Daqin Engineering Corps

This business traveler not only recognized the merchants from the Northlands but also had contacts with the Xiongnu and knew about buying high and selling low. If it got to the ears of the Xiongnu and let them know that this was Shen Bing's strategy to control raw materials, wouldn't it be a bad thing?

That's why I ordered to kill this one.

Of course Ying Zheng didn't know that this was actually fabricated by Zhao Gao.

Ordinary business travelers are indeed well-informed, but how can Shen Bing be so stupid that the same person is used to buy and sell raw materials.

If the purchaser and seller of raw materials are not the same person, how can it be judged that Shen Bing is buying high and selling the same batch of raw materials behind the scenes?

Shen Bing didn't know this, at this time he had rushed to Xitao with Fusu, Yang Duanhe and others.

At this time, Xitao was a barren land. Most of the villages were concentrated in the southern mountainous area, but most of them looked like primitive tribes.

This was unexpected but also expected.

Although Xitao has been included in Beidi County since the Zhou Dynasty, very few forces have been able to go to this remote area, and most of the people who actually control it are still ethnic minorities.

It was not until Meng Tian recovered the Hetao and built the Great Wall that it began to operate here. Hundreds of years later, the first city was built in the Han Dynasty, which was called "Lucheng".

Therefore, Meng Tian is also known as No. 1 in the management of Xitao.

But now it should be Shen Bing.

Shen Bing spent several days walking around Xitao with everyone.

This is mainly to inspect the topography of Xitao...

Operating a piece of land is not just a matter of slapping your head and saying that it is suitable for you. First, you need to know the conditions of the land, and formulate a development plan based on the actual conditions such as climate, hydrology, soil, and terrain, combined with market demand.

Only in this way can the risk be controlled within an acceptable range, otherwise it will affect the whole body, and a mistake may cause a major famine.

Then Shen Bing threw the question to Fusu, who was to preside over the meeting.

Shen Bing also has a deep meaning in doing this. In the future, Fusu will be the emperor who will rule the whole country... Of course, he must be able to be the emperor.

But no matter whether Fusu can be elected or not, it is necessary to learn scientific methods of governing the country.

Shen Bing is teaching Fusu these methods while managing the Northland.

So in Shen Bing's tent, Fu Su sat in the middle, Shen Bing and a group of generals sat on both sides, and each of them had a newly drawn western map in front of their desks.

Fusu seemed a little nervous, he stole a glance at Shen Bing to gather himself, and then said:

"According to what all the soldiers see, how should we govern Xitao?"

Wang Ben was young and energetic, and without thinking about it, he cupped his hands and replied:

"According to my subordinates, we don't need to think too much about it, just bring the workshops of Jiuyuan and Yunzhong into Xitao, and then move them to the common people."

Fusu shook his head and said:

"Although what the captain said is reasonable, each city should focus on it."

"If the functions of each city converge, there will inevitably be waste and development will inevitably be limited."

This is what Shen Bing taught Fu Su.

The reason is very simple. If several cities in the same area have similar functions to form competition, for example, if two cities focus on iron smelting, does that mean that at least one iron smelting plant should be built each?

If the demand is not large and the distance is not far, it is enough to build one iron smelter between the two cities, but now we need to build two...

This kind of internal competition is not very meaningful. Not only is it a waste of resources, it is difficult to improve the technical level and productivity through healthy competition, but also the development is limited due to the dispersion of funds and the lack of integration of talents and technicians.

Wang Ben is definitely a good fighter in war, but he is a layman when it comes to governing the water and soil.

Yang Duanhe thought about it and said:

"My subordinates thought Xitao should focus on agriculture."

"Because Xitao is a barren land, if our army wants to garrison Xitao and develop westward, we must consider military supplies."

"At this time, our army's military rations have to be transported thousands of miles from the Central Plains. Not to mention a lot of manpower and material resources on the way, there are still many dangers."

"That's why my subordinates think that farming in Xitao is the most important thing."

Shen Bing couldn't help but nodded secretly.

Yang Duan is on the edge of what he said.

The Central Plains is a farming nation, and the farming nation mainly focuses on farming.

Therefore, it is impossible for the Qin army to focus on looting and support wars like the Huns, or to bring a large number of cattle and sheep to graze with the army.

The army of the farming nation must first consider farming no matter where it goes.

Chapter 374 Agriculture

All the soldiers nodded in agreement. After all, for the Qin army, it is never out of date to farm at any time and anywhere.

If possible, Qin Jun would plant crops on the moon.

Wei Wei added:

"This subordinate thinks what General Yang said is true."

"Besides, the terrain in the northern part of Xitao is flat and the soil is fertile. Although it is drought and water shortage, we can use the Yellow River to irrigate. It is indeed a good land for farming!"

Xitao terrain can be divided into two areas from north to south, namely the northern Sichuan area and the southern mountainous area.

Primitive tribes prefer to live in the southern mountainous area, because there are large natural grasslands in the southern mountainous area, and there are many wild animals. Primitive tribes mainly rely on hunting for a living, so they naturally gather in the southern mountainous area.

The flat Sichuan area in the north is the favorite of Qin Jun and other farmers. If there is any disadvantage, it is drought and lack of water.

But this shortcoming is not a shortcoming at all. To the east is the Yellow River. With the Qin army's advanced water conservancy irrigation technology at this time, it will not take long to turn this wasteland into fertile land.

So everyone turned their attention to Xu Ying.

Xu Ying is an expert in this area, so of course it is up to him to draw conclusions.

But Xu Ying remained uncharacteristically silent, until then he had no choice but to respond.

Xu Ying looked at the map, then frowned and said:

"It is indeed feasible to develop agriculture here."

"only……"

Xu Ying hesitated for a while, then cupped his hands to Fu Su and said:

"The subordinates think there are two difficulties."

"First, if we are going to build water conservancy, I will have to wait for me to call in a large number of laborers. Do we have so many people?"

Wang Ben replied:

"Go to Jiuyuan and transfer a batch."

At this time, there are more than [-] people in the Northland, and the number is still increasing. It is not difficult to transfer thousands or tens of thousands of laborers.

Xu Ying thought for a while, and then asked:

"Then there are two: can we have enough food for our labor and garrison?"

As soon as this question was asked, the soldiers in the tent nodded one after another.

Shen Bing thought to himself that Xu Ying deserved to be a farmer, knowing that everything cannot be accomplished overnight.

Xitao can indeed develop agriculture.

Xitao is the Ningxia area in modern times.

Together with the Chengdu Plain, Guanzhong Plain, Hexi Corridor and Ili Valley in the west, it is called the "Five Granaries" in the west, and is praised by Chinese and foreign economists as "a rare area for the development of agriculture.

The problem is that Xitao has not been developed at this time, there is no labor force, no grain storage, and it is far away from the grain producing areas of the Central Plains...

It is eight hundred miles away from Wuyuan.

Although [-] miles is not far away, because the farming period in Beidi has passed, the counties of Wuyuan, Jiuyuan, and Yunzhong do not produce grain.

The food in these areas all comes from the Central Plains supply plus Yunzhong County weaving cloth for food.

In other words, the food mainly comes from Yanmen County.

And Yanmen County is [-] miles away from Wuyuan, which has almost reached the limit of transportation in the Northland... Calculated by calculating the [-] miles a day for food and grass, the [-] miles will take a month, and the transport team will go back and forth once. It takes two months.

This is also the main reason for the slowest development of Wuyuan County.

Just imagine, if a large number of labor and troops are stationed in Wuyuan County, it will increase the difficulty of the transport team exponentially.

This is based on the fact that there is a road to follow between Yanmen and Wuyuan... Before Shen Bing's Qin army entered this area, Zhao Guo Li Mu had been operating here for many years, so he had his own road.

But for the [-] miles from Wuyuan to Xitao, there is only a trail stepped on by the cavalry troops of the Huns going south, and in some places there is even no way to find.

If it is necessary to transport the grain here from Yanmen County, it will take at least two months.

From the other direction, it is [-] miles to Xianyang, and the south is full of mountains and there are no trails, so transportation is even more difficult.

Under such circumstances, let alone [-] laborers, even if [-] laborers were transferred, it would be difficult to survive.

So Xu Ying said:

"That's why my subordinates think that the operation of Xitao should be suspended."

"It will be much easier to operate Xitao next year when Wuyuan farms to produce grain."

Fusu nodded and said:

"Sir, what he said is justified."

What Xu Ying said was indeed reasonable.

At this time, Wuyuan was building water conservancy and making preparations for farming.

The seeds can be sown in March or April next year, and they will mature in July.

At that time, grain can be transported from Wuyuan, and the transportation line will be shortened to [-] miles.

If preparations are made for road construction in advance, the construction of water conservancy in Xitao next year will not be a problem.

After thinking about it, Fusu frowned again and said:

"However……"

"If we wait for the grain produced in Wuyuan next year, we will operate Xitao again."

"It will take the next year to produce grain in Xitao."

"That is to say, it will take another two years for Xitao to have a small scale. This..."

Two years is definitely not enough to wait.

The reason why the Qin army wanted to develop Xitao was that it wanted to use Xitao as a starting point to contact the Western Regions to control the Xiongnu.

If we have to wait two more years and it will only start to develop after two years... I am afraid that the day lily will be cold on the side of the Xiongnu.

So the tent fell into silence for a moment, while Fusu unconsciously turned his gaze to Shen Bing's direction.

Shen Bing only said one sentence:

"As far as I know, the Huns have more than ten thousand soldiers and horses fighting against the Yuezhi here. Why can the Huns survive?"

Wang Ben couldn't help but wonder:

"General."

"The Xiongnu can make a living by plundering. They robbed Yueshi's property, cattle and sheep to support them for war."

"At this time, we just want to plunder, and the Yue clan has already withdrawn from Hexi."

"How can we learn from the Huns?"

Yang Duanhe agreed with Wang Ben's statement:

"It is absolutely impossible to make a living by plundering. If so, how are we different from the Huns?"

Shen Bing replied:

"If the Xiongnu lived only on plunder, how would they survive the winter when they were unable to fight?"

Wang Ben and Yang Duanhe couldn't help being stunned.

After a while Wang Ben said:

"Survive the winter with plundered food."