"Whether the Balanced Rewards and Punishments Decree is properly carried out hinges on the Agriculture Office's oversight. I'll have to trouble Lord Lu to put more thought into it!"
"This is this subordinate's duty. I will naturally do my utmost!" Lu Yanyu said, bowing slightly to Zhang Tie. "Great Xia's official farmlands are all first-rate fertile fields in their respective provinces. Their soil fertility is comparable, and the amount of official farmland has long been registered and fixed. During wartime, the output of those lands must be weighed and entered into storage to supply military provisions. When it comes to yield per mu, it is exceedingly difficult for any province or county to falsify the figures. Altering numbers may be easy, but officials in each province and county cannot conjure grain from thin air to make up any shortfall. The types, quantities, and proportions of crops planted on official farmlands in each season are all subject to strict, unified regulations. The main crops are potatoes, corn, rice, and wheat. No one can simply plant whatever they wish or plant as much as they please. At present, the sole concern is that certain officials below may arbitrarily alter the types and acreage of crops planted on official lands in order to inflate the yield per mu. For instance, since potatoes have high yields, they may plant more potatoes and pass their quantity off as rice and wheat. As long as the Agriculture Office dispatches inspection teams to establish posts and conduct inspections in every province, requiring reports each season on the proportions and quantities of crops planted on official lands in each province, supervising whether provinces and counties plant according to wartime plans, and opening channels for public reports with rewards for informants, this can be eradicated!"
Zhang Tie nodded inwardly