On the twenty-fifth day of the first month of the ninth year of Chongzhen. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Li Xiao was in Chi Fengwei's official office, swept away the remaining snow, rolled out the red carpet, and welcomed the eunuchs who came from afar.

When they heard the edict that the eunuchs would merge Huangxian and Zhaoyuan into Chifengwei, Li Xiao and others, who knelt down to listen to the decree, showed joy on their faces.

What everyone didn't expect was that after listening to the edict and reading the edict, Li Xiao had no promotions or rewards for the land in these two counties except for rewarding the land in these two counties, and everyone was immediately disappointed.

It's just that Li Xiao, who was on the ground to receive the order, was as calm as water.

"The decree has been completed, and Li Xiao, the chief soldier of Chifeng, has taken the decree!" The voice of the eunuch announcing that he was neither male nor female sounded loudly.

"Minister Li Xiao, thank you!"

Li Xiao smiled and took the holy decree, tilted his head slightly, and met the eyes of the eunuch who announced the decree full of meaning.

Li Xiao's heart moved, and then he ordered everyone to disperse, and let the eunuch enter the living room to sit for a while.

After the servant offered tea, the eunuch said to Li Xiao with a smile on his face: "Lord Li, although the imperial court did not give you the promotion of an official knight, but the two places of Huangxian and Zhaoyuan were rewarded to you, and they were exempted from taxes for three years. ”

Li Xiao smiled and said: "The court has good intentions, and Li Xiao knows it in his heart. Li is loyal to the country, and he is an official and famous, but he does not attach great importance to it. Li is really grateful to be able to get the emperor to reward the land of these two counties to expand Li's Chifengwei. ”

"Okay, good, Master Li is a smart person, just a little bit." The eunuch laughed, and then said in a low voice: "Lord Li, our family also tells you a word, Lord Li, you are exempt from impeachment, and you can smoothly get the land of these two counties. ”

When Li Xiao heard this, he immediately said with a grateful face: "Li Xiao is so virtuous, he is really flattered to be so loved by Gonggong Cao and Wen Shoufu. ”

The eunuch waved his hand, and said to Li Xiao with a deep look in his eyes: "Lord Li, this is polite. Wen Shoufu and Gonggong Cao are very appreciative of a good general like you, and I believe that Master Li will also understand the deep meaning of the two of them. ”

"Father-in-law rest assured, Li Xiao has been favored by others, and he will naturally repay the favor. After asking his father-in-law to return to Beijing, he replied to the two adults, saying that Father-in-law Cao and Wen Shoufu took care of Li, and Li remembered it. ”

"That's good, that's good." The eunuch looked relieved.

Speaking of harmony, Li Xiao asked people to take out a large plate containing 300 hundred snowflakes of official silver and give it to the eunuch Xuanzhi.

Seeing the plate full of brand-new and dazzling official silver, the eunuch smiled badly, but pretended to shirk: "Our family came to announce the decree with the holy decree, and An Ke received such a great gift from Lord Li." ”

Li Xiao said with a smile: "My father-in-law braved the wind and snow to come to Shandong to proclaim the decree, which is really hard. In addition, Li Xiao also prepared some small gifts, ready to give them to Gonggong Cao and Wen Shoufu, and asked his father-in-law to introduce him a little when he arrived. ”

The eunuch nodded hurriedly and smiled: "Lord Li is really courteous, this matter of recommendation, it is not a problem, our family will do it for Lord Li." ”

"Okay, then Li will thank his father-in-law first." Li Xiao smiled and arched his hand to the eunuch.

The two looked at each other and laughed.

Subsequently, Li Xiao arranged a feast to entertain the eunuch and his party.

After the feast, the eunuch was to take his leave. Li Xiao didn't stay long, and gave each of the eunuchs' retinue twenty taels of silver.

Seeing Li Xiao's generous move, the eunuch who announced the decree had a bright smile on his face.

Next, Li Xiao sent Li Dingguo, deputy commander of the Chifeng Battalion, with more than 50 flying harriers, to follow the eunuchs to the capital to give gifts to Wen Tiren and Cao Huachun.

Li Xiao made a generous move and packed a big money box for Wen Tiren and Cao Huachun each, which contained 1,000 taels of gold each. Then he told Li Dingguo to pay attention to the safety on the road, and asked him to go with the eunuch.

After sending off Li Dingguo and the eunuch Xuanzhi, Li Xiao returned to the living room of the official office in Chifeng City and sat down with Chen Zilong and had a secret conversation.

"Lord Li, from the student's point of view, Lord Li has made great contributions this time, but he has not been promoted to the rank of official, it must be that the trade between our army and the Mongolian tribes has been reported to the emperor." Chen Zilong said with a worried face.

"Wozi, I've thought of this too." Li Xiao also looked solemn: "Actually, this official has long thought about it, even if he hides the trade with the Mongolian tribes, he can't hide it for long. It's only a matter of time before someone reports it. ”

"Lord Li is right, from a student point of view, the emperor rewarded the land of the two counties to Lord Li like this, but he did not promote the official title, but he also had good intentions." A faint smile appeared on Chen Zilong's lips.

"Hehe, it's just a strategy of hitting and pulling. The emperor was deeply dissatisfied with the trade between our army and the Mongols, but he needed our army to pacify the Liukou and fight the Tartars, but he had to win them over. The emperor's move like this can be called well-intentioned. Li Xiao sighed.

"My lord, I thought that this must be the idea of Gonggong Cao and Wen Shoufu to the emperor." Chen Zilong lowered his voice and said: "He showed his kindness to the adults like this, covering up his mistakes and rewarding the land for the adults, and winning the hearts of the adults, but it is obvious. ”

Li Xiao smiled faintly: "Being valued by such a high-ranking official of the imperial court shows that Li still has the value of use, but we can't be dizzy and unprincipled for others to use." ”

"What do you mean?"

"Worship ghosts and gods and stay away. Since he has been gracious to me, I have rewarded it with silver and gold. After all, above the court, there are treacherous and treacherous waves, and we can't get too involved in foreign generals, in case Wen Shoufu has something to do in the future, our army will be involved. In the official's opinion, it is still enough to maintain superficial closeness to him. Li Xiao said with a deep gaze.

"What my lord said is that I heard that the emperor is also a suspicious person, and if we and other foreign generals have too close friends with important ministers in the court, I am afraid that we will be suspicious. However, it is very harmful to the future development of our army. Chen Zilong nodded again and again and said in a low voice.

After Chen Zilong finished speaking, the two looked at each other and smiled.

"Wozi, do you know what the official is really worried about now compared to such trivial things as the official has not been obtained?" Li Xiao looked at Chen Zilong with burning eyes.

"The students are thinking, but the adults are worried, now that the court has become suspicious, the future development space of the adults is afraid that there will be more limitations." Chen Zilong also looked directly at Li Xiao's eyes and replied slowly.

Li Xiao chuckled, but sighed and said, "Those who know me, Wo Zi also." ”

"What new plans do you have for the future?" Chen Zilong asked softly.

"Wozi, Confucius once said an ancient saying, the road is not good, take the pole to float in the sea. This sentence is now deeply believed by the official. Li Xiao stood up, walked slowly to the window, looked at the gray sky outside the window, and said slowly.

"Your Excellency, do you want to 。。。。。。?"

"Since the development space in the Ming Dynasty is already limited, if our army wants to further develop and grow, I am afraid that the only way to find territory overseas is to go overseas." Li Xiao said this slowly but firmly.

"Going overseas?" Chen Zilong was startled, and the teacup stopped in mid-air: "But I don't know where the adults are going to seek overseas land?" ”

"Well, the official is still thinking about it." Li Xiao turned around, but with a wry smile on his face: "This matter must not be rushed, after all, our army's naval division is extremely weak, and it is difficult to implement such a plan for a while." ”

"But, Wozi, this matter is extremely confidential, and it comes out of my mouth and into your ears, but you can't say it to anyone else." Li Xiao said in a low voice: "After all, the conditions of our army are not yet complete, and it is not a good thing if the plan is exposed prematurely. ”

"Don't worry, my lord, this matter is very important, and Zilong will never say anything to others." Chen Zijing said hurriedly.

Li Xiao snorted, and then said to Chen Zilong: "Now that our army has newly acquired the land of Huangxian and Zhaoyuan counties, the top priority now is how to absorb and digest the land and population of these two counties and use them for our army. ”

"Then what the adults mean, but what do you plan to do with this newly acquired second county?" Chen Zilong asked.

Li Xiao pondered for a while, and then said to Chen Zilong: "Is this matter, the official is still thinking about it." This official arranged for you and Xu Xiuqing to immediately investigate the land, population, minerals and other matters in these two counties, give you ten days, and report to me as soon as possible after the investigation is completed. ”

"Students obey the orders of adults."

。。。。。。

The imperial court merged Huangxian and Zhaoyuan into Chifengwei, and on the third day after the eunuch came to Chifengwei to read the edict, the county orders of Huangxian and Zhaoyuan were personally in Chifeng City, and Li Xiao was handed over, and then transferred to other places in accordance with the imperial decree.

Among them, Deng Yungong, the county commander of Zhaoyuan, was transferred by the imperial court to the county commander of Yiyang County, Henan. Because he agreed with Li Xiao to send troops into Zhaoyuan to suppress bandits last time, and agreed with Li Xiao to mine gold in Zhaoyuan, Li Xiao had a good impression of him, and when Deng Yungong was leaving, he personally bid him farewell and gave him 300 taels, which moved Deng Yungong very much.

"Master Li, if you come to Yiyang in the future, Deng will be a good student to entertain adults." Deng Yungong said gratefully.

"That's natural, Deng County Ling has a lot of friendship with Li, and if Li has the opportunity to go to Henan again in the future, he will go to visit him from now on." Li Xiao replied with a smile.

After the two county commanders were transferred, Li Xiao first sent his subordinates and personnel from the Department of Civil Affairs to take over the military and political work of the two counties for the sake of safety.

Rao is Li Xiao's cautious actions, but they still caused strong repercussions in both places. And the strongest reaction was naturally the landlords and gentry of these two counties.

Among them, a terrible rumor spread. Yes, Li Xiao has now newly obtained Huangxian and Zhaoyuan, and his power has risen sharply, so Li Xiao, who is in power, is ready to take the landlords and gentry in the next step, confiscate their land, and then reallocate it to the poor peasants and displaced people who have no land.

This news spread with noses and eyes, and Huangxian, Zhaoyuan, and even the landlords in the original Chifengwei were all panicked.

Although I don't know where this news came from, in everyone's impression, this Li Xiao is a guy who kills people without blinking, and if he really wants to use a knife against the landlord and squire, it is completely possible.

When the news spread in an uproar, the No. 1 landowner in Zhaoyuan, who had dealt with Li Xiao before, and Gu Zhidao, who had more than 10,000 acres of fertile land, was also worried.

Wang Shengtong, another landlord in Zhaoyuan County, who had always been good friends with him, also came to Gu Zhidao's house with a sad face after getting the news to discuss the matter with him.

"Brother Gu, you say, this Chifeng chief soldier Li Xiao, really want to punish me and other lands so viciously?" Wang Shengtong asked anxiously.

Gu Zhidao glanced at the timid and unassertive Wang Shengtong, and his heart was even more irritable.

After paying Li Xiaojun a large amount of silver and food, he had to sign an agreement with Li Xiao to let Li Xiaojun stay in Zhaoyuan to guard against bandits, and hand over a large amount of grain every year. What Gu Zhidao didn't expect was that this Li Xiao was still not greedy enough, but he wanted to confiscate all his land.

A trace of hideous color crossed Gu Zhidao's face.

"Hmph, the court's preferential treatment of the gentry is a national policy, how can he be allowed to be so nonsense! If Li Xiao is really so insatiable, we can jointly sue him, how can he let him take the sky with one hand! Gu Zhidao slammed the tea table on the side and said angrily.

"Then what are we going to do now?" Wang Shengtong asked again.

"Now that Li Xiao has won the second county, there has been no movement yet, and it depends on how he deals with it, it is not too late for me to take the next step!" Gu Zhidao said with a gloomy face.

。。。。。。

Only eight days later, Chen Zilong and Xu Xiuqing finished checking the population and land situation of Huang County and Zhaoyuan County, and came to report to Li Xiao.

"My lord, according to our survey, the population of Huang County is about 18,000, of which more than 7,000 are in the county seat. Zhaoyuan County has a population of about 30,000 and a county population of 12,000. It has a total population of more than 48,000 people and 13,200 households。。。。。。 Xu Xiuqing talked to Li Xiao.

After listening to Xu Xiuqing's report, Li Xiao frowned.

He had read history books before and knew that in a county town in the Ming Dynasty, there were basically 50,000 to 80,000 people. Unexpectedly, it has been more than two years since Kong Youde's rebellion, and the two war-stricken counties together have not even reached the normal population of one county.

The slow recovery of the population shows how devastating the war has been to the production and life of the people.

"What about the cultivated land?" Compared with the number of people, Li Xiao is more concerned about the land situation.

After all, now that the Ming Dynasty is full of displaced people, as long as the leaders are properly organized, it is not difficult for the population to recover quickly.

Like Chifengwei, when it was first established, the population of Quanwei was only a few thousand, and later Li Xiao continued to recruit homeless people and incorporate Liukou, and now there are more than 50,000 permanent residents of all kinds.

"My lord, it has been found that there are 240,000 mu of cultivated land in Huang County and 350,000 mu of cultivated land in Zhaoyuan County, with a total of 590,000 mu of land. Among them, 120,000 mu of upper field, 210,000 mu of middle field, and 260,000 mu of lower field. Among them, the landlords and squires who occupy an area of more than 1,000 acres have a total of 350,000 acres of land, and basically occupy all the upper and middle fields, and the rest are self-cultivated farmers who have dozens to hundreds of acres of land. Chen Zilong took over and truthfully reported the land situation to Li Xiao.

After listening to Chen Zilong's report, Li Xiao was not shocked, he now knew how terrible the land annexation situation was in Huangxian and Zhaoyuan, and the landlords had occupied nearly two-thirds of the cultivated land area of the two counties, and occupied all the plastered land. In such a situation, I really don't care if I don't know, I'm shocked.

Li Xiao thought of this, but he didn't express any opinion on this issue, but asked: "Then you two, have you ever counted how much wasteland can be developed in these two counties?" ”

The reason why Li Xiao asked this question was also to thoroughly understand how much land in the two counties could be developed and utilized.

Because, the original situation in Chifengwei was that there were only 180,000 mu of cultivated land, but Li Xiao later developed 120,000 mu of land that was originally abandoned, and another 30,000 mu of mild saline-alkali land as mulberry fields and about 50,000 mu of heavily saline-alkali land as economic plant planting land, thus resettled a lot of displaced people.

Xu Xiuqing seemed to have guessed that Li Xiao would ask such a question, he had already prepared, and immediately replied: "Lord Li, in the two counties now, it is estimated that 250,000 mu of wasteland that can grow grain can be developed, and in addition, we have also ascertained that there are 80,000 mu of mild saline-alkali land that can be developed into mulberry fields, and 130,000 mu of heavy saline-alkali land that can be developed into economic plant breeding land. ”

Li Xiao quickly thought about it in his heart, and a smile appeared on his face unconsciously.

"Very good, with this large amount of developable wasteland, our army can greatly increase food and economic income, and second, it can recruit a large number of displaced people outside Jintang City, Xuanfu Town, but it is a good thing to kill two birds with one stone." (To be continued.) )