The sun was just right. Although the weather was still very cold, there was plenty of sunshine today. Liu Yan, Chen Xun and the other six people took a circle along the Nanhe River. In front of them, the Nanhe River meandered to the northwest. Along the two banks of the river, Wheat seedlings are emerging in some fields planted by military households or civilian households not long ago. It can be seen that there are still too few cultivated fields on both sides of the river. Not far from the river, there are large expanses of dry land.
Everyone crossed the river on foot from a small bridge made of dead wood and came to the other side of the Nan River. The situation was the same on the other side.
Liu Yan made a rough estimate that from Dapandun to Nanhe, there are thousands of acres of wasteland available for reclamation on both sides of the river.
In fact, the soil quality of these lands is quite good. Unfortunately, the water conservancy is in disrepair and irrigation is inconvenient. These originally good fields have become deserted. This is the case in various parts of the Ming Dynasty today. There is drought and little rain, and farming depends entirely on irrigation. Where there is water, it is fertile soil, and where there is no water, there is desert. It is extremely dependent on the irrigation system.
As everyone walked along the Nan River, they could see some traces of the original canals and ponds beside the river bank. However, these canals had not been dredged for many years, and the water flow could not flow. Most of them were now shallow and abandoned. This makes the fields a little further from the river helpless and abandoned. After all, the deep masonry wells used for irrigation cannot be dug by just anyone.
If the government health office can dredge and repair these canals, this area can become fertile land.
However, this matter can only be thought about. The serious disrepair of water conservancy in various places is a common situation in the entire Ming Dynasty. The imperial court does not have the financial resources to take into account the maintenance of water conservancy, and some limited funds are embezzled by officials for personal gain. Lingshan Guard does not have the same Regarding financial resources and thoughts, you can only find a solution yourself.
At this time, Liu Yan stood by the river and looked around, and saw the open terrain in front of him. What a good land it was. In later generations, Shandong was already a big producer, and Shandong was famous for its vegetables. But now the land in front of Liu Yan only Can be helpless and deserted.
Liu Yan thought deeply, Chen Xun and the others were all good at farming, and Chen Xun walked up to Liu Yan and said, "Chief A, this is a good land. If we dig some ponds and build some canals, we can recruit more If the army and the people reclaim it, this area can become fertile land in the future."
Liu Yan nodded. In fact, the Ming Dynasty had preferential policies for the military and civilians in various places to reclaim wasteland. Not only did the reclaimed land belong to the military and civilians, but after three years of maturity, each hectare of land would be exempted from a small amount of cattle utensils and silver. In many places, taxable grains were even exempted for ten years. above.
It's a pity that in today's world, it is true that there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. The national treasury is empty and a large amount of taxes and grains need to be collected. The powerful officials and gentry transfer their taxes and grains to the common people. The original investment in reclaiming wasteland is huge. After they are cooked, the government health offices often rush to hand them over for dispatch, causing farmers to be unable to make ends meet.
If we continue to pursue money and grain, we will have to force the farmers to flee, and the fields will be barren. This vicious cycle will make the famines in various places more and more serious, and also make the people unwilling to cultivate wasteland. It can be seen that no matter how good the policy is, it cannot withstand the exploitation of corrupt officials and evil gentry!
In fact, there is always no shortage of land at the end of a dynasty. After famines and wars, in some places entire villages and cities were deserted, even thousands of miles away. There was actually a lot of deserted land in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, but there was no stable environment for the people to live and work hard. It’s also a waste of effort.
Liu Yan was thinking about how to recruit soldiers and civilians to farm. If these soldiers and civilians could be reassured, there was still a lot of hope for the garrison. Historically, when Lu Xiang was promoted to the governor of Xuanda, the garrison was greatly promoted and he accumulated 200,000 shi of millet. Emperor Chongzhen ordered Nine sides are regarded as the standard, and there are many successful examples.
Liu Yan's initial plan was to recruit refugees to farm in the fields, and then let them all join military households, ensuring the source of food and soldiers. At the same time, it would also be a strong and cohesive group that could farm and fight in the future. Coupled with some workshops opened by Liu Yan himself, his power can continue to grow like a snowball, and one day he will eventually sweep all over the world!
Thinking of this, Liu Yan only felt that his chest was full of magnanimity. He looked around at the land on both sides of the river, and his heart was filled with pride. His tomorrow started from here.
Liu Yan and Chen Xun continued to travel south and arrived at the seaside unknowingly.
In fact, Dapandun is not very far from the seaside. If you walk in a straight line, you will reach the seaside not far from the Henan River, and it only takes more than an hour.
Liu Yan looked around and suddenly saw an abandoned salt drying field ahead. Although Liu Yan has never actually seen the scene of salt drying on the beach, he has heard about it, and the salt pond used for drying salt can still be recognized.
So Liu Yan asked a few questions, and Chen Xun on the side happened to know something about the situation. It turned out that this salt drying field was a property started by the previous Wangjiazhuang team officer, but it was later taken away by Dai Baihu from the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village, and several Shangguan of Lingshan Guards robbed it.
Later, the Shangguan officials who were entangled with Dai Baihu from Qianhu in front of Xiahe Village were also investigated for some reason. Dai Baihu did not dare to maintain the place anymore in order to protect themselves, and the salt drying field was abandoned.
"Dai Baihu?"
Liu Yan vaguely remembered that Mr. Xu was familiar with Dai Baihu, wasn't he? It was true that we were enemies on a narrow road. I searched the wasteland by myself and found the property that Dai Baihu had abandoned.
Liu Yan thought about it in his mind, then smiled and said, "Okay, that's it for today. Let's go back." Liu Yan and others returned to Dapan Dun to discuss the affairs of the fort in excitement.
However, there were so many things about the farming affairs that Liu Yan, Chen Xun, and Wang Yue gathered in the house and just sorted them out. Although Wang Yue is not a very good person, there is really no one under Liu Yan to use now, so he can only make do with calling him to discuss the details together.
After a while, Liu Yan and others felt that there were many things to do in farming. First of all, farming required a large number of young people. In addition, there was a lot of preparation work to be done. For example, future land reclamation and farming would require cattle farming tools, and building forts would require wood and bluestones. There are also rations needed by the settlers, etc.
If some canals can be dredged and built this year, we will rush to sow winter wheat this year, and we can plant some sorghum, millet, beans, etc. in the spring of next year. All of these require the purchase of seeds and farm tools.
Liu Yan and the other three talked for a while. Although the matter was complicated, the first thing was the need for population. This was also the most difficult problem to solve at the beginning of Tunbao. Without anyone, everything was empty talk.
Lingshanwei is a huge place. Historically, since the establishment of Lingshanwei, the number of households in Lingshanwei has not exceeded 1,000, and the population has always been around 5,000 or 6,000. As for military households, since the founding of the Wei Dynasty, there have been more than 8,000 military households in history, with a population of tens of thousands. By the Wanli year, the number had dropped to more than a thousand households, and I don’t know how many there are now. At present, the military households and civilians of Lingshan Guard are fleeing one after another. Coupled with military disasters, natural disasters and other disasters, the population everywhere is getting smaller and smaller, especially the young and healthy population is constantly losing.
It is precisely because of this that Liu Yan puts his mind on recruiting refugees, but recruiting refugees depends on luck. The flow of refugees is uncertain. Sometimes large groups of refugees pour into a certain place, and sometimes there is no one for hundreds of miles. I currently don’t have the financial resources to go to various places to promote it on a large scale.
However, when Liu Yan was in Wangjiazhuang, he heard the team officer Wang Wenzhen mention that disasters were widespread in Shandong, and there were a lot of refugees in Lingshanwei. Maybe they could be recruited from them.
In addition, the locals can also think of ways. After all, each person is granted dozens of acres of land. Even some local military households and civilian households, as long as they have a large family, can definitely assign some men to come and grant land. The key is We must make them believe in the prospects of Tunpu in the future.
So a few people discussed it for a while, and Liu Yan remembered the official document given by Wang Wenzhen, so he decided to go to the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village the day after tomorrow to ask for some more people, cattle, etc. from the officer in charge of the Qianhu Station. However, after the previous example, Liu Yan no longer had any hope for the future trip, so he might as well give it a try and get what he could get.
At the same time, Liu Yan asked Chen Xun to take people to Lingshan Acropolis the day after tomorrow to buy as much rice and noodles as possible for later use. It would be best if they could buy some cattle farming tools at a low price.
Chen Xun was naturally filled with joy and agreed immediately.
Liu Yan planned to give Chen Xun and others one hundred and fifty taels of silver to buy ten kilo of rice and sell a few oxen. In addition, they had to buy plows and all kinds of farm tools. They bought everything they needed and watched them allocate the money according to the situation.
However, Liu Yan estimated that he would still be nervous to spend one hundred and dozens of taels of silver to buy these materials. Although the price of rice and noodles has dropped compared with the previous two months, it is still expensive. Things such as cattle and farm tools are also very expensive.
Now Liu Yan only had two hundred and eighty taels of silver on him, and he took out one hundred and fifty taels of silver at once. He felt that the money was really flowing like water, and the expenses were still far from enough. Not to mention the oxen and farm tools, the ten kilograms of rice bought then will probably not last long.
Liu Yan's envisioned camp plan was to recruit fifty households first. Presumably, those people would be like the military households outside. Most of them would not have any spare rations and would have to eat their own food. Before the harvest is harvested, these people will be Liu Yan's heavy burden.
It's okay for now, we can let everyone drink some porridge, but when the heavy work such as building a fort and clearing land comes next, everyone will have more to eat. The elderly, the weak, women and children can eat less, but a strong man needs at least five stones and five buckets of rice a year, and under heavy physical labor, everyone has to eat some meat and oil every few days, otherwise they will easily vomit blood. To supplement fat and meat, it is best to eat some fatty meat. However, in the Ming Dynasty, fat meat was much more expensive than lean meat compared to later generations. Pork is really expensive now, and it will also be a huge expense here.
Liu Yan had a calm expression on his face, as if he had a pearl of wisdom in his hand, but he was still making quick calculations in his heart. He still had one hundred and thirty taels of silver left in his hand, and he must hold on until this month's soap is sold, otherwise Your own capital chain is broken.
As for Wang Yue, the task Liu Yan gave him was to guard the pier, and in the past two days, he had commanded the new residents to continue building nests. Wang Yue was also very happy to accept this task. It seemed that Liu Yan had already It's a great blessing to be able to take care of him as his subordinate.
Early the next morning, Liu Yan gathered all the Dunjun and military households in Dapan Dun. Before going to the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village, Liu Yan had one more thing to do.
