Chapter 012 Back to Niujiaodune ()

If these 3 million mu of land can be effectively cultivated, with the superior climate and irrigation conditions of the Ningxia Plain, the yield of 2 shi per mu will definitely not be small. Individual fields can even reach a yield of 3 shi per mu. Calculated based on the three ripening years, the annual grain output is at least 9 million shi.

00,000 stones, this is a very huge number. According to the calculation of 1 stone equals 188.8 jin, that is nearly 1.7 billion jin of grain. 170 million jin! Not 170,000 jin! It should be noted that during the Jiajing period, the imperial court only provided money and grain for Ningxia Town a year to only 400,000 jin. By the early Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng was in charge of the government, and this number once rose to 900,000 jin. By the late Wanli period, there was no 400,000 jin.

Under normal circumstances, an adult consumes up to 3 stones (about 566 kilograms) of food a year. In other words, this field can feed at least 3 million people. Now Ningxia Town is about 1 million people at most. What does this mean? This means that Ningxia Town can absorb more people and recruit more labor.

If there are more people, there will be more troops and more output. Perhaps others have no idea. Anyway, Xu Xingxia feels that if the fields in Ningxia Town are fully utilized, they can make a big fuss when there is a severe drought in Shaanxi in the future. Why are there so many refugees in Shaanxi? Isn’t it because there is no way to survive? If they are all attracted to Ningxia to farm, they will definitely not participate in the rebellion.

According to later research, during the entire Little Ice Age, due to the influence of the special geographical environment, the climate of the Ningxia Plain did not change much, and the fields were harvested almost every year. The south of the Yangtze River was not a false reputation. No matter how dry the north was, the water flow of the Yellow River was enough to attract irrigation and could never be exhausted.

Li Zicheng lacked strategic vision at that time, and did not calm down and steadily developed the Ningxia Plain. Otherwise, based on the Ningxia Plain, it could have been supported for a period of time. The Qing Dynasty was very smart. After occupying Shanxi, they immediately sent troops to Ningxia to control this treasure land first.

In fact, this only refers to the plains, not including the Helan Mountain pasture. The best thing about the Helan Mountain pasture is in the northern section. There is no problem with stocking tens of thousands of horses, cattle, and sheep. The beach sheep produced in Helan Mountain are famous throughout the country. The fur made of the wool of the beach sheep is a must-have for famous ladies and is worth a thousand gold.

If we want to calculate the grassland area of ​​the entire Ningxia Town, it would be amazing. In the later Ningxia ** Autonomous Region, there were about 40 million mu of grasslands, of which more than 70% were high-quality grasslands. This was when the environment in later generations was severely damaged. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the environment had not been damaged, and the area of ​​the grassland would only be larger.

Xu Xingxia is not sure how many livestock can be grazed in a 100 million acre of pasture, but I think it will definitely not be less. Among the population of Weizhenbao, Hepinglu City, there are many people who rely on grazing for a living, and they have never heard of the lack of grassland. The only thing they are worried about is that they are plundered by Tatar cavalry during the grazing process.

This is just the situation in Ningxia Town, and does not include the middle and back covers. If the middle and back covers are used, the development of the animal husbandry industry will reach a level, and even Xu Xingxia himself cannot accurately estimate it. However, it is certain that no matter who occupy these places, there will be no lack of war horses. In other words, there will be no lack of cavalry. If there are war horses, there will be cavalry naturally.

I couldn't help but think of Li Rusong's words, and Xu Xingxia couldn't help but have some longing. If one day he had the opportunity to become the general of Ningxia Town, he would definitely strive to build an elite cavalry, change the current passive situation of being beaten, launch an active attack, and drive all the nomadic peoples to the north of the desert, so that they will never dare to go south.

Well, I'm fantasizing...

Soon, the Niujiao Dun was in sight.

Niujiao Dun is a beacon trough with a height of more than ten meters. It is square, and the length of each side is about five meters. The surface of the beacon trough is made of red bricks, and the middle of the red bricks is filled with solid loess. Since some of the red bricks have fallen off, the yellow mud inside is poured out and piled up into a pool at the root of the pier wall. If you don’t look at it from a distance, you will find that Niujiao Dun is actually very fragile.

Of course, this fragility is relative to the attacking ability of the Central Plains army. For Tatar cavalry without siege weapons, even if it is just a compact loess wall, it is difficult for them to overcome. It is said that the Tartar arrows are very vicious and fatal to shoot on human bodies, but if they are used to shoot loess, it is a pure waste. Moreover, there is a layer of red bricks outside the loess.

Outside the Niujiao Dun, there is a circle of trench without water, with a depth of about five feet and a width of about one trench. The trench and the pier gate are connected by a suspension bridge. What is the function of the trench without water? No one knows. Anyway, since he replaced his father as a member of Niujiao Dun, the trench that Xu Xingxia saw was like this. Perhaps it was to make the war horses of the Tatar cavalry not close to the pier wall so easily.

Usually, the pier gate of Niujiao Dun is closed and the suspension bridge is also pulled up. This is to prevent the Tatar cavalry from sneak attacks. In Ningxia Town, there was an accident in which traitors colluded with Tatar cavalry to open the castle gate and lead the Tatar cavalry into the fort. From then on, all castles were very strict in guarding the fort gate. Only by believing in the identity of the visitor would the suspension bridge be lowered.

"I'm back!"

"Open the door!"

Standing in front of the suspension bridge, Xu Xingxia shouted loudly.

A dark red felt hat was poked out from the top of the pier wall, and half of the head was exposed under the felt hat, looking cautious. Seeing that it was Xu Xingxia, the rest of the head was exposed. He smiled and said, "Oh, our Miss Xu is back! Huh, Miss Xu, have you brought us some delicious food?"

Because Xu Xingxia was cowardly and had poor combat skills, she was so weak that she seemed to be the legendary lady of a noble family. Everyone in the Dun called him Miss Xu in person. Perhaps, Xu Xingxia had resisted before and tried to remove this title, but failed. So, the name Miss Xu became his nickname.

Xu Xingxia glared at the cold-talking guy on the pier wall, but didn't say anything. The guy on the pier wall was named Huang Fei. Apart from changing his ruthlessness and being slick, there was no other place to provoke Xu Xingxia. Of course, if there was a chance, Xu Xingxia wouldn't mind, breaking his front teeth and giving him a slight lesson.

Huang Fei was immediately shut up when Xu Xingxia glared at this. Subconsciously, he felt that Xu Xingxia today was a little different. The other party's eyes were not as helpless and innocent as before. On the contrary, it seemed a little sharp and a little gloomy. In the idea that it was better to have less than more things, he shrank all the words he later mocked Xu Xingxia. At the same time, he quickly put down the suspension bridge.

"Oh! Our Miss Xu is back!"

Suddenly, another sharp sound came from the pier wall.

With this sharp sound, a tall and thin soldier appeared on the wall. The mandarin duck battle jacket on his body seemed to have been specially cleaned, much tidy than Huang Fei next to him. Even the hat on his head was specially repaired. However, his face was a little pale, as if he was a little weak.

Xu Xingxia's fist immediately subconsciously clenched. This voice was exactly the one from his enemy Liu Jinbiao. When he came back this time, the first thing he wanted was Liu Jinbiao's trouble. He took a breath quietly and slowly let go of his clenched fist. The opportunity to take revenge is right in front of him, why bother to worry? There is time in a while.

Seeing Xu Xingxia's ridicule of him and without any reaction, Liu Jinbiao suddenly felt a little unhappy. Usually, he would play with Xu Xingxia as his hobby and fun. The more intense Xu Xingxia's resistance was, the stronger his pleasure would be. If the object of being played with had no reaction at all, where would his fun come from?

"Squeak!"

In the sharp and harsh sound, the suspension bridge was put down.

Xu Xingxia steadily entered Niujiao Dun. Everything here is still so familiar. There are three floors in Niujiao Dun, all separated by wooden boards. Each floor is a middle aisle, separated by two sides, living in or placing items. A turn-back staircase made of wood is at the end of the aisle. Because the space is narrow and the air is not circulating, as long as you enter the pier, a suffocating odor will come to your face.

On the east side of the lowermost floor is the stable, which contains three war horses. The Niujiao Dun is equipped with three war horses, which belong to the General Banner Chen Hai, the Little Banner Gaofeng, and the Little Banner Zhang Quanfu. On the west side, there is a storage room with many messy things piled up, including various weapons and equipment that are not available for the time being. Clean buckets and the like are also on the west side.

According to the rules, every soldier cleaned the clean buckets in Niujiao Dun. However, after Xu Xingxia arrived, he was bullied by others and the clean buckets were all thrown to him. He had no choice but to follow up the work. It can be said that what he is most familiar with in Niujiao Dun is the west side of the lower level.
Chapter completed!