In the golden autumn of August, the sweet-scented osmanthus is fragrant.
Within the entire 1,362 hectares of land, more than 6,000 soldiers from the first and second battalions of the Jizhou Field Army waved their sickles and began to harvest corn.
There are only a few millets in the ground, so the yield is bound to not be too high.
When someone was harvesting, they even hit the remaining stones and damaged the blade.
When someone was harvesting, they saw half of the tree roots that had rotted away, so they marked them and dug them out after the autumn harvest.
The weeds were inevitably cut down together, and the campers secretly sighed inwardly. Every more grass grows means one less millet is harvested, and there are still more grass seeds accumulated in the ground for many years.
Fortunately, the situation is improving little by little.
Compared with last year, the harvest per mu this year should be around two dendrobiums.
According to the rules set by Roca, everyone can eat more mouthfuls and feel fuller.
The one hundred people with the highest output will also be rewarded with two bolts of silk and will be converted into private households in advance - this will save them from four years of "sentence". Who wouldn't be motivated?
Across the river from Shitian is a large expanse of lush woods.
The front, back, left, right and even the center of the forest were as bald as a leper's head.
Building a palace not only required burning bricks and tiles, digging out rocks, but also required a large amount of wood.
Most of the wood used now is sourced from other places, but Guangcheng Garden also cut down a large amount of bamboo wood and dried it in the shade for later use. This has been done since the first year.
As a result, the forests and bamboo seas disappeared one by one.
Of course, with a scale of tens of thousands, the impact on the mountains and forests cannot be said to be that big at all.
Guangchengze is more than half a county in size. If you include the surrounding mountains, forests and grasslands, it is far larger than a county.
After three years of continuous development, only a small part of it was sorted out.
The vacant land cleared after trees were cut down was transformed into farmland.
Because digging tree roots took away a lot of soil, the quality of these farmlands was not very good. Even though a lot of silt and ash were transported to fertilize the fields, the yield was still pitiful.
Shao Xun could see this judgment as soon as he walked to the fields.
But he didn't talk nonsense, but wielded the sickle and harvested together with the servants from Yingchuan County.
The Silver Spear Army also temporarily ended its training, and more than 3,000 people in six buildings took turns to harvest corn.
"The harvest has almost started in Luyang, right?" Shao Xun said, bending down and cutting millet quickly.
Yu Liang followed reluctantly, working clumsily, and replied: "It's a little earlier than here. In a few days, it will be finished."
To be honest, he really didn't want to do such a rough job.
Helplessly, Shao Xun's face was sullen, which made him a little afraid, so he reluctantly followed him.
He resigned from the shogunate's post of offering wine in the East Pavilion and now follows Shao Xun without any position, just like a servant.
Shao Xun was walking in the mud, and he wanted to follow him.
Shao Xun went to the fields to harvest, and he wanted to follow him.
Shao Xun went fishing in a boat and he wanted to follow him.
Shao Xun went to the ranch to look after the horses, and he wanted to follow him.
And so on.
"This year's newly opened land totals more than 1,409 hectares. If I leave it to you to manage next year, will you be able to do it well?" Shao Xun's harvesting movements were very fast. The swing of the scythe was not large, but the efficiency was extremely high.
Soon he fell several steps behind Yu Liang.
When Yu Liang heard this, he became very excited and immediately said: "Don't worry, Lord. My family also has a Zhuangke tribe in Yanling, and I will definitely be able to do a good job."
"It's not that simple." Shao Xun smiled and said: "Qingzhou's field army surrendered eight thousand people, they are not easy to control."
When Yu Liang heard this, he also smiled and said: "I will ask the clan to send twenty Dianji to take charge of the affairs, and send another three to four hundred troops from the Qu family to come over, so it won't be a problem."
"Okay." Shao Xun didn't waste any words, and the matter was settled.
Over at Shitian, the Yamen Army will have to step down from its guard duties sooner or later. After all, it will affect training too much.
Starting next year, it will be completely managed by Nanyang Leshi.
They can pull out thousands of troops and send three to five hundred people over. It's not a big deal and it can reduce their own pressure.
The more than 1,400 hectares of farmland in front of us were leveled after last year's autumn harvest. This year, they will be cultivated by the fifth and sixth battalions of the Qingzhou Tuntian Army (there are still nearly 8,000 people). Next year, they will be completely released and the 500 Yamen Army will be freed to participate in the possible
The war broke out.
After this year's autumn harvest, some fields will continue to be leveled, and the labor force for farming has not yet been found. It is most likely to be handed over to the farmers who have been removed from Luoyang Sanyuan next year. At present, the number has grown to more than 2,500 households, and it can be regarded as one's own private property.
If nothing else happens, it will be jointly managed by the third brother Shao Fan and the eldest nephew Shao Shen.
The third brother studied with Concubine Pei's planners for several years and made good progress. However, with the help of Pei Jin and others, he could barely manage the manor.
Shao Shen was surrounded by a group of "evil youths" who rode horses, rode and shot all day long, danced with swords and guns, and in their free time also took the bankers to practice, so they became more familiar with them.
The two of them working together, one civilly and one military, can probably make this new manor run.
The newly opened logistics base in Guangchengze will basically have this structure in the short term: the Shaw family, the Le family, and the Yu family are jointly in charge, providing him with a steady stream of food and grass.
The Yushanwu side is going to be handed over to my uncle Liu's family. His family used to be junior officers in the world army, and they are a little better than the Shao family. In troubled times, nepotism is sometimes a last resort. There is really no way.
The three major Wubao in Yiyang are managed by student cadres.
Green Willow Garden now has nearly a thousand households, which are managed by Shao's father and a group of relatives.
Lu Yang has Cui Gong, Liang County has Yang Man, Xiangcheng belongs to Lu Zhi, and Zhou Mo recently came to Yangdi where the county magistrate was killed and took office.
After careful calculation, we currently control ten counties, plus Guangchengze and several scattered manors and Wubao.
In the farming system, the farming part is basically "outsourced" to relatives - the wife clan is also a relative.
Shao Xun suddenly felt that his force was so similar to the Hu people in the Northern Dynasties!
He is now a "Hu man" specializing in military training and fighting...
Is this the inevitable development of history?
No, he still has room to struggle.
He also has a trick up his sleeve.
What is needed now is to quickly accumulate strength. Otherwise, when others have accumulated a lot of money and food, and trained a reliable army in a long war, and they come in force, no matter how pure your regime is, what is the use? Size.
It's too small.
Surviving first is the most important thing.
****
After the harvest is completed, the first thing to do is to award rewards.
One hundred labor activists were registered as civilian households and settled in Ruyang Second Defense, Nanshan, south of Guangchengze.
When these hundreds of people heard his name, they thanked him profusely and cried with joy.
Opening up wasteland and farming in Guangchengze is not an easy job. It is not uncommon for people to die of illness, exhaustion or even being beaten to death. Being able to become a household now is a big leap in status.
Even if they are not given land, they can live a good life by working as slaves for others.
After they left, everyone else's eyes were almost filled with envy.
However, a surprise soon fell on them.
Shao Xun ordered the recruitment of 700 soldiers and divided them among the four generals Wang Chan, Hao Chang, Lou Bao and Lou Quan.
As a result, the four Hebei generals each led a thousand troops and camped in Luyang County to support themselves. Shao Xun subsidized them with a little extra food so that they could have enough energy for training.
To put it bluntly, these four thousand people have now become de facto auxiliary troops.
Every time the Silver Spear Army went on an expedition, they would almost always be dragged along, and some craftsmen would be sent there to set up camp, transport grain and grass, collect wood for cooking, repair equipment, and take care of livestock. It was more than enough.
Auxiliary soldiers are also rewarded when they go on expeditions, plus daily subsidies, and they can work in the fields by themselves, and their life is not too bad. Among these Hebei soldiers stationed in Luyang County, some have even married wives and taken root in the local area.
After removing this group of people, there were only about 6,000 Jisangjiang soldiers left. They were reduced to one battalion and continued to cultivate the fields. They will start planting winter wheat next month.
"Yuan Gui, the Yingchuan slaves are about to return to their hometown. You are a wealthy family in this county. You can handle the matter of distributing the surplus grain." Shao Xun patted Yu Liang's shoulder and said, "There is no need to overcalculate the accounts.
Well, they have worked hard for a whole year. Let's go and bring more food home so that life at home can be easier."
"Your Majesty, you have always recruited slaves to open up wasteland, but it has never been so generous. This..." Yu Liang was a little confused.
"Yuan Gui!" Shao Xun slapped him on the shoulder harder, making Yu Liang grin.
During the Taishi period of the Guo Dynasty, a water conservancy facility was built in Ji County, which could irrigate more than 10,000 hectares of farmland.
The more than 10,000 hectares of fertile land newly added to Jixian County were all obtained from the Youzhou government's conscription of slaves to clear wasteland. When they returned home, they did not say that they would be able to take home surplus grain - the so-called surplus grain means after the autumn harvest, after deducting the time spent by the slaves in the process of clearing wasteland.
The food left over from consumed rations.
What Shao Xun did can be regarded as good governance, and it also increased the enthusiasm for land reclamation.
"People must have a heart of kindness." Shao Xun said: "This opportunity to be kind is given to you for free. Don't let me down."
"No." Yu Liang agreed and soon found someone to take care of it.
Shao Xun sighed.
These people from aristocratic families really don't regard the common people as human beings.
I thought I was already a black-hearted capitalist, but I didn't expect them to be even more ruthless.
The servants of Nanyang and Yingchuan counties took turns to open up wasteland, and next year it will be the turn of the servants of Shunyang County.
Being nice to them can reduce the frequency of troubles and spread your reputation.
He has ideas for Xiangcheng, Nanyang, Shunyang, Yingchuan, and Runan counties near Guangchengze, and sooner or later he will occupy them one by one.
The human heart is an elusive thing, invisible and intangible, but it shows its power at critical moments.
In the evening, he climbed up a high slope and looked at the masters and servants who were still working hard, at the harvested farmland, at the paved roads, and at the completed houses.
House, looking at the roaming cattle, sheep and horses, looking at the fishing boats dotted on the lake...
A sense of satisfaction arises spontaneously.
This is what gives him the confidence to fight with others.
Chapter completed!