Realm of Power

Du Yu rode forward slowly on his horse. The horse's hooves made a clear clicking sound on the wide business road paved with gravel. He was followed by the lame financial officer Statunko, the stubborn old man Grand Duke Jones and a dozen people. Guards in light mail

This tour was due to Du Yu's unexpected intention to come to the vicinity of Samor Fortress to see the upcoming spring plowing. Grand Duke Jones, who was unwilling to go to Rivadin City for training, was bored in Samor and insisted on following the fat man out to have a look. southern*

I saw that on both sides of the wide commercial road were large tracts of newly cultivated fields. The dark clods of soil turned over by iron plows exuded the fragrance of earth. The rows of newly cultivated ditch fields were like a chessboard drawn on the earth.

In the early spring of April, on the phosphorescent Satsuma Rijiang River, farmers from nearby villages were enthusiastically driving ten-meter boats to fish in the newly thawed river.

The silver Satsuma Ri River water flows along the irrigation channels dug during the dry season in winter and into the surrounding fields waiting to be irrigated. Some of the land has already exposed its green buds.

Du Yu took a deep breath through his nose. The spring rain that had just stopped still mixed the smell of damp earth in the air.

Du Yu was basically satisfied with this progress. The stubborn old man who followed him actually showed a novel look. For Duke Jones, who had been staying in the snowy mountains in the north for many years, this was the first time he saw the water town in the south*

Du Yu knew that this was the first year for him to govern the three counties. Whether he could stabilize the people's hearts that were floating during the war, whether he could gather the strength to dominate the south for himself, and whether he had sufficient food security were the most critical issues.

The 180,000 northern refugees who fled from the north to the south were organized by Du Yu into groups of 40 households and villages of 400 households, and were resettled in the originally sparsely populated barren mountains of Samur and Satdo counties. beach,

The refugees who settled down began to cultivate their own new fields, which gave the two counties that had been desolate and desolate because most people fled, regained their vitality.

According to Fatty's idea, Internal Affairs Officer Statunko redivided the wastelands of the two counties into eighteen areas, with 25 villages being placed in each area.

This is a complicated job involving land surveying, forest land division, etc., which makes Statunko, the financial officer in charge of internal affairs, so busy that he almost vomits blood, and his fair-skinned aristocratic face is also stained.

Finally, under Du Yu's instruction, all the refugee village chiefs were summoned from the refugees for discussion. After a full month of negotiation, the land boundaries were re-divided, and finally completed before the end of the spring plowing and rainy season.

In late spring in April, the air is fresh and the rainy season has just stopped.

The ponds and ravines are full of water, and the land is moist and fertile for planting. This is the most important spring plowing time of the year.

The Lord's new "Farming Ordinance" has been distributed to the 1,348 village chiefs in the three counties one month in advance.

This new bill is completely different from the farmers who used to sow seeds randomly in the soil and then ignore them and let them fend for themselves.

Not only is it strictly required that all land for spring plowing must go through more than ten procedures of intensive cultivation such as soil plowing and irrigation, but also strict regulations have been formulated on the soil depth of cultivated land and the density of sowing.

This dissatisfied many farmers because it greatly increased their workload. However, after the new "Agricultural Tool Leasing Ordinance" was promulgated before the start of spring plowing, such opposition almost disappeared.

Rewards for meritorious deeds and punishment for delinquency

Carrots and sticks, force and temptation coexist, everyone will fight bravely to get the big reward first

Same in ancient and modern times

According to the newly promulgated "Agricultural Tools Leasing Act", villages that are willing to implement the new farming laws can not only be allocated five steeds for plowing, but also

Moreover, the grain tax paid during the autumn harvest only requires one-third of the grain to be paid in accordance with the new regulations.

The top ten who turn in food will not only receive a reward of 1,000 gold luke from Marquis Dustan, but will also receive an additional reward of 5 horses.

For those poor villages, this is simply a windfall, which shocked all the farmers.

Even the richest rich man in the village may not have a plowing horse at home. The richest old man, Si En, is still standing in the field with his buttocks sticking out sowing seeds.

How many people have never left the village in their lives, and the furthest they go is to the back mountains to hunt game and pick wild vegetables.

Being able to walk around the town and take a look at the lord's majestic castle from a distance is a pride worthy of being passed down, and it is synonymous with having seen the great world.

Not to mention horses, I have never seen a donkey, let alone the legendary dazzling golden light.

Now who dares to jump out and oppose the new "Farming Law" of the lord?

The poor and moaning poor households in the village would use the farming tools in their hands to let him know what it means to be brave as a farmer.

Naturally, villages that do not comply with the new farming laws will not only receive less than five horses, but will also have to hand over one-half of the originally stipulated grain during the autumn harvest.

What started as complaints against the lords quickly turned into support for the new bill.

The spring plowing time has not yet arrived, and every village has already begun plowing the ground in full swing.

Du Yu remembered that in his previous life he had seen a classic saying that pointed directly at people's hearts. His two preparations fully confirmed this saying.

“People don’t suffer from poverty, but from inequality.”

The poor farmers in their own territory are like this. Everyone is so poor that they have nothing. They are so poor that even mice starve to death.

Naturally, no one wants to spend more time on farming.

Anyway, everyone is the same, no one is laughing at anyone

Suddenly one day, an opportunity to make a fortune is presented to everyone, and that's a different story.

When I look at the opportunity in front of me, what I think most about is not how to grab it, but how to get it.

"If we want to be poor together, we will be poor together, and if we want to be rich, everyone will be rich. I can't make a fortune, and you can't even think about it."

This is the origin of "pink eye"

Grand Duke Jones pointed to a few farmers plowing the soil in the fields beside the road with their horses. The plowing roads were about ten centimeters deep and asked doubtfully.

"Master Dustan, do you need to dig your land so deep? Horses are very precious materials. You actually send them to farmers to plow the fields. In our place, as long as you find a piece of wasteland and scatter the seeds, they will sprout. In the cool autumn, golden wheat will naturally grow. When the wheat is harvested, we will have enough food to go hunting in the mountains.

It's such a waste of manpower to use horses for deep plowing like adults. If so many manpower are sent to do some logging during this season, wouldn't the fishing work be better! You can also sell it to merchants to make some money."

The face of Grand Duke Jones showed the generous smile of a northerner, without any awareness that he was a guest of Samor.

He expressed his opinions without hesitation, and even pointed out Du Yu’s shortcomings and inappropriateness from time to time.

This kind of cheerful and arrogant character has already made the fat man feel strange.

The fat man was not in the mood to explain the intensive farming of ancient China to a stubborn old warlord.

Looking at the arrogant look of old Jones in front of him, the fat man quickly put on an embarrassed face and responded.

"There is nothing we can do. We are a barren southern mountainous area. Naturally, it cannot be compared with the fertile northern snowfields under the Duke's rule. In particular, we lack the most basic agricultural tools. In order to resist the Kugits, all iron tools They were all forged into weapons by Samor. I can't let the farmers below dig the soil with their hands.

The large amount of grain stored in Samor was also used up to redeem your lords. In order to ensure that we all have enough food to survive the winter, even the horses in our army had to be sent to farmers to plow the fields. This embarrassment made the Duke The adults are laughing! "

This is the fat man reminding this stubborn old man

"I redeemed you from the Kugits with grain! It wasn't my grain that you are still chewing on animal skins from the Kugits."

Hearing the fat man's answer, Grand Duke Jones, who had looked arrogant just now, turned slightly red.

Thinking of the injustice he had suffered at the hands of the Kugits, his cheerful face turned dim, and he said with a look of reluctance.

"It's a pity that the Kugits have blocked the road to the north. Otherwise, I could have compensated you for the loss of Samour."

"compensate?"

The fat man looked slightly stunned, and even Statunko next to him pretended not to hear.

I dare the arrogant Grand Duke Jones not to know that his family is still arguing with several surrounding small lords. Thousands of peasants mobilized in his territory are still howling with hunger.

In order to feed the thousands of farmers who were temporarily recruited, the Jones family was considered to be selling off the pot. The already depleted territory property was even worse. It was said that it was almost bankrupt.

"What? Don't believe me? I am the Grand Duke of Jones, one of the three great dukes in the north! I guarantee with my reputation as the Grand Duke of Jones that as long as the road to the north is clear, I will hand over the most precious thing of the Jones family to you. My compensation to you Samour"

Seeing the disbelief on the faces of the fat man and others, the stubborn old man became anxious, waved his thin arms and shouted,

"As long as the road to the north is clear, I will use the title of Grand Duke of the North as my compensation!"

"hiss"

There was a gasp of air in front of Grand Duke Jones.

"This old man is so damn bachelor-minded!"

Even the fat man who was just trying to seduce the Grand Duke didn't expect such a big bomb to come out of the stubborn old man's mouth. He even dared to give away his last fig leaf.

There are only five hereditary Grand Duke titles in the entire kingdom.

Three in the north and two in Kyoto have always been hereditary and are responsible for the important defense tasks of the north and Kyoto.

This prestigious title also has many privileges that other ordinary lords cannot obtain.

It has independent military power and autonomy. There is no need to pay the king's authorization tax, and the king has no right to interfere with appointments in the territory. It is simply an independent small kingdom.

This stubborn old man seems to have seen through his weakness a long time ago.

That is to send troops to occupy two counties without the king's permission.

Thinking that with the title of Grand Duke on his head, he can completely eliminate the trouble of monopolizing three counties, he can be very awesome in taking back the king's order, and he can also create an extra fertile duchy.

He will be the co-lord of the four counties in the kingdom.

At that time, I grabbed a lot of beauties in front of me and saw who didn't like it. I waved my big hand, and naturally some of my younger brothers went up to chop them.

The fat man's eyes glowed and he swallowed his greedy saliva

He also saw the fat man in a happy mess in front of him. The dark-faced Grand Duke Jones showed a sly arc at the corner of his mouth and smiled secretly in his heart.

"Silly fat man! The five great hereditary dukes, do you know what hereditary means? If you want to eat meat, show some sincerity!"