Puzzled, they found an old man wearing worn straw sandals and tattered clothes, but with a beaming face, and asked him about the situation.
"You must be from out of town," the stopped old man wasn't annoyed and looked at them cheerfully. "Our lives have purpose now, of course we're happy."
"What purpose?!" His clothing didn't suggest some with prospects.
"Farming has purpose!" The old man pointed at his own clothes, then at others. "Don't judge by my ragged clothes now. After the autumn harvest, I can dress like them too."
He pointed to some better-dressed people on the street. The envoys found it hard to believe. Unless he owned dozens of mu of poor land, how could he achieve middle-class clothing after the harvest?
"Don't doubt it," the old man, quite familiar, said smiling. "This year, my family planted mu of pinellia tuber. Ji'an Medical Clinic said they'd buy it at hundred twenty wen per jin. My mu should yield about hundred jin, earning me fourteen taels of silver!"
That was the income from fourteen mu of good harvest land, achieved on just mu! How could he not be happy?!
"Really?!" The envoys were shocked by the price. Fourteen taels from mu of land?! That meant mu al could pay tael and four hundred wen in tax?!
"Of course it's true! If you don't believe me, ask any! Our whole Taoyuan County is planting pinellia tuber! This is a low price now! Last year, Ji'an Medical Clinic bought it at three hundred wen per jin!"
Outsiders were so easily amazed!
The old man shook his head at their expressions, somewhat regretful. It was a pity Magistrate Min hadn't chosen their village for the experiment last year, or they could have earned my for an extra year!
"The whole county is planting it?!" The Ministry of Revenue personnel were stunned. "Can they sell so much?!"
If every family planted mu, how many mu would the whole county have? How much tax would that be?! And the key point—could medical clinic handle such a massive yield?!
"How could it not sell!" The old man looked at them as if they were fools. "Ji'an Medical Clinic has a cough pill made with pinellia tuber that sells extremely well. Before, they lacked raw materials and couldn't build a reputation. Now with enough materials, they're selling to other Administration Commissions!"
Ji'an Medical Clinic built its fortune on medicinal pills and had a good reputation throughout Changnan. Unfortunately, as a business, no matter how large, the land they could own was limited. Their own medicinal herbs could only supply clinics within their own Commission; they couldn't help other Commissions.
But now, with counties in Taoyuan promoting herb cultivation, they naturally wanted to expand!
The old man added, particularly regretful: "It's just that too many people are planting it! The price has dropped a lot! If it were still the original three hundred wen per jin, my mu could earn thirty taels!"
"Fourteen taels is still a lot!"
The Ministry of Revenue people couldn't even calculate how much more tax Taoyuan County would yield this year! They thought Yong'an Prefecture doubling last year's revenue would be excellent, but now it seemed they had been too conservative!
"Ours is nothing," the old man shook his head. "Go to Pingxi County, Yunmeng County, Mishan County—those places will really amaze you!"
"Their Pingxi County grows astragalus. I heard they connected with a major medical clinic south of the Yangtze that buys as much as they have at hundred fifty wen! They can harvest three hundred jin from just two fen of land! Every household dedicates two fen of vegetable garden and earns thirty taels a year!"
"Mishan County's ginger also yields thirty taels from two fen! Hey, two fen is just a palm-sized plot! It doesn't interfere with their grain fields! We can't compare!"
"Oh!" As if he hadn't said enough, the old man remembered something else. "And Yunmeng County! Their mulberry wine sells for hundred fifty wen a jar! They buy unwanted mulberries for ten wen a jin! Their county raises silkworms; every household has at least a hundred trees! The my is like picking it up off the ground!"
"Only Anning next door is slightly worse with their sugarcane sugar. But they have sugar refineries; families growing sugarcane get five or ten wen off when buying sugar. It's not bad either!"
After this comparison, the Ministry of Revenue officials felt their fingers tingling with excitement. Just the taxes from these few counties in Yong'an Prefecture this year would be an astronomical figure?! Not to mention everything else!
No wonder Taoyuan County had built so many shops in two years! The people's standard of living had improved, more were willing to spend my—of course business was good!
"You outsiders shouldn't just stay in Taoyuan County. Go see other places too, buy some local products," the old man said. While he talked about other counties, passersby noticed this group of outsiders. After he finished, some suggested: "Go buy wine, buy sugar! Or at least visit Xinghua Village! The people there are great at making food with ginger!"
"Don't be afraid it's a village. Here," afraid they couldn't find it, he pointed the way. "See that black road? That's our Yong'an Prefecture specialty—the coal cinder road! Whether you have an ox cart, mule cart, or horse carriage, it's not bumpy at all! It connects to every county!"
"Xinghua Village has coal cinder roads connecting to Yong'an and even to Changnan! And their village houses are all blue-brick tile houses, no worse than the county town! Don't worry about lodging; the village homes are clean and tidy, better than county inns!"
Even the old man looked yearning. He also wanted to visit Xinghua Village. Every's improved lives were thanks to Scholar Xu and his husband from Xinghua. They were grateful people. If they couldn't see their benefactors, they could at least contribute to their village.
The envoys from the capital, hearing the Taoyuan locals, went to the coal cinder road. Seeing the long, solid, black road, they tried walking on it.
"It's really smooth!"
"Feels even better than walking on blue bricks!"
"And it won't wash away in rain!"
Some splashed water on the road to test it. The water didn't sink in but flowed off the sides. This meant as long as the underlying soil held, the road would never turn to mud.
"Great road! Excellent road!"
"If the whole empire had roads like this, couldn't urgent military messages travel back much faster?!"
Sometimes even eight-hundred-li express dispatches got delayed by bad roads. If the whole empire had roads like this, any urgent matter could arrive promptly!
But this wasn't the most surprising thing. What amazed them most was the villagers of Xinghua Village, whose spirit and appearance were even better than those in Taoyuan County.
Had they ever seen a village where every household lived in blue-brick tile houses?!
Had they ever seen a village where every household ate white rice?!
Had they ever seen a village where every household had some studying?!
If some had described such a village to these capital envoys before, they would have slapped them for daydreaming! Besides the village landlord, how could common people achieve such conditions?!
But in Xinghua Village, they saw it—they saw their ideal village!
Every had enough to eat, every had clothes to wear, every had access to education—it was unbelievably perfect?!
Of course, what astonished the envoys about Yong'an Prefecture went far beyond that; other places were no less impressive.
Villages everywhere planting and cutting trees, farmers raising chickens and pigs everywhere, and villages building roads all over—there was too much to take in, leaving the envoys numb, especially the Ministry of Revenue officials. They suspected they were seeing a place called "paradise on earth," not a remote small prefecture.
While they were conducting their inspection, Xu Huaiqian and the others in the examination hall were also writing furiously.
This year's exam questions were like gift points—the topic was increasing tax revenue.
Xu Huaiqian didn't need to carefully craft his answer; he just wrote about his experience growing ginger over the past two years.
Duan Youyan was the same. Having helped his father-in-law grow astragalus in Pingxi County for two years, he was almost intimately familiar with how to increase tax revenue. The only issue was his handwriting—despite practicing for two years, it was still somewhat ugly. Some habits were hard to change quickly.
As for Meng Fangxun, needless to say—he first grew ginger, then helped the magistrate of Anning County promote sugarcane cultivation in the village, and even participated in sugar making. Methods to enrich farmers and increase tax revenue were etched in his mind; writing the essay felt divinely inspired.
If it were another topic, Pei Wangshu might have struggled because he had two years less study than Xu Huaiqian and the others. But for tax revenue? No problem.
At home, he helped his mother with accounts every day, recording every tax item clearly. Moreover, with Yunmeng County launching mulberry wine over the past two years, more people were growing mulberries and raising silkworms. People in several surrounding counties had become wealthier, more customers came to his family's shop for silk, and business had improved significantly compared to before.
Better business meant more taxes paid—there was his answer.
The only who struggled a bit was Zhang Bingwen. Over the past two years, whether Xu Huaiqian was growing ginger or producing charcoal, he had seen it clearly in the neighboring village.
He could even write about tax categories related to Chen Liejiu's road construction, which boosted commerce and prosperity.
But perhaps because passing the Xiucai exam had fulfilled his grandfather's wish, he became bolder. He didn't want to stick to conventional answers but chose something he preferred.
He thought: since his family was so enthusiastic about farming now and had earned my from it, could they promote tools to reduce the burden? That way, while farming, people could free themselves to do other things, like trade, building bridges and roads, etc.—wouldn't that increase tax revenue even more?
Once Zhang Bingwen started thinking this way, he couldn't stop. He picked up his pen and wrote furiously. He believed promoting tools, improving tools, and liberating labor force were also excellent points.
Of course, he didn't know if the chief examiner would appreciate it.
However, he felt he was still young. If he didn't pass this year, he could try again next year!
He wasn't afraid of lagging behind others. After all, he was still small; even if he went to the capital, he wouldn't understand much. It was better to wait for Xu Huaiqian and the others to pave the way first; he could follow later!