Xu Wenshan's class teacher returned to the village.

On this expedition, he not only opened up the sales channel between Luhegou and Fengshi Village, brought back enough grain to support Luhegou through the whole winter, but also brought back a total of more than 400 captives and slaves.

Some of them were the Salt Gang, and some of them were bandits.

The three bags of gold and silver treasures he brought back with him turned into the most trivial trophies. The money in his hand was already inexhaustible, and now he actually gave him so much.

On the contrary, the scarcest human resources have not been satisfied, and even if these 400 captives are all invested in the next aqueduct project, it will not be enough.

It's already midsummer, and the autumn harvest is coming soon. He hopes to complete this aqueduct before the autumn harvest, so that Luhegou can be replanted with wheat after the autumn harvest.

What he brought back was the seeds of winter wheat, and after these years of Saya and his men's yokai persistent breeding, it is already more than 120 generations of wheat seeds, this kind of seed grains are full, resistant to insects, diseases, and lodging, all comparable to modern crops. The same is true for rice, which has an even higher yield than wheat.

As long as these two crops are popularized, the area of Luhegou will become a cornucopia in the ravine, and the grain will definitely not be worried. Because wheat and rice can be planted in rotation, it is equivalent to saying that there are two crops in a year, and the yield per mu has increased several times compared with before, and there is no need to worry about food problems.

But the premise of all this is that the water conservancy problem can be solved.

Xu Wenshan returned to Luhegou this time and brought Wei Taigong back by the way.

For the next three days, he was discussing the construction plan of the aqueduct with Wei Taigong.

He didn't even know much about the technical work of building an aqueduct, so only Wei Taigong and his granddaughter Wei Bing brought by Wei Taigong participated in this meeting, and Ah Fa, who was an observer.

"From Tianhu Lake to Luhegou, the total distance is nearly 40 miles, including 15 mountains and 12 valleys." Xu Wenshan pointed to the map.

Wei Taigong stroked his beard and said: "This mountain is easy to deal with, it should be flattened or dug a culvert, how should this valley be drained?" ”

"With an aqueduct," Xu Wenshan said with a pen drawing a model of an aqueduct on paper, "build an aqueduct in the valley to divert water, and connect it from one hill to another." ”

Wei Taigong studied the aqueduct for a while and said, "Then what is this aqueduct made of?" ”

"Bricks and cement. I estimated that it would take about 30,000 bricks and 5,000 catties of cement to build a mile-long aqueduct. ”

Wei Taigong looked at Wei Bing and said, "40 miles is ......."

Wei Bing paused, and immediately said: "1.2 million bricks and 200,000 catties of cement." ”

Xu Wenshan glanced at her quite unexpectedly, and said in his heart that this is still a talent who can do mental arithmetic.

After Wei Bing calculated this number, he slowed down for a while before realizing how terrifying this number was, and Wei Taigong was also shocked by this number.

Xu Wenshan said: "Not only that, but we also need to use wood for scaffolding and fuel during construction, and we also need to build some sluices and water houses along the way. ”

Wei Taigong said: "Not only the aqueduct, but also the excavation of mountains and ditches...... This is a big project, Xu Gongzi, when do you plan to complete it? ”

This is indeed a big project, and Wei Taigong originally planned to wait for his lifetime, and if he can complete this project, it will be his luck.

Xu Wenshan said categorically: "When the autumn harvest is completed this year, it must be completed. ”

Seeing that Wei Taigong's expression was sluggish, Xu Wenshan said again: "When the autumn harvest is made, it must be completed." ”

Wei Taigong trembled and said, "Young Master Xu, do you know how big this project is?" ”

Xu Wenshan said: "Of course I know. ”

"To make bricks, you need to take soil, pour molds, burn bricks, and dry them, and cement needs to take sand, quarry, grind, and mix, in addition, you need to cut down and transport trees, and you also need to prepare rice and sheds for these people, and you also need to do a good job of guarding against poisonous insects and beasts in the mountains."

Wei Taigong nodded and said: "Now there are only 5 months left before the autumn harvest, Xu Gongzi, how can such a big project be completed before your construction date?" ”

Xu Wenshan said: "I can only go all out." ”

Setting this tight deadline was a reluctant move. After the autumn harvest, wheat needs to be sown immediately after the corn harvest. Although the sowing period is a wet season, the existing water in Luhegou is far from enough, and a larger amount of water is needed to ensure the success of wheat planting in the coming year.

In the winter, heavy snow closed the mountain, and construction could not be carried out, and in the spring of the following year, it was time to plant millet, and once the millet was planted, Xu Wenshan's rice plan could not be carried out.

So be sure to finish it this fall.

Wei Bing had been immersed in writing and calculating during this period, and finally raised his head at this time and said, "According to my estimates, if it is to be completed before the autumn, at least 20,000 people will be needed." ”

Xu Wenshan smiled and said, "You don't need so many people. ”

He grabbed Wei Bing's pen, Wei Bing's somewhat sallow face was slightly red, and he didn't say anything. Xu Wenshan wrote on the paper and said: "The difficulty of this project lies in the bricks, and the difficulty of the bricks lies in the brick kiln. We don't have a brick kiln, we need to build one. It takes 3 days to burn a batch of bricks from pouring mold to drying and maturing. We make a batch of 10,000 bricks, and dry them while pouring the mold to burn the bricks, and it will not be completed in 5 months. ”

Wei Bing was still calculating, Xu Wenshan said: "I now have 500 laborers in my hands, and then squeeze a little from Luhegou It is estimated that 1,000 people can be squeezed out, first send 500 people to build a brick kiln, 200 people to cut wood, 100 people to make brick molds, 200 people to make cement, and when the brick kiln is built, leave 100 people to work for the brick factory, 100 people to cut wood, and the other can free up 600 artificial canals." ”

Wei Taigong pulled his beard and said: "But these 600 people are not enough, and a group of people have to be allocated to transport the goods." Transporting bricks and firewood is very wasteful. ”

Xu Wenshan said: "During the second period, I will mobilize all the people of Luhegou to help push the trolley." In addition, I will bring a group of people back from outside the village. In short, we must gather all the manpower of Luhegou to build this aqueduct in the current period. ”

Wei Taigong's expression became solemn, and he leaned over and bowed to Xu Wenshan. Xu Wenshan hurriedly held it up and said, "Taigong, why is this?" ”

Mrs. Wei said fairly: "The son of the Xu family, you can actually pour out all your family wealth for the people of the two villages, and the old man is really grateful." ”

Xu Wenshan also understood what he meant, to mobilize so much manpower, of course, it still depends on money, and of course this money is from him.

But for Xu Wenshan, everything is a problem, only money is not a problem.