After all the words were spoken, Xu Mingyang was infinitely sad, and the wine was dry until the glass was dry, and he drank high unconsciously.

Huang Han remained sober, he returned to the mansion in Pingshun County as a temporary relative, and went directly to the courtyard where Qin Yanyi lived.

This mansion is the private residence of the richest man in the local area, of course, the family has an official background, there are clansmen in other places to be officials, small bridges, flowing water, rockeries, bamboo forests, pavilions complement each other, the scenery is no less than the private garden in the south of the Yangtze River.

The Xu family's sisters are really lovely, where would a man mind that there are many beautiful women around him? Huang Han is actually a little tempted!

He told him about the fact that Xu Zhixian's invitation tonight was a fake marriage girl and it was true, and he heard Qin Yanyi laugh again and again, seeing that she did not have a trace of jealousy, Huang Han felt strange.

He asked, "Don't you have an opinion?" ”

"Husband, our family should have added a few sisters a long time ago, the concubine has not been able to add Ding to the Huang family so far, and I don't know how to do it, Sister Xiu'e and Sister Chu Chu are not pregnant, the two sisters of the Xu family have often seen each other in the past few days, both of them are well-read, and the concubine likes them."

Damn! The dignitaries and nobles in the feudal society are really blessed!

Qin Yanyi said again: "It's just that the husband wants to be a concubine, and it is inappropriate for the two sisters of the Luo Xu family to pass through the door, and this matter should be handled by Sister Xiu'e." ”

Huang Han was stunned and said: "What you said makes sense, but I have promised the Xu family to come to the door tomorrow to send a dowry and propose marriage, how can I regret it at this time?" ”

"Where will the husband go back on his word, you don't need to worry about this matter, tomorrow the concubine will go to discuss with the Xu family, and ensure that you will not be mistakenly married to the sister."

Huang Han wrote a letter to Zheng Xiu'e, telling him frankly about the Xu family's sisters, and Huang Han really didn't know how the eldest woman would be the master.

Early in the morning, the army marched north, and Qin Yanyi left behind with more than 20 female guards, all of whom had spare horses to transfer, so that they could catch up with the large army after finishing their work.

Waiting for noon, Qin Yanyi went to visit Xu Zhixian to see the sisters and chatted with Mrs. Xu for a long time, what did Huang Han know, anyway, the final result was that everyone was happy.

Huang Han led the "Red Banner Army" to fight more than 200 miles north at the request of the officials and squires of Guangping Mansion, and fought the Eight Kings, the Demon King of the Mixed World, the Lone Wolf, the Broken Sky, the Tota Heavenly King and other thieves, and killed many big thieves.

It's a pity that the bandit name of the Eight Kings is not exclusive to Zhang Xianzhong, there are several Eight Kings of all sizes in the Liukou Gang, and the Eight Kings who were killed are not thieves.

Even after the battle, the prefectures and counties within a radius of several hundred miles felt that they had come to a great savior, and some officials and squires sent grain and grass to ask to enter the Dongping Marquis to lead the people and horses to suppress the Kou.

Due to the large number of men, the guards no longer need to undertake the task of transportation, and they all follow the regular soldiers to cover up and kill the rogues, because more than 20% of the guards have been turned into regular soldiers by making military achievements, and their shortages are made up by active labor.

A small number of fallen soldiers were buried outside Houjiazhuang, sharing a cemetery with more than 1,000 white pole soldiers who died and hundreds of villagers in Houjiazhuang.

Between Houjiazhuang is too dilapidated and too small, not far from the Zhanghe wharf, an area of less than one square kilometer of the fortress is also under construction, Huang Han in order to commemorate the young men and white pole soldiers who died in the battle in Houjiazhuang, named this fortress "Zhongyi Fort".

When the dry season is reached, when the common people are mobilized to pick up the river, the moat around the "Zhongyi Fort" leads directly to the Zhanghe River, and an excavated canal will flow through the castle, and the grain ships will directly enter the castle through the water gate to unload.

In May and June, in the midst of uninterrupted fighting, nearly one million acres of fertile land that might have been unharvested were replanted with large quantities of potatoes and some sweet potatoes.

God doesn't open his eyes, this year's drought in Henan, there has been no effective rainfall for too long, and Shanhaiguan and Yongping Mansion, which are also in the north, have suffered a rare waterlogging.

The "Red Banner Army" system is destined to be very busy this year, and the 200-mile radius of Tiger's Den City has been carrying out flood drainage and mountain flood prevention, and the people and horses who have come to Henan have to fight drought and protect seedlings.

Since April, Huang Han has been providing food and tools, and has sent sappers to guide the displaced people and nearby villagers in digging irrigation wells.

In these years, as long as you are fed, it is relatively easy to work with strong labor, and in addition, you can not only eat enough to work for the "Red Banner Army", but also receive a salary of 10 cents per liter of miscellaneous grain every day.

Huang Han did not completely use silver and copper coins to pay the wages of the strong laborers who worked hard, because of the fact that Henan's grain was so high that it was close to having a price and no market.

When the strong laborers got the job of digging wells, they had enough to eat, and then they brought a pound and a half of miscellaneous grains home to boil gruel, and it was estimated that four or five people in the family would be able to live a good life.

Besides, no farmer will be idle, they will always find a way to get some food, such as digging wild vegetables, digging rat nests, picking wild fruits, hunting pine nuts and so on.

Fields near Houjiazhuang that cannot be irrigated with water from the Zhanghe River have to be irrigated with wells to maintain a minimum amount of water for seedlings.

Although thousands of people have been working hard to drill wells every day for more than two months, they cannot meet the demand for 20 acres of dry land with one irrigation well.

Nowadays, we can only adapt measures to local conditions and focus on maintaining good wheat seedlings.

Instead of five buckets of wheat per acre of land, it is better to give up forty percent of the wheat field and focus on the management of the remaining sixty percent, and maybe it can still achieve an average yield of six buckets.

If the vicinity of Houjiazhuang had been plagued by a few months, the wheat fields would have been able to harvest more than half of their crops in the fall, and the potatoes and sweet potatoes would be hardy to cold, drought, and barrenness, and would have been easier to grow.

The potatoes of later generations belong to the crops of the four provinces of "saving water, fertilizer, medicine and energy", and the yield of one mu of dry land is as high as 4,000 catties.

Potato flour is a fine granular, flake or powdery product obtained by dehydration and drying of fresh potatoes through slicing, rinsing, pre-cooking, cooling, cooking, mashing and other processes, which can be stored at room temperature for 15 years, and used as strategic grain reserves by too many countries in later generations.

Huang Han, who knows the benefits and nutritional value of potatoes, focuses on promoting potato cultivation, and this time the sown area is three times that of sweet potatoes.

Although it is impossible for potatoes to reach a high yield of 4,000 catties due to the inability to obtain improved seeds and fertilizers in this era, the harvest of 7,800 catties in the Ming Dynasty has been common in Yongping Mansion and the Liaoning West Corridor.

Henan's soil and climatic conditions, sunshine hours are more conducive to the planting of potatoes and sweet potatoes, and the yield of this year's trial planting may not be as good as Yongping Mansion.

There will be more potatoes and sweet potatoes that can feed more than a million people in the vicinity of Houjiazhuang for dozens of miles, and of course there will be less hunger and more vitality, fewer peasants fleeing famine, and more land under cultivation, and the deteriorating situation should be contained.