Villager of Daming

Chapter 634 Laughter recalls the pain of war

'Buzz...' The steam engine was working hard to generate electricity, and the entire Shijiu Lake, including the people on the opposite bank, came running over to wait for a meal.

Everyone looked at the electric lights, and then looked at the two big guys in the distance who were working tirelessly to harvest soybeans, feeling like a dream.

"Tomorrow we will assemble that plowing machine and help everyone plow the land after harvesting soybeans and prepare to plant winter wheat."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt happy when he saw the surprised expressions of the people.

The Ming Dynasty lacked a population, and a lot of land was left uncultivated. The more desolate it was, the less people wanted to plant it, and the less cultivated the land, the worse it was.

Especially if there are no other people in the surrounding area, then no one will go to that place to build their own house to live.

Now that we have useful machines, we can send troops there, and we don’t need a large number of manpower anyway.

"People from our two villages can finally take a break." Huang Lichang was also happy. Who would be willing to bend down and cut the bean vines with a sickle?
Soybeans are more difficult to cut than wheat and rice. On the first day, they cut from morning to night. When I woke up the next day, my whole body ached, and I gritted my teeth and had to go to the fields to continue cutting.

If you plant twenty acres of beans, you will have to mow them for a month. Two acres a day is the best time. If you mow every day, your body will not be able to bear it.

One month is obviously not enough. If you delay planting wheat, the elderly, wives, and children at home will have to go to work.

Okay now, waiting for the two devices here and one device on the other side to help.

Three big machines can cut [-] acres in a day. Let's see which areas are difficult to cut with machines and take out the sickles together.

"Your Majesty, let's save the manpower and assemble two more units! Use the parts. Instead of leaving them alone, it's better for everyone to use them."

The head of the village did some calculations and found that there is still a lot of land. When the soybeans were planted, the people here became rich and were willing to plant seeds. It is estimated that they may have to hire people to wait for the harvest this year.

This large area of ​​cultivation cannot be done without equipment, and it can tire people to death.

"Your village is about to harvest soybeans. Do you want our people to harvest them for you with sickles? Oops! This battle was caused by natural and man-made disasters. People were killed and the land was cleared."

Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned Xiaqiu Village, where there are still large areas of soybean cultivation!The soybeans there will be used as seeds for other places, and the yield will be high.

"There is a smelting place in Xiaqiu Village, and we have many craftsmen. We can use small steam engines to make some equipment there. If there are more, the efficiency will be the same. So we must cherish the time when we are not at war, look for where the instability is, and try to provide food of and wearing.”

There is a way. As long as there are craftsmen and materials, other problems will not be a problem.

At the same time, he continued to talk about the war, which lasted for 17 years.

Moreover, before the war, there were constant natural disasters. The Yellow River burst, dry places were dry, and flooded places were flooded. Coupled with official corruption, some people finally couldn't bear it anymore.

During this process, a lot of land was concentrated in the hands of a few people, and annexation was serious.

After a continuous war, various armies were running around. When they passed through the villages and county towns, they were sure to have dirty hands.

It was impossible for the people who did not participate to live a good life. When it was time to harvest winter wheat in the summer, an army passed by. They were worried about having no food to eat, so they harvested the wheat from the fields.

If the troops arrive a month late and see that the wheat harvest has been completed, it would be better not to harvest it yourself but to knock on the door and call the fellow villagers.

Under such circumstances, the people are unwilling to farm, they cannot eat what they have planted, and they have to bear the burden of raising seeds in vain. Why don’t we join the army and fight!

The next step is to wait for the various forces to form and start issuing their own currencies to stabilize the rear. Only then will the people be considered stable.Then these forces fight again, one of them wins, and the people in other places are finished.

It is now the fifth and half year since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, let’s count six!People are working hard to recover from the scars left by the war.

What Li Chang means is that now that the imperial court has a lot of food, some of it can be distributed to poor places. How to distribute it requires some wisdom.

It is obviously not possible to give it directly to the people. The people cannot get used to getting something for nothing. You can give them praise, or let them do some work that the people themselves have to do, provide them with food, and then pay extra food as wages.

For example, there is a river in front of a village, and the bridge on the river is in disrepair for a long time. The people have long wanted to repair it, but one does not have large wooden materials, and the other does not.

At this time, food, tools, and materials are given to the people, and they are asked to work. If they don't work, it will be impossible.

When the people saw it, what?Build a bridge for your village?Then give yourself food, and finally give you food?Great, there is still a road, and we also want to build it...

It is now convenient for the people to travel and food is increased. If someone asks them to rebel again, they will never agree. Seeing that good times are coming, will rebellion have a way to survive?
……

The local people did not know how serious the topic their Majesty was talking to the head of Xiaqiu Village. They sang and danced around the bonfire.

The bonfires were lit by the soybean pods they harvested themselves. The pods were easy to burn and were good for feeding animals. The pods harvested by machines could not be used to make fire and were broken into pieces.

In the evening, it’s all about fish, steamed, roasted, stewed, pan-fried, deep-fried, grilled…

Zhu Fan also ate squirrel fish, which Zhu Wentian cooked for him.

"It's better to stay in the south of the Yangtze River! It's not cold. If it's the north, it's cold in many places now. In another month, if you can't stay outside at night, you'll freeze to death."

Zhu Xi had just finished eating a fish steak wrapped in bread crumbs and fried, and he commented on the climate in the south and the north.

Where Shijiu Lake is now, it’s still hot at night!Even though the soybeans are all withered and yellow, it’s not cold when it’s time to harvest.

Zhu Biao took a sip of wine: "It should be easy for the herdsmen in the north to survive the winter this year. We have left a lot of things. During the summer and autumn, there will be no shortage of salt, and it can even be supplied to other places."

“They can enter the earth fort in winter, and if there are many animals, they set up barns outside. There is water around the earth fort, and they grow grain.

At that time, we will send a team to deliver some things to them, such as candles, skin care products, and cotton cloth. They do not grow cotton.

What else?Soap and bar soap?The Four Treasures of the Study?Yes, medicinal materials, medicinal materials used to treat typhoid fever and wind-cold. They also always have a bad stomach, and they may sneeze and have a fever.

In addition, give them some tea leaves, both fermented and unfermented. Green tea is also good to drink. "

Zhu Xiang began to think about what to provide the herdsmen in the north. He stayed there last year and shared the joys and sorrows with the herdsmen.

Today he is back. The herdsmen still have to go through the cold winter. He always feels that everyone is 'friends'. He has many things here and lacks nothing.

Then we should give it to the herdsmen, and maybe we will go there in the future, for example, to accompany the third brother to see the fiefdom, and to take a walk north by the way.

Zhu Biao listened to what his second brother said, and thought the same thing, and added: "Canned fruits, dried fruits, preserved fruits in bamboo tubes and oil paper, especially individual rock sugars, I think they like to eat them. They drink milk all day long, and they are not sweet enough."

(End of this chapter)