In February of the 12th year of Chongzhen, the northwest of the Ming Dynasty was still in the cold spring season. The cold north wind and the humid and warm south wind did not give in to each other. They chased and fought on this vast field. From a distance, tender green appeared between the fields and the mountains.

No matter how cruel the cold is, spring is coming.

On the field outside Qilibao, Weihu County, Pingliang Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, Li Bao, who was over 40 years old, squatted on the ridge of his own field with his hands wrapped around his knees, staring at the green wheat fields.

The warm sun at noon on the cloth jacket made him feel particularly warm and comfortable. The net towels with his hair were washed and damaged. A pair of soapy cloth shoes were each covered with a patch, and the blue cloth pants still looked 70 to 80% new.

Li Bao's household registration was originally Yanchang County, Yan'an Prefecture. In the ninth year of Chongzhen, with the order of Sun Chuanting, then the governor of Shaanxi, countless farmers in northern Shaanxi were moved to Pingliang Prefecture, and began a vigorous production movement to repair houses, open up land and expand land, and build water conservancy.

Although Li Bao was reluctant to leave the land where his ancestors lived for generations, he knew in his heart that the great men of the government placed them in Pingliang Mansion to make them live.

If you still stay in your hometown, you will either become a thief and embark on the road of rebellion and lose your head, or follow the brigade of refugees to move around, and eventually turn into dead bones on the roadside.

The abnormal weather since the second year of Chongzhen did not improve at all. The already arid northern Shaanxi area has become less and less rain, and rivers are gradually cut off. Only the dry and cracked riverbed is still showing the world that this was once a clear water vein.

The increasingly severe drought swept across northern Shaanxi. By the end of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the wells in most villages showed signs of drying, and drinking water for people and animals became a problem, let alone crops in the fields.

Just as the farmers became increasingly desperate and many people had already escaped, Sun Chuanting and Bodhisattva Sun came.

The subsequent scene was that, with the life-saving rations sent by the government, countless Li Bao and others moved to Pingliang Mansion one after another during the nine years of Chongzhen.

Before he knew it, it has been four years since he moved to Qili Fort. The huge changes that have taken place in the past four years still make Li Bao recall it, but he still feels like a dream.

There were about 200 farmers in northern Shaanxi who moved to Qilibao with Li Bao's family and more than 800. After experiencing the first year, they expanded new houses on the basis of the original Qilibao, and worked hard to open up land and expand the fields in their spare time. After all, everyone finally barely settled down. With the increasing completeness of various infrastructures, life has improved rapidly since the tenth year of Chongzhen.

In the tenth year of Chongzhen, Li Bao's family of young and old, who had just settled down, received two iron shovels, a hoe, an iron plow and a wooden rake from the government. After working day and night after the beginning of spring, 30 acres of land were reclaimed in just two months.

Although I missed the spring plowing and planting of the year, I still rushed to plant a crop of soybeans. Although it was a raw land, there was a harvest of more than ten stones during the autumn harvest. The harvested soybeans were all collected by a commercial bank that was said to have an official background at the market price, and the money to be paid was converted into grain and given to Li Bao's family at one time.

Li Bao was shocked by this kind of benevolent and righteous act that he had never seen or heard of.

He heard the government send people to preach everywhere, saying that it was the emperor's grandfather who issued an order that all newly opened land would not be taxed for three years, and the tax was reduced by half in the next three years. Usually, the government sent people to ship bags of grain and rice to the village regularly, and then according to the number of new yellow books, each household was taken home for life. The charity of the government's men has made everyone grateful, and this business acts can do anything about the government?

Don’t businessmen make more money? Why do they become so kind?

More than ten stones of soybeans were actually converted into five stones of grain. When Li Bao and his wife brought the two kids and a daughter from the family to carry the grain home, the family surrounded the piles of grain like a hill, and their eyes and expressions on their faces looked incredible.

Li Bao, who had lived for most of his life, couldn't believe that so much food belonged to his own family and he didn't have to pay a grain of rice to the government.

This more than 700 kilograms of grain rice are enough to survive the cold winter and spring, and when summer comes, it will be enough to save food after the summer grain is harvested.

After harvesting soybeans, the officials and the officials raised wheat seeds based on the number of newly reclaimed fields in each family. All the winter wheat in each household has been planted. After the planting of soybeans in Li Bao's fields for a season, the summer grains in the next year should have a very good harvest.

Yes, the harvest will be quite good.

When they were facing one point, Li Baoquan's family believed it without doubt.

Countless deep wells have been dug in the large fields, and water trucks with feet were also placed at the wellhead. Li Bao and his wife stepped on the wooden pedals of the water truck barefoot and happily stepped on them, then lowered their heads to watch the clear well water being brought to the ground by the tube-shaped wood, and then slowly poured into the wheat fields at home. This scene made Li Bao wake up from laughing in his sleep.

Everything was as Li Bao predicted. Although God rarely rained and snowed from winter to late spring and early summer, due to the emergence of water wells and water trucks, the entire Pingliang Prefecture's new farmland achieved a bumper harvest in the tenth year of Chongzhen.

This year, after planting winter wheat, Li Bao was not idle. He and his family once again opened twenty acres of barren fields, and the farming method would be the same as before. He first planted a crop of soybeans, and then planted wheat and corn when the ground capacity was fertile enough.

During the summer harvest in the tenth year of Chongzhen, Li Bao's family harvested more than 20 stones of grain. After threshing and drying, nearly 3,000 kilograms of wheat were transported home.

To this end, Li Bao also specially built a small house as a granary, and went to the county town to buy an iron lock, locking the granary door firmly, and putting the key in the most secret place in the house. Li Bao had to open this small granary several times a day to go in and see if there were any signs of rat biting.

The great harvest of Chongzhen in the tenth year was a scene that Li Bao would never forget for life, and he would still enjoy it until many years later.

Because of his lifetime, Li Baohe's family finally opened his stomach and ate a full meal. Because he was too full, the eldest son, who was already sixteen, could not be dissolved and his abdomen was bloated. Li Bao and his aunt walked around the yard for half a night, and it was not until the chicken cried out in the dawn that the eldest son's belly returned to its original state.

This is also a shame for happiness that the eldest son cannot hide throughout his life. After many years, he is often mentioned by his family. However, as the person involved, he always smiles silly.

Li Baoda looked at the green and shiny wheat seedlings and smiled silently. The softness in his heart made him feel the urge to roll in the wheat field.

Seeing that it was another bumper harvest, the granary was probably not able to hold so much food, so I had to build another larger and higher granary immediately.

The eldest son is eighteen years old, and after Xia Cheng, he has to build a house and marry his wife.

I was poor and I only married my wife in my twenties. Now my family has food, so I have to choose my mother and mother for my eldest son.

I heard from the village chief that another group of refugees were going to settle in Qilibao. This was a good opportunity. I had to choose a handsome daughter-in-law from the poor who moved here.
Chapter completed!