After a period of recuperation, the Germans launched an attack on the British and French forces again, and the two sides had previously confronted each other on both sides of the Seine, the Seine River was too long, and the existing forces of the British and French forces were simply not enough to hold all the areas on the south bank of the Seine, so they could only choose to defend the section where the river was relatively narrow and the water flow was gentle.

But the Germans were not fools, the Seine was so long, of course, the Germans would not attack the banks of the river defended by the coalition forces, but chose to force their way across the river in the section of the rapids that was not defended by the British and French forces.

In order to cross the river, the Germans collected more than 2,000 small boats in more than a month, and to the surprise of the Anglo-French forces, they successfully crossed the river in the lower reaches of the Seine, near the English Channel.

In early October, the German First Army, after annihilating the remnants of the French 6th Army, quickly moved south to occupy Vernon in the lower Seine, and quickly advanced towards Evre, thus threatening most of the Anglo-French left flank troops deployed on the south bank of the Seine.

Moreover, since the German army had already occupied Paris, in fact, the German army could still break through the British and French defenses from Paris, but the allied forces deployed heavy troops in the south of Paris, and the German army's strength in Paris was not enough to break through, but as long as the first group quickly detoured to the east, the British and French defense line would have great holes.

In history, due to the erroneous decision of the German High Command, in order to expand the scale of the Eastern Front battlefield, troops were transferred from the Western Front to reinforce the Eastern Front, resulting in an unfavorable situation on both fronts, but in + here Kaiser Wilhelm II had no brain cramps, and the Western Front still maintained sufficient troops, and the German High Command did not transfer troops from the Western Front to reinforce the Eastern Front, and the Russian army suffered a great loss of strength after losing 250,000 people. had to step back and gather strength.

In the Galician region, on the border between Poland and Austria-Hungary, fierce battles were fought between the Southwestern Front of the Russian Army and the Austro-Hungarian Army. For more than a month in September, Russian and Austrian troops entered the battle on a stretch of more than 300 kilometers between the Dniester and the Vistula. The strength of both sides exceeded 100 divisions. Pass through the Battle of Lublin-Helm, the Battle of Galich-Fort Lem, and the Battle of Gorodok. The Austro-Hungarian army lost 400,000 troops and retreated to the Carpathian line.

In order to support the Austro-Hungarian army, the German army launched an attack on the Russian army in the middle reaches of the Vistula River in late September, and the Russian army resisted stubbornly, neither side broke through the opponent's defensive line, and the Eastern Front battlefield was at a stalemate for a while.

In the Balkans, the Austro-Hungarian army occupied most of the flat terrain in western Serbia, and the Serb army retreated to the central and western highlands because of lack of ammunition. Unable to receive supplies from the Allied side, they could only temporarily nest in the central and western plateaus.

In the Far East, on October 18, the Japanese captured Ussuriysk at a great cost of losing more than 30,000 men, annihilating the forces of three divisions deployed by the Russians in Ussuriysk. The three divisions involved in the offensive basically lost a significant part of their forces, resting in Ussuriysk while replenishing their men and ammunition.

And the Japanese army still besieged Vladivostok. And often stopped, Tsarist Russia did not give up Vladivostok, and the three divisions of the Russian army that were encircled and suppressed in Vladivostok were still holding on despite being besieged. The Japanese army had no way to take this hard bone for the time being, and if it attacked strongly, it could not afford to lose itself, and the long-term siege was pinned down by the strength of three divisions. However, if part of the troops were withdrawn from the three divisions and feared that they would be discovered by the Russian army in Vladivostok and thus the Russian army would forcibly break through the encirclement, the Japanese authorities really had no good way to deal with Vladivostok for a while. I can only besiege it temporarily, and then find a way to solve it later.

in China. Since all the unequal treaties were abolished except for the Liaodong Peninsula, Wandao and the affiliated islands occupied by Japan, the high-level officials of the Chinese authorities were also relieved.

Xiao Zhenlei's work during this period focused on the agricultural issue, which has always been the most serious problem since the civilization of the Chinese state, and the proportion of the agricultural population in China is much greater than that of any country in the world, and it is impossible for China to calm down without solving the peasant land problem, and this problem must also be solved.

Public ownership of land is absolutely unfeasible at this time, and if this policy is implemented, then China will not be able to participate in World War I, and there will be civil strife itself, and the damage to the country itself will be very great. In order to solve this land problem and solve the problem of feeding the 450,000,000 people in the country, the only way at the present stage is to compulsorily lower the land rent of the landlords and let the landless peasants rent the landlords' fields to support themselves and their families; on the other hand, we should vigorously develop industry, especially the labor-intensive handicraft industry, and turn a large part of the landless agricultural population into an industrial population, so as to reduce the pressure of the excessive agricultural population on the state. In addition to the above two aspects, it is necessary to find ways to breed high-yielding varieties and at the same time to develop farming management methods to increase yields.

In order to solve these problems, in late October, Xiao Zhenlei began to go out of Beijing to conduct research in various provinces, first in the Hebei region near Beijing.

One day, accompanied by the entourage, Xiao Zhenlei came to a field to inspect, at this time it was just the time to harvest rice, and saw an old farmer and his family in the field next to him were harvesting rice, Xiao Zhenlei asked loudly: "Old man, are you harvesting rice?" ”

The old farmer saw that Xiao Zhenlei and his party were all extraordinary, and they must be big people, so they were a little scared, but he still answered truthfully: "This chief is right, this is the harvested rice."

In the northern region, due to the weather, temperature and other reasons, only one season of rice is generally planted, that is, medium rice, medium rice is generally seedlings in May and June, and can be harvested from the end of September to October, but in the southern region due to the rain and sunshine is sufficient, coupled with the smell is relatively high, so you can plant two seasons a year, early rice seedlings in March and April, eight parts of July to harvest, seize the time to harvest after the latest in mid-August must be the second season of seedlings, to November or December harvest.

Generally speaking, the yield of medium rice is higher than that of early rice or late rice due to the relationship between sunshine, rain and temperature, and in some places it is possible to plant only medium rice. You can plant it early and late, if the middle rice is planted well. Yields are sometimes higher than two crops combined, such as in Hubei and Hunan. After planting a season of medium rice, you can grow cash crops such as rapeseed. In the northern region, winter wheat can be planted after one crop of medium rice is planted and the land is ploughed, which is just the right time.

Xiao Zhenlei took out a pack of cigarettes, handed over one and asked, "Then how much millet can you harvest per mu of medium rice here in one season?" ”

The old farmer was flattered and hurriedly took it, Xiao Zhenlei took out a lighter and lit it for him, the old farmer took two puffs, and looked intoxicated: "What a cigarette, we countrymen have never smoked such a good cigarette!" ”

After sighing, the old farmer answered Xiao Zhenlei's question: "This yield is not good. When the year is good, you can harvest three stones per mu, and at the least time there is only one stone! ”

According to the unit conversion of this period, one stone is about equivalent to 157 catties in later generations, one stone is equal to ten buckets, and one bucket is equal to ten liters. If it is three stones, it will be converted into 471 catties in the later generations, which is still the best time of the year, and it can be seen that under normal circumstances, so much grain cannot be collected.

Xiao Zhenlei glanced at the secretary Xiao Gao, and Xiao Gao came back to his senses and immediately took out a pen and notebook to write it down. Xiao Zhenlei asked again: "Old man, then what to plant after this rice is harvested!"

The old farmer said: "Of course, we will plant wheat, and we can harvest it in May and June next year, and then we can plant rice again!" ”

"What is the approximate harvest of wheat planting? How much you can charge at most. What is the least? ”

The old farmer said: "The yield of wheat is lower, at most it is five buckets with one stone, and generally only seven or eight buckets. When there are three or four buckets when there are few, it depends on whether God rewards the food or not! ”

Xiao Zhenlei took a puff of his cigarette and asked, "Old man." Do you see any difference between the new government and the previous one? Is it that the rent was high in the past, or is the rent high now? ”

When the old farmer saw Xiao Zhenlei ask questions related to the government, he didn't dare to answer. Xiao Zhenlei hurriedly said: "Old man, just say it, it's okay, now don't be guilty of speech, even if you scold the government and the president, no one will trouble you!" ”

"Really?" The old farmer was a little surprised.

Xiao Zhenlei affirmed: "Of course! ”

The old peasant was relieved to see Xiao Zhenlei swearing, and said: "Speaking of which, this new government is still much better than the former Qing Dynasty and the old Yuan Dynasty, the former Qing Dynasty and Yuan Datou will receive the highest 60% of the rent, and now the new government stipulates that the land rent can only be collected at most 30%, and the landlords are timid and dare not offend the government, so they only collect 30% according to the regulations of the new government. If someone was sent from above to investigate, the people in the local government would have already gotten the news, and the landlords had made arrangements, and the people from above would naturally not be able to find out, and the result would be gone! ”

Xiao Zhenlei's face was a little ugly, and he asked, "Are there many cases like this?" ”

"Not much, but not a lot!"

Xiao Zhenlei took a few puffs of his cigarette fiercely, threw away the cigarette butt and said to Lao Rong: "Thank you, old man, let's go, goodbye!" ”

The results of the investigation here made Xiao Zhenlei feel very bad, and on the way back to the county seat, the accompanying officials did not dare to speak when they saw his ugly face, so as not to touch his head.

Xiao Zhenlei's mood is not only bad, but also very heavy, no wonder the Chinese people in this era are all yellow and thin, which can be seen from the yield per mu of the field and the amount of land rent, just take the situation that the old farmer said to calculate, if you plant a season of medium rice and a season of wheat every year, according to the best year to calculate, each mu can harvest 471 catties of millet and 235 catties of wheat, if the rent is sixty percent, then after removing the rent handed over to the landlord, there are 188 catties of millet and 94 catties of wheat, If the grains of millet and wheat are full, after removing the bran and wheat bran, then the rice and wheat rice can account for seventy percent, that is to say, after removing the bran of one hundred catties of rice, there are seventy catties of rice, which calculates that renting one acre of land can get 66 catties of flour and 132 catties of rice every year. In this era, materials are scarce, in addition to these grains, there are very few things that can be eaten, an adult only eats one pound of rice a day, these rice and flour can only be managed for six months at most, if there are five people in a family, two adults and three children, these grains can only be managed for two months at most, plus wild vegetables and other things, and then cook porridge, barely able to last two and a half months, if everyone is fed, these grains can not last for two months. Only by renting more than eight acres of high-quality land can you ensure that you don't go hungry, but you can't just eat, right? You also have to buy daily necessities, firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and clothes, these are all living expenses, and you can't do without it, so if you go on, a family of five can only ensure rations and living needs by renting more than ten acres of land, which can only barely eat enough to block, or the best year, but the fact is that not every landless peasant can rent ten acres of land, and not every year is the best year.

In the next two months, Xiao Zhenlei and his accompanying officials conducted investigations in Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Shaanxi and other places.

Tongguò's research found that Henan has the best grain production, and it is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, where the land is fertile, and the rain and sunshine are relatively abundant. The average yield of rice per mu in Jiangsu is only 2.48 stones, Anhui is 2.93 stones, Zhejiang is slightly higher with 4.28 stones, Jiangxi is 3.36 stones, Fujian has the highest average rice yield with 5.41 stones, Guangdong is 3.68, Guangxi is only 2.22, Hubei is 2/28, Hunan is 3.16, Sichuan Basin is more fertile, with 3.69, and other places are not much different. The average yield of wheat has not been reached by any province, and only Xinjiang is the closest.

Fortunately, sweet potatoes and corn have been introduced during this period, both of which not only have low requirements for the climatic environment and growing conditions, but can be planted in mountainous areas, hills, plains, and barren lands in the north and south, and have high yields. The yield of maize, in the same area, is generally higher than that of traditional dry grain crops such as wheat, soybeans and miscellaneous grains such as millet and millet. Due to the high yield of these two food crops and the low environmental requirements, the vast majority of farmers grow these two food crops to fill their stomachs.

According to the latest statistics of the new government, the total planting area of crops in the country this year is 1.628 billion mu, of which the planting area of rice, wheat, beans, millet, corn, sorghum and other grain crops is 1.37 billion mu, accounting for 84.2 percent of the total area, while last year because of the war with the Beiyang warlords, there were only 980 million mu, and the planting area was almost doubled immediately after the establishment of the new government, which also indicates that the grain output will more than double, but despite this, there are still many people who do not have enough to eat. (To be continued......) R1292