The fleet going south was so huge that it crowded the Beiguan River and could not move fast. It set out from Shanyang on the fifth day of October and only entered the Yunyan River on the fifteenth day, which was regarded as entering the territory of Chongzhou.
Lin Mengde, Hu Zhiyong, Hu Zhicheng, Li Shuyi, Chen Lei and other Chongzhou officials and assistants, as well as Li Shutang, Luo Fu and other Chongzhou gentry, dozens of people, came to northwest Jiuhua to welcome Lin Fu and his troops back to Chongzhou.
Liu Shidu, the prefect of Hailing, also had to be controlled by the Huaidong system and envoys. When Lin Fu returned to Chongzhou, he did not put on airs and went to Jiuhua to welcome him. He planned to go to Chongzhou with Lin Fu so that he could discuss military and political affairs in Hailing Prefecture with Lin Fu.
It was the autumn grain harvest season, and both sides of the Yanyan River were covered with golden rice fields. Farmers were already hunkering down in the fields to harvest rice.
When I led my troops to the north to guard the Huaihe River, the wheat fields were not heading, but in a blink of an eye it was the autumn harvest season. Time passed like a white horse passing by, and half a year had passed without paying attention.
"How much can the harvest in Xiangzhangli increase this year?" Lin Fu asked Li Zhengluofu in Xiangzhangli.
"The Yanyan River has been widened, and several rivers in Xiangzhangli have been cleared of silt before the rainy season. This summer, Xiangzhangli has not suffered any waterlogging. It is a rare good harvest in ten years," Luo Fu stroked the frost-white grass.
Huzi said excitedly, "Last year could be considered a good year, but this year's summer grain harvest is 20% more than last year, and the autumn grain harvest can also be increased by 20%!"
"When there is slack farming in the local area, we organize villagers to repair ditches every year and do a good job in selecting seeds and accumulating fertilizers. Such a harvest will happen every year!" Lin Fu said with a smile, "In order to widen the Yanyan River, I
I borrowed some grain from the local government. I did not hide the grain in my personal pocket, but used it to build water conservancy projects. Now that everyone can have a good harvest, I feel at ease. In three to five years, I will be as good as before.
The grain I borrowed has been returned to everyone...so I don’t have to scold you anymore!"
"That's the hard work of stupid people like us who don't understand the adults..." Luo Fu said with an embarrassed smile.
Last year, Lin Fu inspected the fields twice in Chongzhou. Anyone who invaded official land and sent it to the monastery to avoid paying taxes was subject to huge fines and rents. The Luo family lost thousands of acres of land, and fines and rents were worth thousands of kilo of japonica rice. Of course,
He hated Lin Fu to the core.
It was only after the truth about the Chongzhou boy case came to light and Luo Fu's youngest son returned home that the Luo family completely let go of their resentment and, together with other benefactors, became representatives of local forces that firmly supported Lin Fu in taking root in Chongzhou.
The Luo family still has thirty hectares of fertile farmland. Thanks to the dredging and widening of the Yan River and its tributary water systems, the harvest is 20% higher than in normal years. Including spring flowers, in terms of japonica rice, the harvest this year has increased by nearly a thousand dan.
If the rent is 50%, the fines and fines can be repaid in two years.
Last year, thousands of acres of land were confiscated as official farmland. Most of it was unimproved middle and lower fields that were prone to waterlogging. They were farmed by tenant farmers. The annual rent was only 500 to 600 shi of japonica rice. As long as they could maintain this year's business in the future.
, this part of the loss will be wiped out.
From this point of view, the dredging and widening of the Yanyan River and its branch rivers is really a great benefit.
Even if the big households did not benefit from Lin Fu or the Jiangdong Left Army before, after this year's bumper harvest, their resentment can be almost eliminated.
"Don't mention the past things," Lin Fu said with a smile, "Increasing income and production is a good thing, but everyone should not steal or leak the money and food that should be paid..."
"This is natural, how can you be so ignorant of praise?" Luo Fu said.
Lin Fu smiled, took Liu Shidu with him, and talked a lot about farming matters with Luo Fu and other local gentry.
Chongzhou's summer and autumn grain taxes are graded according to fields. If the county wants to increase land taxes, the most important thing to do is to measure the acres of land and strictly grade them. It is strictly forbidden to evade grain taxes by exchanging good for bad.
After checking the acres of land last year, we had a relatively certain estimate of the amount of summer and autumn grain levies in Chongzhou, which was that the total amount of summer and autumn grain levies for the whole year was 320,000 shi of grain.
This year, as the county's production increases, there will not be much increase in summer and autumn grain collections. Landowners and farmers will directly benefit.
Of course, building water conservancy projects can reduce the county's investment in disaster relief and tax reduction, which can also be regarded as an indirect increase in the county's income.
The total amount of summer and autumn grain levies in Chongzhou is clearly accounted for. Even if this part of the income is included in the extra grain payment for the Huaidong Army, the details must be reported to Hailing Mansion. Liu Shidu is aware of this account.
Lin Fu had only been in Chongzhou for a year, and he had waived Chongzhou's Ding tax and various capitation assessments, and the total annual income of Chongzhou County could be increased by 20 to 30%. Liu Shidu was even inferior to Liu Shidu in his ability to govern.
When it comes to summer and autumn grain taxes, Chongzhou County can equal two Hailing counties. However, Hailing County still has a small tax and various assessments, so the overall income is not lower than that of Chongzhou County.
The biggest difference here is: the income in Chongzhou County is directly linked to the number of acres of land. Landowners with large amounts of land and large households in the township bear more obligations, and tenants and small farmers benefit greatly; the income in Hailing County is more related to the number of acres.
With Dingkou linkage, landowners and large households will transfer their responsibilities to small farmers and tenants.
Lin Fu was able to successfully promote the New Deal in Chongzhou, which was special. However, if he wanted to expand to other counties, he would be strongly obstructed by local large households and landowners.
However, Chongzhou can increase income and production on a large scale, which can also resolve the resentment of local large households and landowners to a certain extent. Compared with before May last year, when Chongzhou was ravaged by pirates, who is responsible for the current peace and order of Chongzhou people?
?Everyone has an account in his heart.
The summer and autumn grain distribution is an open account. Lin Fu inspected the land twice in Chongzhou. In addition to Xisha Island, there are 400,000 acres of land used as official land. This is a secret account unknown to outsiders.
These more than 400,000 acres of government land are mainly distributed along the Xishan River and the Yanyan River. They were mostly middle and lower fields before. The most important goal of dredging and widening the Yanyan River is to improve the water conservancy conditions in nearby areas and clear out a large amount of river water.
The bottom silt is used to accumulate fertilizer and transform these middle and lower fields into high-yield fertile fields.
The dredging and widening of the Salt River brought as many as 100,000 people to the river embankments. This process lasted for seven months. Based on two and a half liters of work per worker, 400,000 stone grains were used for food and work alone. The total cost was
Reaching 400,000 taels of silver.
But this investment is worth it. After the reduction of rent and tax on more than 400,000 acres of official land, the total rent and tax this year will reach 240,000 liters of rice and grain, an increase of nearly 30% from before.
In addition, Xisha Island can save 80,000 kilograms of grain.
Chongzhou County's total income from acres of land this year will reach 620,000 shi in terms of japonica rice. These will be collected gradually in the past month after the autumn grain harvest.
It was precisely with this foundation that Lin Fu dared to move Ding Zhuang and a larger number of family members to Chongzhou after the disbandment of the 50,000 to 60,000 refugee army.
The people and horses in Chongzhou were mobilized with all their might, and it would take almost a month to move so many people to Chongzhou.
Liu Shidu knew to some extent that Lin Fu had a large amount of official land in his hands, but the detailed figures were not clear.
Lin Fu and Liu Shidu first talked about the reorganization of the Hailing Mansion Army, and then talked about the repair and defense of the sea wall.
To do this, even if Chongzhou had to spend money and grain to produce young men, Liu Shidu would have to cooperate, and the magistrates of Liu Tingzhou and Yandu, Jianling and Gaocheng counties would have to be called to Chongzhou to discuss the matter.
"We need to build three hundred miles of sea dikes!" Liu Shidu was stunned for a while, not knowing what to say.
Call Lin Fu arrogant, but Lin Fu insisted on using seven months to widen and deepen the Salt River for more than 100 miles with the power of a county. Now ships with thousands of stones can travel on the Salt River without any hindrance.
Lin Fu really wanted to grit his teeth and do it. Liu Shidu believed that Lin Fu had the ability to build a 300-mile sea wall in two years.
Some people in the county began to talk about Lin Fu's ambition. Many letters sent by his colleagues either implicitly or explicitly asked Liu Shidu to be more vigilant against Lin Fu in Hailing Mansion.
The dredging and widening of the Yanyan River required an investment of 400,000 taels of silver. If calculated based on the direct increase in rents from the transformed grain fields, it would take more than ten or twenty years to recover the cost.
Who doesn’t know that ocean tides cause harm? For hundreds of years, except for scattered areas, no one has ever thought of building a large-scale sea dike from Jiangmen to Qingjiangpu. Why?
The investment is too great, and the direct benefits that local governments can enjoy are too small, and it will take decades to be reflected.
County magistrates are usually elected every three years. Who is willing to be the one who planted trees for the descendants who will come to enjoy the shade ten or twenty years later?
Liu Shidu couldn't think of any direct benefits that spending millions of dollars to build this sea-defending embankment would bring to Lin Fu, apart from reputation!
When Lin Fu made up his mind to build a sea-defending embankment on the way, in addition to directly sending letters to the Jianghuai Governor's Office, the Xuanfu Envoy Department, the Salt and Iron Department, and the Huai'an Prefecture, he also sent a special letter to the court about the matter.
Yue Lengqiu, Liu Tingzhou, Zhang Yan, Wang Tian and others were shocked, but could not give any reason to oppose.
Building a sea-defending dyke not only benefits the people, but also greatly benefits Huaidong. When Chongzhou invests a large amount of money, manpower, and material resources in building a sea-defending dyke, it means that the scale of Chongzhou's military expansion will be greatly restricted.
Lin Fu was only the military and political officer of the Huaidong region. Apart from being aware of Chongzhou County affairs, he could not interfere with the civil affairs and finance of other counties. He benefited the three counties of Xiuchengbianhaidi, Yandu, Jianling, and Gaocheng, and Huainan Salt District.
, the increased land tax and Ding tax will not fall into Lin Fu's pocket.
Liu Tingzhou once thought that he had wrongly blamed Lin Fu's behavior, and felt ashamed and annoyed for arguing with Lin Fu during those days in Huai'an. After receiving Lin Fu's letter and without waiting for Yue Lengqiu's instructions, Liu Tingzhou went to Chongzhou with the magistrate of Yandu County.
Come and discuss this matter.
It took less than half a month for the document to be delivered to the capital, and the response from the capital could not reach Chongzhou. But for the imperial court, as long as there was no need to pay a tael of silver for it and no trouble in the place, Lin Fu had no problem if he wanted to do it.
The reason for rejection.
From the time when he spent a lot of time dredging and transporting the Salt River, Lin Fu set a strategy for Chongzhou to "build the city high and store grain widely". Building and defending the sea wall was just a more resolute implementation of this strategy. It was not easy to do it inside Chongzhou.
Convince everyone.
During the Warring States Period, Qin gathered all the efforts of the country to build the Zheng Guo Canal. It was completed within ten years, but within ten years, it was unable to expand outward. Only after the Zheng Guo Canal was built, the foundation of the Qin State was stabilized, and the economic foundation for unifying the six countries was laid.
If history does not change, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, various heroes were vying for hegemony. The Zhu family "built a high city, accumulated a large amount of grain, and slowly became the king" in Jiangning. The other heroes had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses continued in chaos, and eventually the Zhu family was south of the
Command the troops and take over the world.
Now Yue Lengqiu led the Huai army to recapture Hao and Si, divided his troops and stationed in Luzhou, took over the command of the Huaixi theater from Lin Tingli, and began to use troops against Luo Xiancheng in Shouzhou.
Lin Tingli also resigned from the title of envoy to the Jingkou system in Huaixi and retreated to Dongyang.
Huaixi Guang refers to the four prefectures of Dongyang, Luzhou (Hefei, Anhui), Haozhou, and Huaishang (Shouzhou), and the center of gravity of its strategic situation is Luzhou.
The strategic situation in Huaidong is the same as in Huai'an. If Huaidong cannot control Huai'an, the establishment of envoys in Huaidong is empty; in Huaixi, if Luzhou cannot be controlled, there is no need for Lin Tingli to force a big head to fight for the establishment of envoys in Huaixi.
After all, the foundation of the Dongyang Army is not as solid as that of the Jiangdong Left Army (Huaidong Army). It cannot withstand consumption and lacks money and food.
If Yue Lengqiu forced him to attack Luo Xiancheng in Shouzhou, the gains would outweigh the losses and it would become a disaster.
After the Changhuai Army took over the defense of Luzhou, more than 10,000 elite soldiers from the original Luzhou Town were able to escape. Under the leadership of the town general Deng Yu, they crossed the Yangtze River to the south and entered Huizhou to strengthen the defense of the southern part of Jiangdong County.
Huizhou is also known as Xin'an. When it comes to Xin'an, it may not be well-known. However, Huangshan Mountain in Huizhou is famous all over the world.
Fuyu Mountain (today's Mu Mountain) in the northeast of Huizhou and Baiji Mountain in the southeast are the natural divisions between Jiangdong and Zhejiang. The Xin'an River in the territory goes south to Chun'an and merges into the Qianjiang River, which is the main source of the Qianjiang River.
Before Emperor Gaozu came to power, he occupied Jiangning and built a garrison city in Yuling between Baiji Mountain and Fuyu Mountain to occupy the enemy of the two Zhejiang provinces. More than two hundred years have passed, and the garrison city is still there, and it is still the key pass between the two Zhejiang provinces and Weizhou.
There is a garrison stationed there.
Deng Yu led a large number of troops to garrison at Yuling Pass. To the east, he could support Dong Yuan who was guarding Hangzhou and integrate with the defense line in northern Zhejiang. To the south and west, he could contain the troops of the She family who occupied Chun'an, Quzhou and other counties in western Zhejiang.
Since then, although the southern Zhejiang area could not be recaptured from Shejia, the defense line in northern Zhejiang has been strengthened and basically stabilized.
As far as the She family is concerned, it will take some time to digest the newly acquired land and integrate northern Fujian and southern Zhejiang. In addition, the Yuwangao tribe that retreated south is still a cancer that gives the She family a headache. In a short period of time,
There is no sign of the She family using troops on a large scale in northern Zhejiang or Liangjiang (Jiangdong, Jiangxi).
Compared with the numerous wars in spring and summer, the situation seemed to be easing after autumn, and the Donglu forces surrounding Datong also showed signs of shrinking. However, this beautiful mountain and river was really broken into several pieces - Lin Fu could only start with
Based on Huaidong, let’s see how the general trend of the world will go next.