In mid-July of the 10th year of Chongzhen, Chen Xun commanded the military households in the fort to complete the land reclamation project.
Along the northwest direction of Dapanbao, for more than a month, Chen Xun led hundreds of military men in the fort to be busy and reclaimed more than 2,000 acres of land. At this time, there were more than 6,000 acres of farmland registered in the military garrison register of Dapanbao. Even with the land and population, Dapanbao was already considered a behemoth.
At this time, the total farm land registered for the first thousand households in Xiahe Village was only more than 70 acres, that is, more than 7,000 acres, and more than 900 shi of grain was paid a year. A single fort in Dapanbao can almost equal half of its farmland.
In addition to reclaiming wasteland, military households in Dapanbao also dug some irrigation wells and built many new channels for water conservancy. This was also due to the income from the soap workshop, which gave Liu Yan money to make a certain scale of investment.
However, Liu Yan also had an extra thought. The water conservancy facilities he invested in were limited to the newly reclaimed area in the middle of the military settlement, in order to prevent the construction of water conservancy facilities from causing friction with other surrounding Yandun and Tunbu. And the water conservancy facilities built are basically irrigation wells. Although the irrigation wells can not irrigate a large area, they are independent and can save a lot of trouble.
Liu Yan's consideration was also based on reality. Now going north and west from Dapanbao, there are many forts in Wangjiazhuang, such as Huangshan Dun, Shagou Dun, and Fengshan Dun. Although these Yan Duns do not have There are large-scale military camps, but there are also some reclaimed farmlands, which can be regarded as ration fields for the army in various places. Even further to the northwest, there are various villages and fields under the jurisdiction of thousands of households in front of Xiahe Village.
The land in these places is intertwined with each other, and many of them are private lands of various military officers. Therefore, when building water conservancy projects in these places, the ownership of rights is unclear and the property rights are blurred, which can easily cause disputes and greatly affect the performance of channel water conservancy.
Moreover, the construction of canals and water conservancy projects is very expensive and takes a long time. There will be countless disputes over how to apportion ICBC rations and how to distribute water after the construction is completed. Historically, there has been fierce competition for water in the Northland. Villages fighting for the same canal fought with each other, and canals fighting for different canals fought with each other. There were countless lawsuits and fierce beatings.
Irrigation wells are much less troublesome. Well irrigation is mostly opened by farmers exclusively or through voluntary cooperation among several companies. The property rights are clear, easy to use and manage, and less likely to cause disputes. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty is now experiencing drought in various places. The water sources of rivers and lakes have reduced or even dried up. The water conservancy effect of channels has also been greatly reduced, while the water sources of irrigation wells are relatively stable.
Therefore, under Liu Yan's order, Chen Xun led the Dapanbao military households to drill more than a dozen new irrigation wells along the newly reclaimed fields for the use of these fields.
The big water tanker by the South River has therefore become a last resort. After the more than 1,000 acres of land originally reclaimed by Dapanbao, there are no abandoned channels around it. To build a water tanker, a new canal and a pond must be built. Back to the above question, so only irrigation wells are drilled in the newly cultivated fields.
Dapandun now has more than 6,000 acres of cultivated land, and the population in the fort is around a thousand people, with more than 200 households. Liu Yan divided up all the cultivated land, and his family was allocated about 30 acres of land.
In the future, these military households will be Liu Yan's source of military rations and his source of troops.
When allocating fields, each household draws lots to determine fairness. After being assigned the fields, the military households were overjoyed. Seeing their happy faces, Liu Yan was also filled with joy.
As for Wang Yue, Chen Xun, Zhang Yi, Wang Bo, Miao Shao, and Xu Ming, according to regulations, the six of them are small banner officials and they all have to allocate ration fields. However, Liu Yan does not have any extra land to allocate to them. , they called a few people for a meeting, and informed them directly that they would no longer allocate the farmland to the six people, but directly convert the amount of farmland that should be distributed into military pay, and pay the corresponding amount of money every month.
The six people naturally agreed to this. Anyway, the six people did not have the time and energy to farm, so it would be more cost-effective to have some money in their hands.
At this time, all the cultivated land has been distributed, and naturally there is nothing to do with Tan Xiaoda and other craftsmen. However, Tan Xiaoda and other craftsmen just joined in the fun and took a look, and did not mean to be jealous.
Now the wages paid by Liu Yan to Tan Xiaoda and others are much higher than those of the craftsmen at Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village. The special one is Tan Xiaoda, the head craftsman, who can basically get it every month. Seven or eight taels of silver made this man who had just turned thirty laugh all day long.
“The white dew comes early and the cold dew comes late. It’s the right time to plant wheat at the autumn equinox!”
The weather this year is good, so Liu Yan decided to carry out autumn sowing after the autumnal equinox in mid-August. During this time, the fort was preparing seeds, cattle farming tools, etc. Anyway, there was still a month, so there was still enough time.
In addition, the fort still lacked some cattle and farm tools. Liu Yan asked Xu Ming to take people to buy some, and they would be able to transport them back in a few days. The fort had to rent seeds for autumn farming to all the military households, and lend them rice and grain rations. In addition, the water trucks used to fill the wells had to be drawn by mules. All of these needed to be prepared in advance in the fort.
On this day, Liu Yan discussed the cattle farming tools with Chen Xun in the headquarters of the general flag. Liu Yan decided to go to the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village to buy a batch of cattle farming tools. If necessary, it would be better to buy more than a hundred oxen, mules and other items at one time. Liu Yan now has more than three thousand taels of silver in his hands, which can be fully afforded.
Now Liu Yan has four teams of soldiers in Dapanbao, one team is not closed at night, and now there are many more strong women and young men in each household, so Liu Yan pulled out all the dozens of Dun soldiers, and they are out of labor every day train.
Now Chen Xun's team is stationed in Juntun, Zhang Yi's team is stationed in the salt field, Wang Yue's team is stationed in Dapanbao, and Wang Bo's team is stationed in Baihu Guanting. As for Ye Bushou led by Miao Shao and Xu Ming, they have always been elusive. Often no one is seen for several days.
So during the discussion that day, Liu Yan just brought Chen Xun over, while the others were scattered everywhere.
Suddenly, a Dunjun patrolling outside the fort rushed in to report that something had happened outside the fort. The chiefs of the three villages under the jurisdiction of Wangjiazhuang, namely Yandun, Huangshan Dun, Shagou Dun and Fengshan Dun, were all involved. They came with more than a hundred people, all armed with knives and sticks, and gathered towards Dapanbao, saying that they wanted to capture the military residents who had escaped from their Yandun and came to Dapanbao. In addition, they also thought that Dapanbao had dug up their farmland, and they wanted Liu Yan to give them an explanation.
Liu Yan was not too surprised, he just smiled and said: "What is supposed to come will always come!"
So Liu Yan asked Chen Xun to prepare supplies according to the discussion just now, and then he shouted: "Send the order, sound the gong to alarm! Order the small flag officer Wang Yue and the small flag officer Wang Bo to form a team and follow me to attack."
Soon, the gongs and bangs of Dapanbao kept ringing, and a total of thirty-six Dunjun soldiers from the two teams rushed out from the barracks and quickly assembled. At the same time, the arsenal in Dapanbao was opened, a pair of armors were taken out, and gunpowder pellets were nervously distributed. In addition to these Dunjun soldiers, many young and strong military households in the fort were also handed out spears. Even the women, old and weak in the fort were each given a wooden stick. At this time, they all gathered together roaring and cursing.
For a time, the entire Dapanbao was mobilized. While the military households were gathering, everyone looked angry. If anyone dared to knock on the door, they were really scared. Just when everyone was living a good and prosperous life, someone came to make trouble. This was purely seeking death!
At this time, the villagers and military households in the three forts outside Dapanbao, Huangshan Dun, Shagou Dun, and Fenghuoshuan Dun, met at the Nanhe River. Under the leadership of several village chiefs, they held knives, sticks and other weapons. More than a hundred people just came to Dapanbao in a dark crowd.
However, a few miles away from Dapanbao, they discovered that several military households from Dapanbao were spying on them. When they arrived outside Dapanbao, they were filled with hostile Dapanbao military households armed with guns and sticks.
Huangshan Dunjia Commander Liu Dayu, Shagou Dunjia Commander Shen Wenyun, and Fengshan Dunjia Commander Liu Qunyi looked very ugly, especially when they saw dozens of Dunjia troops coming out of Dapanbao. , armors are all ready. Although the shining armor is not painted and looks very rough, the luster of the metal shines under the sunlight. It is so dazzling at this time that it makes Liu Dayu and the others afraid.
"Liu Yan actually has so many armors!"
Liu Dayu thought bitterly, but what Liu Dayu didn't know was that Tan Xiaoda's firearms workshop now has enough manpower. Not only can it make a dozen bird guns every month, but it can also make three or four pairs of armors. Over this period of time, Among the four teams of pier troops in Dapanbao, each team was assigned three pairs of armor.
Nowadays, some military barracks are built outside the fort wall of Dapanbao to accommodate the new military households. Around the barracks, some trenches were dug and some traps were set up. On the trench, a low wall gate was built with soil, stones, wooden boards, etc.
The people on both sides gathered in place and stared at each other angrily.
Liu Yan saw Liu Dayu opposite him at a glance, and couldn't help but sneered. He did not go up to him, but asked several gun soldiers from the two groups of piers to prepare. The match ropes in everyone's hands were already lit, and they were just aiming outside. The military households in each pier are getting closer and closer.
Wang Yue also saw Liu Dayu's figure, but his face was expressionless at this time, thinking that once the fight started, he would have to present a certificate of surrender to Liu Yan.
The military households in Huangshan Dun, Shagou Dun, and Fengshan Dun were stopped a hundred meters away from the entrance of the village, and shouted: "Hand over our people, Liu Yan, get out..."
They shouted and waved their guns and sticks, and they just kept shouting. Among the crowd, Liu Dayu, Shen Wenyun, and Liu Qunyi were at the front.
Shagou Dunjia Commander Shen Wenyun looked at the men and horses in Dapanbao opposite, and felt a little nervous, so he whispered to Liu Dayu: "Do you think Liu Yan will submit when we come today? He is a desperado, and there is a leader in charge of the team. Support me, things are going to be difficult.”
Liu Qunyi, the commander of Fengshan Mountain Dungeon, said: "Don't worry, brother, this time we three Yandun Duns are here together, there are so many people, so Liu Yan is in the wrong again, what else can he do?"
At this time, Liu Dayu was just looking at the situation of Dapanbao inside the village gate greedily. He did not expect that Dapanbao would develop like this in such a short period of time. He couldn't help but sigh: "This Dapanbao has been destroyed in such a short period of time." With such a scale, I heard that Liu Yan is very rich, I will come here today and make sure that Liu Yan will bleed a lot."
At the same time, Liu Dayu thought to himself: "If Liu Yan can be made to admit his defeat this time, we can find an opportunity to transfer him away in the future. It would also be good for me to come back and take over Dapanbao!"
Then all three of them laughed triumphantly.
There seemed to be about twenty families in each of their three yantuns. They used to just farm quietly. Unexpectedly, after the rise of the big fort, the military households in each fort fled from time to time, and the young population was greatly lost. After the three village chiefs inquired, it turned out that all the military households had fled to Dapanbao, which made them very angry.
They had this intention for a long time, and with Liu Dayu's secret contact this time, the three Yanduns came together to ask for an explanation.
This time, there were more than 40 households in their three yantuns, and more than 100 people came. The strong men came with spears and clubs, and the women and the old and the weak also held hoes and poles. It was a huge force. The three of them also greeted a lot of people from several nearby fire road piers and tunnels, so that they gathered a total of more than a hundred people.
Looking behind them, Liu Dayu and the other three became more and more relieved. Under their instigation, the howls of the military men and women behind them became louder and louder.
