"Hujian people?"

Yang Zhen's words not only did not relieve everyone's doubts, but made the three of them even more confused and baffled.

"The Hujian people I'm talking about are Fujian people. You guys are really uneducated, hahahaha..."

Yang Zhen saw that the little joke he told did not bring about the proper reaction at all. He laughed with pleasure at first, and then continued:

"Come, let me test you. Next, after we move to Lushun, Jinzhou, Fuzhou and other places, what do you think the top priority of Jinhai Town is?"

When Xu Tianchong's eldest son Xu Tingxuan asked, he immediately blurted out without thinking: "Our army's top priority is to strengthen our troops and go north to capture Xiong Yue as the gateway to Fuzhou!"

Seeing what Xu Tingxuan said, Yang Zhen nodded immediately and said with a smile: "This matter is very important, but it is not a top priority, let alone our fundamental strategy to establish a foothold in Liaonan."

Xu Tingxuan listened and nodded thoughtfully, but said no more.

The longer Xu Tingxuan followed Yang Zhen, the more he felt that the young Jin Haibo in front of him was unfathomable.

He has never seen such a person. His words and actions seem to be wild and unstructured, but in fact his goals are extremely firm, and he is flexible and adaptable to achieve his goals. It can even be said that he is bold and reckless regardless of the consequences.

For Xu Tingxuan, this is what a man should be like, and this is what he wants to follow and serve as a hero in troubled times.

After experiencing that snowy night in Zhangjiakou and the long journey in the wind and snow in the north of the Great Wall, Xu Tingxuan, who was unruly and eager to do a career, became more and more respectful to Yang Zhen, his master, and became more and more devoted.

However, he tried to understand and study Yang Zhen's set of ideas, but he still couldn't learn it, leaving him without a trace.

At this time, Shen Yongzhong said: "If we don't go north to attack, then, out of humble opinion, we should recruit troops as soon as possible, divide our troops to garrison in dangerous places, and prepare for war to prevent the Manchu and Tatar armies from going south!"

"Well, what Yongzhong said is a bit interesting. However, although this matter must be done, it is still not the first priority."

Yang Zhen first affirmed Shen Yongzhong's statement and encouraged him in disguise, but he still believed that this was not a top priority.

At this time, Zhang Chen, who had been thinking, said: "Our army's top priority should be to recruit people to cultivate the land! In view of the humble position, Jinhai Town is isolated overseas, how to obtain food and grass supplies is the first priority!

"If we cannot cultivate a large amount of wasteland and farmland, we will not be able to support ourselves with food and grass. If we cannot be self-sufficient with food and grass, we will not be able to survive for a long time. The lesson of the defeat of Dongjiang Town back then is a lesson for us!"

"That's right! What Zhang Chen said is very correct. Tingxuan and Yongzhong, you two are not bad, but in the future we must look at the problem more from a strategic level, so that we can see it more clearly and thoroughly!"

When Yang Zhen heard Zhang Chen's words about recruiting people and cultivating land, he immediately expressed his position, saying that this was the top priority.

At the same time, he didn't care whether Shen Yongzhong and Xu Tingxuan understood it or not, he just told them that in the future they should consider issues from the overall strategic level.

Shen Yongzhong is older than Xu Tingxuan, but he is Xu Tingxuan's brother-in-law, and Yang Zhen is Shen Yongzhong's cousin-in-law.

Yang Zhen originally had nothing to do with them, but because he married Qiu Bihan, the two became Yang Zhen's relatives.

Although this kinship relationship is a bit roundabout and a bit far away, having such a kinship relationship is still much better than not having one at all.

With this level of kinship, which can be said to be close or far, the relationship between Yang Zhen and them is no longer just that of superior and subordinate, or that of master and servant.

In this way, it will be easier for them to become a community of shared interests.

For a time traveler like Yang Zhen, what he lacks most now, and therefore needs most, is such a community of interests.

To this end, he not only needs to firmly grasp the small circle of Guangning Houtunwei, but also the circle of Xuanfu Town and the large circle left over from the former Dongjiang Town.

He wants these circles to be centered on himself and tightly twisted into a rope.

Because only in this way can he win a place in this unprecedented troubled world, and then complete his mission and achieve his goals.

Yang Zhen confirmed Zhang Chen's statement, but did not answer everyone's doubts.

After hearing Yang Zhen's words, Shen Yongzhong and Xu Tingxuan nodded in agreement, but when they looked up again, their eyes were still full of confusion when they looked at Yang Zhen.

After Yang Zhen led their thoughts to recruiting people for land reclamation, he saw that they were still confused, so he stopped talking about it.

"Is it difficult to recruit people to cultivate land?"

Yang Zhen asked this question first, then looked at the people with puzzled faces, smiled slightly, and asked and answered himself without waiting for their answers:

"It is difficult to say it is difficult, but it is not difficult to say it is not difficult. The reason why it is not difficult is because there is chaos in the world right now, wars are everywhere, famines are frequent, and refugees are everywhere. As long as there are people who stutter, they can attract a large number of refugees to eat.

"At the same time, the area around Jinzhou in Lushun is mostly desolate fields and wasteland. Even if the wasteland on the shore is reclaimed, there are still islands along the coast. Do you think which island cannot be resettled with hundreds or even thousands of refugees? So, I say it is not difficult."

At this point, Yang Zhen saw everyone nodding together, and then smiled again and said: "But, if you say it is easy, it is not that easy. What is not easy?

"Haha, what I said is not easy. Jinzhou, Lushun and the desert islands on the sea have been as dry and cold as Liaoxi in recent years, so it is easy to open up wasteland but difficult to farm, and it is easy to farm but difficult to harvest!"

Hearing that Yang Zhen's topic returned to the word "difficult" again, Shen Yongzhong and Xu Tingxuan were stunned for a while and then in a trance. They were completely confused by Yang Zhen's words. They looked at each other for a while, not knowing what to say.

At this time, Zhang Chen nodded and said: "Yes. It is true. In recent years, the entire north has been dry and cold with little rain. Not to mention Liaodong, Xuanda, Central Plains, Shandong, and Jianghuai have also experienced poor harvests and reduced production. Otherwise, where would it come from?

Where did the many refugees come from when there was so much famine?”

Speaking of this, Zhang Chen looked at Yang Zhen solemnly and said: "I hope the governor here can come up with a good idea. Otherwise, even if we recruit people to cultivate land in Lushun, Jinzhou, Fuzhou or even coastal desert islands as scheduled, we will be able to cultivate all the land that can be cultivated."

If all the wasteland is cultivated, I’m afraid I won’t be able to grow much food. If we can’t achieve self-sufficiency in food and grass, we will recruit more people and soldiers, but we won’t be able to feed them, which will become a burden!”

When Yang Zhen saw Zhang Chen thinking about this, he immediately smiled and said: "Well, I have one in my mind. Originally I thought I had no way to start with it, but when I met this Hong Chengzhuan today, I suddenly had an idea and I figured it out.

.Whether we can have enough food and soldiers in the future depends on whether this method is effective!"

When Yang Zhen said this, Zhang Chen, Shen Yongzhong, and Xu Tingxuan immediately reined in their horses and stopped in the street. For a moment, all three of them focused their eyes on Yang Zhen's face.

Zhang Chen was even more surprised and happy and asked: "The governor really has a way?!"

Seeing them like this, Yang Zhen did not answer Zhang Chen's question directly. Instead, he smiled and asked another question that completely surprised them:

"Have any of you heard of sweet potatoes?"

"sweet potato?!"

Yang Zhen's question naturally cannot be answered in the affirmative by these northerners who were born and raised in Liaodong.

Sure enough, after Yang Zhen's question was raised, Shen Yongzhong and Xu Tingxuan looked at each other again, and then turned to Zhang Chen, who was older and more experienced.

But Zhang Chen had never heard of this thing like them, and he shook his head.

So facing Yang Zhen who looked at them with a half-smile, Shen Yongzhong asked in confusion: "Captain, what is this sweet potato you are talking about?"

No wonder they were confused.

From Hong Cheng's writing, Yang Zhen talked about the recruitment of people to reclaim wasteland in Jinhai Town, then to the Fujian people, and finally to the sweet potato. Although it was extremely jumpy, there was a connection between it and Yang Zhen's own idea.

But these words, when heard by other people, were completely confused, making them unable to understand them.

Sweet potato is sweet potato, also called sweet potato, sweet potato or sweet potato.

During the Wanli period, it was introduced from Nanyang to Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. It was not until more than a hundred years later that it went north from Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang to Huguang, and finally spread to the Central Plains and Hebei.

As for Liaodong and Liaoxi outside Shanhaiguan, that happened later.

These people have never heard the name of sweet potato or sweet potato before, which is quite normal.

But this thing is not unfamiliar at all to Yang Zhen.

During the recent period, Yang Zhen was thinking about what to do after moving the defense to the Liaodong Peninsula, and how to recruit people and cultivate the land after the army arrived in the Liaodong Peninsula.

When thinking of these things, Yang Zhen naturally quickly thought of the high-yielding crops he was familiar with in later generations, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn sticks.

These were all very common high-yielding crops in the Northeast in later generations, but they were unheard of and unheard of outside the customs in this era of the late Ming Dynasty.

As long as he can introduce one of these crops to the Liaodong Peninsula, then the matter of recruiting people to reclaim wasteland will basically be half successful.

Among them, Yang Zhen did not know exactly when they were introduced to the Ming Dynasty, so he did not dare to have high expectations for potatoes and corn sticks.

But Yang Zhen was deeply impressed by the origin of sweet potato.

When he was still in later generations, he once traveled to Fuzhou and visited a place called Xianshu Pavilion. He unexpectedly learned about the process of the introduction of sweet potatoes into China.

Therefore, Yang Zhen knew very well that since the middle and late Wanli period, sweet potatoes had been planted in large quantities in the mountains of Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi.

Especially in the Fujian area, sweet potato cultivation is more extensive, and it has been deeply rooted among the people since the Apocalypse.
Chapter completed!