Xue Huaian nodded and smiled, "If the northwest is full of Mr. Gao's desire to serve the country, why worry about the northwest not being peaceful?"

Gao Lian sighed, "Mr. Master, it is our blessing to see dignity today. Actually...!" He suddenly stopped and his face was full of embarrassment and helplessness.

Xue Huaian asked, "Mr. Gao seems to have something to hide?"

Gao Lian smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Master, everyone here is dedicated to serving the country. We have put in all our efforts to do our best to rebuild the northwest, but some people have misunderstandings about us..."

"Why did Mr. Gao say this?"

Gao Lian said: "To be honest with the master of the Ministry, many people complained about us at the beginning. Caomin's family did build a granary, and people there knew that once a famine encounters, Caomin will do his best to rescue disasters and never be stingy. My Gao family has been in Qingzhou for several generations, and they are all diligent, so they have accumulated some wealth. Every brick and tile, or even a grain of rice in the family, was exchanged for several generations of blood and sweat."

Xue Huaian nodded slightly.

Since ancient times to the present, these gentry and civil servants are indispensable in every dynasty. They look inconspicuous, but they are an extremely huge force, almost all over the empire's industries and control them.

The foundation of the empire is the people, but the hub between the court and the people is these local gentry. The orders of the court want to be conveyed to various states, prefectures and places to be implemented. Without these gentry, it would be almost difficult to implement them.

If you want to become a gentry in the country, of course it is impossible to emerge. Establishing a connection to the local area and having huge wealth and influence naturally requires generations of accumulation. Almost all of you can live in the local area for a long time.

"But some people say that when fighting, we local gentry only think about ourselves, selfishly, guard our family and food, and do not support the army." Gao Lian sighed and smiled bitterly: "Some people even say that we have today because of the imperial court. When the empire is in trouble, we do not care about the life and death of the empire. Master, these words, every word, pierce our hearts, and make us feel distressed."

As soon as he said this, many gentry and tycoons in bright clothes shook their heads and sighed. Looking at their expressions, they seemed to be suffering a huge grievance.

Gao Lian continued: "But how could those of them know that we are doing this for the empire. The grass-roots people dare to ask the emperor, the first thing to do now is to restore all industries, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce. The most important thing is the people who rely on for survival is agriculture. The fields are deserted and covered with grass-roots. If they don't grow food, what should they eat? The grass-roots people dare to ask, will the imperial court transport a large number of grains that are enough to allow the people in the northwest to replant?"

At this time, everyone was looking at Xue Huaian.

Xue Huaian frowned. Of course, he knew that the first thing to do after the war was to restore production. Food was the most important thing for people to rebuild. In the final analysis, everything was to re-cultivate barren farmland. However, to cultivate farmland, in addition to the tools for farming, the most important thing was to have enough grain.

Nowadays, even the people in the northwest cannot supply food.

As for the imperial court, Xue Huaian would not feel that there would be food to support the northwest.

Half of the four major granaries of the empire were empty. The Qingtian King in Hebei was in chaos, and bandits were rampant. The people fled, and the grain harvest plummeted. The food in the court was not only used to pacify the Qingtian King, but now there is a more powerful Tianmen Dao. Although Xue Huaian was not sure about the specific situation of the Ministry of Revenue, he also knew in his heart that it was extremely difficult to rebuild the northwest, and the court might not have much energy to pay attention to the reconstruction of the northwest.

But at this time, Xue Huaian could only keep calm and said, "The court will always find a way."

"Mr. Master, we can understand the difficulties of the court." Gao Lian and Dayi said with sternness: "We people thought about the difficulties of the court early in the morning, so they guarded the grain at the beginning. The grain in our warehouse is definitely not for staying there to get moldy and insects, but for leaving food to be left behind!"

Xue Huaian spread his eyebrows.

When Chu Huan saw Gao Lian’s righteousness and heard his generous speech, he was very confused. According to Gao Lian’s words, he seemed to be thinking about taking out the grain in the warehouse as a seed of grain, but Chu Huan did not believe that these people were really willing to contribute their food?

Now in the northwest, the rice and gold are extremely precious. It is indeed unimaginable that these gentry and tycoons contributed the price of gold. Chu Huan always felt that things would never be so simple.

Xue Huaian asked with interest at this time: "Mr. Gao means, are you willing to take out the grain as a seed?"

"That's exactly that." Gao Lian nodded.

Xue Huaian glanced around and asked, "Everyone is all Mr. Gao's idea?"

Everyone said, "Mr. Master, we are here this time to discuss this matter with Old General Yu. However, the old general is in poor health, so we thought about discussing this matter with the Governor."

Zhu Lingyue smiled and said, "Mr. Gao and others did come because of this. The officials did not dare to take the initiative. The veteran general was in poor health. He wanted to slow down this matter and see what the court meant. The officials just returned triumphantly. The officials wanted to return to report to the officials, but Mr. Gao was anxious, but today he talked about this at the banquet." He said to Gao Lian: "Mr. Gao, today is a reception banquet, and the officials and his party are full of dust. Let's talk about these things again."

Gao Lian immediately showed panic and bowed and said, "Mr. Master, he is a reckless man. Please punish him!"

Xue Huaian waved his hand and smiled, "This is a national event. You are worried about national affairs. If you share the worries of the country, you should reward them. How can you be guilty?" Xiang Zhu Lingyue said, "Governor General, if Mr. Gao and others really have such thoughts, that would be a great good thing. If the production in the northwest cannot be restored and the food is not settled, the northwest will fall into famine in the next few years." Xiang Gaolian said, "After I return to Beijing, I will report to the emperor that... Mr. Gao's food price should not be too high, right?"

"Food price?" Gao Lian was stunned.

Xue Huaian smiled and said, "Mr. Gao and you will never send the food out for nothing, right?"

Of course, Xue Huaian didn't believe that these gentry and tycoons would contribute grain for free.

After all, he is also a well-known person on the market. It is already very good for these gentry and tycoons to sell grain as grain seeds. Xue Huaian didn't expect these people to give out the grain for nothing, but they didn't get any rewards.

Upon hearing this, Gao Lian smiled and said, "What the Master of the Ministry said is exactly that our food does not require a tael of silver from the court!"

Xue Huaian was really surprised this time. Even Chu Huan felt it was incredible.

Xue Huaian was the Minister of Rites and an important minister of the court. At this time, he was at a banquet of hundreds of people. Of course, Gao Lian did not have the courage to joke, but his words were incredible.

Could it be that these gentry and tycoons are really reincarnated by living Bodhisattvas to save the people?

It would be surprising to say that there were three or two such people coming out, but there were quite a few gentry here. If they were really living Bodhisattvas, there would be too many true Bodhisattvas.

Xue Huaian was stunned for a moment and finally said, "Mr. Gao, I usually like to joke a few times, but... this is related to state affairs and cannot tolerate a joke!"

"How dare Caomin joke about state affairs?" Gao Lian said hurriedly: "Everything Caomin said is true, and it is also the result of discussions by everyone here. I will never dare to joke at all."

"Okay!" Xue Huaian clapped immediately, "Mr. Gao, I have already known your loyalty to the empire. If the emperor knew, he would definitely reward you greatly." He picked up the wine glass and said, "Come on, everyone, I would like to pay your sincerity!" He was really excited at this time. Although he did not marry Princess Xiliang back, what he should do was almost done, and he made a lot of contributions. If the problem of resuming production in the northwest was solved by the way, even if it was not the first contribution in this matter, he would eventually participate and have some of his contributions. Returning to Beijing with double contributions would definitely be a great honor.

Gao Lian hurriedly got up and said, "Mr. Master, Cao Min hasn't finished speaking yet!"

Chu Huan sneered in her heart, knowing that things are not that simple.

Xue Huaian was already very excited, but when he heard Gao Lian say this, he calmed down and smiled and said, "You keep talking!"

Gao Lian did not continue talking directly, but looked at Zhu Lingyue.

Zhu Lingyue coughed, then smiled at Xue Huaian: "Mr. Gao means that they are all wealthy families, with many families, and servants and servants, all of whom want to have a meal."

Xue Huaian said: "Governor Zhu, what do you mean? Let's be honest and honest."

"That's right. What they mean is that they are willing to take out grain as grain planting, and they can let the people farm." Zhu Lingyue smiled and said, "It's just that they have a requirement, how much grain they spend and how much land they rent!"

Xue Huaian didn't understand for a while and frowned and asked, "What does this mean?"

"After wars in the northwest, especially Xiguan Road, it was deserted everywhere, and the states were burned, killed and looted." Zhu Lingyue sighed: "Mr. Gao and the others came up with a way. They were willing to provide grain to cultivate in Xiguan Road, and they did not need a tael of silver in the imperial court. They just hope to get a part of the harvest after a bumper harvest."

After all, Xue Huaian was also a smart person. He understood, looked at Gao Lian, and asked, "What does Mr. Gao mean?"

Gao Lian said: "Everything is still based on the masters of the ministry. We have grain to produce grain. If we produce more grain, we will also cultivate more land. After a bumper harvest, we will be willing to bear the remaining grains of the people in addition to paying taxes in the court, so that they can have enough food and clothing, and we will never let the northwest see famine."
Chapter completed!