Seeing Lü Tu's shocked expression, Xiao Zhong naturally understood that Lü Tu had grasped the meaning behind his words, and secretly marveled that he had indeed followed the right person.
Lu Tu was not only skilled in both literature and martial arts, but also had a knowledge far beyond that of ordinary people. He was nothing like the ordinary people living in Wuchuan in that era. You should know that even in Longcheng there was no large area of land for planting rice. You had to go further south to find it.
But Lü Tu actually knew that this land was suitable for growing rice just by looking at the sticky soil. Xiao Zhong felt more and more that Lü Tu was definitely not simple!
Xiao Zhong summoned several hundred villagers, who picked up the hoes they had brought earlier, and began digging up a large area of land along the shore of Xisha Lake.
Lu Tu followed behind him the whole time. Every time he dug a spot, he was overjoyed. He could never have too much grain!
The Central Plains and Jiangnan are known as the land of fish and rice because of rice. Even the climate of the Hetao region, due to its alluvial plains, allows for rice cultivation.
Although he currently has a lot of sweet potatoes, even after sweet potatoes are planted on a large scale, there will still be a drawback.
That is, if sweet potatoes are used as a staple food for a long time, people will feel very uncomfortable, and heartburn, stomach problems and so on will occur.
Staple foods are always tasteless on their own and contain a lot of carbohydrates; the most widely consumed are wheat and rice.
The northern region is very suitable for wheat cultivation, but grafting technology is not yet available, so yields have remained low, which is something that Lu Tu cannot change in the short term.
If Lu Tu's conjecture comes true, and if rice can be grown on the vast lands around here, then Lu Tu is confident that he can transform this place into a unique land of fish and rice in Wuchuan, a Jiangnan in the North!
In a perfect scenario, one could even follow the common practice of the previous life and plant mulberry trees on both sides of the rice paddies, except that the variety of mulberry trees must be cold-resistant.
Raising poultry like ducks and geese in the rice paddies enriches everyone's meals, especially those of Lu Tu and others, since he can't guarantee that everyone will have meat to eat.
After two hours of digging, Lü Tu was surprised to find that the nearly 200 acres of flat land along the shore of Xisha Lake was almost entirely suitable for growing rice!
Previously, 200 mu of land was given to Lü Tu as a reward, and later another 500 mu were added, for a total of 700 mu of land. Lü Tu could choose any of it at will.
So what if it exceeds the land granted as a reward? Anyway, the entire Wuchuan region is full of land abandoned due to war, and no one is cultivating it. Lu Tu can just take it and cultivate it; there's no need to even report it.
What Wuchuan lacks most right now is land, not people!
Now, with a large influx of refugees, Lü Tu believes that as long as the land is allocated to them to cultivate, given the diligence of the people of the Dayu Dynasty, no one would be foolish enough to refuse.
After the inspection, Lü Tu called Xiao Zhong and headed back, instructing him, "Tomorrow, you and Liu Hu should go to Wuchuan together. Spring planting is just around the corner, so we should go and buy some good seeds."
Xiao Zhong was also thrilled by this major discovery, and couldn't hide his smile as he said, "Yes, sir, I can almost see a bountiful harvest!"
Back home, Lü Tu ate dinner and went to bed. He had been busy these days and didn't fight with Song Yuxi and Nangong Huiyu anymore.
The next morning, Xiao Zhong and Liu Hu set off for Wuchuan with several oxcarts, Xiao Zhong sitting on one of them.
Lu Tu currently has 7,000 taels of silver, and gave Xiao Zhong 1,000 taels to buy various seeds, especially rice seeds. These should be very rare in Wuchuan, and even if they are available, they are sold by merchants from other places, so the price is naturally expensive.
No matter how expensive it was, he had to buy it. He even wanted to buy rice seeds from several different regions so he could try crossbreeding them later.
But he had something more important to do right now: to surround and wipe out the White Lotus Sect members, based on the list of their gathering places that Yun Tian had sent him.
This was a benefit given to him by Yun Tian, and he had to take it as soon as possible. He had already delayed for quite some time, all so that Yun Tian wouldn't think he was too eager for quick success.
Sometimes, excessive ambition can arouse the murderous intent of others.
Lu Tu summoned Nie Yun and Liu Hong, selected 200 soldiers, and left more than 100 to guard the village, especially at the Gubeifeng Pass.
They headed towards the nearest White Lotus Sect stronghold, a journey of over 40 li that took them a whole morning to reach. After all, they didn't have many cavalry; most of their troops were infantry, which caused the delay.
Lu Tu secretly made up his mind that his biggest goal this year was to build an elite cavalry force!
The number of people doesn't need to be large, even three or five hundred would be enough, but they must be the elite of the elite. Whenever the two sides clash, this cavalry force of several hundred men can pierce through the enemy's formation like a sharp knife!
Historically, most battles where a smaller force defeated a larger one used this method, but such cavalry was extremely costly and time-consuming.
However, Lu Tu has plenty of time now. Even though war is raging all over the Great Yu Dynasty, with refugees and rebel armies everywhere, Lu Tu doesn't need to rush.
Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how bad the Great Yu Dynasty is under the incompetent rule of its new emperor, it is still not something that the rebel army can contend with.
Based on Lü Tu's experience from history books, there have been very few successful peasant uprisings throughout history, and it is absolutely impossible for someone to succeed as the first to start an uprising!
Looking at the topographical map sent by Yun Tian, this place is called Sunjia Pass, which was a gathering place for the government troops in the early years.
However, more than a decade ago, after suffering a large-scale massacre by the Wuhuan soldiers, the border troops originally stationed here were either killed or wounded, and Wuchuan Prefecture simply abandoned the place.
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