Just when Shi Kefa, Li Mengchen, Niu Jinxing, Li Xin and others went all the way to the east, passing through Tongzhou, passing through Zunhua, and going out of Shanhaiguan, observing the political style and understanding the current affairs along the way, Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty, led by Zhou Yuji, led by the cavalry of the Beijing camp, after a long journey of more than a month, finally arrived at the Guyuan, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

And what he saw and experienced along the way worried him.

At the time of departure, the spring ploughing in the land of Gyeonggi had ended, and the situation in Shanxi, which passed through, was also reasonable, most of the farmland was planted with seeds, and on the side of Beizhili, many barren mountains and valleys were also reclaimed into farmland, and the Fanbang species of the Jingshi Agricultural Institute were planted.

Although the weather is still dry, there are still many local methods, whether it is digging wells, or carrying water, or building waterwheels along the river, diverting water for irrigation, in short, the farmland is full of green seedlings, which makes people look at the heart of the heart, at least feel that there is hope for the future.

But after crossing the Yellow River and continuing westward, the ground was scorched everywhere.

All the way to the west, along the way the mountains are connected with mountains, mountains and ridges, there is not much plain arable land, and the mountains are more rocky and less trees, at best a little shrub, even this shrub is also bare, I don't know if it died because of drought, or was eaten by hungry people everywhere.

The villages I saw along the way were all dilapidated, and there seemed to be no one living in them, and I finally saw some people, all of whom were far away, and those who did not dodge, squatting on the side of the road like walking corpses, shriveled and thin, without the slightest life, and no longer looked like human shapes.

From Fugu to Shenmu, there are not many people to see along the way, and there are not many cultivated fields, and when they arrive at the station of Yansui Town, Yulin Weizuo, the situation is somewhat better, and around the city, farmers can be seen plowing in the fields, and the situation of land abandonment is not so serious.

Yuan Chonghuan and his entourage entered Yulin City, and as the governor of the three sides, summoned Sun Chuanting, the governor of Yansui and He Shiyu, the chief soldier of Yansui Town, who was located in Yulin, and recruited several generals and colonels for their own governor's standard battalion in Yulin City, including He Shiyu, the son of He Shiyu, the chief soldier of Yansui Town, who is now in his early twenties.

He Renlong was also recommended by Yansui Town to study in the Jingshi Lecture Martial Arts Hall, but because he was favored by Yuan Chonghuan, he became a general of Yansui Town and became a guerrilla of the Chinese army in the standard battalion of the trilateral governor, so he simply gave up the opportunity to enter the lecture martial arts hall and followed the men and horses of the trilateral governor to Guyuan Town together.

Yuan Chonghuan and his party left Yulin City, and then went all the way to the south, but the situation they encountered was worse than that in the north.

The group passed through Mizhi, Suide, and Ansai, and then turned to the west, and what they saw was simply not like the world, and the uneven official road was starving on both sides, and the rancid smell was overwhelming.

And among those mountains with many rocks and few trees and mixed shrubs, there seem to be hidden eyes everywhere, tracking and peeping at them all the way.

If it weren't for the 2,000 cavalry of the Beijing battalion brought by Zhou Yuji, Yuan Chonghuan and his party would definitely be more auspicious if they took this road to Guyuan.

Because of this, despite his extremely heavy mood and extreme dissatisfaction with the official government of the place he passed, Yuan Chonghuan and his entourage did not dare to leave the official road and go to the nearby villages to inquire.

Along the way, Xiaoxing stayed overnight, and finally walked out of the boundary of Yan'an Mansion in Shaanxi Province safely, and entered the jurisdiction of Guyuan Town, the governor's seat of the three sides.

On the second day after entering the inland boundary under the jurisdiction of Guyuan, Yang Qi, the chief soldier of Guyuan Town, and Yu Shi Ma Maocai, the superintendent army, came to greet them with their men and horses.

Yang Qi, the chief soldier of Guyuan Town, also went to Liaodong to fight with Jianyu, and met and worked with Yuan Chonghuan in the early years, so they are quite familiar with each other, after receiving the governor of the three sides and their own top boss Yuan Chonghuan, the group set up camp at sunset, set up camp at sunrise, passed through Qingyang and Pingliang in a mighty way, and finally arrived at Guyuan City after three days.

Along the way, Yang Qi introduced the situation of Guyuan Town to Yuan Chonghuan, although it was slightly better than the northern Shaanxi Prefecture, but it was not much better, there was drought and little rain for many years, the fields were barren, and the people left their hometowns one after another, fleeing to other places.

Even in the 21st century, when the material was already extremely rich in the later generations, it was still a rare and extremely poor area in the west, let alone at the end of the Ming Dynasty, which was characterized by a severe drought in the 17th century.

During this period, the Ningxia region had two border towns, Ningxia Town and Guyuan Town, which were administratively under the management of the Gansu Governor, and now the Gansu Governor Mei Zhihuan's station is in Lanzhou, which is far away from Ningxia Town and Guyuan Town, and such a large area at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, except for the military town where the army is stationed, other places are almost out of control administratively. This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty has repeatedly established trilateral governors in its history.

Geographically, Guyuan is located in the center of Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo, but from an economic point of view, this place is really not suitable as a seat for the governor of the three sides, because the population is too small and the land is really barren.

The town of Guyuan is located at the bottom of a zigzag mountain valley, surrounded by barren mountains, and along a small river that flows through the town, there are some shops and wine shops.

There are only a few decent buildings in the entire town, one of which is the Governor's Palace, and the other is the newly cleaned up Governor's Palace. This governor's palace has been more than 100 years now, during which it has been idle or abandoned or decades, although the imperial court has issued an edict to reset the trilateral governor for more than half a year, but the financial resources of Guyuan Town are extremely limited, except for the emperor's salary, there is no other income, if it is not for the surplus part of the military salary after the appointment of the superintendent of the army, squeezed out 3,000 taels of silver to renovate it, this trilateral governor's yamen would be even more inhabitable.

Although the border towns of the Ming Dynasty were relatively poor, after looking at the situation of Guyuan Town, Yuan Chonghuan knew that compared with the northwest border towns, especially Guyuan Town, the conditions of Liaodong Town were simply better than the sky.

However, if you come here, you will be safe, although the conditions are not good, but for a person like Yuan Chonghuan who is extremely determined, the conditions for food, clothing, housing and transportation are a little worse, and it is nothing at all.

The day after his arrival, Yuan Chonghuan took his friend Mao Yujian, who had invited him to assist him, accompanied by Yang Qi, Ma Maocai and others, to inspect the surrounding areas of Guyuan Town.

After all, it is already early summer, and if the sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes brought by Yuan Chonghuan and his entourage from the Tongzhou Agricultural Institute are not planted, they may miss the farming.

This is the most anxious thing for Yuan Chonghuan at the moment. Although he brought a lot of money and ordnance, if he didn't have food, no matter how much silver he had, he didn't dare to recruit troops and horses, after all, having enough food was the most important thing.

What he didn't know, of course, was that sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes were originally summer crops in later generations, and they needed to be planted after the wheat planted in the first year had been harvested.

Of course, there is no problem with the preemptive planting around Gyeonggi, after all, the weather is different from that of later generations, and there is nothing planted in the fields of the Huangzhuang and the confiscated villages that were sacrificed in the first year.