Both Sima Ping and Wei Xiushan chose to leave Vézé's inspection team, citing work as an excuse. Vézé did not find it strange. The two seemed to have understood something. Although this kind of epiphany usually did not bring about a happy ending, Vézé still agreed for the two to return to work.
Without the two leaders, the local officials in Shanxi were more active. During this inspection, Vézé discovered that the situation in Shanxi was actually much better than he had imagined. The local population, especially the rural population, was much smaller than he had imagined. The local official explained, "Most of them have gone north and northeast of Datong."
Although Shanxi was known as conservative, the people were not at all standing still. In the past, people had gone west, but now they were going west. Shanxi and Shaanxi were both heading towards Mongolia. Compared to Shaanxi, Shanxi had the option of going to the northeast. Agriculture in the northeast had been doing well in recent years. The northeast and the far east were sparsely populated. Under the new agricultural model planned by the country, each household could have 200 mu of land. Farming and animal husbandry allowed the people of Shanxi to live a good life. The energetic young people swarmed out of the mountainous Shanxi and went straight to the vast world. Especially the young people in the countryside. With someone taking the lead, they were naturally willing to go to the endless plains to make a living.
After the conflict between people and land was resolved, with the diligence of China's farmers, their living standards would almost certainly improve. Therefore, the barren Shanxi that Vézé had imagined did not appear. This made Vézé reflect on himself. In Vézé's imagination, China's problems were difficult to solve. Unexpectedly, Vézé underestimated the subjective initiative of the people. As long as the country could provide vast land and the country insisted on land nationalization, the people's initiative was far stronger than Vézé had imagined.
Before this trip, Vézé heard from the Fujian Provincial Party Secretary that the population in Fujian had skyrocketed and the real estate business was booming. The current governor of Fujian was the former foreign minister, Zuo Zhidan, so Zuo Zhidan was willing to tell the truth to Vézé.
Starting in 1868, with China defeating Spain and recovering Luzon as a symbol, a large number of Fujian people left their barren homeland to explore the South China Sea. Twenty years had passed, and those people had made a lot of money. People in their twenties, thirties, and even forties felt like going home. As a result, there was a craze for people to return to their hometown in Fujian.
After living and producing in Luzon and other places for twenty years, these people could no longer bear to live in their barren mountainous homeland. Therefore, after these people returned home for a short period of time, they went to various rapidly expanding cities in Fujian to buy houses and become city dwellers. With so much money entering the real estate market, it triggered the crazy expansion of Fujian City. Urban construction itself could drive the economy to skyrocket. Fujian suddenly realized that urban expansion, which could barely be carried out by the country's financial allocation, had suddenly become a profitable business.
It wasn't just Fujian. Guangdong, Guangxi, and other major provinces that had gone to the South Sea at the beginning were also experiencing similar situations. The people who returned home with large amounts of money gathered in the cities where life was more convenient. They naturally hoped that their children would no longer have to dig for food in the soil. Instead, they would step on their shoulders to advance to a higher social class. The southern provinces thought that this would lead to an explosion in population and unemployment. They didn't expect that the expansion of the city itself would create more jobs. Construction sites needed people. The design of water and electricity, hospitals, schools, postal services, retail, all these departments opened their arms to the children who had gone to school. These "technical departments" that needed more educated people absorbed a large amount of labor. Even the rural population with a lower level of education could join the physical labor force, causing a large number of rural people to run to the cities to find jobs.
There were fewer traffic police at the various intersections. Elderly people wearing yellow hats and striped vests provided by the government were in charge of maintaining traffic. A shift of three to four hours was paid by the government to these elderly people to buy enough food for themselves and still have some leftover pay. There were such people on the streets, and in the residential areas, the elderly people in the residential areas were also hired to clean and trim the greening plants. Whether it was the production department or the service department, the cities were suddenly filled with workers.
Since the people, other than lazy people, would not fall into hunger, the market naturally flourished. When the market flourished, the economy flourished. The southern provinces began to seriously study the institutional problem of "who should the money be distributed to." The results of the discussion were, of course, gratifying. As long as the money could really fall into the hands of the people at the grassroots level through labor payment, the people who didn't have a high income would still spend the money on basic living expenses. After the basic living expenses were stabilized, everyone had food to eat and money to earn.
And these ideas were one of the ideas that the commander-in-chief had instilled in the Restoration Party for decades, so the status of the Military Governor Vaize also rose with the great success of the policy. Although Vézé felt that these people would definitely come up with problems because of their ingenuity, he could only wait for the problems to come out. A relatively simple society was relatively easy to predict, but a country with a developed industry was actually very difficult to predict. At this stage, what could be relied on was not the divine predictions of some "far-sighted individuals," but the adherence to scientific theories to solve the problems that occurred. There was a very good joke, "Let me tell you a joke, economics is a science."
Shanxi lacked industry, so it could not see the modern industrial society of the southern provinces. However, in terms of the agricultural model, Shanxi had really entered a whole new era. In a situation where there was no shortage of land, Vézé had always been full of confidence in China when it came to agriculture.
After a round of inspection, Vézé was very optimistic about the situation in Shanxi. No matter what Wei Xiushan thought of Sima Ping, Sima Ping carried out the policy quite seriously. Every village had a school, and both boys and girls went to school. Every household could see things related to writing, so there was naturally no shortage of books. Spring Festival couplets on the door, maps and calendars on the wall. In particular, the various awards that the children had received were solemnly pasted on the wall. That position was second only to the ancestral tablets.
In a village cave in the middle of Jinzhong, Vézé ate salted vegetables, steamed buns, noodles, and some unrefined dishes mixed with meat. Vézé had to admit that the northern people had a relatively low level of use of spices, and their taste was too strong. But this was not a problem. Eating at the same table as Vézé were the young fellows at the agricultural technical work station.
They watched as the great Emperor held a steamed bun, sucked on noodles, and drank the broth like them. The young fellows were somewhat at a loss. But His Majesty wanted everyone to eat quickly, so they could not be polite and ate together.
After eating, everyone drank a bowl of broth. The hostess cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks while trembling with fear. Vézé sat cross-legged on the brick bed in the cave and said to the grassroots comrades, "What do you want to do? Tell me."
If Vézé asked them what they wanted, they would naturally have all kinds of ideas. But now, His Majesty, wearing a pair of jeans and an ordinary shirt, asked them if there was anything they wanted to do. This was truly beyond everyone's imagination. What did they want to do? Actually, they had never thought about this question before.
"Your Majesty, can you give us some land?" a young man in his early twenties asked timidly.
Hearing this, the cadres of Jinzhong stared at the young man. The young man was so scared that he did not dare to say anything else.
"What do you want to do after you get the land?" Vézé encouraged the young man. Vézé had always been supportive of those who were willing to work. For example, in Beijing, Vézé had said to Li Yifang, "I am very familiar with the model workers."
Although the leader was very strict, the young man felt that the status of the emperor was much higher than the cadres of Jinzhong. If His Majesty wanted him to speak, he had to speak. Moreover, he had raised this question many times, but the higher-ups had never responded.
"Your Majesty, I like to farm. It has always been difficult to promote the improved varieties locally. This... We always find good land to farm. Many of these improved varieties can only be promoted for a few years through the promotion process. These improved varieties have only been planted for a few years, and new improved varieties have already been produced. This... The people from our hometown will either say that we are lying or that we are tricking them. If we are given land to farm, the people from our hometown will definitely see the difference when they see that we are all farming. The speed of promotion will also increase a lot. "Although the young man did not speak fluently, his overall meaning was quite clear.
Vézé looked at the nervous expressions of the cadres of Jinzhong, then at the young man's nervous expression. He smiled and said, "Let me ask you a question. If you are given land, who do you think the crops that are grown on the land should belong to? "
Hearing such a direct question, the young man's expression immediately changed. "This... that..." The young man hemmed and hawed, unable to say a word.
Not only the young man who spoke, but the expressions of the other young men also changed quite a bit. The expression of the cadres of Jinzhong was even more unpleasant. Just as he could not help but scold the young man, Vézé waved his hand at him. Therefore, the cadres of Jinzhong could only temporarily shut up.
"Uh... hmm..." The young man held it in for a long time, then finally said in a very low voice, "Can I have half?"
"You are the one who planted the land, why only half?" Vézé smiled.
"... Isn't that because I also get a salary from the unit?" The young man's voice became even lower, and Vézé almost did not understand.
This was indeed a problem. Taking a salary from the state, planting one's own land, and then taking the income from the harvest of the land. This kind of request seemed to be quite excessive. Even though Vézé could understand, he did not dare to immediately agree or disagree. There was a long discussion about going to the countryside, and most of the content was the trauma literature of the scumbags. But in the 21st century, there were more serious discussions. Vézé had a deep impression of one of the discussions. When the educated young men were in the countryside, they did not have their own land. In that discussion, there was a point of view. "If these educated young men can get their own land, they will probably be more of a leader in the countryside than in history."
At that time, there were many people and little land, and the good land had already been distributed. Of course, it was difficult for a group of educated young men to obtain land use rights. The current situation was very different. During the Min dynasty, there were very few land disputes. Every village and village had spare land for these young men. Without the land issue, the young man's proposal involved a problem with the system. Vézé knew very well that if the system was not reasonable, no matter how good the approach was, it would cause a fierce debate. Things that were not legitimate could not be maintained for a long time.
Not giving the young man who spoke out the thoughts of the young agricultural technicians an exception, Vézé said, "I will seriously consider this matter, and I will also discuss it with Shanxi and even the Ministry of Agriculture. But I can't give you an answer now. Because I can't give specific instructions to you alone. I don't know if you can understand what I'm saying. Because this matter doesn't only involve you, and it doesn't only involve Jinzhong or Shanxi. If I promise to give you land, then I have to promise the entire Min dynasty's thousands of agricultural technicians. Can you understand what I'm saying? "
From the young man's confused expression, he probably did not understand. Vézé did not plan to give him any deep ideological education. He said to the young man seriously, "Whether this matter succeeds or not. I will write a letter to explain the result to you. Can you understand that? "
"I can! I can! "The young man said excitedly. At this time, whether he could get the land or not was not important. He did not even care if he was reprimanded or criticized for this. Making a request to the emperor, and having the emperor write a letter to explain the result of the matter, this matter itself made the young man feel extremely satisfied. He was just a small agricultural technician from the countryside, but he was treated so seriously by His Majesty. At this time, he felt that it was worth it even if he died.
When they drove to the next inspection site, the Jinzhong cadre asked nervously, "Your Majesty, do you really want to discuss this matter?"
"Do you think they are taking too much?" Vézé said with a smile.
The Jinzhong cadre immediately said, "It's not about how much they are taking. If they are farming for themselves, whose people are they? The government or the locals. If that's the case, I think it's better to let the locals do it. Commander-in-chief, he is not the only one who raised this question. There are many people who want to do this. We have also considered this problem. We feel that we can't let them take the country's money and do it for themselves. "
"I can understand what you're saying. But my thinking is not quite the same. If they are given land to farm, can they use the most advanced technology to farm? Can they play a leading role? "Vézé replied.
"Huh?" The Jinzhong cadre did not expect Vézé to be thinking about this problem. He vaguely remembered that when Jinzhong was discussing this matter, someone had also brought up this idea. However, only one person had said this, and he had not insisted on it. After a few years, he had long forgotten who had said this.
"Are we actively using science, or are we being used by science? Even if we actively use science, it is not easy to determine whether it can really surpass traditional experience in the process of practice. If it fails, will the villagers think that this kind of agricultural science is useless? These are all things that are very likely to happen. "Vézé shared his thoughts.
The Jinzhong cadre felt a little uneasy. Indeed, Vézé was now talking about the possible bad situation. If it was the Jinzhong cadre who said this, he would probably have rejected it. However, from the perspective of the government, since Vézé was so concerned about this matter, it meant that Vézé supported this method from the bottom of his heart.
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