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

Zhang Shicheng's courtyard is not far from Feng Sen, and it is only seven or eight steps away from here to Feng's residence. At this moment, Feng's residence is expanding again, planning to double the original size, and each side will build another courtyard.

In front of the door, Feng Sen's dismounting movement suddenly stopped, he wiped his eyes, and the surprise in his eyes couldn't help showing: "Aunt Zhu?"

A green-clothed lady in her forties stood by the gate. There were faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and mouth. This was Feng Sen's father's concubine and also Feng Sen's nanny. Compared to his mother who died young, this one looked like Feng Sen's mother.

"Da Lang is finally home." Xie Zhuniang also had a tear in the corner of her eyes, "Get off the horse, Da Lang, I have already cooked chicken soup for Da Lang in advance, and it is made according to Da Lang's favorite taste. Yes, it's delicious."

Although he already knew that the Clausewitz engine could bring his family members from the Central Plains, but at this moment, Feng Sen couldn't help but feel a little moved, which really made him feel a little bit home.

"Well, I'm home."

Chapter 195 You are not allowed to participate in the Eight Banners!

While drinking chicken soup in Feng's mansion, Han Shizhong's family was about to fall apart.

In the courtyard, a short woman in her thirties with tears in her eyes, wearing plain clothes, ran around the oak trees in the courtyard, chasing Han Shizhong.

She has a pretty face and a rather elegant temperament, and she is not polite even when she runs after Han Shizhong.

"You old bastard!" The woman poked Han Shizhong's chest fiercely with a slender index finger, "Ah, it's only been a few years? It's only been a little over a year, and I've only been gone for a little over a year, and you've taken in five concubines. Look, don't you like Jiangnan lady? When did you change your taste and changed to Orchid? Huh?

What's this?This is... you, you still buy her makeup?You even bought her powder!ah? "

"That's herbal medicine, that's herbal medicine." While avoiding the woman's finger, Han Shizhong stepped back sweating profusely, "I used it myself."

The woman pushed Han Shizhong into a corner, and slapped Han Shizhong's arm desperately with her petite palm: "You use it for yourself. You are a big man who uses makeup. You don't need it when you are with me, right?"

"Sister, yes, I really don't. It's very windy here, and my face is always cracked. I asked Mrs. Kang to make me some ointment." Although he was a head taller than his own wife, Han Shizhong could only huddle in the corner obediently, not daring to move.

"I'm really, I'm really..." The woman started crying by herself, "I'm the daughter of a county magistrate, a family heir to poetry and ceremonies, and a scholarly family. How can lard get my heart wrong and follow you?" You bastard, do you know how worried I am, when I heard that you and Da Lang are both dead, I wish I could find a tree and hang myself, but you are fine and enjoying yourself."

"Madam, Madam." Han Shizhong hurriedly bowed, "This place is remote, thousands of miles away from the Central Plains, how can I notify you?"

"Won't you get a messenger to come on horseback?"

"That means you can't get there after a year of riding!" Han Shizhong felt that the woman's hands were tired, so he hurried up to meet the short woman in his arms, "I miss you too, really, look Those orchids, I looked for them according to your appearance, you see, how much they resemble you."

"Like, like a ghost." Han Zhou gave Han Shizhong a white look.

Han Shizhong chuckled and said, "If madam doesn't like it, I'll drive away all these concubines immediately, and not keep any of them."

"What nonsense are you talking about? You're a hard-working person if you can stand on the table." Han Zhou sighed, "Stay here, but it's agreed, they have no part in the family business, and it has to belong to Da Lang."

"What you said, they don't belong to them." Han Shizhong stroked Han Zhou's waist and hips with his big black hands in a flattering manner, "Why don't we have another one, there is a boy, Dalang will also have a helper in the future."

Rolling his eyes, Han Shizhong moved closer to Han Zhoushi's ear and said, "Old man recently..."

The woman's face turned red instantly, and she pushed Han Shizhong: "Annoying, it's still broad daylight, what are you talking about? I'm going to see how Dalang is doing."

"Da Lang is still working as a minister in the Nongsang Department, and he will not be able to pay until the evening, why don't we first hehehe..."

Scenes like this are everywhere in Zhongyongfang, with laughter and laughter echoing in the sky above Zhongyongfang. Of course, not all of them are comedies like Han Shizhong. There are still examples of two years of absence. When we meet again, his wife is already nine months pregnant.

But most of them are tragedies and comedies, and even this warm sunshine has a little more tears and smiles.

There are tragedies and comedies everywhere in Zhongyongfang, but most of them end with comedies. However, Anliangfang where the coated bannermen lived is different from Lepingfang where the Franks lived. There are many examples of returning with glory and trophies, but more Still only a bag of coins, a roll of title deeds and a handful of ashes.

Old Hans was also waiting, and his son Hans Jr. also went out with the soldiers. Although he hoped that Hans Jr. would get glory and trophies at first, now he only hoped that his son would come back. As for the others, I don't ask for anything else.

There is a fence around the small wooden house under the sun. In the fence are a few lambs raised by Old Hans. They put their heads on the fence and look out lazily.

Behind Old Hans's wooden house is their parents' strip of land, a few blue chicory flowers stand quietly on the black wet mud, with a few drops of crystal dew.

"Grandpa, why hasn't father come back?"

"Soon, soon." Holding his grandson's hand, Old Hans looked nervously at the end of the road. Although the Germans were proud of war, they would also be nervous and sad when facing the death of their loved ones. The feelings in the world were the same.

Soon, Old Hans heard a sound of metal friction and the collision of the scabbard and the belt, and a head of chocolate-colored hair appeared at the end of the road.

"Little Hans, you are back." Old Hans looked at his son who was walking step by step, and couldn't help striding forward to hug him.

Little Hans also hugged his father tightly: "I'm back."

The father and son hugged each other for a long time, until a gust of cold wind came, and little Hans came to his senses suddenly. He turned around and shook the bag in his hand: "Look what this is, father, it's a full fifty solidas!" The gold coins are enough to buy three busts! In the battle on the Weser River, His Excellency the generous Duke distributed all the spoils to us."

When the gold coin was in front of him, Old Hans' shrewd brain immediately reconnected: "Okay, okay, with this money, our family can add a horse and a few acres of land, and when we fight again, you can recruit cavalry, tsk tsk tsk, maybe even a knight."

"Father, I'm also going to talk to you about this." Little Hans picked up little Hans from the ground, "Come on, let's go back to the house and talk about it."

The three grandparents entered their hut, and Little Hans' mother came over with a big bucket of hot goat milk. The three grandparents were overjoyed, and immediately picked up the horn cup to scoop up the goat milk from the bucket.

After putting down his salute, took another sip of goat milk, and let his mother take little Hans away, then little Hans continued to sit at the table and continued talking about the previous topic with old Hans.

"Father, I am going to throw the flag."

"What?" Old Hans' eyes widened, "You want to join the Eight Banners? Why? That's a place where only pagans go bankrupt and farmers go back. We are free people, and we still have such a large field. Why? Want to join the Eight Banners?"

Old Hans' attitude was normal. Since Feng Sen didn't get much support at the beginning, other people, especially the lower-level Frankish nobles and manor owners, were not optimistic about the operation of the Eight Banners. Can you let the mud-legged slaves take over?The Eight Banners Corps looked like a dubious thing, only the poorest free people, pagans and slaves would join.

"Father, listen to me." Little Hans said helplessly, "This time I applied for the recruitment, and I participated in the war as a righteous soldier, so I only got spoils of war and money rewards."

"Yeah, you don't have a horse. If you're not a cavalryman, of course you don't get land rewards. When our family has a manor, little Hans can enter the castle and serve as the lord's servant for a few years. After that, maybe he can really become a knight." Old Hans said logically, "It's always been like this."

"But that's too slow." Little Hans responded, "In addition to being rewarded with money, the people of the Eight Banners Legion can also reward the newly cultivated land, but we are ten times slower than them in cultivating a piece of land.

Moreover, after entering the Eight Banners, they can still serve as government soldiers. Those government soldiers are very powerful. Everyone is a manor owner, and our road is not low in accidents. What if Little Hans is not good at fighting?What if the lord has a bad vision and fails to choose us?What if I fail to do meritorious deeds?

There is even a possibility, I heard the wind, that the lord may only promote knights and manor owners from the Eight Banners Legion in the future, and Yi Cong can only get money unless he joins the Eight Banners. "

Old Hans opened his mouth and said stubbornly, "Your lord would not do such a thing."

"Who knows?" Little Hans shook his head, "I heard that there are too many Saxon banners in the Eight Banners, and the lord is planning to expand the other two banners to counterbalance the Saxon banners. I asked my superior in the army, what if If I can throw the flag before the award ceremony, I will be able to win the Hundred Households position in the award ceremony, which is almost equivalent to being a knight..."

"I don't agree!" Old Hans was still stubborn.

"It's useless if you don't agree!" Little Hans Neri also had a stubborn temper, and he immediately countered, "I have already agreed to it myself, and I will go tomorrow!"

"How dare you!?" Old Hans stood up, "You are not allowed to participate in the Eight Banners!"

Chapter 196

After returning to Hamburg, the rest of the soldiers could rest for three consecutive days, but Feng Sen couldn't. After sleeping at home all day, he came to the front yard of the general's mansion again.

It had just rained this morning, and the ground was still slightly damp, but the sun had already half-hidden from the clouds, revealing half of his body.

From the innermost living yard, Feng Sen stepped into the second front yard.

In the front yard, a large table was set up again, and several civil and military leaders in Jiedu were already sitting at the long table, either whispering or closing their eyes, waiting for Feng Sen's arrival.

Behind these leaders stood a few small officials and Kongmu officials who were in charge of recording, and beside these Kongmu officials, there were some young people. Most of these young people came from the elites of the Hamburg Academy and began to study with the senior officials. process.

In front of the long table, there is a huge screen. The screen is divided into two sides. On one side is a map of Saxony, and on the other side are tied a few clothesline-like ropes. The ropes are full of thin small pieces of wood.

Taking an unhurried pace, Feng Sen walked around from behind the screen, spread his legs, supported his knees, and sat on the wooden chair.

"Everyone should know what I mean by calling everyone here. This meeting is just for future development." Leaning his body forward slightly, Feng Sen looked at both sides and smiled, "How about it? Let's discuss it."

"Jieshuai." Zhenhui stood up and said, "I think the current governance of Saxony needs to set a direction first, so that we can know how to exert force, otherwise it is really unwise to turn around like a headless chicken."

Feng Sen nodded: "Well, that's a good point. I think so too. You might as well tell everyone that I have issued a military order to King Charles. If Saxony is not governed within five years, the Duke of Saxony will be returned automatically. As a loyal minister of the Frankish Kingdom, I, old Feng, have always been loyal and dedicated, and must not disappoint His Highness.

So the direction is set, that is, to govern Saxony within five years. As for how to govern well, I think there will be no rebellion, the subjects will be full, the business will be prosperous, the culture will be prosperous, and the most important thing is centralization. "

Feng Sen turned his head and pointed to the wooden signs hanging behind him: "The problems of Saxony that we have summed up these days are written on wooden chips. When the agenda comes out and the responsibilities are divided, you will dismantle these agendas. Divide them into small tasks one by one, specify the time, and prioritize them, and then distribute them.

Note, I don't want you to complete it all at once, but to break it down into small goals one by one, first come up with a roughly effective one, and then slowly improve, understand? "

This method was originally an agile development method often used in software development. Feng Sen was a science man in his previous life and had never studied management. This was the only management method he was most familiar with, so he used it directly.

Anyway, this grassroots team is not big, and the 8th century is no better than the 21st century. The fault tolerance rate is very high. If it can’t be changed, it can be changed. Compared with the rough management methods of the 8th century, this method is already very rigorous and scientific.

Zhang Shicheng and the others dozed off like chickens pecking at rice, but the civil servants were thoughtful. Feng Sen sighed and glanced at Wang Sima.

Wang Sima immediately understood the meaning, stood up and said: "Everyone, I think the matter of Saxony should be stabilized before development. Now that Saxony has experienced many years of war, the population is dying, the land is abandoned, and people's minds are stable. It is the time when stability is most needed. , but at present there are still two main contradictions in Saxony—religious contradictions and land contradictions.”

Feng Sen smiled approvingly and said: "As Wang Sima said, the contradiction of Saxon religion lies in the Saxon law, which leads to the discrimination of local religious believers. There are often Heavenly Father believers who use the name to oppress and grab benefits. Although the Saxon law is now banned, but The enmity between the two parties has been forged, and this is the first contradiction.

The second contradiction is the land contradiction. Saxony’s land is limited. Although the Saxons’ food sources largely come from animal husbandry, fishing and hunting, field production is still an important part of it.

After many high Saxon castes and nobles became fief knights, lords and manor owners appointed by Charles, they began to annex land wantonly, forcing freemen and tribal people to become slaves. Compared with land property, this deprived them of personal freedom and political rights. is the most important.

This is the second contradiction.

But when these two contradictions are combined, the most important contradiction is the contradiction between the emerging feudal lord and the old-style tribal people, and the contradiction between production and life style.So who is more important to us? "

"Is the feudal lord important?" Zhang Shicheng asked.

"No, it's not important. It's important without them." Feng Sen shook his head and said, "The reason why Europa's entrustment is so independent is that the tail is too big to lose. The most important thing is that their entrustment is often based on the premise of personal attachment, which is the most troublesome."

"So we're going to get them out?"

"No." Feng Sen smiled and shook his fingers, leaning forward, "We want them to attach themselves to us, so that no matter how much land the feudal lords control, it will be a castle in the air."

Feng Sen also hid a word without saying that land and personal attachment are almost complementary. The problem of personal attachment in the land relationship is almost impossible to eliminate, but can only be suppressed. This is a way of dynamic balance, which is commonly known as "upper and lower joint efforts to control the middle".

Then, after seeing the essence of the problem, the solution to the problem is already on the verge of coming out. Let one faction fight against another faction, and the faction that is pulled is naturally the tribal people. It is a good way to transform them into self-cultivating farmers.

According to the productivity level of this era, it is actually unrealistic to convert a large number of tribal people into self-cultivating farmers, but the development of agricultural technology brought by Feng Sen made up for this shortcoming.

"My idea is to formulate the distinction between savages and Chinese people. Those who live in cities and manors are Chinese people. Chinese people must believe in the teachings of the Heavenly Father.

The wildlings lived outside these areas, and they were allowed to believe in other gods, but they were not allowed to prevent the Father from preaching and murdering priests. As Feng Sen said, he took off a piece of wood from the screen behind him, and slowly wrote "Farewell Between Country and Field" on it.

"Then what should we do if there is a conflict between the savages and the Chinese?" Wang Sima asked.

"It's very simple. Within the scope of the 'country', our national laws and Frankish laws are enforced, and outside the scope of the 'country', local customary laws are implemented." Feng Sen raised a finger, and his eyes gradually became serious. "If there is still a conflict between the country and the field under such circumstances, it will be decided by the central yamen. If there is a private fight, it will be regarded as a rebellion!"

Chapter 197 My sister is rich

"Originally, these nobles had an advantage, because they had the support of the church and Charlie, and the division of the country was to define the boundaries between the two sides." Feng Sen pushed the wood chip to the center of the long table, "In this way, The oppression of the Saxons by the nobles on vague pretexts was temporarily stopped."

"temporary?"

"Of course." Feng Sen shrugged. "People's desires are endless. As the saying goes, they will find all kinds of ways to expand, and all big landlords will do this."

At this point, Feng Sen's voice suddenly became quieter, and he said something like muttering to himself: "Before we get there, there will be almost no chance of solving the land annexation issue, we can only suppress it...but this is another It's an issue, let's go back to the original question."

Taking a few pieces of wood from the screen again, Feng Sen threw them to those present: "Okay, don't talk about it alone, let's talk about your opinions."

"Jie Shuai, I have to mention it first." Zhang Shicheng stood up again and said, "It's easy to talk about other things, and there is still time, but the rewards of the soldiers can't be delayed. I read Wang Sima's report. According to the previous reward system, we will seal off six thousand households this time. Where do we get so much land?"

"It's small, the layout is small." Han Shizhong said disdainfully, "Do you think we only have hamburgers? We have the whole of Saxony."

But Wang Sima on the side supported Zhang Shicheng, he frowned and said: "But those thousands of households and hundreds of households are all reclaimed land, the number must be enough, but the thousands of households and hundreds of households are all land that needs to be reclaimed. The government offices are all arranged together, where can there be contiguous cultivated fields?"

At this time, Griffith, who was participating in this meeting for the first time, raised his hand. The old man followed others' actions and bowed to Feng Sen, and replied: "In fact, there are. Since these years of uninterrupted rebellion, wars, bandits and oppression by nobles, a large number of Saxons have fled into the forest to live, and their land often has a lot of fields. Although it is not as fertile as yours, it is quite good in comparison."

"That's a good idea." Zhenhui said with a smile, "Why don't we use the amalgamation of villages as an excuse to let those sparsely populated villages merge with large villages, and those Eight Banners who need land go to these lands to build One hundred households and one thousand households."

"That's right." Feng Sen tapped his head. "There are also some nobles and lords who helped the rebels during the war. In this way, those lords who were defeated and captured and who helped the rebels don't need to deprive them of their property or anything. They will exchange the land near Magdeburg with them. The difference will be made up by the serfs on their original territory. When the supplement is completed, those serfs will automatically become freemen."

Magdeburg was successively ravaged by the Eupolites, Sorbs, and Saxons. It used to be an important town for trade with the Slavs, but now it is dilapidated. Feng Sen needs to revitalize Magdeburg's trade, otherwise how can he earn Solidar.

"But where does the money come from?" Wang Sima poured cold water in a timely manner, "Whether it is farm tools or cattle, money and food are all that matters. At most, let them buy it locally, so that they can receive rewards and have money.

But now sowing in March, if you want to harvest, you have to wait until autumn, and where should the rations for these months come from?Our food can't last that time. "

Everyone looked at Han Gang in unison. He was always in charge of land issues, but Han Gang scratched his head and said, "We have only reclaimed more than 1 acres of land in Hamburg, and there are still more than 3000 acres that will fall fallow this year. With the current speed of field development, it is estimated that we will not be able to catch up."

The whole meeting fell into silence. Except for a few small officers who were dozing off, everyone's eyes tightened. But at this moment, Chen Chongyi stood up: "I have an idea."

"Oh, please tell me." Feng Sen immediately became interested and made a gesture of listening attentively.

"Can Jieshuai know why the land on both sides of the Elbe River is not barren, but there are no fields, full of swamps, saline-alkali land, and sometimes floods?" Chen Chongyi looked around, with a smile on his face, "In order to solve this puzzle, I went all the way down the river, and finally found the reason."

Leaving from his seat, Chen Chongyi walked around to the screen, pointed to a point on the Elbe River on the map and said, "Everyone, please look here, this is the lower reaches of the Stadtland. Since this area is too flat, it is completely in the tidal zone. The sea water backflows every year and floods every year. This is the reason why this area cannot be cultivated.

If, here, we build a barrage here, at this place, which the locals call Gistacht, then from this point to our neighborhood of Hamburg will be..."

"There will be hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land!" Han Gang stood up excitedly, taking over Chen Chongyi's words.

In fact, Han Gang made a mistake. Later generations built a barrage and a dam at the same location. As a result, this piece of land that is now called Aurland and later called Altes became the largest continuous fruit-producing area in Northern Europe, and it also brought 140 million mu of fertile land (including the Frisian polder area).

The most important thing is that because of such a small barrage, the entire land in the upper reaches of the Elbe River is no longer affected by the tide. The areas of Hannover, Dietmarschen, and Kettinge constitute a thriving agricultural area.

"But it can't solve the current problem." Feng Sen said sharply, "Of course this is good, you have to record it in the wood chips, but the problem is, how can the dam be built and the time for reclamation be added? It takes two or three years.

And our task is, in addition to our own rations, we must provide about five or six thousand young and strong rations before the autumn harvest. In addition, we also need to provide relief and merge villages, which also requires a lot of food, as well as death in battle. The issue of pensions for soldiers..."

"What about the tax in Saxony? We can collect grain one more time."

"After fighting for such a long time, the landlord's family has no food left, not to mention the ordinary peasants, every family has only a little life-saving grain left. Why, you want to force them to fight the Saxon War again."