Chapter 218 Confidence
In the golden autumn of August, the sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant.
In the entire 1,362 hectares of land, more than 6,000 soldiers from the first and second battalions of the Jizhou Tuntian Army waved their sickles and began to harvest corn.
There are only a few millets in the field, so the yield is destined not to be too high.
While harvesting, someone even hit the remaining stones and damaged the blade.
When someone was harvesting, they saw half of the tree roots that had rotted, so they marked them and dug them out after the autumn harvest.
Weeds are inevitably cut down together, and the campers secretly sigh in their hearts. Every more grass grows means one less millet is harvested. There are still more grass seeds accumulated in the ground for many years.
Fortunately, the situation is improving little by little.
Compared with last year, the harvest per mu this year should be around two husks.
According to the rules set by Lejia, everyone can eat more mouthfuls and feel fuller.
The one hundred people with the highest output will be rewarded with two bolts of silk and will be converted into private households in advance - this will save them from four years of "sentence". Who wouldn't be excited?
Separated from Shitian by a river is a large expanse of lush woods.
The woods in the front, back, left, right and even in the center are like a leper's head, with so many bald spots.
Building a palace requires not only burning bricks and tiles, digging out rocks, but also requiring a large amount of wood.
Most of the wood used now is sourced from other places, but a large amount of bamboo wood is cut down in Guangcheng Garden and dried in the shade for later use. This has been done since the first year.
As a result, the forest and the bamboo sea disappeared one by one.
Of course, the impact of tens of thousands of people on the mountains and forests cannot be said to be that big at all.
Guangchengze is more than half a county in size. If you include the surrounding mountains, forests and grasslands, it is far larger than a county.
After three years of continuous development, only a small part has been sorted out.
The vacant land cleared after the trees were cut down was transformed into farmland.
Because digging tree roots took away a lot of soil, the quality of these farmlands was not very good. Even though a lot of silt and ash were transported to fertilize the fields, the yield was still pitiful.
Shao Xun could see this judgment as soon as he walked to the fields.
But he didn't talk nonsense, but waved his sickle and harvested together with the servants from Yingchuan County.
The Silver Spear Army also temporarily ended its training, and more than 3,000 people in six buildings took turns to harvest corn.
"The harvest has almost started in Luyang, right?" Shao Xun said, bending down and cutting millet quickly.
Yu Liang followed reluctantly, working clumsily, and replied: "It's a little earlier than here. In a few days, it will be finished."
To be honest, he I really don't want to do this kind of rough work.
He had no choice but to see Shao Xun’s face, which made him a little afraid, so he reluctantly followed him.
He resigned from the post of offering wine in the East Pavilion of the shogunate, and now follows Shao Xun, without any position, just like a servant.
Shao Xun was walking in the mud, and he wanted to follow.
Shao Xun went to the fields to harvest, and he wanted to follow him.
Shao Xun took a boat to fish, and he wanted to follow.
Shao Xun went to the ranch to look after the horses, and he wanted to follow him.
And so on.
"This year's newly opened land totals more than 1,409 hectares. If I leave it to you to manage next year, will you be able to do it well?" Shao Xun harvested very quickly, and the scythe did not swing much. , but the efficiency was extremely high, and he fell several steps behind Yu Liang in a short while.
When Yu Liang heard this, he was very excited and immediately said: "Don't worry, Lord. My family also has Zhuang Ke Buqu in Yanling, and they will definitely be able to do a good job."
"It's not that simple." Shao Xun smiled and said: "Qingzhou's field army has eight thousand people who have surrendered. They are not easy to manage."
When Yu Liang heard this, he also smiled and said: "I asked the clan to send twenty planners and managers. It doesn't matter if we send another three or four hundred troops from the Qu family."
"Okay." Shao Xun didn't waste any time, and the matter was settled.
Over at Shitian, the Yamen Army will have to step down from its guarding duties sooner or later. After all, it will affect training too much.
Starting next year, it will be completely managed by Nanyang Leshi.
They can pull out thousands of soldiers and send three to five hundred people over. It is not a problem at all and can reduce their own pressure.
The more than 1,400 hectares of fields in front of me were leveled after last year's autumn harvest. This year, they will be cultivated by the fifth and sixth battalions of the Qingzhou Tuntian Army (there are still nearly 8,000 people). Next year, they will be completely released, freeing up 500 hectares. Yamen Army to participate in any war that may break out.
After this year’s autumn harvest, some fields will continue to be leveled, and the labor force for farming has not yet been found. There is a high probability that it will be handed over to the villagers removed from Luoyang Sanyuan next year. It has now grown to more than 2,500 households, and it can be regarded as its own private property.
If nothing unexpected happens, it will be jointly managed by the third brother Shao Fan and the eldest nephew Shao Shen.
The third brother has been following Concubine Pei's plans for several years and has made good progress. However, with the help of Pei Jin and others, he can barely manage the manor.
Shao Shen is surrounded by a group of "evil youths" who ride horses, shoot, wield swords and guns all day long. In their free time, they also lead the bankers to practice, and they are more familiar with them.
The two of them working together, one civilly and one military, can probably make this new manor run. The newly opened logistics base in Guangchengze will basically have this structure in the short term: the Shaw family, the Le family, and the Yu family are jointly in charge, providing him with a steady stream of food and grass.
The side of Yushanwu is going to be handed over to my uncle Liu's family. His family used to be small military officers in the world, and they are a little better than the Shao family. In troubled times, nepotism sometimes happens. It's a last resort, there's really no other way.
The three major Wubao in Yiyang are managed by student cadres.
There are now nearly a thousand households in Green Willow Garden, which are managed by Father Shao and a group of relatives.
Luyang has Cui Gong, Liang County has Yangman, Xiangcheng belongs to Lu Zhi, and Zhou Mo recently came to Yangzhai where the county magistrate was killed and took office.
After careful calculation, we currently control ten counties, plus Guangchengze and several scattered manors and Wubao.
In the farming system, the farming part is basically "outsourced" to relatives - the wives are also relatives.
Shao Xun suddenly felt that his force was so similar to the Hu people in the Northern Dynasties!
He is now a "Hu man" specializing in military training and fighting...
Is this the inevitable development of history?
No, he still has room to struggle.
He also has a trick up his sleeve.
What is needed now is to quickly accumulate strength. Otherwise, when others have accumulated a lot of money and food, and trained a reliable army in a long war, and they come all over, what use will your regime, no matter how pure it is, be of use? The size is too small.
Surviving first is the most important thing.
******
After the harvest is completed, the first thing is to award the rewards.
One hundred labor activists were classified as civilian households and settled in Nanshan and Ruyang Erfang in the south of Guangchengze.
When these hundreds of people heard their name, they were grateful and cried with joy.
Opening up wasteland and farming in Guangchengze is not an easy job. It is not uncommon for people to die of illness, exhaustion or even being beaten to death. Being able to become a household now is a big leap in status.
Even if they are not given land, they can still live a good life by working as servants for others.
After they left, the others almost had eyes burning with envy.
However, a surprise immediately fell on them.
Shao Xun ordered the recruitment of 700 soldiers and divided them among the four generals Wang Chan, Hao Chang, Lou Bao and Lou Quan.
In this way, the four Hebei generals each led a thousand troops and camped in Luyang County to support themselves. Shao Xun subsidized them with a little extra food so that they could have enough energy to practice.
To put it bluntly, these four thousand people have now become de facto auxiliary soldiers.
Every time the Silver Spear Army went on an expedition, they would almost always drag them along and put some craftsmen there, which would be more than enough to set up camp, transport grain and grass, collect wood for cooking, repair equipment, and take care of livestock.
Auxiliary soldiers are also rewarded when they go on expeditions. Coupled with daily subsidies and their own farming, life is not too bad. Among these Hebei surrender troops stationed in Luyang County, some have even married and taken root in the local area.
After removing this group of people, there were only about 6,000 Jisangjiang soldiers left. They were reduced to one battalion and continued to cultivate the fields. They will start planting winter wheat next month.
"Yuan Gui, the Yingchuan slaves are about to return to their hometown. You are a wealthy family in this county. You can handle the distribution of surplus grain." Shao Xun patted Yu Liang's shoulder and said : "There is no need to calculate the accounts too carefully. They have worked hard for a whole year. Let's bring more food home so that the life at home can be more relaxed. Let's go."
"Your Majesty, recruit slaves to open up wasteland. I have always been so generous. This..." Yu Liang was a little confused.
"Yuan Gui!" Shao Xun slapped him on the shoulder harder, making Yu Liang grin.
During the Taishi period of the Guo Dynasty, a water conservancy facility was built in Ji County, which could irrigate more than 10,000 hectares of farmland.
The more than 10,000 hectares of fertile land newly added in Jixian County were all obtained from the Youzhou government's recruitment of slaves to clear up wasteland. When they returned home, they did not say that they would be able to bring home surplus grain—the so-called surplus grain, that is, the food left after the autumn harvest, after deducting the rations consumed by the slaves during the process of clearing wasteland.
What Shao Xun did can be regarded as good governance, and it also increased the enthusiasm for land reclamation.
"People must have a heart of kindness." Shao Xun said: "This opportunity to be kind is given to you for free, so don't let me down."
"Promise." Yu Liang agreed. , and soon found someone to take care of it.
Shao Xun sighed.
These people from aristocratic families really don’t regard the common people as human beings.
I thought I was already a black-hearted capitalist, but I didn’t expect them to be even more ruthless.
The servants of Nanyang and Yingchuan counties took turns to open up wasteland, and next year it will be the turn of the servants of Shunyang County.
Being nice to them can reduce the frequency of troubles and spread your reputation.
He has ideas for the counties of Xiangcheng, Nanyang, Shunyang, Yingchuan, and Runan near Guangchengze, and sooner or later he will occupy them one by one.
The human heart is an elusive thing, invisible and intangible, but it shows its power at critical moments.
In the evening, he climbed up a high slope and looked at the master's servants who were still working hard, at the harvested farmland, at the paved roads, and at the Looking at the completed houses, looking at the roaming cattle, sheep and horses, looking at the fishing boats dotted on the lake...
A sense of satisfaction arises spontaneously.
This is what gives him the confidence to fight with others.
(End of this chapter)