"Whoosh!!"
In July, in the festive atmosphere of the craftsmen, Zhu Gaoxu set out on the road to Zhaozhou City with a warship, ten horse boats, more than 1,200 Han soldiers and 500 boatmen.
Facing the retreating river, the soldiers and boatmen on the boat rowed oars, adjusted the sails, and steered the boat upstream.
"Oh, I traveled so far and didn't even see a single Hulu..."
"Who says it's not the case? I thought I could at least receive some reward after this battle."
"You guys look so angry, I'm just thinking about promotion."
"Look at the Northern Patrol. You can't encounter anything in the Northern Patrol."
"Don't be so ruthless..."
On the deck of the boat, Zhu Gaoxu listened to the complaints of the soldiers not far away, chuckled and shook his head.
The existence of Atai Wailan could no longer attract his attention.
The main reason why he came here this time was to find a place to train private soldiers and forge cannons and guns.
Now that the goal has been achieved, there is no need to create additional complications.
Compared with Ataiwailan, what Zhu Gaoxu wants is to fight Wu Liangha.
Atai Wailan's size is too small for him now.
For example, if the Hula Wen City captured this time was not located in an important enough position, Zhu Gaoxu would not even think of attacking it.
Those few thousand acres of cultivated land can only be cultivated in Jilin City in eight or nine days, which is really unattractive.
In comparison, Wu Lianghan's cattle and sheep, which numbered in the tens of thousands, were what Zhu Gaoxu coveted.
While he was thinking this, the boat was rowing and rowing continuously northward.
Although they were sailing against the current, they did not have to build a water station when they came, so their return speed was much faster than when they came.
For ten consecutive days, they traveled more than 1,200 miles by boat and successfully arrived at the Andong City Water Station.
Ten consecutive days of rowing made the brothers on the boat exhausted. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also ordered to disembark and rest for a day.
After hearing what he said, all the soldiers immediately jumped off the ship and arrived at the dock of Anton City.
The dock in Andong City was built by Lin Su last year. According to the new construction method given by Zhu Gaoxu, the foundation was laid here, cement was poured, and finally a military dock covering an area of more than two acres was formed.
On the dock, there is a hundred-household house and a temporary warehouse covering an area of one acre.
Seeing Zhu Gaoxu, the soldiers from hundreds of households bowed and sang in salute one after another, and Chen Chang, who learned the news, also came on horseback.
When he arrived, Zhu Gaoxu was observing the temporary warehouse. When he walked out, he happened to see Chen Chang who was about to stand up and dismount.
"No need to dismount!" Zhu Gaoxu interrupted Chen Chang's movements with a smile, walked to Chi Huan, got on his horse, and said with a smile to Chen Chang: "Let's see how Anton City is managed by you."
"Yes!" Chen Chang said without a smile, but bowed in a dull manner, half a body behind Zhu Gaoxu, and introduced him to the city of Anton.
Lin Su rushed to Zhaozhou City half a month ago because he and Fu Rang needed to go to Nanjing City to report on their work at the end of the year, so they would participate in this northern tour. After the northern tour was over, they would go south before winter.
Fu Rang is currently coordinating the overall situation in Zhaozhou City, and Lin Su, Zhang Chun and others are cooperating.
Speaking of Andong City, as the home base of Xiyang Ha, Xiyang Ha has managed it really well, not to mention the location selection.
After Fu Rang and Lin Su took over Andong City, they built a wharf and temporary warehouse on the original basis, and used stone rollers to open up a two-foot post road from the wharf to Andong City.
The two-foot-wide post road is four miles long. Although it looks very flat, it is actually arched, with the middle high and the sides low.
Beside the road, there are two gullies on the left and right, one foot wide and one foot deep, used to drain water to the Songhua River to prevent siltation on the road.
Since it hasn't rained in Andong City recently, the post road is very smooth and there are no signs of potholes.
However, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the saddle, still told Chen Chang: "After the cement output increases, in addition to the necessary canals, you can also use it to build roads, so don't worry about saving it."
"Yes..." Chen Chang was still so taciturn, but fortunately Zhu Gaoxu was used to it.
The two walked forward for a mile and soon saw soldiers organizing land reclamation, as well as hundreds of land reclamation teams consisting of three people and one cattle.
Watching them open up wasteland, Zhu Gaoxu also asked: "How much arable land is there in Anton City now, and how much wasteland can be opened up every year?"
"There are more than 19,400 acres of cultivated land..." Chen Chang answered subconsciously and elaborated: "According to Commander Lin, almost every year, we can open up wasteland from April 12th to September 5th, and then start harvesting. Grain, and the remaining few days are used to prepare firewood.”
"Based on last year's experience, at least 8,000 acres of land can be opened up within a year."
"But this winter, Anton City accepted the surrender of three small tribes. Now the population in the city has reached 6,672. Excluding my brothers and relatives of the Han family, there are more than 5,300 people. Therefore, we are opening up wasteland. The speed is much faster than last year, and nearly a hundred acres of land have been opened every day recently."
"Okay!" Hearing that the land reclamation in Anton City was on the right track, Zhu Gaoxu also said with a smile: "If we capture enough cattle and sheep during this northern patrol, I will send people to send more to you, and I will send them to you three people per head." To Anton City."
Zhu Gaoxu's promise finally put a smile on Chen Chang's face, and he responded: "If we can really cultivate three people and one ox, then Anton City will be able to open up at least 20,000 acres of mature farmland in the coming year!"
"Appease the savages more and don't worry about the food. I will be responsible for the food." Hearing what Chen Chang said, Zhu Gaoxu knew that he still had not put down the burden.
"I don't have a quota for recruiting savages. I only have one sentence: the more, the better."
Seeing what Zhu Gaoxu said, Chen Chang was stunned. He knew very well the financial resources of Jilin City. Even if another 300,000 acres were opened up this year, Jilin City, which only had 600,000 acres, could only produce 400,000 to 500,000 shi at most. Just food.
With this small amount of food, it is already very difficult to support eighty or ninety thousand people. To support the army, they can only rely on the annual salary and monthly rations issued by the court.
However, when His Highness asked, he would do as he was told. If he was really worried about not having enough food, he would save on the areas that should be saved on weekdays, open up more mature fields, and reduce the pressure on His Highness.
When his thoughts were clear, Chen Chang raised his hands and bowed: "The last general will take orders."
While Chen Chang was responding, Zhu Gaoxu also came to the former Boyanbao, now Anton City.
The original Muzhai wall has disappeared, replaced by a stone wall built with stones and cement dug from wasteland.
The size of the city is much smaller than the original Boyan Castle, and the city wall is only one foot and four feet high.
After walking through the city gate, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the thickness of the city wall. It was about six feet, which was considered relatively crowded.
As we walked into the city, our eyes suddenly opened up.
The Buyan Stone Fort in the distance is still there. Some of the former open spaces were used to build civilian workshops, some were used to build military camps, treasuries, and granaries, and some were opened up as nursery fields.
Zhu Gaoxu pointed to the seedling field in the distance with his riding crop and asked, "Did you create this seedling field or did Lin Su create it?"
"Commander Lin made it before winter last year. It has a total of one hundred acres and can grow four thousand acres of rice seedlings." Chen Chang replied and said at the same time:
"The fields on the mountainside in the north outside the city have now been opened up as paddy fields, and rice has been planted."
"However, we still have to wait until the autumn harvest to see how much we can produce. After all, this is the first time we have grown rice in such a cold place."
There is no doubt that Anton City is colder than Jilin City. After all, the straight-line distance between the two places is more than 500 miles. Winter starts seven or eight days earlier in Andong City, and spring starts about ten days later.
With this coming and going, the rice in Andong City has lost more than half a month of spring, and naturally faces the embarrassing situation of late planting and early harvest.
"Manage it well..."
While sighing, Zhu Gaoxu also visited Andong City under Chen Chang's guidance.
The construction of Andong City is basically similar to that of Jilin City. Whether it is fire tunnels, fire walls, sewers, sewage canals, or cement roads, it can be said that they are basically carved from the same mold.
After briefly looking at the situation in the city, Zhu Gaoxu, under Chen Chang's arrangement, took a rest at the former Boyan Stone Castle, now the Anton Qianhu House.
The next day, with five hundred soldiers from Andong City, he once again set foot on the waterway to Zhaozhou City.
On the waterway, Zhu Gaoxu and the others passed by the former Jin Shangjing, which was later known as Harbin.
However, there is not the prosperity of the Jin Dynasty here, nor the advancement of Harbin in later generations. There are only ruins covered by shrubs.
"A big city can be built here in the future. The boundaries of Anton City are always a bit narrow, and there are so many abandoned bricks and tiles here. It is not difficult to build a small city."
Zhu Gaoxu explained to the officers on the deck, and asked people to dock the ship, and then he rode ashore to take a look at the ruins.
After more than a hundred years of time changes, the former water canals have collapsed and become congested, and vast stretches of fertile farmland have turned into riverbank pastures.
On the ruins of the original capital city, broken bricks and tiles are everywhere, and there are many decaying and collapsed houses.
Zhu Gaoxu picked up a broken stone brick and tested its strength.
Because it is cut from stone, its strength has not decreased much over the past hundred years, but the fired bricks are no longer useful.
Dropping the stone bricks in his hand, Zhu Gaoxu said to the officials following him:
"These stone bricks can be collected to build cities. Although the fired bricks are decayed, they can also be broken into pieces to build sewers."
Zhu Gaoxu explained this while riding a horse around the ruins of Shangjing City and said as he walked: "If this ruins is rebuilt, according to the original situation, a city of more than 100,000 people can be built, but we can't use it that big. It’s built bit by bit, and the fields can be easily reclaimed again.”
When the officials heard what he said, they nodded in agreement.
The land around the ruins of Shangjing City is mostly flat. Although it has been abandoned, it was cultivated and cultivated more than a hundred years ago.
Although there are some small trees, at least there are no rocks impacted by the river. As long as people provide food, it can return to its former appearance in a few years.
"Let's go."
Time is tight, and since methods and suggestions have been given, there is no need for Zhu Gaoxu to stay any longer.
After taking the people back to the ship, Zhu Gaoxu rushed all the way to Zhaozhou City in the west.
On July 12, Zhu Gaoxu finally arrived at the boundary of Zhaozhou City and saw the pier of Zhaozhou City.
"Your Highness!!"
On the dock, after the soldiers on duty saw the flags with the characters "Bohai" and "Zhu", many people shouted loudly towards the fleet, and took the initiative to get on the boat to guide the fleet into the dock.
Guided by the small boat, the fleet quickly stopped at the dock. After getting off the boat, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the dock and saw ten 200-material ships that were two to three feet long and had a draft of no more than four or five feet.
The cement-built dock was very comfortable to walk on. Just like in Anton City, Zhu Gaoxu first arranged for the army to disembark and rest, and then went to the warehouse at the dock to take a look.
There, there were thousands of stones of grain and beans piled up, which had obviously just arrived.
"Have all the horses arrived?"
Zhu Gaoxu turned around and asked Chen Ming, the hundred-household official on duty. When he faced Zhu Gaoxu at the age of twenty-five, he gave people a very immature feeling.
He bowed shyly: "Go back to Your Highness, five thousand draft horses and two thousand military horses have been transported."
Therefore, more people sent troops than expected last year, so the number of draft horses as a means of transportation naturally increased.
Hearing that everything was ready, Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction.
Maybe there were too many things going on in Zhaozhou City, so Fu Rang and Lin Su hadn't found them for a long time.
Zhu Gaoxu was not upset and rushed to Zhaozhou City with two hundred cavalry guards.
He had never been to Zhaozhou before, so he came here with a lot of curiosity.
Although Zhaozhou City is a military fortress, it is much better built than Andong City.
In order to pursue speed, Fu asked them to station here with 3,000 Jurchen people and 2,000 soldiers and horses, and built a cement road from Zhaozhou City to the dock early.
This cement road is not wide, only about ten feet, and its thickness is only about an inch.
With this thickness, Zhu Gaoxu will probably be criticized as a scumbag project in future generations even in rural areas.
However, in an era when traveling either relies on legs or horses, a cement road with this thickness is already considered quite perfect.
Zhaozhou Pier is much farther from the city than Andong City. After walking for two miles in the woods, Zhu Gaoxu and the others saw the bright front.
After walking out of the woods, what appeared ahead was a lively scene of thousands of shirtless people working.
"This Fu Rang, he knows how to use things."
Looking at the thousands of brothers and the thousands of draft horses driven by them, how could Zhu Gaoxu not know what Fu Rang and the others were busy with.
Taking advantage of the gathering of the army, they opened up wasteland here to prepare for the coming year.
While he was teasing, more than ten shirtless figures appeared on the road ahead.
Fu Rang, Lin Su, Zhang Chun and others came on horseback. When they came to Zhu Gaoxu, Lin Su and Zhang Chun bowed with guilt: "I will be ashamed for not being able to welcome His Highness."
Compared with them, Fu Rang looked like a dead pig who was not afraid of being scalded by boiling water. He did not bow, but pointed his riding crop at the brothers who were working, and said proudly: "What, these days were opened for you before we set off. More than 3,000 acres of dry land and more than 200 acres of paddy fields!”
"Well done, you are allowed to drink half a catty of rice wine tonight." Zhu Gaoxu smiled from ear to ear. After all, outside the customs, food is more valuable than real gold and silver.
Spending more than a month to open up more than 3,000 acres of farmland was a great deal in Zhu Gaoxu's opinion.
Although the draft horses have lost a lot of weight, they can be restored by feeding them more beans and fodder, but the fields cannot be cultivated casually.
Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu sighed: "If you go to Liaodong Dusi, I'm afraid the cultivated land in Liaodong Dusi will double in the next few years."
"You guys... what a joke." Fu Rang laughed for a while: "When I went to Liaodong, I didn't have so much food and horses and cattle for me to waste."
"It's your condition. As long as you give the order, even if you change someone else, you can still open up fertile land."
What Fu Rang said is right. Jilin City can develop rapidly because Lao Zhu is transfusing Jilin City and Zhu Gaoxu manages it properly.
As long as you provide money and food, it is not difficult to open up wasteland.
The people did not have the capital to open up wasteland. In the final analysis, they were limited by food. Because of this, since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the government had started to lend food to the people to open up wasteland and return it in three years.
However, during this period, some dynasties had food and borrowed one stone in return for two stone. Some dynasties were just like lending money. If they did not pay back seven or eight stone, they would not even be able to get out of the yamen gate.
not return? If they don't pay back, the land will be used to pay off the debt.
As a result, after three years of hard work, not only did he get nothing, but he also suffered from famine. He had no choice but to seek refuge with the powerful gentry and become their tenant farmers.
Yamen like Bohai Prince's Mansion, which distributes rations for free, and may not be able to finish the rations, are second to none in any dynasty or generation.
In the same way of land reclamation, take Mu Ying and Mu Chun, two masters of land reclamation, as an example.
The two of them stationed in Yunnan for fourteen years and opened up millions of acres of cultivated land, and this was just the result of Mu Ying providing "one liter of food per day" to the people who opened up wasteland.
Looking at Jilin City again, the daily allowance for adults is two and a half liters, and for children, it is two liters per day.
Fortunately for adults, those with a big appetite can finish it, but children can't finish it at all.
If you eat more, your body will naturally become fatter and stronger, and you will naturally become better at work.
It's a pity that there is not enough oil and water, otherwise the consumption of food will be reduced.
Like the people of later generations, when there was sufficient oil and water, even a man engaged in physical labor would not dare to say that he could collect two and a half kilograms of uncooked rice to cook and eat it.
Even if we don’t talk about future generations, just talk about Zhu Gaoxu himself.
As a prince, with enough oil and water every day, no matter how big and strong he was, he could only eat a pound of uncooked rice every day to be full.
Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to go to America and get peanuts to the Ming Dynasty.
Although the peanut yield per mu in this era was not as high as 600 to 700 jins in later generations, it was actually about 200 jins, and its oil yield was 40%.
In other words, every acre of peanuts can basically produce 80 kilograms of oil, and the residue can also be used to make feed and be sold.
In comparison, the normal yield of soybeans is only 89 tons, the oil yield rate is only 20%, and the good quality is only 30%.
One acre of soybeans can only produce thirty to fifty kilograms of oil.
In terms of people's livelihood, this improvement can lower oil prices, allow more people to eat oil, and then reduce their intake of grains.
As for crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, etc., they can be cultivated in places where wheat and rice cannot be cultivated. The environmental requirements are not as stringent as wheat and rice, and they are excellent non-staple foods.
Every time he thought about this, Zhu Gaoxu wished he could take people to America himself and bring all these things back.
While he was thinking this, he and Fu Rang walked not far from Zhaozhou City.
Looking into the distance, Zhu Gaoxu could clearly see the whole picture of Zhaozhou City. Fu Rang also introduced to him: "After all, the original intention of building Zhaozhou City was a military fortress, so it was not very big. It was a hundred paces long in the east, west, and south. It is square and covers an area of thirty-six acres and six cents.”
"The city wall is four feet high, eight feet wide, and one mile long..."
“It’s not that we want to build it too big, it’s just that the cement can’t keep up.”
"If it weren't for this northern tour, I wouldn't be willing to use cement to build roads."
As Fu Rang explained, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded and asked, "How many people can be accommodated in this city?"
"A hundred courtyards were built, each with ten inverted rooms. It would not be a problem to accommodate 7,000 people."
When Fu Rang said this, they also rode into Zhaozhou City.
Sure enough, after passing through the corridor, what we saw was a cement road no more than ten feet wide, with connected yards on both sides.
There are finger-width holes on the walls of these one-foot-high courtyards, which are obviously used for archery.
Zhu Gaoxu got off his horse and looked for a yard with Fu Rang.
Walking into the courtyard, what you see are bungalows everywhere. The bungalows are about eight feet high, and there are ladders leading to the bungalows on the side.
Zhu Gaoxu walked up and took a look. The courtyard wall was about two feet higher than the bungalow. People could squat and attack people under the wall.
With the strength of concrete, without the use of gunpowder and artillery, even a charging car would have to take a long time to break through the courtyard wall, not to mention that the road could not accommodate the charging car at all.
It can be said that Fu Rang built Zhaozhou City into a turtle shell.
"Your place is well built, but it's not suitable for living."
Zhu Gaoxu stood on the roof, looking at the rows of connected yards around him, and smiled helplessly.
"I didn't intend to use this place for people to live in. If it needs to be expanded in the future, just treat it as a military camp or a prison cell."
Fu Rang was more straightforward, and Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to get down from the bungalow and walk up the wall of Zhaozhou City.
He looked outside Zhaozhou City and was very satisfied with the topography of Zhaozhou City.
In this place of Ma Pingchuan, Zhaozhou City is the only mound. When outsiders attack, they have to attack from above, while the Bohai Navy can defend from a high position.
Outside the city, near Zhaozhou City, many fields have been opened up by Fu Rang in the past two months.
As Fu Rang said, the number is thousands of acres. The only problem is that there is no nursery field prepared.
"We won't grow rice here. I'm thinking of turning the fields outside the city into bean fields to make it easier for you to patrol the north in the future."
Fu Rang expressed his thoughts, and Zhu Gaoxu agreed after hearing this: "That's good. In the future, there will definitely be more cavalry patrolling here. If enough beans can be provided, there will be no need to transport them from Jilin City."
"When are you going to send troops?" Fu Rang looked at Zhu Gaoxu and asked. Lin Su, Zhang Chun and others were also looking forward to it.
Facing their gazes, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled: "Then we have to see when my uncle Seventeenth will send the news..."
I'm in a meeting, so the update is a little late.
(End of chapter)
