Several early warblers compete for warm trees, and whose new swallows peck the spring mud.

The flowers are gradually charming to the eye, and the asakusa can have no horseshoe.

When the spring flowers bloom, the grasslands in the north of Shuozhou have changed from the deserted appearance of previous years.

Du Gou rode a horse and slowly inspected his own land.

In order to develop this cotton field, the Du family mobilized nearly 50 children from the family, as well as a group of tenants and purchased slaves.

"Lang Jun, I heard that those Japanese people sent another batch of people over yesterday, so now I don't have to worry about not being able to catch up with the sowing."

Beside Du Gou, the housekeeper Li Shuguo said with a relieved face.

When he first arrived in Shuozhou last year, Li Shuguo was very worried.

On the one hand, there is naturally a safety issue, and I am worried that all the investment will be wasted.

The other is the lack of manpower.

Originally, Shuozhou was a border town, and there were not many local residents, so you couldn't recruit many people even if you recruited with a high salary.

Who knows that in the past few months, every once in a while, a horse team of Japanese people will send batches of manpower.

And this seems to be getting stronger.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu has made a decision, and when the time comes, no one knows what he has left. He discovered this cotton, promoted cotton cultivation was his attention, and it was also his idea to immigrate to the East River Road.

Now combined with the previous cement road construction plan, it seems that these are all linked one by one. The second brother still followed the eldest grandson and waved his flag behind him, shouting and couldn't get along with His Royal Highness the King of Chu. How did he know that the Sun family, the head of the family, was more active than anyone else in cultivating cotton fields in Hedong Road. ”

The land of the eldest grandson's family is next to the Du family, and Du Gou also knows that on the basis of the land rewarded by the imperial court, they have also purchased a lot of grassland, and now all of it has been converted into cotton fields.

These cotton fields were previously difficult to cultivate.

However, when the weeds are yellow in winter, put a fire, and the land will be bare and fertile.

Then the modified horse-drawn plow was used, and the efficiency of ploughing was very high.

Anyway, Shuozhou is located on the edge of the grassland, and there is no shortage of horses, cattle and sheep.

As for the various agricultural tools, they were fully prepared when they emigrated.

"Erlang has not suffered much since he was a child, and now Lang Jun excludes him to go to Guangzhou to plant sugarcane, and after seeing him again, he should be much more mature."

Li Shuguo is not easy to say too much.

Although he also felt that Du He was not very competitive, he was a subordinate after all.

"Forget it, leave him alone. Over there, the canal dredging presided over by Nanshan Construction Engineering is progressing well? ”

Du Wei has been in Shuozhou for several months and has a certain understanding of cotton cultivation.

Although cotton farming can save a lot of water compared to rice and wheat, it is still inseparable from water.

In particular, these lands were originally grasslands, and although there are rivers nearby, the canals are useless if they are not built.

"As soon as the snow melted, they started to work. It is said that they have now stopped the construction of the concrete road and are working hard to dredge the canal. The amount of water needed for the first planting was very small, so I thought it would be possible to catch up with our progress. ”

Li Shuguo is still very confident in Nanshan Construction Engineering.

When it comes to infrastructure, they are professional.

"I have planted so much cotton in one go this year, if the prospect is really the same as what His Royal Highness the King of Chu described. No, as long as it is half as described by His Royal Highness the King of Chu, the northern part of the east of the river will be completely stable.

And we, the heroes, have gained a lot from this. Compared with His Royal Highness the King of Chu's handwriting, everyone's pattern is not as good as his. ”

Du Wei didn't have much contact with Li Kuan before, that is, he only learned more about it in recent years.

However, the more I learned, the more extraordinary I felt.

Now, Du Gou has already given birth to the idea of moving closer to the Chu Palace.

……

The spring rain is falling, and the rain and fog are filled.

The thin raindrops, like thousands of silver filaments, rippled in the vast air, just like a bead curtain worn.

These silver filaments shrouded the vast land like smoke and clouds.

Some of the early swallows that had come back were weaving through the drizzle, as if trying to cut the beaded raindrops with their scissor-like tails.

It is said that the spring rain is as expensive as oil, and this timely rain makes a village in the north of Xinzhou full of joy.

What was once a barren scene is now gone.

Shi Ming, as Lizheng, had already organized each family to build temporary houses a year ago, and then reclaimed the wasteland.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, families are busy in the fields.

The farm tools were issued by the imperial court, and the cattle and horses for ploughing the land were also prepared in Xinzhou.

It can be said that the life of immigrants is better than everyone imagined before they came.

"Uncle Shi Fu, this is your family's cotton seeds, remember to follow what I said before, make good preparations before sowing."

Shi Ming got up early in the morning to make final preparations for the sowing of cotton planting.

Since the cotton seeds were in the hands of the Chu Wangfu, Li Kuan didn't think about relying on it to make money.

So the cotton seeds were distributed to the counties according to the situation of the immigrants.

Then, through the expatriate students of Guanshishan Academy, the cotton seeds were distributed to the farmers.

This can be regarded as a way to improve the status of the students of Guanshishan Academy among immigrants in disguise.

"Shi Ming, is it really more tiring to plant cotton when sowing and picking, and it is easier at other times?"

Shi Fu is not afraid of being tired, but he is mainly worried that he will not be able to plant so much land at that time.

"Uncle Shi Fu, don't worry, this kind of cotton will not be more tiring than growing corn. Maybe you have some spare time, you can go to the nearby brick and cement workshops to help and earn some pocket money to support your family. ”

Brick workshops don't have much technical content, and since the advent of cement, more and more people have used green bricks to build houses.

Such a house is much safer and more durable than a wooden house.

As for the cement workshop, after several years of development, the technology has actually slowly spread.

Li Kuan simply let go completely, as long as you give a certain amount of money, the cement workshop under the Chu Wangfu will directly arrange craftsmen to guide you to build the cement workshop.

As a transportation hub, Shuozhou naturally also has its own cement workshop.

Nowadays, if cotton cultivation is to be vigorously promoted in the vicinity, more cement will be needed to build roads and dig canals.

There were five or six more cement workshops in Shuozhou all of a sudden.

Although the scale is small, it is a good solution to the local needs.

"If you say that, then I'm relieved."

Shi Fu smiled and took the cotton seed from Shi Ming's hand.

I believe you're a ghost.

If you are relieved, where do you still ask the same question every once in a while.

Although Shi Ming thought so in his heart, the smile on his face remained undiminished.

He has to face countless farmers like Shi Fu every day, and he is used to it.

……

"Captain, we have three thousand people in our team now, do you want to just go deep into Xue Yantuo's hinterland and do a big one?"

Although Fu Yitie himself is also a Xue Yantuo person, but since he took refuge in Xiao Tian Che, he has been concentrating on dealing with Xue Yantuo.

"Xue Yantuo's large army, His Royal Highness the King of Chu naturally has arrangements, and our duty is to be a different horse thief. Even Xue Yantuo knew about our relationship with Datang, but he was speechless. ”

Oda is very clear about the position of his team.

If you rashly do some actions that shouldn't be done and ruin Li Kuan's plan, it will be more than worth the loss.

"Captain, in fact, if we hadn't sent too many prisoners back to Shuozhou, our team would have exceeded 10,000 a long time ago. When the time comes, who else will dare to underestimate us in this grassland? ”

Lieutenant Chi Noda, a forward-minded officer with well-developed limbs and a simple mind, felt that the team had not expanded to the size he had imagined, and it was a little regrettable.

"If there are really 10,000 people, can His Royal Highness the King of Chu rest assured that we will make trouble here in Xue Yantuo?"

What Oda Kiri said was very realistic.

If their strength is too strong, they simply occupy a grassland, gather a few tribes, and become the king of grass heads, then it will be troublesome.

How could Li Kuan tolerate such a thing?

Oda Che sent his family to Chang'an.

He didn't want anything to mislead Li Kuan.

Therefore, the size of this team is firmly limited to 3,000 people, and none of them have been exceeded.

"Then why don't we change the direction of entering the palace and go west, there should be more Xue Yantuo tribes there."

Seeing that Oda Kiri's attitude was more resolute, he didn't insist anymore.

"It's not impossible to go west, but that's for later. Now we have to make sure that there is no big tribe of Xue Yantuo people in the grassland within a radius of 500 miles in Shuozhou. First sort out these places again, and then go to Shuozhou to rest and ask for Chu Zhubo's opinion. I heard that His Royal Highness the King of Chu has arranged for Master Chu to come to Shuozhou, for those cotton planting things. ”

"Team up, that cotton can't be eaten. Datang arranged so many people to grow cotton in Shuozhou, but it cost a lot of money, right? ”

Yu Chi Noda rode a horse and followed Oda Kiri, gossiping there boredly.

When marching on the grassland, it is normal to sometimes not see a single figure for a day.

If everyone didn't talk to each other, Noda felt like he was going to suffocate.

"I heard that this cotton can be spun into cotton cloth, and I think His Royal Highness the King of Chu should have made this suggestion to the imperial court after careful consideration."

Oda Kiri has as much confidence in Li Kuan as ever.

"The craftsmen of Datang often have amazing skills, and they can process a lot of things that we don't seem to know how to use into very good things."

Fu Yitie obviously has a relatively high degree of recognition of Datang.

"It is said that Shuozhou is going to build a cement road to the white road of the Yunzhong Governor's Mansion, and the number of helpers needed at that time will definitely be very large. I think in the next few years, we will all be able to fight comfortably on the grassland. ”

The only person who can say that fighting is the same as a common thing is that there is only one person like Fu Yitie, who is full of food and the whole family is not hungry.

"Relax everyone, if you want to go to Chang'an, you only need to work here for three years. If you want to be a 'horse thief' all the time, that's fine. When the time comes, we will take the white road as the center and head north, and there will definitely be quite a few tribes there. ”

Oda Kiri's words basically met the needs of everyone in the "horse thief" team.

Not everyone wanted to go to Chang'an, especially those who joined the captives.

……

"Fugui, Dengshan brought a letter from Shuozhou, telling about the resettlement of immigrants over there. Now the nobles and the people are gone, but there are not many merchants there. You can guide some people to do business in Shuozhou, the transportation is so convenient, the population is also increasing rapidly, and some have the opportunity to make money. ”

In the palace of the king of Chu, Li Kuan called Wang Fugui in after reading Chu Suiliang's letter to himself.

Shuozhou has always been an important military town, and commerce is relatively withered.

It's a complete disappointment to its location.

Although Shuozhou is not as good as Liangzhou's location, it is definitely not bad.

It is completely possible to move the development model of Liangzhou to Shuozhou after a little improvement.

These honeycomb coal workshops don't need Li Kuan's hands, someone has already started them there.

Cement workshops are also available.

However, workshops related to daily life are relatively lacking.

As for the burden-carrying merchants who walk through the streets and alleys, there are even fewer of them.

Li Kuan hopes to make Shuozhou a city like other states and counties in Guanzhong, rather than a border city.

As for the military function of Shuozhou, it can be moved north and handed over to Baidao and Yunzhou, so that the actual territory of Datang can be further expanded.

"Lord Wang, I'll make arrangements as soon as I go back, and I'll go to Shuozhou in person in a few days. Many businessmen in the eastern and western cities actually don't have any ideas, but they are not familiar with the place, and everyone is worried after all. If someone organizes, there should be no fewer people responding. ”

Li Kuan spoke, and Wang Fugui immediately stated that he would lead the team to expand Shuozhou's business.

"Datang Transportation Group's fixed carriage route from Chang'an to Shuozhou has also been announced, in addition to those big merchants, we can also encourage small traders to go to Shuozhou.

When the cotton is picked this year, whether it is the nobles or the farmers, there will be no shortage of money in their pockets, and there will be many opportunities to make money. If it really doesn't work, you can support a few typical examples, and let Datang Daily report it well when the time comes, and you must attract more people to Shuozhou. ”

Expanding from the north to the west to the south, this is the development route that Li Kuan has planned for Datang a long time ago.

As the cement road gets longer and longer, there will be more and more areas that Datang can actually control.

"Lord Wang, my subordinates understand. When the time came, I also brought a writer from Datang Daily with me, so that the prospect of Shuozhou's large number could be displayed in the eyes of the people of Guanzhong in a timely manner. ”

Wang Fugui can now feel the benefits of "Datang Daily".

Not to mention the effect of those advertisements, the influence of the articles posted on them alone is not trivial.

"Money is inexhaustible, and we can only earn more money by fattening the lambs."

Wang Fugui is doing things, and Li Kuan is still relieved.

It's just that this guy sometimes doesn't have a big enough pattern, so he reminded him again.

Let Datang have more middle class, this is one of the goals pursued by Li Kuan.