After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Chapter 1131 - 1113: Full of Life

The ice and snow on the ground melted away. With a gust of spring wind, overnight, small green shoots broke through everything pressing down on them and sprang up, growing rapidly. By the next day, the tender green had turned to lush emerald. Where yellow barren earth was once visible, now a sea of green stretched as far as the eye could see, with grass growing as tall as toes.

The farmers hurriedly went to check the wheat seedlings in the fields. They saw the lush green seedlings, with dewdrops hanging on the leaves, a pleasant sight indeed.

Farmers became excited, disregarding everything else, immediately plowing under the newly sprouted grass and pressing it into the soil as fertilizer for the wheat roots, while also beginning to plow the fields to prepare for spring planting.

Zhao Hanzhang visited the lands where the soldiers were stationed and was very pleased. She immediately ordered that all labor services, military affairs, and ceremonial matters were to cease nationwide, focusing on spring farming.

No one was allowed to hinder the process of spring farming.

The entire nation was bustling with activities for spring farming. For this, Zhao Hanzhang took the Little Emperor out to the fields and demonstrated plowing. She and the Little Emperor both guided the plow, walking a few rounds in the field, and then instructed the officials to set an example and do a good job in encouraging and guiding farming and sericulture.

There were fewer state affairs at this time, with Zhao Hanzhang needing to review less than twenty documents a day. Both the common people and the officials were busy, leaving them no time for anything else.

Zhao Hanzhang rolled up her sleeves, grabbed a hoe, and went with Fu Tinghan to their own farm to engage in farming.

The main focus was fertilizing the wheat and then starting to plow the fields to prepare for planting wheat and beans.

Besides wheat, beans and rice are significant crops in the Central Plains region.

In the Luoyang area, one can plant winter wheat, as well as spring wheat, soybeans, and rice.

The quantity of winter wheat planted last autumn and winter was not large, so this year, spring wheat was being widely planted in the Luoyang area.

Not only was this happening in Luoyang, but also in all areas affected by the war, such as Bingzhou, Jizhou, and Qingzhou, not to mention Youzhou.

Youzhou was a disaster area, with the primary focus on this year’s spring planting, valued highly by both Zhao Hanzhang and Shi Le.

Zhao Hanzhang personally went down to the fields, frequently inspecting the fields around Luoyang, encouraging the people to farm. Shi Le did the same.

He traveled tirelessly between different counties every day, checking occasionally whether the grain seeds had been distributed in each county or if any area was short of grain seeds, buying and sending them while it was still planting season.

As a result, Zhao Hanzhang received telegrams from Shi Le every day, one in the morning and one in the evening.

He basically complained to her in the evening about a shortage of grain seeds and farming tools in certain areas and how only a small fraction of the available land could be farmed by the people. However, Youzhou was impoverished and did not have the money to buy grain seeds or farming tools, hoping the court could support them a little.

In the morning, he would send a telegram urging her, "Can the matter we discussed last night be done? When will the items arrive?"

Zhao Hanzhang could only respond to him, "Got it, got it, it’s being handled, don’t rush."

Telegrams couldn’t be long-winded, so she had to write him a letter, suggesting he also try to find solutions. The national treasury was very poor, and she had already given special treatment to Youzhou. Whatever other places had, Youzhou had as well; whatever others didn’t have, Youzhou still had.

Zhao Hanzhang told Shi Le, "There are mines in Youzhou; send people to find them, and the financial difficulties can be alleviated."

She had dispatched many people to find mines, regardless of the type, as Great Jin was in serious need of resources now. Present-day Youzhou encompassed much of Hebei and Shanxi, with abundant mineral resources inside.

She planned to have people find the deposits first, build roads later, so that Youzhou’s products could enter the Central Plains, and goods from the Central Plains could enter Youzhou more quickly.

In comparison, Qingzhou and Guangzhou were much more self-reliant.

Since Zhao Kuan and Sun Linghui went to Qingzhou and Guangzhou, they rarely complained to Zhao Hanzhang and seldom asked the court for anything, demonstrating great independence and self-reliance, truly commendable young individuals.

Even though they were well-behaved, Zhao Hanzhang still wanted to write to them, expressing concern and inquiring about the situation in both states.

Zhao Kuan hadn’t received his letter. He was leading a horse, trudging through the rain. Due to the muddy and slippery road, the group had to dismount and walk through the mud and water.

The rain was still falling, and they didn’t dare to seek shelter under trees, as thunder rumbled incessantly, a rare occurrence in early spring.

"My lord, up ahead there’s a shrine, where we can temporarily take shelter from the rain."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Kuan quickened his pace and accidently slipped. His trusted aides and attendants hurriedly stepped forward to help him, only to nearly fall on top of him due to the unstable footing.

Zhao Kuan, supporting his waist, struggled to get up from the ground, looking around anxiously, quickly stopping them from coming over, "I can do it myself, I can do it myself, don’t come over."

He crawled up from the ground and pushed through this patch of road, mutually helping each other as they entered the shrine, finding a slightly dryer spot after some search.

Outside, the heavy rain poured down relentlessly, while inside the shrine, a medium rain dripped steadily.

Zhao Kuan removed his rain cape and bamboo hat, shook off the water, and set them aside. An attendant hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe him down and said, "My lord, this is spring rain, what if you fall ill?"

Zhao Kuan stepped back, pulling him aside to avoid being soaked by the rainwater leaking from the roof, "I had my bamboo hat on, it’s fine."

He glanced at the increasingly muddy path being eroded by the rain outside and said angrily, "One day, I’m going to fix this road!"

The attendant said, "How much would that cost?"

Zhao Kuan replied, "Isn’t it just money? Once my people in Qingzhou finish spring farming, I’ll have them continue making salt. I can earn a considerable amount just from selling salt, and by growing mulberries and hemp to weave more fabric, I can always make money."

Zhao Kuan was brimming with confidence, "Once the court sets up the docks in a couple of years and more merchants come and go, I don’t believe I won’t have enough money to build a road."

Zhao Kuan stood in the rain for a moment, contemplating the future, and only continued his journey after the rain stopped, arriving at his destination as darkness fell.

The village elder came out to greet him, looking astonished, "Are you really our Inspector?"

Zhao Kuan said, "Didn’t you see the official seal? I heard you guys started a fight over land? There is plenty of land now; everyone’s family had their fair share, right? How could you still fight over land?"

The village elder’s spirits lifted upon hearing this, saying enthusiastically, "My lord, we indeed received our fair share, but there’s a next generation to think of. In our village alone, there’s been twelve newlywed couples in the past six months, and three families are expecting already, likely to welcome new children this autumn. When kids arrive, land will need to be divided, and the plot of land close to our village should rightfully be bestowed to our village, so our children can divide from that plot in the future."

Zhao Kuan said, "Children can only receive land when they grow up, there’s still sixteen years to go. Isn’t this thinking a bit too far ahead?"

"Not too far, not too far. We have children in our village studying at the county school, and they came back saying something about... something... how, if one does not plan long-term, trouble will surely come."

Zhao Kuan replied, "People who do not plan for the future will face immediate worries."

"Yes, yes, that’s the phrase. My lord, could you perhaps speak to the county government about allocating that piece of land to our village?"