To the seventeenth year of the Yuan Dynasty, February 25.

Spring flowers bloom, grass grows warblers fly, everywhere are villagers busy in the field, men plough the fields to prepare for sowing, women pick mulberry to feed spring silkworms. Climb high and look into the distance, the sea is dotted with hundreds of sails, and there are more fishing boats.

The villagers of the Luoning battalion trained for four days, and today they took off their training uniforms and rested for a day. Or go out to see the spring, or go home to visit relatives, and do their own things.

There are also many single and unaccompanied people who simply stay in the barracks of Wubao and do not go anywhere. There are even a few people who still train spontaneously in the mouth-shaped playground.

"Let's go..."

"Turn back..."

"Stand upright!"

Ten Jurchen private soldiers escorted an ox cart past the side, and several villagers who had trained themselves immediately bowed down on one knee and saluted with their hands beating their chests: "Camp master! ”

This is by far the most common military salute.

Cui Xiuning originally wanted to adopt a modern military salute, but was vetoed by Li Luo. Li Luo believes that no matter how much the two of them toss, it is impossible to change the attributes of this era.

The Song and Yuan dynasties were still in the prime of feudal society.

What he needs is the leadership of technology, organization, and at most some institutional leadership, not the so-called values, the leadership of universal thought.

It is necessary to face up to and even attach importance to the concept of hierarchy, especially in the military. What Li Luo wanted was a relatively leading feudal army, not a modern army with equal officers and soldiers.

He's not a savior, he's just a careerist. The savior will surely die, but the careerist may not.

According to the regulations, the villagers called Li Luo "camp master" instead of the official position "Duzhai". The word "master" already shows that the relationship between Xiang Yong and Li Luo is not as simple as a simple superior.

Li Luo hopes that through a title, he will subtly and slowly establish and strengthen his attributes of "lord" and "lord" in the consciousness of Xiangyong.

It was not enough to be the commander of this army, because a single order from his superiors could deprive him of his military power. Only by becoming the "lord" of this army can this army become the Li family army.

"Excuse me!" Li Luo smiled and raised his hand to Xiang Yong, who had taken the initiative to train on these days off, and remembered the appearance of several people in his heart.

"Congratulations to the camp master!" A very young red-faced villager bowed again with great interest. Several other people also hurriedly told him, "Congratulations to the camp owner."

Li Luo put down the curtain of the oxcart with satisfaction, just in time to see Cui Xiuning's disdainful look.

"You're so proud, Lord Camper." Cui Xiuning suppressed her voice and said in a low voice, although she was ridiculing Li Luo, she was still afraid of being heard by the Jurchen private soldiers outside the car.

Li Luo smiled and lowered his voice as well: "To be honest, do you think I did something wrong?" ”

Cui Xiuning shook her cute head, "That's right." However, I think you're proud. ”

"I didn't." Li Luo was very serious, "How many people are these?" When we have thousands of troops, you will see a little bit of my pride. ”

"Okay." Cui Xiuning didn't bother to say more.

Today, she wore a white silk embroidered plum-chested "Ze Goryeo" skirt, her hair was braided and hung down behind her back, her feet were clogs, and her face was like a clear hibiscus without powder, and she was dressed like a Goryeo woman.

If you don't know, you will definitely think that she is either a woman of the family or the wife of a big official.

And would never have thought that her identity was just the "wife" of the Nine Pins Village.

The ox cart was driven by a Jurchen boy named Ah Shan, who was one year younger than Yan Falcon, and he drove the ox cart very well.

"Ahsan, have you ever driven an ox cart before?" Yan Falcon, who was guarding outside the car, asked.

The identity of Yan Falcon, Yan Tong and others is not Xiang Yong, but Li Luo's private guard, and the treatment is higher than that of Xiang Yong. But I usually have to train with Xiang Yong.

Ahsan smiled: "Where is the ox cart for me to drive?" I ploughed the field a lot, so it would be natural. ”

Yan Tong on the other side of the ox cart said, "You are." We all know how to plow the fields, why can't we drive? ”

The driver may seem simple to navigate, but it's not easy.

Guangxia scolded with a smile: "Ploughing the field and driving are the same thing?" Ahsan can drive because his father used to drive a carriage for the old wolf master! ”

Yan Falcon suddenly realized, "I said why! His father drove the carriage for the old wolf master, and he drove the ox cart for the little wolf master, which is really the son inheriting his father's business! ”

Ah Shan said unhappily: "Yan Falcon, what do you mean?" Do I only know how to drive? Why don't we fight another day? ”

Yan Falcon smiled: "What are you fighting? Shouldn't you be fighting? ”

Everyone laughed together.

Along the way, the villagers who worked hard in the fields and the peasant women who were picking mulberries in the mountains saw the Li family's ox cart and stopped their movements and knelt on the ground.

"Duzhai Lord ......"

The Li family presided over low-interest loans a few years ago, which allowed many people who were out of food to solve their urgent needs. Mani Township did not freeze to death and starved to death during the New Year. Let the people of the whole township miss it.

Now, Li Luoren has been in the village for less than three months, but the official reputation and popularity are unmatched for a while, and even spread to other countries.

Recently, the villagers also heard that Li Duzhai will repair the water conservancy and dredge the river so that the people can irrigate.

As soon as this news came out, Li Luo won the hearts of the Mani people.

The reason why Li Luo wanted to repair the water conservancy project was mainly for the sake of military rations, and naturally it was not as noble as the people thought.

He now has only about 300 soldiers, but every five days he has to go to the city to buy food. In the future, when there are more soldiers, the amount of grain purchased will be greater.

After all, there are more than 50 miles of roads in the city, and considering the cost of transportation, and the price of grain in the city is already higher, the cost is nearly 20% higher than buying grain in the nearest village.

Li Luo plans to raise 1,000 soldiers in the local area this year, and he will spend an extra 800 yuan to buy grain in the city.

And that's just the cost, there's another account: food security.

Just going to the city to buy grain not only takes a day, but also requires a lot of transportation forces. What's more, once someone chokes his neck and doesn't sell him food, or the grain transport team is robbed and attacked on the road, then he will run out of food!

Therefore, no matter from the perspective of capital cost, time cost, transportation cost, or safety and reliability, Li Luo needs to buy grain locally.

There should be enough food in Mani Township.

But the problem is that due to the poor harvest and the heavy taxes, the villagers have no surplus grain to sell.

Therefore, Li Luocai planned to improve water conservancy and help the people get more food. Then they will buy grain and let the people pay their taxes with the money.

In this way, he had a safe source of military rations. The people no longer had to transport grain to the city and sell it for money to pay taxes, and they were also rubbed with oil by grain merchants.

Not only that, but he also made a name for himself.

Although it is also the responsibility of the capital village to build water conservancy, which capital village is still in charge of the people?

Anyway, the villagers only know about Li Duzhai.

Looking at the ox cart surrounded by a team of private soldiers, and then looking at the tall and magnificent Lijiawu Fort not far away, the villagers all showed awe.

Today, the Mani Li family is gradually gaining momentum and has become the second family in Mani Township after the Liu family.

In addition, Liu Chenglin, the eldest son of the Liu family, died at the hands of Sanbiejiao before, and the Liu family was hit hard, making the emerging Li family and the Liu family have a faint tendency to fight against each other.