Chapter 296
If you want to make a fortune in Liaodong, what is the best shortcut? The answers may be varied. You can get rich if you farm well, you can get rich if you do good work, and you can get rich if you fight well.
In Liaodong, you can make a fortune by doing anything to the extreme. If Ning Haijun wants to make a fortune, there is only one way, and that is to fight. But the problem is that there have been no wars to fight in Liaodong in the past few years. If it were other places in the Ming Dynasty, even if the world was peaceful and there were no large-scale wars, bandits could still be fought.
You must know that the Ning Haijun is a force that started by suppressing bandits. In Liaodong, in the area controlled by the Ning Haijun, the bandits can survive, let alone the bandits. A unit starts training from the recruit period, and the first battle is to suppress bandits.
Bandits in Liaodong are not a good profession. Bandits are used for training in assessments between troops. Bandits are also used for training in competitions between troops. Now in Liaodong, bandits have disappeared.
Therefore, it is more difficult for Ning Haijun to make a fortune than to be struck by lightning.
After receiving the news that the militiamen discovered the appearance of the Jiannu cavalry, the Liaoyang Garrison Division was dispatched, the Cavalry Dusi was dispatched, and the Liaoyang Dusi was also dispatched.
A Jian slave assigned to pay Shikuda Hasuhe Shun looked at the wide cement road in Liaoyang, as well as the rows of buildings rising from the ground, the factories, and more importantly, the crops on the ground.
At the end of June, Liaodong is a world of flowers and wheat waves. The long ears of wheat in hundreds of thousands of acres of wheat fields are covered with round and plump caryopses. Due to effective irrigation, sufficient fertilizers, and a large number of poisonous fish vines, Pesticides such as powder, insecticidal inulin, and rock bean powder are widely used. Pests are culled in large numbers. Wheat is growing at an unprecedented rate. The average yield of more than three stones per mu is no longer a dream. The endless surging waves of wheat, It feels like you are in a dream.
Although Cheng Shijie developed many high-yield food crops and planted a large number of potatoes and sweet potatoes when the problem of food and clothing was not solved, but as Liaodong solved the problem of food and clothing, especially potatoes, although there were many, could not be sold at a high price, and they were difficult to preserve. Most of the immigrants from Liaodong are northern people.
Given the choice, they still prefer to eat wheat. The wheat now is in the jointing stage and is green, like green waves.
Dahasu Heshun looked at the town in the distance and drooled. He saw herds of sheep, herds of cattle, and panicked people. This scene was too familiar to him.
Dahasu Heshun had never fought against Ning Haijun. As a veteran of the slave establishment, his impression of the Ming army still remained before the Battle of Daling River. It was during the Battle of Daling River that this man bravely rushed to Daling River City and was doused with gold juice by the defenders of Daling River City.
You must know that although golden juice has a nice name, it is actually made of oil, excrement, and arsenic. Dahasu Heshun was seriously scalded at that time. After being rescued, due to his strong physique and strong immunity, Dahasu Heshun was seriously injured. In addition, the weather was cold at that time. Because of the cold weather, bacteria are not easy to breed.
After nearly a year, the strong man weighing more than 180 kilograms turned into a thin man weighing just over 100 kilograms. The injury finally healed. During the period of recuperation, Jiannu suffered a rare defeat. Unfortunately, he did not participate in any of these battles.
Dahasu and Shun looked at the fireworks in the distance and the panicked people in Liaodong. Their first reaction was that they had made a fortune.
Dahasu and Shun looked at the sentry riders beside them and shouted: "Hurry back and report to the master, let the master bring the main force over and eat this fat sheep! You must move quickly. If other flags know about it, they will definitely Pounce on me and take a big portion!"
In less than four years, Liaoyang has changed a lot. This is the second time Dahasu Heshun came to Liaoyang. Just when Dahasu Heshun let his horses run into the wheat fields to eat wheat seedlings, a large group of ordinary people appeared in the distance. Come in droves.
These common people had received some training. Although they were in a hurry, they still formed a line consciously. When they marched in together, it really felt like an army. In the blink of an eye, all the roads were filled with surging people. When they got closer, Dahasu and Shun were horrified to see that most of these farmers had a crossbow or a compound bow in their hands. Wearing a dog-legged scimitar, some guys held spears and shields in their hands.
These farmers came from the village, from the farmland, and even from the mountains. They formed a flow of people and gathered here. They rushed in overwhelmingly with a momentum that would crush you to death, making Dahasu peaceful for a while. Terrified.
The black muzzles of the guns and the extremely sharp triangular crossbow arrows were pointed at them densely, making them feel a chill all over their bodies and make them want to cry without tears!
Dahasu Heshun also had a bitter look on his face: "Aren't we just a sentinel cavalry of about fifty people? How could you put up such an exaggerated crossbow array?"
No matter how arrogant they are, they have to admit that with just a few of them, nine out of ten people who rush forward will be shot into hedgehogs by the hundreds or thousands of powerful crossbows, and the last one will be shot into sea urchins. But now they are very close to the Ming army and there is no time to retreat. What should they do? .
"Kill Jiannu..."
These people of the Ming Dynasty raised their crossbows and aimed them at them. At this time, the crowd was still growing. As the slogans of killing Jiannu became louder and louder, more and more people came over.
"withdraw!"
Dahasu and Shun immediately realized that they must retreat. They could not afford to offend these people. However, before he could finish his words, someone in the crowd shouted: "Jiannu wants to run away, shoot them to death..."
"咻咻咻咻..."
"Thump thump thump thump thump..."
These people were so nervous that they subconsciously pulled the trigger and started shooting. The metallic trembling shook everyone's heartstrings, hundreds of foot-long crossbow arrows shot out, hundreds of bird blunderbuss, matchlock blunderbuss, revolvers, and even bows and arrows, aimed at the forty or fifty horsemen. Jiannu shooting.
In just ten breaths of time, these forty or fifty Jiannu slaves seemed to have been severely stumbled by a stumbling rope. They and their horses rolled into a ball. Hit by several arrows, the powerful impact caused it to float backwards like a balloon. After these two rounds of shooting, no one could be seen on the horse, and the third round of crossbow arrows hit the air.
Dahasu Heshun was hit by an arrow in his left shoulder. The crossbow arrow penetrated his shoulder blade and came out from behind. Blood spattered. He fell off the horse and was almost trampled to death by the horse.
His mind went blank. Crossbow arrows flashing with a faint cold light came through the air. The armor of the Jiannu warriors was like paper in front of the high-speed flying triangular arrowheads. Whoever was shot was pierced and whoever was shot was killed. Those who followed His brother who had been through life and death howled in pain and unwillingness, and collapsed together with his beloved horse...
They didn't even have time to shoot an arrow, let alone use their extraordinary martial arts, before they were shot into hedgehogs.
However, the overly nervous militiamen continued to shoot at the slaves. In fact, in the first round of shooting, all the slaves, including Dahasu and Shun, were shot over. In the second and third rounds, , all they shoot is air.
There are currently two to three thousand militiamen in the field. Among these two to three thousand, at least two-thirds, that is, more than two thousand, are armed with crossbows, muskets, revolvers and other long-range weapons. In just half a stick of incense, these militiamen fired at least seven to eight thousand crossbow arrows and more than a thousand muskets or bullets.
This intensity of shooting was three to four times more intense than the thousands of regular troops of the Ming Dynasty. You must know that many soldiers of the Ming Dynasty army cannot shoot a few crossbows a year, and fire gunners can hardly even fire a fire gun a few times a year. After all, crossbows or fire guns are consumables, and one fire is worth one time.
Even with these, some farmers asked cautiously: "Were they all shot down?"
"If not, just a few more rounds!"
"Didn't you say that Jiannu is very powerful?"
"Why are they easier to fight than bandits?"
Dahasu Heshun could understand Chinese. He almost cried when he heard this. When did the Ming army become so cruel?
Dahasu Heshun did not know that what they encountered was not the Ming army, but the militia. Even the militia of Liaodong was much stronger than the guardsmen of the two capitals and thirteen provinces. At least the militia trained twice a year in spring and autumn. Each training time is half a month.
Dahasu Heshun struggled. He was covered in blood and had several crossbow arrows stuck in his body. Almost out of reflex, the militiamen opened fire at Dahasu Heshun again.
After a shower of arrows, Dahasu and Shun had almost no room for repeated arrows. One crossbow arrow next to another, they were inserted more densely than the thorns of a hedgehog.
When a commander-in-chief from the Ning Navy Garrison Department arrived at the scene, he roared at the militiamen: "You are not mistaken, there are forty or fifty people on the other side, and you actually used more than two thousand crossbows to fire six or seven rounds at this person... "
The President Qian was very speechless when he saw that there were still traces of grenade explosions at the scene. Ning Haijun counted his military merits based on his head, but the problem was that the head hit by the crossbow was still effective, but the problem was that the head hit by the fire blunderbuss The heads of these forty or fifty Jiu slaves could not be counted as military merits. In the end, they only beheaded seventeen levels.
"What about the rest?"
The fate of other Jian slaves was no better than that of Dahasu and Shun. They encountered just as many Liaodong militiamen. When Cheng Shijie formulated the immigration regulations, he placed immigrants who were rogues in the Central Plains and labor reform prisoners in the direction closer to Jian slaves. , these labor reform prisoners, if they want to get a reduced sentence, they can only kill their enemies.
Life in Liaodong is good. Although the weather is cold, the problem is that once it's winter, he will lie on the fire pit. Even if the cold wind blows outside, the house is as warm as spring. Drinking a little wine and eating a little meat, the life is not to mention a lot of nourishment. But this is only the treatment of military households in Liaodong. Prisoners in reform-through-labor are only guaranteed to have enough to eat, drink and eat meat, so don't think about it.
Therefore, these old thieves want to kill the enemy and perform meritorious service, so as to obtain a reduced sentence.
Now Jiannu is crossing the river to go south, which makes them happier than during the New Year.
…
The Hun River is called the Hun River because it is a seasonal river that often floods. Once a flood occurs, the river water will be turbid.
Since this river became the boundary between Ning Haijun and Jiannu, Ning Haijun has also been vigorously developing the south bank of the Hun River. Although the Hun River is not as majestic as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, the problem is that the widest part of the river is also 1,000 meters wide. More than 300 meters, the narrowest place is three to four hundred meters.
Ning Haijun never expected Jiannu to abide by the rules and stay on the north bank of the Hun River. If he wanted to protect this line of defense, it was impossible to rely solely on infantry and cavalry.
Therefore, Admiral Ning built a river warship with a draft of less than three feet. This kind of warship became the equipment of the river police force. The Hunhe River Police Force had a small establishment. It was officially registered in the Liaodong Garrison Department, with a total of twenty ships and one thousand ships. The gunboat has one main mast, two auxiliary masts and three masts. It is not equipped with naval guns, but is equipped with two four-unit and two six-unit fire dragons.
The Fire Dragon Izuku is different from the Fire Dragon Izuku Type 1 sold to Catherine. The Fire Dragon Izukui they now use is Type 3, which is a simple version of a three-stage rocket. After the first stage is burned, the projectile is separated from the second stage. After the second stage is burned, the third stage begins to ignite, and then like a relay race, this fire dragon can have a range of more than 2,500 steps and throw out nitrocellulose weighing twenty kilograms.
Of course, the accuracy of this kind of rocket is shocking. At a distance of 1,800 steps, the error is about 50 to 150 steps. If the error exceeds 80% at 2,500 steps, the error will be 300 steps. above. However, the biggest advantage of this thing is that it is cheap. The main material is tinplate, which is the iron sheet used to make cans. The technical threshold is extremely low. As long as there is enough explosives, it can be used in large quantities.
In addition to the two-four-mounted and two six-mounted fire dragons, this thousand-material gunboat also has a 32-mm-caliber thunder gun. The current thunder gun is no longer the same as the original thunder gun. , first of all, it has four right-handed riflings, and its range is almost the same as that of Fire Dragon Izuku.
Moreover, the fuze firing method was canceled and changed to a primer firing method. This shooting principle is infinitely close to the shooting method of later bolt-action rifles. It only uses a hand-cranked wheel, which drives the hammer to fire the primer. This is even more Equivalent to an early model of hand-cranked Gatling.
To be fair, this hand-cranked thunderbolt has a very fast rate of fire. It can theoretically shoot 300 rounds per minute. In fact, it has an actual shooting capacity of more than 200 rounds. It has a disc-type 30-round drum and a short It can be fired in just ten seconds.
One thousand materials is the No. 325. This kind of warship is definitely not worth mentioning on the sea, but if it is placed in the inland river, it is definitely a behemoth.
The river police patrol warship discovered that there were no pontoons built by slaves on the Hun River. Some only left a dozen sheepskin rafts at Longgang Ferry. Such sheepskin rafts could carry a dozen people or three or four horses at a time.
Just based on these sheepskin rafts, it can be judged that they are not many people.
In the end, Ning Haijun captured several Jiannu prisoners, and got information from the Jiannu prisoners. They found that there were only more than 300 Jiannu prisoners they had passed through this time.
An attack of only more than 300 people could be handled by the Liaoyang Commandery Department. After they reported the situation, they began to formulate a counterattack plan.
Cheng Shijie was in Zhenhai City at this time, and the Agricultural College in Zhenhai City had also produced results. Although the yield of potatoes and sweet potatoes was high, these two items did not conform to the eating habits of the people of the Ming Dynasty. When they were hungry, they continued to eat Bark grass and roots are eaten, as are potatoes and sweet potatoes.
But the problem is that after the problem of food and clothing was solved in Liaodong, the people were still accustomed to eating traditional grains such as wheat, cereals, and rice, especially millet. Although the yield was low, until after liberation, the planting area still reached 150 million acres.
These yellow, small and plump millets have nourished generations of Chinese people. Millet can be regarded as the most drought-tolerant food crop. That is to say, it needs a little water when it sprouts. Once it grows up, even if it doesn't rain for a month, drought will not kill it. It is also tolerant of barrenness and is very worry-free. The only drawback is the yield. It's too low. If the land is fertile enough, the yield per mu can reach 200 kilograms. If the land is thin, I'm sorry. It's just a few dozen kilograms, which is too pitiful.
The current problem of the Ming Dynasty is drought. Chen Zilong, an agricultural expert, under the research of agricultural experts of the Western French Party, actually cultivated a drought-resistant and cold-resistant grain seed, which is millet.
When Cheng Shijie came to Zhenhai City, Chen Zilong and others were waiting eagerly. The land where Cheng Shijie came had five or six thousand acres of millet. He squatted down and gently fiddled with the grain poles one by one with his hands. The ears of grain tilted at 45 degrees are full of shock and surprise.
"Oh my God, these ears are so thick and big!"
It's not that Cheng Shijie has never seen millet fields. Although the area of millet cultivation in later generations has been very small, Hanhai City still has tens of thousands of acres of cultivation area. Although the yield of millet is not high, the problem is, the price of millet High, a pound of millet most commonly costs six or seven yuan. Some brands of millet, such as Lulong yellow rice, can be sold for eight or nine yuan, and black millet from Nanchang County can be sold for more than nine yuan.
In later generations, when it comes to grain seeds and sufficient chemical fertilizers, one acre can yield six to seven hundred pounds. The income from one acre of land is much more cost-effective than growing wheat, but harvesting is more troublesome.
However, these ears of grain were actually larger than those of later generations.
Chen Zilong said with some pride: "Thanks to the Marshal. If it hadn't been for the Marshal's idea of hybrid breeding, we would never have imagined that we could cultivate such excellent seeds!"
This is not the future generation, this is the Ming Dynasty. Such fine ears of grain must be sent to the palace as auspicious symbols.
In fact, Chen Zilong did the same thing. There were several eunuchs and more than a dozen officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Rites in the crowd, and they were pointing at these millet fields.
Cheng Shijie looked at Chen Zilong and said: "One ear is worth three ears of others, you did a good job!"
An old farmer with a honest face smiled and said: "Commander, you don't know something. This new grain is larger than the ears we usually grow. One ear can equal five of our ears! I have never seen such a harvest in my whole life." I’ve never seen such high-yielding millet!”
Cheng Shijie asked: "Fellow, how many kilograms of millet can this acre produce?"
"At least it costs five to six hundred kilograms, one acre is worth ten acres!"
Cheng Shijie was stunned: "One acre is worth ten acres? The yield of other varieties is so low?"
The old farmer said: "It's very low. A harvest of one hundred catties per acre is considered good. The harvest is generally eighty or ninety catties."
Eighty-nine pounds per acre, this will obviously be a dead harvest in future generations, right?
There is no way, the grain output of Ming Dynasty is so pathetic these days. The three traditional staple foods of the Ming Dynasty are rice, wheat and millet. Rice has the highest yield. If it is a good paddy field with good weather and sufficient fertility, the yield per mu can be close to 400 kilograms.
Wheat is the next best. When put into the field, it can reach two to three hundred catties. It is less than one or two hundred catties, and the worst is less than one hundred catties.
Millet is the worst. It’s ridiculous to have more than one hundred pounds per acre. As for corn... roughened, this is not the staple food of the Ming Dynasty at all. Such an output would be unbelievable in later generations. If such a situation occurs in a certain city, the top leaders may be criticized or even thrown into disgrace. However, before liberation, Very common, why?
This is mainly due to poor seed quality and poor fertility. Many people believe that Chinese agriculture has not developed advanced breeding technology for thousands of years. This is actually nonsense. Grain production was even lower during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and the Ming Dynasty was the period when grain production per mu was the highest in the entire Chinese feudal dynasty.
It was just affected by the weather of the Little Glacier.
However, the high yield of millet in Chen Zilong's experimental fields is not entirely due to good grain cultivation, but because these experts from the Agricultural College are not solely cultivating seeds, but are the result of comprehensive progress in fertilizers, irrigation, pests and diseases. .
Without Cheng Shijie's help, the Agricultural College launched more than a dozen pesticides, including phosphate fertilizers, organic fertilizers, and inorganic fertilizers, such as phosphate fertilizers, nitrogen fertilizers, and potassium fertilizers.
It's just that the current output of chemical fertilizers is extremely low. Not to mention spreading it all over the world, even Liaodong cannot satisfy it.
The old farmer rubbed his big calloused hands and smiled happily: "I have never seen such good seeds! They are drought-resistant, not afraid of insects, grow fast, and the yield is very high! If only all the farmers in the Ming Dynasty could get it With such seeds, there will never be any famine in the Ming Dynasty again!”
Cheng Shijie sighed and shook his head: "No, the output is not good."
The old farmer and Chen Zilong both stared: "Isn't this yield good enough?"
In fact, Cheng Shijie was not bragging. Zhangzagu has always been known for its high yield. The highest record set in the experimental field was 915 kilograms per mu, which is close to one ton.
However, this is an output achieved under the care of agricultural experts, and ordinary farmers cannot achieve it. If ordinary farmers use it to plant it, it will be very good to have a yield of five to six hundred kilograms per mu. Ethiopia introduced Zhangzagu. Although there was no experience and the planting technology was not up to standard, it still achieved a yield of more than 300 kilograms per mu. This shows that this thing is really powerful and the yield is terrifyingly high!
Unfortunately, in modern times, millet has fallen out of the ranks of Chinese people's staple food. It's okay to have a bowl of millet porridge occasionally, but no one will use it as a staple food anymore. All these varieties have high yields, but not many people plant them. The country's millet planting area is only 20 million acres, which is really pitiful.
However, Cheng Shijie did not dissuade Chen Zilong's enthusiasm: "Don't be complacent. This is definitely not the upper limit. There is still room for improvement!"
Chen Zilong seemed to understand what Cheng Shijie meant: "I will continue the experiment!"
"That's good!"
The growth period of millet is about 130 days. Planting begins when the ice and snow melt at the end of February. It is normal to harvest earlier than potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Chen Zilong asked people to start harvesting. Of course, since it was an experimental field, it could not be harvested like ordinary crops. The army households responsible for the harvesting of Xinghaicheng Agricultural College each used small scissors to cut off the ears of grain and tie them into bundles. . Only one ear can be cut, and the grains should be returned to the warehouse as much as possible.
Every acre harvested was weighed and recorded, and the resulting data was naturally very scary. When it was announced at the beginning, the entire experimental field was filled with cheers. Later, there was no such big movement, and everyone was numb. Now, just speed up, speed up again!
Among the busy crowd, Cheng Shijie also saw the figures of Queen Zhou and Queen Zhang. The two of them were skillfully harvesting ears of grain in the field with a small pair of scissors, sweating profusely and smiling like children.
Cheng Shijie pointed at Queen Zhou's figure and said, "Why are these two here too?"
Chen Zilong smiled bitterly and said, "I don't want them to come. Can you stop them?"
"cannot!"
Chen Zilong said: "Commander, the weather in Liaodong is too cold, we are going to cultivate hybrid rice..."
Before Chen Zilong could finish speaking, Cheng Shijie became alert: "What? Do you want to leave?"
"How could I possibly want to leave!"
Chen Zilong said: "I heard that Jeju Island is also the commander's territory. Can you set aside a piece of land on Jeju Island for us to experiment?"
"No problem at all!"
While she was talking, Queen Zhou was carrying a basket filled with huge ears of grain, which she was going to take to Bauhinia City to show Emperor Chongzhen.
"General Cheng is here too!"
"come and see!"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Empress, are you satisfied with the output?"
"Satisfied, I couldn't be more satisfied! If more than one billion acres of land in the Ming Dynasty were planted with this kind of millet, and all had this kind of yield, no, even if it was only half, the people in the world would never have to go hungry again!"
"Don't worry, the output will definitely exceed 400 kilograms after promotion."
Queen Zhou and Queen Zhang were walking in the fields. They were not made to work. Ordinary people still respected them as queens. However, the agricultural experts from the Agricultural College, regardless of whether they were queens or not, wasting a grain of grain was a waste of their efforts. .
After being scolded by a group of experts, Queen Zhou stopped joining in the fun with those professional farmers.
As the sun gradually sets, the evening wind blows, rolling up layers of golden waves in the harvest fields, and then reflecting the sunset on the horizon. This scenery is so beautiful that people are fascinated.
Empress Zhang stretched out her arms as if to embrace this fertile field. The evening breeze lifted her hair, and the rays of light from the sky reflected her fair face pink. It was an enviable sight. beautiful.
Cheng Shijie looked at Queen Zhang and murmured in his heart: "It's only been less than half a year. When she first came here, Queen Zhang was just as beautiful. But at that time, Queen Zhang seemed to be a deeply resentful woman. However, after only half a year, she has now become Beauty is a disaster!"
Chen Zilong looked at Cheng Shijie, who was staring at Queen Zhang.
A thought came to Chen Zilong's mind involuntarily: "Cheng Shijie has Cao Cao's habit?"
Once this idea occurs, it seems to grow into a towering tree.
"Probably!"
Cheng Shijie and Zhu Weiti have been married for a long time, but there is no movement in Zhu Weiti's belly. Cheng Shijie has many concubines, but there is no movement. Does it mean that Cheng Shijie really doesn't like girls, but only likes wives?
(End of chapter)
