On April 8th, news came from Huguang that after Zhang Xianzhong was defeated several times, he finally surrendered to Xiong Wencan in Gucheng.
Li Zhi originally thought that after he defeated Zhang Xianzhong, Xiong Wencan would kill Zhang Xianzhong. Unexpectedly, with the reinforcements and suppression troops gathering, Xiong Wencan finally chose to recruit. Thinking about it, it was probably because the officers and soldiers who suppressed the thieves were weak or domineering, especially Zuo Liangyu.
The other soldiers burned, killed and looted like the bandits, which made Xiong Wencan have no confidence in the army and was tolerant of the bandits.
However, Li Zhi didn't care much about the bandits. He was more concerned about the construction of his own territory. By April, the servant Li Zhi sent to the south to look for sweet potato plants had returned with the seedlings and two farmers who knew how to grow sweet potatoes.
, Li Zhi asked them to plant sweet potatoes on the land where winter wheat had been harvested, to test how many sweet potatoes they could harvest by rotating wheat and sweet potatoes, and to see if rotating sweet potatoes would reduce wheat yields.
On the other hand, by early April, more than 2,000 new households of tenant farmers hired by Li Zhixin were in place and began to build irrigation canals along the rivers in Jinghai County. They wanted to repair the irrigation canals before winter wheat was sown.
More than 2,000 households of new tenants were recruited as guarantees by old tenants. Most of them were tenants from Baodi and nearby counties. They originally rented little land from the landlords and lived in poverty. I heard that Li Zhi had a good life here.
After harvesting the winter wheat of the previous season, these tenant farmers moved their families to Li Zhi after paying the rent. Unlike the first batch of refugees, these tenant farmers who moved here brought their belongings with them and had everything. Li Zhi did not
If you need to distribute cotton-padded clothes and quilts, you only need to distribute cattle and houses.
Not only are the more than two thousand new tenant farmers building irrigation canals, but the original two thousand or so old tenant farmers are also joining the army of building irrigation canals. Now is the slack period, and the old tenant farmers have nothing to do. Li Zhi gave each of them six cents of silver per day.
As a result, these old tenant farmers came over one after another to earn money and help repair canals.
Li Zhi originally thought that the land reclamation work would go smoothly, but unexpectedly, Cheng Yaojin showed up halfway. Several large landowners along the river who had originally promised to build irrigation canals for Li Zhi suddenly changed their minds and said they were unwilling to take Li Zhi's high compensation and refused to give up the land.
The land was given to Li Zhi to build irrigation canals.
Li Zhi's newly reclaimed land is a little far away from the river. To irrigate it, irrigation canals must be built on the existing fields by the river. These irrigation canals must pass through the fields by the river and occupy some existing acres. Li Zhi originally calculated per acre
The price of twenty taels of land compensates for the land occupied by the irrigation canal. But if the landowners along the river do not agree to this price, Li Zhi's irrigation canal will not be built and new fields will not be cultivated.
Li Zhi was stunned when he heard the news, and secretly thought to himself: What did these big landowners have to do to dare to go against him? He was the person who had just killed everyone in three counties and collected business taxes.
Irrigation canals were a major issue for Li Zhi. Now that Li Zhi had recruited tenants, the new fields could not be opened and the situation was unstoppable. Li Zhi took Zheng Hui to the river to have a look and prepared to deal with this problem.
Zheng Hui led Li Zhi to the vicinity of the Crescent River and rode on a higher hill. He only saw the crescent Crescent River flowing from the west, passing through the interlaced farmland on both sides, and slowly flowing to the east.
.There are dry fields for more than 100 meters on both sides of the river. At this time, the winter wheat has been harvested and the land is idle.
Zheng Hui pointed at the Crescent River and said: "Look, sir, the nearly a thousand acres of dry land from three miles to the west to four miles to the east belong to the Liu family. It is the Liu family who took the lead in not cooperating with our canal construction, and several other large families
After the Liu family took the lead, they also clamored to reject our canal construction. I have tried all my good words, but they just don't agree."
Li Zhi thought for a while and said, "How about increasing some subsidies?"
Zheng Hui said: "Sir, I'm afraid this is not a matter of money. These dry fields by the river are irrigated by carrying water, and one acre is only worth more than ten taels of silver. I have already told the Liu family that I am willing to pay twenty-five taels per mu.
We subsidize them, but the Liu family still doesn’t agree. I’m afraid that the Liu family doesn’t just want to subsidize them.”
Li Zhi lowered his head and thought for a while, then asked: "What is the background of the Liu family? How dare you take the lead in stirring up trouble."
Zheng Hui said: "It is said that my son is the censor of Huguang."
Li Zhi spat: "What a big official! He is the censor of the patrol, and he is in the seventh rank. Don't you want to make things difficult for us and extort money?"
Zheng Hui said: "It's possible!"
Li Zhi said loudly: "Let's go meet this person from the Liu family."
The two rode horses with their servants, holding the banner of General Longhu and the five-square flag, to the Liu family's house in Jinghai County. After riding for an hour, they found the Liu family's house. Where is the Liu family's house located?
To the north of a village, with five entrances from the front and back, there is a deep and high-walled courtyard with extraordinary momentum. At the entrance of the courtyard is a gatehouse with three eaves and two large stone lions with teeth and claws. At first glance, it is the home of a powerful person.
Li Zhi secretly thought that the censor was very rich. Did he get this money through corruption or robbery?
The side door of the house was open, and a tall servant stood at the door to guard the door. Li Zhi asked the servant to send his name card up. The servant looked at Li Zhi and went in to report the news. After a while, the servant came out to invite him.
Li Zhi entered the courtyard. Li Zhi took Zheng Hui and two servants into the courtyard, and saw an old man waiting in the courtyard with more than a dozen family members.
The old man was probably fifty or sixty years old, with white beard and hair. He was hunched and leaning on a cane. The dozen or so family members around him had straight faces when they saw Li Zhi coming in, and none of them had any intention of saluting Li Zhi.
.The posture was that he was not ready to invite Li Zhi into the house to drink tea, and he was very hostile.
Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, then raised his hands and said, "May I ask who this is?"
The old man strutted his cane and said loudly: "I am Liu Jianshen, the head of the Liu family." After a pause, the old man seemed to feel that his name was not famous enough, so he added: "Liu Bingchuan, the censor of Huguang Patrol Bureau, is my son.
!”
Li Zhi, still hoping to ease the situation, raised his hands and said, "It turns out to be Mr. Liu! Li Zhi, the general of Fanjiazhuang, came to visit Mr. Liu about the irrigation canal!"
The old man snorted and said, "This irrigation canal takes up our land and cannot be repaired!"
Li Zhi thought for a while and said: "How about I compensate Liu Gong with thirty taels per mu for the occupied land? The current market price of those dry fields is only more than ten taels per mu!"
The old man set up his cane, pointed at a middle-aged man next to him, and said, "Tell me what you want!"
The middle-aged man stood up and said loudly: "My second brother Liu Bingchuan wrote a letter saying that we are the famous Qingliu! You must not use the land to build irrigation canals for traitors! The general wants my family to use the land to build canals for you.
, first stop the commercial tax that competes with the people, and then expel the remnants of the eunuchs who have been adopted, and draw a clear line with the eunuchs, and then my family will discuss with the adults the issue of compensation for the land occupied by the canal!"
