Traveling up the Saigon River, a flotilla of comparable size moved slowly.

On one of the largest ships, a man in his forties kept looking at the distance with a telescope, and saw that there were wild grasses growing on the flat land on both sides of the river, and the man's heart was like a cat's paw.

It's really uncomfortable that such a good land is barren here.

But it would be nice that he came, because the fleet behind him had plenty of seeds, kitchen utensils, and most importantly, a clearer.

Huang Chong, the father of Huang Yuan, the head of the Military Merit Assessment Department of Yang Chaojun, is also a large landowner with 3,000 acres of land under the Lion Rock.

But he was instigated by Yang Chao to come to the Mekong River to open up wasteland.

If you are an ordinary landlord, you will never suffer this crime, but Huang Chong is not an ordinary landlord, he used to be just a small chief official, and his background was just a military household.

Every penny was earned by his own sweat, so he cherished his own land, but Yang Chao told him that as long as he brought people to the Mekong River to open up wasteland, he would give him a large piece of land.

Huang Chong's family has 3,000 acres of land, which is also a large piece of land, but under the 100,000 acres of paddy fields promised by Yang Chao, Huang Chong has no resistance at all.

100,000 acres, this is a thousand hectares of fertile land, and a thousand hectares of fertile land This is the configuration of the standard Ming wealthy family.

Huang Chong didn't dare to imagine that he could raise the family to the level of a wealthy family by relying on him alone, not to mention this ambition, just the digital impact of 100,000 mu was not something that he, a peasant military household who had planted land all his life, could withstand.

So he didn't say a word, left his wife and children, and came to the Mekong River alone. I worked hard for more than a year, almost two years. Now he has achieved great results.

Today, he led the team to open up a new reclamation area upstream.

This is already the tenth reclamation area he is about to establish. Two years of tireless hard work, almost every day in the selection of people to reclaim the wasteland, to build a camp in the camp, each camp is a center of wasteland, and then to the four directions, each such camp must have more than 100,000 acres of land for reclamation, the land must be fertile.

Such land is almost impossible to find in the Ming Dynasty, but here in the Mekong River is everywhere. It's not that no one farms here. Rather, it is too scarce, and a hundred miles north of the An Thong River is the frontier of the Nguyen clique in Vietnam, where there are some scattered villages.

And to the south is the land of Cambodians, but unfortunately Cambodia is divided, this area of the Mekong River is the territory of Cambodia's Fu Wang, but the perennial civil war makes it sparsely populated, it is estimated that the total is one or two million people, scattered in a huge land, often walking hundreds of miles may not be able to find a Cambodian village.

Even if you encounter a Cambodian village or a huge fleet. Armed settlers, they can only pray that these people will not rob them of their land and belongings. Absolutely dare not provoke.

The other is a demeaning bandit, but they are definitely not the opponents of these murderous ruffians.

A reclamation area is placed by 1,000 people, with more than 100,000 mu of fine land, and on average, one person has 100 mu of land.

Everything went smoothly, the only thing that made Huang Chong dissatisfied was that the speed of land reclamation was still too slow, and it couldn't be compared with when he was in Xinjiangkou, not that these people didn't work hard enough, but their hands were too raw, and many things had to be taught by Huang Chong, most of these people were also farmers, but many of them were farmers in the north, and they hadn't even seen rice before.

In addition, there is a lack of various resources, and until now, it is necessary to spend 100,000 taels of silver every year to buy food, farm tools, livestock and other materials in Hoi An.

Compared with the materials, the manpower is especially lacking, Huang Chong now has less than 20,000 people in his hands, it is the lack of manpower that limits his speed of opening up the reclamation area, Yang Chao promised to reclaim one million acres of land and move 100,000 people, even if he completes the task, but at the current speed, he doesn't know what year and month he will be able to achieve his wish.

Huang Chong had already chosen the place, this time it was just to bring people to farm, and when the tributary and the wooden stake he stood on the river beach finally appeared in the telescope, Huang Chong showed a smiling face, this place is about 300 miles away from the mouth of the river, about 150 miles away from the port of Saigon, this impact plain where the two rivers meet is enough to reclaim 300,000 acres of land.

The boat quickly traced up to the tributary, and went forward for five miles, where there was a raised mound, Huang Chong asked people to stop, began to unload the ship, moved the timber, bricks and tiles on it first, and skillfully instructed everyone to build a camp first, enclose a wooden wall with wood, and then build houses in it.

Ten days to build the house, hundreds of logs to make the wall, lay thatch, and then plaster the mud and cover the tiles, simple and practical, the most important thing is cheap, the wood is cut in the mountains and forests near the port, the thatch is low, only the tiles are bought, Huang Chong has asked Nanjing to burn bricks and tiles of the craftsman, but unfortunately Yang Chao has never sent him.

When waiting for the supplies, Huang Chong also organized people to burn it himself, but unfortunately it was unsuccessful.

Once the houses were built, the food, seeds, and farming tools were brought down, and then the people were taken to burn the wasteland, then the land was leveled and irrigation channels were dug.

Compared with the Westerners who opened up the colonies, these people sent by Yang Chao were really happy, and Yang Chao provided them with enough guarantees, basically in one step, and even the water conservancy project was built.

It will take about two months to finish this, and then this reclamation area will be able to operate on its own, and the speed is still too slow, and it will only be able to develop five or six in a year.

However, Huang Chong is not stupid, he has picked out more than a dozen crops, he was captured by Yang Chao when Huguang followed Zhang Xianzhong to fight Nanjing, and the ability to farm is not under Huang Chong, Huang Chong picked them out to be his helpers, and promised to allocate them 3,000 acres of land, and these people are willing to work hard.

"There are already 10 villages, and there are 30,000 acres of land opened last year and this year, although it is raw land, it is enough for 10,000 people to eat. Next year, we should be able to open a few more, and strive to open 10 villages a year and 50,000 acres of land. ”

After establishing this camp, Huang Chong returned with a few craftsmen.

It was five days before returning to Saigon. After meeting with Song Kun who is stationed here. Song Kun was unusually happy.

After asking why. Huang Chong was jealous and sad.

"Is Lord Song really leaving?"

"Let's go! Why don't you go, I've suffocated Lao Tzu's here. Lao Tzu thought that the Metropolitan Governor had forgotten me. Finally let me go back to fight the Tartars, and stay here all day to deal with the barbarians, it's too boring. ”

The reason why Yang Chao sent elite soldiers like Song Kun to Saigon was only because he attached great importance to this land, and if he managed it well, it would not lose to the big granary in the south of the Yangtze River, and there would be no problem in feeding tens of millions of people.

It's just a bit of a waste. After all, there is no threatening force here, Song Kun's main battle is to deal with robbers, but the robbers have been scared by him for more than a year, and there is no bandit den within 500 miles around Saigon.

In fact, compared to the bandits, the real danger is disease, many soldiers are not accustomed to dysentery, and the five thousand elite soldiers who came with Song Kun have already been sleeping on this land, and the remaining soldiers are also demoralized. Return to the heart like an arrow.

Now I can finally go back, not only Song Kun. The soldiers are the same as the Chinese New Year, and when it comes to the New Year, they don't seem to be in the mood to celebrate the New Year.

"In the future, I'll ask Lord Huang here."

Song Kun laughed, and there was a taste of schadenfreude in his tone.

Huang Chong couldn't help but smile bitterly: "What else?" I just hope to finish it quickly and go back as soon as possible. ”

Song Kun encouraged: "Aren't you doing more and more smoothly, you only built three villages last year, and seven have been built this year, and it will not be a problem to build ten next year." The year after that, at most, there will be 100,000 people here. ”

Huang Chong shook his head: "I'm too busy with only 30,000 people right now, and I really can't manage 100,000 people." ”

Song Kun said perfunctorily: "The official will definitely plead for you when he goes back, and let the adults send a few clerks over." Isn't your son the clerk, it's good to call your son over and join the father-son group. ”

Huang Chong hurriedly shook his head: "Absolutely not." Isn't it just for his son to work tirelessly, and his future must not be ruined. It is 10,000 times better for him to stay with the Governor than to stay here. ”

Song Kun nodded: "That's the same." Look at that Huangfeng Mansion, in the past, it was a broken scholar, I heard that now it is very angry, in Nanjing, it is calling for wind and rain. Your son seems to have taken his place, and your Huang family will be big in the future. ”

Huang Chong hurriedly said: "Borrow auspicious words, borrow auspicious words!" ”

He promised Yang Chao to come here to reclaim the wasteland, why didn't he want to use his life to increase his son's future, if he really wants to become a wealthy family, he can't do it by relying on land alone, and his son has to have an official body.

After sending Song Kun away, Huang Chong felt a sense of loneliness for no reason, and this feeling was especially terrifying when he was in a foreign country.

Under the loneliness, he can only use work to solve it, Huang Chong built two camps in one breath, and at this time there were only 3,000 people left in his hands, these 3,000 people had to defend the dock, cut down trees, and build houses, and they really couldn't pull to farm.

Nanking.

After more than a month of sailing, Song Kun finally returned to his hometown after a two-year absence, and he felt like crying.

Yang Chao personally greeted him, set up a thousand general cannons on the dock, and released empty cannons to welcome them.

"Well done! You have achieved a lot of results, you have ten reclamation areas, and 30,000 acres of land have been opened. I can send another 30,000 people to Huang Chong this year, so I shouldn't need to send them food. ”

Yang Chao held a feast to entertain Song Kun and the soldiers, and praised Song Kun greatly at the banquet.

Song Kun was a little more sentimental: "It's too bitter." Five thousand brothers went with me, and four thousand returned, and they really had no face to see their father and mother. ”

Yang Chao was also a little sad, but he felt that it was worth it: "Don't worry." Their families will be properly settled, they are all heroes, believe me, your sacrifice today is worth it, future generations will definitely be grateful to you, and will build temples for you. ”

This Yang Chao is not only used to comfort Song Kun, but he is indeed so, the Mekong Delta is in hand, although a thousand people have been sacrificed, but it is worth it, every inch of land is soaked in blood, and it is all fought by the ancestors with blood and sweat. (To be continued......)