I traveled through time, starting with two acres of land and a dog

This is the fifth day of the expedition to suppress the bandits. Du Chenyu has newly promoted Liu Hua and Shi Zongwei to be in charge of administrative affairs in the Xiguan area. They are both members of the guard team and locals of Xiguan. The special service team and the reconnaissance team also stayed to garrison for the time being, and 5 reserve teams were transferred from Youfangba and Banqiao to assist in the defense. Wuying, Linshui and Xiguan will soon enter spring plowing. In order to restore the vitality of Xiguan as soon as possible, he proposed that all the land in the original Xiguanbao area be distributed per capita, and foreign populations will be exempted from tax in the year of migration, and provide seeds. There are almost no big landlords here, and they have been cleared out by the Red Lantern Cult. There is no obstruction to the equal distribution of land.

After completing the arrangements, he brought his guard team back to Linshui, where all the remaining forces of Yu Yuedong were cleared out, and he went back to visit the Yu Mansion with its carved dragons and painted rafters.

On the same day, when they returned to Linshui, the Yu family members had been placed under house arrest in Youfangba. Xue Chen led a team to search their home. Although he had received the battle report in advance, he saw a box of gold and silver jewelry worth more than 3 oceans, including pearls, gold bracelets, jade, etc., with an estimated value of over oceans.

After questioning Wang Shouyi, he learned that he had also been inquiring from the side for many years. Yu Yuedong came from an ordinary landlord family and dominated the area for more than ten years, mainly relying on financial support. He heard that Yu Yuedong killed a tomb robber who came from the north ten years ago. There were cultural relics worth tens of thousands of oceans in his backpack, and then he made his fortune with this backpack.

“A man cannot become rich without unexpected wealth, and a horse cannot grow fat without night grass”, this wise saying has always been correct.

Yu Yuedong is also the richest local tyrant they have defeated so far, and this windfall has finally fallen into their hands.

With this sum of money, many projects can be advanced, and they can more than double their army.

Led by Wang Shouyi, we visited the Yu family mansion in Shuilian Bay again. Last time, the baby was only a few months old and was on his father’s back. We hurried past it and did not take a close look.

The two-meter-high bluestone wall outside is not easy to attack even if forced. The pair of purple-red cypress doors weigh thousands of pounds. They have two layers of wood and are 20 centimeters thick. There are horse posts at the entrance. There are two doors in the courtyard. There is a pair of Qilin at the door. There are bluestone steps going straight up. There are two cypress pillars on the eaves that can be hugged by two people. There is a black tortoise and a pixiu carved on the beams above.

The windows are all carved and hollowed out, the floor of the house is paved with wooden boards, and there are water pipes underneath. This is geothermal equipment in its original state, which releases cold water in summer and hot water in winter. This building is not inferior to the Plague Temple in Baizhang County.

According to Wang Shouyi, the courtyard has a total of 28 rooms and covers an area of ​​more than two acres. Finally, he took him to visit Yu Yuedong's bedroom. This golden nanmu bed was made of the nanmu tree that he had robbed from Quanjiawan.

The story begins with the 60th birthday of Quan Shilong's mother in Quanjiawan: a cypress forest in Quanjiawan. On the birthday of Quan's mother, Yu Yuedong said to Quan: "It's your mother's 60th birthday. As a son, you should show your filial piety and make it a lively celebration." Quan said: "We are a poor family and can't afford it. You are not officials and can perform a few days of opera." Yu Yuedong said: "Then I will invite a puppet show to your house for three days." Yu Yuedong also said: "If you don't have meat to eat, go to my house and kill a fat pig; if you don't have wine to drink, go to my store and carry two jars." Quan was grateful and organized a birthday banquet for his mother according to Yu's instructions. After the three-day opera, Yu came to settle the account, and the large cypress forest of Quan's family was in Yu Yuedong's hands. There was a nanmu tree in it that was so big that two people could hug it, and it was finally made into this bed.

Then there is this one, with a double dragon playing with a pearl carved on the headboard, a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix on the bed body, and patterns of mandarin ducks playing in the water carved on the four corners. It is hung with red gauze and is 3 meters long and more than 2 meters wide.

After a tour, it seemed that Yu Yuedong had spent all his money on this mansion. No wonder he only left them with tens of thousands of dollars. This house is worth more than 4 dollars.

Being contented with what he has, Du Chenyu no longer worried about him spending money to buy himself a house. After all, he still had several warehouses with grain. He had granaries in Wuying, Dapingbao, and Linshui, with an estimated 4 jin of grain reserves, 500 taels of opium, more than 10 horses, and dozens of pigs and cows, which instantly doubled their assets.

Having money and grain, we are starting to feel a little proud, but when we think of the tens of thousands of people in our jurisdiction, nearly half of whom are still starving and freezing, we have no choice but to continue opening warehouses to release grain and speed up the organization of spring ploughing. There was a drought last year, and we don't know whether there will be drought or flood this year, but there is no escape, and disasters always come again.

When he returned home, he was left with only the guards, and Wang Shouyi served as his adviser. The rest of the people all joined the two-month spring plowing team. They were going to carry out the task of "storing grain" to the end this spring.

Du Chenyu convened a meeting of military and administrative leaders from various places at his home in Linshui to listen to the preparations for the spring farming plan. Currently, the Banqiao area is a mountainous area and is still in the freezing period. A large number of laborers have been transferred to Xiguan, Wuyin and Linshui to assist in land reclamation and production.

The basic arrangements were made for the spring farming tasks in agriculture this year, requiring the expansion of corn planting area. First, more than half of the cultivated land should adopt the seedling transplanting method. Second, the area can only be increased and not reduced. Third, the Xiguan area has a large area and few people, so the poppy planting area can be expanded. This year, it is expected to plant more than 600 mu. Fourth, promote the reduction of cold-water rice in low-altitude areas and the planting of dwarf varieties.

In terms of military, the plan is to continue to expand the army by more than three squads. While focusing on production, basic military training must not be abandoned. In May of the Gregorian calendar, formal team members will be selected from the reserve team and reformed prisoners of war.

Second, the reconnaissance cavalry communications team was established with a full staff of 36 people and currently has 15 horses.

Third, the logistics team will be expanded by about 100 people, and animal-powered transport teams and water-powered transport teams will be set up. Currently, the upper reaches of the Dong River are under their jurisdiction, so it is necessary to gradually establish a water transport team and allocate an additional 1000 oceans to purchase tools.

Fourth, expand the guard team to 24 people.

In terms of industry and commerce, an additional 3000 oceans were invested to purchase equipment and machinery, and a traditional steel mill, coke plant, and shipyard were established at the Baizhang Zhicheng base, one by one.

We are also preparing to reward a group of people who are good at food production, industrial technology, and military skills. Please recommend candidates. Some representatives will be awarded medals and bonuses by my father himself.

After all the tasks were arranged, Du Chenyu also decided to personally develop a number of tung tree, mulberry tree and Eucommia ulmoides nursery cultivation bases. After the land transformation in Beishan area, the ownership of the mountains and forests was recovered. Due to the vast area and sparse population, a large number of barren mountains and forests were idle, and the hillsides were used to plant a large number of economic crops, which was the best choice.

There are plenty of tung tree seeds. Two years ago, he asked his grandfather to plant a large number of tung trees in the land rented by the Ma family. Now they are one meter tall and will bear fruit in two years.

He brought several experienced members of the agricultural production team at the base and taught them how to graft mulberry trees. They looked for mulberry trees with broad leaves as seed branches, took a small branch, and grafted it onto the branches of local wild mulberry trees, rock mulberry trees, and small-leaf mulberry trees. He personally guided the grafting operation and finally wrapped it with oil paper.

The seeds collected last year were planted to cultivate mulberry and Eucommia ulmoides nurseries. In the future, it is planned to cultivate hundreds of thousands of seedlings in each village every year, so that every family can plant and raise silkworms. As the area under their jurisdiction expands, the demand for seedlings will also increase.

Linshui stayed in March until the flower season again. He brought his guard team to the Xiguan area. The traces of the war here were almost completely eliminated, with only bullet holes on the walls and the bare ash trees that had been burned by fire, as if telling stories of the past.

More than 80% of the local people have returned, and most of the land has been cultivated. When we arrived at Yujiaping, there were still dozens of strong male and female laborers carrying out the mass production campaign and leveling the wasteland just after the fire. A man in front was planting a flag and beating a drum, while dozens of people behind him lined up to dig the ground. As the drums sounded, they waved their hoes to the rhythm, "Hey yo hey, hey yo hey", and shouted slogans, creating a lively scene.

After crossing Guankouya, we came to Baiheba area, where there were four or five cows plowing the fields and a dozen people leveling the land. Then we went to Miaopingwan, which is close to the mountains. There were soldiers standing guard around, and guns were placed nearby. People were clearing land and cutting trees.

Here, we listened to He Chaowu's report on the bandit suppression. He said: "At present, the Red Lantern Cult is still holding Huaqiaoyan and entrenched in the Qingmudong area. According to intelligence, there are still 2 to 3 cult bandits in the mountains, and they are also reclaiming wasteland and cultivating crops. There are also large areas of poppy cultivation in the Tiefu Temple area. The Tiefu Temple has become their stronghold."

"You will temporarily take over the garrison duty here. I will transfer part of He Cunyi's team here in a few days. You will be ready to hand over the defense by the end of the month and be prepared to accept new tasks," I said. As the captain of my special service team and reconnaissance team, He Chaowu is destined to never stop moving forward.