Just as Guo Song took a sip of tea, Butler Liang reported at the entrance of the courtyard, "Master Qi, General Li Ji is here and waiting for you in the living room."
"I'll go right away!"
Guo Song got up and walked quickly to the atrium living room.
Li Ji's current official position is Fengzhou Captain, in charge of the three thousand troops in Fengzhou. These three thousand troops have three captains and thirty brigade commanders. They are all soldiers who followed Guo Song to Anxi. The other thirty soldiers are also
He served as brigade commander in the armies of the three surrendered cities, and ten other soldiers also served as brigade commander, but they were in charge of the militia soldiers.
It was these more than 70 confidants who served as commanders of the Hundreds, the most important army in the army, that enabled Guo Song to firmly control the 6,000-strong army from the bottom even though he was a civilian official.
Even if Li Ji disobeys Guo Song's orders one day, it will be useless, Guo Song can easily ignore him.
Guo Song walked into the room and said with a smile: "Is it because I didn't ask you to go hunting with me and you were dissatisfied and came to denounce me?"
Li Ji smiled slightly and said, "I would rather not go back after hunting a bunch of pheasants and hares."
"Then why are you here, not letting me rest for a while?"
Li Ji said angrily: "I've been waiting for you for three days, and it's so easy for you to come back. Do you think I will let you go?"
Guo Song rolled his eyes at him and said, "Tell me! What do you want from me?"
"As for the army's farming, spring is about to begin, and the location of our farming has not yet been officially determined. Do you think I can take it easy?"
"Wait a minute!"
Guo Song quickly stopped him, "You don't want to plant wheat this year, do you? It's a raw field just after it was reclaimed. Doesn't it take a year to accumulate fertilizer before it can be cultivated?"
Li Ji was really helpless and said: "I really don't know what to say to you. You are still the governor of Fengzhou and you don't even understand the basic situation of Fengzhou. The land in Fengzhou is so fertile. Does it need compost? Of course it must be cultivated.
You can start farming soon, this is common sense that even the children in Toyoshu know."
Guo Song showed embarrassment on his face and said sheepishly: "I really don't know, I'm ashamed! I'm ashamed! Okay, I'll make up for it, what do you think I should do?"
Li Ji laughed and said, "Since you said so, let's go out of the city together tomorrow morning to clear out the land for army farming."
.........
Jiuyuan County is located on the north bank of the South Yellow River, less than ten miles away from the Yellow River. Jiuyuan County has made full use of the Yellow River water resources since the Han Dynasty and built dozens of large and small canals. The land is fertile and irrigation is convenient, making Fengzhou and Lingzhou
Like the state, it is also a famous grain-producing area.
At present, the official and private fields in Jiuyuan County are mainly located on the east and west sides of the city, along the official roads, with thousands of hectares in number. The northwest is mainly forest, with large pine forests stretching for hundreds of miles, while the north
Dozens of miles of fertile land awaiting cultivation.
Therefore, considering whether the army should go to the north for land or to develop to the south of the county seat for farming, Li Ji finally chose the south.
At dawn, Guo Song was captured by Li Ji. He came to the south of the county to accompany him to determine the scope of the army's farming. Li Ji was a little anxious. Spring plowing would be done in late February at the latest. Now they had not even settled on the land.
It is a common practice for the army to farm in the fields, including in Shuofang, Hexi, Longyou and other places. The army must farm on the spot to solve the problem of military food. Fengzhou has unique land and irrigation conditions, so it cannot lag behind in this aspect.
Guo Song had previously filed with Shuofang Jiedu Prefecture. The land for the first phase of the military settlement was 3,000 hectares. The Jiedu Prefecture quickly approved it, but they needed to decide the scope of the land themselves.
Guo Song urged his horse to run up a low and gentle hill. He pointed at the large grassland below the hill with his riding whip and said: "I have considered allocating this land to the military for military farming from the beginning. You can estimate the area."
Li Ji held up the curtain and looked at it for a moment and said: "This area is more than ten miles long and has four to five thousand hectares of land, but there seems to be a lack of irrigation facilities."
Guo Song smiled slightly and urged his horse to run down. Li Ji quickly called to his followers, and everyone ran down after him.
After running for about two miles, there was a ravine in front of it, which was full of weeds and about two feet wide. Guo Song pointed to the ravine and said to Li Jida: "This is the artificial river channel in the past. Over time, the river channel has become silted up, and the river water has become silted up."
After it dries up, it becomes a dry ditch. As long as the siltated parts that are tens of feet long at both ends are dug out and the river water flows through, it will immediately become a very good irrigation canal. Then we need to dig branch ditches and build waterwheels. I
I think you can get busy now."
"But how to define the scope of three thousand hectares?" Li Ji hesitated and asked.
Guo Song shook his head. Li Ji's biggest characteristic was that he followed the rules, was too cautious, and did not dare to break through certain rules easily.
"You don't care whether it's three thousand hectares or four thousand hectares. It's up to you to cultivate as much land as you can. If it's less, I'll slowly increase it next year. If it's more, I'll apply for the second phase. To measure several thousand hectares of land, at least half of it will be needed."
Yue, do you have that much time to wait?"
Li Ji also realized that he was a little tied up. He smiled and said: "Then I will organize soldiers to clear the silt today. In addition, will the envoy appoint an experienced envoy for farming?"
Guo Song was worried for a while and wanted to recruit people again. He thought for a while and said: "Let's do it! You first ask a few experienced farmers for advice and listen to their opinions. As for the field envoy, you can serve as a part-time officer first!
The state government will temporarily recruit a group of civil servants recently. I will recruit a few clerks for you, and you can let the clerks do the specific things."
"It's okay for me to hold concurrent posts, but I always need to find some experienced people to do the work. Farming is also a skill!"
"You are right, everything is a science, and farming is no exception. However, experience is not something we are born with. We still need to cultivate talents ourselves. I can ask the farming officials in Lingzhou to teach their experience and recruit some more.
Down-to-earth civil servants can be cultivated in a few years, and the best among them can be promoted."
Guo Song felt that Fengzhou and the three surrendered cities were basically a blank sheet of paper and needed a lot of talents. Whether to introduce foreign talents or cultivate them ourselves is not important. The key is where are the talents?
In the past 20 years or so, people in the Tang Dynasty have emphasized martial arts over literature, which has led to the concentration of talented scholars in major aristocratic families. However, talents from major aristocratic families have sharpened their heads to work in the imperial court. Who would want to come to a place with such harsh conditions like Fengzhou?
Frontier land?
Fortunately, there are still some scholars in Lingzhou and Fengzhou, so it is realistic to choose from them.
Guo Song and Li Ji determined the location of the military garrison and turned around to return to Jiuyuan County. Li Ji asked: "I heard that the envoy plans to move the military family members to Fengzhou?"
Guo Song nodded, "In fact, I had already applied to the court before it snowed last year, but the court has not yet approved it. The biggest problem in Fengzhou is that the number of people is too small. It is obviously unrealistic to immigrate in large numbers from the mainland immediately.
Relocation is the best and most effective measure, and this is also the practice in the border areas."
"But what if they don't want to come?" Li Ji asked again.
"Then we will attract them with favorable conditions, give them land, lower taxes, and allow them to live and work in peace and contentment. I believe they will come."
"This...will the court agree?"
Guo Song felt confident and said with a smile: "I don't know whether the imperial court will agree, but the emperor will definitely agree!"
Li Ji had some enlightenment. After seeing this issue, Guo Song communicated with the emperor and got the emperor's approval.
In fact, Li Ji only guessed half of it right. Guo Song and Emperor Li Yu did communicate on this issue, but it was not that the emperor approved it, but that the plan itself was proposed by Emperor Li Yu.
Use land and preferential taxes to attract military families to take root in the frontier.
The two of them rushed northwest with their entourage. At noon, a city appeared in front of them. It was also a county town built of bluestone. It was surrounded by rivers, but it was completely deserted and not a single house could be seen.
The city wall was covered with vines, and both the upper and lower parts of the city were covered with snow. As they ran closer, a group of crows flew up and circled in the sky, making a shrill cry of 'Quack! Quack!'.
This is an abandoned county town called Yongfeng County. Twenty years ago, there were still more than a thousand households and seven to eight thousand people in the city. As the Tang Dynasty withdrew its troops from the three surrendered cities, the people of Fengzhou moved inland on a large scale.
The county seat was also abandoned.
The city gate was completely dilapidated, with half of it rotting on the ground and the other half hanging on the wall, riddled with holes and on the verge of falling down.
Everyone urged their horses to enter the city. The buildings in the city were relatively intact, but some of them collapsed and were overgrown with weeds. Because they were covered with snow, they could not see the signs of dilapidation, but after the ice and snow melted, the place would be a dilapidated scene.
At this time, the soldiers came back to report, "I am reporting to the envoy, General Li, there is no one in the city."
"You don't want to place the family members of the army here!" Li Ji suddenly understood Guo Song's intention.
"Why not?"
Guo Song said with a smile: "The city walls here are very tall and strong, and the county is no smaller than Jiuyuan County. As long as the city is cleaned up and the buildings are renovated, it will be a very good county. It is surrounded by irrigation canals and the ridges of the land are still there.
It’s much easier to clear the weeds and start farming than to build a new county from scratch!”
Li Ji was right when he thought about it. This is the only way to go to Xishoujiang City. Restoring this county seat is of great significance for connecting with Xishoujiang City. This plan is indeed good.
He thought for a moment and then said: "I am afraid that when the county is restored, the original owner will come to fight for the property and land again. This is a hidden danger."
Guo Song said calmly: "As long as the government does not support it, there is no point in making trouble. The household registration of this county has been destroyed. After we rebuild it, it will not be called Yongfeng County again. Everything will start again."