This Qingzhang matter is over, but the next thing is to get rid of the wasteland.

No one wants to open up wasteland, especially if there is land, and who would want to go to that effort?

Generally speaking, the preliminary work of this reclamation will be done by some prisoners who have been sentenced to hard labor in the yamen, and occasionally other prisoners will follow along.

It's just that most of these prisoners have to wear shackles and leg irons, so the efficiency of this work is greatly reduced.

The only thing that can make people feel comforted is that they don't have to pay for it.

The amount of fertile land cleared this time is obviously more, and just their county has more than 1,000 acres, how can this not be surprising?

If you want to talk about surprise, in front of the saint, it may be that there is more surprise than joy, at least for now.

After all, this would make Emperor Jing Wen feel that the people below were deliberately fooling him, which was to make him angry.

Except for fertile land, it is wasteland.

There is no shortage of wasteland, but more of it.

Why?

It is because in the past, some people used fertile land to pass off as wasteland, and they paid several years less tax and grain.

The first three years of the great rule of land reclamation policy are tax-free.

The main thing is that everyone knows about this kind of crop, and the land must also be fed, otherwise there will be no energy and not much food will grow.

In the first three years, it was basically raising land, no matter whether an acre of land grew ten catties of grain or one hundred catties, it was all owned by the owner's family.

Rao is like this, and no one wants to open up the wasteland.

Because in the wasteland allocated by the imperial court, it is really barren and not much stronger than the desert.

Not only that, even if ordinary people open up wasteland, which eventually becomes medium or fertile land, they may not be able to keep it.

In short, it's the job done, but the end benefit doesn't necessarily come from your own.

So, no one wants to open up wasteland.

Even if the imperial court gave a three-year tax exemption policy, the common people were unwilling.

Because it takes a lot of money to open up the wasteland, do you think it's just a matter of loosening the soil?

It's a tricky process.

First of all, we must first clean up the stones and debris on this wasteland.

After that, you have to find a way to get a water source, if it's close to the river, it's better, if it's far away, hehe, then you have to be busy.

In addition, the soil needs to be loosened, the land must be nourished, and the land must be fertilized, but you do not think that if you burn a fire and turn the land over again, the land will be raised.

Generally speaking, it is not cost-effective to open up wasteland, unless there is no way out, they will choose to open up wasteland.

Of course, if the geology is not so bad, there are still people who are willing to reclaim it, after all, it is still easy to receive returns in this case.

Cheng Jingzhou has been busy with this matter in the past few days.

There are a lot of wastelands in Feng County, and some of the locations are okay, but the location of most of the wastelands is not good, mainly because there is no water source, which is a big problem.

Without water, how can you grow food?

Whether it's growing wheat or sorghum, the lack of water is a big problem.

Cheng Jingzhou has consulted a lot of people for this, and at the same time read a lot of books, but he has never had a clue.

When Xie Rongzhao brought him soup, he accidentally knew why he was worried, so he mentioned it in passing.

"I remember that astragalus liked a little drier place, but I don't know if we can grow it here. And the price of astragalus seems to be quite expensive. ”

One sentence made Cheng Jingzhou stunned!

Yes, why did he only think about solving the water problem, but he didn't want to think about whether he could plant different crops?

Cheng Jingzhou patted his head: "It's me who is pictured!" Good baby, thanks to you, thanks to you for reminding me. You're my lucky star! ”

After all, compared with some long-term and cost-intensive methods such as building canals, if you choose the right plant, it will save time, effort and worry.

Of course, not all wastelands can be cultivated.

There are also places, judging by the soil, it is still possible to grow food, but it is necessary to dig canals.

Ordinary people are required to do labor once or twice a year, depending on local needs.

Feng County used to be sometimes once, and in some years it was twice.

Each period of hard labor is generally within 20 to 40 days.

This is prescribed by the law of the Great Rule, and the maximum period shall not exceed forty days.

So what if the construction period is longer?

This is easy to do, and you only need to change the batch of people to serve in labor.

Moreover, in the north, it is generally after the farm is slack, there will be labor arrangements, for example, after the autumn harvest, when wheat is planted, there is basically no farm work in the field, and labor can be performed at this time.

But the time of labor is generally forty days, no matter how long, the weather is too cold, not to mention the common people suffer, if it catches up with the cold early years, maybe the soil is frozen, and you can't dig it.

So, sometimes it's not just how you want to be.

After spring ploughing, it is also a slack time, so labor can also be arranged at this time.

According to the actual situation, Cheng Jingzhou, the county Cheng and the main bookkeeper decided to dig three canals first.

After all, Feng County has a river, so in a sense, there is no shortage of water.

Once the canal is dug, it is the common people who will benefit in the end.

Not only that, but in the event of heavy rainfall, they can also have a way to avoid the flooding.

This aqueduct is demarcated according to the actual geographical location and conditions.

Originally, the previous county magistrate also wanted to repair the canal, but there was no surplus in the county, and there was not enough money, so he gave up.

Don't think that if you don't pay people for hard labor, you can make a day worker.

You have to take care of three meals a day, right?

Not only that, but there are also places to live that have to be arranged, and hundreds of people come to serve as laborers, and just eating here can make the county government poor in a few days.

I'm not afraid now.

They have silver in their treasury.

Not to mention the taxes and fines that were paid on their own initiative, but only the taxes collected this spring are much more than in previous years.

Therefore, the county can fully bear this part of the cost, and there is no need to report it layer by layer.

After the county order was reported last year, it has not been approved, so I stopped thinking about it, and this time, although Cheng Jingzhou thought that there was silver in the county, he still handed it over.

After all, it costs a lot of money to build this canal, and these people can't be allowed to eat too poorly, not to mention that there is meat every day, they have to eat it once every seven or eight days, otherwise, this body and bones can't bear it.

Cheng Jingzhou himself is also a little cautious.

This year, they Fengxian reported the results of Qingzhang early, and he thought that this matter could be regarded as showing his face in front of the emperor, so it should not be so difficult for him to apply for some silver to dig a canal.

All in all, if you can use the money in the treasury, you can use the money in the treasury first, and as for these in your own county government, you should keep them first, it is really a catastrophe, and the court may not be able to take care of them for a while.