Fresh turnips were pulled out one by one and piled on the ridge of the field.
Tuoba Yichang stood aside and watched silently.
When the busy farmers saw him wearing a bright guard uniform, they all bowed respectfully.
They were Dangxiang people recruited by the Tuoba family from Hengshan. There were three or four families, about twenty men and women, and they were all gathering turnips in the fields.
As a rare vegetable in winter, turnips have been a favorite food of Guanbei officials and people since the Lingxia era. After the Guanbei military and political group took over Luoyang, they brought this eating habit with them. Therefore, the demand for turnips in the market has increased.
It was so big that it stimulated people in Luoyang and Henan counties to plant it in large quantities.
This is the business model of farmers in the suburbs of big cities. For them, growing food is not very profitable. Growing vegetables and fruits and selling them in the city often earns more than growing grains.
In these farmlands, it has basically become a trend to plant vegetables or pastures in summer and autumn, and plant turnips and carrots that have just begun to be popularized in winter and spring.
These are the fields of the Tuoba family, totaling more than a hundred acres. For the small basin of Luoyang, it is actually quite good, let alone the fields close to the capital.
Yes, the land resources around Luoyang are not very abundant, and they have long been distributed to immigrants who came earlier - through installment payments.
If the families of the sergeants who moved here later wanted to buy land, they could only go to Yanshi, Gongxian, Fengshi and other counties further away. It was not always possible to buy land, and it was very inconvenient - their families lived more than a hundred miles away.
, you are in the military camp, and you have so many days of vacation. Wouldn’t it be troublesome to come and go?
What's more, many sergeants don't buy land at all. Farming furland is basically a sacrifice of life and death. I only know how to kill people, but I don't know how to farm, and I don't want to farm.
"Okay, let's wash the van." Tuoba Yichang said.
The dealers all agreed.
There was a carriage waiting on the post road not far away. The leader was a tall man of eighteen or nineteen years old named Kang Fu, who was also a banker of the Tuoba family.
Kangfu was from Shatuo. He was captured in the Daibei battle and later built a palace in Luoyang. In July of the first year of Jianji, Tang Dynasty was transformed into Xia and the world was amnesty. Kangfu was pardoned and settled in Henan County. But he was poor and white.
, had nothing, so he went to the Tuoba family's farm to make a living as a farmer.
"Kangfu, are you really leaving?" Tuoba Yichang walked a few steps, looked at the young man standing in front of him, and asked.
"Yes." Kang Fu didn't say much and said directly: "I have made an appointment with someone to go to Anton Mansion together."
"Have you recruited soldiers?" Tuoba Yichang asked with his eyes focused.
Kangfu is from the Weizhou Military Academy. He is proficient in bow and horse, has good martial arts, and has the aura to dare to fight. Therefore, after arriving at Tuoba's house, he did not farm at all and did not know how to farm. He only took care of livestock and looked after the home.
host.
Such a person is actually very easy to use. If he leaves, where will the Tuoba clan recruit another former military academy member to look after their home and hospital? It is simply impossible.
"It's been raised. Someone took the exam, standing still to shoot deer, marching to shoot grass people, shooting left and right bows immediately, as well as horse bow, step bow, and horizontal sword skills. I got the best." When talking about this, Kang Fulue
Showing a little bit of pride.
Tuoba Yichang was also a young man. He felt very uncomfortable after hearing this, so he sneered: "You are so powerful, why are you still a prisoner?"...
Kangfu's face turned red and he said: "Xia soldiers... there are too many officers and soldiers, they are from all directions. I and hundreds of people set up a small village on the mountain. We fought hard for many days, but there were no reinforcements, so we had to surrender. It was not me.
Waiting for the bravery, 500 people defended the stronghold, but in the end only 200 surrendered. Outside the stronghold, there were piles of corpses of party soldiers."
Tuoba Yichang felt even more uncomfortable.
But after all, he had experienced it in Yanbei and the palace, so he quickly suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart, found a servant, and whispered a few words in a low voice. After a while, the servant brought two pieces of woolen cloth, and Tuoba Yichang let him
Leave it to Kang Fu.
"It's also an acquaintance." Tuoba Yichang said: "You won't leave until March or April next year, right? Then you have been working in my house for almost two years. Take these two pieces of woolen cloth, they are gifts."
Kang Fu was stunned, reached out to take it, and said thank you.
woolen cloth
Although this thing is not as valuable as silk, its value has been increasing day by day in the past year. Better woolen cloth has reached 200 yuan a piece, which is not much cheaper than some cheap miscellaneous silk. Moreover, looking at the current trend, the price of a single piece of woolen cloth
The price can still go up by about ten or twenty yuan, because people are becoming more and more accepting of this new thing and the demand is growing.
It’s all a trend started by saints!
At first, he and his wife wore them, and then the personal soldiers began to issue them, and then the big-headed soldiers. Although the sweaters at that time were warm, they were irritating and not very popular. The saint rewarded them, and everyone continued to say, they can’t wear them.
Let’s talk about wearing it. However, last year, the quality of woolen cloth improved and became softer, and the output also increased greatly. Official uniforms in winter and spring also began to be issued with sweaters, which suddenly improved the status of woolen cloth.
The price jumped by more than thirty yuan.
Of course, what underpins the price of woolen cloth is that it can be used to deduct taxes. This allows ordinary people to raise sheep for wool with confidence and no longer worry about its uselessness.
In today's Henan Prefecture, houses are built in the gardens to grow mulberry trees, and wheat and beans are grown in the fields.
Forage and field workers have basically become accustomed to this farming model, and the social landscape has been completely different.
Kangfu's winter coat was made of woolen cloth. The reason was that it was cheap. Before that, not everyone had clothing to keep out the cold. Taking these two pieces of woolen cloth back, you can make several sets of clothes, which can be regarded as a
Huge reward.
"Let's go." After the turnips were cleaned and loaded into the truck, Tuoba Yichang waved his hand and set off on the road with the carriage and horses.
His vacation was over, and they happened to return to the palace together to pay their dues. These carts of turnips were also purchased by the palace, and were escorted there on the way - as the nurse, Kangfu naturally had to follow them.
"Who are you dating?" Tuoba Yichang asked as he was doing nothing on the road.
"The two veterans of the Forbidden Army are older and have retired. They are both volunteers from the army." Kang Fu replied.
"How do you know them?" Tuoba Yichang glanced at him suspiciously.
"They were all prisoners of war from Hedong. They were lucky enough to be selected and joined the Forbidden Army as supplementary soldiers." Kang Fu replied: "I was already quite old when I entered. After working together for a few years, I retired. Not yet."
I had time to buy some property, but now that I think about it, I might as well not buy anything at all, just buy some things and settle down in Anton Mansion."
"Yi Congjun..." Tuoba Yichang pondered for a moment and said: "After defeating Wei Bo, Yi Congjun returned to Henan Prefecture to rest and recuperate. I heard that the battle damage has not been replenished for a long time, which is a bit interesting."...
"It won't be replenished." Kang Fu said: "Or even if it is replenished, more people will leave and fewer will come in. The imperial court is using this method to reduce the number of volunteers in the army."
War losses and demobilization will cause vacancies, but if they are delayed in replenishing them, everyone knows what the court's intentions are. However, this is indeed a relatively gentle method of disarmament, and the shock caused by the demobilization of the established organizations is much lighter.
"The world is not at peace yet, so there is no need to raise so many soldiers?" Tuoba Yichang sighed.
The horse-drawn carriage traveled on the first-class national highway at an extremely brisk pace.
There are acres of farmland on both sides of the road. Various winter vegetables are grown in the fields, such as turnips and cabbages. There are several fields of turnips and cabbages planted together. These are farmers who received money from Henan Prefecture for agricultural education.
It's said that turnips and turnips will "give birth" to many strange "children", just like when a Han man marries a Sogdian, the children born have the characteristics of both parties.
Tuoba Yichang believed in this, because horses and donkeys can give birth to mules, and so can turnips and cabbage. Maybe one day, people will have a few more winter vegetables on their tables, which is very good.
"There are too many soldiers. King Jin's soldiers are not as rich as the money we get here, and they are equally exhausted." Kang Fu said.
The income of warriors in various vassal towns in the world is different. For example, in the past, Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin's soldiers were not as well treated as Zhu Quanzhong's Xuanwu Army, while Shi Pu's Xuzhou soldiers had more income than the Xuanwu Army, and Yang Xingmi's Huainan soldiers had more income than them.
High, it all depends on the economic situation of each town.
"There are many generals in Anton Mansion. If you go there, you will have to risk your life to get ahead." After walking all this way, Tuoba Yichang no longer has any grudge against this proud young man. Think about it.
, they are all going to the frontier to fight for wealth, why bother?
How about getting angry with him?
"I know. Liu Guo, the commander of the Longwu Army, is the most famous in Anton Prefecture. He marched hundreds of miles into Liaoyang and was praised by people in Luoyang. In addition, there are fierce generals like Wang Yanzhang. He has heard of riding alone into battle not once or twice.
The Khitan people are as fearful as a tiger." Kang Fu said.
"It's more than that." Tuoba Yichang said: "Yanzhou general Dong Zhang and Qingzhou general Zhang Wen were born in Yin'anzhi. They are your Majesty's personal soldiers with extraordinary martial arts and dare to fight. The Huaihai Road generals Wang Jiao are on the battlefield.
He kills enemies with extraordinary skills and has outstanding achievements. There are many talents along the way, and Fu Cunshen is also a handsome man. What is lacking now is nothing more than household registration, money, food, and materials. After solving this problem, we can move northward and drive the Khitans out of Liaoxi with ease."
"Then we have to go and have a meeting." Kangfu said with a big smile.
The young man always felt that his martial arts were the best in the world, and he could kill enemies and perform meritorious deeds on the battlefield, just for no other reason. Later, the saint looked at him with admiration, and promoted him one after another, and everything came naturally.
"Henan Prefecture recruits government soldiers, are they mostly veterans of the Forbidden Army?" Tuoba Yichang asked again.
"Most of them are. Brave young men from the countryside can also apply, but the number of places is limited." Kangfu said.
"Do you know where you are going?"
"I don't know."
Tuoba Yichang was stunned.
He actually knew something about the inside story, because once the saint had a discussion with the ministers of the Privy Council, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Household Affairs, and he was on duty and heard it.
Of course, it's one thing to hear it, but to tell it out is to seek death. Tuoba Yichang is not that stupid.
If nothing unexpected happens, Henan Prefecture will provide more than a thousand veterans of the Forbidden Army, 500 brave warriors recruited from the private sector, plus a thousand Wei Bo Fuzi, and build a military stronghold near the mouth of the Daliao River to garrison.
Living a good life in Lushun County is not what many people imagine.
After the military stronghold is built, people, equipment, food, and livestock will be slowly transported there, fields will be cultivated, and livestock will be grazed. When the time is right, a city will be built and a county will be built to become another stronghold against the Khitans.
At noon in the afternoon, the carriage of Tuoba Yichang's family entered Dongdu Garden through Xing'an Gate and handed over the winter vegetables to the Zhongguan of the farm supervisor.