The farming affairs in Dapandun were progressing smoothly, and Shangguan was also proud of his face. So Zhang Hailin, the defense officer of Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village, sent ten cattle and some farm tools. Wang Wenzhen, the team leader of Wangjiazhuang, also Jia Hongyu was sent to deliver five cattle and some supplies.
Liu Yan was very happy when he saw these cattle and supplies. He called everyone in the pier together and publicly publicized how the defense officer Zhang Hailin and the team officer Wang Wenzhen were considerate of their subordinates and asked them to come and see them off. It is very useful to those who work with cattle.
At this time, Dapandun already had twenty-eight cattle. Among all the yanduns under Wangjiazhuang, Dapandun was already relatively wealthy, so Liu Yan called Chen Xun, Wang Yue, and Zhao Min. Inside the house, several people discussed matters regarding spring plowing this year.
Liu Yan had previously sent people to buy a batch of millet and millet seeds while military households were clearing up wasteland. It was already mid- to late April, and other Huolu piers had already started spring plowing. Now it is too late for Dapan pier. Others have taken one step, and more importantly, the weather has been a beat slower. This is the most serious thing.
So in order to catch up with the farming season, Liu Yan followed the strategy discussed by several people, summoned everyone in the pier, and directly distributed more than 1,000 acres of newly reclaimed farmland. On average, each military household was allocated about 30 acres of farmland.
Although thirty acres of cultivated land does not seem like much, in today's world, it is already considered a small landowner. There are still many poor people in Shandong who are jealous of it.
After the military households had divided their fields a few days ago, today Liu Yan distributed cattle, plows, seeds, rice, and grain to them. In order to show fairness, everyone draws lots to decide which cattle to own, so as to prevent everyone from competing for the stronger cattle, while the relatively thinner cattle will not be wanted by anyone.
This time, farm tools, seeds and other items in the pier were also distributed. However, due to the limited number of cattle in the pier, it was not possible to allocate one to each household. Therefore, under Liu Yan's arrangement, those old and weak farmers were The cattle were owned exclusively by one military household, while the strong farm cattle were shared by two families. After this adjustment, all twenty-eight cattle were put away.
Then Liu Yan was about to order the planting to begin. Although it was already a little late, he still had to start farming, otherwise there would be no harvest at all next year. Liu Yan can spend money to support everyone this year, but he can't continue to support them forever. Even if he can only harvest a grain of rice this year, these military households must be self-reliant.
"Everyone should line up and come up one by one to receive the cattle and rations. There must be order and no chaos."
"Everyone must register first, and then receive cattle and rations. No omissions or additions can be made!"
Chen Xun stood in front of Liu Yan and shouted loudly to the military households in front of him to maintain order here. Miao Shao and Xu Ming also brought two people each to help. The dozen or so Dun troops from Dapan Dun are also here, maintaining order under Chen Xun, either distributing supplies, tending cattle, or watching over the military households queuing up to receive supplies.
A few days ago, Liu Yan specially sent people to buy a large amount of grain, and today he also distributed it as food storage for each household. This is also Liu Yan's intention to push everyone to earn their own living, so as not to be used to it. , thus creating inertia.
At this time, Liu Yan was sitting on a chair on the observation deck. Wang Yue stood next to him and watched. He also complimented Liu Yan from time to time, such as his political talents, the best garrison officer in the world, etc., without changing his expression. Not jumping, even Liu Yan thought it was a bit too much, but Wang Yue said it very seriously.
At the same time, there was a table under the watchtower, and Zhao Min was sitting at attention, registering the rice, farm tools, and cattle received by the military households one by one.
Zhao Min wrote very seriously, and only after checking all the numbers was he asked the recipient to sign and post.
Liu Yan nodded happily when he saw this. Zhao Min could still be reused. He was a malleable talent. At least he had no problem with his ability and sense of responsibility.
Of course, after the cattle and plows were divided, they were not given away for free. They were only rented from the pier. The ownership still belonged to Dapan Dun, that is, to Liu Yan. In the future, everyone must also treat their cattle well. Every few months, someone will go to Dapandun to check. If they find that the cattle are abused or poorly fed, the cattle will be taken back from the household and hefty fines will be imposed.
In addition, all the military households also need to borrow rice grains one by one to serve as everyone's rations until the autumn harvest. Of course, the rice grains also have to be repaid, but no interest is required.
Liu Yan did this just because he didn't want to show his kindness. After all, these cattle and various materials were bought with his own money or came by asking for help. If they are distributed now, they will naturally recover the cost.
At the same time, Liu Yan also wanted to make his subordinates aware of compensation, rather than just waiting for relief.
Liu Yan sat on the chair and looked down, and saw that all the military households below were beaming with joy. When they were given oxen and plows, they all expressed their gratitude towards the observation tower. Everyone now has fields, and with the oxen and plows distributed today, they will have a happy life of wives and children, and they will feel happy just thinking about such a life.
Liu Yan was filled with emotion when he saw this situation. His land policy had come to an end. After the land was divided into households, it was up to these military households to decide how they would live in the future.
However, the history of China has repeatedly proven that after the Han people own the land, the great enthusiasm of the homesteaders and their desperate spirit to safeguard their own interests will radiate great vitality, and Powerful combat power!
After dividing the fields and cattle, Liu Yan has made a decision. From now on, the farm affairs in the fort will be temporarily supervised by Chen Xun. In addition to supervising the military households to cultivate diligently, he will also discuss any public construction in the fort in the future. Chen Xun also urged military households to send Dingkou to serve.
Of course, this is only temporary. After all, Chen Xun is Liu Yan's own subordinate flag officer, and his main task is to lead troops. As for the farming affairs, we will make other arrangements in the future after we have professional talents.
After all, Liu Yan couldn't handle every detail by himself. There were only these two old people around him, and one of them was someone like Wang Yue. If not Chen Xun, who could he leave the farm affairs in the fort to?
After all the cattle and other items were distributed on this day, a grand spring plowing ceremony was organized in Dapandun the next day.
Spring plowing ceremonies have already been held in various surrounding villages. Chen Xun and Wang Yue also advised Liu Yan to skip this step and just start plowing. There would still be some money left over.
But Liu Yan insisted on holding the spring plowing ceremony. This was the first spring plowing in Dapan Dun. It was of great significance and must not be too casual. In Liu Yan's words, it must have a sense of ritual.
A few days later, a thatch factory was built next to the Xitong Canal. Liu Yan also spent two taels of silver to invite a troupe from Qianhu Village in front of Xiahe Village to beat drums, gongs, and play pipes, and let the people in the pier People carried paper-wrapped spring oxen, plows and other items. Everyone marched all the way from Dapan Dun to the thatch factory. The Huolu Dun and Tunbao along the way were all alarmed. After hearing the news, the Dun Jun and the civilians of the military households gathered around to watch. It was very lively along the way.
Along the way, the military households in the mound set off firecrackers and threw rice, soybeans, etc. at the paper-wrapped cattle to signify a bumper harvest in the new year. The soldiers and military households along the way widened their eyes when they saw this. They didn't expect that Dapan Dun was so extravagant and even used real rice and soybeans to throw the food.
In the blink of an eye, many Dun troops and military households rushed towards Da Pandun and his party, squatting on the ground and fighting for the scattered food.
Liu Yan couldn't help but shake his head and sigh when he saw it. At this time, the soldiers of the Ming Guard were living too hard and too poor. Even the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were like this, let alone the ordinary farmers. Thinking of this, Liu Yan's heart became heavier and heavier. The world was like this, and he still had a long way to go.
Soon after Zhizha waited for the spring ox to be carried to the thatch factory, Liu Yan personally burned incense to pay homage to the emperor's thick soil. He led the three bows and three bows. Chen Xun and Wang Yue also followed with a group of military households to pay homage.
After paying homage to the gods of heaven and earth and praying, Liu Yan personally held the plow and demonstrated using oxen to plow the fields to signify the start of spring plowing. Upon seeing this, the onlookers' military households burst into loud shouts that resounded through the sky.
Finally, Liu Yan led the crowd to lift up the paper-tied spring ox, and after swimming several times inside and outside the large plate pier, he burned the paper-tied spring ox, and the entire spring plowing ceremony officially ended.
From this day on, the intense spring plowing in Dapandun has officially begun. The fields are full of busy figures of Dapandun military households. The happy songs of Dapandun military households farming can be heard every day along the Nanhe River:
"Plowing in autumn is deep, plowing in spring is shallow. Plowing in spring is like turning pancakes, and plowing in autumn is like digging a well. Plowing an inch deep in spring can hold one manure. If you don't work hard in spring plowing, your face will be hungry and yellow after autumn. Plowing is good, harrowing is good, and crops will not grow if they are light. Grass. The crops don’t recognize their father and mother, so they cultivate more intensively and get more grain..."
During this time, Chen Xun took a few Dunjun soldiers who had no family matters out. They were very busy, nervously supervising the military households to work. Most of the original Dunjun soldiers in the fort went to the fields to help their families with work. , they are all the strong young men in the family, the mainstay of the family, and the family's work cannot be separated from them.
Liu Yan has not yet raised retired soldiers. Of course, he has also considered this issue. However, if he wants to retire soldiers, he must give them at least one stone of grain, rice, and rice every month. This can make up for the losses caused by their family members, as well as various People's weapons, armor, horses, beans, food, etc., all calculated, it is a large sum of money.
Although Liu Yan now earns hundreds of taels of silver every month, after all, he only has the financial resources of a soap workshop. Once something happens to the soap workshop, there will be no way out. Therefore, for Liu Yan, it was too early to directly recruit young men from the pier to train elite soldiers in terms of financial resources.
However, Liu Yan still made a plan to expand the number of Dunjun soldiers in Dapan Dun after the spring plowing was over. Twelve people were still too few. Of course, these Dunjun troops cannot be off-duty for the time being, and can only practice during slack periods.
"Come on step by step. Now that you have sown hope, you will definitely reap something."
Liu Yan said in his heart.
