At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 426: New Land of Abundance and the Battle at Anling Fort

Zhou Chang explained: "This year, the profits of my Dahan workshops are generally not high. Even if they make money, they will find ways to buy various machines to reduce the profits of the workshops."

"It is true!" Yin Qun understood.

"It's outrageous! We have been working so hard to cultivate the land here, but those workshop owners are not willing to invest even a little money. They should be asked to come to Nanjun to reclaim the land as well."

“Why doesn’t the court crack down on these profiteers?”

Zhou Chang said helplessly: "Many things in this world cannot be perfectly solved by issuing a decree. Just like these workshop owners, they have made money, but people are buying new steam engines and building new workshops. They say they want to expand production capacity. Can the court stop them?"

Li De said: "This is also a good thing for ordinary people. They set up new workshops, and the people will have a job to do. The court can also receive taxes. The court cannot stop merchants from expanding production because of collecting taxes. If it really does this, what is the difference between it and the tyrannical Qin Dynasty."

Zhou Chang said: "I am not qualified to take care of the asset tax. I'd better take care of the current affairs first. The court has sent reporters to collect information. We must protect their safety and take good care of them. At the same time, we should show them our Anling Fort and let them promote us more. This way, we can attract more people to come to Nanjun to reclaim wasteland."

Li De thought for a moment and said, "Jiang Zhi, you are a Han official from Chang'an, and you are familiar with dealing with these reporters. I will leave them to you to take care of them."

Jiang Zhi nodded and said, "Yes!"

September 13th.

Representatives of the Jiangzhi Reclamation Team introduced the place they had built to the reporters.

Jiang Zhi proudly pointed to the rice fields that were about to be harvested and said, "This place used to be a swamp. The reclamation commander led us to dig drainage ditches in the dam, and then used steam engines to drain the water from the swamp, turning 4 acres of swamp into a fertile land.

This autumn harvest, we expect to harvest three shi of rice per mu, and this is not the limit, because the silt in the fields is fertile, the maximum yield per mu can reach six or seven shi. At the same time, because of the hot south, we can have two or three seasons a year, and the annual income can exceed 10 shi of grain. Even the best land in the Central Plains cannot compare to this. The most important thing is that the fields are close to water sources, so there is no need to worry about drought.

"Wow, the land here is so fertile, even the land of abundance in Guanzhong cannot compare to it."

"Anling Fort is the new land of abundance!" Reporters around exclaimed when they heard this set of data.

The competition in the newspaper industry in this era is very fierce. These reporters often go to the countryside to collect folk songs. They also know some farm work. Just by looking at the density of rice in the fields, they know that Jiang Zhi is not lying.

The reclamation team was only formed this year, and this is obviously newly reclaimed virgin land, but the income from the fields in the first year is comparable to the best farmland in the Han Dynasty. If in a few years, the supporting facilities are established, and the climate allows for two or three seasons of cropping, the income from one acre of land here will be equal to 1 acres of land in the Central Plains. It is no exaggeration to say that Anling Fort is the new land of abundance.

Zheng Qi, editor-in-chief of Legal Monthly, shouted, "Painter, please record this scene quickly. We want to let everyone in the world see this scene, so that they will know how short-sighted they are. This is a paradise, a treasure given to our Han Dynasty by God, and yet they are still unwilling to come."

"Yes!" The painter took out a wooden drawing board from the book rack on his back, spread a piece of white paper on it, started mixing the paints, and then began to paint on the rice field.

Ever since Xu Fan invented white paper, the papermaking industry has developed very rapidly due to the need for publicity and popular education. From the earliest bamboo paper to the current mulberry paper, Juan paper and other papers made from various local raw materials.

With the emergence of paper, cultural industries also rose rapidly, including the pen, ink and inkstone industry, and the calligraphy and painting industry.

Because of Xu Fan's guidance, the profession of painter began to emerge in this era, because a large number of painters were needed to make the curtains used for performing operas.

When opera began to be learned by folk drama troupes, these folk drama troupes made a lot of money, but they soon encountered a problem. There were always fans who said that their opera was not authentic enough, that there were only people singing but no curtains, and that the sense of immersion was not strong enough.

However, using silk, cotton and other fabrics to hang a curtain that is ten meters long and thirty meters wide would cost more than ten rolls of cloth, which would cost tens of thousands of dollars, and it would be impossible to get it. At the same time, you would also have to find a painter to paint it, which would cost another large sum of money.

A play may have three or four scenes to change, or more than a dozen scenes to change. This makes the price of curtains for a play too high. Ordinary opera troupes simply cannot afford a few curtains.

But as the saying goes, where there is a market, there is demand. Soon a team from a drama troupe came up with the idea of ​​using relatively cheap white paper to paint the curtain. Due to its low price, this kind of paper painting quickly became popular throughout the Han Dynasty.

At the same time, the wealth of the Han society has increased rapidly in the past decade or so, and there are more and more rich people. These rich people need something to show their status.

The luxury goods market in the Han Dynasty began to flourish. Xu Fan's sandalwood carriage, the Emperor's carriage, perfumes, cosmetics and other luxury goods were all sold to the wealthy.

At the same time, a painting that a painter spends half a year to a year to complete has obviously become a symbol of wealth for these wealthy people. Now, many wealthy people in Chang'an City like to put a painting in their own hall.

This trend soon became a trend, and even ordinary families in Chang'an City liked to paint a small three-foot long painting.

The newspaper industry and the cultural circle have the closest ties, and they like to use paintings to deepen readers' impressions, just like photographs in later generations.

Over the past 10 years, the number of educated people in the Han Dynasty has increased dozens of times, and the top newspapers and magazines are extremely profitable, so having a painter by the side of the reporter to collect materials has become a standard feature of the top newspapers and magazines in the Han Dynasty.

"Brother Zheng is right. This beautiful scene should be seen by everyone in the world." Everyone drew this scene.

Xie Yu thought for a moment and said, "It would be too monotonous to paint all the same scene."

Jiang Zhi immediately said, "We have also reclaimed cotton and soybean fields this year. If you reporters don't mind, you can also record these scenes."

"Good!" The reporter brought the painter to record this newly reclaimed land from different angles.

In the next few days, Jiang Zhi took these reporters to see the simple workshop area of ​​Anling Fort and the nearby grass market.

These reporters were not interested in the workshops. After all, the workshop area in Chang'an City was larger than a county town, and the workshop area in Anling Fort was just a makeshift team in the eyes of these reporters.

Of course they didn't say it explicitly, after all, such words were too hurtful.

The Grass Market was what interested the reporters, because there were not many Han people in the Grass Market. Instead, they were more interested in the southern barbarians who had all kinds of strange paints on their faces, colorful feathers, and all kinds of strange prey. Xie Yu asked, "These barbarians look very polite, which is different from the barbarians we have in mind?"

These reporters also have a stereotyped impression. In their view, barbarians are savages who eat raw meat and drink blood, are unreasonable, and have bad tempers.

But the atmosphere in this Cao Market seemed to be extremely harmonious, and there were no conflicts in the transactions between the two parties.

They could see the big and small bags that the southern barbarians brought with them, some leather, some unknown herbs, some beautiful feathers, some unknown wild beasts, and they even saw a dragon. It was indeed a barbarian land, as they could even see such mythical beasts.

Jiang Zhi smiled and said, "In order to reclaim the wasteland in Anling Fort, your Lord used thousands of kilograms of gunpowder to drive away the wild beasts within a hundred miles. The barbarians were terrified when they saw that we could use gunpowder. They also worshipped your Lord as the Lord of the Mountains. All the barbarians were his subjects, and many tribes paid homage to him from time to time. They dare not mess around in the territory of our Han Dynasty."

"Then you traded goods with them, communicated with them, taught them to build villages, cultivate fields, and build new water conservancy projects. The barbarians around Nanjun all came down from the mountains and learned from us Han people how to farm for a living.

Xie Yu sighed, "This is the merit of education. The gentlemen of our Han Dynasty should have this mission, to teach the barbarians in all directions to become Han people, and let them bathe in the light of our Han civilization. This is the destiny bestowed upon our Han Dynasty by God."

"Thank you, your words make sense. The barbarians have a bathing culture. Li Lingjun is indeed a capable official of our Han Dynasty. I must record this scene."

"The painter painted this market so that people all over the world can see the contribution of Li Lingjun to education."

"promise!"

So the painters who followed these reporters recorded the scene on their drawing boards.

In October, when it was time for the autumn harvest, more and more people came to Anling Fort, some of whom were newly recruited settlers, totaling about 1000 people.

Their arrival greatly alleviated the labor shortage in Anling Fort. At the same time, wild people from hundreds of miles around Nanjun also gathered here.

They came to work for the reclamation team, which was able to reclaim 20 acres of land, build a relatively complete fortress, and a small workshop area. The surrounding barbarian labor force was an important factor.

The reclamation team has no shortage of food. They only need to spend a few kilograms of food to secure a strong laborer to work for a day. The reclamation team is also happy to use food to speed up their construction progress.

The surrounding barbarian tribes were also very happy to work for the reclamation teams, not for any other reason, but because their labor was worthless. Without the reclamation teams, they could only find ways to hunt or slash-and-burn to harvest the scarce food.

However, the income from working in the reclamation team is tangible and measurable. One can get 5 kilograms of food a day, and if you save some, it is enough for the whole family to eat for a day.

The big stick and the sweet date have always been the two powerful weapons of the Han Dynasty's education. Knowing that the Han people have magical weapons and they cannot defeat them, the southern barbarian tribes still prefer to use their own labor to exchange for food.

This year, tens of thousands of southern barbarian laborers have joined the team to harvest tens of thousands of acres of land.

Tens of thousands of people were working in the golden rice fields. A large, neatly planned rice field was being harvested little by little under the sickles of everyone.

The farmers in the rear packed the rice fields, loaded them onto ox carts, and then took them to the rear for threshing, presenting a thriving, busy and orderly harvest scene.

Zheng Qi and his men were extremely excited to see this scene. Autumn harvest always makes people happy, not to mention that this originally barbaric land has become a civilized and prosperous land.

In Chang'an City and even in Guanzhong, Zheng Qi and his team's field trips also received a great response.

The new article written by Zheng Qi, "The Land of Abundance", details the current data of Anlingbao's reclamation and the estimated grain production capacity, and even more enthusiastically promotes to the people of the entire Han Dynasty that if all the wasteland in Changsha County, Qianzhong County, and Nan County can be reclaimed, these three counties alone can feed the people of the world. The South is the future of the Han Dynasty and the new home of future generations.

Of course, Zheng Qi's manuscript contained pictures and the truth. The Legal Monthly carved the original drawing of the fields directly on a wood block and printed it directly on this report, so that everyone could see the fertile land of Nanjun.

This article caused a huge response, and the yield of ten shi per mu caused a sensation throughout the world. You should know that the current standard for farming in the Han Dynasty is still three shi, and the average yield per mu of the entire Han Dynasty is about two shi of grain. One-third of the fields in the Han Dynasty still have a grain yield of only one shi per mu.

The yield of ten shi per mu is almost like a myth. Many gossipers in Guanzhong are skeptical about this yield per mu, thinking it is exaggerating.

Finally, it was a student from a farming family who came out to explain why the swamp silt fields were so fertile, and the grain production capacity brought about by two or three seasons a year. Finally, this student told everyone that ten shi was a conservative estimate, and that it was really possible to grow three seasons of grain. With the fertility of the swamp silt fields, it was possible to produce twenty shi per mu.

With the popularization of the information by professionals, the people in Guanzhong finally became a little skeptical, but no matter what, a piece of virgin land can produce 3 shi per mu. The South is indeed not a barren land as they imagined.

Later, the reporters also wrote an article about the educational achievements of Li Lingjun, the contemporary Taigong.

The reporter mainly used what he saw and heard in the supermarket as an introduction to how the reclamation team educated the savages, taught them to build villages and cultivate fields, change their living habits, and learn the Han people's way of life.

There is also something called "The Manifest Destiny" and "The Mandate of the Han Dynasty Lies in the South" at the end, which introduces the achievements of the settlement and reclamation team in the past year and highlights the deeds of the advanced figures in the settlement and reclamation team.

Like a Han official helping the savages capture a dragon, or a Han official calming down a dispute between two tribes, or helping a sick child from a tribe and pulling the child back from the brink of death.

In short, it is to highlight the outstanding deeds of a hero. It can be said that since the field research team went to Anling Fort, the world's hot spot has always been in the south.

Xu Fan, in particular, collected the drawings of these painters and opened an exhibition of the Southern Reclamation Team. There were hundreds of paintings recording the life, work, rest and other aspects of the reclamation team.

Through these drawings, people all over the world can have a certain understanding of the South and eliminate their inner prejudices.

Xu Fan named this group of paintings Battle at Anling Fort, and then exhibited them in all counties and prefectures of the Han Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)