It was the end of the month, there was no moon, and the sky was full of stars spread over the dark sky, twinkling and decorating the mysterious sky. There were rumours in the pond outside, louder and louder, and just when you wondered if they were going to shake the stars down in the sky, they stopped all of a sudden, and suddenly there was no sound between heaven and earth. The unknown insects in the grass got this free time, and cried merrily, and the sound of the drums suddenly became melodious, until the frogs rose up again, repeating the music of the summer night.

The night in Lingnan is quiet and peaceful, and the wind blowing into the courtyard carries the fragrance of the earth and the smell of aquatic plants steaming out of the water, which is so comfortable that it penetrates into the soul from the pores.

Xu Ping sat down on the main seat, and next to him sat Duan Fang and Huang Tianbiao, the only three officials of the imperial court.

Tan Hu took Xu Ping's personal soldiers to carry a large bucket, and placed a stack of large porcelain bowls in front of the people sitting below, and poured a large bowl of cold sour plum soup with it.

The little chiefs of the twenty or thirty immigrants looked at the porcelain bowl curiously, did not dare to drink it, and whispered to each other.

Xu Ping smiled and said loudly: "This bowl of soup is for you, not to send off guests, because the weather here is hot, everyone is tired all day, and the sweat has not dried up yet." A bowl of ice water to relieve your heat! ”

A group of Fujian children picked up the big bowl and couldn't wait to take a big sip, spitting out the cool air one after another, feeling the feeling of being cold to the bottom of their hearts.

Fujian is about the same heat as Lingnan, these people have never tasted ice water since they were young, and after taking a sip, they are all full of novelty and exchange experiences with each other.

Unlike the Ming and Qing dynasties, the custom of the Song people is to welcome guests with tea, and when they send guests to soup, it is similar to the habit of Xu Ping's previous life. Xu Ping came against this rule today because ice water is really a rare thing in this area, and he specially entertained everyone.

Ice is made of saltpeter, and recently made money selling sugar, and Xu Pingtuo people brought a large number of them from the north to make ice water for everyone to taste fresh. This thing is not uncommon in the summer in the city of Tokyo, there are people everywhere who sell it, and saltpeter is basically not produced in the south, except for a few particularly prosperous metropolises, which can not be seen in small places.

In this era, the highest production of saltpeter was on Jingxi Road, especially in the Ruzhou area, where white flowers were everywhere in winter. There was gunpowder in the capital, and a large number of saltpeters were purchased to make gunpowder and made into weapons for the army. Of course, Xu Ping's purchase of saltpeter is also **, but it is not used as a weapon, but to trim the fields and open up roads.

The geology here is not as good as Xu Ping's Zhongmu Tianzhuang, there are stones everywhere, and it is the most efficient way to knock it out little by little by hand to do it in the Year of the Monkey, and to put gunpowder on it. As for making guns and cannons to deal with the barbarians, Xu Ping is not so unproductive, and the barbarians against Xu Ping's township soldiers can do one-to-two, the biggest trouble is not that they can't beat them, but that the road is inconvenient, and if they lose the battle, they will not be able to find anyone in the mountains and forests.

Not to mention the barbarian chieftains in Yongzhou, it is Jiaozhi in the south, as long as the traffic is smooth, you can fight if you want to. The biggest trouble of the Great Song in the southwest was not that the combat power was not enough, but that the population was too small to support the army. The population under the management of Quang Nan West Road is only in the early 200,000s, which is not enough to catch up with a large state in the Jianghuai region. As the largest state in Lingnan, Guizhou's population density is even twice that of Guangzhou, an important city in Lingnan, and it accounts for a large part.

After drinking the ice water, the twenty or thirty people below perked up and looked at Xu Ping excitedly.

Xu Ping looked at everyone and asked, "Do any of you have relatives in Lingnan?" ”

Seven or eight people stood up and said, "There are a few of us, but they are all on the East Road, and we have been shooting land there for many years at the invitation of the imperial court. ”

Xu Ping nodded and motioned for them to sit down. There are two major sources of Han people in the Liangguang area, one is the turmoil in the Central Plains and the southward migration along the old Lingnan Road, with Guizhou as the most. The second largest source is mainly from Fujian, with the most in Meizhou, Chaozhou, and Xunzhou. Shooting is a bit similar to the meaning of bidding, the government clearly indicates the bid, lists various conditions and preferential measures, and those who meet the conditions point to shooting, and most of the land reclamation in various places is used in this way.

The guy standing at the end didn't sit down, looked left and right, scratched his head and said: "I have a cousin in Xunzhou on the West Road, but it's not shooting land, he used to be a box army there, and when he was in the army, he didn't go back to his hometown and stayed there. ”

"Oh, what's your name? What's your cousin's name? Xu Ping suddenly became interested, "How many years has he stayed in Xunzhou?" How's it going? ”

"Back to Shangguan, my name is Peng Shujian, my cousin's name is Cheng Qi, and I have been staying in Xunzhou for six years. As for how they are doing, the small ones are not good. However, we are all from Jianzhou, and we have a lot of mountains and no land at home, so we can't compare to our hometown. ”

"Okay, you sit down too. I'll talk to you again tonight. ”

Zhang Rong's inspection and his subordinates' change period was also approaching, and Xu Ping had already made up their minds. Regardless of ancient or modern, there are more suitable for reclamation of the frontier than retired soldiers.

After everyone sat down, Xu Ping asked again: "You have been here for a few days, are you still used to living here in Yongzhou?" Are you tired of working? How about food and accommodation? as in the old days. ”

When asked about this, everyone looked at each other, and no one spoke.

Xu Ping knew that let them talk about these concerns in public, and the chief above was satisfied, and the companions didn't necessarily think the same when they went back. Say something bad, the person who usually manages them sits next to them, thinking that he will have a good life in the future?

"You don't need to worry, just say it directly, I came to you to hear what you think and how you see your life in Yongzhou. Don't be afraid of offending these people sitting next to you, no matter what you think, it has nothing to do with them, the first time you do this kind of thing, it is impossible to make a mistake, and only after listening to your words will you know how to change in the future and how to do things well. ”

No matter how nice Xu Ping's words were, no one dared to take them seriously, and he was a little cold for a while.

The frogs outside were noisy, the cold air of the ice water they drank dissipated, and the hot air blowing mixed with the water vapor was stuffy and hot, making people feel more and more irritable.

Xu Ping smiled, took a sip of tea, put the cup down, shook his head and said, "If you don't say it, I will treat you all as if you are all used to living here, eating well and sleeping well, and living like heaven." If you suffer in the future, don't complain. ”

A young man in his twenties was impatient, stood up and said in a loud voice: "Since Shangguan asked, I will say it directly." My name is Song Chenglu, if you offend all the officials, if you want to pinch me, I will consider myself unlucky! ”

Xu Ping smiled: "Whoever dares to pinch you, I will pinch him, what are you afraid of!" ”

Song Chenglu blushed and said, "Actually, it's nothing, the main thing is that I can't get used to it." We have a light taste there, and the food here is heavy in oil and salt, which is really hard to eat! ”

"So that's it? I can't blame others, the taste is set by me, I originally thought, these days I have to open the field to plant seedlings, and I have to open the land to plant sugarcane, and I have to do heavy work. The weather in Yongzhou is hot and humid, sweating a lot, and the heavy oil and salt are heavy to replenish nutrients and water, so don't empty your body. ”

Song Chenglu scratched his head: "But-Shangguan, we really can't get used to it!" ”

"It's okay, the taste thing is barely coming. In this way, in the future, you can fire yourself, you can control the taste, and you can do whatever you want. As for how to arrange manpower, how much money is calculated per person a month, we will talk about it tomorrow, how? ”

Song Chenglu looked around and whispered, "Anyway, I think so, and I don't know what others mean." ”

Xu Ping said loudly: "Does anyone else have anything to say?" No, that's it! ”

These people usually get together and don't talk much? It's pretty much the same idea, no one speaks.

"Okay, that's all there is to eat. What else? ”

Someone got off to a good start, and with good results, the atmosphere became lively. Another middle-aged man stood up and said, "There is something small about it, I don't know whether to talk about it or not." ”

Xu Ping said: "Be happy, if you have something to say, say it directly!" ”

The man said: "Many of us have saved the wages paid here in Yongzhou, but we don't know how to send them home, and we don't know what to do." ”

Generally speaking, to maintain a basic life in the city, adults need about 20 to 30 yuan a day, Xu Ping's environment here is hard, the work is heavy, in addition to food and housing, each person is also paid 500 yuan per month, this era is a good treatment. The people who came from Fujian Road were all poor families, who were used to living a hard life, and the usual expenses were very small, and most of the money was saved. However, there is no exchange business, they have no place to use the money they have saved here, and the family is short of money and cannot spend it, so many people are in a hurry.

Xu Ping thought for a while before saying, "I can't reply to you about this matter, I have to wait until I go back to discuss it with others, and I have to ask the imperial court." Try your best to get you to send money home and use the ticket. But you'll have to negotiate with here, and you'll have to be careful about how they get the money after it's sent back. ”

From the capital to the states, there are three divisions to manage the ticket business, merchants go out of the city to hand over the cash to the three divisions of the subordinate shops, receive vouchers, after arriving in the state with the ticket to withdraw money, each charge of 20 wen for renewal.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, money was forbidden in various places, especially in the capital, and it was strictly forbidden to carry more than a number of copper coins out of the city for a period of time. Now, although the money ban exists in name only, it is not realistic to travel with a large amount of copper coins, and the imperial court once had a joke that less than 5,000 yuan was transported from Jinghu North Road to the capital, and the road cost nearly 2,000 yuan, let alone ordinary people. Not to mention that the money system of the Song Dynasty was complicated, there were copper coins and iron coins in different places, and the weight and quality of the coins minted by the money supervisors in various places were also slightly different, and it was extremely troublesome to exchange them sporadically.

When Taizu was in charge of flying money, there was an edict that the tickets in each state must be cashed into cash on the same day, and the offender will be punished, and now this business has been very mature.

However, between the states, except for some large cities, there is no extensive government-run exchange business, and long-distance travel is still dominated by the exchange of light goods such as gold, silver and satin. Even the Guangnan West Road was offered to the imperial court, and many states were exchanged for gold and silver, not to mention ordinary business travel.

Xu Ping spoke, and most of this matter has been completed. In the end, he is also a big man in charge of a state's finances, and the imperial court will not even give this little face, and the people below are overjoyed and discussed.

The people in the back mentioned mosquito bites and toad bites and the like, and there was no major incident.

These immigrants have only been here for more than two months, and they only feel that they are going to hell step by step on the road, and there is no longer a day to return to their hometown alive, but when they arrive in Yongzhou, in addition to living a little heavier, eating well and living well, they still have money every month, which is much better than their previous days, and they are on the rise. These months are still in the honeymoon period, there is no resentment in my heart, there are no sharp contradictions.

This optimistic atmosphere even surprised Xu Ping, in his previous life, he took migrant workers to work dozens of miles away from home, and they were all angry, but he didn't expect these people to be easy to talk to. But I don't want these immigrants to live in the past, Fujian is a narrow and densely populated place, but all the places where they can grow food and have a big bowl mouth have been reclaimed, and now this kind of life is the beautiful life they dreamed of before.

"If you don't like it, I'll say something else. After more than two months, you are familiar with the situation in Yongzhou, what do you think can be done better? ”

"Official, I see that all the rice planted here is local rice seeds, and we all plant Zhancheng rice in Fujian, and Emperor Zhenzong also went to Fujian to buy Zhancheng rice and let it be planted everywhere. Can we plant here? ”

A middle-aged man who was obviously a farmer spoke first, and it seemed that he had been planting the land for many years.

Xu Ping nodded: "What you said is also reasonable, I will send someone to Fujian to buy rice seeds in a few days." ”

Xu Ping understands this kind of thing better than him, Champa rice is a foreign good variety, which was first widely planted in Fujian and slowly spread to other places. During the time of Zhenzong, the government bought rice seeds and spread them to the vast areas of Jianghuai.

Champa rice has played a non-negligible role in promoting the increase of rice yield in China, and the key is not the improved varieties, but the foreign ones. No matter what kind of crop, a single variety will be degraded for a long time, and the traditional Chinese single plant is preferable to select good seeds, but the long-term degradation of varieties cannot be avoided, and the Song Dynasty became the peak of grain crop yield in ancient China. The introduction of Champa rice produced countless native varieties in the following hundreds of years, and the peak yield occurred in the Qing Dynasty, when the potential was exhausted and began to slowly degrade. It was not until later that scientific breeding methods were adopted and other improved varieties were selected to reverse this trend. Wheat is more obvious, since the Han Dynasty through the Western Regions, the introduction of foreign wheat and millet varieties, the local varieties began to improve, to the Song Dynasty reached a peak, but also exhausted the potential of foreign varieties. After that, it began to degenerate, and by the time of the Republic of China, the yield of wheat had dropped to less than 100 catties, which could only reach more than half of that of the Song Dynasty. Yields re-increased in the middle of the twentieth century, relying on new knowledge.

Speaking of rice seeds, some people proposed to ask Xu Ping to strictly close the mountain and not to open up the land on the mountain. This reminded Xu Ping that there are many mountains and hills in this area, and soil and water protection is really a big problem. Fujian lacks land to grow grain, and the mountains are almost uncontrolled, which has made people suffer in this era. Fortunately, in the Song Dynasty, like the previous dynasties, the system of sealing mountains was still maintained, but it was only a matter of whether it was strictly enforced. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, due to population pressure, the ban on mountains was opened, and corn cultivation was rapidly promoted, causing irreparable damage to the environment. Most of the primeval forests in Chinese mainland were cut down in that era, and there are bald mountains everywhere.

This is the content of Xu Ping's professional knowledge, and agricultural tools follow agronomy. The slopes above 25 degrees are not suitable for growing grain or fruit trees, so you can only maintain natural vegetation, but you can investigate the surrounding area.

The question asked later made Xu Ping a little ridiculous, first someone said that it was okay to be idle, and there were not many books to buy, so Xu Ping promised to build a library. This is normal, and then some people say that there is no restaurant, and it is not convenient for everyone to gather. Then some people mentioned that there was a lack of entertainment, no hook fence tiles, no singing, and no flamboyant female prostitutes to chat with people, and life was boring.

Xu Ping looked at the twenty or thirty people in front of him, and the more he talked, the more enthusiastic he became, and when he mentioned the light in the woman's eyes, he thought with a smile, could it be that he still had to build a Fengyue place here? It seems that this is nothing, and there seem to be a lot of officials doing this now.