In the Spring Festival of the 45th year of Wanli, if people from other places come to the north of Ningxia Town, they will definitely be frightened by the situation here. What was originally a desolate wilderness was full of busy people. The roads in the fields have been completely renovated and can be used in horse-drawn carriages. The canals, which were originally blocked, have also been dredged. A large number of wells were also dug in places that could not be reached by the canals. In some low-lying areas, many fish ponds have been excavated. On both sides of some of the fish ponds, thick layers of soil have been piled up, and mulberry trees are being planted on them.

The mulberry fish pond that Xu Xingxia originally promoted in Niujiaodun aroused the interest of many military households in Ningxia Town, and they followed suit. Among them, the main force is, of course, the farm under the jurisdiction of the Steward's Council. Farms do not necessarily have to specialize in the production of grain, and in farms where conditions permit, they also have to carry out various side businesses. The concept of large-scale agriculture mentioned in later generations includes agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline products, fishery and other industries. Only when all walks of life go hand in hand can we better meet the needs of production and life.

Due to special historical reasons, the military households under the jurisdiction of Xu Xingxia are divided into two types. One has its own land, such as Xu Fuqing's family, Liu Guangliang's family, etc. One is that there is no land, such as many military households that came later. Military households with land can cultivate freely and flexibly adjust the cultivated area and the types of crops planted according to the needs of the market. They are free market economies, unfettered.

Military households, on the other hand, who did not have land, could only join farms and make a living by selling their labor. The production mode of the farm is to implement a relatively fixed planting area and crop types according to the needs of the white army. They are typical of planned economies. Inadvertently, Xu Xingxia has completed the combination of market economy and planned economy. The planned economy has provided sufficient combat effectiveness for the white-clothed army, and through the market economy, it has made up for some of the shortcomings of the planned economy.

Whether it is a market economy or a planned economy, in the stage of their creation, they have burst into tremendous vitality. Military households with their own fields must of course work hard to make their fields have better output and obtain the greatest benefits. Xu Xingxia implemented the original health policy, and only about 30 catties of grain per mu of land were required to be paid as taxes, and the rest belonged to the military households themselves.

And the military households who do not have land also hope that through their hard work, the output of the farm will be greater and more large, so that when the rewards are distributed, more money and grain will be available. Some military households have calculated that the rewards they receive are basically the same as the fixed amount of money and food they receive every month. In other words, half of their income depends on rewards. If the farm's production is not good, half of their income will be lost.

At the beginning of the big pot rice, there were not many people who knew how to take advantage of loopholes and be lazy. Their work is still very high. Their thoughts, at the time, were also very simple. Especially those slaves who were freed back by the Tartars, they all held their breath and spared no effort to work to completely eliminate the Tartars. In a short period of time, more than one-third of the approximately 3 million acres of land in the northern part of Ningxia Town have been reclaimed.

With the increase in the large population, the need for material supplies also increased greatly, which naturally attracted the attention of the merchants. With the release of the second batch of Han slaves, the population under Xu Xingxia's command has increased to 60,000 or 70,000. This is a very large consumer group. They are now destitute, poor, and have to buy everything anew. And with Xu Xingxia's policy, these laborers will definitely be able to obtain a considerable amount of wealth. When the time comes, their spending power will be very amazing.

Those shrewd merchants have long established a large number of branches in places such as Black Mountain Camp and Zhenshuo Fort to provide all kinds of supplies to the local population. During the Chinese New Year, the activities of merchants show no signs of stopping. According to incomplete statistics, from the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month, at least 30 new shops were opened in Zhenshuo Fort. In the Montenegrin camp, the number of stores opened is even higher, a full fifty.

Among the merchants who have flocked to him, the most eager, of course, is the Jin merchants headed by Sun Dakun. Sun Dakun opened a very large number of branches in the Black Mountain Camp and Zhenshuo Fort, selling hundreds of kinds of ordinary materials. Most of the merchants in Ningxia Town are Jin merchants. Like Sun Dakun, they all smelled the unusual smell of the northern part of Ningxia Town. With Sun Dakun in front of them, they also took root in Xu Xingxia's jurisdiction.

Due to a large number of goods, it is necessary to transport them from Ningxia City to Heishan Ying, Zhenshuo Fort and other places. It seems that Sun Dakun's trading house, every time it replenishes goods, it needs to dispatch twenty or thirty carriages, and the situation is very spectacular. Even, in order to replenish the materials needed by the store, some merchants rushed overnight. As long as there is money to be made, the positive surname of the business is higher than anyone else.

In the eyes of most merchants, the current Ningxia Town is unprecedentedly safe. There was a white-clothed army guarding the north of Ningxia Town, and it was impossible for the Tartar cavalry to enter from the north, and the safety of the merchant brigade was greatly increased. In addition, there are white-clothed troops stationed in Ningxia Town, and any Tartar who wants to invade Ningxia Town must consider the consequences. In case you come and meet the white-clothed army, it will be stealing chickens and rice, and there will be no return.

In order to attract more merchants to come and prosper the market in the north of Ningxia Town, Xu Xingxia also publicly stated that the white-clothed army would be ruthlessly attacked by any Tartar cavalry who dared to enter Ningxia Town, no matter where they entered. He also publicly promised that as long as the merchants entered the area north of Weizhen Fort, Zhenshuo Fort, and south of Zhenyuan Pass, if they were attacked by the Tartar cavalry, he Xu Xingxia would compensate the merchants for as much as they lost.

With Xu Xingxia's assurance, the merchants in Ningxia Town seemed to have taken a reassuring pill. They cleaned up a large number of their own inventories and purchased a large amount of goods from the surrounding areas of Ningxia Town. Due to the demand for goods in the northern part of Ningxia Town, it was so great that they had to transfer goods from the surrounding Xi'an and Taiyuan Provinces. As a result, the caravans departing from Taiyuan Mansion, Xi'an Mansion and other places are also endless, endless, and it is a wonder for a while.

"It is said that a gold mine has been discovered in the town of Ningxia......"

"It's not a gold mine, it's a lot of silver mines......"

"What gold and silver mines, it's not a lot of jade......"

The people around Ningxia Town, seeing a large number of caravans flocking to Ningxia Town, all used their imagination to try to give a reasonable explanation. Teahouses, inns, wine shops, post stations, and even roadside vendors are all talking about what is happening in the north of Ningxia Town. They chased after the wind and shadows, and for a time, the northern part of Ningxia Town became the focus of everyone's attention.

In fact, it is not that no one knows that it is the white-clothed army that defeated a large number of Tartars and rescued a large number of slaves, which will lead to such a strong demand for goods. However, this real situation was completely unstimulated by the news of gold mines, silver mines, jade mines, etc. People are more willing to believe that in the north of Ningxia Town, there must have been gold, silver, and jade mines. It is said that there are mountains of gold, silver all over the mountains, and jade that can be picked up...... As long as you stop there, you can get rich immediately and become rich in the world...... Guided by the wrong news, a large number of people, with a beautiful yearning for gold, silver, and jade, rushed to the north of Ningxia Town. At that time, in the northern part of Shaanxi, there were many military households, or civilian households, who were poor and destitute. With the illusion of getting rich overnight, they joined the army that went to the north of Ningxia Town to make a fortune. As a result, the main road from Shaanxi to Ningxia Town, Xiamaguan, Red Castle and other places, the crowd of people going north is also endless, and it is a wonder. Even, stimulated by the wealth at their fingertips, even some local garrisons joined the ranks of the north.

In fact, the most spectacular scenery is, of course, on the banks of the Yellow River. In order to bring enough irrigation water to the fields, the craftsmen under the command of the Baiyi Army erected a total of 40 large waterwheels of the Yellow River on the banks of the Yellow River. These large waterwheels of the Yellow River have a diameter of five meters. Lined up by the river, with the flow of the Yellow River, the water is constantly lifted into the canal, and the water flows along the straight canal until it reaches the foot of Helan Mountain.

The 3 million acres of land in the north of Ningxia Town need to rely on water from the Yellow River for irrigation, and it will definitely not work without enough canals. Fortunately, there was a large amount of labor and a lot of money, so Xu Xingxia did not hesitate to order the steward to dredge the canal first. After a period of hard work, more than ninety percent of the canals have returned to normal use. Some of them have not been repaired, and it is estimated that they will be completed by February next year.

With sufficient water, all the conditions for cultivation have been met. The rest is everyone's own efforts. The plan of the year lies in the spring, and the plan of the other day lies in the morning, and every day before dawn, the military households have already gone to work in the fields one after another. It wasn't until the sun went down and night fell that people who had worked all day reluctantly packed up their tools and went home. If the moonlight is better, even some military households are still busy in the middle of the night.

The continuous battle between the Tartars and the white-clothed army in Zhenyuan Pass completely made all the military households let go of their hanging hearts. Obviously, as long as the white-clothed army was in Zhenyuan Pass, it was impossible for the Tartar cavalry to move south to loot. This means that all the fields that were once deserted can now be cultivated. Those military households who already have their own fields naturally can't wait for their whole families to go out and devote themselves to vigorous production.

It's their own land! There is no need to say more about the land plot of our Chinese. As for how to manage one's own one-third of an acre of land, any farmer in China is estimated to have an exclusive experience. In the past, who could understand the grief of watching their fields being ravaged by Tartars and having no way to farm? Now, all this is finally over, and of course they have to make up for what they have lost before.

…… Soon, it was the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Busy crowds, there is no ** to celebrate the Lantern Festival at all. The same is true for the White Coats. Everyone has forgotten about the Lantern Festival. However, the day of the Lantern Festival is definitely not an ordinary day for Xu Xingxia. He had a very important thing to do. Early in the morning, Xu Xingxia rode a horse to Zhenyuanguan and participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction of Zhenyuanguan.

At the beginning, Xu Xingxia once promised Deng Rubai that in three years, through his own efforts, without relying on any external force, he would build three passes, including Zhenyuan Pass, Da Bang Pass, and Chimu Pass. On this condition, he obtained jurisdiction over more than three million acres of land in the northern part of Ningxia Town. He is not a man of his word, and the promises he has made must be fulfilled as soon as possible. Now that all the conditions are ripe for the rebuilding of Zhenyuanguan, of course he has to fulfill his promise.

"Rebuild Zhenyuanguan, start now!" Xu Xingxia announced loudly.

With Xu Xingxia's order, a labor force of 2,000 people, with the help of wheelbarrows and shovels, mixed stones, cement, and sediment together to form primitive concrete, and then mixed with steel bars and red bricks to form the main building materials of Zhenyuanguan. Such building materials are much stronger than lime and stone.

The city wall of Zhenyuanguan, which is less than 20 miles wide from east to west, was divided into ten construction sections, and construction began at the same time. Xu Xingxia set rewards for each construction section. The first three construction sections to be completed will be rewarded with a full 1,000 taels of silver. Stimulated by heavy money, the work of the labor force is quite high.

The stone was quarried from the nearby Helan Mountain. Except for the labor cost, it is almost free. The sediment does not come from the nearby desert, but from the Yellow River. In addition to the labor cost, it is also almost free. The sediment in the desert cannot be used as a building material. Cement is transported from a cement kiln. Compared with stone and sediment, the cost of cement is higher. But considering how strong the pass is, this cost is completely acceptable.

Four-wheeled carriages, carrying freshly baked cement, slowly drove towards Zhenyuanguan. More than 30,000 war horses received from the Hellergin Tartars played a huge role. In addition to part of the military, a considerable part is put into civilian use. In addition to transportation, a lot of animal power is required to reclaim wasteland and repair canals.

As for the four-wheeled carriage, it is actually not a new technology, it was available in the Qin Dynasty, but it was only later that the complex terrain that was not suitable for the land of China was slowly eliminated. But in Ningxia Town, you can still use it. In order to transport cement, the workshop specially built hundreds of four-wheeled carriages, and also paved roads for the transportation of heavy materials.

(To be continued)