At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

This knar cargo ship is wider, deeper, and shorter than the long ship. It is not much different from the dragon head warship in general shape, but it is more spacious.

"My lord duke, please look. We named this ship the Flying Fox. Its length is about 16 meters, its beam is 5 meters, and the entire hull can carry 4400 gallons (20 tons) of cargo." The sad-faced old shipwright introduced with pride, "This thing is much easier to use than a barge!"

He stretched out his hand and stroked the hull lightly, and Feng Sen could still feel some thorny burrs. He walked around the boat, waved his hand to drive away the smell of pine tar from his nose, and asked the old boatman, "Can it be made bigger? Such a boat is still too small."

"How big is it?" The old boatman frowned bitterly, "It is already the limit to achieve this level without falling apart in the wind and waves. If you really want to make it that big, it's not impossible, but it doesn't meet your mass production and cost requirements."

Feeling the layers of hulls, Feng Sen compared the ancient sea ships in his memory, thought for a while and said: "I don't know much about shipbuilding, I can only say, think more, in the future, we will have more funds, Just organize a group of specialized craftsmen to tackle key problems, specializing in shipbuilding and building large ships."

The old shipbuilder nodded solemnly and said, "It has always been our dream to build big and good ships. Recently, many people are willing to come to be apprentices. Usually there are very few people who are willing to learn shipbuilding from us. Now there are more young Northmen who are willing to come to build ships than before."

This is the truth. These days, Feng Sen feels that there are more and more Vikings in his territory.

The Vikings (including the Norse, the Norwegians, the ancient Swedes, etc.) have become the third largest ethnic group after the Franks, adding a lot of pressure to law and order, and even the spectacle of the Viking gang.

But it's also in Feng Sen's interest.

Because with the increase of spare money and ironware in hand, and the establishment of Chen Gongyan in Gistacht, there is a lot more virgin land that can be reclaimed than before, so the shortage of labor force for reclamation has naturally increased.

In addition to attracting people from the surrounding rural areas and Saxon chiefs, the largest source of labor input is the residents of the Scandinavian Peninsula. In addition, Feng Sen did not formulate a policy of refusing immigrants, and he happened to be able to use a large amount of land and food for cultivation. The poor Viking civilians naturally flocked to it.

The princes of North, who had exorbitantly paid miscellaneous taxes, have relaxed their oppression. After all, the Baltic Sea has not been covered, and many North people are even in a state of "thinking about it, and suddenly feel that the world is wide".

The reason why Saxony can get such favor is all the recognition and word of mouth of the folks, because it often happens that the Northman from the Eight Banners returns to his hometown in fine clothes and takes his whole family to Saxony to enjoy the blessings.

Some shameless, impoverished North Lords would even send boats to send idle labor in their territories to Hamburg. This business was even quite popular, because they could collect a sum of money for the boat ticket from the citizens and a sum of money for buying people from Hamburg.

There are basically two ways for these Viking immigrants to settle in Saxony. The first way is that when the pirates are beaten by the Eight Banners, the Dental Soldiers and even the militia, they become slaves and enter. The other way is to go directly by boat and go to Hamburg to sign a contract. , as indentured labor.

The so-called contract labor is to work for Feng Sen to open up wasteland, eat the least amount of food, and do the most tiring work. After ten years of work, you will be given [-] acres of land. This is in the poor mountains and rivers of Scandinavia. Acres of land, don't even think about getting it in three lifetimes.

In addition to contract labor, another way to settle down is to throw flags.

But the Viking Banner’s Qianhu Office is full at present, and Feng Sen has no intention of opening a second Qianhu Office for the time being, so these Vikings can only register as a volunteer, and while doing part-time jobs, they are looking forward to when they will be able to fight.

Although the second population census has not yet been carried out, Feng Sen vaguely feels that the population of Saxony has approached the 40 mark. In the past two years, the weather in Frank has been smooth and the grain production has increased after the agricultural reform, so there are not many refugees, otherwise the number could be even greater.

Even so much that the local self-produced food is not enough, and the food has to be purchased from outside, and the expenditure on purchased food is still rising.

When the farmland in the Orlande area is reclaimed, there should be no such problem. Feng Sen can only comfort himself in this way. Thinking of this, the pace of his original return has stalled, and he said to Li Baojing beside him: "Change the schedule. I will go to see the farmland reclamation in the Orlande area first."

Chapter 278 It's called Xinye here

The weather in Hamburg is always changing. When Feng Sen took the boat, the sky was still clear. He hadn't sailed out of the Alster River, and the pattering rain didn't even avoid the sun. It just fell like this.

It fell for a while before dark clouds covered the sun.

Staying in the cabin of this knar boat, Feng Sen looked out from the narrow window. The original knar boat did not have the concept of a cabin, but inspired by the awning boat, the boatmen also installed an awning on the knar boat ingeniously.

The rain was splashing on the oilcloth of the black awning, and in the cabin, a small red clay stove was emitting steaming heat, and the milky white fresh fish soup mixed with tender lamb was rolling in the small pot.

The green ant new fermented grains are missing.

After pouring a glass of craft light beer (not watered), Feng Sen picked up his chopsticks and started today's dinner. It will take a while to get to Chen Gongyan from here. When he comes back from there, he probably won't have time to eat.

The one sitting opposite Feng Sen was Nie Yinniang, who happily mixed the fish and corn rice with her chopsticks, and chewed it in big mouthfuls.

Feng Sen has been in Saxony for three years. When he came here, there were only barley, wheat and rye. Now, in addition to these crops, soybeans, alfalfa, onions and garlic are also planted everywhere.

At the beginning, when he came here, the only food seeds he carried were soybeans, wheat, and millet. Needless to say, the wheat grew very well, while the yield of soybeans decreased, but the growth was also good. Only the millet did not know whether it was because of the unacceptable water and soil, which often caused crop failures.

It’s just that corn is the taste of hometown. Today’s wheat has not completely defeated corn cultivation in the north. At least in Liaodong and Shandong where Feng Sen is located, most people still use corn as their staple food.

Planting and producing less corn to supply the dental soldiers and himself is considered a relatively rare extravagant behavior in his daily life, but in Feng Sen's view, it is worth it.

This meal was not pleasant. After all, the sweat and body odor of the Viking sailors paddling in the cabin made it difficult for people to eat normally.

Fortunately, it didn't rain for long outside, Feng Sen put down the bowl and chopsticks, and saw a ray of red light from the setting sun coming in from the outside, and the guard sitting at the exit of the awning turned to Feng Sen and said, "Jie Shuai, the rain has stopped gone."

Bending down, holding the awning made of oilcloth, Feng Sen came outside, the orange-red light covered the green river water, and in the white foam that rushed out between the hull and the river water, occasionally a few perch jumped and fell in the water.

When he came to the side of the boat, Feng Sen stretched out his hand and washed his hands in the river water after the rain. The coolness refreshed Feng Sen.

Taking a deep breath of the fresh air after the rain, Feng Sen stood up again, and a dike was already looming.

That is the embankment built by Chen Chongyi.

The three-meter-high embankment is not huge, it is equivalent to artificially creating a small waterfall, but it is because of this embankment that the land upstream from Gistacht will no longer be flooded by the high tide of the sea.

The salt marshes and wasteland along the way became useful, and more arable land and living space were freed from this harsh environment.

For the Elbe River, the Chen Gongyan built by Chen Chongyi is equivalent to a small Dujiangyan. Although it does not have the legacy of creating the Land of Abundance, it can be regarded as a kind deed of thousands of families living Buddha.

When the ship slowly approached, Feng Sen was finally able to clearly see the condition of the dike.

The Chengong Weir built by Chen Chongyi is said to be called Weir, but in fact, its real terminologically defined name should be Dai.

The difference between the dai and the weir is that the upper plane of the dai cannot be level with the river banks on both sides of the upstream, but should be level with the normal navigable water level of the upstream. After many reconstructions, the Chengong Weir has shown this scene.

Its profile is a trapezoid with a narrow top and a wide bottom, with slopes on both sides. During the dry season in winter, ships can pass through the accumulated water level normally.

Due to the normal navigation required by Feng Sen, Chen Chongyi had to abandon the originally designed gates, and by modifying the design of the river and dikes, ships can sail down from the three-meter dike or upstream from the reverse channels on both sides without the need for gates to store water.

During the high water season in summer, the backflowing seawater can at most reduce the drop of the small waterfall from three meters to one meter, so that the salt marshes and saline-alkali lands that are backflowing every year will not be destroyed every year.

If it exceeds three meters, Chen Chongyi can also throw temporary wooden cage stones on the embankment, and when the water recedes, he can send a boat to pick up the wooden cage stones from the water.

When Feng Sen's boat passed Chen Gongyan, he saw a carriage waiting in front of the embankment, and got off the boat at the artificial harbor beside the river. Feng Sen saw Chen Chongyi at first sight.

Chen Chongyi was still wearing white clothes, but he was indeed a lot thinner, and his cheeks were sunken.

Seeing Feng Sen getting off the boat, Chen Chongyi led a group of small officials and walked up to salute Feng Sen.

"Okay, you did a good job!" Feng Sen patted Chen Chongyi's shoulder with emotion, "One Chen Chongyi is worth ten of my thousand-man teams!"

"Jieshuai is amazing!" Chen Chongyi cupped his hands towards Feng Sen's short body, but there were obvious signs of cracks on his exposed wrists, and the bandages and herbal smell near his knees also proved his leadership.

"It's not easy!" Feng Sen looked at the camp in front of him. After a period of construction, a large number of laborers needed to eat and sleep, so that many fishermen and traders gathered here.

It seems that this place has become a small fishing village, and a small country church is even under construction. When the construction of this barrage is completed, it still needs manpower to maintain it. Let these fishermen take care of it.

Under the leadership of Chen Chongyi, Feng Sen boarded the watchtower and looked not far away. There used to be a salt marsh, which was deserted.

But now, the sparse contracted laborers of various ethnic groups are carrying hoes and axes, or opening ditches on the hard saline-alkali land.Or shake the pumping waterwheel to pump the muddy water out of the swamp.

Around the land, there are wooden huts and large and small conical warehouses. Many fishermen on the side of the embankment are stringing fish with straw ropes, arguing with an official who looks like a manager.

That area is called the Land of Oland, which is called by the natives, meaning the old land. In the future, the Altes Land established in this area will be the largest continuous fruit area in Central Europe, with a total of 143 square kilometers of fertile land.

With his back to the setting sun, Feng Sen pointed to the land in front of him and said with a smile, "This place will be called Xinye from now on!"

279 chapter

The bright white crescent moon hooks in the royal blue night sky with its crescent, revealing the crystal moonlight.

On the Elbe River, a knar boat with a black awning moved slowly, smashing the moonlight on the river surface into a little bit of silver light.

The towering fir and willow trees beside the river swayed their branches in the night wind, and a few green fallen leaves swirled in the air, flying over the black soil and the indigo river, and happened to land on the plank road at the port on the river bank.

A black oolong Liuhe boot stepped on it.

The quiet forest, and the dark blue night, this is the most comfortable time in the late spring when it is almost summer, but he can't play freely, because today's impromptu thought, he already has to go to the study to deal with the things that he didn't deal with during the day.

From the road paved with cement and strips of bricks to the front of his house, he crossed the stone bridge and crossed the canal in front of the general's house, and led by several maids with lanterns, Feng Sen came to his study.

The moon is on the treetops, and it is almost ten o'clock at this moment.

When he arrived at the door of the study, Feng Sen faintly saw a light inside. He pushed the door and walked in. Sure enough, Li Baojing was writing something on the table.

Her willow eyebrows were tightly frowned, and the knuckles of the fingers holding the pen were a little whitish. I don't know if it was because of lack of oxygen, but her little face was pink and very cute. Feng Sen even wanted to pinch it.

And then he actually did.

"Ah!" Li Baojing was taken aback for a moment, then screamed, even the pen in his hand flew away.

Instead, Feng Sen couldn't help laughing: "Hahahaha!"

When Li Baojing saw that it was Feng Sen, the pink on his face quickly turned bright red: "What are you doing, Commander?"

"When you see the cute girl, let's get closer." The shameless Feng Dashuai said with a smile.

After this conversation, Li Baojing calmed down instead, and the blush on his face gradually dissipated: "It's true, Marshal. He is helping you with government affairs all night long, but you want to make fun of him."

"Okay, okay, I know I was wrong, I apologize, I apologize." But Feng Sen didn't admit his mistake at all, and he still had a hippie smile on his face, "How? What happened to make you still in the study?"

At this time, Li Baojing put on a serious face instead, and handed the document in his hand to Feng Sen: "Jie Shuai, there is something wrong with the Du Zhi handed in by Yang Fuchen."

"Is there a problem?" Feng Sen dragged a chair, sat next to Li Baojing, turned on the light, and began to carefully examine the meter.

The cost table is not complicated and consists of several account books, but for Feng Sen, it is already quite a brain-intensive task, but fortunately, Li Baojing marked out several suspicious places, which made Feng Sen easier.

Rolling up his sleeves, Li Baojing picked up a brush and circled a few circles on a transcribed cost table: "Jie Shuai, you see, the cost of the craftsmen who built the bridge was already included in the bridge construction costs here, but in the later item of management expenses, there is a labor cost, which also includes the wages of the craftsmen.

In addition, some priests and petty officials also included their own travel expenses and food and drink expenses in the construction cost of the Lüne Straight Road, which was counted as employment wages.

Also, the number of people is not right, it is much higher than the number of Chen Sicheng on the other side. "

Feng Sen's eyes widened, and he carefully compared the two ledgers. Looking at them, his eyes also became serious. It's not that bad, has it been three years?Started to corrupt again?

Rubbing his forehead, Feng Sen put the ledger back on the table: "What about the number? Have you counted the number?"

"The exact number has not been found out, but as long as there are no other baskets, it should be less than a hundred solida."

Up and down a hundred solida, this number is not big, it is not small, mother, what does this sheep fuchen do?At a very old age, he has been in charge of the accountant for half his life, and he can't manage all the accounts well?

Feng Sen knows that when the water is clear, there will be no fish. As long as it is not a matter of principle or doing too outrageously, he can turn a blind eye to it. The world is as black as crows, and there is no shit under any butt.

In the feudal era, there was no way.

But the problem is that Feng Sen's ignorance is really ignorance. This is not a matter of opening one eye and closing one eye. It is a matter of closing both eyes.

In this situation, normally, when Yang Fuchen gave the situation, regardless of whether there was corruption or not, he should report it. Whether to close his eyes or open his eyes is Feng Sen's business.

Not knowing, and knowing but acquiescing are two concepts.

Is this Yang Fuchen's old confusion, or is he also involved in it?Was this done by the petty officials, or was Yang Fuchen involved?

Yang Fuchen is also conscientious on weekdays and rarely makes mistakes. Feng Sen still trusts him, but he is afraid that he will use this characteristic to deceive him.

The color of his face changed for a while, making Li Baojing's breath lowered his voice. At this moment, Feng Sen knew why the ancient emperors sometimes had to use spies.

Putting the ledger on the table, Feng Sen stood up: "You put this matter aside for now, and I will send someone to look it up. Well, it's late, you are a daughter, go back to bed earlier."

When Li Baojing left, Feng Sen asked his servants to call Nie Yinniang.

When Yinniang arrived, Feng Sen reconciled with Nie Yinniang about the previous incident.

"Didn't you keep clamoring for Jinyi Division before? This is the first task of Jinyi Division. If it is done well, it will be there. If it is not done well, it will be gone."

Knowing the seriousness of this matter, Nie Yinniang, who was joking before, calmed down today: "Understood."

"Go." Feng Sen sat back in front of his desk, but saw Nie Yinniang standing there, motionless, as if struggling with something, "What's wrong?"

"Brother, I have one thing that I don't know whether I should say."

"What's the matter, tell me."

Licking her chapped lips, Nie Yinniang said, "Not long ago, many refugees from Chang'an arrived in Hamburg? On a whim, I went to visit and inquire.

Among those who escaped from Chang'an, there are veterans of the Shence Army, servants in the palace, and even some who did short-term labor in Li Sheng's mansion, but according to them, at least two or three years ago, General Li Sheng did not have a single clan girl who was raised at home..."

"You mean, she didn't come from a noble family?" Feng Sen was surprised at first, but then felt something was wrong, "But her education, etiquette, and knowledge are not like those of a commoner."

Nie Yinniang nodded: "This is the strange part. From my point of view, even if she is not from a noble family, she would not be a commoner's child. She should be a lady from an official family. But if that is the case, why did she pretend to be from a noble family? Or her surname is not Li at all, but from another family? Then why is she pretending to be from the Li family? What is she hiding?"

After being silent for a while, Feng Sen took a deep breath and said, "Don't say anything about these things for now, and watch her more when you have time on weekdays, but you don't need to deliberately investigate, understand?"

"En." Nie Yinniang nodded emphatically.

Chapter 2: Hadrad the Rebel

The wind in the field blew the decorations on the queen's carriage to the sound of jingling bells, and the creaking sound of the wheels turning, rolling on the stones of the dirt road, made the car body bump unstoppably.

Riding on a big horse, Hadlard spat hard in the direction of Fastrada's departure, and the disaster star was finally sent away.

I still remember that when Fastelada came to Thuringia two weeks ago, he immediately used the Sorb incident as an excuse to have a friendly exchange with Hadrad, which made the former Duke lose face in front of all Thuringians.

Afterwards, Fastrada began to find fault, why the ground was not as hard as Hamburg, the house was not as good as Hamburg, and the servants were not as respectful as Hamburg, which forced Hadrad to scold Feng Sen in the room every day.

Later, according to this series of events, Fastrada also issued a fine of [-] solidars to Hadlard. For this fine, the guards around Hadlard almost clashed with the queen's guard.

In fact, conflicts had already occurred in the dark. The assassination and duel reduced the number of the queen's guard by one-third. But at this moment, it was unclear whether the queen should be brave or stubborn.