The pressure from the county government, with Ye Zhao's temporary compromise eliminated, the time gradually entered March, although the air was still cold, but the flowers and plants were getting greener, the earth was recovering, and a large number of fields could be seen on the land around Macheng.

Ye Zhao still underestimated the attractiveness of low taxes to the people, even in Ye Zhao's view, forty percent of the tax is still a heavy tax, but for the Han who generally pays six or seven percent or even eighty percent of the tax, forty percent of the tax is already extremely low, in less than half a month, because Guo Cheng did not stop it, the population of Macheng has expanded to as many as a thousand households, as long as Ye Zhao is willing, now he can be promoted to the county order.

However, for Ye Zhao, the current situation is only an increase in population, and these populations have not really fully integrated into Macheng, settling down is not just to live here, but also to have a living livelihood, and as the lord of this Macheng county, Ye Zhao wants to let these people completely belong to Macheng, he must find a livelihood for them, so that they have the ability to live.

Reclamation is undoubtedly a good way to get a lot of labor into it, but it won't work until at least after the harvest this autumn to actually settle these people.

"Based on the current land in my horse city, even with today's taxes, fifteen acres of land can support a family of one or five, and it can only accommodate two thousand households at most." Qiu Chi has gradually shifted from business to internal affairs recently, and he used to be in charge of business, although he has no great ability, but he is very sensitive to numbers, but in a few days, he has calculated the approximate details of the current Macheng reclamation, and more and more displaced people have been attracted to it, which is a good thing, but Qiu Chi is not happy.

Ye Zhao stood on the city wall, the craftsmen had already begun to direct the craftsmen to renovate the city wall, and the entire horse city inside and outside was immersed in a hot and busy situation.

Ye Zhao didn't like to sit on his knees, and when there were no outsiders, he mostly sat on a hu bed, listening to Qiu Chi's report, and silently thinking about the next development.

Originally, the three giants of Macheng, two have been under their command, the Wuhuan people have also lost their temper after a battle of revenge and water, and now he has just sat firmly in the position of county magistrate, but it does not mean that he can enjoy peace, he wants to drastically rectify Macheng, economy, people's livelihood, military, all aspects must be considered, this is different from the previous life, in the previous life, although the civilization has been shattered under that disaster, but there are still many people who survived, with these talents, can help Ye Zhao quickly restore productivity, Even if there are only 70,000 people left, it is still possible to build an impregnable fortress.

And now, the population of Macheng is incomparable to that of the base city in the previous life, even if according to Qiu Chi's words, the population of Macheng can be recruited to 2,000 households, and the population of Macheng is only 5,000 households, about 20,000 people, but this is different from the previous life, he can be arbitrary, and only need to fight the outside, the attitude of the state and county, and the external pressure that many tribes on the grassland may kill at any time.

Ye Zhao found that it was not as easy as he imagined if he wanted to develop and grow Macheng, among them, the money and food that needed to be invested, not to mention the Ye family, even if it was the Wei family, if it was just blindly spending, the Wei family could be emptied.

"So ......" Qiu Chi glanced at Ye Zhao cautiously: "My subordinates suggest that we stop recruiting homeless people from outside." ”

"No way!" Almost subconsciously, Ye Zhao shook his head, how could there be any reason to push the population out.

"It's just that the current situation in Emasa City can't support more people." Qiu Chi smiled bitterly, he didn't want Ma Cheng to be more prosperous, just five thousand households, which was the limit of Ma Cheng.

"The lord doesn't know." Meng Hu on the side bowed down and said: "The land around this horse city is thin, almost all of them are thin fields, and there must be a vacant land every year to fallow the fields, otherwise, the annual harvest will only decline year by year, and many places are not suitable for farming at all, if the population is more ......"

Glancing at Qiu Chi, Meng Hu bowed down and said, "I'm afraid that Macheng can't afford to support these people." ”

Ye Zhao closed his eyes, the yield per mu of thin fields is about 100 catties to more than 150 catties, and in a dry year, the yield per mu is even less than 100 catties, even if the tax in Macheng is small, a family of five has to support themselves, and even have more surplus grain, fifteen mu is the least.

Ye Zhao wants to vigorously develop agriculture, but it is not possible to drastically change the current agricultural system, so he can only make some changes within his power in the planning of Han Law, such as throwing away some unnecessary taxes to stimulate the enthusiasm of farmers, and improving agricultural tools.

"Don't sit idle, shepherd some cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock, but remember that there are not too many sheep, and buy some chickens to raise." After Ye Zhao thought for a moment, he said to a few people, although sheep are easier to graze than cattle and horses, but the bad thing is that sheep can cut roots, even if it is grass that grows in the cracks of the stones, it can dig out the roots, if a place is overgrazed sheep, it will not be long before soil erosion will occur, and the fertility of the land around Macheng is insufficient.

Moreover, the advantage of grazing is not only that it can provide a large amount of meat and domesticate cattle, but also that the manure of animals contains a certain amount of fertility, which can promote the recovery of fertility.

In fact, Ye Zhao wanted to make a fertilizer, but in the previous life, after experiencing the end of the world, there was not much land that could be cultivated, and the land was cultivated by genetic technology, and even soilless cultivation, as for the most primitive fertilizer, Ye Zhao only knew that it was related to manure, how to fertilize, he didn't know anything, and now Ye Zhao only chose a field of about five acres near Macheng to test, hoping to develop fertilizer as soon as possible.

If chemical fertilizer can be successfully studied, the problem of limiting the productivity of this era can be solved, and a large number of labor can be released to engage in other industries, but even if you know the material of this thing, if you want to study it, it is not possible to study the best ratio in a short time.

Qiu Chi was a little puzzled, is this to build his own horse farm?

However, since Ye Zhao had already decided, he couldn't say it anymore, so he could only follow Ye Zhao's instructions, from several familiar tribes, exchange salt for some calves, horses, and lambs for people to raise in captivity, and ordered someone to get some chickens, after all, the breeding period and growth period of chickens are faster, so recruit people to raise chickens first.

According to the new decree issued by Ye Zhao, although the tax was 40%, in order to encourage farming, the grain tax for the first year was reduced to 20%, and the surplus was used to settle down.

Although now I live in a wooden shed temporarily built by the county government, which can barely shelter from the wind and rain, but after all, there is a hope, in the next time, Qiu Chi was surprised to find that these yellow-faced and thin-skinned homeless people, the labor force that broke out was quite terrifying, because according to Ye Zhao's regulations, whoever reclaimed the land belonged to whom, the ancients' dedication to the field made Ye Zhao a little surprised, just two months, tens of thousands of acres of thin fields were reclaimed around Macheng, in April, standing on the city wall and looking around, Except for the fields and roads, there is a lot of green grain, and the population of Horse City has skyrocketed to 6,000 households, more than double the previous one.

However, for Macheng, 6,000 households, more than 27,000 people, is basically the limit, at least for now, to maintain the grain until the autumn harvest, it can only feed so many people, the most important thing is that Ye Zhao has wantonly collected the displaced people this time, basically the displaced people who can come from the Daijun area have basically been accepted, after all, it is not a time of war, if it is not a last resort, no one wants to leave their hometown, but even so, the doubling of the population, as long as it is reported, plus the previous exploits of breaking Wuhuan, It was enough for Ye Zhao to be officially promoted to a county order with a rank of eight hundred stones.

Looking at those figures working in the fields, whether it was Ye Zhao or Qiu Chi and others, they all felt a sense of satisfaction, after all, they pulled it up from scratch.

However, compared to the cheerfulness of Macheng, Guo Cheng's mood in Gaoliu is obviously not so good.

Above the lobby of the Taishou Mansion, Wei Xian knelt on a mat, looking at his nose and nose, as if he was asleep.

In the position behind the two of them, the county chief and the county officials were speechless.

"Perfunctory, absolutely perfunctory!" After a while, Guo Cheng slammed the bamboo note in his hand to the ground, and said angrily: "Then the Ye family is crazy, he actually took the initiative to reduce taxes, and used the money of the court to support the people!?" ”

"I forgot that Ye Zhao has the right to be exempt from tax for three years, and there is no need to pay taxes within these three years!" Wei Xian opened his eyes, glanced at Guo Cheng lightly, and said indifferently: "The reason why Ye Zhao sent money and grain to Taishou before, was just a strategy to delay the army, in the past two months, Ma Cheng has continued to buy food from major families, just to avoid cutting off his way of life, now that Ma Cheng has abundant grain and grass, Ye Zhao has vigorously cultivated farmland around Ma Cheng, obviously to get out of the control of Taishou. ”

When Guo Cheng heard this, his chest was blocked, in fact, this problem, even if he couldn't see it at the time, for two consecutive months, it was already obvious that Ye Zhao did not hand over his property, the reason why Ye Zhao kept writing to him was just because he didn't want to completely tear his face, and now, he didn't even have the means to pinch Ye Zhao, how could he not be aggrieved?

"So what do we do now?" Guo Cheng snorted, so far, how can he be willing to give up the huge profits of horse sales in Macheng?

"There is a plan in the next place, but I don't know if Taishou dares to use it?" A flash of murderous intent flashed in Wei Xian's eyes, and Sen Ran said.

"Oh? What's the strategy? Guo Hao's eyes lit up and looked at Wei Xiandao.

"Since the Ye family attaches so much importance to grain, then let him have no harvest this year, then wouldn't the Ye family still have to come back and beg Taishou?" Wei Xian sneered: "I just hope that this time, Taishou will not be deceived by that Ye Zhao again." ”

"That's nice, how to make that Ye Zhao grains useless? Is it possible to ask God for help? Guo Xuan was slightly embarrassed by Wei Xian's words, and then frowned.

"Although there are no natural disasters, man-made disasters can." Wei Xian said with a smile: "In the early years, I went north out of the grassland to appreciate the customs of the Nahu people, and I met a grassland hero at that time. ”