Take the farm down to earth

Chapter 171
Having had the experience of opening up wasteland once, Shi Zhongkui only needed to give orders, and with the Landlord watching over him, he basically didn't need to worry about the early preparations.

And this time it is even easier to find someone to donate food and grass, and to get money for land reclamation from the Ministry of Households.

Even the family that made a profit from opening up wasteland last time directly blocked the doors of several heads and doctors of the household department.

Five thousand shi of grain and 10,000 taels of silver were quickly approved.

This time, no one in the household department dared to give him broken silver.

In addition to the 6 shi of grain donated by the gentry, it is enough to consume 10 field soldiers in Daxing and Wanping for [-] months.

After Shi Zhongkui thought about it, he simply repeated the old trick.

Let Xue Biao take 1 taels of silver to exchange for broken silver.

Because the number is not large, there are Xue's shops and channels to cover.After being dispersed, it didn't attract the attention of outsiders, and didn't even stir up a little splash.

10,000 taels of silver ingots can be exchanged for 1.1 taels of silver.

Using the space farm, 1.1 silver ingots appeared in his hands again, and he ordered people to exchange for broken silver again.

After repeating this several times, the silver in his hand became 1.46 taels.

Take out 5000 taels of silver and buy 8 stones of miscellaneous grains.

Then buy iron shovels, hoes and other things in large quantities.

In just a few days, there was only 5000 taels of silver left in his hand.

Tuntian Division also called 6000 people together.

The only trouble is that there are 1.5 garrison soldiers in Gyeonggi, but they only need 6.

The remaining 9 unselected Tuntian soldiers did not dare to make trouble, but it was inevitable to keep complaining.

Shi Zhongkui, who originally planned to pick up the plane to train troops, waited for winter or next spring, when the grassland changed suddenly, rode his horse and took Shi Xingguo, Shi Xingtai, Shi Xingmin, Shi Xing'an and twenty family members to the camp.

Gather 6000 young and strong people to start training.

After the assessment of items such as marching without a load, lifting stone locks, etc., soon more than 1000 people were eliminated.

When the remaining 9000 people heard the chance of 8 to 1, everyone was gearing up.

The 6000 people finally selected are definitely the best group of people.

Although the combat power is not even comparable to that of the Beijing camp, there is absolutely no problem with his physical fitness, and he is very obedient.

Then Shi Zhongkui wrote to the Ministry of Industry, requesting to dispatch a member of the Ministry of Industry, Wailang Jia Zheng, to cooperate with the farming.

As soon as this letter entered the Ministry of Industry, the news quickly spread to everyone.

But everyone knew that Shi Zhongkui was helping his wife's second uncle, but no one could say anything.

Because what Jia Zheng has to do is very simple, just to be a bridge of communication, and all the real work is handed over to Fang Lishun and other small officials.

Since he was a clay bodhisattva who didn't even handle money, naturally no one would argue with Jia Zheng.

But when the news got back to Jia's family, everyone was happy except Jia Baoyu, Jia She, Mrs. Xing and others.

Although Jia Zheng is a Yuanwailang from the fifth rank, his rank is the master of the fifth rank.

If he made contributions, he might be able to become a fourth-rank official, but Jia Zheng had waited for more than ten years and failed to achieve this level.

Jia Lian soon came to the door with generous gifts, and then Yuan Chun in the palace also rewarded Baochai and Yingchun with a lot of things from the inner court.

And when Shi Zhongkui returned home with Yingchun dressed in five-rank imperial uniform, the entire Jia family was mobilized.

Not only Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng greeted him at the main gate, but even Jia's mother appeared outside the second gate waiting for him and Yingchun.

And Yingchun's five-rank imperial uniform made all the female family members of the Jia family envious to death.

It's not that Jia's daughter-in-law doesn't have an order.

Not to mention Jia Mu who is super-grade, Mrs. Xing can wear third-grade uniforms, and Mrs. Wang and Wang Xifeng can also wear fifth-grade imperial uniforms.

But what everyone envied was that at such a young age, Shi Zhongkui was already at the same level as Jia Zheng.

And when it comes to rights, the entire Jia family probably can't compare with Shi Zhongkui.

That is to say, in less than ten years, Yingchun's imperial rank will definitely be lower than Jia Mu's super rank.

How can this not make the female family members of the Jia family envious?
When Yingchun returned home this time, she finally felt elated.

Moreover, before coming, Shi Zhongkui repeatedly told him that everything can be relied on by him, so there is no need to worry about Jia Amnesty, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang and the like.

Moreover, when Jia Lian came to thank her, she told him to ask Wang Xifeng to take good care of her when she returned home in Yingchun.

On the one hand, Wang Xifeng has an eye for money, and on the other hand, he cares about saving face the most.

Looking at the sixteen gifts Jia Lian brought back, as well as the letter of thanks written by Shi Zhongkui himself, he suddenly felt that Shi Zhongkui, the second brother-in-law, would be a man.

In addition, after Yingchun married, she was not only Jia Lan's aunt, but also his teacher and wife.

Li Wan is only concerned about Jia Lan's future, and will definitely take care of Yingchun at all times.

The two granddaughters-in-law took care of them together, and Mrs. Wang was most concerned about Jia Zheng's promotion, so she could only put down her face and treat Yingchun as amiable.

Even if Mrs. Xing wanted to plot something from Yingchun, let alone open her mouth, she didn't even have the chance to be alone with her.

However, although Mrs. Xing is selfish and stupid, her appetite is actually not great.

In other words, you have no rights in Rongguo Mansion all year round. Even if you are greedy for money, two or 300 taels per year are considered high incense.

Faced with Shi Zhongkui's one hundred silver dollars and a dozen other gifts, Mrs. Xing was actually very satisfied.

Looking at the situation, you can receive three gifts of 50 taels of silver every time you do something during the holidays.

And let alone spending money on Yingchun, it basically means ignoring Yingchun.

There is no sacrifice, but there are rewards every year. This marriage is really perfect.

But Jia Amnesty was not reconciled.

But it's a pity that Shi Zhongkui didn't like him at all.

A greedy and lustful old dandy, he can't compare to Shi Zhongkui in reasoning, let alone in power.

Wanting to use his father-in-law's status to pressure him, Shi Zhongkui simply ignored him.

Anyway, the proper etiquette was done, and no one could criticize it, and it only cost a few dozen taels of silver.

Think of it as sending off beggars.

The angry Jia Amnesty blew his beard and stared, but there was nothing he could do.

But this time when she returned home, Yingchun was in a very good mood, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that she was elated.

Years of silt in my heart was swept away, and I was so gentle towards Shi Zhongkui.

But the Jia family was scolded afterwards.

And the scolding is still relatives and family friends.

The reason was simple, the dishes on the banquet were absolutely fine, but the wine he drank was several grades worse than the eight-treasure wine Xue Pan provided.

As for Jia Lian, his shares in Babao Wine belong to Xue Pan in name.

If you say it, not only will you lose your shares, but you will definitely be beaten up by Jia Amnesty.

So even though the Jia family was ashamed, Jia Lian still held back and didn't say anything or do anything.

Not to mention how Yingchun served Shi Zhongkui after he brought his wife home.

Everything was ready for the preliminary work at the Tuntian Division. Shi Zhongkui looked at the map drawn by the three land lords of Daxing, Wanping and Changping, and the mountain god for a long time, and finally chose Chenjiagou in Changping as the land reclamation site. .

In addition to having to have a water source, this place is only 9 kilometers away from the nearest Great Wall.

Most importantly, Chenjiagou has a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides.

Although the valley is not big, it is as big as three football fields, and there is no problem in stationing 6000 people.

Moreover, by using mountain rocks and soil excavated from land reclamation to pile up at the exit of the ravine, two simple city walls 20 meters long and two to three meters high can easily be erected.

At that time, you can retreat to defend, and advance to rescue the front line of the Great Wall.

The grain and grass can also last for more than a year, and there are water sources in the valley. The enemy's grain and grass that can be dragged by the troops for half a year are exhausted.

Not to mention those prairie people who can't survive, it is impossible to surround this oilless valley for a long time.

After everything was almost ready, the two large camps of 6000 people set out with equipment, food and grass, and Shi Zhongkui stayed in the camp for two days.

While pretending to look for water sources, he commanded the Tuntian soldiers to camp in Chenjiagou.

Grain, tools, ironware and other things were also pulled into the valley.

Xue Jinping and Yan Guixiang observed for two days, and found Shi Zhongkui to persuade him, "My lord, although this place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is also a dead place. Once besieged, we can only wait for help."

Shi Zhongkui also knew this, and said with a smile, "I'm just here to open up wasteland and farm, and we're inside the Great Wall, so we don't have to worry about being trapped to death.

Camping here was chosen for safety and ease of management at night.

And since there are mountain springs in the valley, I guess there must be other sources of water.

If found, this place can not only be used as a backup military base on the front line of the Great Wall in the future, but also about [-] mu of new fields can be opened in the flat area between the hills within a radius of ten miles outside the valley.

At that time, [-] to [-] mu of farmland will be allocated for military settlements, enough to maintain the food and grass expenses of [-] Great Wall defenders. "

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but nodded.

Shi Zhongkui continued with a smile, "After the military settlement is opened, noble officials in the capital will build farms here, and it will be impossible for this place not to set up troops in the future."

Everyone knows this truth. In fact, there are still many water sources and plains in the north of Gyeonggi.

However, because it is close to the outside of the customs, it faces threats from horse thieves and nomadic cavalry from time to time, so the population has not been able to increase.

In addition, if you want to open up wasteland, you can only rely on the squire to provide tools, manpower and material resources. It is not bad to be able to open up ten or twenty acres of land every year.

More importantly, although there is no shortage of water sources, it is more difficult to attract water than to open up wasteland.

The harvest is predictable in a farmland that is completely dependent on the sky.If you don't do it well, you will lose everything.

Since it is worthless, no nobles and officials will miss this place.

And to put it bluntly, the frontier troops stationed here are often more hateful than horse thieves and nomadic cavalry.

After placating the two officials, large and small, in the Tuntian camp, Shi Zhongkui still sent two memorials to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War after thinking about it.

After getting the approval of the two yamen, the construction began.

However, it was late October at this time, and there was not much time to actually start construction.

Once the temperature drops below zero, even the ground is frozen, basically you can only hide in a tent.

Shi Zhongkui originally did not intend to dig out the underground water veins within this year.

But think about it, if there is no water source enough to irrigate tens of thousands of acres of land, there is no reason for the soldiers to stay here all the time.

There is no reason to start building houses for the winter.

At that time, if you only live in tents, you will definitely suffer from frostbite or even freeze to death.

And don't give the soldiers in the field some confidence, ten days and a half months is fine, but if they stay here all winter, it is inevitable that the army will be unstable.

At night, in the lord's tent, Shi Zhongkui summoned the mountain god and the land.

It didn't take long for a plan to be drawn up.

Having experienced the Changgou Wetland in Wanping, Qiu Yougang, the god of Tianshou Mountain, could easily estimate the size of the fountain enough to irrigate 5 mu of farmland based on the water output from the fountain in the wetland.

In the next few days, Shi Zhongkui led people in the valley during the day, holding a compass and other things in his hand to look here and there.

At night, the mountain god mobilized the power of the mountains and quietly began to transform the outlets of the underground rivers.

Collect more than a dozen self-fountains, and wait for Shi Zhongkui to order people to dig up the mountain, and spring water will naturally gushes out.

And in order to avoid water cut-off during the dry season, the water outlet this time has become three spring caves with one high and two low.

Using the principles of fire, water, and thermal expansion and contraction again, the first water outlet was opened in only one day.

"Out of the water, out of the water."

Thousands of field soldiers and officials, big and small, were overjoyed, but at the same time, they couldn't help but have full confidence in Shi Zhongkui's ability.

After all, the first time can still be said to be a fluke, but the second time is definitely a real skill.

Thousands of people cheered and saluted him again, and the huge power of vows gathered on his head again.

Seeing the gods of the sun, the private soldiers, the land gods and the mountain gods are very envious.

But what Shi Zhongkui didn't know was that because the water vein was cut off, the water level in a deep valley pool more than 30 kilometers away from Chenjiagou gradually dropped.

It's okay if no one lives in this pool.

But there actually lived a snake demon who had practiced for 200 years.

If the snake monster couldn't find the reason, it might have knocked on the door the next night.

But if he really hit the door, even if he was not beaten to death by the helper Shi Zhongkui recruited from the heaven.

After being subdued, Shi Zhongkui will definitely use the characteristics of the space ranch to subdue him.

Shi Zhongkui used the purple gold and red gourd again to collect the huge incense ball on his head.

Then let Xue Biao take the money and take people to the nearby area to buy [-] sheep and come back. A meal of mutton and haggis is ready, and the whole camp is full of tempting aromas.

But this kind of big pot of mutton can only be regarded as commonplace for Shi Zhongkui.

If you want to eat meat, just take out a piece of beef and mutton from the space farm, turn it into a kebab and roast it on the charcoal fire. Just add a little salt and chili powder and it will be a delicious meal.

And no one said anything, let alone where the meat skewers in his hand came from.

The officials of Tuntian Division thought it was brought by Xue Bian or his servants, and Xue Bian and others thought it was filial piety of Tuntian Division.

After eating the meat skewers and fruits, Shi Zhongkui silently looked at the cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks in the pasture, as well as the more than 4000 catties of meat that had been stored in the warehouse these days.

Three hundred catties of meat per day, plus 18 catties of wheat per day on 540 farmlands in the farm, are enough to support a team of 500 people cavalry to fight guerrillas on the grassland.

If it is inside the Great Wall, the number of people will have to drop three to five times.

Because there is no grassland, the food and grass consumed by war horses every day is definitely three to five times that of humans.

Moreover, the Tuntian soldiers are not even regular soldiers, not to mention war horses, they don't even have a few sets of armor, and their weapons are only spears and a few long knives.

In the entire camp, there are only more than thirty horses combined by officials, big and small.

Fortunately, once there is a war, it should be no problem to mobilize a batch of weapons and armor from the Ministry of War.

But horses can be difficult.

If you want to mobilize one hundred, or even three or five hundred horses, you can only ask the imperial court.

(End of this chapter)