Zhi Xuan

The hunt ended, and the armies of the two countries set off on the same day.

Amid the sound of desolate horns, the soldiers marched out of the camp, and the servants and slaves quickly put away the tents, tied them up with hemp ropes, and stacked them neatly on wooden carts.

The Marquis of Xiyuan and Marquis of Bei'an boarded the chariot, and the officials of the two countries drove behind them, leading the soldiers to defend the monarch.

Zhixuan's chariot was on the right side of Marquis Xiyuan, half a car behind.Such a distance allows him to clearly see Bei An Hou and Gong Zi Hao on the opposite side.

The witches of the two countries appeared again.

The fire was ignited in front of the two armies, and the firewood and hay were swallowed by the flames in just a moment.Thick smoke rose into the sky, straight up, as if about to rush into the clouds.

A gust of wind blew, the smoke column began to tilt, and the smoke drifted towards Xi Yuanhou.

Zhi Xuan originally thought it would be very pungent, but unexpectedly discovered that there was a faint scent in the fireworks, which seemed a little familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

At this time, several witches threw a large amount of chopped hay into the fire, and the flame was brighter, and the fragrance became more intense.

Witnessing the whole process, Zhi Xuan decided to talk to some witches after returning home.

In ancient times, doctors and witches did not separate families. Although witch doctors are somewhat declining now, after all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse.When it comes to identifying herbs, they may not be inferior to Doctor Sang, and they may even surprise him.

Zhi Xuan's gaze was too hot, and all the witches in the arena noticed it, and couldn't help but feel a chill on the back of their necks.However, being in the ceremony, there can be no mistakes, so I can only resist the chill and continue to bite the bullet and complete the blessing.

The ceremony ended, and the fire just happened to burn out.

The firewood pile, nearly two meters high, collapsed and turned into a large amount of black coke scattered on the grass, still smoking.

There is a sweet smell in the air, which lingers for a long time.

The shamans of the two countries retreated one after another, and the horn sounded again. Accompanied by the rumbling drums, the Marquis of Xiyuan and Marquis of Bei'an raised their arms and worshiped each other from a distance, completing the last procedure of the ceremony.

So far, this meeting has just come to an end.

The armies of the two countries set off with the sound of drums and horns, and the drivers skillfully manipulated the reins to turn the horses and pull the chariot around.

The soldiers turned around amidst the sound of orders, and their footsteps were chaotic for a while, but they were soon driven to unity.

The servants and slaves pushed the loaded carts and drove the herds of cattle and sheep.Rong Di, who was lucky enough to survive, followed at the end of the team, his hands were still tied with ropes, and a black mark appeared on his face, representing which clan they belonged to and which family they became slaves to.

The Bei'an army turned to the east, while the Xiyuan army headed west.

Compared with the previous time, there were many more trophies and slaves in the team, and it was inevitable to delay in the transfer. When the front army walked out of the suburbs, the Rong Di and the sheep in the rear had not yet traveled a hundred meters.

Zhixuan's chariot followed the monarch's chariot, and 120 soldiers belonging to him guarded the chariot. There were also servants and slaves carrying trophies, including those belonging to Zhixuan and those obtained by the soldiers through military exploits.

Along the way, the sight is no longer covered with white snow, but green and full of vitality.

Beside a small mound not far away, several marmots stood upright, wary of this huge team.

Not far from the marmots, a group of deer are grazing leisurely.Hearing the alarm sound from the marmot, he raised his head quickly, and ran away in all directions the next moment.

It turned out to be a few foxes looking for food, their fur was mottled due to moulting. At the moment, they were lowering their heads, carefully searching for hiding voles and hares.

Zhi Xuan sat in the car, watching all this with great interest.

The vibrant land in front of me is completely different from the empty and desolate winter, it is completely different.

In the afternoon, light rain fell from the sky, and the wind became a little cold.The army marched in the rain, neither Marquis Xiyuan nor Doctor Qing had any intention of stopping to rest.

The road was muddy with rain, and the wheels of a car got stuck in the mud. The driver waved the reins, and the slave pushed hard behind the car to push the car out of the mud hole.The vehicles following behind became more and more careful, so a similar situation did not happen.

Zhi Xuan leaned in the car, with the soft and thick animal skin under his body, listening to the sound of the pattering rain, he felt a little drowsy.

Feeling sleepy, Zhi Xuan yawned twice.

He got up too early today, and he was struggling to complete the ceremony, and he felt relaxed on his way home. The exhaustion and sleepiness surged up together, which almost made him unable to open his eyes.

"Come on."

Enduring drowsiness, Zhixuan summoned a servant and ordered him to pay attention to the cars of Marquis Xiyuan and Miwu Yanghao, and wake him up immediately if something happened.

"Be careful, don't draw attention to yourself." Zhi Xuan said.

"Here!"

The waiter sternly promised, and assigned tasks with several others, each keeping an eye on a car, making sure not to miss every move of the target.

Things were arranged properly, Zhi Xuan put down the car curtain, lay down with a yawn, turned over, put his pillow on the folded animal skin, and soon fell asleep.

The army marched all the way through the vast wilderness, passing through several clan fields on the way. There were slaves digging the soil in the fields and digging deep ditches beside the fields, busy for spring plowing.

As the evening approached, Zhi Xuan finally woke up, opened the curtain of the car and looked around, and found that the army was passing through a forest.Behind the forest land is a large piece of public land belonging to the monarch.

The public land is rewarded by the king to the princes and clans, and the king can also bestow it on the officials.According to its nature, no matter how much the output is, a fixed amount of tax must be paid to the central government every year, that is, "tribute".

In the early years, the tribute must be grain, and five grains are acceptable.

Over time, due to the situation of each vassal state, the requirements for tribute gradually changed, and the grain production was insufficient, which could be replaced by silk, gold and livestock.

Xiyuan Kingdom is located in the northwest, with complex landforms, including plains and forests.The north is connected to the grassland, and the rivers are criss-crossing. The people of the country mainly cultivate, supplemented by animal husbandry.Due to the limitation of production, a part of cattle and sheep are used instead of grain every year, as a tax sent to the middle.

When the first Marquis of Xiyuan was established, everything was in the initial stage because of the new establishment of the country. Even with a large amount of public land, the finances were stretched.After several generations of hard work, the country has what it is today.

In addition to the public land, the monarch and the clan also have a lot of private land.

The private land is mainly reclaimed around the public land, which is privately owned by the monarch and the clan, and does not need to pay tribute to Zhongdu.

However, the tribute of the central capital can be exempted, but the domestic tax is not.

According to the usual practice, the private land of the clan and the people of the country is recorded separately, and the number is verified every three years. Regardless of whether it is newly cultivated or not, taxes must be paid according to the number of acres.If there is concealment, it will be punished with double tax.

The tax laws of the vassal states are similar, with the same central purpose. No matter how much land is produced, the amount of grain paid is fixed, and the amount of cattle and sheep replaced is also fixed.

This kind of regulation is very strict, and the reduction of land production will not be loosened.But if it can increase food production, it is another situation.For example, before one mu produced [-] catties, [-] catties of grain were paid; after increasing productivity, one mu produced [-] catties, and the same [-] catties of grain was paid, and the income more than doubled.

When Zhi Xuan decided to seal it off, he carefully understood the situation of the fief and the grain production in the fief.

There are more than 150 households in Zhidi, plus slaves in the prime of life. In addition to public land, a large number of private land has been reclaimed.It's just that although there are many fields, the yield per mu is not high, mostly around 160 to 180 catties, and rarely more than [-] catties, and even two hundred catties is not even considered.

Based on the current production conditions and horizontal comparison, the yield per mu is not small.But compared with the grain output of later generations, which can easily range from five to six hundred, seven to eight hundred, or even thousands of catties, it can be described as barren.

Seeing the related records for the first time, Zhi Xuan couldn't believe his eyes.

Such a small production is completely unbearable!

If you don't think of a way, not to mention attracting the clan to defect, the people in the territory will not have enough to eat!

Food is the foundation of the people, and food production must be increased anyway.What are the conditions to talk about other things if you can't eat enough? Isn't it a joke?

It rained until late at night.

It was dark, and the torches were lit and extinguished. The army could not advance in the dark, so they had to camp on the spot.

The location of the camp is not very good, there are dense forests nearby, and there are mounds in front of it, where wild animals can easily hide.

The livestock in the team are like bait, attracting hungry predators one after another, even if they are threatened by the light of a knife, they will not leave.

There was the howling of wolves in the darkness, and the terrifying howling of tigers.

Zhi Xuan had enough energy during the day, and couldn't sleep at night, so he simply sat in the car, listening to the roar of wild animals, and thinking about how to manage the fiefdom.

The first step must be to increase food production, which involves the transformation of farm tools, optimization of grain types, irrigation and water diversion, etc. If conditions are ripe, we can continue to vigorously open up wasteland.

In this day and age, there are more beasts than people.

Even if Zhixuan's territory is not too large, there is still a large area of ​​wasteland that can be reclaimed. The only limitations are manpower and tools.

According to what Zhixuan knew, the clans mostly used slaves to plow the fields, not to mention cattle plowing, horse plowing was rare.The plow did not appear, and Leisi was still used to plow the fields.

With such farming conditions, one can imagine how efficient it is.

The people of the country without slaves will hire ordinary people to farm.Once slaves are obtained, some of them will stop hiring and use this free labor instead.

Common people cannot own public land, private land is not included.The vassal states also encouraged common people to reclaim wasteland.

However, with such low productivity, the meager output of Xintian may not be able to feed the whole family.In contrast, they are still more willing to be hired to plant ripe fields.

To sum up all the situations, the development of food production is definitely a top priority.

Zhi Xuan leaned against the wall of the car, half-closed his eyes, tapped his knees with his fingers one after another, gradually taking shape in his mind about how to develop the territory.

It's just that there is a prerequisite for showing his hands and feet, he must leave the western capital smoothly.

Continuing to pretend to be sick is obviously not going to work, and the combat exploits of this meeting gave him inspiration.The low-key came to naught, and he simply went the opposite way, taking advantage of the suspicion of the monarch and the fear of Mi Shi.

Whether the plan can go smoothly requires a key person to promote it.

Thinking of this, Zhi Xuan opened his eyes.

Last time he gave Mrs. Yang a favor, this time he asked the other party for a small favor, and the other party probably would not refuse because of emotion and reason.