After all, the eating habits of the people over thousands of years are not so easy to change, and crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn are used as complementary foods or to satisfy hunger.

I had cultivated more than 100 acres of potatoes before, but it was also because there was no way to do it in winter.

If you can eat rice every day, who wants to eat potatoes every day.

Of course, in addition to basic grain, the cultivation and breeding of vegetables is also proceeding steadily.

All in all, the soldiers and horses did not move, and the grain and grass went first.

Although it is not a war now, everything is the same.

Whether it's iron smelting, mining, or whatever, without food, without a stable source of food to support that, it's all empty talk.

Therefore, with the warming of the weather after the beginning of spring, Qi Heng has already put agriculture in the first place before carrying out other work.

And for this reason, he discussed with Shi Caiying many times.

In the end, such a set of policies was decided.

Each household can receive an appropriate amount of grain seeds from the government and distribute the fields to each household.

At the same time, we encourage everyone to do farming and vegetable planting.

In addition, in order to stabilize grain prices, grain stations have been opened in both Huanggang City and Haozhou City.

Grain from the people was purchased at a fair price, and granaries were built for long-term storage.

In addition, two markets were opened by the government.

It is specially used for the purchase and sale of grain, vegetables and meat.

People can apply to join it themselves.

And this is to increase the total volume of private transactions.

At the same time, the way of buying and selling is used to stimulate the productive forces of the people.

For example, the people who have already met the daily needs of eating and drinking can be used as food suppliers, such as applying to the government to open up wasteland or lease fertile land.

Alternatively, you can buy grain, vegetables and meat at a higher price than the official grain station, and then sell them at the market.

At this point, Shi Caiying also had a conflict of opinion with Qi Heng at that time.

However, Qi Heng firmly believes that business is an indispensable part of the civil society system, and at the same time, it is also the best impetus to stimulate the creativity and productivity of the people.

Relying entirely on the leadership of the government, it is destined to be unable to meet the needs of the entire people.

On the contrary, if the people can complete the self-sufficiency of the class on their own, or even exceed the needs of their own class, it is the right way.

Not only that, in order to improve the mining speed and efficiency of iron ore, Qi Heng not only relied on the productivity of the Armaments Department led by Shen Wansan, but also issued the mining power of the mine.

Of course, this is at an additional cost.

At the same time, the government has also opened channels to buy back iron ore and even finished iron.

Encourage the people to open their own blacksmith shops.

To provide a channel for the sale of ore for those who are privately opened.

The cost of the first year of mine use is converted into the recovered iron ore.

It is equivalent to buying and selling without capital or small capital, so that most people can do it.

The issuance of these decrees has greatly stimulated the production of iron ore and the production of finished iron.

There is also the reserve of the entire grain and the production after the fall.

It will also thoroughly stimulate the labor force of the private sector.

All in all, Qi Heng has already built the basic platform between the two cities, and now he only needs to revise and improve the details in the continuous affairs.

Of course, there is still a lot that can be done, but with the current scale and situation of the two cities, it can only reach the current level.

Just when Qi Heng pulled Ma Xiuying and they returned towards Huanggang City.

A team set off from Ancheng and headed for Huanggang City.

Zhu Yuanzhang led Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and Deng Youde towards Huanggang.

While walking, Xu Da asked Zhu Yuanzhang beside him: "Big brother, it's been more than half a year since we left Huanggang in the blink of an eye, and I don't know if my sister-in-law is okay." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately teased: "I think you want your sister-in-law to cook, right?" ”

When Xu Da heard this, he immediately laughed stupidly.

"Okay, don't laugh, take a small team of people, you go to explore the road first, there were a lot of people who ran away when they captured Chuzhou City before, don't be ambushed by them."

Hearing what was going on, Xu Da's face suddenly changed, and he took twenty people to lead the way.

Along the way, the team of twenty people rode fast horses and ran all the way towards Huanggang City.

Passing through some narrow terrain places, they will also carefully investigate to ensure safety.

Haozhou and Chuzhou are already adjacent, although there is still some distance between the two main cities, but under the rapid whipping of Xu Da and others, they still rushed over before the evening.

However, when Xu Da followed the route in his memory and saw the city in front of him, before he could be happy, his brows immediately wrinkled together.

ran forward again, and when he clearly saw the Huanggang City in front of him, the whole person was dumbfounded.

Look around, trying to find something.

Finally, he pulled the soldiers around him and asked, "Did you kid lead the wrong way?" ”

The soldier looked at the scene in front of him, and the whole person was also stunned.

"No..... It's such an avenue, how can it be wrong? ”

However, looking at the completely unfamiliar city in front of him, he was a little uncertain.

Xu Da scolded angrily and said, "You can lead a way to deviate." ”

So saying, he turned his horse's head and ran backwards.

More than ten minutes later.

Xu Da and the others, who had just left, came here again.

"Where's Huanggang?"

"I remember that Huanggang is in this direction."

At this time, Xu Da, who had personally reconfirmed the route, was sure that he had not made a mistake.

However, why is Huanggang City gone?

In my memory, the low walls of Huanggang City are gone.

Instead, there are towering walls five or six meters high.

There is even a watchtower on the hill on the side of the castle that is used to scout the enemy.

At that height, it is enough to have an unobstructed view of the plains of the surrounding ten miles and most of the conditions.

Xu Da turned over and dismounted, and took a closer look at the surrounding mountains and environment.

It's not much the same as I remembered.

However, the location of the Huanggang City Gate in the impression should not be here.

Xu Da scratched his head in confusion.

There is no name on the gate.

I don't dare to send someone to inquire easily.

If you really make a mistake and run to the land of the Yuan army, then this fun will be great.

"Forget it, let's go find the eldest brother first."

As he spoke, Xu Da led the soldiers around him and began to return backwards.

Soon, they met with Zhu Yuanzhang and them in the back.

Looking at Xu Da who was returning, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Why did you come back?" ”

Xu Da said with some confusion: "Big brother, are we going the wrong way?" ”

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

"Taken the wrong path?? What do you mean by that? ”

Xu Da thought about it and didn't know what to say, so he simply said, "Big brother, you better come with me to take a look." ”

In Zhu Yuanzhang's doubts, they soon came to the location where Xu Da had come before.

Following the direction of Xu Da's finger, everyone was shocked.

"This! .........”

Even Chang Yuchun, who has always disliked to talk much, couldn't help but widen his eyes at this time, looked at the city in front of him in shock, and let out an undoubted exclamation from his mouth.

Deng Youde on the side even showed that he had never seen the world.

Only Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised for a short time and immediately looked at the surrounding terrain.

When he was in Huanggang, he personally explored the surrounding terrain and landforms, and it can be said that everything here has been imprinted in his mind.

But when he checked everything around him and was sure that he had made a mistake, he couldn't help but say: "Engong is really a genius of gods and ghosts, how long has it been, this Huanggang City is no longer what it used to be." ”

Deng Youde, who was on the side, heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, and originally didn't think that the strategist who was about the same age as him, or even a few years younger than himself, was really powerful at all.

But now when I heard Zhu Yuanzhang say that all this was done by Qi Heng, the impression of Qi Heng in my heart has changed dramatically.

After all, how depressed Huanggang City was at the beginning, he had seen it with his own eyes.

Gram now.

It's only been more than half a year, and the entire city has undergone earth-shaking changes.

With the height of the city today, as long as the defense is done properly, only 10,000 elite soldiers can hold a siege of 100,000 troops.

There is also more than one watchtower in the distance.

It can be said that everything around the entire Huanggang City has been included in the warning range.

They are all people who have been on the battlefield and have been killed.

They are well aware of the role of these watchtowers.

After repeatedly confirming that there was no mistake and that this must be Huanggang City, everyone walked towards the city gate.

After verifying their identities, the group stepped into the city.

And it was the distance of such a few steps that made them feel like they were in a different world.