The weather in April is getting warmer and longer, the gradually civilized water is flowing on the glacier, the weeds are arching a green bud on the earth, the branches of the mountains are full of young leaves and flowers, birds and butterflies are dancing among the flowers, and the cold winter is finally over

Han Juzheng recruited nearly 100 old people in the 10 villages and counties under his jurisdiction, all of whom were farmers who had worked hard for generations, and no one could compare to them if they wanted to farm the land, so they took Han Juzheng and Li Yang to a dense reed field early in the morning

Out of curiosity, Li Yang stretched out his hand and dragged Han Juzheng: Juzheng, what are we doing here

Unexpectedly, this was heard by the old man on the side: My lord, you see that these reeds grow so lush and thick, which means that this land is strong, and if it can be cultivated, this reed land can be cultivated for 3-4,000 acres of fertile land

Li Yang: How can the old man tell if this land is suitable for farming?

Old man: It is indispensable for adults to cultivate the field, so the first thing to see if this piece can store water, and the field is divided into two kinds, one is the dry field and the other is the paddy field, the dry field is generally cultivated wheat-peanuts-sorghum-soybeans and some vegetables, like this reed can be cultivated into paddy fields to cultivate rice, adults, you see that there are many puddles of different sizes in this reed field, if these puddles can be gathered into a ditch, more paddy fields can be reclaimed

Han Juzheng: Brother Li may have a water source in the future, or where will the water come from in the reed field?

Li Yang: "Hmm, wait for me to send someone to find it, if there is really a water source, let's dig a ditch here, and we are all laymen in this matter, so we need to listen to the opinions of these old people."

Han Juzheng: That's true

Li Yang: The matter of Ju Zheng's search for cultivation fields will be left to them, and the county is responsible for mobilizing the materials needed for land reclamation and the existing farm tools, and I asked Ouyang Xiu to hurry up and make a batch of farm tools

Han Juzheng: Brother Li, if there are not enough people, I can ask my father to transfer some miners to help

Li Yang: Okay - if you don't have enough manpower, I'll have to trouble you, it's time to go to Master Sun to ask about the matter of clearing the wasteland

Seeing that this day is getting warmer and warmer day by day, it will not take a few days for the farmers to be busy cultivating their fields, and there are indeed nearly 20,000 victims in Taizhou City who have no fields to cultivate, they live every day with clothes to reach out for food and open their mouths, this person will become lazy after staying for a long time, and the same is true for the disaster victims, they are sloppy all day long, as if they have become accustomed to this way of life

Sun Yuanwu, as the prefect of Taizhou, was worried about how these victims should live in the future, but when he saw that the victims were completely indifferent to the life in front of them, they were a little happy to grasp the lice and fiddle with their dirty hair, and instantly a heart fire surged into his heart, and he fainted in the crowd

Knowing the news that Lord Sun fainted was already a day later, Li Yang took several guards all the way to the yamen of the state capital, and after a few brief negotiations with the officials on duty outside the door, he trotted all the way to the back hall where Lord Sun lived, and before he entered the door, he heard a woman's cry "Woo - if you have a mistake called me a woman's family, how can I live?"

Li Yang heard this, and his heart "chuckled", it seems that Lord Sun's condition is quite serious, otherwise Mrs. Sun would have cried so miserably, he just wanted to enter the house and saw a Lang Zhong who was treating Lord Sun, so he waited outside the door for a while, Lang Zhong finished the diagnosis and treatment, and prescribed a prescription to Mrs. Sun, so that she could boil the medicine according to the prescription

As soon as Lang Zhong came out of the house, Li Yang stepped forward and stopped him: Lang Zhong, I want to ask Master Sun if his illness is serious

Lang Zhong: Master Sun, he's just in a hurry, it's not a big deal, and he'll be fine after a few days of recuperation, but he needs to recuperate and not be too tired

Li Yang bowed: I'm tired

After entering the house, I saw Lord Sun, his face was a little pale, lying on the bed covered with a quilt, and Mrs. Sun was guarding him with tears in her eyes, Li Yang was afraid of disturbing Lord Sun's rest, so he deliberately lightened his steps: Mrs. Sun, I see that the adult was fine a few days ago, why did he suddenly fall ill

Mrs. Sun raised her hand to wipe the tears on her face: It's not that those victims are making trouble, Yuan Wu can be said to be unable to sleep and eat for the livelihood of those disaster victims

Li Yang: "Oh, my lord, I am dedicated to the people, and it is really a blessing for the people of Taizhou."

Sun Yuanwu slowly opened his eyes: You are here

Li Yang hurriedly knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists with both hands: The last general will meet the prefect

Sun Yuanwu raised his hand: There are no outsiders here, get up quickly, madam, you bring him a chair over

Mrs. Sun nodded, "Okay, how dare she work hard for a trivial matter like that chair, and people are still in a bad mood, so Li Yang, who is in a hurry, hurriedly took a chair and sat down next to Lord Sun on the side of the bed, Sun Yuanwu patted Mrs. Madame's hand gently: Madam, go get busy."

Mrs. Sun got up and nodded slightly at me: Then you accompany Yuanwu to chat for a while, and I will go to the kitchen to decoct the medicine

This time, Mrs. Sun's expression and attitude were much kinder than last time, and Li Yang looked at Sun Yuanwu with tears in her eyes: My lord, your body is so strong, why did you suddenly fall ill

Sun Yuanwu sighed lightly, "Hey", it seems that it is about to be the season of farming, but there are indeed nearly 20,000 disaster victims in Taizhou City, who have no fields to cultivate, and think that there are more than 30,000 people in Alan County who have less than enough fields to cultivate, and they fainted after a big fire, "Haha", don't worry, this mansion will be fine for a while

Li Yang: My lord, this matter is coming to an end, and I have an idea that I don't know if it will work

Sun Yuanwu sat up from the bed after hearing this: Tell me about it

Li Yang: According to the laws of Zhejiang, the newly cultivated fields need to pay a land tax of one tael per mu, and the government will issue a land deed for it

Sun Yuanwu closed his eyes and pondered for a while, then slowly opened his eyes and sighed, Li Yang saw that Sun Yuanwu's face was still a little embarrassed: The words of the adult general are a little out of place, it is all just a matter of urgency, please don't blame the adults

Sun Yuanwu shook his hand: It's not that the government didn't think about this method you said, if everyone can keep their word, this is a good thing, I am afraid that it is easy to open up wasteland, it is difficult to collect taxes, and tens of thousands of victims dare to guarantee that they will not find this or that excuse to pay taxes and silver

More than 80,000 people must have at least 10 acres of land to cultivate in order to maintain their livelihood, if the government wants to find a way to cover up the 8,000 acres of fertile land, but 10 tens of thousands of acres of land tax will cost 10 tens of thousands of taels of silver, and if the grain tax is not good, it will get about 200,000 taels

Li Yang looked at Lord Sun and had doubts: My lord, I want to reclaim some fields for the residents of Alan County to cultivate, but I can't come up with enough silver to pay the field tax for a while, can you let everyone reclaim the fields and cultivate them first, and then make up the field tax and grain tax that should be paid when the grain is harvested

Sun Yuanwu: This is a good thing, as long as you can guarantee that the land tax and grain tax will be replenished after the autumn harvest, and the government will fully support you, then how many fields do you plan to cultivate?

Li Yang: My lord, I plan to open up 200,000 acres of land first

Sun Yuanwu sat up straight: This is related to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and the risk is too great, and the government has to think about it

Li Yang: My lord, I will calculate the accounts for you, according to the grain output of 400 catties per mu, you need to pay a grain tax of 40 catties, 200,000 mu of grain tax is 8 million catties, and the grain price on the market is 5 lines per catty, a total of 40 million copper coins, 200,000 acres of fields can not only protect the livelihood of tens of thousands of Li people in the north, but also add 40,000 taels of tax and silver to Taizhou every year

Sun Yuanwu leaned on the head of the bed and closed his eyes: This matter has to be carefully considered

Li Yang saw that Sun Yuanwu was still a little hesitant: If you can agree to this matter, the last general is willing to resettle the remaining 18,000 disaster victims in the city to Alan County

Sun Yuanwu suddenly opened his eyes: You can also be regarded as talking about a matter for the mansion, you can let go of the matter of clearing the wasteland, but don't be too quiet, and when the mansion is in good health, let the other garrisons follow the cultivation of the wasteland, so that it is fair to them, and no one can find fault

Just two sentences are enough to see that Sun Yuanwu is a meticulous person, if you just let Li Yang open up the wasteland alone, this is intentional favoritism, but if you let everyone open up the wasteland together, this is a policy, as for how much, it depends on personal ability, even if someone asks in the future, he has something to say, it is considered improper governance, this is the mystery of being an official, no matter when you have to take yourself out first

Li Yang: What the adults said is very true

Sun Yuanwu: The burden on your shoulders is a lot heavier to resettle the remaining victims in the city, and this time there are nearly 20,000 more mouths, is there enough food in your hands to eat?

Li Yang: There are still 3.2 million catties of grain in Alan County, which should be able to eat for two months

Sun Yuanwu: What about two months from now?

Li Yang hesitated for a long time: I can only take one step at a time

Sun Yuanwu shook his head, "Hey, there are still some materials in the treasury for the disaster victims, since you have now settled the remaining disaster victims, then the government will hand over these materials to you."

As he spoke, he took out an account book from under his pillow and handed it to me, I took it and opened it to see: "There are still 1,500,000 catties of grain left in the treasury - 1,000 deniers of salt - 2,000 pieces of tea bricks - 1,500 jars of wine - 321 horses of cloth - 2,671 deniers of white flour - 3,000 deniers of wheat - 400 deniers of cotton."

Sun Yuanwu: In the past few days, you have asked people to go to the treasury to get these materials, and the government is squeezing out 2,000 taels of silver from the treasury for you to call, and there is only so much the government can do, and you have to figure out how to do the rest

Li Yang stood up and hugged his fists and bowed: The last general will definitely live up to the high expectations of the adults, and I will send someone to pick up the remaining victims in the past two days

Sun Yuanwu: "Hmm", this house is a little tired, you can go back first

Li Yang: My lord, you should pay more attention to rest

This time, Han Juzheng recruited a survey team of nearly 1,000 people from Alan County and various villages, and Li Yang divided them into 10 teams of 100 people, and each team of 100 people was divided into 10 teams of 10 people, and each team was led by some farmers with rich farming experience

This mountain col and Pingchuan are mostly wasteland except for the fields of Alan County and 10 villages under its jurisdiction, the terrain here is flat and the land is fertile, but due to the perennial war, the individual households living in the mountain col have no choice but to go to other countries to make a living in order to avoid the disaster of war, these fertile lands have gradually become deserted with the loss of time, and these wastelands can still be turned into fertile land for cultivation as long as someone takes care of the water and irrigates the water

In 10 days, the exploration team carried out a detailed soil survey and topographic exploration on the mountain col and Pingchuan in the north of Taizhou, and the suitable cultivation area can reclaim about 220,000 acres of fields

Everyone performs their duties and has a clear division of labor, the head of Guanshan Road with a construction team composed of carpenters, masons, stonemasons and people, a total of more than 4,000 people are responsible for building canals in various places to divert water to irrigate the fields, Han Juzheng is responsible for dispatching materials to settle new people and supervising the construction of residential houses, Da Niu and Er Niu brothers are responsible for the security of the county with 500 officers and soldiers of the Shadow Wind Battalion and 500 government officials, Gao Yuan and Yuan Kui and others are responsible for the inspection of 10 villages with the Trap Mountain Camp and the Fire Trap Camp, And Li Yang and Li Long-Li Hu brothers took more than 30,000 men to be responsible for opening up the wasteland, and a huge battle of clearing the land began

The northern hills and plains are full of trees and weeds of different heights, and the people throw off their arms and wave axes to put the trees one by one, and then drag them together and pile them up, when the carpenters process these trees into planks or stakes, and the places where they can only be used as burning, the weeds are pulled out of the wasteland one by one and thrown together, and when they are dried, the dry weeds are burned in one fire

Thousands of people with shovels stood in a row of carpets to dig forward, piles of soil were turned out with shovels, and then these soil clods were picked up into soft soil with hoes, and the people drove the plough to pull the plough on the wasteland to reclaim one after another ditch for cultivation, and the five-row plough designed by Li Yang greatly improved the progress of land reclamation after several improvements, and there were not enough ploughing oxen to pull the plough with people

At night, everyone gathered in the conference hall as usual, everyone was so tired that they leaned on the chair with their legs crossed, although they were all slightly tired, but the expressions on everyone's faces were very happy, Xiao Zhou and Xiao Zhuang sisters came to both ends of rice and two plates of pickled pickles, and the people present hurriedly stepped forward to serve the rice and put the pickles in the bowl to make fun

Han Juzheng, who is usually polite and polite, also swallowed it today: Brother Li's Yamen has mobilized all the materials for us to be transported back, and the resettled newcomers have temporarily distributed rations to them for 10 days, and all the tents for temporary living have been set up, and the next step is to build houses and let them move in as soon as possible

Li Yang: Juzheng, when you mentioned this, I remembered something, how many green bricks and roof tiles can we have on hand

Guanshan: There are nearly 8 million green bricks, and there are about 150,000 tiles

Li Yang: The brick kiln has to hurry up and burn the bricks, or it will be delayed

Guanshan: The owner will dig up a lot of soil when building a canal, and some female workers can be recruited to make bricks from clay suitable for burning bricks, so that the excess soil can be used and speed up the progress of brick burning

Gao Yuan: I think it's a good idea, and I can select some people to pick up the clay so that the women can be more light

Li Yang: Let's decide on this, the head of the Guanshan Road is responsible for building the canal, so you have to recruit female workers

Guanshan: Then the poor road will first recruit 200 female workers in Xinmin

Li Yang: Okay, if it's not enough, we'll recruit again

Yuan Kui: We also have to prepare for the seeds of 200,000 acres of fields, and if there are not enough seeds to cultivate after the harvest is completed, won't it be in vain?

Li Yang: How many seeds do you need for those 200,000 acres of fields?

Li Long: If the young master grows wheat, it needs about 15 catties per mu, and rice is about 12 catties per mu, and the dense seeds will be used relatively more

Gao Lin: It would take nearly 3 million catties of grain to make seeds

There are only 4.7 million catties of grain in the grain depot of the big cow "oops", and the lack of grain will be 4-5 million catties

Li Yang: How much grain can Ju Zheng consume in a month in the county now?

Han Juzheng: Brother Li now has a population of 63,300 people in Alan County, and he has to consume more than 60,000 catties of grain every day, and about 1.8 million catties a month

The people present were all shocked when they heard this number, why would they eat so much grain in a month, Yuan Kuihuo looked at me: Li Yang, I don't blame you, you said that you didn't discuss with everyone in advance to settle so many people, and ask our opinions, this person does what he can, but you have to slap a swollen face and become fat, this time it's okay, and after opening up the wasteland and planting the fields, these people have nothing to eat

Gao Yuan: Yuan Kui has come to this point, it's too late to say anything, patriarch, what should we do next, whether to open up the land and plant or not to plant in this wilderness

Li Yang: Of course, it's a wasteland to make seeds, don't we still have 4.7 million catties of grain in our hands, take out 3 million catties to make seeds, and the remaining 1.7 million catties of people stick to it for a month

Yuan Kui: When we plant grain in May and harvest it in September, I calculated that we still lack food rations for five months, and what should we do with the food we need for these five months

Li Yang: Isn't the five-month ration 9 million catties, I'll figure it out, but you must not make a noise about the food shortage so as not to cause unnecessary panic, and during this time, you just need to do your part as usual

Yuan Kui: Then what are you going to do with the 9 million catties of grain, you give the brothers a solid account so that we can have a good number in our hearts

Li Yang: Okay, I'll tell you the truth, I'm going to borrow the 9 million catties of grain and wait for the autumn harvest to return the grain

Yuan Kui: Can so much grain be so easy to borrow?

Li Yang: If you press the entire Li family manor, it should be about the same

Yuankui: Is it worth it for you?

Li Yang: Nothing worth it, people live a lifetime of grass and trees in the public and private should do something, rather than only living a lifetime, it is better for everyone to let go of their hands and break out of a world, as long as we work together to survive this difficulty, then Alan County will become one of the richest counties in Taizhou within two or three years, and then you - you - and you are indispensable benefits

Erniu: Then what can we do to help you, young master?

Gao Yuan: As long as we do our own work, it will be the greatest help to the patriarch

Li Yang: Gao Yuan is right, you do what you should do is the greatest help to me, today brothers are tired and go back to rest early

The people in the council hall got up and left, but Han Juzheng was still sitting in his chair and looking at me, as if he wanted to tell me something