Chapter 110 Ready to go
A few days later, it started to drizzle near Nanxiang County.

This rainy day is cloudy and is expected to last for several days.

Black Bear suspected that various typhoons were beginning to exert their influence, but unfortunately this kind of rainfall could alleviate the drought in the Central Plains.

For Hebei, it depends on whether the typhoon is strong enough and whether it can rush into the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea area.

In the rain, the entire Nanxiang County area fell into silence.

No one likes to get caught in the rain, and Black Bear is unwilling to force soldiers and civilians to work in the rain.

In addition to the craftsmen who worked in their huts to forge iron and repair equipment and armor, there were also some craftsmen who brought their family members and apprentices to weave bamboo and rattan half-body armor, round shields and rattan helmets.

The rattan helmet has a great heat dissipation effect. This half-covered helmet woven from a composite material of bamboo and rattan is very light and has good protection against both blunt and sharp weapon attacks.

There were also some migrant households who polished bamboo slips in their homes. Under the food supply and distribution system, the bamboo slips they polished could be exchanged for five-zhu coins.

Once you have the Wuzhu coins, if you need anything, you can go to the Nanxiang market and buy it.

On the top of Nanxiang City, the chief clerk Yin Chun held an umbrella and looked into the distance, and saw the outlines of various camps on the other side of the Xishui River looming.

There were only a few patrol officers wearing straw hats and raincoats, and no other people in sight.

Yesterday, the banks of the Xishui River in the east of Nanxiang were crowded with people, and the banks of the Danshui River in the southwest of Nanxiang were also crowded with people.

Since the troubled times, he had never seen such a bustling scene near Nanxiang County.

Population concentration brings about commercial activity.

Even the mountain people of Jingshan brought their mountain specialties to Nanxiang to sell, including the skins of black and white auspicious beasts.

Yin Chun watched as a cart appeared in the corridor of the city gate and gradually moved away in the mud.

The three dead bodies of wounded soldiers on the cart were wrapped in newly woven straw mats, and a dozen soldiers wearing straw raincoats took turns pushing the cart.

After thinking for a while, Yin Chun turned around and went down the tower, put away his umbrella and got into the carriage: "Let's go see General Huya."

Inside a hut, a hanging iron helmet was burning in a fire pit surrounded by stones on the ground.

The soup was boiling inside the helmet. Song Wu was sitting cross-legged beside it, fiddling with the newly distributed white rice with his index finger, picking out the broken rice husks that could not be sieved out, or the whole rice grains.

The rice grains rolled into the boiling water in the helmet. Song Wu fiddled with the firewood pile again, then took a few steps back and lay shoulder to shoulder with Heiyun, and they lay on their backs against a bundle of hay.

Two people stood close together, covering themselves with a roll of straw mat.

The eleven people in the hut all wore newly distributed loose uniforms, made of fine linen and very durable.

A rough black stamp was stamped on the back of the uniforms, which became more and more standardized as the camp grew in size.

Not only them, the uniforms have also been distributed to the young and strong people in the civilian households.

Even women from civilian households would be temporarily given uniforms when they were assigned to work.

Livery uniforms were common in the army and they were used to it.

Perhaps only the people of Nanxiang and Jingzhou are not used to it, as if the city of Nanxiang is surrounded.

Among them, Xu Ding was dozing with his eyes closed. Hearing the footsteps getting closer outside, he opened his eyes and looked at the door.

The straw curtain was lifted, and the soldier in charge of them poked his head in and looked around. Seeing that everyone was there, he said, "Three wounded soldiers are missing in the city. They need to dig their graves. You should follow me."

The wounded soldiers were all housed in sturdy houses inside Nanxiang City, better than most people outside the city.

We also sent people to take care of him day and night, and the food was good.

But there are deaths every day, and the wounded soldiers themselves and the soldiers outside the city have become accustomed to this kind of thing.

Especially for the Qingzhou soldiers, if they could be taken care of like this for a month before dying from injury, there would be nothing to complain about after death.

It was obvious that Xu Ding was the leader among these eleven people. He stood up and asked curiously, "Why are there suddenly three missing?"

Logically speaking, the number of wounded soldiers dying would decrease, and during this period, those with the lowest status were responsible for digging the graves.

Their status is lower than that of Cai’s captives.

Unless they capture other prisoners in the next battle, they will not care about the eleven people at the lowest level of the military pyramid.

Among these eleven people, the ones with the lowest status are Song Wu and Hei Yun.

Even among Xu Ding and these nine people, they can be divided into different levels based on their past official positions.

As long as there are two people, there will inevitably be a distinction between high and low, core and non-core.

"I heard that my colleagues visited the wounded and bought some mountain products from Jingman. Two of them died this morning from eating them."

The soldier paused and looked at the hanging iron helmet: "You should eat first, then come with me to dig the grave."

Xu Ding bowed, sent the other person away, and then went back to lie down near the fire pit.

The vehicle of Yin Chun, the chief clerk of Nanxiang, drove slowly past their small camp. The driver was wearing a straw raincoat and a hat as he drove in the rain.

The road under the wheels is a gravel surface with normal drainage and a relatively flat surface.

Therefore, the rotation of the wheels creates white splashes of water instead of mud.

The ox cart gradually arrived at the Xishui floating bridge. Due to rainfall in the upstream mountainous area, the surface of the Xishui River rose by two feet and the width of the river spread to fifty or sixty feet.

But this is far from the limit of Xishui River. The military camps on both sides still have more than ten feet of space away from the current river bank.

Over the years, mountain torrents have flowed into the Xishui River, and no matter how hard they wash, there is a limit.

As long as you stay away from riverbeds and mudflats, you can avoid floods.

At this moment, the floating bridge made of connected boats was swaying left and right and up and down. Yin Chun did not dare to be careless, so he got off the car and walked with an umbrella. Yushou also got off the car and led the way holding the cow rope.

Two or three miles downstream from here is the estuary where the Xishui River merges into the Danshui River.

The warships and eight large transport ships anchored downstream of the estuary were gradually lifted up by the rising river water.

Yin Chun turned around and saw a large ship swaying with the waves, and knew that the time was ripe to march into Wuguan.

It is not yet the time for heavy autumn rain to cause flooding. After this summer rain, there will be no more such rainy weather in the short term.

This means that in the short term, there will be sufficient water in Dan, and the water transport can operate stably.

Yin Chun was about to look away when he vaguely saw a fleet approaching downstream.

This made him look a few more times, and he kept walking and quickly crossed the floating bridge. At the mouth of the river, upstream of the Danshui River, there were various hundred-household residences where people from both sides gathered.

Xuan Liang wore a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat and personally led the team to distribute today's rations to every hundred households.

After completing the household census, the daily food consumption of each hundred households is fixed.

Xuan Liang was just supervising, watching as the quota of food was distributed to the centurions, all of whom were old people from the fleet.

In terms of personal affiliation, the centurions were Black Bear's followers, and the common people were slaves of the Cai family who became Black Bear's slaves after being transferred.

In terms of the degree of closeness between each other, the civilians are the private property of Black Bear, while the followers are merely personal dependents.

In other words, anyone who bullies these new residents is destroying Black Bear's private property.

They are too close to the black bear now, and Xuan Liang and Liu Ye are patrolling all the time, so no fight has occurred yet.

After all, the Qingzhou soldiers were training on the east bank of the Xishui River, and no one dared to cause trouble.

Not only will the main Cao Yuan of General Huya's Mansion come to inspect, but the military doctor Li Feng who is in charge of health will also bring a group of Taoists and young Taoists to inspect each camp.

If there is an illness, we will diagnose and prescribe medicine, or give extra food rations. If there is no illness, we will treat it and focus on hygiene work.

Li Feng is now back to his original job and has to find something to do when he has nothing else to do.

Only by doing more things can you become familiar with the people and select those who are interested in Taoism to be recruited as Taoist children.

Taoist organizations in various places have their own set of operating rules for governing believers, selecting activists from among them, and then absorbing them to strengthen their own organizations.

For example, Taoist merits can be divided into three types: merit, virtue, and conduct. Responding to group activities such as sacrifices is to accumulate a small conduct.

Small deeds accumulate into big deeds, and then accumulate into virtue and merit. People who have made merit should naturally be entrusted with important tasks, worship ghosts and gods, and recruited as like-minded people.

Li Feng, who came from Laozi Temple, quickly merged with Guo Tai, the chief priest of Taiping Dao.

Believing in Laozi and believing in Huang Taiyi do not conflict at this moment. Each is the embodiment of Tao, one body with many faces, and there is no essential conflict.

Taoists naturally have advantages in medical treatment and soothing people's hearts.

Only beliefs and ideals can eliminate the barriers caused by different regions and accents.

However, the Taoists lacked a common language with the old men on the fleet, and went deep into the civilian population to develop believers, which naturally put them in opposition to the centurions who were served by the old men on the fleet.

As if they were in competition, Xuan Liang led people to distribute food, and right behind him came Li Feng and his group who came to treat illnesses and preach.

During this period, there were also patrol soldiers under the command of Tiger Tooth Military Advisor Liu Ye, who were responsible for inspecting various places.

At this moment, military advisor Liu Ye was sitting in the hall on the first floor of the suspended wooden building, drinking ginger tea comfortably, holding the black pottery bowl in his hands, his hands were warm and his eyelids drooped.

At the top, the black bear picked out a slice of ginger and put it in his mouth, chewing it into crumbs, then swallowed it in one gulp and took a sip of tea.

Then he lowered his head to look at the bamboo slips on the desk, which had seriously hampered his office efficiency.

But there was no way. Jingzhou could make paper, and he was willing to buy it, but the amount of paper circulating on the market was always limited.

We will not be able to produce usable paper in Guanzhong until the spring of next year at the earliest.

Next to the bamboo slips on the table was a recently made abacus. Black Bear pressed his right hand on the abacus and made crisp tapping sounds.

The abacus beads are made of golden nanmu wood, and they make crisp and continuous sounds when struck.

Black Bear typed almost blindly, checking the numbers on the bamboo slips.

"We need to save food. If it still rains tomorrow, each person, except children and the injured, will be given one liter of food less."

The population has increased, and if we reduce it by one liter, we can save more than 240 shi of grain tomorrow.

Black Bear stopped using the abacus and started writing on the paper with a pen.

Liu Ye would not object. He put down his tea bowl and said, "Master Qu, Jingzhou is a land of rice and fish. Why don't you discuss with Yi Jibo and reclaim the abandoned fields on the east bank of the Dan River and plant winter wheat?"

He was well prepared. He took out a roll of paper and came to Black Bear, spreading it on the table. "These are all abandoned fields of the big families in Yin County. Commander Qu borrowed them for a few years and then returned them to the Yin family. During this period, our army can settle some of the civilians and let them cultivate the land to make up for the shortage of food and fodder. And the big families in Yin County have turned their wasteland into cultivated land, which will also be convenient for recruiting tenants in the future."

Liu Ye pointed to several large paddy fields marked on the paper and said, "If we can benefit from it, Liu Zhennan will see that we are self-sufficient in food and fodder, and he will not restrict the big families in Jingnan from selling food."

The black bear lowered his brows and carefully observed the data above, referring to his own understanding and memory of the surrounding terrain.

I couldn't help but nod my head slightly, a little puzzled: "Are the big families in Yin County willing to give it up? Aren't you afraid that in a few years, this field will be owned by the black family?"

These people would rather leave the fertile land that their ancestors acquired go to waste than rent it out to the poor at low prices.

If the land policy remains unchanged, the abandoned fields around cities will often have owners.

I would rather leave the land to grow grass and feed cattle and sheep than let you farm. If you dare to farm, I will beat you to death.

There is also the possibility of Liu Biao launching a grain embargo. As long as he has sufficient grain production, Liu Biao will not go to extremes.

If our side is obsessed with eating up Jingzhou's grain, then don't blame Liu Biao for making a fuss about grain.

Liu Ye's considerations were very forward-looking. By allocating a part of the people to reclaim wasteland, they would be able to harvest wheat in the summer and rice in the autumn next year. Together with various beans, the grain output would be considerable.

Liu Ye replied: "Yin Chun, the chief clerk of Nanxiang, also made great efforts to promote this matter. He is willing to lobby his fellow tribesmen. I have invited him to meet with the commander. I wonder what the commander thinks."

In the future, we will definitely continue to absorb population from Jingzhou. These people can stay here to help with farming before going to Guanzhong.

Black Bear nodded: "I don't object to this kind of thing. If it can be done, that's the best. If it can't be done, there's no need to force them."

"I don't understand. Why is Yin Chun so proactive? What is he planning?"

In response, Liu Ye just smiled and said: "The Yin clan is large, and everyone has their own ambitions."

The Yin family is a big family in Nanyang. The land occupied by a big family is not just occupied by one family or a few brothers.

But it's the entire clan. One has hundreds of acres, another has nearly a thousand acres. The land occupied by dozens or hundreds of clansmen together is very considerable.

In years of disaster, people of the same clan support each other and avoid bankruptcy or annexation.

Therefore, the wealthy families in various places developed slowly in this way, and during the development process, each generation would divide the family property among their children.

This resulted in the land of the wealthy families falling into the hands of their own clansmen in more fragmented pieces. Taking into account the various complex in-law relationships and servants of each family, wealthy families were formed in this way.

　Tomorrow morning's work may be delayed for a while, so continue coding slowly.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)