I saw the old man running on the stone road first: "Bang! Bang! The general is mighty! ”

The big shield hoplites standing on both sides of the road neatly tapped the iron shield in their hands with their hands, making a dull impact sound, the sound of gold and iron intersecting made the Grand Duke of Hans, who had led a lifetime of soldiers, boil his blood, and the "mighty general" in the mouth of the soldiers made the Grand Duke of Hans burst into tears of excitement. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Zhao Hu rode his horse slowly, his horse's hooves tapping on the wide trade road paved with gravel, followed by the lame financial officer Starn, the stubborn old man Grand Duke Hans, and a dozen guards in light chain mail.

This trip was Zhao Hu's temporary intention to come to the vicinity of the tower fortress to see the spring ploughing situation that was about to begin, and the Grand Duke of Hans, who was unwilling to go to Chaoyang City to recuperate, stayed bored in the tower and insisted on following Zhao Hu out to see the spring in the south.

On both sides of the wide trade road were large fields that had just been cultivated, the dark clods of soil turned over by the iron plough exuded the fragrance of the earth, and the rows of newly reclaimed ditches were like chessboards drawn out of the earth.

In the early spring of April, farmers from nearby villages are in full swing fishing in the freshly thawed water in a ten-meter boat on the phosphorescent Tieta River, and the silver water of the Tieta River flows along the irrigation channels dug out during the dry winter into the surrounding fields waiting for irrigation, and some of the land has already revealed green shoots.

Zhao Hu took a deep breath with his nose, the spring rain that had just stopped made the air still mixed with the smell of damp earth, for such a progress, Zhao Hu was basically satisfied, and the stubborn old man who followed him showed a novel look, for the Grand Duke of Hans, who had been staying in the northern snow-capped mountain area for many years, it was still a time to see the spring color of the southern water town.

Zhao Hu knew that this was the first year of his governance of the three counties, and whether he could stabilize the hearts of the people floating in the war, whether he could gather the strength to dominate the south for himself, and whether he had sufficient food security were the most critical issues.

The refugees who fled from the north to the south were resettled by Zhao Hu in a group of 40 households and 400 households in the barren mountains and tidal flats of Tieta and Satduo, which were originally vast and sparsely populated.

The settled refugees began to cultivate their new fields, and the two county leaders, which had been barren and desolate because most of the people had fled, were revitalized.

According to Zhao Hu's idea, the internal affairs officer Starn redivided the wasteland of the two counties into eighteen areas, and each area was placed with twenty-five tuns, which was a complicated work involving land surveying, forest land division, etc., which made the financial officer in charge of internal affairs Stan so busy that he almost vomited blood.

Finally, under the instruction of Zhao Hu, all the refugee tun chiefs were summoned from among the refugees to discuss, and it took a whole month to negotiate before the new land boundaries were demarcated, and finally completed before the end of the spring plowing and rainy season.

At the end of spring in April, the air is fresh, the rainy season has just ended, the mountains and ravines are full of water, and the land is moist and fertile for planting, which is the most important spring ploughing time of the year.

The lord's new "Cultivation Decree" had already been sent to the 1,480 tun chiefs of the three counties a month in advance.

This new law is completely different from the previous peasants who sowed seeds in the soil at will and then left them to fend for themselves, not only strictly requiring all spring ploughing land to go through more than 10 procedures of intensive cultivation, such as soil turning and irrigation, but also formulating strict regulations on the depth of the soil and the density of sowing in the cultivated land.

This made many farmers unhappy, as it greatly increased their workload, but after the new "Farm Tool Rental Decree" was promulgated before the start of spring ploughing, this opposition almost disappeared.

Meritorious rewards, punishments, carrots and sticks, force and temptation coexist, heavy rewards are the same in ancient and modern times, according to the newly promulgated "Farm Tool Rental Decree", the village that is willing to implement the new farming decree can not only share five horses for ploughing.

Moreover, the grain tax paid during the autumn harvest only needs to be paid one-third of the grain according to the new regulations, and the top ten grain payers can not only get a reward of 1,000 gold Luke from the Marquis of Zhao Hu, but also get a reward of five horses, which is simply a windfall for those poor villages, shaking all the peasants.

Even the richest landlord in the village may not have a colt at home, and the richest old rich man is still standing in the field with his ass pouting and sowing seeds.

How many people have never stepped out of the village in their lives, and the farthest is to hunt game in the back mountains, pick wild vegetables, go around the town, and take a look at the lord's majestic castle from a distance, that is the pride worthy of recitation, and it is synonymous with seeing the world.

Not to mention seeing a horse, not even a donkey, let alone the legendary dazzling golden light, who would dare to jump out and go against the lord's new "Farming Decree" now?

The poor and screaming destitute households in the village would use the ploughing tools in their hands to let him know what the courage of the peasants was.

Naturally, villages that did not follow the new farming decree were not only deprived of five horses, but also had to hand over one-half of the grain at the autumn harvest, and the original complaints to the lords quickly turned into support for the new law.

Before the spring ploughing time arrived, the villages were already in full swing and began to plough the ground.

Grand Duke Hans pointed to a few peasants in the fields beside the road and drove their horses to plow the soil in the fields, turning over the soil about ten centimeters deep one by one, and asked suspiciously: "Lord Zhao Hu, does your land need to be dug so deep?" Horses are a very precious commodity, and you have sent them to the peasants to plow the fields, and in our place, if you find a piece of wasteland, and sow the seeds to sprout, and in the cool autumn they will naturally grow into golden wheat, and when the wheat is harvested, we will have enough food to go up the mountains to hunt.

It would be a waste of manpower to use horses to plough like this, and it would be better to fish at this time of year if so much manpower were sent to do some logging! It can also be sold to merchants to make some money. ”

Grand Duke Hans's face showed a bold smile of a northerner, without any awareness that he was a guest of the tower, and he did not hesitate to express his opinion, and even pointed out Zhao Hu's shortcomings and inappropriateness from time to time.

Zhao Hu was not in the mood to explain the intensive cultivation of ancient China to a stubborn old warlord, looking at the arrogant appearance of the old man Jones in front of him, Zhao Hu hurriedly responded with an embarrassed face: "We can't help it, we are here in the barren southern mountains, naturally it can't be compared with the fertile northern snow under the rule of the Duke, especially we lack the most basic agricultural tools here, in order to resist the Kazakhs, all the iron tools have been forged into weapons by Samor, I can't let the farmers below dig the soil with their hands."

In order to ensure that all of us have enough food to survive the winter, even the horses in our army have to be sent to the peasants to cultivate the land, which makes the Duke laugh! ”

This is Zhao Hu reminding this stubborn old man: "I took the grain to ransom you back from the Kazakhs!" It's not my food, and you're still gnawing hides from the Kazakhs. ”

Hearing Zhao Hu's answer, the face of Grand Duke Hans, who was still arrogant just now, turned slightly red, thinking of the grievances he had received from the Kazakhs, his radiant face became gloomy, and he said unwillingly: "It's a pity that the Kazakhs have cut off the road to the north now, otherwise I can compensate for the loss of your tower." ”

"Compensation?" Zhao Hu's face was slightly stunned, and even the Stan beside him put on a look of not hearing.

The arrogant Grand Duke of Hans did not know that his family was still arguing with a few small lords in the surrounding area, and the thousands of peasants mobilized in his own territory were still screaming with hunger.

In order to solve the problem of the thousands of peasants who were temporarily recruited to eat, the Hans family was regarded as smashing pots and selling iron, and the already depleted territorial property was even worse, and it was said that it was about to go bankrupt

"What? Don't believe me? I'm Grand Duke Hans, one of the three great dukes of the North! I vouch for the reputation of my Grand Duke of Hans, and as long as the road to the north is clear, I will give you the most precious thing of the Hans family as my compensation for your tower. Seeing Zhao Hu and the others with disbelieving faces, the stubborn old man was anxious, waving his thin arms and shouting.

"As long as the road to the north is clear, I will use the title of Grand Duke of the North as my compensation!"

There are only five hereditary archduke titles in the entire empire, three in the north and two in the imperial capital, which have always been hereditary, and are responsible for the important defense of the north and the imperial capital.

This prestigious title also had many other privileges that ordinary lords could not get, and it was a small independent empire with the right to govern the military alone, autonomy, no need to pay the emperor's authorization tax, and the emperor had no right to interfere with appointments within the domain.

This stubborn old man seems to have seen through his weakness a long time ago, that is, without the permission of the emperor to send troops to occupy the two counties, thinking that he has the title of the grand duke on his head, he can completely eliminate the trouble of monopolizing the three counties, he can put the emperor's order back very well, and he can also have a fertile duke, he will be the common lord of the four counties of the empire.

Zhao Hu's eyes lit up, swallowed his greedy saliva, and also saw Zhao Hu, who was a happy mess in front of him, the corner of the mouth of the Grand Duke of Hans, who was dark and thin, showed a sly arc, and he smiled secretly in his heart: "Silly Zhao Hu!" The five hereditary grand dukes, do you know what it means to be hereditary? If you want to eat meat, show some sincerity! ”