Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 160 Water Transport
"Someone thought about it. This time, there was no harvest, and a lot of property was brought in. I was in a panic." Near the Boguluqu, Shao Shude walked around, and said: "Lingzhou crosses the river to the west, thirty There is a party item in it. These tribes don't know how powerful a certain is, and they don't pay tribute or do military service, so they have to be taught a lesson."

"The commander-in-chief means..." Chen Cheng asked.

"As usual, pick a few Liliwei first, and then let the rest come to Lingzhou to pay a visit."

Hexi Dangxiang, both nomadic and farming.Those who live on the plains grow millet and wheat, and those who live on the grasslands herd cattle and sheep.My goal is still to subdue the farming party tribe. If I can restrain the grassland party, it will be perfect.

"Marshal, according to the captured Hexi Dangxiang, some tribes have already fled when they heard of the war in Lingzhou. General Zhe smashed the Dangxiang in Hexi, Po Chou, Mi Qin and other ministries are probably also trembling. If you don't come to visit, Must run away."

"This matter should not be delayed. When we go back, we will mobilize all the cavalry and divide them into several groups. Taking advantage of the panic of the Hexi party, we will go deep and plunder. As much as we can rob, even if we can get back tens of thousands of cattle and sheep. Not too little." Shao Shude said.

The river in the Bogulu Canal flows quietly.The tens of thousands of people in Huile County live mainly on the thousand hectares of farmland irrigated by this canal.

Before the army besieged the city, the people had nowhere to escape, so they could only hide at home tremblingly.But the Dingnan Army did not disturb the people. At this time, the war was over, and they hurried back to work in the fields.Some village elders also organized people to send tens of thousands of hay to the camp, but no one asked them for it.

The common people at this time were really scared by the rebellious soldiers!

"What's the situation with the Yamen of the Water Transport Envoy of the Six Cities? When they entered the city, there was almost no one there." Shao Shude asked again.

"During the rebellion in Lingzhou, many people fled. I heard that the commander-in-chief was coming to attack. They were afraid of disaster, and almost all of them ran away. After a while, some people should come back." Chen Cheng replied: "But there are still some people left." Some ships, boatmen, about [-] people."

The six city water transportation envoys manage the water transportation of more than 2000 miles up and down the Yellow River.It began to develop during the Northern Wei Dynasty. Diao Yong built [-] ships in Lingzhou to transport grain to the military towns in the Yinshan area.According to what he said at the time, the two boats constituted a boat, with ten people in each boat, and three thousand dendrobium grains were transported.When starting from Lingzhou, you can go down the river and reach the vicinity of Woye town in five days.Woye Town is now abolished. On the grassland dozens of miles north of Tiande Army City, there were heavy troops stationed during the Northern Wei Dynasty.

When returning from the Tiande army area, he went upstream and returned to Lingzhou in ten days.That is to say, it takes a total of 20 days on the road to go back and forth, and the time of waiting and moving the goods is removed, and it can be transported several times a year.From March to September, water transportation can be carried out for a full six or seven months. Two hundred ships can transport more than 30 at most [-] hu grains to the Tiande Army City area at a time. Three or four times a year, one hundred Thousands of Dendrobium can be transported there.

The cost is also very low!There are [-] boats with a total of [-] boatmen, and they are safe, and there is no risk of being intercepted on the road!
In the early years of the Kingdom of China, Liang Shidu was called for, and Lingzhou and Fengzhou both built large ships.After the mid-Tang Dynasty, many materials exported from Hedong to the eight towns in the northwest of Beijing were also transported by the Yellow River, and the cost was low.

Shao Shude calculated that from Lingzhou to the banks of the Yellow River in Sui and Yin, it would take thousands of miles to travel by land post road.The Yellow River water transport is about 2000 miles away, which seems to be more than double the distance, but the cost is more than [-]% lower and the speed is faster.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Diao Yong said that if you use a horse-drawn cart to transport grain from Lingzhou to Woye Town for 25 miles, it will cost 30 dendrobium per vehicle.It is very troublesome to cross the Yellow River.After crossing the Yellow River, there is light sand in some areas, and the wheels often get stuck.Five thousand vehicles transported more than [-] Dendrobium, and it took more than a hundred days to return. Agricultural production was also affected due to the large amount of manpower required. In only two shipments a year, [-] Dendrobium reached the peak, and the cost was more than ten times higher.

"The water transportation of the six cities will allow the yamen to recover and even expand. In the future, the communication between Lingzhou and Suiyin, whether it is transporting troops, food or equipment, will have to rely on water transportation." Shao Shude said.

"Marshal, it is necessary to capture the three prefectures of Lin, Sheng and Feng."

Indeed, if these three prefectures are not captured, the Yellow River water transportation network will be incomplete, and the significance of the Lingzhou granary will be greatly reduced, and the transportation cost will increase by more than ten times.

"Not only do we have to take these three states, but we also have to have a navy. Judge Chen, do you still remember Huang Ye and Zhu Wen when they were begging for Huang Chao? They have a navy." Shao Shude asked.

"Marshal, it's true. They were all sailors from the former imperial court. The boats were not big. They walked on the Weishui and Luoshui to help transport food and troops. After the nest thieves entered Guanzhong, they all surrendered and became Huang Ye, Huang Ye, and Huang Ye. Zhu Wen used it, but now I don't know where it is." Chen Cheng replied.

"I have to find an opportunity to go to Guanzhong and search for manpower. There are naval forces on the river, and the towns in Hedong and the river are much less of a threat to our grain fleet. There is no need to rush this matter, search slowly, and then Sent to Lingzhou to form."

The cost of the navy is actually not small.Chen Cheng and Guo Yan looked at each other, thinking that the lord might be too idealistic, and when he actually spends money, he will know how powerful it is.

Several people walked around the city again, during which they also asked about the grain harvest here, and they were greatly moved when they learned that one mu of land yielded six or seven buckets of wheat per year, and miscellaneous grains were useless.This place is much better than the two states of Suiyin!

Lingzhou now has a total of more than 90 hectares of farmland, most of which are planted with wheat and a small part of rice. The annual harvest of rice and wheat is [-] hu, and miscellaneous grains also have more than [-] hu.How many people are there?Even counting hidden households, there are only [-] households, and there is such a strong agricultural output—I imagine that in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Boguluqu Canal could irrigate more than [-] hectares of fields, but now it only has more than [-] hectares. Recovery, what a grand sight it must be!

After returning to Lingzhou, Shao Shude immediately found Zhe Siyu, Wei Mengbao, Li Tangbin and others, and asked them to lead their own cavalry, and first break through some party tribes outside Lingzhou city to establish their prestige.Is it plausible that there is a party item thirty miles out of the city?

All captured cattle, sheep, horses and camels were confiscated and used as military rewards, while Dingkou repaired roads in Lingzhou.Although we have made up our minds to develop water transportation, land transportation cannot be neglected.The five-hundred-mile post road from Lingzhou to Yanzhou is really dilapidated and needs to be rectified.The former party captured more than [-] Dangxiang prisoners in Hexi, and they will start building roads tomorrow, and dig coal after the roads are completed. In short, they cannot be idle.

In front of the gate of Jiedushi's mansion, Shao Shude saw the wormwood hanging on the door, and suddenly smiled wryly: "I almost forgot that today is the Dragon Boat Festival."

He thought of his wife and children who were far away in Xiazhou, but he couldn't go back yet.He still had to wait for Li Shao to come, he had to wait for the Hexi party to surrender, and he had to make a series of arrangements.It's not easy to send out troops once, and if you don't arrange everything well, you can't leave with peace of mind.

"Marshal, the kitchen has already made zongzi. Luckily Lingzhou produces rice, otherwise it would be difficult to make." After sitting down in the hall, Lu Siye walked in from the outside and said with a smile, "Calamus wine is also available today. You can drink."

"Very good!" Shao Shude said with a smile: "Han Xun's dedication to the city is just right. If it is two days late, there will be no place to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. Do the people in the city have a festival?"

"Yes. The commander-in-chief's army will not disturb the people, and the people will be at peace. I saw wormwood hanging in every household yesterday. It should be a festival." Lu Siye replied.

"It should be Secretary Lu Anmin's notice that was written well. This year is enough, and next year will definitely make life better for the people of Lingzhou." Shao Shude said: "Working all day long, only a few festivals a year can be easy. This year in Lingzhou By the side, don’t be in a hurry to go. Only when everything has been taken care of can you go with peace of mind. A family of people has dozens of acres of land, raises a cow, and a few sheep. The five-acre house garden is either a fruit forest or a mulberry forest. , children can eat enough, and life can go on, so I feel relieved. It may be difficult to do this in other places, but it is not difficult in Lingzhou."

In fact, what Shao Shude wants to say is to let the people live a good life in peace and stability, with no worries about food and clothing, and I have a clear conscience to play with women in rich clothes and fine food.

"Marshal, there are many lands in Lingzhou. If you immigrate to a real household, there will be great things to do." The rice dumplings were brought up, and Shao Shude greeted everyone to eat. Same as Suiyin’s old practice, organize the households to equalize the people, change customs and customs, and then practice it with the Han people in Guanzhong and Guandong, and great achievements can be made.”

"I hope you will remember what I said today. From now on, I will come to Lingzhou once a year to see if the lives of the people have changed." Shao Shude also said with a smile: "In a few days, I will go north to 'hunt' , all the lords go together, and watch the scenery of Lingzhou. There are still fewer cattle and sheep in the state."

Shao Shude once thought that if a family has [-] mu of land, if they want to maintain soil fertility and ensure production, there is actually a method that can be tried.This method is not feasible in other areas, but it can be tried in Lingzhou, which has a vast land, sparsely populated and a lot of livestock.

The [-] mu of land is divided into three parts, each with [-] mu.Twenty acres are planted with rice and wheat, twenty acres are planted with alfalfa, and twenty acres are planted with soybeans.In the second year, crop rotation was implemented again, and the original rice and wheat were replaced with alfalfa or soybeans. In this way, only one year out of three years was used to grow staple food, which played a certain fallow effect.

Soybeans fix nitrogen and alfalfa feeds livestock.With [-] acres of alfalfa and some forage outside, it is not a problem to feed [-] large livestock a year.The manure produced by twenty large livestock was barely enough to fertilize the twenty mu of staple food, which further maintained the fertility of the land.

Energy is conserved.

The food in the ground will not be produced out of thin air. In addition to air, sunlight and water, it also needs various nutrients.There are sufficient nutrients in the black soil, but if it is not cherished and consumed recklessly, the black soil layer will become thinner. In the era without chemical fertilizers, the soil will become more and more barren, and the grain output will become lower and lower.

Hundreds of thousands of livestock were seized in the state before, but most of them are sheep, and they have been or will be distributed as rewards, so they cannot be moved.So, he planned to do an experiment in Lingzhou, even on a small scale first, to see how it works.

If it is good, it will be promoted on a large scale in the plains of the six counties of Lingzhou.In this way, the output of grain, meat, milk, and leather will increase greatly, which will greatly promote the growth of the strength of the Dingnan Army.

This is a model that is destined to be impossible to replicate elsewhere, and Shao Shude very much hopes to succeed.

"The commander-in-chief has an order, and we dare not follow it." Chen, Guo, and Lu said in unison.

Of course they didn't know what Marshal Shao was thinking, but they didn't get any money from this expedition, and Dingkou didn't catch a few. Overall, it was a loss, and they really needed to work harder.

"Hunting" Well, what you hunt can be foxes and rabbits, and naturally it can also be people or property, but I don't know who will hit it.

(End of this chapter)