The time came to May of the third year of Chongzhen, at this time Li Jiye, Yang Desheng, Zhang Tieniu, Liu Renjie, Ma Wenshan and other generals had completed their honeymoon vacation and returned to the barracks to conduct training.

At this time, even during the Xiaoice River period, the northern land began to melt and snow, the young shoots spit new green, and migratory birds celebrated the new year.

It's time for spring ploughing.

In the Ming Dynasty, pay attention to a heavy agriculture and suppress business, so every time the emperor comes to spring ploughing, in order to show the importance of agriculture, he has to go to the farmland to show off two ploughing skills, of course, the emperor to work in the field must just mean to do the show, but not really farming.

This tradition set by Emperor Taizu is actually a few emperors of the opening dynasty, such as Chengzu, Renzong, Xuanzong, and at most one filial piety emperor likes to do it, and the later emperors basically don't do much about it. In the Wanli Dynasty, when Zhang Juzheng was in power, the old man of Wanli was honest, and of course he had to mean it when he was ploughing in spring.

When Zhang Juzheng drove away and fought for the country, the old man of Wanli did not see any other courtiers except for a few bigwigs in the cabinet, and he had not been in the court for more than 20 years, not to mention the spring ploughing ceremony or something, he had never done it.

When he arrived at the Apocalypse Dynasty, the emperor was busy working as a carpenter and had no time to go. When it came to the time of Emperor Chongzhen, the emperor was busy to death every day, how could he have time to do this, and this tradition was forgotten.

However, Liu Renyu did not forget that in his original intention, he did not agree with the view of valuing agriculture and suppressing business, but it was still necessary to attach importance to agriculture and the problem of eating for the people under his rule.

So, on a certain day in early May, the warm sun was shining and the spring breeze was mild. Liu Renyu drove a ploughing ox to plough the land with an iron plough in a field to show that he attached importance to spring ploughing.

In fact, Liu Renyu is no stranger to farming, he contracted more than a dozen acres of land at home in later generations, of course he has ploughed the field, but when he ploughed the fields in later generations, he did not use an iron plow pulled by oxen, but a convenient and fast, hand-held tractor that refers to where to play.

Now that he has come to the Ming Dynasty, don't think about the hand-held tractor or something, he can only honestly shout the trumpet while urging the ploughing oxen to plough the fields quickly.

Then he ploughed the field and ploughed and ploughed, and for some reason suddenly found the feeling of the old time in the past and the afterlife, so he took the iron plough and simply did not let go.

When Liu Renyu was busy working in the fields, Ma Tianjun, Li Jiye, and other civil and military officials of Jingbian Fort and the people who had fields in their hands stood on the ridges of the fields and watched the supreme ruler of Jingbian Fort leisurely pull the plow, plough over and over in the fields, and completely forgot that he was actually just here to make a show.

"General, general, you are here today just to preside over the spring ploughing ceremony, to show that you attach importance to farming, do you think you want the people to work in the fields now?"

Ma Tianjun saw that his lord seemed to be intoxicated with the fun of farming, so he hurriedly whispered a few reminders.

"Yo, yes, too. Hehe, I used to plow the fields when I was in Tessie, and now I'm back in my old business, so I can't help but feel a little nostalgic, hahahaha. Liu Renyu listened to Ma Tianjun's reminder, and laughed a few times.

"I see, but the student interrupted the general to reminisce about the past." Ma Tianjun said embarrassedly.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's all because I don't know what to do. By the way, Tianjun, is there anything else I need to do? ”

"Today is the day of the beginning of spring ploughing, please say a few words to the people, general." Ma Tianjun reminded.

"Well, it should, it should." Liu Renyu first agreed, and then he cleared his throat and said loudly to the people on both sides of the field: "Fathers and fellow villagers, the plan of the year lies in spring, today is the day when spring ploughing begins, I hope you will work hard, plough the field first, and I will send someone to send wheat seedlings over in a few days." You can start planting wheat and hopefully you will have a good harvest and a good life this year. ”

"Yes, General, we see." The people responded with a bang.

"Go ahead." Liu Renyu waved his hand.

"Rush, go to plough your own fields."

The people roared in unison, and then they, men and women, young and old, rushed to their fields in high spirits to plough the fields.

Generally speaking, it is better to use ploughing cattle to plough the fields, but because it is more difficult to plough the Jingbian Fort now, there are not enough ploughing cattle, and five families need to share a ploughing ox, and the people who do not plough the cattle to plough the land can't wait, so they simply don't plough the cattle, and go into battle themselves, pick up the hoe and gouge in the field for a while, hoping to dig a hole in the earth.

********

"The enthusiasm of the people is very high!" Liu Renyu looked at the enthusiastic people and said with emotion to Ma Tianjun beside him.

"That's natural, they used to have either no land or tenants, but now they have their own land, and most of the harvest is their own, and of course they are enthusiastic." Ma Tianjun replied with a smile.

"What Tianjun said makes sense. Do you see that the people worked so hard that in a few days they could plough all the fields? ”

"You gave each household 10 acres of land, if there are cattle to help, you can only plow two acres of land at most every day, considering that five families share one ploughing cow, it all depends on manpower, I am afraid that it will take more time, and the students think that it will only take 10 days to complete the ploughing." Ma Tianjun silently calculated in his heart for a while, and replied to Liu Renyu.

"Ten days on ten days, the wheat seedlings are still raised in the greenhouse, and they are not afraid of delaying time, and it is always good for the people to work intensively. The field is like a person, you serve it well, and its reward is beyond your imagination. ”

"What the general said is novel, but it is very reasonable, and the students admire it."

"Well, I'm just talking about it casually. By the way, Tianjun, after all, agricultural affairs still belong to your civil affairs, and I will preside over a spring ploughing ceremony today, and I will not be in charge of agricultural affairs in the future. In the future, you will be in charge of fertilization and irrigation. ”

"General, this is all within the students' responsibility, and the students should be good at managing the students."

"Well, after the people have planted the wheat seedlings in the fields, there is nothing else to do for the time being, and at this time, the afforestation program can be started. You have to remember that for a long time, Jingbian Fort and Yansui will be our home, and we must transform this place into the north of the Yangtze River, so that this place will once again be green and suitable for people to live in. ”

"Yes, General, the student wrote it down."

"Well, okay, Jiye, Desheng, Tie Niu, Wenshan, Renjie, Zuo Hang, there is nothing for us here, let's go back, the recruits we recruited in the past have gone through 3 months of recruit training, and in a few days there will be a full army exercise, I want to see how the training of all branches of the army is." Let's go, let's all go back to the barracks with me for training. ”

After Liu Renyu finished speaking, he took a few of his military attaches back to the Jingbianbao barracks.

******

It goes without saying that the people ploughed the fields as soon as possible so that they could start planting wheat seedlings as soon as possible. In order to speed up the progress, some people even did not hesitate to take risks, and did not return to the city at night, but continued to dig the fields with the help of moonlight, wielding hoes.

At the beginning, this kind of night war was only done by a few families, but later because the Chinese people had the idea of conformity, more and more families joined in, and in the end, Ma Tianjun had to personally supervise the scene, eating and living near the fields.

In this way, the people worked overtime, and the days that were expected to take 10 days to plow were almost done in only 6 days.

Ma Tianjun saw that the people had finished plowing the land, so he sent people to transport wheat seedlings from Zhenbei Fort.

At first, the people were skeptical about the technology of cultivating wheat seedlings in the greenhouse that Liu Renyu said, and when they saw the wheat seedlings that were really in line with the growing season, they believed that Liu Renyu was right, and that there was really such a technology, which could make the wheat seedlings start to grow when it was cold, and then move the wheat seedlings to the field when the weather was warm.

When the people finished their sighs, they naturally took the wheat seedlings off the freight wagons and carefully transferred them to their own fields to be planted.

After the seedlings have been planted in the ground, they are watered and fertilized.

When it was time for the people to water and fertilize, they realized the benefits of building water conservancy and building large public toilets.

No matter where the people's fields are, they can get water for use, for example, the fields near the Lu River can get water, there are wells far away from the river, and there are ponds near the fields where there are no wells far from the river.

In this way, the people no longer have to worry about the lack of water, even if there is another drought this year, with such water conservancy facilities, there is no need to be afraid. And when fertilizer is needed, manure from large public toilets comes into play.

After the people finished planting, watering, and fertilizing, they stood at the edge of the field and looked at the green wheat seedlings in their fields, and everyone was happy.

In their eyes, this green wheat sprout corresponds to the hope of living a good life.