Chapter 560 Dunqiu
When the first month was about to pass, Shao Xun was finally willing to leave Wang Jingfeng's arms and began his routine inspection.
The first stop is at Dunqiu.
The sky is blue, the fields are vast, the wind blows and the grass is low, and not a single person can be seen.
This is Dunqiu, there are too few people.
But Shao Xun also had to bear part of the blame for the small number of people. Who allowed Lemo to take away a large number of local soldiers and civilians when he retreated?
There is a blame for the Eight Kings' Rebellion, a blame for the Gongshi Fan Rebellion, a blame for the Jisang Rebellion, a blame for the Huns' invasion, and a blame for Shi Le and Shao Xun's tug of war. With so many blames, Dunqiu will only have one. Those forts that are the strongest and most difficult to be breached still have a certain population left - how much land can they occupy?
When Shile divided the land for the soldiers, he did not like to resettle the population in Dunqiu. It was actually located on the front line and resettled the people. Who knows who would be advantaged in the future - Puyang County on the other side of Dunqiu was also sparsely populated. , a truth.
The governor of Dunqiu is Li Shou, the uncle of Yu Liang's concubine Li.
His ability is actually limited. His greatest advantage is his firm political stance, which is enough.
"Has the land been drawn out?" Shao Xun asked as he climbed onto the roof of a brick-burning earthen kiln and looked at the endless fields.
"It has been set aside, and there are more than a thousand hectares of cultivated land, hundreds of hectares of pasture and orchards." Li Shou said.
"Is it close to Baigou Water?"
"Yes. The land is mainly concentrated in Fanyang County."
"That's good." Shao Xun said: "Wei Huang County in the county will also set aside more than a thousand hectares of land and hundreds of hectares of orchards and grassland to make Lutian, which is almost enough. "
Just like the Lutian in Guangchengze was given to the generals of the Xuchang shogunate. The same as providing income, Lutian, located at the junction of Dunqiu and Weijun, will provide a considerable part of the income for officials and generals stationed in Hebei.
To win the war, shirtland is essential.
If the government is to run smoothly, Lutian is also indispensable.
This is what farming means.
Currently, less than 2,000 farmers are farming in Lutian, Hebei Province, which is not enough.
No, it is not accurate to say that they are "common people". In fact, they are "official slaves", which comes from the captured officials of Liu Han who did not surrender in time, the family members of the generals and their relatives of the three tribes. When convicted, they were collectively demoted to "official slaves". Slaves were sent to Dunqiu to cultivate Lutian and provide welfare for Shao Xun's generals.
"That area is all peach orchards, right?" Shao Xun asked, pointing to an orchard near Tuyao.
"Ming Gong has good eyesight, and it is indeed a peach garden." Li Shou said: "It is mainly big peaches, and there are also a few Xiang peaches, white peaches, Hou peaches, and Queen Mother peaches, all of which are summer peaches."
Big peaches are native to the Qinghai area and were brought to the Central Plains by the Qiang people. They quickly became popular in the north, replacing the original varieties.
Xiangtao, Baitao and Houtao are all new varieties cultivated by the people since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and have gradually become popular.
Wang Mu Peach has a long history and was praised by many people at that time, but it was relatively difficult to grow.
The above are all summer peaches, which are harvested in summer. The officials who manage Lutian will organize people to sell them for money. If they cannot sell them, they will be dried and distributed as welfare. If there is time, fresh peaches will also be distributed.
In addition to summer peaches, there are also autumn peaches and winter peaches.
Winter peaches are rare and are usually harvested in October (November in the Gregorian calendar).
The scholars of the imperial dynasty are very interesting, and they seem to be a little unprofessional. Shu Xi once wrote "Cake Fu": "Pedestrians salivate at the disadvantage of the wind, and boys and servants chew empty words and tilt their heads. Those who hold up the utensils lick their lips, and the waiters who stand up do it. "Swallow" - there is a saying, this section can be directly used in advertising scenes.
Fu Xuan also wrote "Peach Fu": "There are also winter peaches, which are cold and frosty, so harmonious to the gods that you can taste them as much as you want."
As for the taste of winter peaches, it is a pity that Shao Xun did not taste them. Pass.
Princess Xiangcheng often eats winter peaches, and Shao Xun has seen them too, but he was a little embarrassed to take them because she was the only woman who actively dumped him, and she was actually broken up with.
"Is there a Zaoyuan?" Shao Xun asked after getting off the earthen kiln.
"Yes, please come here, Mr. Ming." Li Shou said.
The group soon arrived at a jujube garden. When the official slaves saw it, they fled one after another.
“These jujube trees were introduced from elsewhere and are some years old.” Li Shou introduced.
Since it is "some years old", it is obvious that this orchard originally had an owner, but it is gone now. It's not that Shao Xun took advantage of it. The master's house was sunk into the river by the Huns Liu Jing, so it was naturally a land without one.
“Most of them are Xindu jujubes.” Li Shou said: “There are also Qingzhou purple jujubes and Leshi jujubes. The latter is said to have been brought from Yan when Le Yi broke through Qi. Hedong’an Yi jujube is famous all over the world, but it has not been planted. However, there are only a few jujube trees in Luoyang. "I think there are many jujube trees in Hebei," Shao Xun said.
"Shi Le ordered a variety of jujube trees, at least five for each household." Li Shou answered truthfully.
“Why?”
“It is said to be to fight against natural disasters and it can be eaten during bad harvests.” “It makes sense.” Shao Xun nodded in approval.
Now that there is a lot of wasteland, it is reasonable to have a variety of jujube trees. Later generations of modern agriculture took careful care of fruit trees. At this time, most of them were left to their own devices and they were planted without much care, but they were not without any skills.
Shao Xun got a farming book called "Pear Grafting" from Concubine Pei, which explained in detail the grafting method of pears summarized by Pei's manor, and even included the storage methods of pears. method to prepare for winter consumption.
"Growing Pockmarks" and "Essential Techniques of Planting Mulberry" were produced by the Wang family of Langya and secretly given to Shao Xun by Wang Huifeng.
"Pear Insertion" was sent over by Concubine Pei after she sent someone to copy it.
Three of them are very practical and good books, which are very critical to agricultural production.
Compared with pears, people at that time preferred to plant dates to prepare for shortages.
When the farmland fails, the jujube trees may or may not have a bad harvest, which hedges part of the risk and allows the people to rely on fruits, vegetables, wild vegetables and the like to get through the next year's production when the staple food is insufficient.
In addition, jujube wood is actually a strategic material.
Jujube, mulberry, and elm trees have been the three most common trees in common people's gardens since the Han Dynasty until the Tang Dynasty. Because they can be used for military purposes, this is probably what Shi Le ordered every household to do. Important reasons for planting five jujube plants.
Da Hu is actually quite thoughtful. His success in history is not without reason. He is a qualified contender for hegemony in troubled times, but he has lost his chance and is unable to turn over.
After visiting Zaoyuan, Shao Xun grabbed Li Shou and entered the focus of the day. He only heard him ask: "If we mobilize troops this year, how much food and grass can Dunqiu provide?"
< br>When Li Shou heard this, his head got big.
For a moment, my mind was spinning and I was thinking a lot. For the sake of Chen Gong's great cause, he wanted to force each family to give up the last bit of their wealth, but he was worried about causing unrest, so he hesitated.
Looking at his appearance, Shao Xun already knew in his heart that Dunqiu couldn't squeeze much money out of him. Even if other counties can provide some food and grass, it is estimated to be very limited.
Last year in the battle against Shile, 70,000 auxiliary troops were mobilized. If slaves and boatmen are included, there were more than 100,000 people. It is said that there is no problem with 300,000.
This still has river transshipment, which greatly reduces the number of personnel. Otherwise, more manpower and material resources would need to be mobilized.
In the case of a bad harvest, such large-scale wars cannot be carried out too much because they would consume too much.
"Okay, if you don't have it, you won't have it." Shao Xun said with relief: "This year we will take a year off to recuperate and let the people take a breather. We will talk about it next year."
"Okay." Li Shou quickly agreed. .
Shao Xun looked at the endless wilderness, secretly wondering when he would see these wastelands covered with millet, cattle and sheep, fruit trees, and mulberry forests.
The remnants of the Huns who attacked Hebei this year seem to be bleeding out of their home base of Henan.
Last year, many fields were planted with winter wheat, which can be harvested in May, when the food pressure will be reduced. If you can't wait, grain can be transported and stored in March and April. If the people of Henan work hard and hold on, they may be able to barely hold on until the summer grain harvest, and then they won't have to suffer anymore.
Of course, sometimes it is not necessarily the case. When the superiors see that you can squeeze oil out of the gaps between your bones, then it will naturally become bitter.
The people of Henan are not fools. When the shogunate discovers that you can still provide grain and grass, the original promise of not collecting grain after the summer grain harvest is likely to be invalidated.
Because those who contend for hegemony in troubled times always have a strong urge to fight, fight, and fight again. They wish to fight and kill every day to fulfill their ambitions. If it were not for the constraints of food, materials, and manpower, they would probably not stop all year round - I can help you from the first day of the first lunar month to the end of the twelfth lunar month!
So, they will definitely resist strongly, complain in every way, and make all kinds of excuses.
Because of the existence of the gentry, this kind of resistance is still organized, unlike the atomized rural areas in the era of the gentry's demise that were easy to manipulate.
In addition, the battlefield was in Hebei, and the Henan nobles could not empathize with it.
When the Xiongnu invaded Henan, they could still hold on with gritted teeth, selling their livers and kidneys to squeeze out supplies for you to fight.
But now we are fighting the remaining forces in Hebei, and their enthusiasm has been greatly reduced.
This is the disadvantage of indirect rule, everything must be discussed.
I can’t say, I still have to go back to Henan. Politics is nothing more than sharing the wealth. As a warlord with armed forces, you have to coax and intimidate, and make all kinds of promises and deceptions to get food.
As for the counties directly under the jurisdiction of Xiangcheng and other counties, a batch of grain was collected last year and the consumption was quite large. Let’s wait until after the summer harvest this year. You can't stand up and step on your own territory, you have to take good care of it.
Shao Xun visited Dunqiu for more than ten days and did not leave until mid-February.
On the 16th, he arrived westward at Liyang, an important river defense town.
At this time, hundreds of the first batch of villagers transferred from Jinguyuan also arrived by boat and disembarked in Liyang.
He immediately took time to receive him and called over the Hu chiefs in Guanzhong who were waiting to be summoned in Yecheng.
(End of this chapter)