Du Zhongxiao rode a horse, and Cheng Wenli and Pan Zhen followed behind, inspecting the fields cultivated by the camp and field affairs.

The Yingtian Yamen is located on the bank of the Yellow River, not far from the ferry. With this as the center, the road was built to the east, and farmland was cultivated on both sides of the road. After more than two months of busyness, three main east-west roads lead to the eastern foothills, dividing the valley into several sections. In addition to the river bank of the north-south road, there is also a road from the military city to Dongjiazhai. These roads are made of rammed loess, which is very flat and feasible for large vehicles.

Looking at the flat fields on the side of the road, most of which had already been planted with wheat seeds, Pan Zhen said: "In the past, cultivating fields was nothing more than recruiting farmers and lending them farm tools and seeds, which was a great favor. We have everything here, even the land has been planted, no wonder so many people come. ”

Cheng Wenli said: "I have thought a lot about the record, this kind of good field is the field of field affairs, the recruited farmers are here, the management is good, and when there is a harvest, it is just a matter of dividing some grain." Now it is set, everything is going well, and the farmers can be divided into two. ”

Pan Zhendao: "The people take food as the sky, and the most important thing for the villagers is food. It's hard to divide it into two. If you rent a man's field, you have to pay fifty percent of the rent, and the seeds and farm tools are all your own, and you can plant and harvest yourself, where can you compare with us here? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "We are building a new building here, of course, we must give benefits to the households, otherwise who is willing to come?" ”

In the past few months, the camp has mainly been transferred to the errand service, and there are very few people hired, so the cost is not much. But this kind of thing can't be repeated, and it won't work if it's used again in the future. The Volcano Army was a barren place, and the people were recruited to work as errands, taking care of their food and lodging, and giving them a small amount of pocket money, and everyone was satisfied. When the local development is carried out in the future, who else will have such conditions? In the future, we will still have to rely on the manpower of the field work, and of course we must recruit more people.

At this time, it was autumn, and the eyes were full of gold, and geese occasionally flew in the sky. The Volcano Army is much colder than the state, and the north wind is blowing, and I feel that the style is extremely strong. There are not many pedestrians on the newly repaired road, only a sparse coal truck passing by. Although the vegetation in this area is abundant and there is no shortage of firewood, Du Zhongxiao still strictly restricts logging, allowing the military and civilians to mainly burn coal.

The coal resources of Hedong Road are really abundant, and it deserves the name of the coal sea. If you build a city at will, you will always find coal mines not far away, and most of them are open-pit coal mines, which are easy to mine. With the help of water transport from the Yellow River and its tributaries, the freight is not high.

Du Zhongxiao and his entourage traveled all the way west, and the cultivated farmland began to become less and the land became barren. At this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of porphyries waking up in front of me, and a puff of black smoke rose from the dirt slope.

Du Zhongxiao took a look and said to Cheng Wenli and Pan Zhen: "There must be a few people under my command who are testing guns." They have been driving out tigers and wolves in this area for the past few days, and now they are shooting, maybe they are shooting some game, let's go and see. ”

After speaking, he turned his horse's head and walked towards the place where the black smoke was rising.

Cheng Wenli and Pan Zhen glanced at each other, shook their heads slightly, and followed closely.

Tao Qiqi and others have been experimenting with muskets, and for a few months, a lot of gunpowder has been used, and now the guns have been put into practical use. This kind of thing is the most difficult to grope from scratch, especially if you don't know the direction, and you have to go through countless failures to find the right direction. Although Du Zhongxiao was not familiar with the musket, he always had a clear memory of the development route, so that Tao Seventeen and a group of craftsmen would not have a big deviation. Cheng Wenli and Pan Zhen have both seen test firing guns, and the scene full of fireworks and earth-shattering sounds is really unforgettable. In particular, the projectile is stronger than the crossbow, which gives them a deep impression. However, the two of them had never been in battle, so they couldn't imagine how useful this thing was.

After a while, when they arrived at a small earthen bag, they heard the cheers of the crowd in the distance. Following the sound around the sheltered trees, he saw Tao Seventeen and Thirteen Lang with twenty or thirty people, cheering there.

Seeing the arrival of Du Zhongxiao and others, Tao Seventeen and Thirteen Lang hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

Du Zhongxiao said: "You fired the gun, but what prey did you hit?" ”

Tao Seventeen forked his hand and said: "Back to the officials, the little ones saw a few wild boars, and they shot them for fear of destroying the farmland. ”

Du Zhongxiao knows what destruction of farmland is a pretext, what is in the farmland at this time? The wild boars in this area are not large in size, nor are they particularly ferocious, they are black and their flesh is fragrant, which makes many people greedy. Tao Qiqi and others fought wild boars, one was to test the gun, and the other was to be greedy.

Dismounted with Cheng Wenli and Pan Zhen, and sat in everyone's camp, and after a short time, Du Zhongxiao saw five or six strong men, happily carrying two wild boars over. It looks like each weighs more than 100 pounds and is fat. This is a native wild boar of China, which is different from those breeds in Du Zhongxiao's previous life, with a smaller body and fatty meat, which is delicious when grilled or boiled.

On the Eurasian continent, the Chinese pig breed in the East is small in size and good in taste, and has been an important domestic animal since ancient times. However, due to its small size and long feeding cycle, it is not so cost-effective economically, and it does not have the status of later generations. On the contrary, wild boars in Europe in the West are huge, but the meat is like firewood, not to mention fried and eaten, even if it is roasted and boiled, it does not taste good, and most of the time it can only be made into cured meat. If you use European pig breeds, you can't even make braised pork. Only when things are combined to breed pigs that combine the characteristics of both sides, can pork become the first source of meat for livestock that overwhelms other meat animals. In this era, especially in places like Hedong Road, pork was too expensive compared to mutton, and even these officials could not afford to eat it.

Seeing two wild boars, Du Zhongxiao said: "It just so happened that we were inspecting the farmland and were tired of walking, so we used some wine and meat here." ”

Cheng Wenli and Pan Zhen were delighted to hear this, they had eaten Du Zhongxiao's newly made pork dishes at the banquet a few days ago, especially a dish of braised pork, soft and glutinous, fragrant and abnormal, and they have never forgotten it.

Tao Qiqi and others agreed with their hands, took people to clean up the wild boars, and set up a fire by the camp.

Du Zhongxiao got up and looked at the surrounding environment, and said to Tao Seventeen: "The day before yesterday, you said that these people have practiced salvo well, and there is nothing to do today, show me the performance." These firearms will be of great use in the future, so be sure to use them skillfully. ”

Tao Qiqi said with a smile: "Officials rest assured, we have been practicing guns and hunting all the time this month, which is not comparable to before." ”

After speaking, he gathered more than 20 people under his command, stood in a row, and sang a promise to Du Zhongxiao.

The shape of this musket was made by Du Zhongxiao based on the impression in the movie that Cheng had seen before, with a long barrel and a bayonet inserted in the front, which was similar to the short gun at this time. The jet-black barrel is thick and looks extremely solid.

Tao Qiqi stood aside, took a long knife in his hand, held it in his hand, and forked his hand to Du Zhongxiao.

For musket tactics, Du Zhongxiao remembered one thing, lined up for a salvo, and other uses had to be explored in practice. However, this method of warfare is enough to run rampant for a while, and if you want to fully enter the age of firearms, it will not happen in a short time.

Seeing Du Zhongxiao nodding, Tao Qiqi shouted, and the soldiers in a row knelt on the ground and loaded the guns with gunpowder and bullets. Du Zhongxiao watched from the side, and always felt that there was something missing from the movies he had seen. Maybe it's because the qualifications are not standard, the training is not enough, or the baptism of actual combat has not been completed, and the essentials have not really been mastered, and they are not familiar musketeers.