Chapter 241 Water and Drought (Part 1)
As the saying goes, "Spring rain is as valuable as oil."
Spring is a critical period for crop growth and requires a lot of water. If precipitation is scarce, yields will inevitably be affected.
Shao Xun first came to inspect the more than 1,300 hectares of land.
I planted overwintering wheat last fall, and this is the time for jointing and booting, so nothing goes wrong.
Fortunately, there is water in Guangchengze.
With less rain, the 6,000 soldiers of Jizhou’s field army have to irrigate manually.
In fact, in places with a complete canal network system, artificial irrigation is not too troublesome. At least half of Guangchengze's fields can be irrigated through canals, and the remaining half will be gradually improved this year.
"After the wheat harvest, four hundred people will be transferred to Luyang and handed over to Wang Chan and others to lead." Shao Xun said while looking at the villagers who were carrying water for irrigation in the fields.
"Promise." The great farmer Chu Hui, the minister Chen Yougen, and the Dian Shu Cheng Mao Bang agreed at the same time.
Of course, the large farmers were responsible for the fields, but when it came to converting prisoners into auxiliary soldiers, the Lang Zhongling department needed to be involved.
To put it simply, this is the intersection of business between the two agencies.
In addition, this order needs to be issued by the Yamen under the control of Dian Shuling (eighth grade). At this time, Dian Shuling is not here, so Dian Shucheng (ninth grade) will write it down and go back to handle it.
The document issued by the king to the country is called "order", and Dian Shuling is responsible for drafting and issuing it.
Documents from all over the country are also received by the Dian Shu Ling and submitted to the Prime Minister and the Lord.
Sometimes, the Dian Shu Ling can even propose modifications to the submitted documents, and return them if they are not up to standard.
In addition, Dian Shuling is also responsible for personnel recruitment - in Luyang Kingdom, this power is held by Shao Xun.
Dian Shu Ling has five assistant officials: one is Dianshu Cheng (ninth rank), four are Zhishu (ninth rank), and there are several officials.
Mao Bang is Mao Er. He has a degree from Taixue University and is eighteen years old this year.
After the New Year, Shao Xun asked him to serve as Dian Shucheng.
The main job of Dian Shu Cheng is to assist Dian Shu Ling in drafting and issuing orders, which are generally more important matters.
The four governors deal with more complicated daily affairs, such as how many farm tools are needed here, how many cattle are needed there, which campers are needed this year and where they should go to weed and clear up wasteland, etc.
Dian Shuling is Yang Ming. He will go to Luoyang on business now.
From Dian Shucheng to the four governors, they are all student soldiers of Donghai First Phase and Luoyang Second Phase with Imperial College education.
In fact, they were the group of people who followed Mao Er before. Most of them went to Yangcheng, Yangzhai, Liang, and Luyang counties to gain experience as officials. A few outstanding ones were awarded government officials and have already The gap between me and my old classmates has widened.
"The land is related to the pensions of soldiers who died in battle, died of illness, or were disabled, so we must not be careless. How much millet were harvested last year?" Shao Xun asked.
"More than 278,000 dendrobiums have been deposited in Yong'an warehouse." Less than four months after Chu Hui took over the position of Da Nong, he had already sorted this out. He only heard him say: "Yong'an The warehouse can store millions of grains and was completed in July last year. "
The main work of Guangcheng Garden last year was the construction of Yongjia Cangcheng and ancillary buildings.
Yongjiacang City is very large. After two years of construction, it can garrison thousands of troops and store 3 million dendrobium of grain-it is still basically empty.
Yongan Cangcheng is relatively small and is not included in the imperial plan, so it is used to store private grain.
After deducting the pension expenses of about 30,000 dendrobium a year, most of the output of Shitian can be used to pay the military salaries of the silver gun soldiers. Silk is not enough, so grain is often used to pay for it.
The land will be increased to 1,500 hectares and then fixed at this point. It will not increase in the short term.
After seeing the fields, Shao Xun and his party crossed two wooden bridges, walked three or four miles southwest, and came to another field.
Yu Liang was already waiting by the roadside. When he saw Shao Xun, he immediately saluted and said: "Shao Gong."
Behind him were four minor officials who also saluted.
Shao Xun was shocked by his title.
I am only twenty-two years old, am I already called "Shao Gong"?
But strictly speaking, he is indeed qualified to be called public now.
Some people do not have a title, but because of their high moral standing or their high-level official positions, others will call them "a certain Duke". Shao Xun is a serious Duke of Luyang County. There is no problem in calling him a Duke. A little strange.
"You are in charge of Lutian now. It is related to the welfare of the government officials. We can't make mistakes." Shao Xun took his hand and said as he walked.
The treatment of his brother-in-law was different, and Yu Liang was very pleased with it.
In order to work for Shao Xun, he recruited two powerful children from Yingchuan who were attached to the Yu family, and also accepted two small officials from poor families and powerful backgrounds from Hebei.
There are four subordinate officials in total, all of whom are paid by him alone, and the cost is very high.
In February, he was just awarded the post of Xueguanling (eighth grade) and was mainly responsible for the education of the relatives of the public in Luyang County. But this meeting obviously does not require him to do this. Managing Lutian is his most important job.
Shao Xun climbed up a high slope, looked at the Tunding men who were watering the fields, and asked: "Are these the fifth and sixth battalions of the Qingzhou Tuntian Army?"
"Exactly." Yu Liang climbed up with a groan and replied: "There are still more than 7,700 people left. They are Wang Mi's remnants, mostly from Qing, Xu, and Yanzhou."
"How have you done after one year?" Shao Xun asked.
The land in front of me totals just over 1,400 hectares. It was opened in the autumn and winter of the year before last. A crop of millet was planted last year. Let’s not talk about the harvest. Anyway, Shao Xun didn’t leave a grain of rice. The land reclamation servants took it away - and even posted some of it.
After the autumn harvest, Qingzhou Tunding took over and planted a crop of winter wheat. "Quite hard work." Yu Liang said.
As soon as he finished speaking, a cry came from the field.
Shao Xun went out looking for fame, only to see Yu Jiabu Qu holding a scabbard and smashing it across the head and face of a village soldier.
There are ten people in the tribe. The leader is a strong man with a walking bow on his waist and actually has iron armor on his body.
Behind him were two men wearing leather armor, holding guns in their hands and knives hanging from their waists.
The remaining seven were unarmored, but were equipped with swords and guns, and two of them even carried rifles on their backs.
This configuration is fine!
The campers who manage the "concentration camp" have no problem at all, and are much better than the gang of bankers led by the eldest nephew.
"After the summer harvest, transfer the four hundred people who work the hardest and send them to Luyang and hand them over to Wang Chan and others." Shao Xun ordered, and after finishing speaking, he added: "Every day They were given five grains of grain as a reward, and the Silver Spear Army lent vehicles to transport them to the station. "
" Nuo," Chu Hui and others said in unison. Responded.
Lutian will also expand to 1,500 hectares this year and then maintain this scale.
Of course, it is called "Lu Tian", but more than 90% of the fields still produce food for the government. After all, only a dozen officials have been given out now, and a total of 49 hectares of land have been allocated.
“Are those leeks or woidong?” Shao Xun asked, pointing to a field next to a forest.
“Go back to Mr. Shao——” Yu Liang replied.
“Call me Langjun.”
“Back to Langjun.” Yu Liang said: “That is Prime Minister Cui’s Lutian, with a total of six hectares. Five of them were planted after last year’s autumn harvest. This year, another hectare of land was cleared for wheat, and Cui Xiang’s family arrived and ordered them to grow vegetables.”
Theoretically, officials can choose what crops to grow in their Lutian. In fact, the official government is to work out the fields and people, and the harvest belongs to you as part of your salary.
During the Liu Song Dynasty, Tao Qian was Peng Zeling and had three hectares of land.
At that time, many officials were too lazy to care about what to grow in their Lutian, so a department arranged to plant "秫" (shú, glutinous rice).
But Tao Qian's family disagreed. "My wife insisted on planting rice (jīng, japonica rice), so she planted two hectares and fifty acres of rice and fifty acres of rice."
This meeting in the Western Jin Dynasty , Lutian is sometimes called "vegetable field", and it does not necessarily grow food.
It's up to you to take as much or as little as you want, just don't call out if you suffer a loss.
"Xiang Cui manages things well." Shao Xun said with a smile.
Everyone laughed a bit, and at the same time secretly thought, should they also consider how to run Lutian?
As long as their collective is not wiped out, as long as Guangchengze is not severely damaged, and as long as they do not defect to others, these Lutian will be theirs.
Generally speaking, people can be promoted slowly even if they have completed their qualifications, and their salary will only increase, not decrease.
It is true that growing corn and wheat is not enough to earn money, but growing vegetables and melons may be more profitable.
"Why don't I have a field?" Shao Xun made a joke after seeing people watering the fields. His nervousness was greatly relieved.
"Ming Gong——" Chu Hui took a step forward and said.
"Stop, you also call me husband." Shao Xun said helplessly.
"Okay." Chu Hui smiled sheepishly, and then said: "Langjun has ten hectares of land, and Queen Hui sent people to plant grass. It has turned green now and is growing very well. There is a lot of grass. Forty people are employed to take care of it.”
Shao Xun was a little surprised, but he didn't know about this, so he asked: "Where did the grass come from?"
Unexpectedly, Chu Hui was even more surprised and said: "Zhang Qian stayed abroad for eighteen years and got alfalfa back. It is found in the fields of Xizhou (Guanxi) today. It grows seedlings every year and can be harvested three times a year."
Shao Xun nodded.
It turned out that Zhang Qian brought it back when he was on an envoy to the Western Regions. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty really spent a lot of effort to raise horses, even considering the forage. It's a pity that it has not been promoted throughout the north for more than three hundred years. At least in Guangchengze, there is not much high-quality, high-calorie forage.
Forage can of course also be grown artificially.
In fact, the yield and quality of artificial cultivation are much higher than those of wild ones, and they can be cut three times a year. Sheep Xianrong had ten hectares of alfalfa planted, apparently to raise livestock.
This woman!
Shao Xun mentioned Duotian once, Yang Xianrong wrote it down, and then worked hard to operate it properly.
Shao Xun said that he liked to eat meat and drink milk. Sheep Xianrong took note of it again, and actually planted ten hectares of pasture to raise livestock.
Shao Xun was a little moved.
He took another look at the farmland covered with alfalfa, and then said to Chu Hui: "There are seven large rivers in Guangchengze that replenish water. Send people to keep an eye on these rivers, and then find people to record the amount of rain. This year, I'm afraid it won't happen. So simple."
"Lang Jun said there is a possibility of drought?" Chu Hui asked in surprise.
"It's hard to say." Shao Xun was not sure, so he could only sigh: "I came here and walked around, and I feel a little more relieved. But if there is a severe drought, most of the hundreds of large and small lakes in Guangchengze will remain. If we don’t live there, we’ll have to go far to irrigate the farmland. I’m afraid we won’t be able to use them anymore. I don’t know how much production will be reduced this year.”
said! After that, we took people to the north, which is a dense area of fields and lakes.
(End of this chapter)