Li Zicheng decided to go to the Triangle City to see, on the one hand, the Triangle City is lonely on the grassland, there are too few herdsmen nearby, the sergeants guarding the Triangle City, if they can't see the same kind in the rear, there must be a sense of loneliness, secondly, he wants to go to the field to see the situation of spring ploughing, it is already March, the weather is gradually warming, it is the season of reclamation.

The soldiers all had war horses, and they acted very quickly, but after Li Zicheng left Xining City, he did not immediately go west, but went around the city in a big circle, and saw that several settlements were crowded, so he went west satisfied.

Leaving Xining City and heading west, it was difficult to see the lively scene just now, Li Zicheng sped up, and after more than an hour, approached Zhenhai Fort, which was the first place where he was stationed after coming to Xining.

Now Zhenhai Fort, because there is a triangle city in the west, has lost the role of a military fort, Li Zicheng in the upsurge of returning grazing to farming, originally left a little "selfish", wanted to let Zhenhai Fort be upgraded to a county, but after the field investigation, felt that the farmland near Zhenhai Fort was too little, it was difficult to support a large number of people, so he gave up.

Zhenhai Fort is a military fort, there is a complete small city, if you give up completely, it is a pity, with Xining's current human resources, it is not easy to build such a castle, and finally Zhenhai Fort is retained as a small town directly under Xining Prefecture.

The strange thing is that Zhenhai Fort is almost in the middle of Xining Province and Huangyuan County, if you walk from Zhenhai Fort to the east and west, you can reach the two places within one day, which provides convenience for the travel of the businessmen and the people, plus there are many people settled in Zhenhai Fort originally, Li Zicheng expects that in the future, Zhenhaibao may embark on the road of agricultural and commercial integration, if the population reaches a certain size, it can still be upgraded to a county.

In the tradition of the Han people, "the law does not go down to the county", that is, the imperial court administers the country, down to the county level, as for below the county seat, although there may be organizations such as towns, forts, and villages, but they basically belong to the autonomy of the people, mainly subject to the rules of etiquette or clan rules.

But Li Zicheng left a manager in Zhenhai Fort, that is, Chu Sheng, a disabled veteran who took over He Xiaomi's training last time.

Chu Sheng is only missing half of his arms, his legs, feet, and brain are still normal, and Li Zicheng uses him as the director of Zhenhai Fort, which can be described as a multi-task.

As a representative of the disabled sergeant, he was properly placed by Weili, and not only would he not live without a living in the future, but he would even live a better life than ordinary retired soldiers, which was the best advertisement for the sergeants.

Second, Xining has just changed the sky, and is facing huge changes such as returning grazing to farming, and the people's will may be unstable, and a place like Zhenhaibao, where the population is relatively concentrated, cannot have a power vacuum, and someone needs to supervise it for Weili.

Third, as the territory grows larger and larger, Li Zicheng's biggest headache is the shortage of talents, or in other words, there is a serious shortage of people who can be trusted and capable, and the appointment of directors at the village and town level is actually the training and inspection of these personnel, and once necessary, they can assume higher positions.

A talent like Chu Sheng, even if he is not disabled in his left arm, is still far from Li Zicheng's requirements, at least he can't read a single word, if he needs to register, record or something, it will be difficult to complete.

However, in this extraordinary period, such illiterate veterans are very easy to receive, and once they are given warmth, benefits, etc., they are very loyal, unlike literati, because they know all the knowledge, and their brains have more ideas, and at critical moments, they are not easy to control.

When there were still a few miles away from Zhenhai Fort, Li Zicheng saw sparse figures in the field, it seemed that there were both men and women, he patted the horse's back, sped up the horse's speed, and He Xiaomi and his soldiers followed closely.

The sound of horses' hooves affected the work of the people, Chu Sheng was also there, he raised his head, saw Li Zicheng from a distance, and hurriedly shouted: "My lord is here, hurry up and greet him!" "Be the first to get out of the crowd, bow down.

The people were stunned for a moment, but when they saw that the council member Chu Sheng was kneeling, they had to kneel behind him, and shouted in their mouths: "Your Excellency, ......."

Li Zicheng turned over and dismounted, threw the reins back, and said, "Everyone get up, don't be polite!" Knowing that Chu Sheng was inconvenient, he helped him up, "Chu Sheng, let the people get up and don't delay their work!" ”

"Yes, yes, sir!" After Chu Sheng got up, he waved his hand at the people and said a few more words, and the people gradually dispersed, but when they were working, they peeked at Li Zicheng from time to time, but they didn't dare to speak.

Li Zicheng first glanced at the people who were working, and then cast his gaze into the distance, swept around, frowned slightly, and said: "Chu Sheng, there don't seem to be many people who reclaim the land, although this is only the east gate, but the people of Zhenhai Fort should be a lot, are they ......?"

"My lord," Chu Sheng clasped his hands into fists and learned the appearance of a literati, "This matter, this matter is a subordinate privately...... Ask the adults to punish you! ”

"Reprimand?" Li Zicheng was stunned, "Chu Sheng, you understand, what's going on?" ”

"My lord, my subordinates want to ...... The subordinates thought ......" Chu Sheng's forehead had fine beads of sweat, and when he saw Li Zicheng looking at him, he gritted his teeth and said, "The subordinates are worried that the spring wheat will not be harvested, so they ...... Therefore, some people are allowed to continue grazing, in case the age is not good, with cattle and sheep, the people will not starve! ”

Li Zicheng turned around and looked, no wonder there are not many people cultivating farmland, this year is the first time, the harvest of spring wheat, no one can predict, Chu Sheng did this, it is understandable, so he smiled: "Chu Sheng, this is for the people, it is not an exaggeration, let's talk about it, what else do you have to plan?" ”

Only then did Chu Sheng put his mind at ease and said: "My lord, the twenty acres of land given to Dingkou by his subordinates have been distributed, but at the same time, it is stipulated that as long as ten acres of cultivation are completed this year, even if the task is completed, the other ten acres can be cultivated again in the next year." ”

"Oh, what about the other ten acres? Is it a pasture for the time being? ”

"For the other ten acres, there are no mandatory regulations under the subordinates, and the people will do what they can according to the actual situation!"

"Well," Li Zicheng nodded slightly, and said, "Why did Chu Sheng arrange it like this, could it be that the people's pastures were not enough?" But he said in his heart, what is the use of ten acres of pasture, not even a sheep can be raised.

"That's not it, the people have plenty of pasture," Chu Sheng said: "It's because of the rush of time, if you forcibly cultivate twenty acres, you may be greedy for more than you can rot, and then the land will not be good." ”

"Oh? Chu Sheng can think of this, which shows that he is very concerned about the affairs of the people, let's talk about it, and what are the new practices? ”

"My lord," Chu Sheng was encouraged, and he relaxed even more, "In addition to the vicinity of Zhenhai Fort, his subordinates are also preparing to move some people out of the fort and find a new farming place for them in a place far away from Zhenhai Fort. ”

This is to expand the scope of farming, if all the people live in the fort, the scope of farming can only be around Zhenhai Fort, only by moving some people out of the fort and relocating residential areas, can a new farming site be opened, Li Zicheng couldn't help but look at Chu Sheng twice.

"My lord," Chu Sheng hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Subordinate...... The subordinates privately allowed the people to plant no more than five acres of barley in the cultivated land......"

"Barley?" Li Zicheng doesn't understand, this is a crop native to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, "Isn't the yield of barley very low?" Xining has been cultivated before, right? ”

"My lord, the yield of highland barley is indeed not as good as spring wheat, but in the same land, the harvest is always better than animal husbandry, and it is precisely because Xining originally planted highland barley that his subordinates know that highland barley is a stable yield, and this year is the first year of agricultural implementation...... If the people see that the yield of wheat exceeds that of barley, they will naturally rush to cultivate wheat in the future......"

Li Zicheng's gaze fell on Chu Sheng's face and he didn't go for a long time.

Chu Sheng This is risk sharing, is he born to be an economist?

He mastered the experience of later generations, and only then did he know that Xining could cultivate wheat, but Chu Sheng certainly did not know that in order to prevent the spring wheat from being harvested and the people fell into a situation where there was no grain to eat, he adopted the form of wheat, barley, and animal husbandry walking on three legs to ensure the food supply of the people, which was a safe practice.

Although the yield of barley is low, it is a crop that has been practiced, and the people's sense of identity is high, although the yield of wheat is high, but the people cannot guarantee a harvest.

Chu Sheng's approach, in the view of later generations, was that "all the eggs could not be put in the same basket", in case the wheat harvest was not good, and with barley and cattle and sheep, the people would not starve.

There is not much rain in Xining, there is only one snow in the whole winter, and the duration is not too long, which is extremely unfavorable for wheat that is heavily dependent on fresh water, it is estimated that Chu Sheng has little confidence, and highland barley is drought and cold-resistant, and the requirements for rain and temperature are not high, so it should be a stable yield, which can just make up for the lack of wheat.

Li Zicheng suddenly thought of the Mongolian Plateau outside the Guanguan, where there may also be soil suitable for barley, but unfortunately the people who lived there, unlike the Tibetans, who were half-cultivated and half-pastoral, had no cultivation at all, and when they were not old, they plundered the rich Han Chinese.

If they can't get enough food from the Han Chinese, they have to plunder their own people, at least the war can wipe out a part of the population and reduce the demand for food.

If the nomads had mastered the cultivation of barley and had access to a stable supply of food, would they have reduced their plundering of the Han Chinese?

Li Zicheng shook his head, even if there is a basic food supply, with the warlike nature of the nomads, they will still go to the south to "fight the grass valley", after all, plunder is much more convenient than cumbersome planting, as for blood and killing, the nomads will not treat the different races as equal people, of course, they will not treat the people of the same race as human beings.

For nomads, killing, plundering and bloodshed are their true nature, and this is how every strong man is trained to become a warrior.

This Chu Sheng, but unexpectedly discovered, after pondering for a long time, Li Zicheng found that Chu Sheng was in doubt, so he stretched out his thumb and said: "Chu Sheng, your scheming and thoughts are used on the people, this is the people's parents!" ”

"Adult ......"