Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 454 Emperor Shengwu Gets Angry

After a while, Hualei, who was very smart but appeared foolish, also understood Rong Jin's intentions. However, she did not say anything and just cooperated with Rong Jin in acting.

As for Xiaoyuan, Hualei also asked him to take some away to give to his classmates and teachers. As for selling, it was not enough, after all, there were not that many cantaloupe seeds.

However, later on, Hualei explored for a long time and made chewing gums of other flavors based on the flavors of chewing gums in his previous life, including cucumber, lime, and honeysuckle.

I put it in Yinghua Pavilion for sale. It's a small business, sometimes there's no business. The most important thing is to ensure that the working environment is not smelly.

While Hualei was secretly seeking benefits for herself, she continued to slack off in the Silin Bureau. However, this time, she couldn't slack off for a few days.

It turned out that Emperor Shengwu saw the report on the progress of land reclamation submitted by Lord Mo at the grand court meeting, and found that more than a month had passed, but the land reclamation work was still proceeding in a lukewarm manner.

None of the ponds have been dug yet, and the weeds in front have not been cut yet, but the new weeds behind are already growing like leeks and can be cut.

Emperor Shengwu was so angry that he threw the explanatory book in Lord Mo's face. He said that if they were not capable of opening up the wasteland, they could resign and go home, and he would replace them with others to open up the wasteland.

Lord Mo and Lord Yu were so frightened that they lay on the ground, trembling, and promised to speed up the progress of land reclamation. After returning from the grand court meeting, Yu Mushi hesitantly relayed Hua Lei's proposal to his immediate superior, Mo Linguan.

When Lord Mo heard this, he didn't know whether he really thought Hua Lei's suggestion was good or because he was upset because of Emperor Shengwu, so he directly scolded Yu Mushi.

Then, Hua Lei, who was sitting at her seat and slacking off, was called by Lord Mo to come before him and ask her about the situation when her family was reclaiming the wasteland in the mountains.

Since her boss asked, Hua Lei did not hide anything and told her in detail how she reclaimed the wasteland. After listening to her, Mo Linguan touched his chin and nodded. Then, he asked Hua Lei to write a detailed process for him.

Oh, bureaucracy, bureaucracy! Hualei was respectful on the surface, but she complained in her heart as she left Mo Linguan's office, returned to her seat, and began to write a book on the process of land reclamation.

It was not difficult to write a process book for land reclamation. The next day, Hua Lei handed the process book she had written to Yu Mushi. This time, Yu Mushi did not make it difficult. After receiving Hua Lei's process book, he read it once and immediately handed it to Mo Linguan.

After looking at it, Officer Mo Lin discussed it with several other people and decided to do it according to Hualei's approach.

Then more than 200 people were transferred to the two basins on the westernmost side, and they began to work hard to cut weeds and dig ponds. Because the people were gathered together, they were very active, and they watched each other while working, so no one dared to be lazy. In addition, the management staff would patrol and supervise from time to time, so the speed of work was much faster.

After more than half a month, the weeds in a smaller basin were all cleared, and the pond was almost finished. So, most of the workers began to deep-plow the land.

The basin here is more difficult to cultivate than the one on the Hualei side, because there are too many bushes. The roots of the bushes are winding underground and climbing on each other.

The roots were deep, so it took another half a month. Finally, the first layer of land was deeply plowed and exposed to the sun for disinfection. After a few days, large pieces of land were broken up, and the weeds were burned into ash, which was turned into the soil to start cultivating the land.

A few days later, a waterwheel made by the Ministry of Industry was installed in the first basin. Then they began to dig ditches according to the location of the waterwheel. It took less than ten days to complete the reclamation of the first basin. At this time, it was already mid-June.

In order to prevent the basin from becoming barren again, Hualei suggested sowing some fast-growing cabbage seeds. This way, they could be harvested in three or four months, and then rapeseed could be planted. Officer Mo Lin discussed it with several pastoral officials and agreed.

Next, it took another half a month to clear the second basin and sow cabbage seeds. By the time both basins were completed, it was already early July.

At this rate, it would be too late to plant rapeseed in the basin in October. Because Emperor Shengwu had to buy rapeseed buds in addition to the buds.

He also sent a shadow guard to the north to buy a lot of rapeseed seeds. He wanted to plant as much rapeseed as possible.

Therefore, Lord Mo went to see Lord Wen again, wanting to transfer the prisoners who were assigned to help clean the river outside to help reclaim the barren mountains.

However, Lord Wen is also in a difficult position. Although the people are in his prison, he still has to treat them equally.

This year is particularly busy. The Ministry of Agriculture has transferred more than 200 people to help plant rapeseed. Rapeseed planting is time-limited, so it is impossible to put aside rapeseed planting and transfer them directly back to the Ministry of Forestry.

The Water Conservancy Bureau happened to be in the cleaning year that is carried out every three years, so it has allocated more than 200 people to help clean up the clogged river. The summer with heavy rains is coming soon, and it is necessary to clean up the river.

Similarly, the Silin Bureau also allocated more than 200 people to open up wasteland. Now his cell is really empty during the day, there is no one.

It's impossible that if someone doesn't make any mistakes, the bailiffs can just go out on the street and accuse him of a crime and bring him back to the Silin Bureau, right?

Master Mo came back dejected. This bud had no choice but to sit in his seat and act like a quail.

After running around for a few more days, Lord Mo still couldn't find anyone to open up the wasteland. He couldn't solve the problem himself, and was afraid that Emperor Shengwu would blame him, so he went to the Ministry of Revenue for help to find a solution.

The officials of the Ministry of Revenue thought about it and realized that no matter the Forestry Bureau, the Agriculture Bureau, or the Water Bureau, they were all under their names, and they could not favor one over the other.

However, the corvée labor service in Shangjing City has not been collected yet. This can be solved. So, the Minister of Revenue submitted a memorial, hoping to collect this year's corvée labor service in advance to help the Forestry Bureau open up wasteland.

Emperor Shengwu saw that this corvée was usually more common at the end of the year. However, since it was done every year, it would be useful for land reclamation this year, so he agreed.

When Hua Lei heard the news, she went to learn about the corvée system of the Dasheng Dynasty.

During the Great Sheng Dynasty, every male adult aged 16 to 56 had to perform 20 days of corvée labor each year, with an additional 2 days in the intercalary month. If they did not want to perform corvée labor, they could pay silk or cloth instead, or a certain amount of silver.