Ten days later, Lintao Mansion, near Yuzhong County, on Xinglong Mountain.

Deep in the mountains, some of the original woods have been cut down and planted with patches of wheat and grain. The summer harvest season is approaching, and the ears of wheat and grains dance in the wind, one after another, a piece of green, and tending to yellow, and it is not far from the harvest season.

On this day, Li Zicheng, Song Yingxing and others walked in the countryside, walking, walking between the ridges, and inspecting one crop after another.

"Hey, Mr. Song, it's summer soon, why haven't I seen you cultivate sweet potato long and plant sweet potato seedlings?"

Song Yingxing was stunned, but he didn't expect Li Zicheng to know about the cultivation of sweet potato seedlings, and before planting a large number of sweet potato seedlings, he needed to make a sweet potato long. However, Song Yingxing was surprised, but still replied: "Boss, it's too early to plant sweet potatoes and cultivate sweet potato seedlings now, and you need to wait for more than half a month to take out those cellar sweet potatoes, plant them in the sweet potato long, and cultivate sweet potato seedlings." ”

"Oh, I see." Li Zicheng nodded, and asked instead, "By the way, Mr. Song, how are the villagers in the Xinglong Mountain and Mabitshan base areas?" If you're not here, can they grow sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes on their own? ”

"Absolutely!" Song Yingxing blurted out without thinking, and in order to increase his convincingness, he added: "When I tried planting last year, not only Majia Village planted some, but under your arrangement, other villages also had trial planting land. A few years ago, all the people of those villages moved into the base area, either in Mabitshan or Xinglong Mountain. So, even if I leave here, they can grow new crops on their own. ”

Speaking of this, Song Yingxing looked very proud and glad for his choice. If he hadn't chosen to follow Li Zicheng, he wouldn't have known that he would be able to plant a large number of new crops in the Year of the Monkey.

Li Zicheng nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "In this case, you might as well take Xinglong Mountain and Mabit Mountain as the center and develop base areas around it, such as Wuquan Mountain, Baita Mountain, Gaolan Mountain, Renshou Mountain, etc., you can open up base areas for immigrants to move in." After all, there are too many people living in Xinglong Mountain and Mabit Mountain, and the more forests are cut down and the more land is cultivated, there is no way to guarantee the secrecy of this place, and it is easy for the imperial court to find out and send a large army to encircle and suppress it. ”

"Boss, you're right, I'm planning to do this." Song Yingxing nodded, and said: "When the autumn harvest comes, the number of residents in the base areas of Mabit Mountain and Xinglong Mountain will increase again, and I will move the people from the two places to the nearby mountain ranges. During this time, I would ask people to go deep into the nearby mountains and forests to find some places to choose as a new base. ”

"Hey, by the way, Mr. Song, so far, how many people live in the two base areas? How many militias are there? ”

"Hmm... Qi Yu Boss, Ma Bit Mountain and Xinglong Mountain together, there are a total of 20,000 people, including 5,000 militia. ”

Hearing this, Li Zicheng was shocked and shocked. When he left Yuzhong County, he left behind about 500 wounded soldiers, and only 2,000 people moved to Mabitshan and Xinglong Mountain. In the blink of an eye, in just half a year, the population has skyrocketed tenfold, and the number of troops has also increased to 5,000, far exceeding his expectations.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Li Zicheng was relieved, Shaanxi has been suffering from natural and man-made disasters for many years, and it is not surprising that the population of the two base areas has increased so much at once.

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng turned around and said: "Mr. Song, I must also know that I have established three more bases in Taibai Mountain, Zhongnan Mountain, and Panzuka Mountain, and the food there can barely survive. Therefore, the purpose of returning to Yuzhong County on this trip was to mobilize some militia to fill the three base areas, and to transport the seeds of new crops to the three new base areas. ”

Song Yingxing suddenly said in his heart, no wonder the boss came back at this time, if corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes were added to the new three base areas, the food problem there could be temporarily solved. Sweet potatoes, in particular, can not only be stored, but also cut into slices, and after drying, they can be stored for half a year without any problem.

The key is that once the sweet potato seedlings are cultivated, they can be planted in a large area, and by extension, the vines can be chopped into sections and inserted in the soil to grow, and sweet potatoes can grow. Unlike cereals, wheat, corn, and potatoes, crops cannot be sown on a large scale in a short period of time due to seed limitations.

Thinking of this, Song Yingxing immediately said: "Boss, I will arrange the affairs of Mabit Mountain and Xinglong Mountain as soon as possible, allocate some militia and seeds of new crops, and go to the three base areas with you to guide them to plant corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes." ”

"Well, okay. Once you've made the arrangements, we'll set off for the three new bases. ”

As soon as Li Zicheng finished speaking, as if he had thought of something, Song Yingxing suddenly said: "Boss, when I followed you, I came out in a hurry. Therefore, I did not have "Heavenly Creation" with me. Although I wrote this book, I don't remember very well the details of the production of some mechanisms, machinery, and firearms. ”

Li Zicheng was stunned, and asked solemnly: "What do you want me to do to help you?" ”

"Boss, the base area of Zhongnanshan is very close to Xi'an Mansion, and Lord Wang Wei Wang is a native of Xi'an Mansion, living in Jiandanbao in Ying Village, Wenfeng Township, Luqiao Town, Jingyang County, and his father is worried at home. I hope you can send my brother from the Zhongnanshan base to go to Lord Wang's house and ask for some books. ”

Seeing Li Zicheng's hesitation, Song Yingxing said again: "Not only that, boss, Lord Wang's house has an extremely rich collection of books. When he was an official in Beijing, he often interacted with foreigners, exchanged Western techniques, and translated some books. ”

For example, before Wang came out, he wrote a book called "Illustrated Illustrations of the New Equipment", which detailed the water, wind, and load machinery he had developed, with illustrations. There is also "The Illustration of Strange Artifacts in the Far West", which was translated and compiled by him and the foreigner Deng Yuhan, which details the techniques of Western machinery and mechanisms, including smelting, mathematics and Western engineering. ”

"As long as the machinery inside is developed, it will not only improve the production of each base area, but also improve the technology of metal smelting. In terms of firearms, the process can also be greatly improved. ”

Li Zicheng was shocked, he didn't expect that during the last years of the Ming Dynasty, there were so close exchanges between China and the West, and there were so many books on science.

At this moment, Li Zicheng's mind became active, and he thought a lot, if he could gather those Westerners together, use them for his own use, and arrange them in the secret base, then his strength would skyrocket!

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng was excited, and immediately said aloud: "Okay, I promise you, when we arrive at the Zhongnan Mountain base, we will immediately let Tian Jianxiu handle this matter." Not only did he have to get these books from Wang Wei, but he also had to send someone to secretly infiltrate the capital and get the Western learning brought by the foreigners. ”

As soon as these words came out, Song Yingxing was immediately reminded: "By the way, boss, the foreigners Jinnige and Tang Ruowang have both preached in Xi'an Mansion, and there is their church in Xi'an City." If I'm not mistaken, the church also has a lot of books on Western studies. ”

"Hahaha... God help me! Li Zicheng couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh, and then said loudly: "Hehe... In this case, I will get all the foreigners in the church in Xi'an City to the Zhongnan Mountain base, and those books! ”