"Whoa!!"

In July, in the festive atmosphere of the craftsmen, Zhu Gaoxu took a warship and ten horse boats, more than 1,200 Han soldiers and 500 boatmen to set out on the road to Zhaozhou City.

Facing the receding river, the soldiers and boatmen on the boat rocked the oars, adjusted the sails, and steered the boat upstream.

"Alas, I ran so far that I didn't even see a ...... Hulu"

"Who said no, I thought that after this battle, I would at least receive some reward."

"You little family, I want to be promoted."

"Look at the Northern Tour, the Northern Tour can't still encounter nothing."

"Don't ...... Crow's Beak"

On the deck of the boat, Zhu Gaoxu listened to the complaints of the soldiers not far away, chuckled and shook his head.

The existence of Atai Wailan can no longer attract his attention.

The main reason why he came this time was to find a place to train private soldiers and forge guns and guns.

Now that the goal has been achieved, there is no need to make any extraneous problems.

Compared with Atai Wailan, the Wuliang Hada Grass Valley is what Zhu Gaoxu wants.

Atai Wailan's size is too small for him now.

For example, if it weren't for the fact that Kulawan City was taken this time, if it weren't for its position being important enough, Zhu Gaoxu wouldn't have wanted to fight it at all.

Just a few thousand acres of cultivated land, but the amount that can be reclaimed in Jilin City in eight or nine days, is really unattractive.

In comparison, Wuliangha's tens of thousands of cattle and sheep are what Zhu Gaoxu covets.

While he was thinking like this, the boat continued to move north in the rowing of oars.

Although they were sailing against the current, they did not have the trouble of building a water post when they came, so they returned much faster than when they came.

For ten days in a row, they traveled more than 1,200 miles by boat and successfully arrived at the Andong City Water Station.

Ten consecutive days of rowing and rowing made the brothers on the boat tired, and Zhu Gaoxu also ordered to get off the boat and rest for a day.

Hearing him say this, all the soldiers immediately jumped off the boat and came to the dock of Andong City.

The wharf of Andong City was built by Lin Su last year, and according to the new construction method given by Zhu Gaoxu, the foundation was laid here, the cement was poured, and finally a military wharf covering an area of more than two acres was formed.

On the wharf, there is a hundred households and a temporary warehouse covering an area of one acre.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu, the soldiers of the hundred households sang one after another, and Chen Chang, who learned the news, also rode a horse.

When he arrived, Zhu Gaoxu was observing the temporary warehouse, and when he walked out, he happened to see Chen Chang who was about to turn over and dismount.

"No need to dismount!" Zhu Gaoxu interrupted Chen Chang's movements with a smile, and walked to Chiyu's side and turned over on his horse, and smiled at Chen Chang: "Let's go, see how this Andong City is managed by you." ”

"Yes!" Chen Chang didn't smile, but Mu Ne's gesture was subordinate, and half a position behind Zhu Gaoxu, introducing him to the current Andong City.

Lin Su rushed to Zhaozhou City half a month ago, because he and Fu asked them to go to Nanjing City at the end of the year to report on their work, so they will participate in this northern tour, and after the northern tour is over, they will go south before winter.

Today's Zhaozhou City is Fu Rang who is coordinating the overall situation, and Lin Su and Zhang Chun and others are cooperating.

Speaking of Andong City, as the old nest of Xiyangha, Xiyangha has managed it really well, not to mention the location.

After Fu Rang and Lin Su successively took over Andong City, the two built a wharf and a temporary warehouse on the original basis, and used stone mills to open up a two-zhang post road from the wharf to Andong City.

The two-zhang wide post road is four miles long, and although it looks very smooth, it is actually arched, high in the middle and low on both sides.

Next to the road, there are two ravines on the left and right, one foot wide and one foot deep, which are used to drain the Songhua River to prevent the road from silting.

Since there has been no rain in Andong City recently, the post road is very smooth and there are no signs of potholes.

However, in this regard, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting in the saddle, still explained to Chen Chang: "After the cement production comes up, in addition to the necessary canals, you can also use it to build roads, don't worry about it." ”

"Yes......" Chen Chang is still so taciturn, but fortunately, Zhu Gaoxu has become accustomed to it.

The two walked a mile forward, and soon saw the soldiers who were organizing the reclamation of the wasteland, as well as hundreds of teams of three people and one ploughing ox.

Looking at their wasteland, Zhu Gaoxu also asked: "How much arable land is there in Andong City now, and how much can be cleared every year?" ”

"There are more than 19,400 acres of cultivated land,......" Chen Chang replied subconsciously, and said in detail: "According to what Commander Lin said, almost every year from April 12 to the fifth day of September, and then start harvesting grain, and the remaining days are used to prepare firewood. ”

"According to last year's experience, at least 8,000 acres of land can be cleared within a year."

"However, this winter, Andong City accepted the participation of three small tribes, and now the number of mouths in the city has reached 6,672 people, in addition to his own brothers and relatives of the Han family, there are more than 5,300 people, so the speed of land reclamation is much faster than last year, and nearly 100 acres of land can be opened every day recently."

"Good!" Hearing that Andong City's reclamation was on the right track, Zhu Gaoxu also said with a smile: "This northern tour, if enough cattle and sheep are captured, I will send someone to send more to Andong City in the way of three people and one head." ”

Zhu Gaoxu's promise finally made Chen Chang have a smile on his face, and he responded: "If you can really plough a cow for three people, then Andong City will be able to open up at least 20,000 acres of mature land in the coming year!" ”

"Calm the savages a lot, don't worry about the food, I will be responsible for the food." Hearing Chen Chang say this, Zhu Gaoxu knew that he still hadn't let go of his burden.

"I don't have a fixed amount for appeasing savages, there is only one sentence, and that is that the more the better."

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu say this, Chen Chang was stunned, he knew very well the family background of Jilin City, even if another 300,000 mu of wasteland was opened up this year, but Jilin City, which was only 600,000 mu, could only produce 450,000 stone grain at most.

With this amount of food, it is already very difficult to raise 80,000 or 90,000 people, and the army can only rely on the annual and monthly rations issued by the imperial court.

However, His Royal Highness opened his mouth, and he did it himself, if he was really worried about not having enough to eat, then he should save in the places that should be saved on weekdays, and open up more ripe fields to reduce the pressure on His Royal Highness.

In the middle of his thoughts, Chen Chang raised his hand and said: "The last general will take the order." ”

During Chen Chang's reply, Zhu Gaoxu also came to the former Buyan Fort, and now Andong City.

The original wooden wall is gone, replaced by a stone wall built by digging stones and cement in the wasteland.

The scale of the city is much smaller than the original Buyan Fort, and the city walls are only one foot and four feet high.

Walking through the city gate, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the thickness of the city wall, about six feet, which was relatively crowded.

Walking into the city, the eyes suddenly opened up.

In the distance, the Buyan Stone Fort is still there, and some of the former vacant land was used to build a private workshop, some were used to build military camps, treasury and granaries, and some were opened up as seedling fields.

Zhu Gaoxu pointed to the seedling field in the distance with a horsewhip and asked: "Did you get this seedling field or did Lin Su make it?" ”

"It was made by Commander Lin before the winter last year, a total of 100 acres, which can raise 4,000 acres of rice seedlings." Chen Chang replied, and at the same time said:

"The fields on the north side of the city have now been turned into paddy fields and have been planted with rice."

"But we still have to wait until the autumn harvest to see how much we can produce, after all, it is the first time we have grown rice in such a cold place."

Andong City is colder than Jilin City, there is no doubt about this, after all, the straight-line distance between the north and south of the two places is more than 500 miles, and the winter is also Andong City seven or eight days earlier, and the spring is ten days late.

As soon as this comes and goes, the rice in Andong City will be less than half a month in the spring, and it will naturally face the embarrassing situation of late planting and early harvesting.

"Take good care of it......"

Sighing, Zhu Gaoxu also visited Andong City on the road led by Chen Chang.

The construction of Andong City is basically similar to that of Jilin City, whether it is a fire road, a fire wall, or a sewer, sewage canal, or cement road, it can basically be said that it is carved out of a mold.

After a brief look at the situation in the city, Zhu Gaoxu rested in the former Buyan Stone Fort and now the Andong Thousand Households under Chen Chang's arrangement.

The next day, with 500 soldiers from Andong City, he once again set foot on the waterway to Zhaozhou City.

On the waterway, Zhu Gaoxu and the others passed through the former Jin Shangjing, which was later Harbin.

However, there is no prosperity of the Jin Dynasty, let alone the advancement of Harbin in later generations, and there are only ruins of ruins covered by shrubs.

"It is possible to build another big city here in the future, the boundaries of Andong City are always a bit narrow, and there are so many discarded bricks and tiles here, it is not difficult to build a small city."

Zhu Gaoxu explained to the military officials on the deck, and asked the ship to dock, and he rode ashore to see the ruins.

After more than 100 years of time changes, the once water canal has collapsed and congested, and the fertile land has become a riverbank grassland.

On the ruins of the original capital, there are broken bricks and tiles everywhere, and there are many decaying and collapsed houses.

Zhu Gaoxu picked up a broken stone brick and tested its strength.

Because it is cut from stone, it has not lost much in strength for more than 100 years, but the fired bricks are no longer useful.

Dropping the stone brick in his hand, Zhu Gaoxu said to the officials who followed behind him:

"These bricks can be collected to build a city, and the burned bricks, although rotten, can also be broken to build sewers."

Zhu Gaoxu explained like this, and at the same time rode around the ruins of the capital, and said as he walked: "If this ruins are rebuilt, according to the original situation, a city with a scale of more than 100,000 people can be built, but we don't need it that big, just build it a little bit, and the fields are easy to reclaim again." ”

When the officials heard him say this, they also nodded in agreement.

Most of the land around the ruins of Shangjing City is flat, and although it has been abandoned, it was cultivated by humans more than 100 years ago.

Although there are some small trees, at least there are no stones from the impact of the river, and as long as people are given food, they can be restored to their former appearance in a few years.

"Let's go."

Time is tight, and since methods and suggestions have been given, there is no need for Zhu Gaoxu to continue to stay.

After leading the people back to the ship, Zhu Gaoxu rushed all the way to Zhaozhou City in the west.

On July 12, Zhu Gaoxu finally came to the boundary of Zhaozhou City and saw the dock of Zhaozhou City.

"Your Highness!!"

On the wharf, after the soldiers on duty saw the flags hung with characters such as 'Bohai' and 'Zhu', many people shouted loudly towards the fleet, and took the initiative to take the boat to guide the fleet into the wharf.

After getting off the ship, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the ship's position, and sure enough, he saw ten 200 ships with a length of two or three zhang and a draft of no more than four or five feet.

The cement wharf was very comfortable to walk on, and as in Andong City, Zhu Gaoxu first arranged for the army to get off the ship to rest, and then went to the warehouse of the wharf to take a look.

There, thousands of stone of grain and beans were piled up, apparently all of which had just arrived.

"Have all the horses arrived?"

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and asked Chen Ming, the official of the hundred households on duty, and when he faced Zhu Gaoxu at the age of twenty-five or six, he gave people a very immature feeling.

He shyly said: "Back to Your Highness, 5,000 horses and 2,000 military horses have been transported." ”

As a result, there were more people sending troops than expected last year, so the number of horses used as a means of transportation naturally increased.

Hearing that everything was ready, Zhu Gaoxu was also satisfied.

Maybe there were too many things in Zhaozhou City, so Fu Rang and Lin Su didn't find them for a long time.

Zhu Gaoxu was not annoyed, and rushed to Zhaozhou City with 200 cavalry guards.

He had never been to Zhaozhou before, and he had a lot of curiosity this time.

Although Zhaozhou City is a military fort, it is much better than Andong City.

In order to pursue speed, Fu asked them to take 3,000 Jurchen people and 2,000 soldiers and horses to camp here, and built a cement road from Zhaozhou City to the wharf early.

The concrete road is not wide, only a few feet, and the thickness is only an inch.

With this thickness, Zhu Gaoxu estimates that in the future, I am afraid that he will be scolded for the tofu scum project in the countryside.

However, in the era when travel is either by legs or by horses, such a thick cement road can be regarded as quite perfect.

The distance between the Zhaozhou wharf and the city is much farther than that of Andong City, and after walking two miles in the woods, Zhu Gaoxu and the others saw the bright ahead.

When I walked out of the woods, there was a lively scene of thousands of shirtless people working.

"This Fu Rang, he knows how to use things."

Looking at the thousands of brothers and the thousands of horses driven by them, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what Fu asked them to do.

Taking advantage of the gathering of the army, they opened up the barren fields here to prepare for the coming year.

While he was teasing, more than a dozen shirtless figures appeared on the road ahead.

Fu Rang, Lin Su, Zhang Chun and others rode horses, and when they came to Zhu Gaoxu, Lin Su and Zhang Chun were guilty: "If you fail to greet Your Highness, the last general will be ashamed." ”

Compared with them, Fu Rang looked like a dead pig who was not afraid of boiling water, he didn't make a move, but pointed at the brothers who were working with a horsewhip, and said proudly: "Why, these days, I have opened up more than 3,000 acres of dry land and more than 200 acres of paddy fields for you before the pulling!" ”

"Good job, you are allowed to drink half a catty of rice wine tonight." Zhu Gaoxu smiled from ear to ear, after all, outside the customs, food is more expensive than real money.

It took more than a month to open up more than 3,000 acres of land, which was too cost-effective in Zhu Gaoxu's opinion.

Although the horses have lost a lot of weight, they can be fed more beans and forage to raise them, but the fields are not easy to cultivate.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu sighed: "If you go to the Liaodong Metropolitan Division, I'm afraid that if it weren't for the Liaodong Metropolitan Division, the cultivated fields of the Liaodong Metropolitan Division would have doubled in the next few years." ”

"You bastard...... What a joke. Fu Rang laughed for a while: "I went to Liaodong, but I didn't have so much grain and horses and cattle to let me waste casually." ”

"But your condition, as long as you give the order, it is a different person, and you can always open up good land."

Fu Rang's words are right, Jilin City can develop rapidly because Lao Zhu is giving Jilin City a blood transfusion, and Zhu Gaoxu is properly managed.

As long as money and food are given, it is not difficult to open up the wasteland.

Because of this, since the Qin and Han dynasties, the government has engaged in the drama of lending grain to the people to open up the wasteland and returning it in three years.

However, during this period, some dynasties had grain, borrowing one stone to repay two stones, and some dynasties were no different from lending, and if they didn't repay seven or eight stones, they didn't want to get out of the gate of the yamen.

Don't pay it back? If they don't pay it back, they will use the land to pay off their debts.

In this way, after three years of hard work, not only did he not get anything, but he was also saddled with a famine, and he had no choice but to take refuge in the gentry and become a tenant farmer under him.

A yamen like the Bohai Palace, which distributes rations free of charge and may not be able to eat the rations, is second to none in any dynasty or generation.

The same wasteland, take Mu Ying and Mu Chun, two experts in wasteland, as examples.

The two of them have been stationed in Yunnan for 14 years, and they have opened up millions of acres of cooked land, and this is just the result of Mu Ying's provision of 'one liter of grain a day' to the people who have opened up the wasteland.

Looking at Jilin City again, two and a half liters a day for adults and two liters a day for children.

Adults can say that they can eat it all if they have a big appetite, but children can't eat it at all.

If you eat too much, your body will naturally go to the fat and strong side, and you will naturally be good at work.

It's a pity that the oil and water are not enough, otherwise the consumption of food will come down.

Like later generations, when there is enough oil and water, even a man who is engaged in manual labor does not dare to say that he can buy two and a half catties of raw rice to cook and eat clean.

Even if you don't talk about future generations, just talk about Zhu Gaoxu himself.

He is a county king, with sufficient oil and water every day, even if he has great strength, he can only eat a pound of raw rice every day.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu thought about going to the Americas and getting peanuts to Daming.

Although the yield per mu of peanuts in this era is not as high as that of later generations, it is actually about 200 catties, and its oil yield is 40%.

That is to say, each mu of peanuts can basically produce 80 catties of oil, and the residue can also be used to make feed for sale.

In comparison, under normal conditions, only eight or nine buckets of soybeans have an oil yield of only 20%, and only 30% of good quality.

One acre of soybeans can only produce 30 to 50 catties of oil.

In terms of people's livelihood, this increase can make oil prices lower, so that more people can eat oil, and then reduce the intake of grains.

As for potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and other crops, they can be cultivated in places where wheat and rice cannot be cultivated, and the environmental requirements are not as harsh as wheat and rice, and they are excellent non-staple foods.

Every time he thinks of this, Zhu Gaoxu can't wait to take people to the Americas in person and bring all these things back.

When he was thinking so, he also walked with Fu and them not far from Zhaozhou City.

Looking into the distance, Zhu Gaoxu could clearly see the whole picture of Zhaozhou City, and Fu Rang also introduced him: "This Zhaozhou City, after all, the original intention of construction is a military fort, so the construction is not large, east and west, north and south are each 100 steps long, boxy, covering an area of 36 acres and six points. ”

"The city wall is one foot four feet high, eight feet wide, and one mile long......"

"It's not that I want to build too big, it's just that the cement can't keep up."

"If it weren't for this northern tour, I would be reluctant to use cement to build roads."

Fu Rang explained, and Zhu Gaoxu also asked, "How many characters can be accommodated in this city?" ”

"A hundred courtyards were built, each with 10 upside-down houses, and it was not a problem to accommodate 7,000 people."

When Fu Rang said this, they also rode into the city of Zhaozhou.

Sure enough, after crossing the road, what I saw was a cement road that was no more than a foot wide, and there were connected yards on both sides.

There are finger-wide holes in the walls of these one-foot courtyards, which are obviously used for archery.

Zhu Gaoxu turned over and dismounted, and found a courtyard with Fu Rang to take a look.

When I walked into the courtyard, I saw bungalows about eight feet high, and there was a ladder leading to the top of the bungalows.

Zhu Gaoxu walked up to take a look, the courtyard wall was about two feet higher than the bungalow, and people could squat and attack the people under the courtyard wall to counterattack.

With the strength of concrete, without the use of gunpowder and artillery, even a rushing car would have to hit it for half a day to break through the courtyard wall, not to mention that the road could not be used to rush the car at all.

It can be said that Fu Rang built Zhaozhou City into a turtle shell.

"Your place is well repaired, but it's not suitable for living."

Zhu Gaoxu stood on the roof, looking at the rows of courtyards around him, and smiled helplessly.

"I didn't intend to use this place for the people to live in, but if you want to expand it in the future, you can just think of it as a barracks or a prison cell."

Fu Rang was simply relieved, and Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to get off the bungalow and walk on the wall of Zhaozhou City.

He looked out of Zhaozhou City and was very satisfied with the topography of Zhaozhou City.

In this place of Ma Pingchuan, Zhaozhou City is the only mound, and outsiders have to attack on the back, while the Bohai Navy can defend it condescendingly.

Outside the city, close to Zhaozhou City, many fields have been opened up by Fu Rang in the past two months.

As Fu Rang said, there are thousands of acres, and the only problem is that there is no nursery field.

"I don't grow rice in this place, I want to open up the fields outside the city into bean fields, so that you can make your northern tour in the future."

Fu Rang said his thoughts, and Zhu Gaoxu also agreed after hearing it: "It's not bad, in the future, there will inevitably be more cavalry patrols here, and if you can provide enough beans, you don't need to transport it from Jilin City." ”

"When are you going to send troops?" Fu Rang looked at Zhu Gaoxu and asked, and Lin Su, Zhang Chun and others were also looking forward to it.

Facing their gaze, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled: "Then we have to see when my seventeenth uncle will send the news......

Meeting, update late

(End of chapter)