Long Xiang made a thorough investigation of Hefei and found that there were countless things to do, but he suffered from the small population in the city.

In that era, population was an absolute dividend.

Cao Xing had no experience as a clerk for the first time. Although Long Xiang's statistical requirements were very simple, he still spent three days sorting through them before reluctantly submitting a bamboo slip to his desk.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Long Xiang nodded in affirmation, picked up the bamboo slip and looked through it. Hefei's household registration information was engraved on it.

'There are 915 households in the city, with a total of 3,342 people; 1,174 young men, 315 of whom are soldiers; and 960 adult women.

There are 61,208 people, old, weak and young; 17 carpenters and eight masons...'

After reading the data on the bamboo slips, Long Xiang immediately started calculating in his mind.

Excluding the 315 soldiers, there are less than 2,000 adult men and women who can work. The more than 1,200 old and young people can probably only do light things at home.

Seeing that Long Xiang looked away from the bamboo slips and did not speak, Cao Xing asked in a low voice:

"Sima, are these statistics okay? This is my first time doing paperwork..."

Long Xiang came to his senses and nodded in affirmation: "As long as the data is accurate, there will be no problem. This kind of statistics will be done every year in the future, and the content will be more detailed. It will be very helpful for governance."

"I will try my best..."

Cao Xing responded calmly, thinking that he shouldn't have said anything in the first place.

Although paperwork is effortless, it is not friendly to the brain. If Long Xiang were to ask for more complicated tasks, he would probably scratch his head.

Long Xiang didn't notice Cao's expression, so he called Feng Zhong and asked: "Uncle Zhong, I went to the granary yesterday and found that the quantity was quite considerable. Do you know the specific number?"

"About 93,000 hu of dendrobium remain."

Feng Zhong stroked his beard calmly. He paid special attention to that batch of grain and would count it when nothing happened. He knew the specific figures clearly.

Long Xiang exclaimed: "There are so many left?"

Feng Zhong confidently answered: "I haven't worked much this year, so I have strict control over the rations. As the saying goes, a steady stream of water will flow."

"Ninety-three thousand dendrobium...three thousand three hundred and forty-two..."

"I made an estimate last night. If we keep the current staff and expenses, we can save enough to last ten years, and if we have enough, we can last eight or nine years..."

"hiss..."

Long Xiang took a breath of cold air and thought that if he could survive like this for ten years, he would probably have to fight the Battle of Red Cliff.

At that time, Liu Bei was in his prime. Unfortunately, Hefei's strategic location was too important, and neither Cao Cao nor Sun Quan would allow themselves to survive.

Farming and urban defense are like engineering construction. If you want to advance the progress of the project, you can only continue to add people on the premise of ensuring sufficient funds.

Long Xiang closed the bamboo slips and said to Feng Zhong beside him: "Uncle Zhong, it is planned to start sowing in spring. You will organize all the young people in the city tomorrow. We must complete the reclamation and land reclamation before the year."

"That's great. Everyone has been waiting for this day for a long time. I will make arrangements right away."

Feng Zhong said this and turned around to leave.

There are many things going on in Hefei, and Long Xiang plans to start with the most important thing, food and grass.

As the saying goes, you have to eat one bite at a time. Whenever a team comes to the construction site, the progress will always advance little by little.

Shishui flows into Chaohu Lake from northwest to southeast. There are fertile lands on both sides. However, there are only two thousand men and women in the city who can cultivate, so the fields that can be cultivated are also limited.

In order to centralize the management of the farmland, Long Xiang located the farmland in the south of Hefei. At the same time, he closed the east gate of Hefei and opened the south gate to save time in and out of the city for work.

While the people were weeding and reclaiming wasteland, Long Xiang ordered Tang Hui and his soldiers to dredge the river. The silt cleared from the river was just used for spring plowing and composting.

Cao Xing, who has no statistical tasks for the time being, is responsible for commanding the cavalry and keeping watch around Hefei.

From the moment Long Xiang asked the people to go out to work in the city, it was destined to expose the fact that there were people in Hefei, so he showed caution from the beginning.

From now on, whenever the people work together, Hefei's cavalry will stand guard nearby. Once thieves or troops are discovered, Long Xiang will arrange for the people to evacuate into the city.

Longxiang now has enough food, but what it lacks is the population to build Hefei.

It took more than a month for Feng Zhong to lead the young people in the city to cultivate more than 500 hectares of fertile farmland.

Because the daily rations have increased during the work period, I want to continue to eat well, so I still want to work to achieve the predetermined goal.

It was already late winter, and the cold wind in the suburbs was biting my face.

Tang Wei had stopped the work of dredging the river, but Qing Zhuang, who was reclaiming the wasteland, was still very motivated. They asked Long Xiang for instructions through Feng Zhong, saying that they would continue to work.

Long Xiang was very surprised after hearing this. He thought to himself that you have been idle for a year, is this an explosion?

Even if the harvest of five hundred hectares of fertile land is mediocre, it can not only ensure the people's annual expenses, but also generate a surplus. Once the harvest is good, it will be enough for several years.

If the people of Hefei continue to cultivate land, Long Xiang believes that they can complete it, but their bodies will be exhausted. After all, there will be 996,007 "good fortune" in future generations, and there will be many cases of death from overwork.

Long Xiang objected to exhausting the lake for fishing, but Feng Zhong had no idea. He saw that the enthusiasm of the people was not diminished, and they were still asking for instructions: "Yun Qi, look..."

Long Xiang grabbed a handful of soil and squeezed it. He suddenly thought of the earthen kilns in the city and thought to himself, since you like to work so much, I will find something for you to do. Otherwise, you will be too busy after spring plowing.

"Uncle Zhong, five hundred hectares is enough. Since everyone's enthusiasm continues, I really have something to do here."

"What's the matter?" Feng Zhong was delighted.

Long Xiang pointed to the northeast, "The soil there has less sand content and is very suitable for firing kilns and making bricks. So I asked everyone to collect the soil and transport it back to the city. They will wait until the next year's agricultural slack to make bricks. It is estimated that they can be sent in the summer."

Fire it in the kiln."

"Burning bricks? What are they used for?" Feng Zhong scratched his head in confusion.

Long Xiang explained: "Of course it is for building houses. Now everyone lives in scattered places. When there are more people in the future, it will be even more chaotic. It will be difficult for Master Cao to keep statistics. I plan to clear an open space in the city and build new buildings in a planned and standardized manner."

A group of houses.”

Feng Zhong frowned and said: "Yunqi wants to build them new houses? Most of the people living in rammed earth houses now. Although your idea is good, I'm afraid no one in the city knows how to use bricks..."

"I will."

Long Xiang said in his heart that that was my major. He blurted it out without even thinking about it, but he immediately regretted it.

"You? How is that possible?" Feng Zhong looked unbelieving.

Long Xiang chuckled: "My nephew is really good at..."

Feng Zhong asked: "Who did you learn it from?"

"Well... I have often had strange dreams in the past two years. In my dreams, someone taught me how to read and write, and someone taught me how to bake bricks and build houses. Otherwise, how could my nephew know so much?"

Long Xiang couldn't tell the truth and could only deceive him by pretending to be in a dream.

hiss...

Feng Zhongxu stroked his beard with his eyes and thought that strange people have had strange encounters since ancient times. Could it be that Yun Qi is also a strange person?

Thinking of his experiences in the past two years, Feng Zhong gradually recognized Long Xiang's statement.

"Since it is a dream entrusted to you by a god, Uncle Zhong will naturally listen to you."
Chapter completed!