Chapter 75 While taking care of the child with Liu Qingyue…
While Liu Qingyue was taking care of the children, sweet potatoes had already been promoted to the south.
Qin Ren's fiefdom is not very suitable for growing sweet potatoes, because sweet potatoes do not need much rain in their later stages of growth.
Too much rain can actually cause the stems and leaves to grow too well, which can lead to poor development of sweet potato tubers.
Sweet potatoes are not suitable for growing here, so there is no need to spend too much manpower to promote them.
They currently have two main tasks: first, to start promoting the planting of rubber trees; and second, to be busy building roads between various counties.
Once the road is repaired, commerce and trade will develop, and then we can establish post stations.
The post station can not only boost commerce, but also solve many local employment problems.
Since the post stations needed manpower, including messengers and deliverymen, the profession of bodyguards could also be developed.
The population of these counties is not very large.
With rubber trees, cement roads, and rest stops, the local people had plenty of work to do.
At this time, due to low commercial taxes, low land taxes, and many jobs available, the fiefdom had already attracted many people from the surrounding areas.
Population has always been the primary and fundamental condition for development.
Especially in ancient times, when everything relied on human labor, the importance of population was even greater.
Since Qin Ren arrived in his fiefdom, nearly a thousand new people have come to live in several counties.
A thousand people is a very small number in modern times.
However, in ancient times, a population of a thousand would be enough for a small town, so this number should not be underestimated.
Now that the emperor has issued a decree to build roads, the entire city of Yongzhou is working on road construction.
Qin Ren also led the people of his fiefdom to build roads. They not only provided food and money for road construction, but also exempted their families from corvée labor.
In Da Yong, tasks such as road construction, city wall repair, and palace building were all considered corvée labor.
Corvée labor is a form of unpaid, forced labor.
For example, when roads are being built across the country, the government can forcibly conscript people into performing corvée labor.
Qin Ren was also considered to be performing corvée labor, but he was not only given food but also money.
Although this money may not seem like much, it is much better than performing unpaid corvée labor.
Therefore, the people in Qinren were much more enthusiastic about road construction than those in other places.
Some families who are poor will come here with their whole family to repair the road.
They could get food for repairing roads, and the government would also pay them wages.
Some people who couldn't survive actually managed to live thanks to this forced labor.
Qin Ren's fiefdom only consisted of a few counties, and the main roads they built were the main roads in those counties.
Because of the high level of enthusiasm among the local people, many of them brought their entire families to help with the road construction, and they completed the road construction in October of the second half of the year.
Just then, the weather turned cold, and some poor people made a little money in the past six months thanks to the road construction, so they could finally have a good New Year.
With the road repaired, planting rubber trees doesn't require much manpower.
After Qin Ren had some free time, he began to lead the waterworks to study the great river in his fiefdom.
A large river flows through Qin Ren's fiefdom, traversing two of its counties.
According to local residents, sometimes the river even breaches its banks when the rainfall is too heavy.
Qin Ren was lucky; there wasn't much rain in their area last year and this year, so the river seemed to be quite calm.
However, the mild conditions of the past two years do not mean that they will continue to be the same in the future.
Qin Ren thought about how he lived here, and how there were so many people here.
In case... the river breaches its banks, it will be his crops that drown, and the ordinary people of his fiefdom who will suffer casualties.
Being mindful of potential dangers even in times of peace, Qin Ren still felt it was best to first take people to understand the situation, and then use modern knowledge to modify the river embankment to see if it could prevent the river from breaching its banks.
Qin Ren didn't know much about geography and geology, so he could only explore the surrounding area on foot. Afterwards, based on what he saw, he would return to the modern world and seek help from some influential figures to come up with a solution.
Because Qin Ren paid him a lot of money, he actually found a big shot in the modern world.
Based on the information and maps provided by Qin Ren, the expert suggested several methods for modifying the river channel and embankments.
In ancient times, with limited technology, large-scale projects like river channel modification were not feasible, so the only option was to modify the river embankments.
However, even modifying the river embankment is a major project.
Qin Ren didn't have that much silver, so he had no choice but to ask the emperor for it.
However, they didn't give it to him immediately, mainly because this river wasn't just in Qin Ren's fiefdom.
The river spans such a vast distance that even the entire treasury of the Yongzhou capital couldn't support the need to rebuild the riverbanks.
Besides, this river was only recently repaired.
Even if the emperor wanted to make repairs, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works might not agree.
So after the matter was reported, the emperor did not give Qin Ren a reply, and Qin Ren had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being.
In the winter of that year, Da Yong clashed again with Lin Ke in the north.
Fortunately, the Marquis of Zhenbei and his Zhenbei Army were stationed on the northern border, so there were no large-scale casualties.
In the latter part of the same month, a minor incident also occurred on Qin Ren's side.
Qin Ren's fiefdom is located in the southeast of Da Yong, which is also the border region of Da Yong.
Further south is the South China Sea, and there is a small island nation on the other side of the South China Sea.
This small country likes to plunder everywhere, like an annoying thief.
Sometimes, they would sneak ashore and harass the residents of Dayong who lived by the sea.
Late one night in late November, a small team of thieves, numbering less than twenty, landed on the shore of an abandoned village in the South China Sea.
They raided a nearby village, stealing its food, women, and boys.
Qin Ren was furious when he learned of this, because this small country gave him a sense of déjà vu, as if he were seeing the shadow of a certain country.
Even without this sense of déjà vu, Qin Ren would still find this unbearable.
In an effort to attract people, he reduced both commercial taxes and land taxes.
After finally managing to accumulate a small population, the women and men of the fiefdom were snatched away by a small island nation.
This is not just a population issue, but also a matter of national honor and face.
Although he was just a lowly Marquis of Sweet Potatoes and his martial prowess was inferior to that of the Marquis of Zhenbei, he was not someone to be trifled with.
Qin Ren went back to the modern world and brought back two things.
The first item was a composite bow.
This composite bow is more powerful than ordinary bows and arrows.
Even a woman with little strength can exert great power.
The second is a blueprint, which is a structural diagram of a common firearm.
Qin Ren had wanted to manufacture firearms for a long time.
However, he was too busy at that time, and he also couldn't find saltpeter, so he didn't rush to make it.
Qin Ren felt extremely disgusted that the people in his fiefdom were now under threat.
He wanted to produce early firearms to deter those petty thieves and prevent them from constantly showing up to annoy people.
Qin Ren handed the Fuhe Bow to Wen Lingzheng, who had many weapon experts on her side.
Furthermore, since there are ready-made composite bows, it is easier for them to conduct research.
Qin Ren felt that if he gave it to Wen Lingzheng, they would be able to make a copy very quickly.
Such composite bows can be given to soldiers on the border.
As for the muskets that Qin Ren wants to research, they cannot be mass-produced on a large scale for the time being, and can only be given to some elite troops to deter the enemy.
Wen Lingzheng handed over the matter of the composite bow to her subordinates and happily followed behind Qin Ren.
What are you holding in your hand?
Qin Ren: "Weapon blueprints."
Wen Lingzheng: "What weapon?"
"Similar to the composite bow I gave you, it's a long-range shooting weapon."
"Then why are there only blueprints? You couldn't even make this thing?"
Qin Ren nodded upon hearing this, "This thing is not easy to make; it requires specific bullets, and it's quite troublesome to make."
When Wen Lingzheng heard him say "troublesome," she knew it must be something good.
He was quite familiar with Qin Ren, and Qin Ren rarely said that something was difficult to make.
Just like tires, such things are extremely difficult for Wen Lingzheng to make.
But Qin Ren did it without hesitation, and it seemed quite easy to do.
Now that Qin Ren said that there was a type of weapon that was very difficult to make, he couldn't help but become even more curious.
"Did you suddenly decide to make weapons because the people in your fiefdom were being harassed?"
"right."
"Then I'll go with you. You can give me anything you need."
Qin Ren's plan to make muskets couldn't be kept secret.
He looked at Wen Lingzheng carefully, then nodded in agreement.
It's good to have Wen Lingzheng come along, so he can have more capable helpers.
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