I traveled through time, starting with two acres of land and a dog

Currently, the three traditional iron smelting plants, Wuyin and Banqiao, produce pig iron that cannot be used to make machetes and bayonets as they lack toughness and hardness. They mix some purchased iron materials and use them to make farm tools and building materials. Except for some for their own use, most of the rest is sold out. This is also their only profitable industry at present, with a monthly net income of more than 3 oceans.

In order to unify management and exchange technology, he called together the technical masters from the three places in Lijiahe to exchange ironmaking experience, and recalled Tang Zhihao to unify the establishment of steel, machinery, and textile enterprises, register them in the county, and gradually move towards formalization. Hu Laowu was no longer responsible for the production of these places, but only for the construction and sales of the Baizhang base and intelligence collection. Tang Zhihao's affairs in Taoyuan and Nanzheng were handed over to Song Qingmei and Wang Zhu for assistance.

After Tang Zhihao arrived, he set up technical training classes according to the preliminary plan he gave, hired old masters as teachers, recruited some educated young people as apprentices and technicians, unified management and salary system, and implemented an assembly line and two or three shift work system.

The biggest problem at present is that there is no coal in these three places. They can only use the charcoal from the ironwood trees in the mountains as fuel for the secondary and tertiary refining of crude iron. In this way, the temperature in the furnace is not high enough. Therefore, it is decided that part of the crude iron will be operated in Baizhang Base next year, using coke for primary refining to improve the quality of pig iron.

In one month, more than 1000 yuan was spent. Under Tang Zhihao's unified organization, the efficiency, management and treatment of each ironworks were significantly improved, especially the new blast furnace in Lijiahe. For the development of heavy industry, he had no new actions and tasks for a month. He stayed in Banqiao and Lijiahe ironworks, watching them refine a piece of iron ore into crude iron. There was no rain from August to September. The temperature outside was about 8 degrees every day, and the temperature inside the ironworks was at least 9-35 degrees. The workers were allowed to rest for an hour and a half in the afternoon. These skilled workers must be cherished, because they will be the seeds of their development in the future.

The iron factory's affairs are back on track, but there is no sign of easing of the drought. At present, the situation in the mountainous areas of Banqiao and Lijiahe is not particularly serious, but the river valley areas, as well as Wuyin and Linshui are expected to see a reduction in production of more than one-third, especially peanuts. In some places in Shangliang area, the harvest has already been completely lost.

Faced with the severe drought, they also temporarily stopped external expansion. The most urgent thing was to stabilize the internal situation. However, Hu Laosi added more than 300 people to the area around Yanzi and Maliushubao, so the total population of the area under their control was close to 5000.

At the beginning of September, the opium poppy harvest in the area also began. Except for the special service team and the guard team, all the teams were involved in drought resistance, grain harvesting, and opium harvesting. Opium poppy was the main source of their military expenditure. All poppies were planted by the military, and the people were forbidden to plant them. Those who had already planted them were charged 9% of the opium tax.

According to Huang Kunyang's statistics, 30 mu of Youfangba has been harvested. Chenjiawan, Lanhua, Baihuabao, and Lijiahe are rushing to harvest a total of more than 100 mu of opium. It is expected that the total harvest will be more than 3500 taels of opium. According to this year's price, 1 tael of opium is equal to 1 yuan, which is also 3500 yuan, the largest harvest at present. This is a huge profit. This is why the local warlords in the Republic of China almost all relied on opium to feed the army, because almost all land taxes were handed over, and only by growing poppies could they have financial resources.

Banqiao Township has a population of about 1500 people. This year, the tax revenue is more than 5000 yuan, and the per capita tax revenue is close to 4 yuan, which is double that of last year. So far, more than 1 yuan has been handed over to the county. It must be handed over after the autumn harvest, otherwise it will have to accept the punishment of the garrison and the joint defense brigade.

In mid-September, they transported the first batch of opium to Hanzhong for sale, earning 9 oceans. Then they issued a lump sum allowance to all teams, 800 oceans per person in the people's protection team and 2 ocean per person in the reserve team. After all the subsidies were distributed, a total of 1 oceans were spent.

After the poppies are harvested, the corn harvest begins. Generally speaking, the corn yield has dropped by one third this year. The yield of newly reclaimed corn is more than one stone per mu, which is only about 200 kilograms. The "nutrition bag" transplanted corn promoted on the cultivated land still yields more than 300 kilograms per mu. The tax on each mu of cultivated land is more than 3%, and the tenants have to pay 5-6% to the landlord. With a 2-3% reduction in production this year, what will ordinary tenants have left? Next year will definitely be a year of great famine.

Of course, he has no plans to increase taxes on the people in their jurisdiction this year. The harvest from opium and the iron factory is basically enough to feed the troops, and the rent from landlords cannot exceed 4% this year.

In late September, the county sent tax collection documents one after another. Even Li Jiahe received tax documents from the county forwarded by Chongqing Township. The meaning was simple: anyone who resisted taxes would be directly attacked. In the era when the imperial power did not extend to the countryside, the county and above did not really care who ruled the people. No matter if you were a bandit or a family power, as long as you paid taxes on time, you were an obedient citizen. Resisting taxes was a rebellion and must be annihilated.

Du Chenyu returned to Lijiahe from Banqiao, and was at a loss what to do with the tax documents. Should he pay it or not? The price to pay would be at least 3000 oceans. If he didn't pay, there was a regiment of more than 1 troops stationed in Jizhou County, and the joint defense brigade also had several hundred people, which was beyond their ability to resist.

There is no choice but to hold a meeting to discuss it.

On September 9, he convened a meeting at the Lijiahe base. The three chiefs of Xuetangping, Lijiahe and Guihua served as reserve team leaders, and other squad leaders including Xue Chen, Huang Kunyang, He Chaowu, Zhou Kui and Tang Zhihao attended the meeting.

Xue Chen was presiding over the meeting. He didn't want to talk, so he just sat there and listened.

Xue Chen distributed the tax documents to everyone for review, and then asked everyone what to do, whether to pay or not.

No one spoke. They looked at each other and then at him.

"Don't look at me, I can't hold it either," he said.

"No one can tell me, I will tell you first, we won the Lijiahe area after a battle with the villagers, they don't hate us, we paid taxes, they even sued us for not paying, what should we do?" Xue Chen asked.

"Then don't hand it over. We can defeat you once and we can defeat you twice. What are you afraid of!" Zhou Kui is now in high spirits and is nourished by love. He speaks toughly and in a rough voice.

"It would be easy for the county to send 4 to 500 people to wipe us out, and we would have no choice but to run away," He Chaowu said.

Several village chiefs also spoke, and basically all of them agreed to pay taxes. Paying taxes for farming is only natural, and the people are now grateful to them. Without additional tax increases, with a unified land rent cap and the abolition of usury, everyone is willing to pay.

"To be on the safe side, we can't pay too much at one time. We have to pay it in installments, which means we are constantly collecting the debt," Tang Zhihao said finally.

After everyone finished speaking, they continued to look at him. To be honest, his original intention was to resist the tax to the end. He estimated that at least 50 team members would be sacrificed, and he was half-hearted. At the cost of 50 people, he defeated 500 people. The Du family suffered heavy losses, and the enemy suffered a painless defeat. It was meaningless.

"Then prepare to contact the Chongqing Township. We are ready to pay taxes. The tax transfer documents must be clear. We will send people to transport it to the county and pay 500 yuan each time," he concluded.

Other recent military training has also been arranged. It is planned to establish the 10th team in October and garrison in Lijiahe. The team leader will be Feng Ping temporarily and the deputy team leader will be Cao Zhong.

With the tax issue resolved, a major war was avoided, and their small team once again enjoyed safe growth.

On October 10, he received news from the south that Yu Yuedong had a batch of arms that would be shipped back from Hanzhong, which was expected to contain important weapons. The steward Wang Shouyi would escort it personally, and there would be more than 1 militiamen escorting it.

Yu Yuedong, the biggest threat to them, is finally going to have the time to fight him. In recent years, he has been in friction with the Red Light Cult. There has been no major battles, but there have been constant minor frictions. With a light machine gun in his hand, he can move sideways. If they continue to have heavy weapons, they will have to weigh their own strength.

"Notify He Chaowu to assemble the team, cook now, and the special service team and the guard team should get ready to set off," he said to Lei Jianqin.

In order to deal with unexpected situations, he ordered Huang Kunyang to arrange two teams to garrison Linshui's hometown to prevent Yu Yuedong from making desperate moves. This time, he was prepared to do a big thing and have a head-on confrontation with this tiger, Yu Yuedong.