When Zhou Lei led the guard squad back to the camp, it was just in time for lunch, although Zhou Lei promised to take care of the food for the recruited craftsmen, but the food of the Yulin Army soldiers was still different from these craftsmen. www.biquge.info The soldiers were strictly in accordance with the wartime rations, and meat had to be seen at every meal, and these artisans were only full, occasionally drinking broth, but this made these artisans grateful. After several years of severe drought, it is not easy to eat a full stomach, let alone smell meat.

Zhou Lei had just picked up his rice when he returned to the regiment headquarters, and the sentry came to report, and Guan Mingke sent someone to escort a batch of stones to the barracks.

"Damn, I'm here to catch up with dinner again." Zhou Lei scolded in his heart.

It is impossible for Guan Mingke to come to deliver things in person, and the people who come are basically some hundreds of households, general banners, and sometimes thousands of households. The number of times I came, these people also felt the pattern, and every time they came, it was either lunch or dinner time.

If it was the general flag, Zhou Lei would ask the baggage team to arrange a table of banquets separately; If it is at the level of 100 households, Yang Tao will be asked to accompany him; If it is a thousand households, Zhou Lei will accompany him in person, who calls himself a thousand households.

"Who's coming?" Zhou Lei asked.

"Report to the chief, it's Lu Qianhu." The sentry replied.

"I see." Zhou Lei put down his rice bowl, "You go and ask Yang Tao to arrange it, and then tell him to let him accompany him today." ”

Zhou Lei knew that he was going to drink again, and this period of time may be due to the lack of adaptation, Zhou Lei had a stomach trouble for several days. He really didn't want to drink anymore, but Zhou Lei, a thousand-household named Lu Yongmao, also knew that he was very close to Guan Mingke, and he drank a lot of alcohol, so Zhou Lei really couldn't drink him. However, this Lu Yongmao has an advantage, his personality is very bold, and he has no scheming, Zhou Lei very much hopes to get something out of him, so every time Lu Yongmao comes to send materials, Zhou Lei has to accompany him personally.

Zhou Lei reluctantly put down his job and walked out of the big tent, Lu Yongmao was handing over to a director of the Yulin Army.

"Lu Qianhu is here in person." Zhou Lei stepped forward and hugged his fists to salute.

"Send something to your brother Zhou." Lu Yongmao laughed, "I dare to slack off if I personally explained it." ”

"Thank you, Lu Qianhu." Zhou Lei grabbed Lu Yongmao, "Let's get drunk and rest." ”

"Okay, I'll just wait for Brother Zhou's words, let's not get drunk today."

In the big tent of the barracks, the wine and meat had been laid down, Zhou Lei and Lu Yongmao sat opposite, and Yang Tao accompanied each other on the side.

Lu Yongmao talked a lot after a few glasses of wine: "Your HN soldiers are really comfortable, you can eat meat every meal, and I heard that the military salary is also paid on time?" ”

Lu Qianhu laughed. Zhou Lei said with a smile, "They are all my Ming soldiers, thousands of miles away from home, if the food is not good, won't it chill the hearts of the soldiers." ”

"Alas, there is no comparison between man and man." Lu Yongmao sighed and glanced at the door of the account again, "Let's just say that we are in Xuanfu Town, and now it is difficult to even eat a full stomach." We, thousands of households, are now rushing to send things to your brother Zhou, isn't it just to come to you for a meal and drink? ”

"Lord Lu is serious." Zhou Lei asked, "Although the climate in the north is not as good as in the south, I see that you have a lot of wasteland here, why don't you reclaim it to grow some food and solve the problem of eating?" ”

"Brother Zhou doesn't know." Lu Yongmao picked up the bowl and drank a bowl himself, "Although there is a lot of wasteland, no one wants to reclaim it, and besides, this place has not rained much for several years, and even if it is opened, crops will not grow." ”

"Why is there no one to cultivate it?" Yang Tao poured wine for Lu Yongmao and asked.

"Well." Lu Yongmao looked a little embarrassed, "The tax burden, you should have a lot of HN guards." ”

"Naru Qianhu." Zhou Lei asked again, "Even if it doesn't rain, can't it be watered?" ”

"Watering?" Lu Yongmao laughed twice, "Brother Zhou has lived in the south for a long time, and he doesn't know anything. In our case, if you really want to water the ground, you have to use a water wheel. But the cost of a waterwheel is a hundred taels of silver, who can build it? In addition, you need to plough cattle, farm tools or something, which is difficult anyway. ”

"I see." Zhou Lei secretly made up his mind in his heart.

The reason why Zhou Lei inquired about the land reclamation was because he received a message from the committee that mentioned this issue. The committee seriously discussed Wang Qianxiang's exposition on the peasant army, and felt that the reason why there were now vastlers everywhere was because the peasants could not eat. China is a self-sufficient small-scale peasant society, especially in the northern regions, where peasants will never rebel as long as they have a stutter. Therefore, if we want to contain the peasant army, we must solve it at the root. Therefore, the committee temporarily added a task to both Zhou Lei and Wang Qianxiang, hoping to solve the problem of military rations for the garrison in Tuntian, where they were stationed. Second, it is necessary to control the problem of the spread of the peasant army.

"Brother Zhou, come on, drink." Lu Yongmao didn't think about why Zhou Lei asked these questions, and picked up the wine bowl again.

After drinking, Zhou Lei put down the wine bowl and asked: "Aren't all the military households in the nine-border towns of the Ming Dynasty able to tuntian, so can't we solve the problem of eating?" ”

"Whoever still has the heart to do that now, even if you do, who knows when the Tartars and the Rogues will come, it's all in vain." Lu Yongmao suddenly paused when he said this, "Brother Zhou, why are you asking these things today, do you want to be here in Tuntian?" ”

"Yes, that's what I mean, brother." Zhou Lei smiled and picked up the bowl, "Lu Qianhu, do it first for respect." ”

Lu Yongmao looked at Zhou Lei in surprise: "I didn't expect my brother to have this plan." It's just that if you want to Tuntian, you still need to discuss it with Master Guan. ”

"I'll go and discuss with Master Guan." Zhou Lei said with a smile, "When the time comes, I hope that Lu Qianhu will help a lot." ”

After eating this meal, it was already afternoon, Lu Yongmao drunkenly took people to say goodbye and went back, Zhou Lei and Yang Tao went to the construction site of the military camp together.

The foundation of the new castle has been laid, and Zhou Lei did not let the Yulin Army participate in the construction this time, but stepped up training.

In charge of the project was a 50-year-old craftsman named Zhang Weiqing. Seeing Zhou Lei and Yang Tao coming over, Zhang Weiqing hurriedly put down the work in his hand and greeted him: "The villain sees the two adults." ”

"The old man doesn't have to be polite." Zhou Lei helped Zhang Weiqing up, "The old man lives here these days, and he may be full of food?" ”

"Okay, okay." Zhang Weiqing said again and again, "Thank you for the love of the adults, we have eaten well and lived well these days." ”

"Our family takes such good care of you." Yang Tao said in the back, "You also have to work harder and do your work carefully." ”

"That's, that's. Rest assured, adults will never be disappointed. ”

"Old man, who else is in your family?" Zhou Lei asked again, "Is there a field?" ”

"Back to the adult, the villain has 3 sons in the family, all of whom have married their own sons. The villain's family has some thin fields, but the family has too many people, so the villain has been doing this for a living. ”

"It's really hard for the old people." Zhou Lei suddenly asked, "If you are given some land here, is the old man willing to come here to farm?" ”

"My lord, here?" Zhang Weiqing didn't understand what Zhou Lei meant, "The land here is all wasteland, and farming is probably very difficult." ”

"What if we installed a water wheel for you and provided you with ploughing cattle for free?" Zhou Lei asked with a smile.

"Your Excellency." Zhang Weiqing was even more confused, what did this Lord Zhou mean.

"Old man, why don't you understand yet?" Yang Tao spoke first, "Our family means to give you some land here, we will install a waterwheel for you to irrigate, and give you free ploughing cattle, are you willing?" ”

"My lord, of course the villain does. It's just that...... Zhang Weiqing still didn't believe Zhou Lei and Yang Tao's words.

"Look at the old man." Zhou Lei pointed into the distance, "This place is vast, enough to reclaim tens of thousands of acres of fields." Now that Xuanfu Town has been plagued for many years, the people have been displaced, and since the official has come here, he also wants to benefit one party. ”

"My lord is really a bodhisattva." Zhang Weiqing responded.

"Old man, what this official said is the truth." Zhou Lei saluted Zhang Weiqing, "Please take the time to talk to your neighbors, but if you are willing to come to my Yulin Fort to open up wasteland, we will install water wheels for free, and provide ploughing cattle and farm tools." ”

"Yes, yes." Zhang Weiqing hurriedly returned the salute and said, "The villain must say it for the adult." ”

Zhou Lei and Yang Tao looked around again. Early the next morning, Zhou Lei took a few people to Longmen City to find Guan Mingke to discuss the matter of Tuntian.

After listening to Zhou Lei's plan to Tuntian, Guan Mingke didn't speak for a long time. In his heart, he felt that the remnants of the Song Dynasty in front of him had lost their brains because they were not accustomed to water and soil, and they actually wanted to Tuntian.

"Uncle." Zhou Lei shouted, "What do you think of this idea of your subordinates?" ”

"Brother Zhou." Guan Mingke came back to his senses, "You are righteous enough to my brother, and our brothers have nothing to say." Brother, I'll tell you the truth, don't do this for a living, that's really thankless. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Zhou Lei really didn't understand, "Didn't the Tuntian matter be established from the great grandfather, it is good for the country, the army and the people." ”

"My brother Zhou." Guan Mingke said in his heart, you have the money to take to abuse, it is better to give it to me, "Brother Zhou doesn't know, now it goes without saying that in Xuanfu Town, even in Jiubian Town, no one is going to do this thing." ”

"Brother Zhou, you think." Guan Mingke crossed his fingers to settle accounts for Zhou Lei, "If you want to Tuntian, you have to buy land; If you don't buy land, you'll have to open up the land. These costs alone are probably not a small amount. Even if you have land, you still have to have ploughing cattle, farm tools, and waterwheels for irrigation, these Zhou brothers haven't calculated how much money they need. Besides, the land of Tuntian still has to pay taxes, and these miscellaneous things are calculated to make ends meet. ”

"That's whatever." Zhou Lei was interrupted by Guan Mingke as soon as he spoke, "I haven't finished it for you yet." Our Xuanfu Town has been in drought for several years, and this year it is estimated that it will be enough to choke, Brother Zhou, you just have land, and it will not rain when the day comes, what will you pay taxes. If the Tartar Rogue comes back to such a situation, Brother Zhou, you will lose all your money. ”

"But I don't know how much taxes I have to pay?" Zhou Lei asked.

"Two buckets of wheat per acre of land."

"That's not a lot."

"That's not much?" Guan Mingke was a little anxious, "Brother Zhou, do you think that the land in Xuanfu Town is the high-grade paddy field of your HN Wei?" We can fight seven or eight fights on the ground here, so thank God. ”

"Uncle." Zhou Lei asked again, "If you really want to Tuntian, what channels do you need to take?" ”

"Dude." Guan Mingke almost didn't shout, this Zhou Lei really wanted to die, "You tell the truth to my brother, why do you have to Tuntian?" ”

"Uncle." Zhou Lei stood up and gave a deep salute, "Although my subordinates are not Ming people, they are also descendants of China." When his subordinates were in HNWEI, although the people there were also very difficult, they were not so bad that they could not even eat. But when the subordinates came here, the adults worked all day long, reported to the court, and appeased the people. However, the Tatars and the rogues took turns to harass them, and the drought continued for many years, and the people's lives were very difficult. The subordinates are not talented, and they hope to recruit displaced people to Tuntian, one for the stability of my Daming Jiangshan Sheji, the second is to relieve the worries of Long Live and the adults, and the third is for the people of Daming to have a full meal. That's all. (To be continued.) )