Three Kingdoms: My father-in-law is Lu Bu

Chapter 55

Food is the most important thing for the people, and soldiers and horses go first before moving food and grass.

These catchy words of ordinary people all show that food is a very important resource in any era.

In Xiapi City, after Ye Xiao's strong request and Chen Gong's vigorous implementation, the farming system began.

At first, Lu Bu, Liao Hua and others objected because it would affect the efficiency of soldiers' training.

Ye Xiao had no choice but to explain various factors such as the village system can improve the unity of the army and the people, strengthen local recognition, and so on.

In the end, it was Cao Cao’s income of more than one million dendrobium from the farming system in Qingzhou last year that stimulated everyone’s nerves and accepted the farming system.

Because of Ye Xiao's direct establishment of the Army Tunnel Office, with Chen Gong as the directly subordinate officer, he was responsible for arranging the sergeants of Xiapi City and recruiting the people to reclaim wasteland.

The population of Xiapi City is nearly 50. Ye Xiao gave almost all the money and food this time, and asked Chen Gong to recruit [-] peasants to reclaim the wasteland.

Before the weather turns cold, winter wheat should be planted.

In the city of Xiapi, where wars have been raging for years, people are determined, and Ye Xiao's policy of vigorously developing agriculture has won strong support from the people at the bottom.

Unintentionally, Ye Xiao's reputation in Xiapi City has reached its peak.

At the military station, Chen Gong is busy greeting several farmers.

"Old men, what I just said is the composting method that the lord arranged for everyone to test."

Chen Gong attached great importance to these old farmers, because they were the most experienced among so many farmers in Xiapi City.

"My lord, we have used manure as fertilizer before, but the effect is not as good as the lord said."

"Yeah, if the time comes, if this compost doesn't increase the output, you can't punish us, my lord."

Veteran farmers worry that this optimized composting technique is too time-consuming and affects the fields they are responsible for.

The military garrison office conscripted them to cultivate. In addition to giving them food, more importantly, it also explained how many acres of wheat fields each person was responsible for.

Seeing them like this, Chen Gong naturally understood in his heart, and spoke out the words he had prepared.

"You don't have to worry, the lord said, as long as you follow the new composting method. No matter what the result is, you will be rewarded."

"And if the composting is successful and the yield per mu increases, I will give you another [-]% food reward."

A few old farmers suddenly became excited. They have been busy with the land all their lives, nothing more than wanting to get more food.

"Okay, we trust the lord."

"Yes, my lord, a benevolent and righteous man, drove away the Cao thief, otherwise I don't know if I can survive this winter."

"Yeah, my lord, I will start arranging for my family to prepare new compost when I get back."

Seeing that Chen Gong solved their worries, several old farmers expressed their strong support for the new composting method.

In fact, the composting method proposed by Ye Xiao is not much new.

Farmers in this era already collect livestock manure and agricultural waste as fertilizer, but the method is primitive and irregular.

This kind of fertilizer does not have the effect of constant oxygen and temperature, and the fertility will not be significantly improved.

So what Ye Xiao offered them was to use the pit-buried aerobic composting method.

Compared with the old farmers and their current method, there are two more processes.

One is to dig a pit, and the second is to add materials such as wheat straw and straw to control temperature and oxygen.

The old farmers think that all this is redundant work, and wheat straw and straw are still valuable materials at the moment, and they are reluctant to throw them in as fertilizer.

Without Ye Xiao's guarantee, they would rather put in more effort to take care of the crops in the field.

Chen Gong managed to coax these old farmers into improving the compost seriously.

Looking at the materials of farmland reclamation piled up in front of him, Chen Gong hadn't breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly the guards of the military station came to report.

"Master Military Advisor. There are two people surnamed Mi asking to see you outside."

Chen Gong frowned. During this period of time when Ye Xiaojun consolidated Xiapi City, there were many vacancies in the army and government affairs. He had already received many local gentry and gentry.

These people are all thinking of letting their children enter Ye Xiaojun through Chen Gong to seek a fortune.

"The one with the surname Mi? Does anyone know?"

The guard was very embarrassed. He was only responsible for the notification on duty, and he didn't understand these things.

"My lord, I really don't know. I'll ask."

Chen Gong hurriedly called the guards to stop, and collected himself.

"It's okay, you invite them in."

"Yes! Your lord."

In Chen Gong's mind, the gentry named Mi in Xiapi City kept flashing across, and suddenly his eyes showed surprise.

"Could it be that it's Xuzhou Mi's family?" Chen Gong thought to himself.

The Mi family in Xuzhou is a well-known wealthy landlord in the south and north of the Yangtze River. The family wealth is the most suitable description for the Mi family.

"If the Mi family comes here, the problem that the Lord has worried about for the past six months will be easily solved."

Thinking of this, Chen Gong felt that he could not treat the other party slowly, so he quickly got up and went out to greet him.

The two sides met at the door, and Chen Gong saw that the two people who came came had an extraordinary demeanor, the leading man was about thirty years old, and his steps were steady.

"Welcome! The honored guest must be Mi Zhu, the famous head of the Mi family!"

Chen Gong was very enthusiastic, looked at the two visitors and laughed loudly.

And it was Mi Zhu and Mi Fang who came here, seeing Chen Gong being so polite, they looked at each other with a hint of joy.

"Master Military Adviser is overrated. Zizhong is just a merchant, so he can't be regarded as a distinguished guest."

Mi Zhu responded politely, with a very low-key attitude.

"Please take a seat! The Military Tunnel Office has just been established, and it is very simple, please understand."

Chen Gong led Mi Zhu and Mi Fang to sit down.

"I came here today mainly to plead guilty to General Ye."

Mi Zhu took the lead in bringing up the topic after sitting down, saying that he and Mi Fang happened to be in Yangzhou to handle business with the Lu family during Cao Cao's attack on Xiapi.

Therefore, the Mi family was besieged in Xiapi. Ye Xiao stood up and called on the army and the people to tide over the difficulties together, but he did not stand up to show any intention.

However, Chen Gong knew that this was Mi Zhu's polite words, because according to the information he had, there were at least three small gentry clans in Xiapi City who were dependent on the Mi family for survival.

At that time, the food produced by these three gentry was [-] hu, which belonged to the forefront.

"It's too far away in Yangzhou, so what's wrong with Patriarch Mi! I don't know if I came here today, what can I discuss?"

Chen Gong casually put away the documents on the table.

Mi Zhu's eyes flicked across these bamboo slips, and with a slight smile, he had a draft in his heart.

"To tell you the truth, military advisor, although my Mi family has business in various parts of Xuzhou, the root of the Mi family is mainly here in Xiapi."

"Furthermore, my Mi family has been engaged in reclamation for generations and has some experience. A few days ago, I saw General Ye vigorously mobilizing the people to reclaim land, so I wanted to help."

When Chen Gong heard the words, he was convinced that Mi Zhu came here to surrender and seek cooperation.

However, Chen Gong had frequent contacts with the nobles, and with the fact that Zhuangcun had surrendered, he knew in his heart that the other party must also have demands.

How to cooperate depends on how Chen Gong talks about it.

Thinking of this, Chen Gong looked at Mi Zhu with even more enthusiasm.

(End of this chapter)