Through the efforts of the Xingtian Army, the Xingtian Army in Henan's craftsman camp after some preparations, after entering May, finally produced the first self-generated fire, originally there was an iron mine in Lushi County, after the Xingtian Army controlled here, the output of iron ore increased rapidly, plus the Xingtian Army after several years of reserves, there is no longer a shortage of iron-making craftsmen and craftsmen in hand, a group of blacksmiths from Yangcheng were secretly transported to Lu's, and quickly put into production in Lushi County.

Although the scale of the iron ore in Lushi County is far less than that of Yangcheng, and the scale of the craftsman camp is not as large as that of Yangcheng, and the output of weapons is naturally not as good as that of Shanxi, once it can start to produce its own firearms, it can make the Xingtianjun reduce its dependence on the logistics supply of Shanxi, partially meet its own needs, and also reduce the manpower and material resources consumed by long-distance transportation, which provides a strong guarantee for Xiao Tianjian's next military operation in Henan.

In addition to ironwork, the production of gunpowder is also the top priority, so Xiao Tianjian will send special personnel to transfer Gao Cheng and other gunpowder craftsmen from Shanxi at the end of April, and opened a large-scale gunpowder workshop in the old county town of Song County, using the method of nitrate boiling nitrate, and began to produce gunpowder in large quantities in Henan, which is also conducive to ensuring the needs of strategic materials for the Xingtian Army.

Time can be said to fly in such a busy time, in the blink of an eye into September, this half a year, the entire Xingtian Army in the five counties controlled by western Henan can be said to have undergone earth-shaking changes, under the strong military protection of the Xingtian Army, the livelihood of the counties has tended to be stable, the official has no ability to launch a large-scale sweep of the area controlled by the Xingtian Army, the stable situation has also promoted the revival of agriculture, the agriculture of the counties has been greatly developed, after the autumn grain harvest, The yield has almost caught up with the peak years of these counties, especially the large number of sweet potatoes planted in spring, the yield per mu is almost above 1,000 catties, and the yield of sweet potatoes in some good plots has almost reached 2,000 catties.

Although some people are not very accustomed to eating this kind of thing, but in such troubled times, as long as there is food to satisfy their stomachs, for the common people, it is already something that they dare not think, and after the harvest of the displaced people resettled by the Xingtian Army, according to the agreement of the Xingtian Army, they left enough food to feed their whole family for a year, and the rest of the surplus grain was handed over to the Xingtian Army, so that the Xingtian Army harvested a large amount of grain in each county. The problem of food reserves for the Xingtian Army was initially solved.

Although the common people handed over a large proportion of the grain they obtained, they had less of the unpaid taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the past, and the quality of life was much better than when they were under the jurisdiction of the government in the early years, so the common people were also content, and most of them handed over the grain to the Xingtianjun as agreed.

Even the local gentry, in accordance with the requirements of the Xingtian Army, reduced the tenant rent, and at the same time paid the grain required by the Xingtian Army, although a little reluctant, but people had to bow their heads under the eaves, at least the Xingtian Army compared to other rebels, they were quite lenient, and did not wipe them out, which was also regarded as the ancestor burning incense for them.

Xiao Tianjian, who was in Ruyang, looked at the list of grains collected by Niu Jinxing for him, and smiled so much that he could not see his teeth, patted this statistical list, and said to Niu Jinxing while laughing: "Mr. Niu has worked hard!" With you here, I have a lot of peace of mind, so much food, at least enough to sustain our consumption for a long time! Not bad! This is really bread in your hands, and you don't panic in your heart! Hehe! ”

Niu Jinxing said modestly to Xiao Tianjian with a little pride: "This is all the foresight of the handsome, otherwise, with only the ability of a student, you can't do so many things anyway!" In addition, the scribes under the students also made a lot of effort, and the students did not dare to take credit! ”

"It's your credit that's your credit, and no one can erase it! I'm kind of a sensible person, and you don't have to be modest! It seems that what we are doing right now, what are the people trying to do? In fact, it's just food and clothing! As a ruler, if you can't even do this, how can you talk about long-term peace and stability? The court can't give it to the people, our Xingtian Army can give it to them, why don't you worry about overthrowing this Ming Dynasty in the long run? Mr. has to make persistent efforts, after the autumn harvest, it is necessary to hurry up the autumn sowing, after all, this year is only an emergency, planting more emergency crops, after the autumn to grow more wheat, in addition to taking advantage of the slack, but also to dredge the channel, do a good job of irrigation! These old days' faces are not good-looking, this year is still smooth, who knows when the thief will give us another big drought! So we have to take precautions, we can't learn from the practices of the imperial court, eat this meal and don't care about the next meal! Hehe! Xiao Tianjian said to Niu Jinxing with joy.

Niu Jinxing nodded and said: "What the marshal said is very true, the humble post will be arranged as soon as possible!" ”

Xiao Tianjian stood up, walked into the courtyard, turned his head to look north, and said to Niu Jinxing, who was following him: "You have handled the civil affairs well, Mr. Fu from Shanxi has also sent news, their autumn harvest has also begun, and this year's grain production has also increased a lot compared with last year, at least in a short period of time, the grain reserves in the two places will be relatively sufficient, don't worry too much!"

As for the military affairs, in the past six months, Mr. has been busy with civil affairs, and may not have much contact, I can also tell you, you don't have to worry about this, Yan Chongxi, who is now sitting in his hometown in Jinnan, has expanded five battalions, three artillery battalions, and one baggage battalion, and the soldiers alone have enough troops to be mobilized in Shanxi now, so there is basically no need to worry about what problems will happen over there!

In addition, the artillery battalions in southern Jinnan will be transferred to two in the near future to cooperate with the actions here, and two baggage battalions have been set up, an overstaffed engineer battalion, and the strength is also about 15,000 people, and these soldiers have fought with the surrounding officers and soldiers in the past six months, and I dare not say that they are all absolute elite soldiers, but at least they are much stronger than the general officers and soldiers.

In addition, the new battalions and township barracks in the original two places have been reorganized into reserve battalions, and they do not occupy the establishment of soldiers, they eat their own food when they are not in wartime, and they can be mobilized at any time in wartime to assist the war barracks in combat! In this way, the reserve troops that can be mobilized at any time in the two places can reach 30,000, although the equipment is not as good as the war barracks, but there is not much problem in defending the territory!

Now it depends on what the current situation is, and we can start acting at any time! ”