Novel Full Chapter 1019 - 96: A Bumper Early Rice Harvest
Chapter 1019: Chapter 96: A Bumper Early Rice Harvest
Regarding the solution to the locust plague, Zhao Yao has already written to the Emperor, and he can only wait for the results now. If possible, he would like to personally go to the north and deal with the locust plague himself. Unfortunately, as a Vassal King, without an imperial decree, he cannot leave his own territory at will.
Zhao Yao trusts the Emperor’s methods and speed. For the next few days, he temporarily did not focus on the northern locust plague, instead devoting himself wholeheartedly to the early rice harvest.
If the northern locust plague is severe, then all the northern provinces will be affected, and northern grain will become scarce, possibly leading to disaster victims. To prevent a massive influx of disaster victims in the north, Zhao Yao decided to send some grain there.
Although he has already written to his grandfather-in-law, asking the Liang family to quickly allocate grain to the north, he is worried that the grain they purchased and stored earlier will not be enough. There are more than a dozen provinces in the north, with over a million people. If the worst happens, there will be over a million disaster victims, and the Liang family’s grain will certainly not suffice. He must prepare some grain to send to the north in a few days.
Zhao Yao decided to send the early rice, which is about to be harvested, to the north to alleviate the urgent grain shortage there.
Originally, he had a fifty percent expectation for this year’s early rice harvest, but now Zhao Yao has a great expectation. He particularly hopes that this year’s early rice harvest will be several times better than in previous years. This way, after ensuring the people of Swamp Prefecture are well-fed, he can send more grain to the north.
For safety’s sake, Zhao Yao also purchased a large amount of grain from foreign merchants. During the trade fair, Zhao Yao had signed several grain deals with foreign merchants. This time, he bought quite a lot, which delighted the foreign merchants.
For the foreign merchants from Annan and Pyu, the last thing they lack is grain. Honestly, their countries have so much grain that they cannot consume it all every year. This leads to a lot of grain rotting in warehouses. To prevent grain from spoiling due to overproduction, people in those countries decide not to harvest rice, preferring to let it wither in the fields.
Even though many prefer to let the rice spoil in the fields, these foreign countries still have an excess of grain. However, since Great Zhou started purchasing grain from these countries a few years ago, they have ceased letting rice wither in the fields.
The foreign merchants acted swiftly, delivering a considerable amount of grain to Zhao Yao in just a few days. Upon receiving the grain, Zhao Yao immediately sent people to deliver it to the north.
These days, Zhao Yao is busy harvesting early rice while also managing the grain sent by foreign merchants and then arranging its delivery to the north.
Zhao Yao personally goes down to the field to harvest early rice to demonstrate to the people of Swamp Prefecture his commitment to the importance of grain.
The people, seeing Prince Han personally harvesting rice, are motivated and enthusiastically join in the harvest.
This year’s early rice has grown exceptionally well, and the people are very happy during the harvest. Having lived in Swamp Prefecture for decades, even their entire lives, they have never seen rice grow so well.
The people know the good growth of this year’s early rice is all thanks to Prince Han. If not for Prince Han teaching them farming methods, their rice would not have grown so well. For this, the people are very grateful to Zhao Yao.
As the people harvest early rice, Zhao Yao offers high prices to purchase half of their rice. The reason for buying only half is to leave the other half for the people to eat.
Last year, upon arriving in Swamp Prefecture, Zhao Yao’s first decree was to exempt the people from taxes for three years, including grain taxes.
Every year, the people of Swamp Prefecture not only have to submit a certain amount of grain to the local government but also to the court. The same goes for other provinces in Lingnan, and the territories of other princes as well. In other words, people in many places have to submit grain twice a year.
In regions rich with grain, people still have a surplus after submitting grain twice. However, for most people, submitting grain twice leaves them with little surplus, resulting in many unable to eat sufficiently. This is why even though the people in Lingnan grow rice in two seasons, they still cannot eat their fill.
Zhao Yao felt that requiring people to submit grain twice was too harsh, so he directly ordered the abolition of the rule that people submit grain to the court. The grain destined for the court would be provided by him as a Vassal King. The people of Swamp Prefecture need only submit grain to him.
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