In mid-August, after traveling around the three counties at the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, Li Ling felt that he had gained a lot of experience.
Heifu's "mass production" movement not only allowed the five thousand left-behind civilians to participate in the work, but also mobilized all the soldiers. At the same time, in order to encourage the soldiers to open up wasteland and cultivate land, he thought of many interesting methods.
He regarded the land reclamation and plowing in early spring as a competition, allowing all soldiers and civilians to participate. One of the most powerful soldiers achieved a good result of clearing 3 acres of land in one day in the first land reclamation competition, and was personally received by Hei Fu.
I gave him six glasses of wine.
Throughout the spring, more than 10,000 troops in the army cultivated a total of 200,000 acres of land. Together with the 50,000 acres of wheat planted last year, there was already a large area of arable land! Just enough to distribute to 5,000 single civilians.
Half of this year's harvest goes to the people and half to the army.
In addition to opening up wasteland, they also had to take care of side jobs. Because there was a shortage of women in the northern part of the country, soldiers had to mend their own torn clothes. And because the supply of clothes from the mainland was not timely, they even had to learn to make simple shoes.
Guan Ying, a small merchant from Suiyang City, woven ten pairs of cloth shoes in one day. After Hei Fu heard about it, he also received him and wanted Guan Ying to be a clerk in charge of clothing for soldiers and civilians.
Unexpectedly, Guan Ying blushed and said that since he was left at the frontier, he didn't want to end up in the same fate as his hometown. He wanted to make meritorious deeds! Guan Ying said in his own words that in the past year, he learned horse riding from the soldiers of Ohara.
His riding skills are already good, but he would rather give up the land in the hope of becoming a riding servant!
The bold words of this small businessman naturally aroused laughter from the soldiers, but Heifu saw that he was very serious, so he gave Guan Ying a chance to perform riding skills in public. He was actually quite good at it, and he could already do it without stopping.
After dismounting, he fired his bow and arrows on the spot. So Heifu regarded Guan Ying as a typical civilian husband and asked him to keep the land and hire people to farm for him. He himself was free of obstacles and started as an ordinary cavalry attendant.
In addition to agriculture, there is also animal husbandry. Heifu fulfilled his promise, and Oyuan Rong was the first batch of immigrants to move here. In midsummer, their family moved away from the crowded Oyuan in the North and started farming in various places at the eastern foot of Helan Mountain.
Pastures were established around the area to serve as security guards.
The five tribes of Dayuan were placed in three counties and two barriers respectively. The military girls in their tribes also became local soldiers in the field. Single people were the most actively pursued. Most of them were interested in the Aries and Lou Fanhu that the government would distribute next year.
Women are a bit repulsive.
In short, after more than half a year of hard work, the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains, which had been desolate due to the Huns fleeing north, and where wild wolves swarmed, had become plentiful with abundant crops and flocks of cattle and sheep by the time of autumn. In addition to the difficulty of growing flax in the north, there was also not enough wool.
However, we still need to rely on domestic and foreign forces, and the entire army has achieved self-sufficiency in terms of food.
On August 15th, the field officials of the three counties sent the accounting books to Heifu's case. Heifu showed it to Li Ling: "In the summer, Sumai harvested 100,000 shi. These days, three
There are 80,000 acres of government-owned millet fields in this county, and more than 300,000 shi of millet are harvested!"
Li Ling couldn't help but be surprised: "There are so many! The yield per mu has caught up with that of Shuzhong!"
But Hei Fu was not surprised: "The Huns in Helan Mountain have been herding here for several generations. The manure of tens of thousands of cattle and sheep has made the land very fertile. Over time, it has been released in the Qin people's intensive farming. Therefore, in the first year, the land is very fertile.
The production is comparable to that of Shu!"
This bumper harvest means that soldiers and civilians will have no problem eating next year. Without the army rations and war horse feed, at least 50,000 shi of food can still be stored in reserve...
"In this way, plus the grain shipped from the mainland, it can accumulate to more than 100,000 dan..."
This did not include the wheat that would be planted soon. Li Qing felt that the pressure on his shoulders was greatly reduced: "In this case, the new people who will move here next year will not have to worry about food for the time being before the summer harvest."
Even taking into account environmental protection and sustainable development, the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain are enough to support more than 100,000 people. Therefore, Qin Shihuang in Xianyang finalized the immigration plan for the next year as early as the beginning of the year: to relocate 30,000 households of Guanzhong Qin people
, entering the Henan region and Beijia, 20,000 households went to Jiuyuan and Shuofang. 10,000 households went to Helan, and established small villages in the areas around the forts and forts, in places with abundant water and grass.
But Heifu did not feel relaxed. Under the advice of the young master Fusu, these immigrants were not forced to move from Guandong, but were recruited from Guanzhong. Each family was given fifty acres of land and tax-free for three years.
The government is responsible for building buildings, supplying necessary farm tools, seeds, and providing doctors and wizards in each settlement, etc.
This means that after autumn, Li Ling's main job is to continue to open up wasteland with the army and the people, and to build at least 10,000 houses for the 10,000 immigrant households. When spring comes, he will also work with the immigrants to open up wasteland.
Five hundred thousand acres of land...
This is an extremely arduous task. The colonization work in Helan Mountain has just begun. "The road is long and long..."
After personally participating in the construction of the Helan Colony, Heifu couldn't help but think of this sentence in his heart. The Qin Dynasty's first colony in the north of the Great Wall was really like a newborn baby, extremely fragile. He wanted it to truly grow up.
It really takes ten or twenty years to reach adulthood.
This is also why he needs Li Ling.
Heifu asked Gong Ao to spread out a map of the Helan colony and let Li Ling come and look at it.
"Nongdu Lieutenant, please look, this place is surrounded by sand on three sides."
Like later generations, the colonization area was bounded by the Mu Us Desert to the east, the Tengger Desert to the west, and the Ulan Bhe Desert to the north.
"The reason why it is so fertile and not swallowed up by quicksand is that firstly, Helan Mountain blocks the dry and sandy north wind, and secondly, it relies on the big river, which continuously brings water flow!"
The moist river makes both sides of the eastern foot of Helan lush with greenery, covered with forests, grasslands, and many swamps." But even with this big river, the fields that can be opened along the river's swamps are only a few hundred thousand acres. If you want more,
If there are too many, the canal needs to be repaired manually...
"The ancients said that those who are good at running a country must first eliminate the harm of floods and droughts. Those who are good at running a country must pay attention to water conservancy. On this point, I don't understand at all. But whether the Nongdu Lieutenant can take over what Commander Li built in Shu
Is water conservancy also reappearing here? Let this desolate land where jackals howl and foxes live turn into a fortress in the Central Plains!"
Li Ling said quickly: "I spent ten days, accompanied by officials, from Fuping in the south to Hunhuaizhang in the north. I found that the river has a huge flow, but it is gentle and winding. As long as it is like the great father,
To control the Minjiang River, we need to find a way to slightly divert it so that we can create a few ditches to irrigate the fields, but this will not take a year and a half, and we are currently short of manpower, and we have to wait for the new people to arrive before we can start."
"Indeed, this matter cannot be rushed."
Heifu sighed, adding that there was a serious shortage of labor force. This was a big problem. Even though he had invited the Mohist to build many water-powered mills and water cones here, he still could not make up for the vacancy.
He could only set a small goal for Li Ling: "I only hope that Captain Nong can open the first ditch within three years. By then, several counties in Helan will not only be self-sufficient, but also have a surplus of tens of thousands of stones.
It can support tens of thousands of troops to fight in the fortress..."
The cavalry army went out to fight and completely strangled the Huns! This was the policy that Heifu had been adhering to for more than half a year. To this end, He He took a defensive attitude and proposed to build the Great Wall to protect Shuofang and Helan. Meng Tian, who was stationed in the fields with peace of mind, had
Disagreement.
"Even if you want to cultivate, you have to behead Mao Dun!"
Heifu's attitude toward Mao Dun, who insisted on killing him quickly, was no longer a secret, but he couldn't explain the reason to anyone. Everyone only thought that Mao Dun was a ruthless wolf, but they didn't feel that he
What big storms can arise in the future?
Even Li Xin, who fought side by side with Hei Fu, was very puzzled by Hei Fu's obsession. After the Qin army established an outpost in Juyanze, Li Xin tended to agree with Meng Tian's plan to defend from the north and attack from the west. Paralysis Yue first
After the merchants have ascertained the population of the tribes on the Yuezhi's route and persuaded Wusun in the west to surrender to Qin and send troops together, they can send troops from Longxi and Helan to launch a war of annihilation against the Yuezhi. Even if
Now the Yuezhi King is extremely afraid of the Qin Dynasty. He has offered protons and tributes, and opened up trade routes, but he cannot avoid his fate. Who let him block the emperor's way to the Queen Mother State of the West...
Heifu's worries were confirmed in late August. On this day, when Heifu was discussing with Li Ling the planning of residential areas and farming areas for the coming year, an urgent message came from Qianghua, the Marquis of Juyansai, saying:
The Beidi County Lieutenant frowned deeply. "The Huns have sent troops." Heifu stopped the discussion and told everyone the news.
"Ah?" Li Ling was a little surprised. Didn't the Xiongnu just suffer heavy losses? Is this going to be another war?
Gong Ao, Gan Chong and others were gearing up: "The Huns really have no memory, so they were almost wiped out. Now they are going to die? We will just wait for them!"
"Don't be too happy too early."
Heifu shook his head and said helplessly:
"This is news in the spring and summer. It is only now known to Ju Yanzhan and has reached Helan. Moreover, the direction of the Huns sending troops is not to the south, but to the north!"