Please ask me to be the emperor

How did Zhang Shun know that there were so many dealings between the rebels and Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces? He only thought that the rebels were in danger and might not be able to survive. However, it was beyond his reach, so he had no choice but to follow Zhang Shenyan's suggestion and send more scouts and spies to collect intelligence so as to make early preparations.

It's just that Zhang Shun is worried that it won't be long before he has no time to mind other people's business. It turns out that in this land of Henan, since the rebels entered the country this year, there has been no rain for seven or eight months.

Ancient society was based on farming and relied on the sky for food. If droughts, floods, frosts or even locust plagues occur, food production will be reduced or even eliminated, and people will die.

Fortunately, when the rebels started to reclaim the land for the first time, they could only sow some millet and sorghum to improve the land in the first year. The so-called sorghum is another name for sorghum. It is acceptable for making wine, but it is difficult to swallow as a staple food.

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, Zhang Shun chose millet as the crop for farming in the first year.

The yield of millet was very low. Even in later generations, the yield per mu was only three to four hundred catties. In this era, the yield was only two to three hundred catties.

Considering that it was the first time for the rebels to cultivate the land after the land was reclaimed, the yield of millet per mu was only over 100 kilograms. Fortunately, millet is a drought-tolerant crop. Even if there is little rain, it will still have little impact on millet yields.

Of course, as a crop, you don’t have to worry about it after sowing it. A series of work such as seedling pressing, fertilization, irrigation, and weeding are still needed.

Zhang Shenyan had already had experience. When the millet seedlings sprouted two to five leaves, he ordered people to press the green seedlings with wooden rollers to strengthen the root system of the millet.

This wooden roller is quite similar to a stone roller, except that it is made of wood, directly made of logs. Wherever oxen could be used, they would be pulled over by the oxen. When there was no space for the cattle, Zhang Shenyan ordered Ding Zhuang to directly pull and crush the young crops with manpower.

Fortunately, there were more people and more strength, so we quickly completed the work of pressing the seedlings, and then started weeding, loosening the soil, and topdressing.

Since this is newly cultivated land, vegetation cannot be removed. Zhang Shenyan adopted military law to manage these more than 10,000 men, and only turned around according to their orders, which was very tiring.

These people got up early and stayed late during the day. After eating at night, they rubbed their sore arms, beat their old waists that could not straighten up, and secretly cursed: "There is an old dog under King Shun, who bites the poor and won't let go. There are three things to do when you get up early and stay late at night, weeding. Topdressing and loosening the soil!”

After Zhang Shenyan heard this, he smiled and moved his morning wake-up time earlier and his greedy time later to show his revenge.

After Zhang Shun and everyone discussed the information about other rebels and everyone else had retreated, Zhang Shenyan said: "My lord, the weather is very hot this year and there is no rain. It must be a drought year. Although this millet is said to be drought-resistant, it has only been in drought for a long time. I’m afraid we’ll have to cut production significantly.”

"Now my lord has entrusted me with farm work. I am wearing the stars and the moon, and I dare not slack off. Now is the time when the millet is earing, and timely watering is needed to increase the yield of the millet. Otherwise, the ears will be small and the yield will drop sharply."

It turns out that this newly cultivated land is all bad land, and the first year is the most difficult. These people had been forced to work by Zhang Shenyan before, and they were already complaining. Nowadays, these 20,000 acres of land do not have irrigation facilities such as canals, deep wells, and can only be irrigated by manual labor.

Zhang Shenyan had forced them to irrigate some land, but these people were already showing signs of resistance. Zhang Shenyan had no choice but to report Zhang Shun, trying to use Zhang Shun's prestige to persuade these people.

After Zhang Shun listened to Zhang Shenyan's report, he couldn't help but frown. The purpose of clearing wasteland and cultivating land is for these people to eat and drink. I never thought that they don't know what is good or bad.

If you talk about big principles, Zhang Shun has a lot of truth. It's just that principles can convince people for a while, but they can't convince people for a lifetime. Although these grains are still used to fill the stomachs of these people, they are all short-sighted, how can they think long-term?

These people work together, eat and drink together, and they become slack as time goes by.

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Shun said: "What Mr. Zhang said is true. I have three strategies to keep them obedient and busy with farm work."

Zhang Shenyan was surprised when he heard this. In the past, Zhang Shun was the one who raised questions and asked everyone to come up with solutions. Now that he couldn't solve the problem by himself, Zhang Shun had a plan and quickly said that he was all ears.

Zhang Shun smiled and said: "The first strategy is the measurement method. Divide the work into small pieces, and each person only gets one piece, which needs to be completed on the same day. If you finish it, you will eat first, and if you have not finished it, you can't eat dinner until you finish it."

"The second policy is the work-sharing method. The more you work, the more you get, and the less you work, the less you get. One point is counted for completing a task every day. If it cannot be completed, no points will be counted. Wait until the end of the month, and you will be rewarded more and punished less."

"The third policy is the land reward method. I was going to distribute the 20,000 acres of land equally to everyone, but now it seems that I want to be simple. At the end of the year, if the work score is high, the reward will be ten acres of land, and if it is less, one or two acres will not be enough. Wait, keep it for your own use. If the work pay is too low, you will not be rewarded at all."

Zhang Shenyan suddenly became enlightened after hearing this. This was not because he failed to come up with this strategy. Just subconsciously, he regarded the 20,000 acres of land as Zhang Shun's private farmland, and did not think of any incentives.

Now that Zhang Shun is willing to distribute these acres of land to everyone, how can these people not work hard?

When Zhang Shen said goodbye to Zhang Shun and showed this strategy to everyone, the rebel army suddenly roared with joy. "King Shun" has always been true to his word and has a good reputation, which is believed by all the rebels.

Sure enough, early the next morning, everyone was full of energy and scrambling for the first place, fearing that they would fall behind others and not get the rewarded land.

Land is the most precious wealth in this era. If a single family opens up wasteland, it will take at least one or two generations to accumulate a few acres of thin farmland.

Nowadays, "everyone is gathering firewood and the flames are high." The rebel army, under the command of Zhang Shenyan, has roughly cultivated this land. It only takes two or three years of cultivation to turn it into mature farmland. Now that these fields are given to me, it is something that I can't even imagine.

Most of the wasteland reclaimed by the rebels is close to river valleys. The cultivated land in Luanchuan Town is close to Yishui, and the cultivated land in Lengshui and Minghe River is close to Jianhe River, with many water sources for irrigation.

All the volunteers worked tirelessly, carrying buckets, to fetch water from the river and water the millet. Although it is only a drop in salary, it is still better than nothing. As for water conservancy facilities such as canals and reservoirs, we can't take care of them this year. We have to wait for a good harvest this year and then look for slack time before making plans.

Zhang Shenyan was very busy here, and Zhang took the opportunity to personally go to the Smelting District to look for Governor Zhang.

Governor Zhang had great ambitions before, claiming that he wanted to cast thousands of kilograms of red cannons. It's just that ever since the rebel army reclaimed wasteland and organized and trained the new army, they have been very busy.

He only has more than a hundred copper and blacksmiths under his command, how can he be so busy? In addition, Zhang Shun sent him another 300 men to do miscellaneous tasks and serve as apprentices, which slightly increased the output of iron parts.

Nowadays, almost all the axes, hoes, plows and other agricultural tools used by the rebels for reclamation are made by the smelting camp day and night, which solves the urgent need of the rebels.

Today, Zhang Shun went to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing, but he wanted to ask for something.

Thank you to the fan "Wang Yao's Young Guard Rabbit" for your many large rewards. Thank you for your strong support to the author!