After all, making money outside isn't easy.

Ordinary brown rice costs about 8 wen per jin, but the refined rice distributed by the county magistrate...

Forget selling it for 18 coins, even if you put it out there for 20 coins, someone would still buy it. It's just too good to be true.

Reluctant to cook rice, they used some to make porridge. The porridge was fragrant and delicious, a taste they had never had in their lives.

Since you can get rice for working, it means that there are free grain seeds to receive when clearing land, which must be true.

And what about the cows? When did the government start allowing them to be bought on credit?

No matter how much the people suffered, they still paid no less in poll tax and grain tax.

Now that the county magistrate can give cattle to everyone on credit, let the people use them first and pay back later, what's there to be afraid of?

If we can't pay back the money, we can just sell the cow.

Can't we still pay off the debt? We've been using the ox for free for three years, where else can we find such a good deal?

People who don't want to be fools are starting to call their children who work away from home back to their hometowns.

Regarding the issue of cattle, Zhao Minggeng and Zhao Qingyan did some calculations and found that the county's population is currently 3,500.

If we calculate by household, there are fewer than 800 households in total.

In other words, they have prepared 800 cows, which is more than enough.

This time, more than 1,300 cattle were driven over from the north.

There are over 300 breeding cattle, and the rest are mostly calves, around one or two years old. They're perfectly capable of working.

Although these cattle were just beef cattle for the Zhao family, they were invaluable helpers for the common people.

In about half a month, Zhao Minggeng had recruited all the pottery workers.

We've almost found all the people who will plant trees on the mountain.

However, not many people came to the county government office to collect the seeds.

The reason is simple: they've all gone to earn money, and they're not really in a hurry to clear land and plant crops.

As for the seeds and the cow, they didn't see them anyway.

Zhao Qingyan returned to Lingbei County and drove more than 100 cattle to Hongling County.

There's no room to raise too many here.

Although there is grass on the red soil mountain, to be honest, the vegetation is not abundant.

Especially those cattle, they don't seem to like eating the grass in Hongling Mountain. In Lingbei County, we have tried to let the cattle eat grass cut from various places.

The common people always trust their own eyes the most. Now that they have seen a herd of cattle, they finally believe what the magistrate said.

Writing letters was inconvenient, so they simply went out to find people. In less than a week, the population of Hongling County had increased to ten thousand.

Having connections makes things easier; a month later, more than 300 households came to collect sweet potatoes.

Although these sweet potato seeds are currently being distributed free of charge,

However, there were conditions: after the harvest, if you received 100 jin of sweet potato seeds, you had to return 200 jin of fresh sweet potatoes as a reward.

Of course, the government also stipulated that the yield per mu must exceed 1,000 jin, and if it does not exceed 1,000 jin, no payment will be made.

At the same time, it was also agreed that sweet potatoes must be planted according to the methods provided by the government.

This matter will be supervised and guided by designated personnel from the government.

The people were even happier. The government was so dedicated and the yield was so high. They would be happy to receive an extra 200 jin, let alone an extra 100 jin.

They really wanted to eat real grains, so they ate nothing but vegetable leaves all day long, until they were all green and succulent.

He was sallow-skinned and skinny, looking like a ghost.

During this period, ordinary people have visibly gained some weight and don't look so scary anymore.

This was all thanks to the three kilograms of rice per person.

The ceramic kiln was successfully built, and recently a considerable number of earthenware bowls, tiles, and jars have been fired.

These initial experimental products were sold cheaply to the people in the county, at a truly symbolic price.

The mountain has been planted with tung trees, citrus trees, and bamboo.

As for building terraced fields, we'll take it slow, there's no rush, we don't have enough manpower.

There was nothing that could be done about it, but what pleased Zhao Minggeng was that the people of Hongling County were gradually migrating back.

Putting aside other things, the number of households that have recently come to the government office to buy cattle on credit has reached as many as two hundred.

What does this mean? It means that at least 2,000 acres of wasteland have been cleared.

With agriculture, people's livelihoods were secured.

Everything Zhao Minggeng is doing now is being carried out in the name of the government. Of course, the money he advances will be repaid from the government's accounts in the future.

The emperor, far away in the capital, was delighted by the secret report from the street inspectors. He said that placing his nephew and the Zhao family in this remote area was a pleasant surprise for him.

Immediately, he thought of the other members of the Zhao family.

Fortunately, Rong Fuhai was a calm person who dissuaded the emperor from his idea.

"Your Majesty, this old servant has heard that the richest member of the Zhao family is the owner of Huicui Pavilion; the others are not as wealthy."

With just that one sentence, the Emperor remembered the information relayed back by the son during his investigation.

Even the fact that Wang Huaijing and his wife were able to establish themselves in Mogao County was thanks to the money given to them by Zhao Qingyan.

Well, if we had really mobilized other people, we might not have achieved the same results.

Let the rest of the Zhao family first transform those impoverished areas.

"Tsk tsk tsk, that's quite a generous gesture."

Without Dong Sheng's wife's financial support, they might not have achieved the results they have today.

Three years from now, I imagine my Hongling County and Lingbei County will have become two prosperous counties.

If we transfer them then, who will get the better deal?

Rong Fuhai remained silent, letting the Emperor figure it out himself.

If they keep messing around like this, I'm afraid the father-in-law and son-in-law will quit.

Why are people so busy? It's all for a stable and comfortable life.

Rong Fuhai silently complained to himself.

The emperor, looking at the numbers in the secret report, praised himself for his wisdom and prowess.

The operation in Lingbei County is also going very well. The terraced tea plantations are all completed.

Various precious fungi on the mountain have also been cultivated in large quantities.

At the same time, Zhao Minggeng and Xu Dongsheng decided to dig a tunnel through Hongling Mountain between the two counties.

As for digging up the mountain, how to use up the excess red soil on the mountain to make pottery, bricks, and tiles.

They planned the routes on both sides and found the lowest part of the mountain to carry out the mining.

Of course, you can't just dig a big hole straight down the middle. That would easily cause a landslide.

They planned to use the method of the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains to carve a gap in the mountain.

They dug while simultaneously planting trees and grass on the mountain.

To prevent landslides, observe the site conditions.

After all, they had no idea what was going on down the mountain. In any case, they had at least three years to develop this Red Ridge Mountain.

While Zhao Minggeng and his son-in-law were busy working on poverty alleviation and wealth creation, Zhao Changgeng and his son were doing an excellent job in afforestation.

As spring begins, each county town has expanded its desert by about a hundred acres.

Surprisingly, after planting trees to stabilize the sand, cacti and succulents actually took root more easily.