Chen Liang smiled awkwardly: "That's good, but you can't come back."

"You have food to eat and life is good, why did you come back?"

Ye Kun rolled his eyes and said, "Besides, it may not be impossible to come back. Because the big ships of the imperial court are very fast, and there are so many people coming and going."