: Accumulating strength

Xiangzhuang rode a black horse and slowly marched on the Triumph Avenue. He was both surprised and happy. When he set out for war more than three months ago, this place was just an ordinary road. Why did he get to Qidi? After walking around Huainan, he had such an extra magnificent road that was more than a hundred steps wide and full of atmospheres, like the imperial road?

Behind Xiang Zhuang were Jin Xiang and Hu Yan, who were as strong as an iron tower. They were half a horse head behind Xiang Zhuang. At this time, they didn't want to be too close to Xiang Zhuang, but there were so many people on both sides of the Triumph Avenue, and there might be assassins sent by various countries. Although the king was very skilled in martial arts, it was easy to avoid open guns and hidden arrows, so be careful.

Behind Jin Xiang and Hu Yan were Bailixian, Yuyuan and Baili Mao, Ying Zhen was also among them. However, Ying Zhen was very unhappy at this time because she wanted to go side by side with Xiang Zhuang and accept the cheers of the people on both sides of the avenue, but Xiang Zhuang refused her without hesitation. Obviously, Xiang Zhuang thought she was not qualified.

The cheers on both sides of the Triumph Avenue were rising and falling, and Xiang Zhuang's emotions were also driven. He suddenly felt that building such a road was actually a good idea. Through the almost parade parade on the road, it can not only maximize the prestige of the king, but also inspire the people's sense of pride and belonging.

Looking at the subjects who were so excited that they were out of mind, Xiang Zhuang suddenly felt that it seemed necessary to build a large entertainment facility for Ziling. With the development of industry and commerce in Chu, the people's incomes are getting higher and higher, and their lives are getting richer. Most of the people have gotten out of poverty. Some men have even lived a superior life in the military families. The taverns, chess houses, qinfangs, prostitutes and other facilities in Ziling City are no longer able to meet their needs.

The arena, yes, it’s the arena, it’s time to build a large arena.

Before traveling through time, Xiang Zhuang once watched an American drama called "Spartacus Blood and Sand". The bloody scenes in it did not touch him much. As a veteran, he had seen even more cruel, more realistic and bloody scenes, but the excitement that the Romans inside showed in front of the bloody face touched him a little.

There is no doubt that the performance in the arena can greatly enhance citizens' sense of belonging to the country, and more importantly, it can greatly enhance the citizens' bloodiness and make them become aggressive and bloodthirsty. Why did the Western Rome eventually expand from a small city-state to a huge empire that dominates the entire Mediterranean and last for thousands of years?

There is no other reason, it is because the Romans are aggressive, bloodthirsty, and aggressive!

Xiangzhuang has changed history, so it does not want the Chinese to follow the old path and become a gentle, humble, and tolerant introverted nation. Xiangzhuang hopes that the Chinese will become a fighting, bloodthirsty, and expanding nation. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce bloody entertainment such as the arena of the arena, so that the Confucian mean and benevolence and righteousness will lose the soil for survival.

He marched along the Triumph Avenue and accepted the cheers of the citizens of Ziling like tsunami. Then Xiang Zhuang delivered an impromptu speech on Wuwei Gate, which caused the Chu army soldiers and ministers to cheer again. Of course, most of them just followed suit, and only a small part of them heard Xiang Zhuang's speech.

Finally, the cavalry army was disbanded, and the nobles who had no more titles received a very long vacation and were able to go home to reunite with their families. The soldiers who had no less titles dispersed to the military camp and continued to receive the most cruel training! After Xiang Zhuang returned to the palace, he naturally had to share the joy of family with many concubines, princes and princesses.

But the next day, Xiang he dragged Xiang Zhuang to Taicang, Ziling.

Xiangzhuang was surprised to find that the originally empty cellars in Taicang were all filled with grain stocks. Not only that, a large number of cellars and grain stocks were also built on the originally northwest corner of the open space. In other words, the grain stocks stored in Taicang, Ziling now are far more than one million stones!

"Zi Ji." Xiang Zhuang said with a sniff, "How much food is there?"

He stretched out his two fingers and said proudly: "Two million stones!"

"Two million stones?" Xiang Zhuang was a little unbelievable and said, "Where did this much grain come from?" Xiang Zhuang was surprised. Although Mrs. Qin, a red-topped merchant, was purchasing grain for the imperial court at a high price, it would take so much surplus grain in Chu. You must know that when the reform began more than ten years ago, the food in Chu was not enough to eat.

Xiang He smiled slightly and said, "King, you will know if you go and take a look."

At that moment, Xiang led the way and led Xiangzhuang and many civil and military ministers to a village outside Ziling.

This is just a small village. About a few hundred acres of paddy fields (now acres) were created in the wilderness by the foot of the mountain river. At this time, the rice in the paddy fields has been harvested, but it is covered with a green plant. Xiangzhuang knows this plant. When seedlings are eaten as sparse vegetables, they grow into high-quality livestock feed.

What made Xiangzhuang particularly shiny were the several water trucks built by the river.

Obviously, these water trucks were used to draw water from the river to irrigate these hundreds of acres of paddy fields. As a traveler, Xiang Zhuang certainly knew the water truck, but he could swear that he had never mentioned the water truck to anyone. Previously, his energy was more focused on the improvement of military ordnance, winemaking and papermaking, and he did not pay much attention to agricultural machinery.

Xiang Zhuang vaguely remembers that the water truck seemed to be called Kong Ming truck, and it did not appear until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, now, the State of Chu used the water truck four hundred years earlier. Who invented this water truck?

Xiang Zhuang asked Xiang him, "Ziyi, who invented this water wheel?"

Looking in the direction of Xiang Zhuang's finger, Xiang smiled and said, "The king said this water wheel is made by a student of the Imperial Academy. This student was originally a peasant family and likes to learn the mechanism. After learning the mechanism for more than two years, he made this water wheel. It is said that it was for him to carry less water."

Xiang Zhuang was a little moved. It seemed that his changes had really had a profound impact on all aspects of the Chu State. I won’t say much about the military and cultural impact. Now even agriculture has been greatly affected. Not only has the production tools been greatly improved, but production technology has also experienced leapfrog development. The water truck in front of me is a clear proof.

"Now this water wheel has spread throughout Jiangdong." Xiang He smiled slightly and said, "King, let's go here."

At that moment, Xiang led Xiangzhuang and a group of civil and military ministers to continue walking forward. Dozens of thatched huts were built on an open space among hundreds of acres of paddy fields. Several of them were emitting smoke from cooking stoves. Before everyone could approach, several big yellow dogs rushed out of the village and barked at them. Dozens of hens were frightened and flew around.

The barking of dogs immediately alarmed the villagers in the village, and the village was just around the corner.

Zheng has also seen the world here. Although Xiang Zhuang and his ministers were wearing casual clothes, Li Zheng could see at a glance that a group of wealthy and noble people came to his yard. He then took out the white wine and braised pork head meat he had just sold from the market town to enter the guests. He also arranged for the old woman to kill chickens and ducks.

Xiang Zhuang was a little stunned. The white wine and braised pork head meat did not seem to be specially prepared, but it was like this small little one that I bought to enjoy myself. It seems that the life here is pretty good.

"Old man, how is the harvest this year?" Xiang Zhuang sat down on the stone bench and asked casually.

Li Zheng hurriedly said: "The harvest this year is OK. I have harvested more than fifty stones of grain, and I can almost crush thirty stones of rice."

Xiang Zhuang was a little surprised. Thirty stones of rice were 3,600 kilograms (Qin Jin), and the market kilograms in later generations were nearly 2,000 kilograms. I just looked at the population of Li Zheng’s family. It seemed that only an old couple, a daughter-in-law and a half-old child, could only eat up to 700 kilograms a year, which was a huge surplus.

Looking back at Xiang him, Xiang Zhuang said again: "Every family is similar?"

Li Zheng scratched his head and replied, "The big head family has more, and he has collected nearly a hundred stones of grain, and the other families are almost the same."

Xiang Zhuang said oh, and said, "Old man, why don't you see your son?"

"Be a soldier." Speaking of his son, Li Zheng immediately showed a proud look on his face, and said, "My son has just been selected as a soldier in the Danyang Camp. He said he can go to the battlefield and kill the enemy after the New Year. Maybe he can earn a title for me. Hehe, then our old Niu family will be a nobleman."

Xiang Zhuang smiled slightly, and being a soldier was still the first choice for the Chu people.

After having a meal at Li Zheng's house, Xiangzhuang went around the village again and found that Li Zheng was not lying. The grain stocks of each household were filled with them, and they also raised a lot of chickens, ducks, geese and dogs. Because it was the slack season, several farmers even scattered nets in the river and caught a few fish. The aura of wealth came to their faces.

On the way back to the city, Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but ask Xiang, "Ziyi, could it be that you deliberately arranged it?"

Xiang He smiled when he heard this, shook his head and smiled, "If the king doesn't believe it, wouldn't you know if you go out for a walk the other day?"

Xiang Zhuang actually said that in this way, on such a major matter that concerns major policies, Xiang did not deliberately embellish the peace and seek credit from himself. He asked again: "But it is wrong. Since every household in Chu has so much surplus food, where did their surplus food go in the past few years?"

"The surplus grain from the past few years was basically sold to wineries to wineries to make white wine." Xiang said this and said, "However, the harvest in the past few years cannot be compared with now. Just say three years ago, it was a good year with good weather. I have suffered several storms this year, but the harvest is still better than three years ago."

"Why is this?" Wu She couldn't help asking first without waiting for Xiang Zhuang to ask.

Xiang said: "The main reason is that the yield per mu has increased a lot. With the accumulation of the previous few years, now every household has basically owned oxen or pack horses, and iron rakes, which can turn the ground deeper and thinner. The water wheel is a good thing. As long as there is no severe drought, the harvest will basically not be affected too much."

Xiang Zhuang understood a little. This is called accumulating strength. Ten years of reform. In the past seven or eight years, he accumulated strength in humanities, science and technology, agriculture, military and other aspects. In the end, the results of reform began to show in the past two or three years. In agriculture, yields have been greatly improved. In science and technology, various inventions emerge one after another. In terms of humanities, the values ​​of the Chu people are already very different, let alone military aspects.

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Chapter completed!