The sky was only slightly bright, and Pang Gang took Da Zhuang, Gou Yu and Li Xian's father and son to ride the five horses that Pang Gang bought from the Lingshan Guard at a high price and galloped towards the southeast.

Riding his horse along the river, Pang Gang observed the condition of the land from Wanghaibao to Lingshanwei. In fact, the soil quality of these lands is not bad, but due to the disrepair of water conservancy, the inconvenience of irrigation, and the exploitation methods of the officers of the guard station, most of these originally excellent fields have been deserted. This is the case in the north of the Ming Dynasty, where there is drought and little rain, agriculture depends on irrigation, where there is water, it is fertile soil, and where there is no water, it is desert, and the dependence on the irrigation system is great.

But in fact, there is not no river around Wanghai Fort, there is a river that flows directly into the sea next to the Lingshan Guard Station ten miles away from Wanghai Fort, just because the water conservancy here has been in disrepair for a long time, so that the surrounding land has no water to irrigate, so that the original fertile land has become wasteland.

Walking slowly along the road, you can still see the traces of the ditches that were originally built to irrigate the farmland, but now these ditches have been abandoned, and only the faint appearance of the ditches remains.

Looking at these wasted land, Li Xian said distressedly: "My lord, it's a pity that these lands are so wasted, if you can bring river water here, you can turn these thousands of acres of wasteland into fertile land!" ”

Looking at Li Xian, who was distressed on the side, Pang Gang sighed lightly, the kind of masonry deep wells that can be used for irrigation and water conservancy for irrigation are not something that can be dug by casual people. The manpower and material resources to be invested in it are huge.

Of course, if the government and the guard office dredge these canals again, it can make this area a fertile land. It is a pity that it is the late Ming Dynasty, and the rule of the Ming Dynasty has completely collapsed, and the government and gentry colluded to transfer the grain tax that should have been paid by themselves to the military households and civilians, which made the peasants and military households overwhelmed and fled, resulting in a large number of farmland being abandoned without cultivation.

On the one hand, a large number of farmland has been abandoned and left uncultivated, and on the other hand, the price of grain has risen year after year, causing the people to live in poverty.

After the Chongzhen period, the state's fiscal revenue has dropped to less than four million taels per year. However, in the Jiangnan region alone, there are no less than 100 rich salt merchants with millions of assets, and the annual financial income of a country is not even comparable to that of a mere businessman, which shows how tight the finances of such a court are.

Pang Gang pondered for a long time before asking Li Xiandao: "If we dredge these water conservancies until we reach Wanghai Fort, how long will it take, and how many silver taels?" ”

Li Xian estimated and replied, "If you want to divert water from the river to Wanghai Fort, you need at least five hundred manpower and at least eight thousand taels of silver, otherwise it is absolutely impossible. ”

"Hiss" Pang Gang gasped, five thousand taels of silver is not a small amount for his current self, and his current net worth is only more than two thousand taels, which is not enough to even repair a canal.

After thinking about it, Pang Gang asked: "If we don't finish this canal all at once, but plant it wherever it goes, how much silver do you think we need in advance?" ”

Li Xian thought for a while, "Now we only have 300 households in Wanghai Fort, and we can start by cultivating about 1,000 acres of land, plus building water canals, so we need about 1,000 taels of silver." ”

"Good!" Pang Gang is still optimistic about this plan! "As long as we can repair part of the canal by May and reopen some of the land, we will be basically self-sufficient in food next year." Pang Gang did not expect to become a fat man in one bite, he knew that he could only take one step at a time with the current manpower and material resources, but he was confident that he could turn this barren place into a fertile land within two years.

As long as you beat your reputation, the nearby homeless people will come one after another, and the increased population will increase your strength, not to mention a small Wanghai Fort, even the entire Lingshan Wei will not be able to stop your pace.

After inspecting the land, Pang Gang took the people back to Wanghai Fort and gathered more than 60 families, looking at the dense military households around, only to see that they all had unkempt hair, yellow faces and thin muscles, and their clothes were torn like sacks. Suddenly, Pang Gang couldn't help but feel a heavy sense of responsibility in his heart, the future of these poor military households had fallen into his own hands, could he really take them to live a good life?

Li Yuan, who was wearing a small flag clothes, was actively maintaining order on the side at this time, since he decided to follow Pang Gang to come, he has been actively showing himself, although Li Yuan's temper is a little short-tempered, but he is not stupid, he clearly understands in his heart that his future has been closely linked with this hundred households. At this moment, he stood on the side of the people and shouted: "Everyone is quiet, the lord of the hundred households wants to speak, and you are not allowed to speak again!" ”

Looking at the numb and longing eyes around him, Pang Gang had an indescribable feeling in his heart, this may be the helplessness of the Chinese people in ancient times, right? Their fate has always been in the hands of one ruling class after another, and even if one dynasty is overthrown, another new dynasty will emerge one after another, large and small, and the cycle will never be extinguished.

"Folks, after all of you get along with each other, I believe everyone knows me. I am the new hundred households of Wanghai Fort, and to put it bluntly, I am everyone's parent official. From now on, we're going to get together in this place! Maybe everyone has doubts and don't understand something, it doesn't matter, if you don't understand something, you can put it forward now, and I will answer it for everyone one by one! ”

After Pang Gang's words were finished, there was silence around, and the soldiers just watched Pang Gang quietly and did not say a word, and there was a cold scene, and Pang Gang's face began to gradually begin to change color.

Seeing that Pang Gang was about to get angry, Li Xian on the side looked at it and said it was not good, and was about to say something to break the deadlock, a young man standing in the back row asked softly: "My lord, if there is any arrangement, you just have to order, let's just do it." But I want to know how you get us to do it, what's so important here! ”

As soon as he heard the voice, Li Xian, who was about to speak out, couldn't help but glance at the guy with admiration, and secretly praised this kid for his eyesight.

Sure enough, Pang Gang's face immediately turned cloudy and sunny after hearing someone speak, and he said loudly with a smile: "This official naturally has an arrangement, and today this official has gone to inspect the wasteland outside for more than ten miles, which was originally a fertile field, but because the canal was corrupted, it could not be irrigated from the nearby river, so it was abandoned. As long as everyone digs the canal again and brings water in, they can start ploughing the land and planting food in June. And the cost of digging the canal this time is paid by the official, and the grain seeds and farm tools cultivated by everyone are also paid by the official, so everyone doesn't have to worry at all! ”

After hearing this, the military households looked at each other for a while, could it be that there is really such a good thing as pie in the sky.

At this time, the young man standing behind him began to speak again, and asked in a skeptical voice, "My lord, do you really want to give us those seeds and farm tools for free?" ”

Pang Gang's eyes widened, and he said angrily: "You are the official who opened a porridge shop, and I gave it to you for nothing, you can dream about it." The official hereby clearly tells you that the fertile land you have cultivated is naturally yours, and the official guarantees that you will not be disturbed by others, and in the first year, the official will only collect you half a bucket of grain per mu, and in the second year, he will collect one bucket to repay the official's seeds and farm tools, and in the third year, he will start to harvest two buckets per mu, and he will not add more than two buckets in the future! Do you understand everything? ”

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but say that this is right, how can there be such a good thing in the world, and now the conditions offered by this huge man are a little harsh on the surface, and the carriage and horses are clearly explained that the grain will be paid in the first year.

But if you think about it, it's not too heavy, as long as the harvest is not too bad, the fire can still afford it, and it is very likely that there will be surplus grain in the future. According to this statement, this wasteland can still be done, although this huge man looks like a very villain, but in the eyes of all the military households, it is much more credible than those officials and officials who talk about it, but it gives them a real and credible feeling.

After finishing the lecture, Pang Gang took out an empty booklet, sat on a stone bench and began to register and make a book. However, our comrade Pang Gang did not know how to use a brush, so he took out a quill made of goose feathers from his bosom and dipped it in ink and began to write, registering these 60 households one by one according to their military household posts, noting the annual registration of each household, the color of the military footsteps, the address, the family, the men and women, and the adults, and issued the first and second booklets.

Looking at Pang Gang writing hard there, the faces of all the military households showed a trace of awe, they didn't expect that this hundred households could not only kill the enemy on the battlefield, but also dance and write ink when they got off the battlefield, is this the legendary civil and military shuangquan?

In ancient times, limited by the restrictions of only the channels of communication, people who can dance and write are always respected by people, and Pang Gang's move also invisibly increased the image of Pang Gang's military households, which Pang Gang did not expect at this time

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