Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 264
Wuzhaibao does not hide its successful experience from the outside world, but the successful experience of Wuzhaibao is high investment and high harvest.A lot of manpower and financial resources have been invested, a lot of perfect water conservancy, various advanced agricultural tools, etc., but in the current Ming Dynasty, how many people are willing to invest in this way?Of course, there are no absolutes. Few people will do this, but it does not mean that no one will do it.

The success of Wuzhai Fort has made some people reflect that their successful experiences will eventually be learned by others.Among them are Tian Zhilong and others from Dongyang Town.Of course, if Tian Zhilong wanted to do this, there was also controversy within the Tian family. He was afraid that with a large amount of money invested, the gains would outweigh the losses. Moreover, after using the large farm, there would be some manpower surplus due to the use of sample farm tools. Where is the way out for the next tenant?Will there be any troubles at that time, and people will gossip behind their backs, saying that the Tian family is cold and heartless?
However, Tian Zhilong insisted on doing so, and he had his own views.Right now in Daming, there is never enough food in the north.Due to population growth, land annexation, and frequent disasters, the idea of ​​emphasizing business over agriculture in Jiangnan and other places is rampant. The food in the north is getting less and less, but the demand is increasing. It can be said that growing food will grow in the next few decades. All have bright prospects.

The increase in demand for commodity grain and the increase in prices have stimulated many landlords and farm owners in the north to change. Right now, in various parts of Daming, because of the fixed relationship between tenant farmers and family owners, they have only paid fixed rents and taxes for many years. Due to rising prices, Coupled with frequent famines of various kinds, the income of landlords in many places has been relatively reduced, and they are also reflecting.

Now that there are many people in Daming Liu, many places have hired workers. These people, not to mention the cost of wages, are also conducive to the deployment and use of manpower. Those who build water conservancy and use cattle, the use of hired workers is more convenient than tenant farmers.The experience of Wuzhai Fort also gave them inspiration. Tian Zhilong had planned that if some tenant farmers were deprived of their land and recruited as hired workers based on the experience of building Wuzhai Fort, although the initial investment was large, within a few years, The cost will be recovered, and due to the concentrated use of manpower and material resources, it can also effectively fight against natural disasters.

Tian Zhilong is well aware of the large-scale drainage, fertilization, and soil improvement measures adopted by the Wuzhaibao Farm.There are also seeders, harvesters, threshing machines and other things widely used in Wuzhaibao, which greatly expanded production efficiency. As Huang Junmen said, since Wuzhaibao came before, a new era has begun.After returning from Wuzhai Fort, looking at his own fields, the kind of farming, those tenant farmers, how dull they are, Tian Zhilong's determination has changed.

With such thoughts in mind, Tian Zhilong came to the sun-drying field, seeing everyone's worried and different expressions, but Tian Zhilong's heart was as hard as iron, he coughed and said: "Today I call Dear uncles, I have something to discuss with you... Everyone knows that the current year is not good. We, Yuci, are known as the land of fish and rice in Jindi, but we cannot escape natural disasters. Just last year, there was a severe drought in Taiyuan. In Yuci, Dongyang and other places, the harvest has also been greatly reduced. Not to mention that many people cannot get enough food and clothing, the harvest of my Huang family's rent has also been greatly affected... Maybe some people say that the owed rent will be paid in the next year. But who knows, will there be a catastrophe in the next year? If this continues, my Huang family's harvest will only decrease year by year. Of course, it's not everyone's fault, it's just God's reluctance! "

Seeing everyone listening intently, Tian Zhilong continued: "It's just strange that the world is like this, but in Wuzhaibao in the northwest of Shanxi, there was also a severe drought, but at the end of the year it was a bumper harvest, everyone is very strange. (Everyone discusses in the audience.) Tian is also strange. In recent years, the name of Wuzhai Fort has become more and more popular every year, so I couldn’t help but go to Wuzhai Fort last year. After I went, it was called Eye-opening, long-sighted. When people cultivate the land, the head of the field can’t be seen at a glance. Regardless of whether it is sowing or harvesting, they all use a kind of machine, which is enough for ten people. Their wheat fields are irrigated. The water is directly taken from the river by a large water truck, and the canals are built all the way to the fields. I have never heard of the fertilizers they use. If it is like this, even if it is a disaster year, there is no reason for not having a good harvest. ?”

"So Tian was also very moved and decided to learn from Wuzhaibao's experience. Everyone knows that at present, in our Dongyang renting method, everyone is busy with their own work. You have cattle, but I don't have cattle. How to use them? Need to repair Some rivers and canals, single households, what can be done? Everyone is required to repair, and there is no regulation on how to pay for the money and food. When the disaster comes, everyone has to take care of each other. If this continues, how can we not owe money? How can we resist natural disasters? Therefore, the current way of farming and renting land needs to be changed, just like the Wuzhai Fort.”

An older tenant farmer said: "It's just the young master of the field. After changing the way of renting, will I still have the land I'm waiting for? You know, we have a family now, there are old and young, and we have no land. I can't live."

Everyone said: "Yes, yes, please be kind to Young Master Tian!"

Seeing Tian Zhilong's resolute expression, everyone feared that he would not be able to change his opinion, so they had no choice but to accept it.And everyone has heard of Wuzhai Fort to some extent. Some storytellers once came to sing newspapers and talked about some things about Wuzhai Fort.In fact, everyone is also very strange. Others have a bad harvest in a catastrophe, but why does he have a good harvest in a catastrophe?Everyone couldn't figure it out, so they had to attribute to Huang Laifu, the owner of Wuzhai Fort, for his good skills.Young Master Tian wants to do this, and his argument is correct, and it is understandable for everyone to think about it.It's just that I'm worried about the livelihood of my family after the change. If I lose my land, we've been in Dongyang for decades, so why don't we have to leave our hometown?
Tian Zhilong said: "Fellow folks, I understand everyone's worries. Although there are many refugees in Dongyang now, there is no shortage of manpower to cultivate the land. However, the folks in Tian Zhilong for decades, I am not a hard-working person. The field has changed the way of farming. In the end, the original people will still be hired, and even if there is some surplus, Tian will open some workshops, and they will also be hired, so you don’t have to worry about this.”

After hearing Tian Zhilong's words, everyone was relieved.Although after changing from a sharecropper to a hired worker, I don't know what the future will be.But as long as there is work to do and something to eat, there is always some hope. No matter what the future is, everyone can only bite the bullet.

Since then, the changes in the Tian family began. Many people in the town talked about it, and there were all kinds of gossip. Many people were watching a good show.However, Tianzhilong's determination remains unchanged.He turned all tenant farmers into hired workers, and first signed a three-year contract.He made unified arrangements and organized manpower, first repaired water conservancy in various fields, built many canals, dug many wells, bought many Wuzhaibao waterwheels, and a large number of cattle.Although he invested a lot of money and was called a prodigal by some people, Tian Zhilong did not flinch.

He also purchased a large number of agricultural tools, seeds and fertilizers from Wuzhaibao.In addition, Tianzhilong is also very concerned about the production of the farm, and participates in the management of everything from buying grain seeds, soaking rice seeds, buying livestock, buying farm tools, planting seeds, planting seedlings to harvesting.

He also bought Wuzhaibao's agricultural book, according to which, he made detailed arrangements for the planting and management of each crop, and made production plans for each month of the year according to the month, solar terms, sunny weather, rainy, etc. strict rules and regulations.When it was fine in the first month, the hired workers were ordered to plow the fields, plant mulberry seedlings, arrange vegetables and wheat ditches, pour taro fields, and scrape weeds.When it is rainy, the hired workers are also ordered to repair mulberry, scrape weeds, make mud, carry dams, chop firewood, control borders, build roads and so on.Every day of the month, every employee has his or her own responsibilities.

In addition, the crops grown in his farm are also diverse, including rice, wheat, beans, rapeseed and so on.In addition, there are vegetables, jujube, peach, persimmon, cherry, orange and other fruits, sweet-scented osmanthus, safflower, bamboo, cypress, juniper, palm and other flowers and trees.Most sold.In his field alone, there are more than a thousand acres of safflower, and he can earn 900 taels of silver every year by selling safflower.

There are many rivers and fields in Dongyang Town, and Tian Zhilong bought a lot of land at a low price when the villagers fled farming to fish and the fields were abandoned.Following the example of Wuzhai Fort, the low-lying areas were dug into pools.There are more than a hundred ponds excavated, all of which are livestock and fish.On the pond, a house was built to raise pigs and chickens, and the fish were easy to fatten up by eating their dung.Vegetables were planted on the flatter side.The income alone is three times that of the usual pure farming.

What reassured the former tenant farmers was that Tian Zhilong did not treat them badly after their identities were changed to hired workers.On weekdays, one day of meat in summer and autumn and two days of vegetarian food, while working, one day of meat and three days of vegetarian food in spring and winter, the same is true when working.Moreover, one catty of meat and meat will feed eight people, five people per catty of pig intestines, and five people per catty of fish.And whether they are busy or not, there are still three people drinking a scoop of wine every day.Although this kind of treatment does not have the freedom of the tenant farmers, it is better than stability. The wages are paid every six months, and they are never in arrears, which greatly encourages the enthusiasm of the hired workers.

After the autumn harvest of this year, the farmland in Tianzhilong obviously had a much higher yield than others, and the water conservancy built and the farm tools bought, etc., will have a long-term harvest in the future.Seeing this, the surrounding landowners who were originally cynics were moved, and they followed Tian Zhilong's example in the second year.Within two years, the entire Dongyang Town was like this.Dongyang Town also affected Yuci County, and later affected the entire Taiyuan Prefecture.A wave of large farms has sprung up all over Taiyuan.

……

On February 24th, the 1596th year of Wanli ([-]), spring plowing had already begun for some time.From Wuzhaibao to Ningwu and other places, it was busy.However, on the [-]th, something happened in Wuzhai Fort, which had a huge impact and caused a great commotion in the local area.

The main cause of the incident was that several Wuzhai camp sergeants were jealous over a camp prostitute, and the two sides fought each other, resulting in the tragedy of three deaths and two injuries.When this incident happened, everyone was shocked, because the Wuzhaibao army is famous for its discipline and good military discipline. They did not expect such a thing to happen.

Huang Laifu was extremely angry. He ordered a thorough investigation. Although the matter was resolved in the end, there was one thing that caught Huang Laifu's attention. All the soldiers who fought each other were without wives.

After careful consideration, Huang Laifu finally ordered the disbandment of the camp prostitutes and transformed them all into female textile workers.In the end, he also ordered the sergeants in Laifu Camp, Wuzhai Camp, and Laoyingbao to limit their unmarried wives to marrying wives within one month, and the Wuzhaibao Propaganda Bureau would provide necessary assistance.In the future Wuzhaibao and other armies, Huang Laifu stipulated that if local people want to join the army, they must hold Wuzhaibao military household registration, must have a wife, and only those whose family members live in Wuzhaibao are eligible to join the army.

This incident was unpleasant, but what made Huang Laifu happy was that the flintlock guns of the Wuzhaibao Arms Bureau had been successfully developed and a batch had been produced.

The original idea of ​​making flintlock guns was to use gears. Wuzhaibao Military Bureau did not have the relevant talents to manufacture precision metal gears, so flintlock guns have not been made for a long time.But later, Huang Laifu changed his thinking, instead of using the steel wheel like a clockwork gear, he clamped a piece of flint directly on the jaw of the hammer, and there was an anvil next to the fire transmission hole. When shooting, pull the trigger. Next, hit the flint heavily on the edge of the fire door, sparks will come out, ignite the gunpowder, and the launch will be successful.

According to this idea, the tunnel-fired firearm was successfully manufactured, and Huang Laifu called this firearm equipped with an impact-type tunnel-fired mechanism Wuzhaibao tunnel-fired firearm.The successful development of the Wuzhaibao Tunnel Fire Gun is a good thing worth mentioning. In the future, the musket can also fight in the wind and rain.Moreover, the musket lacks the link of loading the matchlock, and the shooting speed is slightly faster.

Otherwise, like bird guns, except for a slightly different ignition structure, tunnel fire guns and arquebus guns have the same structure, and it also takes so much time to manufacture, making it difficult to mass-produce.According to the traditional methods of the Ming Dynasty, it also takes more than a month for a craftsman to manufacture the barrel of a flintlock gun. Even if there is mechanization in the future, although it can be improved, it cannot completely solve this problem.It may only reduce the time for drilling and manufacturing the gun barrel to two weeks.

However, the successful manufacture of tunnel-fired guns is a huge progress, and Huang Laifu ordered large-scale production.

Another thing is that from the 20th year of Wanli, when Huang Laifu joined forces with merchants to immigrate outside the Great Wall, to the large-scale immigration in the 21st year of Wanli, and at the beginning of this year, more than [-] Han Chinese have immigrated beyond the Great Wall, especially Qingshui River. And along the Huangpu River, there are already settlements all over the place.There are countless farms and residences.Many Han people immigrated beyond these two places to the rest of Hetao. These people reclaimed countless lands.

At the beginning of this year, Sun Zongliang, the newly-appointed inspector of Shanxi Province, also specially investigated the matter. He said: "Today, the cultivation outside Guantumote and Shuofang is not far from ours. They have reclaimed nearly ten thousand hectares of cultivated land There are oxen and plows, and their seeds include wheat, grain, and millet. Melons, gourds, eggplants, mustards, green onions, leeks, etc., all kinds of things..."

Some of these places are farms jointly established by merchants and Huang Laifu. Huang Laifu receives dividends every year.Where the rest immigrated, after the three-year period expires, Huang Laifu will collect taxes and food from them, which is another big gold mine.Due to the large number of immigrants in the area of ​​Qingshui River and Huangpuchuan River, Huang Laifu has decided to open up new colonies outside the two places. It is best to control the Baotou area and build a new city.

Moreover, the issue of security outside the Great Wall will also be put on Huang Laifu's agenda.Qingshuihe is a good place, not far from them is Sanniangzi Tumed's department. Tumed's department has become one with Huang Laifu's company, making a lot of money in wool purchases, so naturally they live in peace with the immigrants.However, the area around the Huangpuchuan River is mostly the territory of the Bushitu clan, who have always been enemies of the Han people. Not to mention the borders of the Ming Dynasty, they also set their sights on the farms of these immigrants.In the past year, many Han immigrants' residences have been harassed, and they have asked the soldiers of Laoyingbao for help again and again.Huang Laifu promised the safety of immigrants outside the Great Wall, so it is necessary to solve this problem.

On February [-], Governor Yang suddenly invited Huang Laifu to the lobby of the Governor's Yamen to discuss matters.

After the two sides saluted, Governor Yang said: "I invite Huang Junmen to come here today to discuss sending troops to the land outside the Great Wall. The captives in Shuofang are rampant and often disturb my side wall. Therefore, Lord Li Li, the governor of the three sides, is determined to use troops outside the Great Wall. Go out of the fortress in three ways to attack the Bushitu camp. He has already sent letters to Yansui and other places, and will go out together at that time. I also hope that my Shanxi town will also send troops together to attack the Bushitu and other tribes from east to west. The old man has agreed , but I wonder what Huang Junmen thinks?"

Huang Laifu was refreshed, just now he was thinking about how to calm down the harassment of the farms by the Mongolians outside the Great Wall, but he didn't expect this opportunity to come, and he really fell asleep and hit the pillow.Immediately he said: "Mr. Yang's words are serious. It is Laifu's duty to share worries for the country. Laifu only obeys Mr. Yang's orders!"

Governor Yang was very happy, and said: "That's good, that's good, Huang Junmen is really loyal and courageous, it's really a blessing for the country." At first, he was worried about Huang Laifu's intentions, fearing that he would not send troops, but he didn't expect it to go so smoothly !

At present, Huang Laifu and Governor Yang are discussing how to send troops beyond the Great Wall. According to Li Li, the governor of the three sides, his troops will attack Xitao from the west.Yansui Town attacked from the middle and attacked Zhongtao.The officers and soldiers of Shanxi Town attacked from the east, and with the momentum of thunder, they directly hit the Bushitu camp.Anyway, Mr. Li Li has already completed the specific strategic plan, and Governor Yang also agrees. At that time, Huang Laifu only needs to implement it seriously.This is also the situation in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Civil officials are in charge of strategic deployment, and generals are only concerned with specific training and fighting.

However, Huang Laifu saw that the plan of Li Li, Governor Yang and others was quite rigorous, so he didn't have too many opinions.

After the matter was decided, Huang Laifu began to prepare. Wuzhaibao and other troops had not fought for several years. After hearing Huang Laifu's order, they all cheered and their morale was very high.At the same time, information about beyond the Great Wall was also being sent in a steady stream.

Huang Laifu set up the Wuzhaibao Security Bureau. In addition to the internal affairs department, which specializes in controlling the security of Wuzhaibao and collecting intelligence inside and outside the Ming Dynasty, the bureau also has a special military intelligence bureau. information, drawing maps of water sources in various places, etc.The current Huang Laifu already knew many times more details about the surrounding lands beyond the Great Wall than the current generals of the Ming Dynasty.

This time, Huang Laifu decided to send [-] soldiers from Laifu Camp, [-] soldiers from Wuzhai Camp, and [-] soldiers from Laoyingbao, making a total of [-] troops.At the same time, Huang Laifu also ordered to bring five hundred firecrackers with the army, to be used by Laifu camp servants.

After several days of tense transfers, March 24th in the 1596th year of Wanli ([-]).On this day, on the field of Wuzhai Fort, the banners were like clouds, densely packed with incomparably tough armored soldiers.Due to the secrecy of this trip, Huang Laifu did not say anything about the army.

Of course, these soldiers on the expedition knew the purpose of their trip.Before setting off, Huang Laifu simply mobilized: "This time, there is only one word: kill! Kill all those captive men, snatch all their women, and eat all their cattle and sheep!"

He suddenly pulled out his sharp sword, pointed at the sky, and shouted: "Our army will surely win, ten thousand victories!"

The soldiers off the field were full of enthusiasm, and at the same time drew out their weapons and shouted: "Wan Sheng, Wan Sheng! Wan Sheng!"

The sound shook the four fields!Seeing such military power, Governor Yang and others present all turned pale.

※※※

At the beginning of the 24th year of Wanli, Governor Li Li invited the three towns to attack the Bushitu camp in 5000 days.The army of Shanxi Town on the East Road, led by Huang Laifu, the commander-in-chief of [-] people, went straight to the land of Manglachuan in Bushitu's camp.On March [-]th, Jiang Dazhong, the vanguard of the Shanxi Town Army, encountered thousands of enemy troops.

On the 22th, Huang Laifu's army encountered the main force of Bu Shitu in the land of Qu Yechuan, with more than [-] enemies.In the decisive battle between the two sides, Huang Laifu defeated them and beheaded more than [-] people. On the [-]nd, Huang Laifu led the army into the Mangla River and captured countless members of the Bushitu tribe.

After passing the Yellow River, the opposite is the land of Baotou for later generations. In order to avoid future troubles and completely control the land, Huang Laifu ordered that all the men of the tribe beheaded, and his wives and daughters were rewarded as slaves to the soldiers. More than [-] households were destroyed, and then moved Hundreds of thousands of Han people were filled, and Dongtao has been quiet since then.

On May 24, the 1596th year of Wanli ([-]), Huang Laifu, who had returned from victory, suddenly received an imperial decree from Emperor Wanli, announcing him to enter Beijing.

(End of this chapter)