The golden ears of wheat are swaying in the wind, and the people who harvest are in full swing, after the war, to see such golden ears of wheat again, whether it is Chu Huan as the governor or the people who are harvesting grain in the fields, they are all indescribably excited.

Old lady Su is over seventy years old and old, but at this time, she still looks energetic, and she raises her finger on the ridge.

"This year, God has opened his eyes, and it can be called a smooth wind." Old Lady Su had a smile on the corner of her mouth, "Chu Du, if it weren't for you, Xiguan would not be able to see this golden ear of wheat." ”

Chu Huan said with a smile: "Old lady, you can't say this, I didn't do anything, it was you Xiguan gentry and the people of Xiguan who worked together to produce these grains. ”

The old lady laughed, and then said: "This year's harvest of each family is good, in addition to paying off the debts to the customs, there is still some left...... However, there will be food rations for the coming year, plus there will be food preparations, but I am afraid that there will still be a lot of food shortage. ”

Gongsun Chu, the governor of Yuezhou, also came with him this time, and said on the side: "My lord, after the promulgation of the Juntian Order, the local authorities are very active, and the land inspection and population inventory are also nearing completion, and the lists collected from all over the country have been transferred to the Ministry of Households. Xiaguan has carefully checked in the household department, after the implementation of the uniform field order, a large area of barren land has been distributed to the common people, the original field plus the newly reclaimed land, according to the current statistics, there are nearly 20 million mu, the current statistics of the total population of Xiguan Province is also about 3 million, engaged in production, more than 2 million, that is to say, per capita can produce about 10 acres of land. ”

Chu Huan said: "If it is 20 million mu of land to be cultivated, how much grain is needed for one mu of land?" ”

"Normally, five catties of grain are still needed." Gongsun Chu said: "If all the cultivated land has to be sown with seeds, at least one million stone of grain is needed!" ”

"A million stones?" Chu Huan was taken aback, then frowned, and asked, "Then how much grain can the prefectures and counties of Xiguan Dao be combined this year?" ”

"Xiguan has been chaotic before, there is land and no one cultivates it, and there is no grain if you want to cultivate." Gongsun Chu said solemnly: "Fortunately, the old lady and the gentry of Xiguan have borrowed grain seeds from everywhere, and nearly 1.2 million acres of land have been planted with grain ......!" ”

Chu Huan was a little surprised, the cultivated land area of Xiguan Road reached nearly 20 million mu, but the seeds sown were only 1.2 million mu, almost a small fraction, which can also be seen how chaotic the situation in Xiguan Road was before.

It is no wonder that the people have been displaced and a large number of refugees have starved to death.

"Chu Du also knows that the northwest is mostly sandy land, which is different from the fertile fields in the Guannei, even in previous years, the northwest often has to transport grain from the Guannai to replenish it." Gongsun Chu explained: "The situation in Jiazhou and Yuezhou is better, the best fertile land can produce more than 400 catties of grain per mu, which is still this year's wind and rain, and the worse is only 300 catties...... The situation in Hezhou and Jinzhou is much worse, the sandy land over there is particularly serious, some land can barely make do with farming, but the yield is very small, the best field, the yield per mu is less than 300 catties, and the worse, one or two hundred catties is not without ......! ”

Old Lady Su nodded and said: "Chu Du, this is the case, the northwest is not the land of water and rice, and the grain production cannot be compared with the Guannei at all. Comparatively speaking, the climate in the northwest is much worse than in the pass, and this year's climate is rare in the northwest, and it is good to have one year in ten years. Even if the climate is so good, we can only produce 400 catties of grain per acre, which is already the highest grain yield, and the Guannai ...... Let's just say Hebei Province, the best fertile land over there can exceed 700 catties per mu, and on average, the yield per mu is also more than 500 catties, and the average yield per mu in our northwest is only about 300 catties, and the gap is not small. ”

Gongsun Chu said: "Fortunately, most of the land that sowed seeds this year can be regarded as two days in the northwest, on average, the yield per mu is about 350 catties, 1.2 million acres ......of fields, and the grain harvest of all the land in Xiguan Road this year should be about 2 million stones!" ”

"About two million stones?" Chu Huan frowned and said, "You just said that the grain seed for the coming year alone will need one million stones, and if you remove this million stones, wouldn't there be only one million stones of grain in the entire Xiguan Dao?" ”

Gongsun Chu nodded and sighed, "Exactly." Up and down Xiguan, there are still three million mouths, normally speaking, to be full, an average person needs a pound of grain a day, that is to say, nearly 30,000 stone a day, a year, if you want to make Xiguan full, you need 10 million stone...... Even if everyone tightens their belts and supplies food that can survive, and the ration is halved, they will not be able to pass this hurdle without 5 million stone grain a year......! ”

Chu Huan's expression became grim, "After removing the grain, there is only one million stones left, and if all the people in Xiguan want to live, it will take five million stones, which is ...... The gap is too big, isn't it? ”

Old lady Su reminded on the side: "Chu Du, there is not a million stones, the grain we planted before was borrowed from outside, and we promised them that when there is a harvest, we will repay it twice, and this is another batch, and the remaining grain is less than one million stones." ”

Chu Huan only felt a splitting headache.

Gongsun Chu hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "My lord, there is still an expense, and you haven't counted it yet." ”

"What?"

"Horses!" Gongsun Chu Zhengse said: "The Lord is expanding the Praetorian Guard, if the current situation is maintained, it will be fine, but once the Fengzi Battalion continues to expand, then the war horses of the Fengzi Battalion need horse material, the war horses are different, and the daily rations are not few, and the better the horses, the better the food they need, and even have to be fed with concentrates, which is also a big expense." ”

Chu Huan said: "The expansion of the Fengzi camp is imperative. If there is no strong cavalry corps, it is impossible to guarantee the safety of Xiguan, and if the safety of Xiguan cannot be guaranteed, then there is no way to talk about the so-called peace and contentment. ”

Gongsun Chu nodded and said, "What the Lord said is true." Then he sighed: "The damage suffered by Xiguan before is too serious, and fortunately, the imperial court exempted us from paying taxes for three years, otherwise the situation is not optimistic...... If you really want to fully recover, it will be very difficult without three or five years. ”

Chu Huan was thoughtful, as a governor, he now understood more clearly that it was not easy to really govern one side, let alone Xiguan Dao, which had been in ruins after the war.

As a parent official, first of all, we must solve the problem of eating for the common people, which seems simple, but in fact it is the most fundamental problem, solving the problem of eating, many things will be solved, on the contrary, if this problem is not dealt with well, all the problems will appear, starving the people is inevitable, what is even more terrifying is that the people who have no food to eat, have no choice but to rob and rebel.

Chu Huan knows very well that if there is not enough food guarantee, if he wants to revitalize Xiguan and establish a strong military force, it is just a dream, no matter how many soldiers there are, no matter how strong the combat effectiveness is, and the logistics cannot keep up, there must be no invincible strong legion, a strong legion, the foundation of its establishment, first of all, is a strong logistics guarantee.

Chu Huan had actually been thinking about eating, he had thought about whether he could grow more grain on the cultivated land, such as potatoes, pumpkins and other crops with extremely high grain yields, but once he inquired, he knew that these crops that were common in later generations had not yet appeared in this era.

Chu Huan also understood that these crops were all transmitted from outside, thinking that the Western Regions had also traded with the Central Plains, but those crops had not yet been transmitted, which was really a pity.

"Lord Gongsun, is there any other way to solve the food problem?" Chu Huan's expression was grim, "The gap is too big to be filled." ”

Gongsun Chu said: "This matter has been thinking about it for many days, one million stone grain is too little, although a variety of grain varieties will be of great help to the coming year, but for many people, the current food can not be solved, who can wait for the next year?" Now they are starving, and what does it mean to them next year, even if the granary is full of grain? We must also be considerate of the difficulties of the people, so we ...... It really can't be done, so we can only reduce the area of cultivated land and cut off a batch of grain seeds to use it for the people's rations...... Although this will cause a lot of losses in the next year's grain harvest, if this is not done, the lower officials are afraid that many people will starve to death this year, and there will be people who will rise up to rebel ......! ”

"Lord Gongsun has a point." The old lady nodded slightly, "Chu Du, the grain should be planted in the fertile land as much as possible, and if the sand land is too barren, we will try to cultivate as little as possible, and the people who are assigned to the sand will give more relief in terms of rations...... But even so, the gap is still too big. ”

"By the spring of next year, everything will recover, and weeds and the like will be able to satisfy hunger." Gongsun Chu said: "I can use wild food for two months, and I can also make up for a big gap." ”

"Is it possible to transfer food from Kannai?" Chu Huan was silent for a moment and asked, "In the past, there was a shortage of grain in the northwest, didn't it all transfer grain from the Guannei?" ”

Gongsun Chu shook his head and said: "If it were in the past, the imperial court could have helped solve some of it, but the current situation is different from previous years." The adults know that when the Xiliang people called, the imperial court also transferred a large number of materials from the Guannai, from grain to baggage, there are indeed a lot, and the things that were transferred in those two years were the aid to the northwest in the previous ten years. Most of these materials were transferred from Xishan Road and Anyi Road, as far as Xia Guan knew, these two roads are now also a big injury, Chen Yangcang, one of the four granaries of the empire, is now empty, even if they have a harvest this year, they must take care of their local people, otherwise there will be chaos on their side. In addition, the southeast Tianmen Road is still making trouble, Hebei Qingtianwang is even more troubled Hebei, Hebei Province is the granary of the empire, Qingtianwang is such a toss, Hebei not only can not fill the treasury with grain, but has to transfer grain from the imperial court to Hebei to quell the chaos, so that even if the imperial court wants to aid the northwest, it is also no food to adjust. ”

Chu Huan nodded, he understood this, when he was in the household department, he knew that the four granaries of the empire had little grain, and there was not much movement in Hebei at that time, and now Hebei is like this, and the treasury is afraid that it is even more empty, and it is really wishful thinking to want the imperial court to transfer grain to the northwest.