After listening to Li Xiao's question, Chen Zilong bowed his hand and said, "Master Li, let's talk about the grain production first." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

"Okay."

"Lord Li, the six counties and four guards in Dengzhou now add up to a total of 1.53 million mu of wheat fields, plus 1.14 million mu of Chifengwei, 400,000 mu of Shanxian County, and 40,000 mu of land on Ocean Island, so our army can collect wheat fields in Shandong, a total of 3.11 million mu, and a total of more than 620,000 stone wheat can be harvested based on 2 buckets per mu."

Speaking of this, Chen Zilong laughed: "Master Li, the students have calculated that even if you add up all the battalions of soldiers, factory workers and government personnel, as well as all kinds of prisoners of labor and construction laborers, the food needed for a year is only 700,000 stone. At present, in Shandong alone, the grain collected in one summer alone is almost enough for the entire army for a year, which is considerable. ”

Li Xiao also said with a smile: "Food is the foundation of the military and the people, and having enough food supply is the foundation for the prosperity of all things." But I don't know, what is the grain production situation in Jeju Island and Taiwan Island? ”

"My lord, now there are nearly 400,000 people on the island of Taiwan, and a total of 480,000 mu of land has been developed, because it is the first year, each mu is levied according to 5 buckets, and a total of 240,000 stone of rice has been harvested. However, the land on Jeju Island was only 15,000 stone of rice due to the 30,000 mu of rice fields that already existed. In addition, the 800,000 acres of wasteland in Jeju have just been developed, and soil cultivation measures such as deep ploughing are being carried out in preparation for planting late rice, so there is no tax for the time being. ”

"Taiwan and Jeju have just been developed, but they are not in a hurry, as long as they can gradually get on the right track in the future." Li Xiao replied.

Chen Zilong nodded, and said: "Master Li, in addition to the newly developed 800,000 mu of land on Jeju Island, plus the newly opened 1.2 million mu of wasteland in the Dengju area, there are a total of 2 million mu of newly developed land. In the past few months, Xu Xiuqing and other officials have been aggressively recruiting displaced people in Henan, Beizhili, and other places for several months, recruiting more than 300,000 displaced people in total, so they have ensured that there is sufficient labor, and by now, the development of these wastelands has been basically completed. Among them, 600,000 acres of middle and upper land newly opened up in Dengzhou have been planted with millet or sorghum, and it will take two or three months to harvest. Another 600,000 acres of middle and lower fields have been turned into cotton fields for planting cotton. Of course, because the cotton planting season is a little past when the land is cleared, by the time the cotton is picked at the end of September, the cotton yield may be much less than expected. ”

Without waiting for Li Xiao to speak, Chen Zilong said again: "Of course, there are 600,000 mu of cotton fields to supply our army personnel, even if this year's output is insufficient, it is enough for all the soldiers and civilians of our army to wear, and it is also enough for the shipyard to make sails, but it is difficult to sell the surplus to the outside world." ”

Li Xiao smiled: "It's okay to have this output." From the officer's point of view, the fact that our army's grain and cloth production is enough to supply and support our army is quite a good achievement. This officer intends that after the number of artillery pieces further increases and the technology of iron mold casting cannons matures, our Tiger Army can begin to further expand its army. ”

Chen Zilong heard Li Xiao say this, and hurriedly said: "Master Li is right. Now that there is enough food, the next step is to recruit more displaced people and further colonize Jeju and Taiwan. This large-scale recruitment of displaced people is the top priority of our army's work at present. ”

Li Xiao nodded, and asked again: "But I don't know, Monk An and Mo Changrong are stationed in the Tielong Battalion A and B and the second general army?" What about the number of displaced people? ”

Seeing Li Xiao asking, Chen Zilong hurriedly said: "By the way, the student just received a flying pigeon message from Monk An and Mo Changrong. Now Monk An led the Iron Dragon Battalion to the general army and horses, and was arranged by Xiong Wencan, the governor of the five provinces, in Suizhou, Huguang. Mo Changrong's Iron Dragon Battalion B General Soldiers and Horses were arranged by Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, in Haoyang, Shaanxi. The two divisions are stationed in the local area, and both are mainly to cooperate with the local army and soldiers to suppress bandits. However, according to the two of them, because they often had to participate in the big and small anti-bandit operations and recruit homeless people, they did not have time to do it, so to this day, the two places together have only recruited more than 2,000 homeless people, and all of them have been settled in Dengzhou. ”

Listening to Chen Zilong's answer, Li Xiao frowned.

Because he knew that in history, Yang Sichang's plan to suppress bandits in all corners and ten sides was the final outcome, so Li Xiao originally wanted to recruit homeless people and supplemented him by killing bandits, but he didn't expect that Monk An and Mo Changrong had not been able to recruit more homeless people, which made Li Xiao feel quite regretful.

After all, with more displaced people, Li Xiao's large-scale colonization plan and further army expansion plan could be realized.

In the future, if places such as Taiwan and Luzon in Southeast Asia, Ezo and Sakhalin in Northeast Asia, and even Outer Manchuria are to be further developed, they will not be able to do so without sufficient manpower.

Now in Henan, North Zhili, South Zhili and other places, because the war has subsided, the people's lives have gradually become stable, and most of the displaced people have been recruited. Therefore, the current Li Xiao, seeing the still turbulent Shanxi, Huguang and other places, but the recruitment work of this homeless person is not satisfactory, he can't help but fall into contemplation.

How can we recruit more displaced people from Shanxi and Huguang more and faster?

Seeing that Li Xiao was deep in thought, Chen Zilong suddenly laughed, and he pretended to say to Li Xiao mysteriously: "Lord Li, but you are upset about how to recruit more homeless people? ”

Li Xiao nodded slightly, and then asked, "Mr. Inexplicable Wozi already has a plan in his heart?" ”

Chen Zilong said with a smile: "It is indeed a plan, no, it is not the student's thinking, but there is another master, who has a good plan for Master Li." ”

Li Xiao Daqi: "But who is it?" ”

"Lord Li, this is the former right attendant of the Ministry of Officials, and then Jiang Yueguang of Nanjing Taichangqing, Lord Jiang."

Li Xiao was overjoyed and hurriedly said: "Okay, good, Ben Bowan didn't expect that there would be such a noble person as Jiang Shilang, who is willing to come to me, and this official is really happy." But I don't know, when did Jiang Shilang come to vote, and where is he now? ”

Li Xiao, such joy and yearning for this Jiang Yueguang who came to take refuge with him, in fact, completely comes from the "History of the Ming Dynasty" he read in his previous life, and his impression of Jiang Yueguang in the book.

Jiang Yueguang, the word Yanji, a native of Xinjian County, Nanchang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, is 56 years old this year, and is a Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, he served as an "angel of the kingdom" and sent an envoy to North Korea, without taking anything from China when he went, and without taking a penny from North Korea when he returned. For this reason, let a group of Korean monarchs and ministers, from top to bottom, deeply admired, and set up a special Huaijie monument to commemorate this angel of the kingdom.

After returning from North Korea, Jiang Yueguang was ordered to visit the Phi Island where Mao Wenlong, the handsome man of Dongjiang Town, was located, and praised him as a hero of the country, hoping that the Emperor of the Apocalypse could reuse Mao Wenlong. He said to the emperor in the recital that if it wants to recover Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, it must start from the Dongjiang River and reuse Mao Shuai's soldiers, which is quite far-sighted.

It is a pity that the Emperor of the Apocalypse was too busy with carpentry work to pay attention to his advice at all. However, it can be seen from this point that although Jiang Yueguang is a member of the Donglin Party, he can put the country first in everything, recognize the virtuous and capable, and his ability and mind are far stronger than those of a group of courtiers who only know how to fight for power and profit.

It's just that such a virtuous person, because of his noble state, angered Wei Zhongxian, who couldn't ask for bribes from him, and regarded him as a member of the Donglin Party, so he was extremely disgusted with him, and finally found an excuse to let him go home without official status.

It was not until the early years of Chongzhen, after the fall of Wei Zhongxian, that Jiang Yueguang was reinstated, serving as the right Zhongyun of the Ministry of Rites, and then the official to the right servant of the Ministry of Officials. It's just that because of his integrity and integrity, he offended Shoufu Wen Tiren and was demoted to Nanjing Taichangqing, Jiang Yue Guang saw that he had ambitions, but he had to spend his time in this idle position, so he was angry and depressed, so at the beginning of this year, he resigned from illness.

In the official history, it was not until the fifteenth year of Chongzhen that he regained his position as Zhan Shi and took charge of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy. Later, during the Southern Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongguang promoted him to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and the scholar of Dongge University, and Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu were the three sages of Nanzhong.

It's just that Jiang Yueguang was jealous of Ma Shiying again, and fabricated his five major crimes, wanting to punish him. Jiang Yueguang saw that the state affairs were chaotic and the ministers were fighting endlessly, so he was disheartened again and begged to return from illness.

In the second year of Yongli, Jin Shenghuan was in Jiangxi anyway and invited Jiang Yueguang to revolt. Jiang Yueguang, who was originally idle at home, agreed to his promise because of his old age, and scattered all his family wealth as military funds, which made Jin Shenghuan very emotional.

However, because Jin Shenghuan was outnumbered and had no reinforcements, the uprising was only more than half a year, and on the eighteenth day of the first month of the third year of Yongli, the final stronghold of Nanchang City was captured by the Qing army general Tan Tai, who led the Qing army from Nanjing. At the moment when the Qing army broke the city, Jiang Yueguang left a chapter of "Six Songs" and a desperate word, and led the whole family of 32 to commit suicide and martyrdom in the pond, and was loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing Li Xiao's concerned expression, Chen Zilong smiled and said, "Lord Li, the reason why Jiang Shilang was able to come, speaking of which, is all because of the adult's reuse of Minister Liu." ”

Li Xiao sighed and asked again: "Could it be that Liu Zongzhou, who is now the head of the Supervision Department of our army, introduced Jiang Yueguang to our army?" ”

Chen Zilong said with a smile: "Exactly, since Minister Liu became the head of the Supervision Department of our army, he has been deeply impressed by the effectiveness of Lord Li's governance, so in addition to becoming more and more diligent in his work, he has also recommended a number of former officials who have been with him to serve his lordship." This Jiang Shilang was encouraged by Liu Zongzhou's many letters to make up his mind to come to Dengzhou from the northwest of Jiangxi to serve the adults. ”

"Oh, where is Jiang Yueguang?"

"Lord Li, after Jiang Yueguang came to vote for the lord, he saw that the lord happened to go to Jintang City, so after he stayed in Dengzhou for a few days, he went to the counties and towns of Dengzhou to personally inspect to understand the actual situation, and only returned from Chifeng City last night. His plan to attract displaced people was only inadvertently said in the morning, when he was chatting with students. ”

"Then please bring Jiang Shilang here, and Ben Bo will personally inquire with him." Li Xiao hurriedly said.

"The students obeyed."

Soon, Chen Zilong led a scribe with gray hair, not tall, and a very thin appearance to enter from outside the door.

Li Xiao noticed that although this person's appearance was not outstanding and his appearance was average, on his face, the pair of phoenix eyes with extremely long tails were very eye-catching.

These phoenix eyes, their eyes were clear and keen, and they left a deep impression on Li Xiao in an instant.

"My lord, this is Jiang Shilang."

"Oh, it turned out to be Jiang Shilang, the two of you quickly watched and sat down." Li Xiao stood up, smiled and made a gesture of invitation.

Jiang Yueguang waved his hand and said: "Uncle Chifeng, Yan Ji has already resigned, it is better to mention the official name in the past, and Uncle Chifeng can really call the word below." “

After listening to Jiang Yueguang's official dialect with a strong southern accent, Li Xiao had a good impression that this person could correct his position in time, so he smiled and said: "Yan Ji is close to the sixtieth year, he can be the elder of Benbo, but Benbo is called like this, but it is a little disrespectful." “

Jiang Yueguangfu smiled and waved his hand: "Chifengbo is a young hero, the official is in the upper position, so don't bother the ancients." There is a way, hearing is better than seeing, in the next period of time, all over Dengzhou and Chifengwei area, everywhere you go, there is a prosperous atmosphere. Lord Li was able to govern this barren and remote Dengzhou so prosperously, which made the old man admire it in his heart. ”

For a while, the three of them laughed, and after each sat down, Li Xiao immediately ordered someone to serve tea.

"Yan Ji, listen to Wozi say, you have a strategy to quickly recruit displaced people, but Ben Bo wants to listen to it." Li Xiao asked with a smile with a tea in his hand.

Seeing Li Xiao asking, Jiang Yueguang's eyes suddenly flashed, he took a sip of tea, and said to Li Xiao with a smile: "Lord Li, since ancient times, only the lack of grain and straw is not allowed to attach to the public, how can there be a shortage of manpower?" “

"Oh, what does Yan Ji mean?"

"Lord Li, our army now has an abundant supply of food, and funds and money are also abundant, and there are such good conditions, so that from the bottom of the view, it should be able to stay at home, and the displaced people are surging."

After listening to Jiang Yueguang's words, Li Xiao said with a wry smile: "Yan and his predecessors, having said that, our army is now in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang and other places, because of the frequent crackdown on bandits, it is difficult to find time to recruit displaced people for a while, so that in the past two months, only more than 2,000 people have been recruited to Shandong, which is really far from the number that this official envisioned. But I don't know what good plan Yan Ji has to make the homeless recruit faster and more? ”

Jiang Yueguang had an inexplicable smile on his face, he put down the teacup and said: "Lord Li, with the strength of our army, in addition to suppressing bandits, it is very inconvenient to divide troops to recruit displaced people, but why can't we use the power of the Ming army of other departments to recruit displaced people for our army?" ”

"Oh, with his power?"

Jiang Yueguang smiled and said: "Lord Li, now our army and his Ming army are going to Shanxi, Huguang and other places to suppress bandits, in the following opinion, why not set a rule, if he takes prisoners and collects displaced people, they can all be brought to our army, and our army will collect them according to men, women, old and young, etc. Those Ming troops, who were originally short of food and salary, saw that there was suddenly such a way to make money, I was afraid that everyone was happy, and kept leading the thieves to capture and the homeless people, until our army paid for silver. As long as our army has enough money and money, are we afraid that no one will be willing to exchange the exiles and prisoners for silver? ”

When Jiang Yueguang said this, he smiled Li Xiao's eyes suddenly brightened, as if he saw a tunnel of light in the dark, he stroked his palms and smiled: "Ben Bo understands, what Yan Ji said is very reasonable!" ”