Chapter 287: Expand the army!

"One,6,500,000 jin!"

"More than 87,300 stones!"

"The average yield per mu is more than seven stones!"

Wang Mingyu particularly emphasized these three numbers.

"Are there too many, or less?"

Zhang Zhun asked slowly.

"Of course there are too many! In the past, the highest grain output in Fushan Institute was less than 40,000 stones! This year's harvest is twice its total! The average yield per mu was less than one stone and three stones! We increased the total four dou!"

Wang Mingyu answered excitedly.

"good!"

"We must continue to work hard and increase the sowing area and yield per mu!"

"The planting area next year is expected to increase to about 200,000 mu."

"The average yield per mu next year is to strive to exceed two stones."

Zhang Zhun nodded with satisfaction and then put forward higher requirements for everyone.

In the past, these fields were cultivated by tenants, and most of the harvest was handed over to officers at all levels. What they kept by themselves could not even guarantee food and clothing. Of course, everyone's enthusiasm would not be high. Besides, there were no such many water-column facilities before, so the water source needed for rice growth and development could not be guaranteed. It would be strange if the rice had no water, and the yield could be improved. After investing a lot of funds, it is not surprising that such achievements were achieved.

Among these data, the most important thing is to increase the yield per mu. The cultivation of fields is relatively easy. The increase in yield per mu involves a series of problems such as seeds, fertilizers, and cultivation technology. Relatively speaking, it is more difficult. However, it is precisely because of the difficulty that we must concentrate our efforts, break through the difficulties and strive for progress.

The average yield per mu is 70 pounds, and only more than 300 pounds. Zhang Zhun is certainly not very satisfied. The rice in later generations often yields over 1,000 pounds per mu, and in some places, it is even close to 2,000 pounds. This distance is too far. Even if you deduct Yuan Longping's hybrid rice factor, it is still feasible to increase the average yield per mu to about 500 pounds. 150 pounds per mu, hundreds of thousands of mu, millions of mu, or even tens of millions of mu, are calculated together, and the number is absolutely amazing.

For ordinary farmers, working to increase the yield per mu is also of great benefit to them. After all, the amount of grain is fixed, with 40 kilograms of dry rice per mu. Calculated based on the yield per mu of 330 kilograms, the tax-paying 40 kilograms is deducted, and there are about 290 kilograms. Five acres of land is 1,450 kilograms, which is enough for three people a year. However, if the yield per mu continues to increase, the food for four people may even be able to eat. The higher the yield per mu, the more grain you can use to sell money. This is the most simple truth.

As for Zhang Zhun, his income is also good. He charges a tax of 40 kilograms per mu of land, and 50,000 acres of land, a total of 2 million kilograms. There are not many people who need to consume public grain now, mainly the soldiers of the Hu Ben Army. About 2,000 people. On average, each person has more than 1,000 kilograms. In fact, only 700 kilograms per person is enough. The remaining considerable part can be used to do other things.

Compared with the large amount of grain stored in farmers' hands, Zhang Zhun did not collect much taxes, but Wang Mingyu, Liu Hang and others were already very happy. They had food in their hands, so they were not panic! If the court in the capital was a big court, then in Fushan City, there was a small court. No matter which court, the most feared thing was that there was no money or food. If there was no money or food, who would want to do it with you? If that big court had money and food in his hands, there would be no chaos in Shaanxi at all, and Zhang Zhun and others would not need to rebel!

As the grain pressure decreases, the silver in Zhang Zhun can also be used to do more things. The price of buying grain is getting more and more expensive. If you rely solely on buying grain, you will have to spend a lot of silver. Nowadays, Fushan City, Aoshan City, Lingshan City, Xiongyasu, Xiahezhai and other places, and various ports, all require a lot of silver. It can be said that even if Zhang Zhun gets millions of silver out of thin air, it is not enough to see. What's more, Zhang Zhun does not have so much silver at all. Therefore, if you can save, you can save.

The harvest of Fushan District is also very exciting to the people of Aoshan City. Because there is not enough staff to harvest rice, those who have relatives in Aoshan City or other cities have all invited them to help. These farmers from other cities have witnessed the harvest of rice in Fushan District with their own eyes, and the granaries at home are piled up, of course, their eyes are so envious that they are green.

For example, the Huang family invited more than a dozen distant relatives from Aoshan City to help them harvest rice. The first thing they did when they came back from work every day was to keep sighing. Fushan Temple was a good life, Zhang Zhun was born here. He first rebelled here and promulgated the "Equal Field Order" here. Now, everyone has gained real benefits and no need to go hungry from now on. Fortunately, other cities are not very late. By June next year, there should be such a bumper harvest in their own fields.

Even the Lingshan Guards next to them were a little moved. Who wouldn't want their granaries to be piled up all over the place. However, they were just moved. They still didn't have the courage to stand up actively and actively distribute the fields to their respective hands. Zhang Zhun and the others were willing to develop large farms in Lingshan Guards, not preparing to divide the fields so quickly. As a result, the status quo was still maintained there.

Compared with the distribution of land and land, the income of the large farm is Zhang Zhun's big head. The total rice harvest in Fushan District is more than 16 million kilograms, and Zhang Zhun only got two million kilograms, which is less than 1 and a half. The remaining 85% of the main big heads are all in the hands of farmers. But the large farm in Lingshanwei is different. The harvest of the large farm is Zhang Zhun, and the small head is the town of each village.

Compared with the bumper harvest in Fushansuo, the rice harvest in various parts of Shandong is not very good. The areas where rice is grown in Shandong are mainly on both sides of the canal, including Yanzhou Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, Jinan Prefecture and other places. Due to the continuous drought, the landlords are reluctant to invest a lot of money to build water conservancy and improve rice planting conditions. The grain yield is reduced year by year. Insufficient grain yield will inevitably lead to the emergence of a large number of hungry people.

The most direct consequence has been reflected in the price of grain. Since October, the price of grain purchased by Zhang Zhun from Jiangnan has increased to one tael and six cents of silver, an increase of two cents of silver from the previous period. Jiangnan is the main rice production area, and the saying that Suhu Lake has been ripe and the world is sufficient has seriously affected the price of rice in the world. The price of grain there has changed, and the price of grain in various parts of Shandong will inevitably be higher. In the foreseeable future, it is entirely possible that the price of grain will soar to two taels of silver per stone.

One tael and six cents of silver per stone of grain really feel like cutting flesh. The consumption of grain is too great, and each person will consume at least two stones of grain every year. Zhang Zhun's controlled area is currently about 100,000 people, and each person has two stones of grain, which is 200,000 stones of grain per year. If all of them are purchased, it would be more than 300,000 taels of silver. If Zhang Zhun had not been a time traveler, he would have had some special way of making money, and he might have filed for bankruptcy now.

Besides, with the continuous expansion of war, the erosion and grain production areas of Henan Province, northern southern Zhili, and Huguang will be seriously affected. The grain production in Henan and other Central Plains areas will be quite large. Once Henan does not produce grain, the whole world will be affected. As far as the historical process is concerned, Fengyang Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture, Anqing Prefecture and other places in Zhili in southern Zhili will soon be disturbed by the Shaanxi Uprising Army. Zhang Xianzhong will also enter Huguang and plunder local grain. At that time, the grain production in Jiangnan will be severely reduced. Even if you have money, you may not be able to buy food.

In fact, in Jiangnan, some large grain merchants have begun to hoard grain in a planned manner. These large grain merchants have very strong funds, many of them are sidelines of salt merchants. If they don’t have million taels of silver, you will be embarrassed to enter this market. They often invest hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and hoard hundreds of thousands or even millions of stones of grain at one time, greatly increasing the price of grain.

In the late Chongzhen period, one stone of grain was sold for four taels of silver, but it was still priceless. These big grain merchants made great contributions. The black money they earned was indeed rich. However, they had no chance to spend the money they earned. With the entry of the Qing army, their people were killed and their property was confiscated, which was a great tragedy. It is worth mentioning that the background of these big grain merchants was almost all from the Donglin Party. Chongzhen was really ignorant of the so-called expectation of such a group of people to rescue the national crisis.

Fortunately, as long as Zhang Zhun continues to persevere until June next year, there will be a bumper harvest of winter wheat, he will basically not need to import grain. The twenty large farms in Lingshanwei, the most conservative estimates, can produce 500,000 stones of grain. Aoshan City, Xiahezhai and Xiongya Station can basically be self-sufficient. No matter how much does it have to do with Zhang Zhun when the price of grain flies to the sky.

With enough money and food, what should I do first?

Of course, it is to expand the army and prepare for war.

Power comes from the barrel of a gun, except for the army, other gods are all over the world.

On October 29, Zhang Zhun officially announced the expansion of his army.

The Guard, well, is now renamed the Hu Ben Army. It turned out to be four dissatisfied associations, and of course all have to be fully staffed. At the same time, the new Fifth Association has five squads, each squad of 50 soldiers, not counting officers, each squad of 250 soldiers. In addition to officers, there are more than 300 people. The total strength of the five squads is more than 1,600 people. The Artillery Association is still two squads, not counting officers, but a total of 100 soldiers and 10 Flang machine artillery cannons.

The First Association continued to station in Xiongya Station, and the commander was Zhiyuan Yang.

Their main task is to keep an eye on the movements in the direction of Laiyang. In this direction, whether it is the officers and soldiers of Dengzhou Prefecture or the incense smelling scholars around Laiyang, they have been making frequent moves recently and must be vigilant. At the same time, this is also the first pass to identify the spies of Tartar. All refugees from Laiyang must receive the most basic inquiry here before they can be assigned to Aoshan City and Fushan City.

The Second Association is stationed in Lingshan City, and the commander is Hao Linyong.

Their main task is to protect the safety of Lingshan City. The farms in Lingshan City will have a bumper harvest in June next year. Due to the stimulation of the rice harvest in Fushan City, the government may also set off the idea of ​​Lingshan City. If they can successfully capture Lingshan City before the winter wheat harvest in June next year, the 200,000 acres of winter wheat that are ok to sow will become a gift from the officers and soldiers.

In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there are many battles initiated by food. Grabing grain is often one of the main purposes of starting a war. For example, Zhuge Liang went to Qishan six times and chose to launch an attack before the food near Tianshui matured many times, which was to grab the grain on the spot so as not to transport it from the rear for a long distance. The food that he had worked hard to grow was eventually snatched away by the enemy. Zhang Zhun would definitely not be able to stand this feeling. Therefore, it is necessary to deploy a cooperative force in Lingshan City.

The Third Association is stationed in Aoshan City, and the commander is Yang Zixuan.

Their main task is to prevent the attack of horse thieves, and at the same time, be prepared to take the initiative to attack. Aoshan City faces the various forces of Laizhou Prefecture. Compared with Dengzhou Prefecture, the strength of the officers and soldiers of Laizhou Prefecture is not very strong. However, there are many horse thieves in the direction of Pingdu Prefecture. Since horse thieves are called horse thieves, it means that they have war horses. Aoshan City is surrounded by plains, and horse thieves come and go like the wind. If they suddenly attack Zhang Zhun during the winter wheat harvest, Zhang Zhun will still be very injured.

The Fourth Association stationed in Fushan City. As the general reserve team of the battle, the commander was Wu Qingliang.

Their main task is to launch an active attack at any time or support the attacked areas. In order to meet the needs of multi-faceted combat, the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Association must also take some time to train with the navy so that they can cooperate with the navy when necessary.

The Fifth Association is stationed in Aoshan City, and the commander is Yang Hongwen.

Their main tasks are the same as those of the Third Association. While guarding against the attack of horse thieves, they are ready to launch an attack on their own initiative. The newly established Fifth Association is equipped with the best quality, the strongest power and the most durable. At the same time, they are also the one with the most veterans. Zhang Zhun's organizational principle is that as long as it is a new army, the veterans are the most.

The artillery team stationed in Aoshan City, which is also a sequence of the battle reserves, and the commander is Xu Ziwen. Their main task is to cooperate with the main force to fight. However, due to the lack of enough horses, the Flang machine cannons are not convenient to maneuver quickly, so there are only two main ways of combat: siege or defending the city.

In addition, Zhang Zhun also set up a recruit training camp, with Lin Bin in charge, gathering most of the wounded members of the Hu Ben Army. The main task of the recruit training camp is to regularly recruit some young and middle-aged people every year to conduct basic training, including familiarizing themselves with the various weapons, queues, internal affairs and disciplines of the Hu Ben Army, and improving their physical fitness. Each person trains for at least three months. When there is a vacancies in the regular army, they can make up for it at any time. In this way, the regular army does not need to specially train new recruits. As long as the veterans lead the area, they can enter the battlefield.

After adjustment, each soldier of the Hu Ben Army was equipped with a Hu Ben gun, a bayonet, a dagger, 250 rounds of Minnie bullets (five bases), and corresponding black gunpowder. Each officer with a deputy or above team was also equipped with an Eagle-eyed gun for self-defense. The soldiers of the Artillery Association were equipped with an Eagle-eyed gun for self-defense.

Overall, Zhang Zhun's deployment of troops is very targeted. Among them, Aoshan City has the strongest troops, with two infantry cooperatives and one artillery cooperative, with a total force of more than 700. If Zhang Zhun had nothing special, he was basically stationed in Aoshan City. The recruit training camp of the Hu Ben Army was also deployed in Aoshan City.

The reason why Aoshan City is equipped with such strong military forces is because its position is the most important.

According to Ma Yi's information, the government is still very cautious about Zhang Zhun. If you believe in the previous counsel and relax your vigilance, you may soon be in a gutter. In fact, both the government and Zhang Zhun themselves are strongly alert about the other party. The temporary maintenance of peace between the two sides does not mean that peace will come in the future.

This vigilance also involves a false surrender of the Shaanxi Uprising Army. In June this year, the governor of the five provinces, Chen Qiyu and the governor of Yunyang, Lu Xiangsheng, joined forces in Shangjin. At that time, most of the peasant army troops entered Hannan. Chen Qiyu led the army westward and ordered the four governors of Shaanxi, Yunyang, Huguang and Henan to encircle and suppress the peasant army in Hannan. The peasant army Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng and other troops saw the four Ming army gatherings, and they were panicked and mistook the carbox gorge in Xing'an (now the Han River Basin east of Shiquan, Shaanxi Province).

There is an ancient plank road in the canyon. The mountains on all sides are steep, easy to enter and difficult to exit. The officers and soldiers arrived from all directions and surrounded the peasant army. It had been raining for more than 20 days in a row, and the trapped peasant army and horses were exhausted and were about to die. Li Zicheng had a counselor named Gu Junen. He suggested that Li Zicheng surrender and expressed his willingness to accept the pleading. At the same time, he used a large amount of gold, silver and treasure to buy Chen Qiyu and the generals.

Chen Qiyu might have been confused and actually agreed. He sent an envoy to recruit Li Zicheng and others for the matter of responsibility. Li Zicheng and others naturally agreed to all requests, just asking to leave the car box gorge as soon as possible. Chen Qiyu thought that Li Zicheng and others were desperate, so he surrendered willingly. As a result, in July, the rebel army successfully escaped from the car box gorge, with a total force of about 36,000. After they escaped from the siege, they immediately rebeled and ravaged the world again. Chen Qiyu was so angry that he vomited blood, but he was helpless.
Chapter completed!