"It's really sighing that the army and civilians are so poor in such a good place!"

At this time, Liu Yan stood on the bank of the Nanhe River and let out this exclamation, in the past ten days, Liu Yan's footsteps have traveled all over the Qianhu in front of Xiahe Village, inside and outside the city, various military forts and fire road piers in the territory, and Tuntian mines in various places, he has been to see, and the poverty of the soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city deeply shocked him.

Ironically, the local conditions are so superior, especially in the vicinity of the Thousand Households, where large tracts of land are fertile land.

It's just that why is the life of the military and civilians so poor in so much land?

Listening to Liu Yan's emotion, everyone around him sighed together.

Beside Liu Yan, stood Dai Jingbin, the official of the city management of the Thousand Households, as well as Xu Ming, and the iron cavalry soldiers of the cavalry post.

Not far in front of them was a canal called the Nanhe Beihuimin Canal, which meandered out of the Nanhe River and irrigated a large area of land on the north bank of the Nanhe River.

However, the situation of this canal is not optimistic, many places have been silted up and abandoned, from the situation of the canal, Hebei Huimin Canal has not been repaired for many years, and the water diversion effect has been greatly weakened. Not only that. This is mostly the case with several large canals on both sides of the South River.

This is the upper reaches of the Nanhe River, and most of the water conservancy facilities here have been abandoned, unlike the Dapanbao area in the lower reaches of the Nanhe River, which have been renovated.

In order to ensure Tuntian, from the beginning of Xuande, the imperial court has successively dug and built five major irrigation canal systems on both sides of the Nanhe River: Beipingpo Canal, Hebei Huimin Canal, Zhonghuimin Canal, South Huimin Canal, and Official Canal. Around these five canals, all kinds of small ponds and canals were built around them to irrigate tens of thousands of acres of fields in the surrounding area, and the water conservancy facilities repaired by Liu Yan when he was in Dapanbao belonged to the end of these canals. It's just that they haven't been repaired for many years, and these canals are now less than 30% effective, and Liu Yan sees that many originally excellent fields have become wilderness.

At the end of October of the lunar calendar, the colder the weather becomes. Dai Jingbin rubbed his cheeky face, and he reported to Liu Yanyu: "My lord, most of the essence of the Tuntian in the city of Qianhu in front of my Xiahe Village is located on the Pingchuan River on both sides of the South River. ”

According to Dai Jingbin, the tuntian land near the city of the thousand households. Originally, they were all fields belonging to ordinary military households and civilian households, and a large amount of summer tax and autumn grain were paid to the imperial court every year.

However, up to now, the large tracts of fertile land here, and more than half of the tuntian fields of military households are occupied by officers at all levels of the city and the acropolis. More than half of the remaining military households' fields were occupied by the local literati Kun and powerful landlords, and most of the military households on the original land had become tenants under their names. There are very few soldiers and civilians who can own their own military fields and people's fields, and there are very few people in the vicinity of this thousand households.

From Dai Jingbin's account, Liu Yan knew that there were originally more than 30,000 mu of military households in Xiahezhai, and now, almost more than 20,000 mu have been occupied by officers at all levels.

These powerful literati and military generals, who encroached on most of the fertile land, but did everything possible to avoid the collection of taxes and grain, and the heavy burden was passed on to the military households at the bottom who still owned farmland, causing them to be even poorer and even directly bankrupt.

Dai Jingbin said: "My lord, the lower official will tell you the truth. The annual fixed amount of grain collected by the military households in the city of our thousand households is 2,100 stones. However, after the subordinate took office. The annual collection of grain is less than 1,200 stones, and it is getting smaller and smaller every year, and the military households are unbearable, and they are constantly fleeing. In the summer of this year, the Tatar soldiers entered the army again, and many military families had Ding Zhuang killed in battle, not only did the pension not be settled, but also no one did the work of farming at home, and by next summer, the subordinates estimated that the military rations collected in the city of the thousand households may not be more than 1,000 stones. ”

Dai Jingbin sighed and added: "The officials are urging tightly, every time they blame, the officials are bitter!" ”

Liu Yan nodded and said: "After the soldiers are burned, ten rooms and nine are empty, the fields will return to the rich, the rich will be rich, and the poor will be poor." With such a cycle of differentiation, can the military and civilian security not be bitter? If you can't collect taxes and grain, it's difficult for you to do it in this position, Lao Dai, I understand you. ”

Dai Jingbin listened to it and was even more grateful, the embarrassment of his subordinates becoming his top boss in the past has completely disappeared, he just wants to hug Liu Yan's thighs and make a career. Let Liu Yan feel that it is a good choice to value him.

Liu Yan looked at the large fields in front of him and sighed silently, it is impossible to collect grain from these literati and military generals, and the huge interest counterattack will tear Liu Yan to pieces. After Liu Yan's investigation these days, all the places that can make profits, commerce, mining, etc., have all been divided by powerful landlords, literati and military generals, and they have to make the army and the people rich, and they have to find another way. 33

The Qianhu Institute in Xiahezhai is different from Wangjiazhuang, the interests in it are as deep as the sea, although Liu Yan is a defensive officer, but it is only a small Qianhu official, there are many Qianhu officials in the Ming Dynasty, Liu Yan clearly understands that he has a few catties and a few taels, and before the strength in his hands is really strong, he will never put himself on the opposite side of the interest group, and will only take advantage of the situation.

Xu Ming followed Liu Yan for a long time, he naturally understood the situation in front of him, he said: "There should be a large area of wasteland near the city of Qianhusuo, we don't collect grain from those literati and military generals, refer to the old method of Wangjiazhuang, and reclaim the wasteland and distribute it to the military households and people who have no land, which should open up a new world." ”

Dai Jingbin said: "Brother Xu Ming, you said it easily, how much grain do you need to reclaim wasteland?" Places close to water sources are occupied by powerful people. If you reclaim farmland in a place where there are no canals, the investment will be large, and all the water conservancy facilities will have to be re-excavated! ”

On the banks of the Nanhe River, the local literati and military generals were reluctant to spend a large amount of money and grain to build water conservancy, and for places where irrigation was inconvenient, they actually built irrigation wells, and when the investment was too large, they also chose to give up.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty has always encouraged the reclamation of wasteland, but the reclaimed wasteland was eventually occupied by the powerful, and the increasingly heavy taxes forced them to give up the farmland and flee to other places.

The output cannot match the input, and the result is that there is a large area of wasteland idle near the Qianqian households in Xiahe Village. But no one wants to go to the land.

On the banks of the Nanhe River, the literati and military generals were reluctant to take out money and grain to repair the water conservancy, and Liu Yan was also not interested in taking out money and grain to dredge these canals and do useless work for these fields that could not collect taxes and grains.

Liu Yan said: "There is no other way but to reclaim wasteland, although the investment is large. As long as you get through the initial hurdle, things will be easier in the future. ”

Liu Yan estimated that in the reclamation of wasteland far away from the canal, only digging deep wells of masonry and stone, all kinds of costs are calculated, it takes more than 20 taels of silver, and each well can irrigate more than 20 acres.

At this time, Liu Yan missed the high-yield and drought-tolerant crops such as red and potatoes in later generations, but unfortunately, it was very difficult to transplant such high-yield crops. If there are no suitable varieties adapted to the local geography and climate, even if these crops are found. Barely planted, the yield can not achieve satisfactory results.

During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, when Yang He, Hong Chengchou, Zhang Yixian and others governed Shaanxi, in order to make achievements, Zhang Yixian forced the promotion of sweet potatoes and white potatoes in Shaanxi, but the result was a civil uprising. In fact, sweet potatoes and other high-yield crops were not widely promoted in northern China until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, which was not a matter of the government's lack of efforts, but the problem of seeds, and the high-yielding seeds of sweet potatoes were not cultivated until the middle of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and there was no such thing at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Liu Yan estimates that in the next few decades, those high-yield and drought-tolerant crops will not need to be thought about by himself, but from the experience of Dapanbao and Wangjiazhuang, he knows that as long as there is a good system and planning, it is not difficult for the military and civilians to plant with peace of mind and solve the problem of food for the soldiers and civilians. In particular, the Qianqian Households of Xiahezhai are so rich in resources, as long as they are managed well, they can completely make the Qianqianhu of Xiahezhai become a rich place of Lingshanwei.

Liu Yan in later generations of the late Ming Dynasty history and geography research is very deep, according to the understanding of the geography of the first thousand households in Xiahe Village, this Xiahe Village in front of the thousand households. That is, in the territory of Jiaonan County in later generations, the cultivated land area reached more than 400,000 mu, most of which was still irrigated. Since the beginning of Longqing, the Qianqian households in Xiahezhai have also planted various vegetables, sorghum and corn. At present, even if tens of thousands of acres of land are occupied by Haoqiang, the remaining fields can be reclaimed, which can completely meet the cultivation needs of the military and civilians.

Not only that, there are a large number of mountain forest farms in the territory of Qianqian Households in Xiahe Village, Tiepu Mountain in the north, Langya Mountain in the south, are very good forest places, with an area of nearly two million acres, which provides a good foundation for Liu Yan to raise cattle, sheep and horses and raise poultry and other livestock in a large range, and the animal husbandry of Jiaonan County in later generations is also very developed. There are also abundant coal and iron resources in the territory of Qianqian Household in Xiahe Village, which can provide a large number of production raw materials for Liu Yan to develop military handicraft industry.

In later generations, Jiaonan County had a population of 300,000, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were also a population of about 100,000. With so many cultivated land resources, it is not possible to say that it is possible to feed more than 300,000 people, but it is still possible to feed 100,000 people.

Looking at the vast land in front of him, Liu Yan's heart swelled with pride, and in two years, he fed all the soldiers and civilians in the territory and trained an elite semi-firearms army of 5,000 people, which was Liu Yan's long-term goal as a defensive officer. In order to achieve this goal, all obstacles will be swept away with the momentum of thunder!

On October 26, the weather was even colder, and the biting cold wind blew in from time to time through the thick curtains, bringing some chill to the house.

"I heard that the defender has returned from outside Sennohe Castle. It's cold weather, and I don't know what he's doing outside the city these days. ”

At this time, it was in the mansion of a hundred households, and the house was burning with a blazing charcoal fire, coupled with mellow liquor, and several people in the house couldn't help but be a little drunk.

In addition to Chi Xu, there were also a few people around the table, Huang Wenxian and Wang Yichuan, the magistrate, who spoke at this time.

After listening to Huang Wenxian's words, he pondered for a moment and said, "I heard that the defense lord cooperated with Dai Jingbin, the official in charge of the tun, to inspect the fields everywhere, he wouldn't be leviing taxes and grain on our fields, right?" ”

Wang Yi, the pacification officer, said: "Don't worry, I don't think that Liu Yan has the guts, he won't be so reckless, if he really wants to do this, he will be an enemy of the literati and military generals of the entire Thousand Households City, does he still want to stay in this city?" ”

Then, a sneer appeared on Wang Yichuan's gloomy face, and he said: "Liu Yan is still young and lacks governance experience, and he can't eat this place in the city of thousands of households." ”

Chi nodded slowly: "What Brother Wang said is extremely true. ”

Since Liu Yan took office, in addition to the appointment of relevant personnel in Wangjiazhuang, the rest of the generals in the cities and forts of thousands of households have not moved, and it is said that the new officials have taken office three times. Liu Yan didn't burn a single fire. While everyone breathed a sigh of relief, they couldn't help but despise Liu Yan. In the eyes of the officials of Qianhu City, Liu Yan is wandering around outside the city these days, not like a person who dares to take care of things, and it makes them feel more at ease.

Wang Yichuan and others have come to the conclusion that Liu Yan is powerful in fighting, but he is just a simple martial artist. The relationship between people and things in the city of thousands of households is complicated, Liu Yan is so young, and he was born as a soldier, I am afraid that when he arrives in this world of flowers, he has already been dazzled, and it is too late to enjoy it, how can he care about anything else?

Liu Yan is okay like this, they can enjoy it in the city of Qianhusuo as usual, and they can continue to do nonsense.

Some people died, but not completely......