Memoirs of the Heavenly Khan

Chapter 17 If the court knew about this, he would be beheaded
Jia Sixie finally arrived!

He led the villagers of Taiping Village and Qifumoyu's tribe south and arrived at Li Shuang's manor.

"Lao Jia, you are finally here!"

What surprised Jia Sixie was that the first person to welcome him was not Li Shuang, but the rough and rude Hou Jing.

"What's wrong with you?"

Hou Jing looked messy at the moment, and there was an indescribable sense of decadence in both his clothes and spirit.

"Troublemakers, these are just a bunch of troublemakers!"

Hou Jing expressed his grievances.

Hou Jing was good at fighting, but production and management were not his strong points.

In recent days, a large number of Han refugees have gathered outside the manor.

Hou Jing wanted to discipline them, but they refused to obey at all.

After hearing this, Jia Sixie laughed.

"You're using the wrong method."

"method?"

"You forget, these are refugees, not soldiers. If you manage them the same way you manage an army, won't there be chaos?"

"If I had to, it would have to be you, Lao Jia!"

Hou Jing clapped his hands and cried with joy.

"I won't say anything more. I'll leave these troublemakers to you!"

After saying this, Hou Jing fled away.

Hou Jing only wanted to train the army and didn't want to take care of production at all.

……

After meeting Li Shuang, Jia Sixie quickly began to govern Li Shuang's subordinates according to his own methods.

After Erzhu Rong went south, he occupied the entire Sizhou and gave a large area of ​​land north of the Hutuo River to Li Shuang.

Jia Sixie led people to count the number of acres of land in Li Shuang's territory, settled the homeless refugees as tenants, and distributed land to them.

The surplus refugees were settled near the manor, where they planted fruit trees, raised bees and mulberry trees, made pottery, smelted iron and spun textiles...

Under the rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Sizhou area was a place where both agriculture and animal husbandry were developed.

Those Hu herdsmen were settled outside the manor to guard the animal pens and raise livestock.

By winter, order had been restored inside and outside the entire manor.

In the newly renovated manor, Jia Sixie handed the account book to Li Shuang.

Li Shuang flipped through the account book and found that there were more than 30,000 tenant farmers, more than 10,000 herdsmen, and more than 5,000 craftsmen in the manor.

In addition, there are more than 70,000 cattle and sheep, more than 6,000 camels and horses, and more than hundreds of hawks and dogs in the livestock pens.

The treasury contained more than 200,000 dan of grain, 10,000 pieces of cloth and silk, 1,000 barrels of wine, hundreds of rare items, 5,000 pieces of armor, over a thousand pieces of horse equipment, and more than 30,000 pieces of various weapons.

"My Lord, the land in Sizhou isn't particularly fertile, and the Hutuo River doesn't flow abundantly, making droughts very common. To ensure a stable grain production, I suggest implementing deep plowing to conserve moisture within the territory. At the same time, we should build several small reservoirs and canals connecting the farmland to prepare for emergencies."

The so-called deep plowing to conserve moisture is to break the "plow bottom layer" formed by shallow plowing, deepen the plowing layer to 20-30 cm, promote soil loosening, increase water storage space, and at the same time reduce soil moisture evaporation, maintain soil moisture (soil moisture), and ensure water supply for crops in the dry season.

"In order to reduce manpower, I suggest taking the cattle out of the animal pens and distributing them among the tenants to use for farming."

Li Shuang naturally would not question Jia Sixie's professionalism.

"We need to plow deeply to conserve moisture, and we need to build canals and reservoirs. Even with oxen, I'm afraid we still won't have enough manpower," Jia Sixie pondered. But for now, there was no other solution. The manpower shortage wasn't something that could be solved quickly.

"Even if we don't have enough manpower, things still need to be done. I will find a way!"

"Jin is in turmoil. Duke Liang (Erzhu Rong) will eventually go on an expedition, and our army will follow him. We should quickly settle all the farming matters."

As he spoke, Li Shuang picked up a drawing from his desk and handed it to Jia Sixie.

"I don't have anything I can help you with. Take this blueprint out and have a look!"

Jia Sixie took a look at the drawing that Li Shuang handed to him, frowned slightly, and murmured softly about the three big words on the drawing.

"Quyuanli!"
-
From autumn to winter, Yang Kan and Gao Gao never left each other.

After winter came, seeing that the order around the manor had become well-maintained, they both took the initiative to come to Li Shuang, wanting him to accept them as his retainers.

"You two are both from aristocratic families. It would not be difficult for you to enter the imperial court and become officials. You have great prospects. Why do you want to be my retainers?"

Although the Yang family of Taishan and the Gao family of Bohai cannot compare with the four major surnames of Cui, Lu, Zheng and Wang, they are also well-known surnames among the states and counties, and have produced many talented people.

Li Shuang was just a bandit, and in front of these aristocratic families, he was at the bottom of the contempt chain.

Yang Kan bowed and said:
"Before I came here, I had intended to go to Luoyang and join the army of General Xiao Baoyin. But after arriving here and seeing what my lord has done, I decided to join him."

"What I did?"

If the person who said this was not Yang Kan, Li Shuang would have thought that the other party was mocking him.

"My lord, despite being a humble figure, barely even reaching adulthood, has already achieved such success. This is truly a testament to his ability to master both civil and military tactics. His ability to employ and discern people is unparalleled in the world. Most importantly..."

Yang Kan took a deep breath and said with a folded hand:

"In my lord, I see the hope for the prosperity of my Han family."

That’s right, Yang Kan is a die-hard supporter of the Xinghan faction!

After hearing this, Li Shuang felt a little uncomfortable.

Even though he knew that Yang Kan was an honest man and rarely lied, his flattery was too much.

"I am not flattering you, but speaking from the bottom of my heart. Since the Yongjia Rebellion and the Five Barbarians' invasion of China, our Han nation has long been in decline. The Han people are already deeply afraid of the barbarians. However, my lord was able to use poor and weak refugees to punish the brutal barbarians. I admire you deeply."

Li Shuang scratched his head and looked at Gao Gao.

"What about you? Do you think the same as Yang Kan?"

"It's true that I can't stand the morality of those barbarians, but a big reason I stay here is because I committed a crime."

Gao Gao recounted the whole story of how he was hunted down by the Cui family of Boling.

"Although the Bo Ling Cui family is not as prominent as the Qinghe Cui family, it is still one of the most prominent families in Hebei. I can't return to Xin County for the time being, and I don't want to go to Luoyang. Of course, after meeting the lord, I still think it's interesting to stay with the lord."

"What's so interesting about me?"

"For example, I'd steal the livestock from the imperial animal pens, drive refugees to attack the manors of the nobles, and dismantle the imperial garrison materials to build my own manor and walls... These are all acts of rebellion I'd like to do but haven't yet!"

Li Shuang quickly covered his mouth, fearing that others would hear him.

"What nonsense are you talking about? If the imperial court finds out, you'll be beheaded!"

"Then my lord, are you willing to accept me?"

"Recently, my army has grown to six thousand. In addition to my own three thousand armored men and five hundred cavalry, I will train another two thousand brave warriors. Each of you will lead a thousand-man squadron!"

The so-called military households were different from the tenant farmers and herdsmen in the manor. Their entire family served the military. They were mainly villagers from Taiping Village, a few elite surrendered Hu people, and bandits who had surrendered from Jin and were familiar with Li Shuang.

"Thank you, my lord!"

(End of this chapter)