Li Yan didn't care what the conspiracy of the palace was, what he cared about now was how much grain he could harvest.

After harvesting the wheat, he got a report that the average yield per mu was four buckets per stone. The fields under his name totaled 9,200 acres, which means that he was able to harvest 3,864 stones of wheat this time. It sounds like a lot, but it's not enough for him to raise soldiers.

In the second half of the year, we will see if we can plant another crop of potatoes, and the results of his ten-acre experimental field may not be very good. The germination rate is somewhat low, and the yield will definitely be problematic as well. The key is that I don't know when it is better to plant, so this time Li Yan should increase the intensity of the experiment and plant in batches and time-sharing. But set aside some potatoes to store first, and if this experiment fails, at least there will be seeds to continue the next year's trial.

At the same time, what he still has to do is to start collecting the "protection money" promised by the businessmen and big businessmen. Of course, there must be those who are unwilling to pay, so at this time the cooperation of the army is needed.

Li Yan took the men and horses to the grange of Zhang Dianshi's family in the north. Although their grange was breached by the hungry people, and a fire was set in the wheat field, the tenants rescued it in time, and after the hungry people left, they desperately cut out a two-zhang wide firebreak, saving nearly half of the wheat field.

The wheat field of Zhang Dian's family is far away from the water source, so the harvest is a little worse, basically one stone per mu. In other words, Li Yan can probably charge a "protection fee" of 300 stones.

"What are you doing?!" is still the steward who yelled at Li Yan when he was attacked by hungry people, and he was still so rude.

This time, Li Yan didn't say anything to him, but Li Yan's personal soldier Sun Sifu came to speak. Sun Sifu was the first to burn the "Yang" character brand and escaped from Yang's garrison grange. At this time, he had completed his training and performed very well, so he was selected by Li Yan and became a member of the pro-soldiers.

"Come and collect the rations you promised to give you!" Sun Sifu shouted loudly.

The steward didn't look at Sun Sifu at all, waved his hand impatiently, and said, "Go, go!" This is the grange of Zhang Dianshi's family! Not everyone can come and find food! ”

Sun Sifu stared at the steward viciously and did not speak, while Li Yan waved his hand and ordered: "Go in, if you dare to block it, you will be tied up!" ”

Li Yan's subordinates immediately rushed in, and the steward didn't dare to speak when he saw the soldiers draw their swords and rush up. As for blocking, it is even more daring. He obediently leaned to the side and watched the soldiers rush into the Zhuangzi. The other tenants were even more afraid to stop them, and one by one they stood in place, or hid in their houses and did not dare to come out.

The troops quickly took control of the whole Zhuangzi, and now the wheat has just been harvested, and the grain is still in the warehouse and has not been transported. Li Yan instructed: "Go and see how much grain they have in the warehouse, and take out two percent." And their accounts are also found, right, don't be mistaken. ”

After a while, the bookkeeper brought by Li Yan found the accounts. The people who waited for the inventory were paired with the accounts, and found that one hundred and twenty stones were missing from the accounts.

Li Yan smiled and asked, "Which of you is the account room?" Your proprietor knows about this account, and I don't know what will be done with you? ”

The few well-dressed middle-aged people in front of Li Yan were all pale. They all made accounts as they had done in previous years, and then hid the grain before transporting it, and then sold it when there was a shortage of grain in the spring of the following year and the price of grain was at its highest. But they didn't expect that someone who adopted military rations came this year, and they came so early, which caught them off guard.

Zhang Dianshi is so powerful in Qi County, it is not only because of the grace of his ancestors, but also because he is a ruthless person. Over the years, Zhang Dianshi has eight lives in his hands, if not ten. As for the forced family to be ruined, there are not a few who are separated from their wives. If these things were known to Zhang Dianshi, these accounts, warehouses, and affairs would not be able to escape their involvement, and as for how to deal with them, they really didn't know.

According to the amount of the warehouse, Li Yan extracted two percent - three hundred and forty stone of grain from it, and did not take a little more. Then he gave the steward a voucher in duplicate, with the amount of grain taken, and asked the steward to sign and sign it. One part was left for the steward, and the other was held by Li Yan himself.

After that, they loaded the car and left, and went to the next family to collect the "protection fee". He had to collect the grain as soon as possible while it was still in the grange, and it would be difficult for them to take it away if they were to carry it away. After all, he doesn't want to grab a vote and forget it, but he wants to collect taxes for a long time, so integrity is still necessary.

Li Mu and Li Zhong also took their men and horses to collect grain, and even the grange of Huang's family and Yang Shoubei did not fall. Although the two of them did not sign the pledge, but the entire Qixian County was handed over, and it is unreasonable for the two of them to be special. What's more, Li Yan felt that Yang Shoubei was no longer a threat, and that Huang was just the head of the Ministry of Works, and he was over sixty years old, and he was about to retire, and there was only one person in the family, so there should be no threat.

By the time Zhang Dianshi got the news, Li Yan and the others had already transported the grain back to the barracks for two days. He knew that it was useless to find Su Jing, the county commander, after all, Su Jing was a witness to their contract. It is not possible to go to Li Yan to theorize, if Li Yan and Li Yan are reasonable, they will not take the soldiers to the grange to grab food. As for using more than forty servants under his command to clean up Li Yan, he didn't even have such an idea. Li Yan has more than a thousand people, isn't he looking for death when he uses force?

So he made a decisive decision to give the tenants only two stone of grain for each family, including seeds for the coming year. As for the life or death of these tenants, he will not care. In his original words: "If you are not satisfied, go to Li Yan!" He was the one who snatched the food that was supposed to be given to you! ”

He wanted these thirty or forty tenants to find trouble with Li Yan, but what he didn't expect was that after these tenants got the grain, they all happily went to Yanzhai in the north, and Cimu Gangzhai went to Li Yan.

These tenants had long been dissatisfied with Zhang Dianshi's exploitation, and this year they did hear and see that the farmers in Li Yan Grange had really received seventy percent of the harvest, and they immediately went to farm for Li Yan. Seventy percent of the harvest can be left in their hands in a year, and they will work hard to cultivate it.

Zhang Dianshi lifted a stone and hit him in the foot, so he had to discuss with other big businessmen to see how to deal with this bold Li Yan.

In the past, his domineering and domineering power were based on his control over the affairs of the county, but now in the face of Li Yan's force, his control is completely ineffective. Therefore, they can only rely on those big families who have the backing of officials, and want to use the power of officials to achieve the goal of dealing with Li Yan.