Chapter 179 The old course of the Yellow River was fully developed...

Chapter 179 The old course of the Yellow River was fully developed...

When the letter was delivered to Luoyang by a courier, Du Min walked into the county government office in high spirits.

"Lord Guo, the Chief Clerk has arrived!" A yamen runner hurried into the office to announce.

Magistrate Guo was looking through the household registers from previous years with his registrar when he was blocked by a box on the ground. He was a little slow, and Du Min had already entered.

"I apologize for failing to greet you properly, Chief Secretary."

"This humble official greets Your Excellency."

Magistrate Guo and his registrar paid their respects one after the other.

"No, no, it's not my fault." Du Min was in a good mood. "What are you all doing?"

“These are the household registration records from previous years. I intend to check them to see how many men are between the ages of twenty and fifty,” Magistrate Guo told the truth. “After returning from the post station yesterday, I thought about it again and again, and I still feel that conscripting laborers to dig up the old course of the Yellow River is an impractical project. If it is only for repairing the fields and turning the fields of Wen County into wheat and rice rotation, it is not worthwhile.”

Du Min said "Oh," and then asked, "Has the headcount been completed?"

“A rough count reveals fewer than five thousand people,” Magistrate Guo replied. “Among these people, some are sons of merchants and gentry who paid in silk in lieu of labor service. After the final collection, there may be fewer than four thousand people. I urge the Chief Secretary to abandon this idea unless you can mobilize laborers from the other four counties to help.”

“I understand.” Du Min noted it down. “I came to see you to inform you that I have changed my mind. We can combine our ideas, taking the best of both worlds and discarding the worst. We can use the highlands of the old Yellow River course to grow crops and the lowlands to dig canals to store water.”

Magistrate Guo was taken aback for a moment, but then became happy.

"Don't get excited yet, there's another arrangement," Du Min said. "The Yellow River's change of course has caused many irrigation canals and waterways to fall into disuse, and the fields that rely on these canals and waterways for irrigation will become barren land. If it's not a year with favorable weather, the harvest will definitely be halved. It would be better to switch to planting ramie, which is susceptible to both flooding and drought. You don't need to worry about the sales of ramie; the Lord of Wu County will contact big merchants from the south to come to Wen County to buy ramie fibers."

Magistrate Guo was first surprised, then delighted, "Is it true?"

Du Min smiled smugly, "Absolutely no faking it."

"Can arbor land be used to grow ramie? Does the imperial court allow it?" The registrar interjected. "The imperial court has always stipulated that permanent land can be used to grow mulberry, hemp, jujube, elm, and locust trees, while arbor land must be used to grow crops."

"I have already submitted a memorial to the court, and I should receive a reply within a month." Du Min was not worried about this matter. In his official document, he specified three options: if the measure of planting hemp was not adopted, the court would either approve funds for large-scale water conservancy projects or accept the result that most of the fertile land in Wen County would turn into sandy land. The superiority of one option was obvious.

"As long as His Majesty permits, I will obey all orders from now on," Magistrate Guo stated.

Du Min was satisfied and instructed, "Make the arrangements first. After the winter wheat is harvested, do not plant any more purslane, radishes or the like in the fields. Leave the fields empty to plant ramie."

Magistrate Guo hesitated again. "From what you're saying, you want all the land in Wen County to be used for growing ramie? Leaving no farmland? Isn't that too risky? Aren't we leaving ourselves a way out? What will the people eat if the ramie doesn't sell?"

“There won’t be any unsold hemp paper. I plan to build an official paper mill in Huaizhou to produce hemp paper, which will be supplied to the free schools in various prefectures and counties for making paper funerary objects,” Du Min explained. “Don’t you know that the court is going to establish free schools on a large scale? You can ask around later. This plan was proposed by my second sister-in-law. It will create thousands of official positions for the court. For the next one or two decades, newly appointed scholars will no longer need to return to their hometowns to wait for selection.”

Magistrate Guo was truly unaware of this. He and the registrar exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency's merits are truly immeasurable!" Magistrate Guo exclaimed, only those who had experienced the selection process could understand the value of this act.

Du Min agreed, "By the end of this year at the latest, free schools will appear in more than 300 prefectures of the Tang Dynasty, and there will be no problem with the sales of hemp paper. If the people of Wen County can make money by selling hemp, why would they worry about not being able to buy grain?"

"I'll listen to you." Magistrate Guo had no more doubts. His eyes darted around, and he asked, "Sir, has the location for the paper mill been decided? How about building it in Wen County? The people of Wen County can work at the paper mill while they grow hemp. Moreover, if the paper mill is built in Wen County, we won't have to spend manpower and resources transporting hemp elsewhere."

"Wen County is the closest of the five counties in Huai Prefecture to Luoyang, which also makes it convenient to transport hemp paper to Luoyang," the registrar added.

"Yes, yes, yes." Magistrate Guo nodded repeatedly.

Du Min pretended to hesitate and touched his chin. "Not only Wen County, but Wuzhi County also needs to grow hemp."

“Wuzhi County is far from Hanoi County, while Wen County is adjacent to Hanoi County. If you want to come to Zhifang for inspection in the future, you can get there in half a day by horse,” the registrar replied.

Magistrate Guo glanced at Du Min and asked directly, "Chief Secretary Du, give me a straight answer: what will it take for you to allow the paper mill to be located in Wen County?"

“The road from Wen County to Heqing County, which is over a hundred miles long, is in extremely poor condition. The road is less than six feet wide, only wide enough for one horse-drawn carriage to pass. As a result, horse-drawn carriages and oxcarts can only travel on one lane, and the ruts get deeper and deeper. After a heavy rain, the water in the ditch will take half a month to dry up,” Du Min said.

Without hesitation, Magistrate Guo promised: "As long as there is money in the county treasury, I will immediately hire a team of laborers to repair and maintain the road."

"Fix it before the autumn harvest, so as not to obstruct the convoys that are buying hemp and silk," Du Min gave the deadline.

“Agreed,” Magistrate Guo replied.

“If Lord Guo is willing to cooperate, the paper mill will be built in Wen County.” Du Min gave a definite answer. “I will go to the Meng family paper mill to take a look and then consider the specific location for the paper mill.”

"This humble official will accompany you," Magistrate Guo said respectfully.

Du Min waved his hand, "I'm going with my second sister-in-law, you don't need to come along, go about your business."

Magistrate Guo: "...Yes."

Du Min left with his hands behind his back.

Magistrate Guo saw him off from the county office. After Du Min's figure had disappeared into the distance, he laughed loudly twice, "Thank God, Huai Prefecture has finally found a savior."

"That Lady of the County is truly remarkable. She stayed in Wen County for less than a day before Chief Clerk Du changed his mind and even came up with a new idea," the Registrar said from behind.

Magistrate Guo immediately realized, "The idea of ​​planting hemp and building a paper mill came from Lady Meng?"

"It's almost certainly true. This official's paper mill is almost identical to the free school that Chief Secretary Du mentioned. They must be from the same person's scheme," the registrar said.

After thinking for a moment, Magistrate Guo returned to his office and asked his wife to prepare a generous gift so he could express his gratitude on behalf of the people of Wen County.

*

"Mother, my third uncle is back." Wang Zhou was herding geese outside the post station when he saw Du Min and ran into the post station to shout.

"Father, Mother, Du Min is back, we can go now," Meng Qing called out.

"Come on, come on, we've been waiting for a while." Meng's mother came out of the house.

Meng's father also carried Wangchuan over from the stable.

Du Li went to the stable to inform the coachman to get the carriage going.

Du Min was teasing the geese. The silly creature had become timid in this unfamiliar place. He put his hand under the geese's wings, and they didn't dare to show any power.

Two carriages drove out of the post station. Du Li lifted the curtain and called out, "Get in the carriage. Don't delay. If we wait any longer, it will get hot again."

Du Min grabbed Wang Zhou to get into the carriage. As he turned around, the goose behind him suddenly stretched its neck and pecked hard at his leg.

"Ouch!" Du Min cried out in pain, but when he saw the postman looking over, he clenched his fists and endured the pain.

"Quack quack quack—" the goose scurried away, stretching its neck and honking loudly a good ten feet away.

Wang Zhou laughed, "Third Uncle, I already told you, don't mess with them."

Du Min glared at the smug goose through gritted teeth. He noticed a few strands of red thread hanging from its beak, and when he looked down, he saw a tear in the hem of his official robe.

"I'll punish it for a serious crime sooner or later!" Du Min was both angry and amused.

"You asked for it," Du Li said with a smile. "Get in the car."

Du Min glanced at the goose again, and seeing that it didn't follow, he strode towards the carriage.

"Is your official robe torn?" Meng Qing asked, peeking out.

“It’s rotten.” Du Min pulled Wang Zhou into the carriage, and he followed a step in, tugging at the corner of his robe and saying shamelessly, “This is the work of your geese, you have to compensate me with an official robe.”

“Find Wangzhou, he’s one of his goose friends.” Meng Qing refused to take responsibility.

Du Min looked at Wang Zhou, about to ask what money he had, when he saw Wang Zhou nod in agreement.

"How much does an official robe cost?" Wang Zhou asked.

"...How much money do you have?" Du Min probed.

Wang Zhou couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, "How many do you want from me?"

"Look at what you're saying, what kind of person do you think your third uncle is? I was thinking if you're short on money, I'll just accept my bad luck," Du Min said generously.

Upon hearing this, Meng Qing and Du Li both looked at Wang Zhou.

Wang Zhou hesitated. He wanted to pretend to be poor, but he couldn't help showing off. He pretended to be calm and curled the corners of his mouth: "Third Uncle, you don't need to save money for me. I have a monthly allowance now, and I'm not short of money."

Du Min subconsciously looked at Meng Qing, who nodded. "He receives two strings of cash a month."

Du Min remained silent.

Wang Zhou sidled up to Du Min with a grin, "The house my mother and uncle gave me, I can keep it all after I sell it."

Du Min raised his hand and turned his face away, saying expressionlessly, "This official robe of mine is worth five hundred strings of cash."

Meng Qing laughed, "Du Wangzhou, still showing off?"

Wang Zhou did it on purpose. He patted his third uncle's official robe and said, "I won't pay compensation. Go ahead and sue me in court."

Du Min got up and sat down opposite Wang Zhou. "Don't talk to me. You're too hateful."

Wang Zhou insisted on sitting next to him, and the uncle and nephew bickered back and forth for half the journey.

As we approached Dawa Village, the smell in the wind suddenly changed, a raw, astringent scent mixed with the stench of decaying soil.

The carriage arrived in the village and was stopped near the paper mill. The patrolmen asked, "Who are you? Who are you looking for? There are no houses ahead."

"My master's family is the Lord of Wu County, surnamed Meng. Meng Dongjia is her brother," the coachman told him.

Du Min bent down and walked out. He jumped off the carriage first, took the fish-shaped tally from his waist and said, "I am the Chief Clerk of Huaizhou. Go and inform the manager of the paper mill to come over."

The patrolmen immediately ran to call for help.

Meng Qing and the others also got off the bus here.

"Why does it smell so bad?" Mencius' mother also got off the carriage at the back.

"It smells like refurbished hemp," a passing hemp picker replied.

"Do you need mud to rehydrate hemp?" A thought flashed through Du Min's mind. "I'll go with you to take a look."

Meng Qing and the others followed, and the group followed the hemp pickers to the place where the hemp was being rehydrated. It was a pond about two acres in size, with shallow water that reached up to a person's hips. As the hemp was being turned over, black mud gushed out from the water.

“I have an idea. The swamps in the middle of the old Yellow River channel can be used to create shallow ponds for retting hemp,” Du Min said. “I want to build the paper mill between the depressions and flatlands of the old Yellow River channel, so that we can make use of both the silt and the water.”

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Author's Note: Only one update tonight.