The snow melts, the dead branches sprout, the cold winter finally passes, the warm spring is quietly coming, a few spring rains down, the drought in the north has been alleviated for a long time, the gray and yellow earth shows a little green, and the early flowers decorate the earth with extraordinary beauty. The fields are full of busy farmers, clearing the land and planting seeds in preparation for the new year.

Kang Peng breathed a sigh of relief, Dong Zhuojun's granary had almost bottomed out, if the spring came later, he really didn't know what else he could use to feed so many people who followed him to Chang'an. Dong Zhuojun's primary task this year is to vigorously produce grain and lay a material foundation for future military operations.

At the morning meeting that day, Kang Peng issued a series of orders: "Concentrate all young and middle-aged people to reclaim wasteland, and open as much as they can, the more the better." Local governments set up incentives to encourage the people to open up more wasteland, and all the expenses were paid by our army. ”

"The soldiers were ordered to suspend their training for the time being, take turns to go to the fields to assist the people in farming, and to hunt in the mountains at their leisure to gather as much food as possible. Incentives are also set up in the army to motivate soldiers to work. ”

"Let the old and weak people go to the field to collect wild vegetables and fruits, and use the methods taught by the original Xiang to grow mushrooms, and save food a little bit."

"Bring water to the ponds dug in the winter to prevent drought, put in the fry, and no one is allowed to catch them until the summer."

"Regardless of the military and civilian tuns, the garrisons must raise chickens, pigs, cattle, sheep and ......"

“……”

With the concerted efforts of the local people of Chang'an and the fleeing victim Yuan Dong Zhuojun, in less than a month, all the fields in Yonghe and Yonghe Prefectures were planted with grain, cotton, and hemp, and more than 1.5 million mu of newly opened up wasteland, all of which were planted with grain and vegetables. Kang Peng personally took Zaoyi and a group of old farmers to the field to guide the people to plant potatoes, peppers, and pumpkins, and corn could not be sown until April. Fortunately, Kang Peng was transferred from farming to the city in modern times, and he was no stranger to farm work, and he was very easy to teach people, and these crops were very easy to cultivate.

In addition to planting grain, Kang Peng also pays great attention to animal husbandry, although there is no high-yield laying hens and hormones to grow pork in this era, but it is still easy to build hundreds of near-modern farms for Dong Zhuojun, who has deep pockets, plus hundreds of reservoirs for drought prevention and fish breeding in winter, and then use some modern breeding methods, such as restricting animal husbandry activities, feeding fish with animal manure to engage in circular breeding or something, livestock production is still much higher than free-range. Kang Peng also paid a high price to invite dozens of veterinarians from the Huns to prevent animal plague.

Spring ploughing production from February to April, as long as the corn is planted, this year's rush to sow and rush to plant can be over, like planting potatoes and pumpkins and other new plants, Kang Peng is still personally taking jujube and a group of old farmers to demonstrate sowing. After Kang Peng sowed the corn seeds at a certain distance, he instructed the people to turn over the soil and cover it, "See, it's as simple as that, the germination of the god rice is fertilized and the weeds are removed frequently, and in July and August, thousands of catties can be harvested per acre of land." Even if the year is not good, you can collect seven or eight hundred catties. Kang Peng said that the output was discounted, and he was afraid that the output would be too low at that time and damage his face. In fact, Kang Peng knows that these seeds are high-yield seeds, if there is chemical fertilizer, it is not surprising that an acre of land produces 15000 or 600 catties, although there is no chemical fertilizer in this era, but it should be very easy to yield 1,000 catties per mu.

The old farmers are all skeptical, they are all farming experts from all over the world, they have been planting fields for decades, and they have rich experience, but the highest yield of grain per mu they planted before has never exceeded 400 catties, and the yield per mu is 1,000 catties - is it possible? But doubts are doubts, and they still led the people to sow corn according to the law.

Kang Peng saw their doubts, but he didn't explain them, he just smiled at them and made a bamboo in his chest. At this time, Kang Peng noticed that Zao was sullen on the side, as if he had something on his mind, Kang Peng sighed and patted him on the shoulder, "Mr. Zao, what are you thinking?" ”

Zao was only startled, and just wanted to speak, Kang Peng asked first: "Mr. got the news of Meng De?" Want to go back to Chen? ”

Zao Yi lowered his head and said softly: "I only knew the whereabouts of the lord ten days ago, please let the Taishi allow Zao You to go back." ”

Kang Peng was silent, turned around slowly, looked at the floating clouds in the sky with his back hand, and said after a long time: "Mr. Ben is so important, and there is no deficiency in high-ranking officials, can you still let Mr. forget the old master?" ”

Zao Yi 'pounced' to Kang Peng knelt down, choked and said: "The Taishi treats Zao Yi as heavy as a mountain, but Cao Gong has the grace of knowing Zao You, and the virtue of carrying it, Zao Yi does not dare to forget it at any time, and begs the Taishi to see this little bit of work that Zao You has helped Taishi Tuntian for more than half a year, and let Zao Yi go." After that, Zao only burst into tears and cried loudly.

When the people over there saw the jujube crying, they couldn't help but be very surprised, and they all put down their farm work and came around. Kang Peng pondered for a long time, and after weighing it again, he said softly: "Sir, please get up, tomorrow the Japanese minister will hold a banquet at home, and then lead the whole army to see off Mr. ”

Zao Yi was overjoyed, and was about to say a resignation, but Kang Peng waved his hand to stop: "Sir, don't refuse, it's decided." ”

Kang Peng wanted to release Zao Yi back to Cao Cao's matter soon spread throughout Chang'an City, the people were very sorry, Zao Yi usually led them to organize Tuntian, build water conservancy, breed animal husbandry, and won the love of the people, now Zao Yi is leaving, the people are not only sorry for it, but also admire Zao Yi's loyalty, and even more admire Dong Taishi's words and faith - this is also the effect of Kang Peng.

It is not only the people who regret it, Sima Lang, who has a very good relationship with Zao, hurriedly went to find Kang Peng overnight, Sima Lang just arrived at Kang Peng's study, but found that Jia Xu and Li Ru were also in Kang Peng's study, after saluting, Sima Lang immediately asked: "Taishi, why do you want to let Mr. Zao go?" Not to mention anything else for the time being, Mr. Zao is good at agricultural and internal affairs, if Cao Cao also uses Mr. Zao to be in charge of Tuntian, over time, it will become a big disaster for our army. ”

Kang Peng smiled at Jia Xu and Li Ru first, and then said: "Boda, the prime minister and Mr. Zao have words first, as long as Mr. Zao knows Cao Cao's whereabouts, he can leave at any time, and now that Mr. Zao is leaving, if he is forced to stay, wouldn't he be dishonest to others?" ”

Sima Lang paused and said: "Of course Sima Lang understands what the Taishi said, but it is still not considered to let Mr. Zao go like this." ”

Li Ru laughed and went up to take Sima Lang's hand, "Boda, how many months is it now?" When Mr. Zao returns to Chenliu, when will it be? Is it too late to farm in the fields? ”

Sima Lang suddenly realized, beat his head and smiled: "Look at my memory, it's April now, even if Mr. Zao returns to Chenliu, Tuntian will be too late anyway!" But Sima Lang thought about it for a while, and said nervously: "If Cao Cao uses Mr. Zao Tuntian again next year, then what will happen?" ”

"Will Cao Cao wait for next year?" Li Ru said contemptuously: "How many people can Yanzhou have? How many people starved to death and fled from last year's drought? The spies came to report, Cao Cao and Zhang Miao are now fighting inextricably, who wins and who loses for the time being, but the farming time has been missed, this year's autumn harvest is hopeless, and after a big war, how many people can be left in Yanzhou? By next year, how much capital can he Cao Cao have to raise the army? ”

"Taishi let Mr. Zao go, and there is one of the biggest benefits." Jia Xu said: "Redeem the hearts of the scholars!" Zao Yi was born in the scholar clan, and he received the great grace of the Taishi, and now he does not forget the old master to leave the Taishi, but the Taishi generously let him go, there is an example of Zaoyi, what will the world's scholars think of the Taishi? From now on, the Taishi's recruitment order will definitely be able to recruit real virtuous people for the Taishi. ”

Sima Lang was overjoyed and praised Kang Peng's foresight, but Kang Peng suddenly sighed: "Whether you or Mr. Zao, I am actually reluctant to let any of you leave." ”

Jia Xu, Li Ru and Sima Lang immediately left the table and bowed, and said movingly: "The Taishi has the grace of knowing and brotherhood for us, and we swear not to betray the Taishi." ”

Kang Peng smiled, "Don't be so polite, Benxiang knows your loyalty to Benxiang." By the way, there is good news for you, Chen Gong came to report today, he rebuilt a catapult according to the record of "Mozi Maker", which is a siege weapon, and after sending Mr. Zao away tomorrow, we will go to watch the power of the catapult together. ”

……

As Li Ru said, when Dong Zhuojun was recuperating and developing farming, the princes of the Central Plains did not have the energy to take care of the affairs of those grass people, and they were busy fighting wars and grabbing land and reporting the grievances formed at the civil and military conferences. A large number of people died in the war, a large amount of land was abandoned, and the lives of the common people became more and more miserable.

Cao Cao did not see the sequelae of abandoned spring ploughing, and also wanted to raise the people and develop agriculture, but his opponent Zhang Miao did not have this vision, even in the spring ploughing season, Zhang Miao still sent troops to attack Cao Cao's entrenched Xuchang City, so that Cao Cao was unable to take care of farming at all. In addition, there are many scholars in Xuchang, and almost all the land is in the hands of the scholars, and Cao Cao is not as bold as Kang Peng (stupid?). Dare to attack the Shi clan and forcibly seize the land and tuntian, leaving Cao Cao's precious time for the development of the army is a waste.

On the Jizhou side, although Yuan Shao successfully defeated Han Fu's army with Tian Feng's strategy, defeated Xinchang in one fell swoop, and forced Han Fu's family to go to Bao Xin, the minister of the north, but Yuan Shao did not use this precious time to develop internal affairs, but as in history, let the army feed his hunger with river mussels, and continued to advance to the south, trying to take advantage of the chaos to expand his territory.

In the south, Yuan Shu finally couldn't help but be furious, relying on the abundance of grain in Huainan, despite the opposition of his subordinates, he sent an army of 50,000 to take advantage of the warmer weather to march to Jiujiang, under the pretext of avenging his brother-in-law, and pointed the spearhead at Sun Jian, trying to get involved in Jiangnan and establish his Zhong empire.

The other princes are not afraid, but Liu Bei's actions in Xuzhou made Kang Peng sweat, and his big ears won the hearts of the people in Xuzhou's governance, and he developed steadily after using Zhuge Xuan as a military advisor. But Kang Peng was bitter that Chang'an was too far away from Xuzhou and was unable to balance Liu Bei's development, and Jia Xu comforted Kang Peng, "Xuzhou is a place of four wars, surrounded by enemies on three sides, and there is no danger between states and counties, the better Liu Bei develops in Xuzhou, the more he will attract his hungry wolf neighbors." Kang Peng had no choice but to give up.

In mid-April, Dong Boss stayed in the belly of Princess Anyang that son was full moon, everyone congratulated Kang Peng, but Kang Peng had no feelings for this nominal son, when Princess Anyang gave birth, he was still in the field to observe the progress of Tuntian, and after returning home, he only comforted Princess Anyang a few words, and then went back to the room to sleep, even the child was unwilling to hug, and the weak Princess Anyang cried several times after giving birth.

"Let's call it Dong Yi." At the full moon banquet, Kang Peng hugged the titular son for the first time, and said lightly: "I hope his future life can be comfortable and comfortable, and he won't work so hard like his true appearance." Kang Peng doesn't like this child at all, Xiu'er, Cai Wenji and Princess Pingyang are also pregnant one after another, and the child in their womb is what Kang Peng really cares about.

Princess Liu Yu of Anyang forced a smile and accepted everyone's congratulations to her, but she was crying in her heart, and she was used to seeing palace battles and said: "Son, your father hates you, and your future life will be difficult." ”