Liang Wencheng was sipping tea, and when he saw Li Zicheng coming in, he hurriedly stood up, "Zicheng, knowing that you are busy, I will make a long story short, the winter wheat is about to be harvested, do you want to go outside the city to have a look?" ”

"Winter wheat?" Li Zicheng was overjoyed, it turned out that it was not a shortage of grain in a certain place, but the policy of "returning grazing to farming" that he had promoted, and it was ushering in the first harvest season. ”

"It should go well, the winter wheat is growing well, according to the wheat farmers' estimates, there may be a harvest of two stones per mu," Liang Wencheng's face overflowed with a smile, "Unfortunately, due to the tight time, there is still too little winter wheat, mainly in Beichuan County, and there is very little winter wheat in Xining Prefecture and Nanchuan County." ”

"Wen Cheng, a preliminary estimate, how much winter wheat can be produced?"

"Among the registered acres, there are about 1,000 acres of winter wheat planted in the three places, and according to the yield of two stones per mu, there is a harvest of 2,000 stones, and now it is close to the harvest period, as long as there is no major storm, there should be no variables." Liang Wencheng asked to see Li Zicheng this time because some wheat farmers have already begun to harvest wheat, and it can be said that the overall situation of wheat production has been decided.

"Two thousand stones?" Li Zicheng silently calculated, according to the Ming Dynasty's "fifteen taxes and one" standard, two thousand stone of grain, and the tax paid was only sixty or seventy stone, which could only feed fifteen soldiers.

However, this grain can feed a large number of people, if the people's grain is surplus, except for circulation in Xining, it is absolutely not allowed to flow out of Xining.

According to this calculation, it takes 60 or 70 mu of cultivated land to feed a soldier, and at least 200,000 mu of cultivated land is needed to feed the more than 3,000 soldiers now.

Li Zicheng is not ready to increase taxes, the people of Xining are already too bitter, except for farmland, they have almost no hope, this low tax rate must be maintained, if the grain is not enough, more land will be cultivated, the population is not enough, and the victims of Shaanxi can also be attracted, not to mention the sweet potatoes and potatoes that he regards as treasures.

As long as the crops of sweet potatoes and potatoes are successful, at least the civilian soldiers will not starve.

Liang Wencheng saw that Li Zicheng was silent for a long time, thinking that he was dissatisfied with this bit of grain, and said: "Zicheng, this is just winter wheat, in fact, the planting area of spring wheat is 3,500 mu, and the current growth is normal, calculated by one and a half stones per mu, the total output is about 5,000 stones, and the tax should be more than 300 stones." ”

Three hundred stone can only feed dozens of soldiers, plus winter wheat, even a hundred soldiers can not be fed, and now the soldiers in Xining have exceeded three thousand, relying on these grains, far from solving the problem, let alone expanding the army in the future.

However, Li Zicheng thought of a question, what Liang Wencheng calculated just now was the grain of Xiningwei, and the Nianbosuo, Zhuanglangwei, and Gulangsuo were originally farming lands, and there should be some harvests.

Li Zicheng dared to expand the army, largely because the expanded soldiers were all soldiers of these guards, and they originally had sufficient food.

"Wencheng, how is Sanchuan Mansion over there?"

"Zicheng, this is exactly what I want to say," Liang Wencheng's face showed a wry smile, Sanchuan Mansion is no longer under his direct jurisdiction, "As far as I know, Sanchuan Mansion is full of winter wheat with a high yield, Ledu, Jishi, Zhuanglang, Gulang four counties, plus Sanchuan Mansion, a total of more than 65,000 mu of winter wheat, only one tax, can reach 8,000 stones, can feed nearly 2,000 soldiers." ”

Li Zicheng laughed: "Coupled with the food and salary given by the imperial court to the two thousand soldiers of Xiningwei, as long as the winter wheat is harvested smoothly, this year's grain should not be a problem." ”

"Well, it should be enough," Liang Wencheng nodded, but raised his head again and said, "Zicheng still remembers the Salars?" ”

"Salars?" Li Zicheng frowned, "Aren't the Salar people on the west bank of the Yellow River completely wiped out by Ma Youshui?" Could it be that there are Salars again? ”

"Zicheng Ke still remembers that Ma Baihu left dozens of Salar strong men at that time, all of which were used for tuntian."

Li Zicheng remembered that Ma Youshui had left fifty or sixty Salar Zhuangding to continue cultivating the original land in Jishi County, and they actually existed as slaves of the Xining Army to make up for their mistakes against the Xining Army.

In other words, even if they died, they were only buried as fertilizer on the farmland, and no one cared whether they lived or died.

"Wen Cheng, how much arable land have they planted in total?"

"Fifty-eight strong men, a total of nearly 3,000 acres, if the harvest is successful, I am afraid that there will be 6,000 stone of grain."

"Six thousand stones?" Li Zicheng was shocked, less than 60 Salar strong men could feed 13,400 soldiers, almost equivalent to one prefecture and four counties, no wonder the nomads kept slaves.

At the beginning, these Salars were turned into military slaves, mainly because they could not deal with them, killing them would be against heaven and peace, and if they were released, they were worried that they would leak the information, and they all believed in the religion of terror, and it was troublesome wherever they were placed, so in desperation, they were gathered together and cultivated the original land of the Salars.

I didn't expect to be able to get 6,000 stone of grain, and after deducting their food consumption for a year, the remaining grain could feed at least 1,200 soldiers.

It was a real bonus.

"Wen Cheng, in this way, this year's food problem, even if there is no food from the imperial court, we can still support ourselves?"

"It should be like this," Liang Wencheng also has a sense of accomplishment in solving the food problem in Xining in more than half a year, "In fact, there are still some people who have not been converted into cultivators, and they need to pay taxes on cattle and sheep, and there will also be a harvest of crops from the south of the Yangtze River, and when it comes to the harvest season, the people also need to pay taxes." ”

"Haha," Li Zicheng laughed, "This can't be counted, these treasures can't be eaten this year, all of them are kept as seeds, at most please have a big meal!" ”

"Since you want to keep it as seeds, please forget it, and when the seeds are abundant in the future, it's not too late," Liang Wencheng waved his hand generously, but said with a smile: "Zicheng, seeing the success of wheat this year, the number of people and land cultivated next year will definitely increase significantly, and at that time, the grain we have in our hands will increase." ”

"Yes, by the time of next year, those crops from Jiangnan should also be able to enter the tables of the people and soldiers, and at that time, even if there is no imperial court, our grain will be somewhat surplus."

Liang Wencheng suddenly whispered: "Zicheng, now that the food problem is basically solved, do you want to expand the army immediately?" ”

Li Zicheng thought about it, but still shook his head, "Wencheng, the grain problem has been basically solved, but the wheat is still growing in the ground after all, and after the wheat is harvested next year, there will be a surplus of grain." He remembered Liu Ji's ancient precept to Zhu Yuanzhang of "accumulating grain, building a high wall, and slowly becoming king", and now Xining has solved the food problem on paper, and once a large-scale battle is carried out, the consumption of grain in transportation will inevitably increase greatly, and it is still impossible to say whether it is enough to eat, besides, Shaanxi has been in drought for several years in a row, who knows if the same thing will happen in Xining?

Liang Wencheng still didn't give up, and continued to comfort: "Zicheng, just like this, with the help of the wings of the imperial court, after all, it is not a long-term solution, the imperial court will find out about Xining's abnormal situation sooner or later, and Zicheng still has to plan early!" ”

Li Zicheng laughed, "Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, Wen Cheng is not at home for the holiday, and when he came to the official office, did he persuade me to expand the army?" To tell the truth, I also want to expand the army on a large scale, so as not to live cautiously and tremble every day, lest the army of the imperial court conquer Xining—if it is really coming, I will not worry so much. ”

Liang Wencheng raised his eyebrows and said with relief: "Do you have any plans?" ”

"Wencheng, I also hope to expand the army on a large scale, but soldiers not only need food, but also silver," Li Zicheng counted with his fingers: "Now the Xining army has exceeded 3,000, and the monthly salary is more than 1,600 taels, which is 20,000 taels a year, not including the reward, I am under a lot of pressure!" ”

"The matter of silver...... Isn't there distilled spirits and glass? Liang Wencheng was puzzled, these two kinds of monthly income should be more than 1,600 taels!

"There are too few things to make money now, and if there is a problem in one link such as production, transportation, and sales, the economic lifeline will be cut off, and then it will ......."

"Zicheng is right!" Liang Wencheng couldn't help nodding, "It's still self-considered and thoughtful, I just see the bright side......"

"You can solve the food problem, Wencheng, you have worked hard!" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Wencheng these days, I'm afraid I'm dreaming of the wind and rain, right?" Haha......"

"I can do my part for Xining and for myself, I ...... I am also deeply honored," Liang Wencheng remembered the previous Xiningwei, and felt a little emotional, "Don't hide it...... If I hadn't come to Xining by myself, I would have just wanted to serve, and I'm afraid I wouldn't have ......."

"Wen Cheng, don't be too emotional, we still have a lot of things to do," Li Zicheng laughed and said: "Wen Cheng, my goal is still these guards in the north, if you don't solve them, Xining will never have a sense of security, and will face pressure in three directions at any time - if we take these guards in the north, the soldiers are our best source of soldiers, and besides, the food in these places can be self-sufficient, so there is no need to worry." ”

"When are you going to do it?"

Li Zicheng shook his head, "I don't plan for the time being, the seven hundred households are training, I plan to use three months to change the style of the soldiers, they are mainly from the original guard, I am a little worried, the battle is going well, in case the battle is stalemate, even if it doesn't go well......"

"Zicheng is right, I was in a hurry!" Liang Wencheng smiled self-deprecatingly, "However, knowing Zicheng's plan, I am also relieved." ”

After Liang Wencheng left, Li Zicheng paced a few laps, the food problem made him put his mind at ease, his mind turned, and a batch of pig iron arrived in Xining, has entered the craftsman's workshop, and can make a rifle in a few days, he is worried about silver, now Xining's economic lifeline, almost all pinned on glass, in case the glass production and sales are not smooth......

Eggs must never be put in the same basket!

But what other ways to make money? Li Zicheng fell into deep thought, but he had no idea for a while.