When the construction was carried out on this side of Xiangshan, the sweet potato seedlings in Xiayanghe Township had been cultivated, and they began to sow seeds immediately. Yang He received the news and hurried to Dong Laohan's house.

Along the way, Yang He was very relieved to see the people busy in the fields.

During this time, Yang He was busy with the placement of craftsmen, and the people's cultivation matters were handed over to Zhang Fengwu to be responsible, and in the past month, Zhang Fengwu and the two townships ran back and forth, organizing the people to reclaim a large area of wasteland, and digging ditches on both sides of the Yanghe River and the Yu River for watering, and now these ditches are basically completed. With these ditches, irrigation this year is basically no big problem.

If the irrigation problem is solved, even if the newly cultivated wasteland is insufficient, the harvest may not be satisfactory, but at least part of the harvest can be guaranteed, and as long as there is a partial harvest, the pressure on Yang He will be greatly reduced.

When Yang He arrived at Dong Laohan's house, Dong Laohan and others had already begun to plant sweet potato seedlings in the ground.

Yang He didn't come here to learn how to grow sweet potatoes, but to tell the people that he attached great importance to sweet potatoes.

China has always paid attention to the leadership, and the people below will pay attention to it, and then the people can be mobilized. This was true in later generations, and it was true in ancient times.

Yang He brought back about 2,000 catties of sweet potatoes from Tongzhou, and the seedlings raised by these sweet potatoes were not enough for Dong Laohan's family to sow land, and a few days later, when all the sweet potato seedlings were planted, there were still more than 20 acres of idle land.

Just as Dong Laohan was pondering what crops to plant on the remaining land, Zhang Fengqi's family rushed back from the south.

The family sent by Zhang Fengqi hurried all the way, and it took more than 20 days to run to Fujian, and after searching all over Fujian, they finally found the taro and maize.

Due to the inconvenience of carrying the taro, the two families only bought a small amount of taro, and most of them bought maize seeds. But even so, it took nearly a month to return from Fujian.

Seeing the taro and maize brought back by the two family members, Yang He couldn't help but be dumbfounded, isn't this just potatoes and corn? Unexpectedly, these two crops were also introduced to China at this time.

Although Yang He did not know how to farm, he also knew the three crops of sweet potato, potato and corn, which were planted in large quantities throughout the country in later generations. It can be said that China can feed so many people, and these three crops play a very key role.

Seeing that Zhang Fengqi's family bought back the seeds, Yang He hurriedly asked the old farmers to guide everyone to plant.

However, the old farmers believe that it is at least half a month late to sow taro and maize, and the harvest may not reach the expected yield.

Hearing that the output may not meet expectations, Yang He did not mind.

Yang He believes that it is a trial planting anyway, and it doesn't matter if the expected yield is not achieved, the key is to let everyone see these crops and learn how to cultivate. This year is just laying the groundwork for the coming year.

With Yang He's decision, several old farmers had no objections, and immediately instructed Dong Laohan and others to plant taro and maize.

Maize does not have high requirements for soil, as long as the land is flat and the soil is permeable, of course, the fertility of the land is also very important.

The cultivation of maize is relatively simple, and the seeds of maize are corn kernels, which turn the soil over. Know the interval between the seeds and the depth of the burial, and bury the corn kernels in the soil. Just water it, and you don't need to take care of it at ordinary times, and it's basically okay to take care of the weeds.

It is relatively troublesome to plant the taro, which is the potato, and the potato is cut into pieces before planting, and each piece is required to have budding eyes. Then bury the bud eyes upwards into the field. Of course, spacing and depth are also required.

This kind of work is actually nothing to those old peasants, and Chinese peasants are the most industrious and able to endure hardships, they are not afraid of hardships at all, they are afraid of no harvest.

When Dong Laohan planted taro. Seeing that Dong Laohan's family still has more than 20 acres of land that has not been planted, he came to help, and it didn't take two days to plant taro and maize into the ground.

After the spring ploughing, Yang He began to plan to open up a salt farm.

The location Yang He had already been chosen, but it was a little difficult to let Yang He be responsible for the construction of the salt farm.

Originally, Fan Liu was the best candidate, but Fan Liu still had a lot of things to take care of, especially Fan Liu had to come forward to contact the salt merchants, so many things had to be busy, and Fan Liu had no energy to manage the salt farm.

After pondering for a long time, Yang He decided to talk to Zhang Fengwu.

Choosing Zhang Fengwu, Yang He was also very helpless, because he really had no one available, and by this time, many things that he had worried about before could not be taken care of.

However, Yang He's proposal was rejected by Zhang Fengwu, and Zhang Fengwu told Yang He very frankly that once something happened, he didn't care, but he was afraid of implicating Zhang Fengqi.

Regarding Zhang Fengwu's bluntness, Yang He didn't feel anything wrong, because he didn't tell Zhang Fengwu before because of this consideration.

But if Zhang Fengwu doesn't care, then he really has no manpower available.

Seeing that Yang He was embarrassed by the choice of the person in charge of the salt farm, Zhang Fengwu pondered for a long time and recommended a candidate to Yang He.

This person's name is Qian Youcai, a native of Jiangnan, who was originally a student who failed to participate in the imperial examination many times, so he gave up the idea of being an official and switched to business.

It's just that his luck is really not very good, others from the south to the horse market to trade are fine, but it is his turn to have an accident, after the transaction, the caravan with money and wealth actually encountered horse bandits, property and materials were looted by horse bandits, not to mention, the caravan personnel were also poisoned by horse bandits.

When encountering horse bandits, Qian Youcai happened to hide behind a stone to pay tribute, so he escaped.

However, the direction of the horse bandits' withdrawal was precisely the direction of entering the customs, and Qian Youcai dared to follow the horse bandits to enter the customs, so he had to take a detour and enter the customs from the Xifeng Pass with great difficulty.

I didn't want to be robbed again in Yongping Mansion, and the last property on my body was also robbed by the robbers, and I had no way out, so I had to live by begging, and finally came to Funing County.

In Funing County, Yang He was recruiting Mr. Teacher, and Qian Youcai went to apply for the job, which was a desperate life.

Listening to Zhang Fengwu's recommendation of Qian Youcai, Yang He couldn't help but hesitate, after all, the salt farm is very important, Qian Youcai is not Yang He's person, and Yang He is not very relieved to hand over the salt farm to outsiders.

Zhang Fengwu naturally knew what Yang He was worried about, and immediately thought of a way for Yang He.

This method is actually very simple, Zhang Fengwu suggested that Yang He arrange Qian Youcai to live in the salt factory, and then arrange soldiers to take care of it in the salt field.

Then send someone to bring the family members who have money and wealth, as long as they bring the family members who have money and wealth, Qian Youcai can only follow Yang He with all his heart.

Yang He nodded again and again when he heard this, and immediately asked Li Wei to find Li Maochun and Qian Youcai.

Yang He knows very well that if a private salt factory is discovered, it is a capital crime, and in such a place, an absolute confidant must be arranged, and it must be taken care of by someone who is cautious and dares to take care of it, Li Maochun is undoubtedly the best candidate.

Li Maochun acted cautiously and experienced in war, if he found that someone had leaked secrets, Li Maochun would not hesitate to kill people. The key is that Li Maochun and Yang He are brothers, and they crawled out of the pile of dead people together, and Li Maochun will not betray Yang He.

Hearing that Yang He wanted to see him, Qian Youcai hurried over, and Yang He didn't say much, just silently looked at Qian Youcai.

Qian Youcai was about forty years old, his body was thin and thin, his face was pockmarked with a few pockmarks, and his small eyes turned from time to time, revealing a hint of cunning. Although it is said that people cannot be disguised, but this money is rich and you can know that you are a profiteer at a glance.

Seeing Yang He looking at himself from time to time, Qian Youcai couldn't help but feel worried in his heart, and he didn't know what Yang He was looking for him.

Yang He didn't say much, just asked people to prepare the car.

When Li Maochun arrived, Yang He asked Qian Youcai to get into the car, and then rode a horse with Li Maochun and came to the beach with Qian Youcai.

Seeing Yang He take himself to a deserted seaside, Qian Youcai was puzzled, but Yang He didn't say it, and he didn't dare to ask.

Seeing Qian Youcai's worried expression, Yang He smiled and said, "Mr. Qian, you don't need to think about it, this official heard that you used to be in business, so I want you to help me do something." ”

"If you have something to do, please tell me." Money has money and is busy.

Yang He smiled and said, "This official plans to build a salt farm here, but there is no one under him to manage it, so I want you to help me manage the salt farm." ”

"Salt pans?" Qian Youcai couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this.

Qian Youcai knew that the salt affairs of the Ming Dynasty were in charge of the household department, and the salt envoy department was set up in the salt-producing region to be in charge of the salt administration of the first district, and the salt field set up a salt department to supervise the production and collection of salt.

In some areas, there are many salt farms, so a branch division is set up under the transportation department as a dispatched agency of the transportation department to implement nearby management of the salt works under the jurisdiction of the division.

The people who manage the salt affairs are all officials appointed by the imperial court, he is just a talent with a bad name, and he can't be an official after business, Yang He asked him to manage the salt farm, and he didn't ask whether this salt farm was not opened by the imperial court.

It's not opened by the imperial court, so what does Yang He want to do?

It is still illegal to sell illegal salt, let alone build a private salt factory? This is a crime of beheading.

However, Qian Youcai immediately reacted, since he knew that Yang He was going to open a salt factory, he had to do it if he didn't want to, and if he didn't do it, Yang He would kill him immediately.

Thinking of this section, Qian Youcai immediately said: "Since the adults can afford the villain, the villain will definitely go all out to do this for the adult." ”

Yang He smiled when he heard this: "Don't worry, as long as you do a good job, the official will never treat you badly, and when the salt farm is completed, the official will immediately send someone to bring your family to reunite your family." ”

"Thank you, sir." Money has money and is busy.

Yang He waved his hand: "As for you, just take people to cook salt, and you don't have to worry about the sale, so as long as you don't talk nonsense, there will be no problems." ”

"Yes, the villain must be tight-lipped." Money has money and is busy.

Yang He smiled, turned his head to look at Li Maochun and said: "Big brother, I know that you are busy with affairs now, and I don't want to bother you, but you also know that the safety of the salt farm is very important, except for you, I can't rest assured that I can use anyone else, so I can only make my eldest brother hard." ”

"Brother, don't worry, big brother will take care of it." Li Maochun said with a smile. (To be continued......)