Sun Chuanting walked by the Zhanghe River in Wuqing County with his guards, and was shocked by the scene of the hot wasteland. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

In these years, the war was chaotic and precarious, and the bureaucrats and gentry did not know what tomorrow would bring, and when they considered things, they became more and more short-sighted, thinking only about how to oppress small peasants without backgrounds, and the water conservancy facilities in various places were in shambles. But if there is a little natural disaster, all localities can turn small disasters into major disasters, and the tragedy of refugees fleeing the famine and their wives being separated will come out, where will there be people to develop new fields and build water conservancy facilities?

But when I arrived in Wuqing County, it was a waterwheel to repair the canal, and tens of thousands of people in the field of vision were in full swing. The poor peasants did not feel forced to build the canals, and they took the initiative one by one. Some of them, in particular, shouted and shouted, as if it was a great joy to do this physical work.

Sun Chuanting saw a woman carrying two buckets of water to the construction site, handing water to other farmers to drink. The joyful attitude of the owner makes people feel that good days are just around the corner. A cylindrical waterwheel was placed on the edge of the Zhanghe River, and a few farmers resting by the waterwheel shook it experimentally, and some water was put into the canal. When the peasants saw the water, they smiled happily.

Which family led the construction of this water conservancy project, and I still have people in the Ming Dynasty to organize such a large water conservancy project, and there is such a sharp place?

Is this still the twelfth year of Chongzhen?

Sun Chuanting stopped the team and sent three soldiers to the construction site to inquire which family was repairing the canal.

The three pro-soldiers asked for a while and ran back, Sun Chuanting hurriedly asked, "Ask which family it is?" ”

The soldier half-knelt on the ground and replied loudly: "I ask clearly, my lord, it is Li Zhi, the governor of Tianjin, who reclaimed his private land and repaired the canal. ”

Sun Chuanting was stunned, how could it be Li Zhi again.

This Li Zhi fought so badly that the Tartars were terrified, how could he be so outstanding in construction? The canal that more than 10,000 people are building is a big project at first glance. And this is what Sun Chuanting saw on the side of the official road, where he can't see it, I don't know how many projects there are? That's a lot of money.

Sun Chuanting touched his beard and thought about it, and said, "This Li Zhi cultivates private land for his own benefit. How can these people be so enthusiastic and jubilant? ”

The soldier said, "My lord, now that the peasants are idle, those people have nothing to do. But he could get one or two or five dollars a month for helping Li Zhi work, and he would pay it every half a month and never default, so the hired farmers worked hard one by one. Moreover, some of these peasants were tenant farmers hired by Li Zhixin, and they were planted for them when the fields were opened, so they were very happy. ”

Sun Chuanting thought for a long time and asked, "What is there to be happy about being a tenant farmer." ”

The soldier said: "I also asked, and the peasants said that the tenant farmers of the general's family are completely different from other people's families. First of all, there is a lot of land, a man or a strong woman is divided into 20 acres of land, and the second is that the field is good, there is a canal irrigation that can be watered enough, and the general also divides the cattle to ensure a good harvest. Finally, the land rent is thin, including the taxes on the military fields, and the general only collects 30% of the land rent, and the remaining 70% of the peasants can stay. In this way, the peasants will be rich in less than a year! ”

"That's why the tenant farmers who have been allotted the fields are so elated."

After hearing this, Sun Chuanting was stunned for a long time, and said: "This Li Zhi killed the Tartars on the battlefield fiercely, how can he be so kind to the peasants when he returns to Tianjin?" ”

However, he calculated, and roughly settled Li Zhi's account, and said: "But this Li Zhi still makes money by opening Xintian, and he can make a lot of money." ”

Sun Chuanting seemed to be a little jealous of Li Zhi's organizational ability, snorted coldly, waved his sleeves and said, "Go!" Go to Fanjiazhuang and have a look! ”

Walked to the boundary of Fanjiazhuang, but Sun Chuanting became more and more surprised.

It seems that there was not much land on the boundary of Fanjiazhuang, and some dry fields irrigated by wells were also abandoned because of the flight of military households. But along a few small rivers, large canals have been opened to irrigate the new fields. The new fields had already harvested winter wheat and were planted with a low, broad-leaved plant.

The broad-leaved plant Sun Chuanting knew that it was a sweet potato that Hong Chengchou failed to promote in Shaanxi. Because of the high harvest of sweet potatoes, Hong Chengchou forcibly asked farmers to plant sweet potatoes in Shaanxi, which almost provoked a popular uprising. However, the rotation of sweet potatoes and winter wheat is a good plan, and planting a season of sweet potatoes a few months after harvesting winter wheat can fill up the half year of the slack period. Those sweet potatoes are uncomfortable when they eat too much, but feeding pigs is good pig food.

But what surprised Sun Chuanting was not the sweet potatoes, but the wealthy villages near Xintian.

There were no thatched huts in those villages, but they were all brick houses, which were very strong. Moreover, the houses occupy a large area, and it can be seen that they were added after a period of time, and the new rooms are of a slightly different color from the bricks and tiles used in the original rooms, and they are combined.

These peasants live well.

Not only that, but the farmers came out of their yards with short brown and short clothes without patches, either brand new or half-new. The peasants were all very good-looking, and by no means as thin as the peasants in other places. Those farmhouse yards are hung with bacon, dried fish and other dried things, these other local farmers can't eat meat during the New Year, it seems that Fanjiazhuang farmers eat ordinary things every day. Sun Chuanting observed all the way, and saw several times a farmer sitting leisurely in the yard with his trouser legs pulled up and smoking dry tobacco.

Can a farmer afford to smoke dry tobacco? In Shaanxi, small landlords can't afford to smoke dry tobacco!

Sun Chuanting walked and walked, with the illusion that he was not in Daming.

When Sun Chuanting passed by a township market, he was even more shocked. The market was full of people, and the people who bought things were farmers from the neighborhood. In the bazaar, there are those who kill pigs and sell meat, chickens and ducks, vegetables and condiments, iron pots and clay pots, cloth and needlework, tobacco and tea, rice wine and soju, and even fruits and melons. Those people carried bamboo baskets to buy goods, and one by one they returned with a full load, and bargained with the vendors in the market, which was very lively.

A township is more prosperous than the bazaars in other county towns.

There was a small winery next to the bazaar, and it was noon, and there were already many farmers with their sleeves rolled up and drinking and eating in it, making a loud noise. The store was overcrowded, and the tables were already set up on the road outside. The three shopkeepers shuttled back and forth like butterflies between the tables, collecting money to serve food, and they were very busy.

Sun Chuanting took a closer look, and even found that there were four people each leading a horse on the side of the winery to sell. The smiling faces of the horse-sellers shouted at the crowd of passers-by.

The four horses were pack horses, not good horses, but it was the first time that Sun Chuanting had heard that there would be people selling horses in a rural market town. At first glance, this neighborhood is full of Li Zhi's private land, but there is no landlord and gentry. Could it be that among the farmers in Fanjiazhuang, some people are already so rich that they want to go out on horseback?

Sun Chuanting quickly calculated in his heart, thirty percent of the land rent, the couple planted forty acres of land, if they were one out of ten farming experts, they could collect fifty stone of grain a year, and there were seventy taels of silver after cutting the land rent.

Seventy taels of silver, you can really afford to buy a horse, and this is not counting the harvest of sweet potatoes.

Sun Chuanting then remembered that he had indeed seen someone riding a horse on the official road just now, but he didn't pay attention just now, thinking that it was the family of the gentry from the city. Now that I think about it, these horseback riders may have been local farmers.

The more Sun Chuanting looked at it, the more shocked he became, and then thinking about Shaanxi, where thousands of miles of people in Chidi were struggling to make a living, Sun Chuanting seemed to have traveled through two worlds.

Sun Chuanting stopped on the official road next to the market, and sighed in distraction: "This Li Zhi went into battle to kill the enemy with one enemy and a hundred, and he didn't think that governing the territory could also benefit the people, he was really proficient in civil and military affairs!" No wonder the Son of Heaven thinks so highly of him! ”

If he has the ability to protect the territory and the people like Li Zhi, where will there be thieves in Shaanxi? It was Sun Chuanting, who was always conceited, who was also shocked at this time, and glanced at Li Zhi again. Gritting his teeth, Sun Chuanting shook his head and said:

"Get on the horse to kill the slaves and get off the horse to enrich the people, this Li Zhizhi is talented, even if he is a slaughterer, he can also do it!" (To be continued.) )