Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 124 Octagonal Fort Reclaiming Wasteland

On May 1591, 5, Bajiaobao.

"Brother Gu, don't worry, with me here, there will be absolutely no problem in blessing his farm in the Bajiaobao area."

Beside the rushing Xianchuan River, Huang Laifu's eldest brother-in-law, Xu Xueshi, the defender of Bajiao Fort, said to Gu Shibao, patted his chest.

At this moment, the two of them were walking by the river, with their attendants in their clothes and some merchants.Right now, the merchants in Wuzhaibao are like cats smelling fishy. They are watching Huang Laifu's actions carefully.This time Huang Laifu developed the Octagonal Fort, they naturally rushed to invest in order to become the second Qu Yuanrui.So this time Huang Laifu invested less money in the development of Octagonal Fort and Shenchi Fort, but he took the biggest profit.

Xu Xueshi and Gu Shibao were talking and patrolling around the riverside.Not far from them, there are patches of fields, and in the fields, there are colonies of ants sweating profusely, busy all the time.

Among these garrisoners, there are men and women, old and young, and some of them used to be peasants of Wuzhai Fort. Not long ago, they were still building a city in Wuzhai Fort, but now they have become garrison men of various farms in Bajiaobao. them.At the beginning of April, after the expansion of Wuzhai Fort was completed, the thousands of peasants who built the city were in danger of losing their jobs.

Huang Laifu came out. Naturally, Huang Laifu would not let these peasants go, because he needed a lot of labor to develop Octagonal Fort and Shenchi Fort, and these peasants had worked in Wuzhai Fort for several months. The organizational experience is a rare labor.

He came out and said to these peasants that he wanted to develop Octagonal Fort and Shenchi Fort, and if he was willing to go to the two places, he would continue to hire them, and he would make them official laborers in various farms or mines.

The life in Wuzhai Fort in the past few months and the treatment of the various farms in Wuzhai Fort have long made these peasants envious. Anyway, these two forts are not far from Wuzhai Fort. Not to mention, except for a small number of people, Most of the peasants chose to go to Bajiaobao and Shenchibao.

Among the 1000 civilian husbands, 3000 chose to go to Bajiaobao as a villager, and [-] chose to go to Shenchibao as a miner.The reason why most people choose to work as miners in Shenchibao is because each miner gets one tael of monthly silver per person, while as a villager, they only have five dou of monthly rations.Although being a miner is extremely tiring and dangerous, many people don't care.

Under the arrangement of Gu Shibao, the deputy head of the food group of Wuzhaibao, the thousand villagers arrived at Bajiaobao in early April, and began to reclaim the land and build a farm. Of course, the structure of the farm is according to Wuzhaibao. The small village chiefs and large village chiefs who are in charge are all drawn from the old farm in Wuzhaibao.

Also, relying solely on these more than 1000 villagers to build the land around the Octagonal Fort, the population is a bit small, and it is necessary to vigorously recruit local people and some refugees who fled to the local area to work.

In Bajiaobao and its nearby terrain, Bajiaobao has more than 1000 soldiers on Thursday, and it was built on a mountainside.Near the octagonal fort, there are three small forts, Ganchaigou, Yezhugou, and Changlingou, each with a defender, leading dozens of soldiers to defend the area.

Except for these military forts, there are mostly flat land and some small hills near the Octagonal Fort, which are suitable for farming.The river is the Xianchuan River, and all the way to Lianjiapan, Yaerqu, Changzhen, Songbawang and other places are some riverside plains, which later became the main farming area of ​​Bajiao Town, Shenchi County.In this area, the arable area is nearly 20 mu.

However, compared to Wuzhai Fort, this piece of land is mixed with many low hills, and it is a pity that it cannot be cultivated like a flat river.It also means that the use of "mechanization" like Wuzhai Fort cannot be popularized here, which requires more labor.

As for the large number of laborers, apart from attracting from Wuzhai Fort or other directions, they can only be recruited locally.After the news of the recruitment of villagers was sent out on the farms of Bajiaobao, five buckets of grain per month, including food, and food for the first month, immediately made those refugees who fled to Bajiaobao rush to apply for the recruitment, lest it would be too late One step away, the opportunity to have a full meal is gone, and the refugees in Bajiaobao almost disappeared in a short time.

In addition, there are also villagers who live around the Bajiaobao, and after hearing the news, they also came here one after another.Most of them were villagers from Lianjiapan, Ya'erqu, Changzhen, Songbawang and other places, but as the news spread, more villagers from mountain villages in the deep mountains also came here one after another.

But to Gu Shibao's disappointment, there are few young and strong laborers in the area.This is a military fort with a small population. Over the past year, with the development of Wuzhai Fort, many young and strong workers near Bajiao Fort have gone to Wuzhai Fort to work, and stayed near Bajiao Fort. They are all old, weak, sick and disabled. Right now, the various farms in Bajiaobao need a lot of labor, even women and the old and weak.

Compared with Wuzhai Fort, the villagers near Bajiao Fort seem to be poorer. Many of them are thin, with withered faces, thin and tattered clothes, and generally malnourished. A lot of money is used to support these people's bodies.Bajiaobao belongs to the Bajiao Town of Shenchi County in later generations. This Shenchi already has the taste of loess and high slopes. Many villagers live in cave-like houses.

Looking at the topography map of Bajiaobao, we know that there are mountains and ridges separated from Shenchibao and Wuzhaibao.Inconvenient transportation means that materials cannot be circulated. Even if good things are produced, they cannot be exchanged.The people here, except that they sometimes go to Bajiaobao to exchange some salt and cloth for a year, usually seldom leave their mountain village, which keeps them poor.

However, this does not mean that these villagers do not want to live a prosperous life. Most of these people are simple villagers who do not leave their homes. It can be considered that Wuzhaibao has had a profound influence over the past year.

After finally recruiting thousands of people including the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled, the various farms in Bajiaobao began to work.The land was only reclaimed in April, and it will take several months for the construction period. This year, it is definitely too late to plant seeds. Huang Laifu only plans to plant some cash crops here this year, such as soybeans, sugar beets, flax (sesame), rapeseed, etc., and wheat next year. crop.One is to fertilize the land, and the other is to recover the cost of this year after harvesting these economic crops. Huang Laifu has never been in the business of losing money.

Regarding the safety and defense of the farms here, there are mountains stretching from Bajiaobao to Wuzhaibao, and the transportation is inconvenient. It is impossible for Huang Laifu to go to Bajiaobao often to check on himself, so he can only entrust it to his elder brother-in-law Xu Xueshi.

Among the ten farms in Bajiaobao, in addition to the ten chiefs, Gu Shibao, the deputy head of the food group of Wuzhaibao, also often visits Bajiaobao. These farms in Bajiaobao are currently in the initial development stage, and Gu Shibao is even more care.As the owner of Wuzhai Fort, Huang Laifu was busy with affairs, so it was impossible to come to Bajiao Fort often. As the deputy head of the food group, Gu Shibao naturally had to shoulder this burden.

He was busy these days, his dark and thin face became even darker and thinner.This time he came to Bajiaobao again, in addition to supervising the work of the farmers on the farms, he went into Bajiaobao to discuss with Xu Xueshi the safety of the farms outside the fort.After all, although there are some guards in these farms, they are far away from Wuzhai Fort, and there are sudden dangers, so they cannot be taken care of immediately.

But at this time, after hearing Gu Shibao's worries, the elder brother-in-law naturally patted his chest and assured Gu Shibao.

The reason why the elder brother-in-law Xu Xueshi is so caring is that apart from the fact that Huang Laifu is his brother-in-law and everyone is a family, the dividend that Huang Laifu promised him also made Xu Xueshi's heart move.

Huang Laifu said that the eldest brother-in-law only needs to take good care of the safety of the farms around Bajiaobao and prevent some horse thieves or local bandits from harassing him. He doesn't need to pay a penny. Huang Laifu will give him 3000 taels of silver by the end of the year, and there are more than that In the future, if the Bajiaobao develops well, Huang Laifu plans to build a large factory in this area, and will build a lot of oil, cement, lime, brick and tile factories, and then will distribute several thousand taels of silver to the eldest brother-in-law.

This naturally made the elder brother-in-law Xu Xueshi very excited. Right now, there are more than 1000 officers and soldiers in his octagonal fort. Most of these officers and soldiers are recruits, not military households in the guard. The food and salary of the household department is one tael per month for each soldier.In addition to the deductions above, it is only a few thousand taels of silver a year.

Of course, Xu Xueshi still had to deduct some of these rations, but after all, the rations were limited, and even if he withdrew the military salary, he would not be able to deduct much.Besides, these soldiers are already poor enough, most of them are not fully clothed, if the deduction is severe, they will not be able to survive, and if the barefoot ones are not afraid of wearing shoes, Xu Xueshi will not be able to eat and walk around.But right now, as long as they guard a few farms of some brothers-in-law, they can get a lot of money. Why not do this?

Not to mention Huang Laifu's careful confession, his wife Huang Zirou made a special trip back to Bajiaobao, blowing the pillow wind to make her care about her brother's affairs, even if they didn't say anything, Xu Xueshi would still watch these farms carefully for the money.

Moreover, these farms are not far from the Bajiaobao, even if they walk, it will not take long, so these days, the elder brother-in-law Xu Xueshi is like taking a walk, taking some people out every day to visit the various farms in the Bajiaobao. On the one hand, they are guards. Meaning, on the one hand, it is also to see why my brother-in-law can be so successful, so that I can study hard.

And the soldiers of the Octagonal Fort are also very happy to go to the various farms near the Octagonal Fort to guard. Every time they go, each farm is treated with good wine and meat. Compared with the bitter life in the Octagonal Fort, they are more happy. When the guards of various farms.Moreover, these soldiers, who had heard about the iron rice bowls in the various farms of Wuzhaibao, felt envious after seeing the lives of the villagers in the various farms of Bajiaobao.However, as professional recruits, it is naturally impossible for them to abandon their status as soldiers and become soldiers instead.

"That's good, thank you Brother Xu!"

After hearing Xu Xueshi's guarantee, Gu Shibao was very happy. Among the many farms in Bajiaobao, it can be said that he was the first place outside the fort to manage with all his heart after he became the deputy head of the food group. Naturally, he was more concerned about it.Gu Shibao understands that if this place is managed well, Huang Laifu will value him more in the future and entrust him with more important responsibilities. Therefore, the management and safety of this place are very important to him.

Afterwards, the two of them were very relaxed, and they talked about other things. As they talked, they talked about Huang Laifu. During the conversation, both of them admired Huang Laifu very much.As for Gu Shibao and Xu Xueshi, one is Huang Laifu's brother-in-law and the other is Huang Laifu's brother-in-law. They are both doing things for their brother-in-law at this time. After talking about this matter, they are relatively speechless.

(End of this chapter)