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Hear the thunder and wake up the dormant overwintering insects.

The light rain is new, and a thunderstorm begins. The Tian family has a few days of leisure, and farming has started from here. Not long into February, the first thunder in the East China Sea finally sounded, the weather gradually warmed, and the rain began to increase. Many of the newly planted peach trees on Salmon Island have begun to bloom with pink peach blossoms.

The continuous spring rain did not stop, and the workers who built the city worked harder to build the new city during the day. After the work, the people of the island had to rush home to dredge the diversion ditch around the shacks in the camp outside the city to prevent water from entering the shacks.

Spring thunder sounds, and everything grows. The earth warmed up, and the people on the island were happy, and finally got through that difficult year, and many people were full of expectations for the new year. Li Jing and the officials in the town were also busy, and Li Jing also held a special spring meeting in Shamen Town, and assigned officials to take charge of the next work. There are too many busy things to do, neither can we stop the training, let alone slow down the progress of the construction of the city, and the craftsmen are also working day and night to make ordnance.

In addition to training, building cities, and building ordnance, which are regarded as the top priorities, Zhang Hong is also responsible for several new workshops that make money, such as liquor workshops, rock sugar workshops and perfume workshops, but the shortage of manpower is so great that the daily output cannot be increased. Li Hui'er and their uniforms are now the largest workshop on the island, larger than the armory workshop, and the workshop has more than 1,000 workers. But in the face of Li Jing's constant military and civilian orders. Every day is still busy. In the end, he had to accept Li Jing's suggestion and set up the workshop to work two shifts day and night.

"I still need manpower, there are more than 10,000 workers on the construction site, but it's not enough. If it is completed by the end of June, as the general demands, I will need at least three to five thousand more men to catch up. Now the person in charge of building the city is the soldier Cao Zuo Han Zhongwu, who is holding a dense handscroll with a tired face, and asks Li Jing loudly.

Li Jing tapped on the table: "Bing Cao Zuo." I remember that I had already entrusted you with full responsibility for the construction of the city. There was a word in advance, asking for money and food, and directly looking for Zhang Bing and Cao Ling. But if you want someone, I will give you money and food, and you have to figure out how to do it yourself. If there are not enough people, you will go around and recruit young and strong people to come and work. With the money and food conditions we are offering now, there are a large number of people who are willing to come. There are not enough people on Shamen Island, so you go to a few nearby islands, and there are no more nearby islands, so you can take a boat to Dengzhou and go to Huangxian to Mupingzhao. I'm not here to listen to your whining. What I'm trying to hear is that the progress of the construction of the city must be kept up. When the end of June comes, if you can't meet the deadline. That's dereliction of duty, I don't ask anyone else, you just ask, understand? ”

Han Zhongwu nodded ruthlessly with red eyes, "I understand!" ”

After being given a stern start by Li Jing, everyone below who wanted to complain shrank suddenly. Li Jing glanced at everyone and took the initiative to ask Cui Zhiyuan: "Cui Lushi, you are now in charge of the ordnance workshop, how is the ordnance of our army being prepared, can you equip the more than 4,000 people in the army this month?" ”

"Back to the general, the armory workshop is now working two shifts day and night, and it is going all out to catch up. The most important Mo knife has been successfully tried out yesterday two times, the effect is very good, the quality is good, the Mo Dao Army needs the hundred Mo knives can be completed within this month. Other ordnance is enough for the time being, and now the armory workshop is making every effort to build individual crossbows and Fuyuan heavy crossbows, as well as catapults, and there are strict inspections in terms of technical quality, and each weapon is built as required by the general, and the name of the craftsman team and the acceptor is engraved on the weapon, so there is no worry about quality problems. ”

Speaking of this, he paused, and said with a little embarrassment on his face: "However, the crossbow machine and the catapult need a lot of ox tendon, as well as crossbow strings, and we don't have enough materials in our warehouse now, although we pay twice the market price to buy them, but these things are prohibited by the control of the imperial court on the surface, and the purchase effect is not good." At present, the stock in the warehouse can supply the workshop for about ten days of production at most. ”

"In addition, General Lin Wu came to me yesterday and said that the cavalry used horizontal knives to be ineffective, and he and the craftsmen researched and designed a new type of weapon, which was specially used for cavalry warfare. This new weapon, called the sabre, has been created with several prototypes, and it is slightly curved compared to the normal horizontal knife, and the handle is slightly curved to the side of the blade. According to the trial, the effect is indeed more effective than the horizontal knife, but we still have a lot of horizontal knives in stock, and we have to build a saber, I think it's a bit wasteful, and I ask the general to decide on this matter. ”

As he spoke, he turned around and brought in two new-style sabers from the door, Li Jing looked at them carefully, this saber was slightly similar to the scimitar used by the people on the grassland, and it was indeed more conducive to fighting immediately than the horizontal knife with a straight body and a long handle without a ring head that was now commonly equipped in the army. However, it is still a lot different from several sabers in later generations, but this thing was pondered by Lin Wu and craftsmen, which shows that it is still very practical.

After thinking about it, Li Jing made some adjustments to this new style of saber according to the style of the later horse leather scimitar and the Western cavalry knife.

"If you want to do something, you must first sharpen your tools. Cavalry is our precious pimple, raising a war horse costs more than a dozen times a month, and a saber is only a few dollars a month. This money is still worth sending, study the craft well, and then build five hundred swords of equipment first, and store the excess in the warehouse first. ”

There are also several new faces present at this meeting today, three of whom are Li Jing's three brothers-in-law. The three of them don't have much ability, but now that the brother-in-law has become a town general, they will naturally follow. Li Jing has no feelings for these three brothers-in-law, after all, when he came to Datang, the three elder sisters got married early, and the eldest sister was five or six years older than him, and she married early, and now she has several children. However, although these brothers-in-law are not rich and noble families in my memory, they used to be good to several sisters and the Li family.

The eldest brother-in-law, Han Jin, was originally a small officer captured by Dongmu, and it was said that the officer was actually a military academy where his ancestors had been guarded by Dongmu for generations. However, by the time of his grandfather, he was not officially in the army. Instead, he hung an official position in the army but began to do business abroad. This is basically a common phenomenon from the Middle Tang Dynasty to the Late Tang Dynasty. The imperial court was no longer responsible for the money and food of many armies. Most of them have to be self-financed by the military. So those local generals either recruited some merchants to join the army for temporary posts, and then they continued to do business, and the money they earned was divided proportionally with the army. There are more ways to make money in the army, and businessmen can be exempted from many taxes and miscellaneous labors in addition to having a backer, which is better for both sides. Later, the army simply sent its own soldiers to do business, and even the merchant's share was waived and earned by himself. Han Zhong's grandfather was in the military at that time. but he began to do business.

The eldest brother-in-law's business is not big, but he borrowed the name of the army and lost a lot of taxes and miscellaneous expenses, and his life is not bad. The second brother-in-law, Zhang Dejiang, is a small landowner not far from Wang Lizhuang, and his family also has more than 100 acres of land, and his life is okay. The third brother-in-law is a small official in Chishan Port, which is barely okay. However, after Li Jing was promoted to the town general, when the three sisters and brother-in-law came back to attend Li's mother's birthday, they saw that their brothers had so many officials to cheer for them, and immediately said that the three brothers-in-law followed them directly to Shamen Town.

The three of them are not very capable, and they are not the kind of people who can join the army. Li Jing arranged all three of them in the logistics camp after the last, and now the family business has begun to grow. Li Jing needs more and more people. I also tried to promote some relatives and clansmen to some positions that were not too important.

Now Han Jin is responsible for managing the 700 acres of land that has not been divided, while the second brother-in-law Zhang Dejiang is responsible for raising pigs and sheep and supplying meat on the island, and the third brother-in-law is responsible for raising chickens, ducks and geese, and supplying poultry meat and eggs on the island.

The town of Shamen now has a large population, and not only the number of permanent residents has already exceeded 10,000, but the number of people who come to work every day to participate in the construction of the city, carry work on the docks, etc., but have not yet obtained the qualification of permanent residence on the island has also exceeded 10,000. The amount of food consumed every day is huge, and the food is okay, but the supply of vegetables is very troublesome. Not only do you have to go to Dengzhou every day to purchase, it takes time to come and go, and the price is not cheap, it is not fresh and convenient.

Zhang Hong proposed to raise it himself, but Li Jing thought it was a good idea, there was not much grain to grow without land, but pigs could be raised by themselves. The new pig and sheep farm and chicken and duck farm effect is good, the first batch are directly bought half a large pig and sheep, pigs are nearly 100 pounds of the kind, buy back and raise directly for two months can be slaughtered, and the eggs laid by chickens and ducks every day are a great enrichment of the island's vegetable varieties and everyone's nutrition.

"There is a folk proverb that says that when the peach blossoms bloom, the swine fever comes! The weather is warmer, and all kinds of diseases are starting to increase. Farm Master Zhang and Farm Master Yang, you are now in charge of the supply of meat and eggs for most of the people on the island, and this is not sloppy. Pay more attention to the hygiene of the farm. He turned his head to the chief housekeeper Zhang Hong and said, "Zhang Bingcao, when you go back, you will mobilize all the residents on the island to carry out a thorough cleaning and rectification, not only to clean up and burn garbage, but also to go to the fields on the island to exterminate rats." As soon as the weather is warm, the rats will follow out of the hole, and more than half of the spring plague is spread by rats, this time we will have a good anti-rat operation to sweep away the rats. ”

"No matter what the method, as long as everyone starts together, there is nowhere for the rats to escape." Li Jing said very solemnly, although he could see from the faces of many people present that they actually felt that Li Jing's request was a little strange. But Li Jing still insisted that rats were extremely harmful, not only stealing food, but also spreading serious diseases. Now the construction site on the island, the workshop is busy, tens of thousands of people are crowded together, spring is the peak period of disease, in case of another epidemic, it will not be able to stop it. Epidemic disease can only be prevented in advance, and he is unwilling to explain to these late Tang Dynasty figures what kind of knowledge such as the spread of epidemic disease, but beware is a must. ”

"Han Zuoshi, you are now in charge of my publicly-owned land in Shamen Town, and it is spring, what arrangements do you have?"

Han Jin is very burly, but not the kind of muscular and strong, but wide and fat, with a big belly, and people less than thirty have two beards, and they have the demeanor of a profiteer. Hearing Li Jing ask, he hurriedly got up and replied: "My subordinates discussed with a few subordinates, and planned to prepare for spring plowing immediately, last winter was not too cold, and the snow was not too thick or thick, and many experienced elders said that this year may be a big dry weather." So I thought it would be better to plant one crop of sorghum and then another crop of soybeans, both of which are drought resistant. ”

Li Jing shook his head: "There are very few fields on the island, and they are only more than a thousand acres together. There is really something close to nothing, and we can divide the land of each family and leave it to everyone to cultivate at will. However, I don't think the government should grow any more grain in these fields. Now our food is not bad, but vegetables are insufficient, not to mention the cost of going out to buy, it is troublesome. So what I mean is that the grange you are in charge of is all growing vegetables this year, and all 700 acres of land are planted with vegetables, all kinds of vegetables. ”

"Serve it all?"

"That's right, the vegetables of tens of thousands of people on the island are not so easy to grow, and if the food is not enough to grow, we can also dry the vegetables and drown pickles and kimchi. Your farm can also recruit more people, the elderly, women, children, and some wounded and disabled veterans who have retired from the army. In addition, you can also organize some young people in the village, and you can also go out to sea to fish in your spare time to enrich everyone's vegetable pots. ”

Growing vegetables, raising pigs and fish, and even raising chickens and ducks are not only to enrich the food, but also to supplement nutrition. Moreover, the meat and vegetables eaten are abundant, the nutrition of the islanders has kept up, and various diseases can be reduced. What's more important is that with these meat and vegetables to eat, the oil, water and nutrition will keep up, in fact, the consumption of food will also drop a lot. Food must be grown in the soil and is a precious thing, but fish are completely given by nature, and you can catch as much as you can.

"In short, the spring thunder has sounded, this new year has begun, everyone must work harder. I promise in advance that those who do well will be rewarded at the end of the year, which may be a new house in the new city, or a field on the island, and a reward of money. But if you don't do a good job, you will have to accept the punishment at that time. ”

At this moment, Duan Shan, the team leader of the reconnaissance capital, hurriedly walked into the hall and reported softly to the head of the general, Li Wei.

"General, Da Xie Yan's thief fleet has set sail!" (To be continued.) )