Go back to the Ming Dynasty to be a thousand households

Chapter 89 Everyone's Trip to Wuzhai Fort ([-])

July 1590, 9, morning.

After several days of planning, the street repair work in Wuzhai Fort has already started.The person in charge is the Wuzhaibao Road Construction Committee chaired by Yang Anzhang and Yang Baihu.Yang Anzhang and Yang Baihu are in charge of the Wuzhaibao Urban Sub-district Management Bureau supervised and managed by Deputy He Qianhu.

In fact, on the 3rd, after receiving Huang Laifu's suggestion and authorization, He Fuqianhu, Yang Baihu and others were very interested. After returning that day, several people started planning. Soon, after a series of After wrangling and deliberation, the bureaucracy and the road construction committee's airs fell apart.The office was chosen from two empty houses in the Wuzhaibao official office. As for the specific management personnel, they were raised by some cronies of several people.

After the management bureau and the committee made preparations, He Fuqianhu, Yang Baihu and others began to survey the streets of Wuzhaibao.In fact, Wuzhai Fort is so small, and He Fuqianhu and others are all locals born and raised in Wuzhai Fort, so they are very familiar with Wuzhai Fort, so there is no need to survey the streets and pavements.

Coupled with the assistance of Qu Yuanrui and other businessmen, there are more than 1000 taels of road construction funds.Soon, the specific repair plan for the streets and pavements of Wuzhaibao came out. On the morning of September 9, everyone began to recruit craftsmen and craftsmen who repaired the streets and pavements.

As soon as the notice was posted, the reward of three cents of silver per day immediately attracted countless refugees to apply.For the repair of the street pavement in Wuzhaibao this time, Huang Laifu intentionally did not let the villagers of his various farms come out to work. He would rather let them rest during the slack in the farm and let the young and strong farmers practice casually.On the one hand, there are more and more refugees in Wuzhai Fort. For the security and safety of Wuzhai Fort, it is better to let these refugees have something to eat; Started the great wasteland reclamation work in Wuzhai Fort, and my garrison men were of great use at that time.

From the morning of the [-]th, in addition to the endless stream of craftsmen and refugees who came to apply every day, He Fuqianhu and others were busy buying the raw materials needed for road repairs. Soon, the cement produced by the Dawuzhaibao Cement Factory , was swept away.

Since ancient times, China has had very rich experience in building streets and pavements. As early as the Han Dynasty, a complete sewer system had been built in the construction of cities. In the Ming Dynasty, the experience in building roads and bridges everywhere was even richer.Generally, a street is built at this time, the lowest layer is composed of large stones, the upper layer is small stones or gravel, and the last road surface is large bluestones or cobblestones.

Of course, this kind of street is only found in some big cities or important and wealthy towns, and there are only such bluestone roads. Some ordinary town roads are dusty dirt roads.Except for Dadong Street, most of Wuzhai Fort is this kind of dirt road.

In Huang Laifu's impression, this bluestone road is more elegant, coupled with traditional Chinese buildings with cornices and corners, it has a strong Chinese flavor.However, it is obvious that this kind of street repair requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and it takes a long time.Not to mention anything else, the transportation and collection of the bluestone slabs alone is a huge project.Although the road surface built with cement road is relatively monotonous, it is convenient and fast. Although the road surface is not as elegant and beautiful as the bluestone streets, it is still much better than the dusty dirt road.

The repair of cement streets, the lower layer is also composed of large stones or small stones and gravel, while the construction of the road surface requires the mixing of stones, fine sand and cement to form a cement road surface.

According to Huang Laifu, the streets of Wuzhaibao are all paved with cement. Therefore, in addition to the efforts of everyone in Wuzhaibao to go to the riversides to dig fine sand and small stones these days, they are also vigorously digging from Dawu Zhaibao Cement Plant purchases cement, forming a busy scene.

In addition to this busy atmosphere, the whole Wuzhai Fort is still immersed in joy, because Huang Laifu, the master of Qianhu, will soon marry Miss Gu's family in Kelanzhou City.The development of Wuzhai Fort these days is inseparable from Huang Laifu, an adult from thousands of households. The military households and settlers all remember it in their hearts. Huang Laifu's happy event is also a happy event for the entire Wuzhai Fort army and civilians.

Therefore, in these days, in addition to the thousands of houses being decorated with lanterns and festoons and busy preparing for Huang Laifu's wedding, from Wuzhaibao to various farms, the soldiers of various military households also spontaneously put up lanterns and festoons, and firecrackers sounded from time to time everywhere. It was beaming, talking about the happy event of the Qianhu adults that would come in a few days.

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In a busy and festive atmosphere, Zhang Wenbao, head of the household department in Taiyuan, who is in charge of food, came to Wuzhai Fort with a few small officials.

In the military and political structure of Shanxi in the Ming Dynasty, there was a member of the admiral Yanmen and the governor who was stationed in the provincial capital of Shanxi.A member of the general army officer of Zhenning, stationed in Ningwuguan.There are three soldiers in the army, one is stationed at Piantouguan, one is stationed at Ningwuguan, and the other is stationed at Daizhou.A member of the Ministry of Households in charge of grain, or stationed in the capital of Shanxi Province, or stationed in Daizhou.

Although the head of the Shanxi household department is not a big official, he only has the fifth grade, which is the same grade as Huang Laifu, but all the battalions in Shanxi town and the soldiers who command the envoys have to go through the distribution of food and the collection of food collection by the household department. The food master is the lifeline of the three gates, and his soldiers and horses are paid for here, so his real power is still very large.

At present, Zhang Wenbao is the head of the household department in charge of food management in Taiyuan.Zhang Wenbao, 45 years old, named Wangzhen, was a Jinshi in the first year of Longqing. Not promoted.

On September [-]th, he was in Daizhou, and received an urgent order from Wang Lin, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, to go to Wuzhai Fort to investigate the matter of grain storage. Qianhusuo is very likely to have a bumper harvest this year, producing hundreds of thousands of shi, so let him go to Wuzhaibao to check whether there is such a thing.

After reading the documents, Zhang Wenbao was somewhat disapproving. He couldn't believe that a mere military fort in a border town with bitter cold could produce so much grain. He was in charge of the distribution of food and salaries in Shanxi Town. There are more than 5 officers and soldiers, and the annual military salary is only more than 22 taels of silver. According to Wang Lin, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, this Wuzhai Fort has already produced 3000 shi of grain this year. Why can a thousand-household military fort in Wuzhaibao support the entire army of Shanxi Town with the power of just one fort?What a joke.

With such a mood, Zhang Wenbao came to Wuzhai Fort with a few family members of small officials. He took the route from Daizhou to Ningwu, and then from Ningwu to Wuzhai Fort.Along the way, the situation on the road is not bad as Zhang Wenbao estimated. The towns are fine, but famines are common in the countryside. Especially after entering Ningwuguan, there are refugees fleeing from famine everywhere, or heading towards Taiyuan or Wuzhaibao. go.

When passing by the military forts, it was also deserted, the battalion soldiers were better, and some military households were all ragged and listless. Their families were small, and all of them were disheveled, with numb expressions on their faces.

But from Ningwu to Shenchikou, Shenchikou to Yijing Tunpu, when entering Wuzhaibao road, Zhang Wenbao was taken aback.On both sides of the road, there are continuous wheat fields everywhere. Among the continuous wheat fields, there are several quite lively villages and towns. This is in stark contrast to the bankrupt situation in the rural areas that I have seen along the way. It seems to have been affected by a severe drought.

He observed carefully, and he saw that among the intersections entering and exiting the farm, it was the busiest place, and places like small markets were formed around them. In the small markets, there were many vendors, and the buyers and sellers included men There are women, old and young. Among these people, there are locals from Wuzhaibao, and there are also refugees who came to Wuzhaibao.Of course, it is still very easy to distinguish between the locals of Wuzhaibao and the refugees from other places.Generally speaking, the local people in Wuzhaibao all have rosy faces with a nutritious luster, while the refugees from other places all have pale faces, ragged clothes, and a tired and haggard look.

Zhang Wenbao always felt that these villages and towns were rather strange, because there were more Xiangjunbao than Xiangminbao in these places. After asking, he found out that these villages and towns turned out to be various farms in Wuzhaibao.

"Farm?" Zhang Wenbao thought: "Could it be a farm similar to a manor? According to the words of the local natives, these farms are all farmland in Wuzhai Fort. I didn't expect Wuzhai Fort to be a military fort. Come from afar."

He trembled in his heart: "Also, looking at the situation in the field, it really looks like there was a bumper harvest. Could it be said that Wuzhaibao had a bumper harvest this year and produced hundreds of thousands of shi in the household documents? real?"

Zhang Wenbao, who is in charge of food and pay, naturally has a certain understanding of the farmland. Not to mention the bustling conditions of the local farms, but also from the conditions of the wheat fields beside the road, it can be seen that these fields have had a good harvest.

Zhang Wenbao keenly noticed that in these fields, there is a kind of deep irrigation well that he has never seen before. In some places where the water source is slightly sufficient, there is also a kind of Huanglaifu hand press well, both of which can extract water from the ground. come up.I asked the locals, and it is said that this hand press well was invented by Mr. Qianhu, and this kind of deep water irrigation well was also invented by Mr. Qianhu.

Especially at the place called by the locals by the Qinglian River, Zhang Wenbao and his family members were even more shocked when they saw the large waterwheels lined up in a row.I saw a round of large waterwheels, under the impact of the river water, turning "squeaky, creaky", constantly raising the water in the river to the top height, pouring it into the wooden trough of the volley horizontal frame, It flows continuously along the trough to the canal on the bank, and continuously flows to the fields everywhere.

At a ferry, Zhang Wenbao saw that there were constant boats on the river. Most of the boats were filled with rice. Some dull.

A family member said: "I really didn't expect that there is such a place of Taoyuan in a bitter cold place in a border town."

Another said: "Indeed, this is really incredible."

Zhang Wenbao didn't speak, but he was thinking about Huang Laifu's big waterwheel and other things he saw just now: "Could this be the reason for the bumper harvest in Wuzhaibao?"
At this time, although Zhang Wenbao was unwilling to admit it, he had already accepted the theory of a great harvest in Wuzhaibao in his heart. After seeing all kinds of irrigation wells, hand-pressed wells, especially the Huang Laifu water truck, he felt a burst of anxiety. excited.If these things are available and widely used in various places, presumably the situation of farming in various guards will be better than before.

All of a sudden, he was eager to see Huang Laifu, the thousand households in Wuzhai Fort who had performed this series of miracles.

(End of this chapter)