Fan Wencheng was able to come up with a way to open up wasteland and cultivate land in the hinterland of the Qing Dynasty, which was completely inspired by the devil boy.
Man Ming can openly move many vassal kings and their vassal states to many places overseas.
So although the territory of the Qing Dynasty is much smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty at the moment, there is still no shortage of land that can be cultivated.
If millions or even tens of millions of acres of fertile land could be reclaimed in areas such as the former Yidong River Wei, the Qing Dynasty would no longer have to worry about food.
With food, Meng Gu and Bao Yi can be controlled, and there is no need to expect to knock on the gate to get food.
If one million acres of land are cultivated and one dan is harvested from each acre, the annual harvest is 70%, which is 700,000 dan.
If this amount is doubled ten times, it will reach a huge amount of seven million stones!
Based on the calculation that it takes five stones of food to feed an infantryman, by then the Qing Dynasty will be able to carry one million soldiers, which is definitely not a pipe dream!
It's just that Bao Chengxian's guy stole the limelight, but that's fine, it saves him the hard work of being far away from the capital and supervising land reclamation.
Huangtai Chicken is very sympathetic to this matter, because the first batch of grain can be obtained as early as this autumn.
Let Baoyi and his family become self-sufficient in the first year, and the court can benefit from it in the second year.
After hearing the suggestion of going north to open up wasteland, Huang Taiji even felt a little regretful.
If it had been proposed two years earlier, wouldn't it mean that the Qing Dynasty no longer had to worry about food?
More than one million acres can be reclaimed in the north?
Even ten million acres, or even ten million acres, is more than enough!
In this way, Bao Yi would no longer be a burden to the Qing Dynasty, and they could all reclaim wasteland.
One bagger can cultivate ten acres, twenty acres, fifty acres, or even one hundred acres!
The imperial court was only responsible for harvesting grain. The larger the area of cultivated land, the more beneficial it would be for the Qing Dynasty!
Therefore, after the matter was agreed upon, and before Bao Chengxian made any other decision, Huang Taiji specifically told him that one million acres was only the minimum fixed amount, and there was no upper limit.
It would be even better if we could carve out two million acres or even three million acres of land!
Local birds, animals, and river fresh food can be hunted and eaten to solve the problem of insufficient food in the early stage.
All the proceeds from fishing and hunting belong to Bao Yi and his family members, and officials and soldiers are not allowed to rob them.
If you want to eat, you can hunt it yourself, and even fight for the coating of prey. The Qing Dynasty will not need to spend money to feed these people who are just waiting to die!
All preparation work is to mobilize the enthusiasm of the wrappers. Only in this way can the great cause of land reclamation be successful as soon as possible.
Because the fertile fields that the Qing Dynasty has cultivated are all in southern Liaoning, almost surrounding the Liaodong Bay.
Huang Taiji had a premonition that in the future, the demon boy would often send fleets with large numbers of soldiers and horses to raid his own production areas.
Once even the most basic rations are no longer guaranteed to be harvested, the Qing Dynasty will not be far away from collapse.
Being able to cultivate millions of acres of fertile land in the hinterland is the best defensive measure.
After passing the mountainous areas of northern Liaoning, and thousands of miles further north, there are endless plains.
Huang Taiji believed that this area could be cultivated in the future and used as a production area for the Qing Dynasty.
If everything goes well, it is no joke that the imperial court will harvest millions of dan of grain every year.
If Man Ming hadn't sent troops to attack and everything went wrong, it would have been due to man-made reasons.
This is the reason why Huang Taiji gave Bao Chengxian great power. Anyone who dares to deliberately sabotage land reclamation is a sinner of the Qing Dynasty and must be severely punished!
In order to mobilize the enthusiasm of the flag owners of each banner, the area of and land used for land reclamation was calculated based on the ten banners at the beginning.
Each place has provided 10,000 age-appropriate coats, which means that they can receive equal benefits.
In this way, everyone has tasted the benefits, and no one will stop them from going north to open up wasteland.
After finalizing the decision, Huang Taiji asked Bao Cheng to take the wrappings of the Ten Flags and set off at the end of March.
After walking for more than half a month, we arrived at the designated area on the map and began to slice the coaters.
For every one thousand people in a team, there will be one captain and two deputy captains.
There is a squadron for every 100 people, with one squadron leader and two deputy squadron leaders.
Every twenty people form a small team, with one team leader and two deputy team leaders.
After being divided into teams, it is easier to manage and fight against possible wild beasts.
Baoyi not only came by himself, but also brought his family members with him, bringing the total population of the wasteland to about 350,000.
Bao Chengxian was also creative and thought of a new reward method.
That is, as long as the land reclamation area for this year is completed according to the regulations of the imperial court, and after the autumn harvest, self-sufficiency can be achieved.
At the beginning of the next spring, he will designate a suitable age partner for free for unmarried men!
Regardless of height, short, fat or thin, at least the men can see the hope of having a woman.
The Baoyi who were forcibly transported outside the customs by the Qing Dynasty king's masters were already extremely miserable. Many of them could not meet women again until they died.
If he could get a woman through land reclamation, not only could he and his family have enough to eat, but he could also hold the woman in his arms and give himself a son and a half, then life couldn't be better.
Due to frequent wars in southern Liaoning, the banner owners only assigned a small number of soldiers and horses to supervise the land reclamation work.
Most of the packers who come here need to supervise themselves, because the superiors only need to take time to come down and inspect the land reclamation area.
The last thing is to check the results of the autumn harvest. This is the most important. As for how to open up wasteland for coating, the superiors don’t care!
After allocating the land for coating, the remaining matters, including the application of artificial fertilizers, are all the wrappers’ own business...
The land near the river is the best place. There is no shortage of water for irrigation, and it is also convenient for setting up nets for fishing.
The water and fish in the river are packed by a nearby brigade and no one is allowed to encroach.
Fortunately, the Eight Banners men are not very interested in fish-eating people, and are more willing to hunt to make a living.
This makes the life of the packers who went north to open up wasteland actually better than when they were in southern Liaoning, and they can eat fish every now and then.
This was not the first year that the Qing Dynasty planted potatoes and sweet potatoes. As early as two years ago, when the devil boy in Guan Nei called on people from all over the country to plant these two high-yielding crops in newspapers, Huang Taiji paid attention.
Regarding these two things, Huangtai Chicken didn't believe in their yield at first, so he asked people to try growing them in the suburbs of Beijing. The distance was relatively close, so he could go and observe them at any time.
Under the careful care of dedicated personnel, the harvest of sweet potatoes and potatoes is naturally quite good. Although they are only grown according to the method of ordinary rice and wheat, the yield is more than double that of the former.
Last year, all parts of the Qing Dynasty began to sow these two crops. If their output had not filled the gap between buying grain from the customs and grabbing grain, hundreds of thousands of people would have starved to death...
In this way, there will be no shortage of seeds to open up wasteland in the north.
Bao Chengxian was not just reckless. He made a one-size-fits-all plan and ordered rice or wheat to be planted near the river, and sweet potatoes and potatoes to be planted in places that were not conducive to irrigation.
I was worried about the information presented below, for fear of being deceived and unable to explain it to the emperor at the end of the year.
Bao Chengxian also demonstrated personally and often went to the fields to inspect the situation of land reclamation. Only when he saw it with his own eyes could he feel relieved.
It was originally planned to open up one million acres of land, but Bao Yi brought his family members with him. As long as their family members were not bedridden or disabled, they could still help to some extent.
In addition, there is no limit on the area of reclaimed land. After repeated statistics, the recorded area of reclaimed land is as high as 2.37 million acres!
In the first year, everyone was not familiar with the conditions of the various sites and had to build wooden houses, which was quite time-consuming.
Bao Chengxian simply hoped that he would be able to harvest a son. He just hoped that Baoyi and his family would not starve to death.
Mr. Baqi, who is in charge of patrolling, eats and drinks well, and must be as leisurely as Mr. Yang.
Bao Yi can only rely on the sky for food, praying every day that there will be no strong winds and heavy rains...
I learned from Man Ming's newspaper that the situation in the north of Guan Nei this year is still extremely bad.
The Qing Kingdom outside the Pass also suffered from drought, but the situation was not as severe as within the Pass.
The wastelands were basically reclaimed along the rivers, and places where it was difficult to provide water were simply abandoned for the time being.
The most indispensable thing here is land. Wherever there is a river, we can open up wasteland.
Opening up wasteland in areas with serious water shortages is not much different from asking for death...
There is no need to prepare for floods in this kind of weather, because when floods come, it means abundant rainfall, and there is no need to worry about drought.
A large amount of water in the river is used to irrigate wasteland. It would be good if the flow is not interrupted. It is unlikely to become a flood in summer and autumn.
Each team is equipped with a certain number of livestock to reclaim wasteland. Just relying on manpower will definitely miss the spring plowing.
When the team arrives at the designated area, the team clears land for all coatings, and the rest of the work such as sowing, fertilizing, and weeding must be completed by individuals.
These are all methods Bao Chengxian came up with, and he sent special personnel to supervise them to avoid lining his own pockets.
Not many people below dare to fool Bao Chengxian. Anyone who can be the governor of land reclamation is definitely not a fool!
You fooled Bao Chengxian, will Bao Chengxian also fool Huang Taiji?
If Huang Taiji is a fool, why not just find a big rock and hit him to death!
Once the evidence is caught and verified, it can't even be wrapped, and the flag owners will not tolerate this kind of dog slave who deceives the subordinates and hides the superiors!
If you do this, what nonsense is it?
Use 2.37 million acres of wasteland to fool yourself?
It would be easy to peel off your skin!
Not counting the odd bits and pieces, Bao Chengxian believed that at least two million acres could be used to harvest grain.
Regardless of the amount of crops received, as long as the yield per mu of land is not less than fifty kilograms, it will be counted as successful land reclamation.
This target output is almost a joke in areas such as Jiangnan.
But here, special cases are handled on a special basis, and it’s not so strict. Just let it be said in broad terms, and the jargon is – having hair does not mean you are bald!
Due to active land reclamation, reasonable farming, accurate reports, strict supervision, and the land itself is very fertile.
Therefore, during the harvest in September, the yield per mu is rarely less than 100 jins, and some yields are as high as 300 to 400 jins per mu.
After summarizing from many parties, the 2.37 million acres of land reclaimed have yielded a total of 2.04 million shi of grain!
Although the yield per mu is still less than one stone, the Emperor Taiji who received the report is already very happy!
Although Huang Taiji is very greedy for these grains, Jun Wuxi can no longer forcibly requisition these grains.
Bao Chengxian did not dare to use grain as tribute without authorization, but reported it truthfully, and it would eventually be resolved by the Holy Inquisition.
When Fan Wencheng saw this, he came up with an idea, which was to exchange scarce items such as salt, tea, cloth, iron, etc. for food.
The price is naturally determined by the court, which leaves room for change...
Without the help of the imperial court, the Bao Yis would not even have a kitchen knife!
Besides, the seeds for sowing were lent to the Baoyi by the imperial court, and they would have to be returned to the imperial court after the grain was harvested.
In this way, Bao Chengxian stipulated that each person could keep four stones of grain for himself, of any type, and the rest needed to be exchanged for shopping items and seeds.
The reserved part is enough to last each wrapper for a year, which also demonstrates the emperor's grace.
For the wrappers, after working hard for half a year, they finally get some benefits, so they and their families don’t have to worry about starving to death.
After all, the trade-in is not a requisition of grain. At least you can save some items and even money. Compared with the days in Liaonan, it is really much better.
Using this method, excluding the part consumed on the road, the imperial court obtained nearly 700,000 shi of grain.
The emperor couldn't help but feel elated. These grains could at least feed more than 100,000 infantrymen!
In addition to being happy, he ordered the second batch of 200,000 packers, together with their families, to arrive at the designated land reclamation site before spring next year, determined not to miss the spring plowing.
Based on this calculation, two groups of 300,000 people can cultivate at least 7 million acres of wasteland.
Based on 70% of the total output, next autumn, the imperial court will receive at least 3.5 million shi of grain!
After excluding all kinds of consumption, at least nearly three million stones were sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs!
Based on the calculation that it takes five stones of grain to feed an infantryman, wouldn't the Qing Dynasty be able to have 600,000 infantrymen?
At this point, including the cavalry, the total strength of the Qing Dynasty King's Division exceeds 700,000. Do we still need to be afraid of the demon boy's firearms?
The devil boy is deliberately avoiding the war in order to regroup and wait for an opportunity to invade the Qing Dynasty's territory!
After Huangtaiji tasted the benefits of land reclamation, he also learned to be patient and cautious.
First, all the healthy men of the bannermen were released from labor, so that the number of soldiers and horses of the Ten Banners reached more than 80%, and the remaining menggu cavalry were used to make up for it.
The Menggu Eight Banners and the Waifan Three Banners still maintain the size of the former with 36,000 troops and the latter with 18,000 troops, with a total strength of 54,000 troops.
The Han army was directly expanded to ten banners, each with 7,500 men, for a total strength of 75,000.
The Sishun King and Xushun Gong Shen Zhixiang each had an actual establishment of 15,000 troops, with a total force of 75,000.
In this way, after the expansion is completed, the number of troops that the Qing King's Division can devote to fighting south will reach nearly 280,000!
These people are not a burden. Fan Wencheng suggested following Shang Yang's strategy of farming and war during the Warring States Period.
That is to say, in peacetime, these Han soldiers can be used for spring plowing in southern Liaoning, and they can be mobilized in wartime.
Huang Taiji readily agreed that it was okay to let the banner soldiers completely retire, but the Qing Dynasty could not bear to feed hundreds of thousands of Han soldiers for nothing.
Dali Zheng Baoyi served as a Han soldier, which made Hauge and other senior bannermen very dissatisfied and worried about threatening the foundation of the Qing Dynasty.
However, Huang Taiji still insisted on this despite all opinions. The real reason was that in the future, a decisive battle with Manming Firearms would require a large number of Han soldiers to attack the enemy's defense line to consume their ammunition.
If there are many Han soldiers, if they charge into the formation, fewer flag soldiers will die. This is the simplest and easiest to understand principle.
Not only that, as long as a large number of young men can be obtained from the pass through constant knocking on the pass, and the land reclamation in the north progresses smoothly, the imperial court can harvest no less than two million shi of grain every year, Huang Taiji intends to expand the Han army to 300,000!
Although Man Ming's territory was large, natural disasters were frequent and rogue bandits were raging.
Although the Qing Dynasty is not as big as the Man Ming Dynasty, it can turn any wasteland into fertile farmland.
If the Qing Dynasty had tens of millions of acres of fertile land, it could be able to support millions of soldiers, which would completely overwhelm Man Ming's advantage in firearms!
Based on this inference, the Qing Dynasty not only had fertile land, but also controlled the grasslands, and its strength was far greater than that of the Liao and Jin Dynasties, which were in confrontation with Zhao and Song!
It's just that the Qing Dynasty doesn't have that many people at the moment, let alone that many young people...
