Hu Jingshui gently tapped his knees, perhaps because of his perennial wandering at sea, his knees were always sore, so whenever he meditated, he would unconsciously tap on the sore place.

"Master, Xinxiang has arrived."

"Really?" Hu Jingshui muttered, he didn't rush out of the cabin, Xinxiang here, he has been here many times, and every time he comes, he sees new changes, these changes surprise him, but the number of surprises has become a habit.

It would be a miracle if we didn't see new changes this time.

The boat shook slightly, and when he heard the noise outside, Hu Jingshui knew that the boat was really docking. He stood up unhurriedly and went out the door.

Even if he was mentally prepared, he was still stunned when he saw the crowded heads between Xinxiangzhai and the dock.

When he came to Xinxiang more than a month ago, there were not so many people here, but now, he estimated that at least 20,000 people were here!

In fact, his estimate was inaccurate, the population of Xinxiang had exceeded 40,000 to close to 45,000, and the thieves and rebels captured by Anlu, plus the local people of Anlu who mixed in with the chaotic people to make a living, were originally 100,000 and zero, half of which went to the Zheng family as a reward, and the other half was sent to Xinxiang.

The great migration of 100,000 people, in this era, is a great thing, and the whole process can be described as heroic. Of the 50,000 people who were supposed to be given to Yu Guozhen, only 42,000 actually arrived in Xinxiang, and one-sixth of them, or more than 8,000 people, had died before they arrived at this new location.

The long journey, if it weren't for the Zheng family's strong pressure, I don't know what would have happened during the journey. Zheng Zhilong will not be merciful to these chaotic people at all, and he will not be merciful.

However, the strong wrist of the Zheng family also brought benefits, and in this long journey, those who survived learned to obey, endure, and know to cherish what they have.

Therefore, when they arrived in Xinxiang, there were not too many twists and turns in their placement, and most of the various means prepared by Yu Guozhen in advance were not used.

What's more, after arriving in Xinxiang, they saw hope.

The various crops planted in the fields, including rice that they were familiar with, as well as sweet potatoes and corn that they had never seen before, were lush and growing extremely gratifyingly, and compared with the Central Plains, which had nine disasters in ten years, they saw the hope of living with their own hands.

The only thing that worries them is the lack of land. Although the entire Qinzhou has a population of just over 10,000 at this time, their actions are still limited to Xinxiang, no matter how you look at it, that is, about 20,000 or 30,000 mu of land can be used for farming, and this bit of land cannot support 40,000 people.

Hu Jingshui had an extraordinary relationship with Xinxiang, and after verifying his identity, they went ashore without asking for instructions. He called a carriage to pick up people, and was about to get on the carriage, and saw a convoy of ten ox carts slowly coming, the smell on the ox cart was a little strange, as a successful businessman, he always maintained a strong curiosity, so Hu Jingshui called the person who drove the ox cart: "What is this cart loaded on?" ”

"Fertilizer." The man grinned.

"Fertilizer? What's that? ”

"It's fertilizer, Hu Guanren, the villain only knows this name...... However, Hu Guanren, please see, how are our crops growing here? ”

"It's growing very well...... Could it be the credit of this fertilizer? ”

The man smiled: "Yu Gongzi said to let the fertilizer be applied, and sure enough, the fertilizer is different, and we also deliberately left a stubble, the same water and soil, with chemical fertilizer and no chemical fertilizer, the difference is ...... The villain estimates that when the harvest is made, it may be about thirty percent! ”

"Sancheng!"

Although he is a businessman, Hu Jingshui is no stranger to crops, and he understands what Sancheng means!

Qinzhou's cooked paddy fields, the yield of rice per mu is only three stones, but an increase of three percent means that it may become four stones!

"How is this fertilizer made?" Hu Jingshui couldn't help but ask.

The man smiled: "Where does the villain know, if the villain knows, tsk, won't he make a fortune!" ”

Hu Jingshui snorted, but his heart jumped suddenly.

Grain production increased by 30 per cent...... He didn't know that this was still a relatively conservative estimate.

This kind of fertilizer, strictly speaking, should be "soil fertilizer", Yu Guozhen saw it from an idle book by chance. It is actually divided into two kinds, one is ammonia, the raw material is fresh cow dung, cooked gypsum powder, the two are sealed at room temperature for three days in a ratio of ten to one, and then mixed with water to use; The other is ammonium sulfate, which can be used after mixing with human urine, water, and gypsum in a ratio of ten to five to one.

According to that idle book, soil and chemical fertilizer can increase the yield per mu of fields that have not been applied with similar fertilizers by 40 to 50 percent, but Yu Guozhen has always been strict, only estimating one by 30 percent.

"Tsk, amazing, amazing!"

In the past month, Hu Jingshui has been busy running between many forces in Annan, and he has mobilized all his connections in Annan to plan a big event for Yu Guozhen. Hearing the role of soil and chemical fertilizers in increasing grain production, and seeing so many people, especially those who have the strength to build water conservancy facilities on farmland, Hu Jingshui's heart beat harder.

What a first-class character!

The car drove him slowly to Xinxiang Village, on the left was the construction site, on the right was a paddy field, the rice in the field was almost ripe, and it was about to be harvested in the next few days. Hu Jingshui looked at the heavy ears of rice, which he had never seen before.

Although he did not need to be allowed to land, someone still told Yu Guozhen the news of his arrival, so Yu Guozhen had already arrived at the gate of the stockade and was waiting for him.

"Yu Gongzi!" Seeing Yu Guozhen from a distance, Hu Jingshui suddenly jumped off the carriage, and he was deeply stunned by ten zhang away.

Not only because Yu Guozhen once saved his surname, not only because Yu Guozhen gave him an extra way to make money, but also because the paddy field was seeing a bumper harvest of grain.

"Why should Brother Hu be polite?" Yu Guozhen smiled and said, "Please come in and talk, I have something, and I just want to ask Brother Hu to take a look." ”

"It must have been another surprise." Hu Jingshui said with a smile.

Following Yu Guozhen, he entered Xinxiangzhai. When Yu Guozhen chose the land to build the village, he specifically referred to Lei Wangcheng's opinions, so the space in the village is quite large, and when planning, he also paid attention to the use of space as much as possible, so as not to waste a lot of land. This is actually a village planned according to the standards of the town in the industrial age, compact and neat, and now the school yard of Jiawei has also been moved outside the village, so the whole village can live for 10,000 people.

But now, the number of people actually living in the village is less than 4,000: family guards, schoolchildren, and newcomers like Wang Baozong, who have proven their loyalty and completed the 14-day epidemic prevention campaign.

"Young Master Yu, this year's noble land seems to have a bumper harvest." Hu Jingshuidao.

"I estimated the output, but it was only about 20,000 stone of grain, and now I have 40,000 people, which is not enough." When it came to the bumper harvest, Yu Guozhen couldn't help but be overjoyed, but he said so.

For people who are willing to farm, grain production has always been the first indicator to measure the success of farming.

"Twenty thousand stones? Isn't there 10,000 acres of fertile land? Hu Jingshui asked curiously.

"In the past, there was a shortage of labor, and 10,000 acres of fertile land required 500 strong laborers, but before that, I could not spare 500 strong laborers for special cultivation. Now, in the second quarter of this year, I should be able to collect 40,000 stones. Yu Guozhen said this, but shook his head again: "But there is still a shortage of food, and 40,000 mouths are waiting to be fed!" ”

"There is a shortage of food everywhere, and it is the same on the Annan side." After Hu Jingshui heard this, he also nodded.

Yu Guozhen is not too afraid, he has already sent people to transfer grain from Guangzhou's west, and he now has nearly 30,000 stone of grain in his hand, which has been purchased from Guangzhou's west in the past half a year, plus the 20,000 stone and 50,000 stone grain that will be harvested, plus sweet potatoes, corn and other miscellaneous grains, which is enough for these 40,000 people to support the next harvest.

Sweet potatoes and corn have limited sown area because of the lack of seeds, and these two crops have not improved sufficiently at this time, and the yield is uncertain. Judging from the current situation, the corn may be harvested for two or three thousand stones, and the sweet potato should be twice as much.

"Look, what do you think of this breastplate." Yu Guozhen brought Hu Jingshui into the hall, and then pointed to a cuirass on a wooden frame and said with a smile.

This cuirass compared to Louis? The one Garcia brought with him was rudimentary and unadorned, but it "was made from medium-carbon steel from a frying furnace that was first hot-rolled into a thin sheet of steel, stamped with a heavy-duty press when it was red-hot, and finally subjected to a series of heat treatment procedures such as tempering, quenching, annealing, etc., which used hot exhaust gases from the end of the iron-making furnace to save fuel." (Note: The text in quotation marks is excerpted from the huge work "Dongning Ji" by Pheasant Sangda, which is hereby explained.) "This ......" Hu Jingshui's first thought was how much this thing could be sold for, but he suddenly understood that Yu Guozhen asked him to come and see this, not to sell new goods.

"With our special vest, you can resist musket fire head-on." Yu Guozhen touched the breastplate, in a short period of time, he had no way to make a greater breakthrough in muskets and cannons, so increasing the protective capacity of the guards would become a transitional equipment for a period of time in the future.

"I can now produce fifty sets of these breastplates a day." Yu Guozhen reported another staggering figure.

In other words, in a month, 1,500 people will be equipped...... This armor? Hu Jingshui asked in a trembling voice.

"Yes, it can be produced more if needed." Yu Guozhen said meaningfully: "A person who can wear armor, I have fifteen thousand!" I made an agreement with the Zheng family that they would be ready to support my ship that could carry 5,000 men, and at the same time send a 1,000-strong sailor to fight alongside me! ”

Hu Jingshui's breathing suddenly stopped, he looked at Yu Guozhen, for a while, and finally nodded: "Yu Gongzi, things are done, the Zheng family in the north, the Zhancheng State in the south, the Nanzhangguo and Zhenla in the west, I can receive a reply!" And I also found one thing......"

(To be continued)