For three days in a row, Guo Song spent a busy time. In the morning, Guo Song finally finished processing the accumulated documents, and he took a group of officials to inspect both sides of the Zhangye River. Both sides of the Zhangye River were covered with large wheat fields, which was Gansu Province.
The state's most important granary, military farmland, people's private farmland, and government official farmland are all located here.
The vineyards are concentrated in the south of Ganzhou, not here.
As Pan Liao walked, he introduced to Guo Song: "There are currently more than 12,000 hectares of wheat fields on the east bank of the Zhangye River, of which 6,000 hectares were cultivated last autumn and this spring. Next year, another 3,000 hectares are planned to be cultivated, of which
There are 5,000 hectares of official land, 3,500 hectares of military land, and the remaining 3,000 hectares are private land of Zhangye people."
"How are the official fields arranged for planting?" Guo Song asked.
"It was rented out to the people, a total of more than 3,000 families, with an average of more than 100 acres of wheat fields per family. They moved out of the city at the same time, forming more than 30 villages."
"According to a family of five people, there are only 15,000 people. There are 100,000 people left in Zhangye City. Where are the others?"
"More than 5,000 people were recruited in the mine. Together with their families, more than 20,000 people can be eliminated. Then there are more than 5,000 people in animal husbandry, grape planting, craftsmen, etc., and together with their families, another 20,000 people can be eliminated.
The remaining people, this adds up to solving the livelihood problem of 60,000 people."
"Where are the other 40,000 people?"
Guo Song smiled and said: "Is there a good solution? If not, would you like me to find a solution for you?"
Only then did Pan Liao understand what Guo Song meant. Was he trying to increase Zhangye's population?
He pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you want to send them to Anxi and Beiting?"
Guo Song nodded, "Anxi needs population, and Gaochang also needs population. When I come back this time, I am considering letting a group of soldiers bring their families there, and then mobilizing a group of people to go there."
Pan Liao smiled and said: "Under normal conditions, they are not willing to go to Anxi or Beiting. You must come up with generous conditions, and maybe there is hope."
"Ordinary households are given three hectares of permanent land, military households are given five hectares, and they are tax-free for life. What are the conditions?"
Pan Liao blinked and said with a smile: "This condition is good. Many people should be interested. To be honest, I am a little tempted. I will publicize it in Lanzhou when the time comes to ensure that another batch of people sign up."
"I'll leave this to you!"
Pan Liao nodded, "I will discuss it with everyone tomorrow."
"One more thing, Beiting is short of fifteen county officials. Let's arrange for the officials to select them. I hope they will be young and promising officials."
"Remember my humble duty and make arrangements for it tomorrow!"
.........
The Zhangye River originates from the melted ice and snow in the Qilian Mountains. Countless streams converge into a river, flowing northwest and finally flowing into the Juyan Sea hundreds of miles away.
The Zhangye River flows ten miles north of Zhangye City. From here to the east bank a hundred miles south has been reclaimed as farmland. Currently, there are 1.2 million acres, twice as much as last year. This is also the need for the population increase in Hexi.
There are agricultural areas within ten miles of the east bank, and an official road has been built in the middle. From time to time, you can see a gurgling creek flowing into the Zhangye River. There are woods beside the creek, and newly built villages are built next to the woods close to the creek.
Spring wheat is grown in the Hexi Corridor. It is sown in spring and harvested in autumn. There is only one season each year. However, because the land is fertile and the water is sufficient, the wheat yield is not low. The yield per mu of land is close to three stones of wheat.
At this time, it was the hot season, and the wheat fields were growing well and lush. As far as the eye could see, there were still wheat seedlings played by farmers in the fields.
Guo Song got off his horse, walked forward, squatted on the field ridge and asked a farmer, "Where is my husband from?"
"Reporting to the official, I am from Shanzhou!"
The old farmer is not stupid. Although he does not know Guo Song, there are a large group of officials waiting in the distance! Among them is the county magistrate he knows. His attitude is so respectful. This young official is not an ordinary person.
"How many acres of wheat do you tend?"
"This is official land. The county only allows two hectares of land to be rented at most. My son and I rented two hectares of land together, which is quite a lot, two hundred acres!"
"How much is the rent per year?"
Everyone nearby was worried, fearing that he would come up with a tax that was different from the government.
"Isn't it the same? 20% of the rent, tax-free."
Everyone was relieved. The 20% rent was publicly posted.
Guo Song smiled again and asked: "My father-in-law, if Gaochang County gives you three hectares of permanent land, which can be passed on to your descendants and tax-free for life, would you be interested in going there?"
"this....."
The old farmer hesitated for a long time and said: "We have to discuss it with my son. I can't make the decision myself."
Guo Song saw that the look in his eyes was that he was tempted. The three words "Yongye Field" were too tempting to the people of the Tang Dynasty, let alone three hundred acres of land, any farmer would be tempted.
In fact, Guo Song had experience. He had practiced it in Fengzhou. In Fengzhou, which was so far away, there were still many farmers who traveled thousands of miles with their families for Yongye Field.
As Pan Liao said, we should publicize it more, including in Guanzhong. As long as the population base increases, there will definitely be many bankrupt farmers with their children.
...........
After patrolling for two hours, Pan Liao led a group of officials back to Zhangye City first. Guo Song, accompanied by Lu Jin, a member of the Kaicaosi army, continued southward with his soldiers, and then walked a hundred miles south to Ganzhou.
of iron ore mines.
The department of Kaicaosi that corresponds to the imperial court is the Ministry of Industry, which is a large department among the Six Caosi in Hexi. There are three independent government offices under it, the Ordnance Department, the Craftsmanship Department and the Mining and Metallurgy Department. Kaicaosi is responsible for formulating plans and recruiting craftsmen.
Improving technology, etc., the specific tasks are done by three government agencies.
The Ganzhou Iron Mine is located in the upper reaches of the Zhangye River. It is not a large iron mine, but a medium-sized iron mine. It was discovered as early as the Tianbao period, but no one could find anyone to mine it. In addition, Ge Shuhan, the governor of Hexi Province at that time, opened the mine.
I had no interest, so I put it on hold.
If the Tibetan invasion of Longyou hadn't caused a large number of people to flee to Ganzhou, Guo Song would also have been unable to find enough labor to mine iron ore. However, since there was an influx of more than 500,000 people at once, he would be foolish not to make good use of it.
Currently, there are 5,600 people recruited to work as miners, of which more than 500 are trained smelting craftsmen, and the other 5,000 are responsible for mining.
In the afternoon, Guo Song and his party arrived at the mine. The miners' camp was just a mile away from the foot of the mine. It consisted of a thousand tents and was stationed with more than a hundred soldiers. It was mainly responsible for maintaining order and preventing conflicts and fights among the miners.
The chief officer of the Mining and Metallurgical Administration is Shu Ling, who is an official of the eighth rank. There are two chief ministers and two mine supervisors, both of whom are from the ninth rank. The official currently stationed in the mine is a mine supervisor named Zhou Zhao.
, in his early thirties, a native of Jincheng County, Lanzhou, took the Civil Service Recruitment Examination last year. He passed the Civil Service Examination with excellent results and was promoted due to his outstanding performance.
When Zhou Zhao heard that the Jiedu envoy was coming, he was so frightened that he ran out to greet him, "Zhou Zhao, the humble mine supervisor, please see the envoy Jun and see Lu Shenjun."
Lu Jin stepped forward and said: "It's getting late, so I just want to take a look. You are responsible for leading the way!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
At this time, Guo Song pointed his riding whip at a dozen rafts by the river and asked, "What are those rafts used for?"
Zhou Zhao hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Please envoy, it is used to transport smelted pig iron and copper ingots."
"Why not transport it by boat?"
Guo Song asked Lu Jin again: "I remember there were more than twenty small boats?"
Lu Jin said apologetically: "Those small boats are currently in use in Cangcheng. There is a Cao River in Cangcheng. Small boats are used to transport food and supplies, which is more convenient than large trucks."
Guo Song shook his head and said: "It is inconvenient to transport pig iron and rough copper on rafts. We still need to use ships. You can go back and make arrangements to transfer the ships. In addition, Kai Caosi should consider building ships."
"I've thought about it, but it's hard to find shipbuilders."
Guo Song thought for a while and said: "I will write a letter to Fengzhou. There is a group of shipbuilding craftsmen there. I will transfer them over."
The current governor of Fengzhou is Xue Changshou, Guo Song's former aide, and I believe he will give him this face.
"If there are shipbuilders, humble jobs can be arranged."
Guo Song nodded and walked towards the camp, with everyone following behind him.
"How is the food for the miners?" Guo Song asked.
"Actually, it's pretty good. First of all, they can eat enough. Each person has two kilograms of noodles per day, three meals a day. Each meal is guaranteed to have broth, pickles, and mutton once every three days. Food and accommodation are free, which guarantees their monthly net income.
Three pieces of money."
Guo Song happened to see a group of miners eating, each with two big steamed buns. They put pickles in the steamed buns, drank broth, gnawed on the steamed buns, and talked and laughed.
At this time, a loud noise of 'Boom!' came from the mountain.