Dragon Soul in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 154 A Brief Introduction to Spring Plowing

No matter what the plans of the forces around Chengdu Mansion are, they can't stop Zhu Qian's determination to take root here, so he attaches great importance to the matter of spring plowing. You must know that the grain produced in the Chengdu Plain accounts for almost [-]% of the entire land of Bashu. More than [-]%, especially the Dujiangyan area, has always been a major grain producer.

That's why he carried out strategic contraction and temporarily gave up places outside of Chengdu. After all, although the red army has enough soldiers and food, this is also a major flaw. With fewer soldiers, there are naturally fewer places to guard, and they want to gain a firm foothold. , it is better to grab the big head and slowly affect the surroundings.

Zhu Gan was wearing a coir raincoat and walking in the field. He was dressed like a farmer, but the soldiers following him showed his extraordinary status.

For such a group, he was a bit deceitful, but Zhu Qian did not let them leave. He was here to see the situation of Chun Geng in person. He brought these people not only for safety, but also for the sake of meeting any emergency. Order someone to go and do it.

"It is said that girls from Sichuan are hot and beautiful, and now there should be chili peppers in Chengdu! Girls from Sichuan have become hot girls, but I don't know if I can feast my eyes on this trip." Zhu Gan walked slowly, his trousers and boots already wrapped. Wet without realizing it, Yan Yixiang suddenly appeared in his mind.

He sighed softly: "You are beautiful, you are a thief. I don't know if you are smart or stupid."

Thinking about Zigong, Zhu Gan slowly shook his head. That place is so important, how could he lose it so easily? At this time, the Red Clothes Army's military base has just started, and they are recruiting a large number of local Sichuan people to join the army. Once the training is completed, he will be When he was about to deal with these duplicitous people, he felt a little conflicted and began to think about how to deal with Yan Yixiang.

Although this woman is a bit ugly, her conversation and intelligence are not bad. If she can help her in business, it will be extremely powerful for the development of the Red Army. However, Yan Yixiang's betrayal makes Zhu Gan a little hard to accept.

Looking at the busy scene in the field, some of them did not have cattle, and a few families went to battle, plowing and digging with shovels and hoes, but it has been dry for several months, and now it is really strenuous and inefficient to dig the field by hand.

Looking at this scene, Zhu Gan frowned slightly, and asked the people beside him, "Why is there such a shortage of farm cattle?"

That person had just been separated from the Red Army and was in charge of civil affairs, so he didn't have a clue at the moment, when asked by Zhu Gan, he muttered a few words, not knowing what to say at all.

Zhu Gan snorted coldly, knowing that these students had just come into contact with civil affairs, but the efficiency was so low that he couldn't answer a single sentence when asked, which made him look very ugly, so he could only continue to observe.

The mighty group of people on the ridge has long been noticed by the common people. Now the Red Army has given them land. Although the land still belongs to the Red Army in name, it is a good fortune for the Red Army to plant it for them. Now, a lot of seeds have been provided to them. This method of recuperating with the people has won the support of many people.

For this group of people, the common people are not stupid. Naturally, they guessed that they are probably the civil affairs officials just appointed by the Red Army. Although they don't know what kind of official position this is, but it is said that the management is very wide. Guess it should be the former county. Grandpa!

As the saying goes, there is no hair on the mouth, and the work is not firm. These county magistrates are too young, so although the people agree that the red army occupied Chengdu and expel the county magistrates, they have a deep feeling for this group of newly appointed civil affairs officials. Of course, Zhu Gan is also very clear that it takes time and things to explain, and there is no rush.

Now that the county magistrate arrived, many people were terrified. One of the nearby families saw a handsome young man with an extraordinary temperament approaching. He dropped his sickle and stick in panic, and went up to the ridge of the field, assuming he was about to salute.

Zhu Gan hurried forward a few steps, helped the leading old man up, and said: "Old man, please don't do this, you are busy with work, I am disturbing you by coming, if you want to ask you to be polite , Delay your busy farming, then I am a sinner of your family!"

The old man was supported by Zhu Gan, blushes flushed on his withered and yellowed face, and he said in fear: "Young old man, don't dare to..."

"Come on, the old man sit down first, let's have a good chat." Zhu Gan helped the old man to sit down while talking, but seeing the uncomfortable expression of the old man, Zhu Gan immediately noticed where the discomfort came from , Immediately said to the guard: "Go and help, and turn this place over."

After receiving Zhu Gan's order, all the guards felt that one head was two big, and they didn't know what to do. Seeing this old man's family, they were also panic-stricken. , then he can do a good job, and he didn't dare to order anything immediately, and moved honestly. When the group of big-headed soldiers saw it, they also pulled out their sabers one after another, but they loosened the soil.

Seeing that his own guards were in such a mess, Zhu Qian just smiled and asked the old man, "Old man, I am afraid that one or two oxen is enough for a village with dozens of acres of land here! Why are cattle so scarce."

"Master County, you are a young child, you don't know, old man, I will rely on the old to sell the old, let alone one or two cows in a village, now it is difficult to find a farm cow in all the villages! There is no way, The crops will be planted soon, and the whole family has to join the battle!" The old man’s face was full of bitterness, before there were no fields and cattle, but now there are fields but no cattle, but the living can’t be suffocated by urine, isn’t it just loosening the soil? ?This trivial matter is not difficult for them, it's just that they are a little tired, but it's worth it to be a little tired now that they have farms.

"Oh! Why is this? It is clearly stated in the law of the Ming Dynasty that slaughtering cattle is not allowed. Serious cases will be imprisoned or even exiled into the army. How can there be so few cattle?" Zhu Gan was stunned. He knew nothing about agriculture. There are too few of them, and there are no such talents in the Red Army, and everything is in the process of groping and familiarizing.

The old man scolded angrily: "It's not that those who cut the back of the old shell were immoral. There was a drought in front, but there is Dujiangyan here, so it's not that serious, but it was still affected after all. As a result, the imperial court imposed heavy taxes. Previously, I worked as tenants to farm for the landlords, and the leftovers handed over to the landlords were not enough for their own rations, and they were hit by disasters. Naturally, they had no choice, and the farming cattle had to..."

Zhu Gan frowned, his mind was very keen, and he immediately noticed something different, and interrupted the old man's words: "When did the cattle be taken in?"

"Oh! When can it be? Not long ago, this group of Kan Laoke's back-time stuff seems to be that the prefect in front of him practiced evil skills and liked to eat beef tongue. He slaughtered a lot of farm cattle at that time, and those who ate Throw away all the unusable meat..." The old man said sadly, beating his chest from time to time.

There was a hint of coldness in Zhu Gan's eyes. This matter is by no means as simple as it seems. I am afraid that someone has planned it early in the morning, so he made a plan. If the drought continues this year, I am afraid that there will be no grain harvest at that time, and the central Sichuan will be completely unstable. Even though the Red Army has enough food, it cannot feed the entire people in Bashu.

Without cattle, the red-clothed army will either use a lot of manpower, or use a lot of bad horses and mules among the generals. This is not as simple as one or two horses. .

It can only be said that the person who made this trick is either an unscrupulous lunatic or a desperate genius, but in any case, this big hand hiding behind the scenes is the most difficult to deal with, and it also makes Zhu Gan the most headache of.

Thinking back to all the things around the Red Army, Zhu Gan felt a little heavy in his heart, and he didn't know how many conspiracies and schemes were waiting for him behind his back.

"I heard Erwa from the village next door say that it seems that the magistrate practiced prostitution, and he couldn't do it in bed, so what he ate was bullwhip, and the cow tongue was just an excuse, so he killed the cow so that the people below would not know what he was hiding. It is said that he found a place to bury it quietly, just to avoid his scandal being exposed." A stunned child, probably listening to the conversation between his grandfather and Zhu Gan, couldn't help but straighten up Let's talk.

This child was only about eight or nine years old, with dark skin, a short and strong figure, and quite agile eyes. At this time, when he said these words, all the soldiers immediately laughed.

I saw his father, an honest man in his 40s, who was extremely flexible at this time, with a sort of airy posture in the field. He jumped in front of the child and slapped him hard on the back of the head. , scolded: "Dog thing, you didn't learn well when you were young, and the second child in the next village didn't learn well when you were young, peeping at the big girl and the little daughter-in-law, do you want to follow suit? Be careful of corns in your eyes, where do you come from so many strange words."

The stunned boy was slapped and fell into the field. When he saw his father, he stretched out his feet and wanted to kick him. He fled forward in the field, howling as he ran: " Dad! Erwa said it all, it has nothing to do with me!"

"Erba asked you to eat shit, are you going?" It's okay to beat the child on a rainy day, and he is idle when he is idle. His son has lost such a big face, and now his father is angry in front of these 'county masters' Ruthless, you have to give him a good meal.

Watching the child being chased by his father in the field, Zhu Gan also thought about his childhood. At that time, his family was very poor. His father went out to work, and he had to help his mother to do errands in the fields when he was very young. , As a result, I ran to play games after school, forgot the time, and was beaten by my mother with a ruler to run around.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but smile, and I didn't know what happened to the parents in my hometown, so I stood up and said to the old man: "Old man, let's go first, and the military government will find a way to help you solve the farming problem as soon as possible." , and the matter of seeds, it will never delay the spring plowing."

"The little old man, I'll thank the county magistrate first." The old man pretended to kneel, but Zhu Qian hurriedly supported him, and after some pushbacks, Zhu Gan led the man away.