"It's really a shame that in such a wonderful place, the military and civilians are so poor!"
At this time, Liu Yan stood on the bank of the Nanhe River and sighed. In the past ten days, Liu Yan's footsteps have traveled all over the Qianhusuo in front of Xiahe Village, inside and outside the Qianhusuo city, various military forts and fire road piers, and everywhere He had visited the farms and mines in the city and was deeply shocked by the poverty of the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city.
Ironically, the local conditions are so superior, especially near Qianhusho City, where there are large tracts of fertile land.
But why are the lives of soldiers and civilians in this vast land so poor?
After hearing Liu Yan's emotion, everyone around him sighed.
Standing next to Liu Yan were Dai Jingbin, the urban management officer of Qianhu Station, Xu Ming, and a cavalry officer from the cavalry post.
Not far in front of them was a water canal called the Nanhe Bei Huimin Canal, which meandered out from the Nanhe River and irrigated a large area of land on the north bank of the Nanhe River.
However, the situation of this canal is not optimistic. Many places have been silted and abandoned. Judging from the condition of the canal, Hebei Huimin Canal has not been dredged and repaired for many years, and the water diversion effect has been greatly weakened. Not only that. This is often the case in several large canals on both sides of the Nanhe River.
This is the upper reaches of the Nan River. Most of the water conservancy facilities here have been abandoned, unlike those in the Dapanbao area in the lower reaches of the Nan River, which have been renovated.
In order to ensure farming, starting from the Xuande Year, the imperial court successively dug and built five major irrigation canal systems on both sides of the Nanhe River: Beipingpo Canal, Hebei Huimin Canal, Zhonghuimin Canal, Nan Huimin Canal, Gongfu Canal, etc. Around these five canals, various small ponds and canals were densely built to irrigate tens of thousands of acres of surrounding fields. The water conservancy facilities that Liu Yan repaired when he was in Dapanbao were at the ends of these canals. It's just that they haven't been repaired for many years, and these canals are now less than 30% effective. Liu Yan saw that many originally good fields had become wilderness.
In October of the lunar calendar, the weather gets colder. Dai Jingbin rubbed his cheeks and beard, and reported to Liu Yan: "Sir, most of the essence of the farmland in Qianhusuo City in front of Xiahe Village is located on the plains on both sides of the Nanhe River. Sadly, the Most of the land is tax-free land that cannot be taxed."
According to what Dai Jingbin said, this is the farmland near Qianhusuo City. Originally, the fields belonged to ordinary military households and civilian households, and they paid a large amount of summer taxes and autumn grains to the court every year.
But now, most of the large tracts of fertile land and military households' farmland here are occupied by officers at all levels in Qianhusuo City and Acropolis. Most of the remaining military households' fields were occupied by local literati and powerful landlords. Most of the original military households and civilian households on the land had become tenants in their names. There are very few soldiers and civilians who can own their own military and civilian fields near the city of Qianhusuo.
From Dai Jingbin's story, Liu Yan knew that there were originally more than 30,000 acres of farmland for military households in the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village. Now, almost more than 20,000 acres have been occupied by officers at all levels.
These powerful literati and military generals occupied most of the fertile land, but tried every means to avoid the collection of taxes and grains. The heavy burden was passed on to the military households at the bottom who still owned farmland, causing them to become even more poor and even go bankrupt.
Dai Jingbin said: "Your Excellency, I will tell you the truth. The annual quota for the grain collection from the military households in my city is 2,100 dan. However, after I took office, the annual grain collection was less than 1,000 taels. Hundreds of stones, and the number is getting less and less year by year, military households are unable to keep records, and they are constantly fleeing. This summer, Tatar soldiers invaded again, and many military households have young men and women killed in battle. Not only do they not have pensions, but they also have to pay for farming at home. There is no one to do the work, and by next summer, my subordinates estimate that the military ration collection in Qianhusuo City will be less than 1,000 dan."
Dai Jingbin sighed and added: "The superiors are always urging and blaming each other, which makes the subordinates suffer!"
Liu Yan nodded and said: "After the army was burned down, nine houses out of ten were empty, and the fields were returned to the rich. The rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. With such a cycle of differentiation, can the army and the people not suffer? If taxes and grain cannot be collected, what are you doing here? The position is also difficult to deal with, Lao Dai, I understand you."
Dai Jingbin burst into tears after hearing this. The embarrassment of his former subordinate becoming his immediate boss has completely disappeared now. He just wants to hug Liu Yan's thigh and do something good. It was a good choice to make Liu Yan feel that he should be respected.
Liu Yan looked at the large fields in front of him and sighed silently. It was impossible to collect grain from these literati and generals. The huge interests would fight back and tear Liu Yan into pieces. A glimpse reveals the whole picture. After Liu Yan's investigation these days, all the profitable areas, commerce, mining, etc. in each city of thousands of households have been divided up by the powerful landlords, literati, and military generals. If he wants to make the army and the people rich, he has to find another way. 33
The Thousand Households in front of Xiahe Village is different from Wangjiazhuang. The interests here are as deep as the ocean. Although Liu Yan is a defensive officer, he is just a small Thousand Households Officer. There are so many Thousand Households Officials in the Ming Dynasty that Liu Yan is sober. He understands how much he weighs, and until the strength in his hands becomes truly strong, he will never put himself on the opposite side of the interest group, and will only take advantage of the situation.
Xu Ming followed Liu Yan for a long time, and he naturally understood the situation before him. He said: "There should be a large area of wasteland near Qianhusuo City. We will not requisition food from those literati and military generals. We will follow the old method of Wangjiazhuang. In addition, reclaiming wasteland and distributing it to military households and civilians who have no land should be able to open up a new world."
Dai Jingbin said: "Brother Xu Ming, it's easy for you to say. How much food is needed to reclaim wasteland? Places close to water sources are occupied by powerful men. To reclaim farmland in a land without canals, the investment is huge, and all water conservancy facilities They all have to be dug again!”
On the banks of the Nan River, the local literati and military generals were unwilling to spend a large amount of money and grain to build water conservancy projects. They actually built large-scale irrigation wells in places where irrigation was inconvenient. When the investment was too high, they also chose to give up.
For ordinary military households, they were even more powerless. In fact, the Ming Dynasty had always encouraged the reclamation of wasteland, but the reclaimed wasteland was eventually occupied by powerful people, and the increasingly heavy taxes forced them to abandon their cultivated land and flee elsewhere. .
The output is not worth the input, and the result is that there is a large area of wasteland lying idle near the Qianhu residence in front of Xiahe Village. But no one is willing to go to cultivate it.
Along the Nan River, the literati and military generals were unwilling to spend money and food to repair water conservancy. Liu Yan was also not interested in spending money and food to dredge these canals and make useless efforts for these fields that could not collect tax revenue.
Liu Yan said: "There is no other way but to reclaim wasteland. Although the investment is huge, as long as we get through the initial hurdle, things will be easier to handle in the future."
Liu Yan estimated that to reclaim wasteland far away from the river, the only way to dig deep wells is to dig deep brick wells. After all costs, it would cost more than 20 taels of silver. Each well could irrigate more than 20 acres of farmland, although Liu Yan could come up with various methods. To save financial resources, but the final investment is still very large.
At this time, Liu Yan missed the high-yielding and drought-tolerant crops of later generations, such as red potatoes and potatoes. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to transplant such high-yielding crops. Even if these crops are found, there are no corresponding improved varieties adapted to the local geographical climate. Even if they are planted reluctantly, the yield will not reach satisfactory results.
During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, when Yang He, Hong Chengchou, Zhang Yixian and others were governing Shaanxi, in order to achieve results, Zhang Yixian forcibly promoted sweet potatoes and white potatoes in Shaanxi, but the result was a civil unrest. In fact, high-yielding crops such as sweet potatoes were not widely promoted in northern China until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. This was not because the government did not try its best, but because of the seeds. High-yield seeds of sweet potatoes were not cultivated until the middle of the Qing Dynasty. At this time, the Ming Dynasty There is no end.
Liu Yan estimated that in the next few decades, he would not need to think about those high-yielding and drought-resistant crops. However, he knew from the experience of Dapanbao and Wangjiazhuang that as long as there is a good system and planning to allow soldiers and civilians to plant with peace of mind, It is not difficult to solve the food problem of soldiers and civilians. In particular, the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village is so rich in resources. As long as it is managed well, the Qianhu Station in Xiahe Village can become a rich place for Lingshan Guard.
In later generations, Liu Yan had a profound research on the history and geography of the late Ming Dynasty. Based on his understanding of the geography of the Qianhu Site in front of Xiahe Village, this is the Qianhu Site in front of Xiahe Village. In later generations, Jiaonan County had more than 400,000 acres of cultivated land, most of which was still irrigated land. Since the Longqing Year, thousands of households in front of Xiahe Village have grown various vegetables, sorghum, and corn. Even if tens of thousands of acres of the fields are occupied by the powerful, the remaining fields can be cultivated to meet the farming needs of the military and civilians.
Not only that, there are also a large number of mountain forest farms in Qianhu Village in front of Xiahe Village. Tiegu Mountain in the north and Langya Mountain in the south are both very good forest farms, covering an area of nearly two million acres, and they can raise cattle and sheep for Liu Yan. Horses and large-scale breeding of livestock such as poultry provided a good foundation. In later generations, the livestock industry in Jiaonan County was also very developed. There are also rich coal and iron resources in Qianhu Station of Xiahe Village, which can provide a large amount of production raw materials for Liu Yan to develop military handicraft industry.
In later generations, the population of Jiaonan County was as many as 300,000, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the population reached about 100,000. With so much arable land resources, I dare not say that we can feed more than 300,000 people, but it is still possible to feed 100,000 people.
Looking at the vast land in front of him, Liu Yan's heart surged with pride. In two years, he would feed all the soldiers and civilians in the territory and train an elite semi-firearmed army of 5,000 people. This was Liu Yan's long-term goal as a defense officer. In order to achieve this goal, I will eliminate all obstacles with the force of thunder!
On October 26, the weather became even colder, with biting cold wind blowing in from behind the thick curtains from time to time, bringing some chill to the house.
"I heard that the defense master has returned from outside Qianhushuo City. It's so cold that I don't know what he is doing outside the city these days."
At this time, we were in Baihu Chixu's house. There was a blazing charcoal fire in the house, coupled with the mellow spirits, the people in the house couldn't help but feel drunk.
In addition to Chi Xu, those around the table were Huang Wenxian from the Baihu household and Wang Yichuan, the town governor. The person speaking at this time was the extremely fat Huang Wenxian from the Baihu household.
After listening to Huang Wenxian's words, Chi Xu pondered for a moment and said, "I heard that Lord Defense, together with the garrison officer Dai Jingbin, inspected the fields everywhere. Isn't he going to levy taxes and grain on our fields?"
The governor of the town, Wang Yichuan, said: "Don't worry about this. I don't think Liu Yan has the guts, and he won't be so reckless. If he really wants to do this, he will be the enemy of the entire Qianhusuo city's literati and military generals. He will also Do you want to stay in this city?"
Then, a sneer appeared on Wang Yichuan's gloomy face, and he said: "Liu Yan is still young and has little experience in governance. He cannot survive in a place like Qianhusuo City."
Chi Xu nodded slowly: "What Brother Wang said is absolutely true."
Since Liu Yan took office, except for the appointment of relevant personnel in Wangjiazhuang, all the remaining generals in Qianhusuo City and various forts have not been moved. It is said that there are three things to do when a new official takes office. Liu Yan didn't even get angry. While everyone heaved a sigh of relief, they could not help but look down upon Liu Yan. In the eyes of the officials in Qianhusuo City, Liu Yan has been wandering around outside the city these days and does not look like someone who dares to take care of things, which makes them feel more at ease.
Wang Yichuan and others have come to the conclusion that Liu Yan is a good fighter, but he is just a simple martial artist. The relationship between people and things in Qianhusuo City is complex. Liu Yan is so young and he was born as a soldier. I am afraid that he has been dazzled by this colorful world and has no time to enjoy it. How can he have the mind to care about other things?
It doesn't matter if Liu Yan is like this, they can enjoy themselves in Qianhusuo City as usual and continue to do whatever they want.
Some people died, but not completely...
