the world is at stake

The refugees who come here are all proletarians, and they cannot be driven away, and there will only be more and more.But there are also many lumpen proletarians who steal, plunder and rape without any discipline at all.

The arrival of such a huge population has directly disrupted the development plan of the 'Holy Light' team.The military group decisively expanded the 'assistant police' into 'police'.

Absorb the young and strong among the refugees, and expand the number of 'police' to five hundred.The original "assistant police" was promoted to "police officer", each with five new "assistant police", all equipped with spears, responsible for public security work.

Zhou Qingfeng led the team to clean up more than a dozen surrounding villages in advance, and Beiwan Village like Zheng Dashan was completely washed out. All the gentry were driven out and the refugees were resettled in the existing houses.

The 'Sacred Light' team has tasted the bitterness of "back then" after the soil and land conquered the world - originally planned to fight Lao Jiang for five years, but ended up winning the whole country in one year.

The Turkish Communist Party was not prepared to manage the whole of China, and then the administrative system was under heavy pressure, and had to accept the old social operating system, which brought a lot of troubles.

A similar situation also occurred in Xinhua Town.

Among the refugees, there are snakes and rats mixed together, making troubles non-stop.

Zhou Qingfeng, a irascible guy, was infuriated by the endless security incidents.From time to time, he yelled furiously: "I need a thousand members of the Communist Party of China now, if not a thousand or a hundred, it's fine. How can we deal with so many messes?"

Zhou Qingfeng and the military team were forced to master riding skills for a day, running back and forth in more than a dozen villages around Xinhua Town.In just a few days, more than [-] "criminals" were executed, and the village management organizations were re-established.

"If the population continues to increase rapidly, not to mention our management capabilities, even the hard-fought accumulated inventory will be exhausted quickly." Cai Xuebin, the chief steward in charge of the food store, warned, "Our food consumption is the fastest."

In the evening, the members of the standing committee of the team were expanded, and Xiao Jinlang was also anxious, forcing the mechanical, metallurgical, chemical, and pharmaceutical groups to come up with plans, "We must come up with a high-quality product as soon as possible in exchange for food."

Each group also knows the severity, but the results of the discussion are varied.For example, large-scale iron and steel smelting, textiles, cotton printing and dyeing, or the sale of semi-finished medicines.

Every project looks good, but every project involves industrial development, and it is absolutely impossible for the team to get enough food within half a month.However, the number of refugees who flocked to Xinhua Town within half a month may exceed [-].

Zhou Qingfeng joined the discussion, and said, "Sell hydraulic machinery. Sell it to the entire Songjiang Prefecture, and whoever gives grain will sell it. What about the price...a hydraulic mill, two hundred shi of rice, and a three-year warranty."

After graphite crucible steelmaking, the mechanical group has qualified materials to produce metal bearings and gears.The hydraulic machine tool greatly reduces the production cost and manpower time consumption.

The hydraulic machinery has low power and does not require high-precision bearings. The key is wear resistance and high reliability, and it can run maintenance-free for a long time.

Lathes can produce such spare parts in batches.

The mechanical group is trying to let the apprentices do it themselves - split the process, a certain post is only responsible for a few crafts, and illiterates with a more flexible mind can do it.

There are not too many bearings and gears used in simple hydraulic machinery, and the rest is carpentry.Calculated by the labor of 'Holy Light', the total cost of a water mill can be reduced to about [-] silver dollars.

But two hundred shi of rice is almost thirteen tons, enough to feed about 650 heavy manual laborers for a month.If it is used for temporary relief, it can feed more than five times the population.

As long as it lasts until the beginning of spring, at least the refugees can be organized to farm and alleviate social conflicts.

In ancient times, the price of grain fluctuated greatly, but even when the autumn harvest was cheap, the price of a stone of rice was about one tael of silver.During the spring famine, it can break through two or two.

There are many wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River, who doesn't have two 300 taels of silver?Two hundred shi of rice is not uncommon.If it can be exchanged for a water mill, it will be a huge profit.

The processing capacity of a water mill is roughly equivalent to five to eight large cattle.A farm ox costs 30 to [-] taels, which saves the work of raising cattle.

This price is much more reasonable than the '1 taels' that Zhou Qingfeng casually said at the beginning.

In addition, hydraulic sawmills can also be sold, the price is higher, [-] shi of rice.

The promotion of hydraulic machinery can greatly improve labor productivity in the Jiangnan region, reduce labor consumption, and increase commodity output.

For example, the output of cotton cloth in the south of the Yangtze River is extremely high. If hydraulic spinning machines and looms can be made, it is no problem to sell each of them for a thousand shi of rice.

There are more commodities, which is a great benefit to 'Holy Light'.Because the development of the whole team is based on the active business.As long as the core technology can be mastered, the entire Jiangnan resources can be used by Xinhua Town.

Chapter 22

Huating County, Shagang Town.

Master Qin stood on the slope outside the town, watching a dozen "engineers" installing equipment at the opposite river bend.Behind him, hundreds of officials and gentlemen ran out from Fucheng to watch the excitement.

This group of people either stretched their necks and opened their eyes to spy, or whispered and whispered.When there was a sound of bang bang bang bang at the bend of the river, a three-meter-high water wheel started to turn, and the crowd suddenly became uproarious.

"Oh, turn around, turn around, really turn around."

"Is the water brought up? Is there water in the tank?"

"Don't people step on it? Is it really the water flowing?"

"This waterwheel only needs two hundred shi of rice flour? How many fields can it irrigate?"

An elderly Confucian scholar walked up to Master Qin, cupped his hands and said, "Brother Qin, I'm asking for advice. This waterwheel..."

Master Qin made a helpless look, "Oh, Qin has no choice but to be forced. If I don't agree, the magistrate will blame me, and the Xinhua rebels are hard to appease."

The surrounding crowd all laughed and expressed relief, "Brother Qin has worked hard", "Master Qin has been wronged", "Master Qin has made great contributions".

But everyone is scolding in their hearts...

"Your surname is Qin Zhen, you are shameless, you are acting good when you take advantage of it."

"All the benefits are for your surname Qin, and I won't introduce them to everyone."

"The Xinhua rebels use your Master Qin as a horse bone, don't think we can't see it."

Scolding is scolding, and you still have to ask for advice.

Master Qin still looked forced and helpless, he spread his hands and said: "I went to the Xinhua thief's den, and the rebels forced me to install this water truck, and they also asked me for two hundred shi of rice noodles.

Qin's family has limited wealth, but he has to agree.If not, the rebels will have to attack Fucheng.I also think about the people of Songjiang Mansion, if there is a battle on the battlefield, it will be a waste of life! "

A small official next to him was displeased, and stepped forward to tease him: "Master Qin, stop talking nonsense. Everyone came out of the city to listen to your nonsense, so let's just say how much you took advantage of."

Master Qin was even more unhappy.But before he could refute, Fucheng Tongpan, who was in charge of grain transportation and water conservancy, stood up and said in an affirmative tone: "Ordinary waterwheels can only increase the water distance by three feet, and they need to be stepped on by humans or pulled by animals.

This Xinhua rebel has quite a secret skill, which can make the waterwheel bigger and increase the water range to more than six feet.And the water flows automatically, day and night, which saves labor and effort, which is really extraordinary.

Master Qin built this hydraulic machine, which can not only be used to grind rice and flour, but also be used for irrigation. At least two hundred acres of farmland can be turned into irrigated land.It will pay back in half a year. "

With this calculation, all the officials and gentry in Fucheng were in an uproar.

The best fields can be flooded with water naturally, which saves labor.However, water always flows downhill. Even if the farmland is next to the river, irrigation still needs the hands of the farmers.

This job is no easier than harvesting, and the efficiency is not high.

There are many waterwheels in the farm, but the technology is not good enough, and the adapter similar to the tile shaft is used, which has too much resistance.

The rivers in the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River often have slow water flow and cannot move large waterwheels.The small water wheel also needs manpower to step on it, otherwise it will not move.

But the ball bearing can reduce the resistance to a few tenths of that of the bearing.In addition, the "Shengguang" mechanical group has many mature designs and precise calculations, which make the waterwheel light as a whole and operate at low cost.

Zhou Qingfeng proposed to sell hydraulic machinery to the outside world, and it happened that the master of the prefect of Songjiang came to discuss the aftermath, so the two sides cooperated to promote a "mill irrigation" dual-use water truck.

The preferential period is one month, and only two hundred shi of rice or flour is required.

Master Qin didn't have much hope at first, so he pinched his nose to admit it. After going back to report to the prefect, he said "Yes, I see" - the master doesn't say good or bad, it all depends on how you do it.

Master Qin has hundreds of acres of land in Shagang Town, Huating County, which is far away from the river and difficult to irrigate.

The members of the agricultural team of 'Holy Light' came to investigate and specially designed a set of irrigation system of pond and ditch combination, using hydraulic waterwheels to raise the river water by about 500 meters, and sending it to a height about [-] meters away with wooden tanks , forming a water storage pond.

After the pond is full, the ditches can be used to irrigate more than [-] mu of land by gravity.

The agricultural team drew the exploration planning map and made calculations, and the conclusions they drew made Mr. Qin's heart beat wildly in shock.He went to Xinhua Town to see it. The hydraulic machinery used by the rebels was very mature and working well. It was definitely not a lie.

After this business is done, I sincerely make a lot of money, which will benefit my descendants.

Such a good thing, Master Qin originally wanted to do it secretly.But the Xinhua rebels made a big splash and spread the news to the entire Songjiang Mansion.

The rebels moved quickly. After the contract was signed, they immediately sent people to survey and select the site. In three days, the prepared materials were transported to the site, and they began to work in a bang.

As soon as the waterwheel was built, it attracted the attention of officials and gentry in the prefecture.

Today it is said that it will be completed, and hundreds of people came to watch.Seeing that the sluice gate was opened and the water wheel was turning, the rushing river water rose up along the water bucket and entered the wooden tank.

Those who were interested ran to the sink with their robes in their hands, watched the water flow continuously for a mile into the pond that had already been dug, and came back and cheered: "It's done, it's done. Master Qin made a lot of money this time."

By the way, the pond was still blown up with dynamite, which also saves labor and effort.

The members of the agricultural team in charge of the construction came over with a smile, handed the construction design and exploration plan to Mr. Qin, looked at the hundreds of people on the scene, and said loudly: "Mr. Qin, the waterwheel project has been completed and officially delivered.

In the future, at least [-] mu of land in your family will not need to hire someone to water it, and it can be irrigated by itself.I have seen your land, the soil quality is not very good, it can only be regarded as Zhongtian.

But it is more than enough to harvest two and a half stones of grain per mu per year.If we can fertilize more and improve the soil, maybe five stones of grain will be able to be farmed in two years. "

Three hundred acres?

Two and a half stones per mu?

This number tickles the hearts of those around the audience.An old Confucian cupped his hands again and said, "Brother, are you serious?"

The members of the agricultural team laughed again, "We are building more than [-] similar hydraulic machines in Qinglong Town, and we are going to convert more than [-] mu of land in the town to self-flow irrigation.

If it is false, wouldn't we have harmed ourselves first?Spring is about to start planting. If you want to engage in hydraulic irrigation, you'd better do it now.

Our construction capacity in Xinhua Town is also limited, so sign up first, pay first, and start construction first.Build a hydraulic machine to ensure that you will see the benefits in the year.

Master Qin, you can keep this drawing well.We provide a three-year warranty.But it's an ordinary trouble, you can find a few carpenters to fix it yourself, it's very easy. "

The drawings are drawn on high-quality Huzhou Xuan paper, and the scale and size are very fine, which is much more advanced than that used by current craftsmen.Master Qin had long held the blueprints tightly to his chest as if they were land deeds.Others wanted to borrow it, but he sternly refused.

The members of the agricultural team waited, thinking that their publicity would attract these officials to order enthusiastically, but the people present looked at each other, but no one asked to make an order on the spot.

frustrated...

The project was delivered, and the trial run was conducted for 24 hours, and the equipment was in good operation.

The members of the agricultural team who led the team trained several tenants how to operate Master Qin.After the two parties signed and confirmed, he withdrew and returned to Xinhua Town by boat.

On the way back, many small boats with black awnings were rushing towards Xinhua Town.There are some disheveled and bankrupt families on board, each of them can be said to be skinny, with a haggard face.

Now is the last moment to endure the spring famine, and it is also the most difficult moment.Many families can't even borrow usury loans, and they don't have the means of production. If they can't make it through, they will die.

There are many floating corpses floating on the river, mostly old people, women and children.Some were so swollen that the villages and towns along the way had to send people to salvage them for fear of causing plagues and incinerate them quickly.

These are fleeing farmers who died halfway and were thrown into the river by their families.This situation is somewhat like the feeling of Middle Eastern refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea but dying on the beach, which is shocking and makes me cry.

When the engineering team returned to Xinhua Town, they found that things were even more troublesome.

The officials and gentry of Songjiang Mansion did not come to order hydraulic machinery one after another as imagined. Instead, a large number of shacks with extremely poor sanitation conditions were built outside the town.

These shacks are difficult to shelter from wind and rain, and there are no toilets. People live together and defecate everywhere.If it weren't for the cold weather, it would immediately be a hotbed of infectious diseases.

Zhou Qingfeng is forming a 'miscellaneous army' with a murderous spirit, planning to take thousands of people out to eat big families - there are really tens of thousands of people in the town. It can't be overwhelmed.

"I don't know which turtle grandson is secretly agitating, saying that Xinhua Town is giving out porridge, and you can save your life when you come to the town. All the bankrupt farmers in the entire Songjiang Prefecture are running towards us, and the total number is tens of thousands."

Once the tens of thousands of starving people are incited, the newly built fence and wall in Xinhua Town will not be able to stop them. The 'Holy Light' team will have nothing to do but run for their lives.

The military team is planning to lure this group of hungry people to other places. At this moment, all benevolence and morality have to be put aside, and the only thing to do is to ensure that one's own side survives.

Just when Zhou Qingfeng was about to lead the team to set off, Master Qin entered the town wharf in a small boat.Seeing that the cheapest wooden spears were being distributed in the town, he went to Xiao Jinlang in shock, "Boss Xiao, why is this? Didn't we agree not to use weapons?"

Xiao Jinlang couldn't sing red faces any more, and shouted viciously: "If you don't bring food, we can only go and grab it. The first one to grab is Songjiang Fucheng in Huating County."

"Don't, don't, Chief Xiao calm down, don't." Hearing that the rebels were going out to rob, Master Qin turned pale.He waved his hands and comforted him repeatedly, "The food is here, it's really here."

"Where is the food?"

"The watermill and waterwheel built by your ministry are excellent. Even the magistrate has seen it himself, and he is full of praise. But the masters of the city have to discuss for a few days, and the transportation of food is not immediately available, so delayed.

Now there are twelve grain transport ships on the way, with a total of two thousand shi of rice, waiting to be checked by Chief Xiao.A dozen households of officials and gentry are also willing to try, using the hydraulic mills and waterwheels of your ministry. "

Two thousand shi is about 130 tons, and this amount of food will not last long.

Xiao Jinlang's expression remained unchanged, and he said sharply: "Not enough, at least [-] shi. Some of you were behind the agitation and attracted tens of thousands of refugees to our place. There is not enough food, so we still have to go out and grab it."

Master Qin was very troubled by this, he knew that Xiao Jinlang was telling the truth.The refugees outside Xinhua Town did not come here randomly, and there must be officials and gentry who have lost their interests to make trouble behind their backs.

"Chief Xiao, two thousand shi of grain will arrive tomorrow, please restrain the refugees for another half a month. I will go back immediately and ask the magistrate to open a warehouse to release some grain for relief."

Master Qin left as soon as he came, and took a look at the hydraulic sawmill. The sawn wood was cut into sticks, and then planed into pointed wooden spears on a woodworking lathe.

The gear box is driven by hydraulic power, so that the wood fixed by the fixture rotates at high speed on the lathe, and the tool steel tool is slightly touched upwards, and the wood chips fly randomly. One can be made in 2 minutes.

This is still an apprentice's poor craftsmanship, and the speed is considered slow, but it is ten times faster than manual work.

The skinny refugees grabbed a wooden spear after eating a bowl of hot porridge.Five people in one team, five in one team, five in one sentry, quickly formed an army.

Zhou Qingfeng treats the refugees like a demon king in the world, asking them to be quiet, patient, and obedient, and those who disobey will die.

The simple and rude command brought about a moment of calm, but the whole Xinhua Town was like a volcano before it erupted.Once unsatisfied, it either self-destructs or becomes aggressive.

Seeing that the Xinhua rebels were commanding well and advancing and retreating freely, Master Qin trembled all over, and his soul was out of his wits.He left Xinhua Town eagerly, let the boatman row the oar desperately, and returned to Fucheng as if fleeing for his life.

The next day, two thousand shi of grain appeared at the newly built wharf in Xinhua Town as scheduled.Zhou Qingfeng led a team of [-] refugees, easily occupied Qinglong Town, and announced military control over the town.

The wealthy households in the town had fled long ago, and all the spare houses were used to house women and children.Zhou Qingfeng only rests for one or two hours a day, working like a machine.

Facts have proved that this uncle is not incapable of doing management work.

No matter whether you are a refugee or a gentry, you don't quite understand how firecrackers kill people, but seeing Xinhua's leader Zhou can swing a stone lock weighing more than 100 kilograms for play, it's like seeing the mighty king of Chu.

Is that human being?