Chapter 117: Reclamation Farm

March 23, 1592.

On this day, the old camp fort was still chilly in spring, and the wind in the north of the desert was deeply cold. However, at this time, there were merchants in the fort, mostly Wuzhai Fort merchants with accents in the northwest Shanxi, especially those with status, who are now gathered in the deputy general's mansion in the fort.

"Everyone, that's how it is, let's see how?"

After saying a lot of words, Huang Laifu picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip.

Just now, Huang Laifu talked about the issue of operating a land farm outside the Great Wall. The most important step was to manage Qingshui River and Junggar Banner not far from the fort. Finally, based on the geography of later generations, one county after another was promoted.

In Huang Laifu's plan, he decided to build a farm outside the mouth, grow grain and do livestock, and he used force to protect it. The merchants insisted on farming and management, and the final income was calculated. In this way, they could not only avoid the dangers of being impeached and provoked by the border, but also obtain real farming income, which could be said to be a killing of two birds with one stone. Of course, this is just a temporary solution. The best way is to Huang Laifu have the opportunity to have the opportunity to annex these places openly and run the farms by himself, especially the Hetao area in Baotou.

After hearing Huang Laifu's words, all the merchants were moved. In the past few years, in their cooperation with Huang Laifu, all of these merchants have made a lot of money. However, the merchants' desires will never be satisfied. At present, the demand for grain in the Ming Dynasty is extremely strong. With the income from the military farms of Wuzhaibao and Jibao, the income from the military farms is far from meeting the needs of all parties, which requires a larger source of grain.

In fact, merchants had thought about the military farming outside the Great Wall, but the territory of the Mongolians was too dangerous and stopped their actions. However, in the current Ming Dynasty, they could not find suitable land management.

In fact, the merchants here have more or less experienced military farming experience in their families. During the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, due to the abolition of military camps, the Ming Dynasty envoys to open China and France, and exchange grain for salt to attract the Shangdian in the Jiubian area to great development, especially in Datong Town, Xuanfu Town and Shanxi Town. The merchants fought for financial resources to recruit people to cultivate land and make the grain and rice flourish. In the Chenghua year, in the Jiubian area, one tael of silver could buy 4.5 stone of rice, but for one tael of silver now, it was a world of difference.

Shangtun declined after the reform of Ye Qi, the Minister of Revenue in the middle of Hongzhi. The merchants evacuated. The border land was in ruins, and the rice and stones were worth five taels of silver. It was not until the Wanli period that it was restored to more than one tael of silver per stone grain.

But even so, for many grain merchants, Jiubian is still a huge grain and rice market, not to mention a huge market in the north of the Ming Dynasty with a population of tens of millions. In the current Ming Dynasty, being a grain merchant is definitely a huge profit, but this also requires a source of grain.

Huang Laifu's proposal is extremely feasible. Thinking of the large number of arable land and grasslands outside the mouth, and the large amount of grain, cattle and sheep in the future, the merchants were all jealous. Headed by Qu Yuanrui, everyone was talking and discussing it continuously.

The Kang family in Linfen was even more a large grain merchant in the north of the Ming Dynasty. The Kang family was called for wind and rain in other places, but at Wuzhai Fort, they were suppressed by the Qu family. Seeing that in the past two years, the power of the Qu family had expanded like a balloon, and they were vaguely in a row with the Kang family. It was because of the result of their cooperation with Huang Laifu that they were jealous.

In the past two years, the Kang family has also set up a grain and rice branch in Wuzhaibao, which was personally managed by Kang Youyu, the third son of the Kang family. At this time, the fat Kang Youyu even said repeatedly: "Mr. Huang has given me instructions that we will go through fire and water."

Huang Laifu smiled and nodded. However, some people were suspicious. The shopkeeper of the Hou family of Jiexiu said: "Although there is a lot of land outside the frontier, there is a place of Mongolians. If we enter the frontier, those Mongolians will harass them. With the combat power of the soldiers of the old camp, of course, they are not afraid. But the Ming army entered the frontier. Will there be a magistrate impeachment of the emperor and provoke the border?"

Huang Laifu smiled and said, "If there is any harassment from the Mongols, my men will definitely be rescued. As for the rescue, they will definitely not wear the armor of my Ming soldiers. They can be in the name of farm guards, caravan guards, etc., even if they are a horse thief at that time, they will not be able to make them suffocate. Can living people even suffocate to death?"

All the merchants laughed and said that adults were so interesting to speak.

Huang Laifu said: "In short, it is impossible for those who starve to death to death, those who are brave to death to be brave to make a fortune without taking any risk."

Everyone laughed and said, "What the sir."

These merchants have been dealing with Huang Laifu for a long time and have understood Huang Laifu's character. In short, Huang Laifu is different from other vulgar military men. Although he is becoming bigger and bigger, he is not an exaggeration to say that he is a shrewd businessman in his work.

"Okay, let's talk about farm management in these two places."

Huang Laifu got to the point. He ordered the two servants to take a rough and huge map and hang it in the middle of the hall. It was a map of Junggar Banner, Ordos City and a map of Qingshuihe County, Hohhot City. It was drawn based on the satellite maps of the two places in his computer, and consulted with some people who had been to these two places in the border areas of Daming to correct it. The map was a bit thicker, but it was enough.

Qingshui River is directly in front of Laoyingbao. According to the computer information of Huang Laifu later generations, Qingshui River County has a total area of ​​2,859 square kilometers and a cultivated land area of ​​630,000 mu. There are several larger rivers such as Qingshui River, Hunhe River, Gulibanji River and other large rivers. Due to geographical reasons, all the valleys have water in almost all ditches.

In addition, there are many mineral resources in Qingshui River, especially coal, iron ore, and especially coal reserves of 1.8 billion tons. In addition, there is a large amount of limestone, with a germanium volume of more than 2 billion tons, which is suitable for open-pit mining and is fully qualified to build large cement plants. There is also a refractory clay reserve of 600 million tons, with excellent quality. Of course, these minerals are not available for Huang Laifu for the time being, but the useful ones are just the arable land.

Since Qingshui River is located at the intersection of the Mongolian Plateau and the Loess Plateau, the loess covers a lot, long winters and short summers, and is cold and dry, here will be mainly planted with cold and drought-resistant buckwheat in the future. In addition, there are 1.28 million mu of natural pastures here, which can build livestock farms.

As for Junggar Banner, the banner in later generations had a total land area of ​​7,539 square kilometers, arable land area of ​​1.78 million mu, and an area of ​​8 million mu of forests and grass. It has abundant water sources, and the annual water volume of the Yellow River is 24.8 billion cubic meters, which is several times that of Wuzhaibao. In particular, it is very rich in mineral resources, with coal reserves of 54.4 billion tons, limestone reserves of 5 billion tons, and total bauxite reserves of 100 million tons.

These lands are very precious to Huang Laifu. If he was allowed to operate them, these two places could fully support a large population. At this time, some Mongolian tribes in the territory had so much fertile land, but they could not even support a few tens of thousands of people. They often entered the Ming Dynasty to rob Huang Laifu, and even robbed Huang Laifu. In the end, the robbery failed and was cut down. Thinking about it, Huang Laifu was speechless.

He coughed and pointed to the maps of the two places and said, "Everyone, this is Qingshui River, and further forward is the Tumaochuan River. In the past, there were Zhenluwei, Yulinwei, etc. of the Ming Dynasty. However, after the Chenghua Nian, this place was occupied by the enemy. At present, the Tumaochuan River area is the chief of the Lumaochuan River, and the third prince of the Lumaocheng King, and the chief of the Lumaocheng King, Qiqingcha, and Taishi. The Tumaochuan River is a little far from the Laoying Fort, and it is ignored for the time being. There are currently no Mongolian tribes in the Qingshui River area, and it is only a hundred miles away from the Laoying Fort, so you can completely settle the farm."

"According to my investigation, Qingshui River has a radius of more than 600,000 mu of arable land, and more than one million mu of good pastures, which can raise a large number of cattle, sheep and other things."

All the merchants were attentive and Huang Laifu continued loudly: "To the west of Pianguan, there is the Huangpu Chuan River area (the former name of the Ming Dynasty of Junggar Banner). There are more than 1.7 million mu of arable land here, and millions of mu of grasslands are used. It was originally the land where the Tumei tribe of the Lie Ren was stationed in the pastoral areas, but after the war last year, they probably wouldn't dare to mess with the people who came to our Wuzhai Fort again."

The merchants were all flirting with each other and whispered to each other. If so much land was developed, they would have been released. As for the local area, it was mostly wasteland, and they had thirst and rain for many years, but that didn't matter. As long as they learn from the farms of Wuzhaibao, build water conservancy on a large scale, build dams and open canals, it can be solved. In the past, what they were most worried about was safety issues. Now that Huang Laifu is here, this problem no longer exists.

Qu Yuanrui responded first, willing to invest tens of thousands of taels of silver to recruit people and go to Erdi Tun. Then Kang Youyu and others responded, and then the merchants responded, and the hall was filled with excitement.

Huang Laifu also promised them that they could arm their troops. In addition to the fact that large weapons such as bows and arrows, muskets and guns are temporarily a little difficult to deal with, such as some swords, guns, etc., they can provide them with them and sell them at a fair price. And if they encounter any worries after they have been repairing the local fortress, the soldiers of his old fortress will definitely be on call.

As for the manpower of farming, Huang Laifu would cooperate with their propaganda and recruit the refugees from the Ming Dynasty to the north to farm. Just like the west entrance in later generations, it formed a trend. Anyway, there are many refugees in the Ming Dynasty now. According to Huang Laifu's estimate, by the Wanli period, there were nearly ten million refugees in the Ming Dynasty, including the north and south, and it would be enough to make two million refugees outside the border.

In order to better attract the people of the Ming Dynasty to go abroad and better develop the Hetao land, Huang Laifu planned to build a Ming version of the "Houseland Law" in the Hetao area in the future. As long as an adult man from the Ming Dynasty and over 20 years old, he could receive 200 acres of land. A woman could receive 100 acres of land. The fee was only one cent per acre of land, and she could own it for life, and she could also be tax-free in the first three years. For the people of the Central Plains who are deeply rooted in the desire for land and now have no land but little land, this measure is definitely very attractive.

The consultation meeting was very successful. After the meeting, Huang Laifu and the merchants sent troops to the two places to detect and determine some places suitable for the construction of forts, and prepare for the cultivation of the two places after the Spring Festival and the work of the next year.

On March 31, 1592, on February 18 of the Ming lunar calendar, Huang Laifu returned to Wuzhaibao. This day was Huang Laifu's birthday. On this day, Huang Laifu was over 20 years old. Although his son was several months old, according to the Ming Dynasty etiquette, men were over 20 and women were over 16 years old. So Huang Laifu held the adult crown ceremony on that day, and he also gave himself a name: Zhongming.

On this day, in the distant Ningxia Town, a rebellion like a strong wind was opening the prelude to the distant Ningxia Town...
Chapter completed!