Lin Yinan picked it up and took a sip. At first, it tasted like grass juice, followed by a refreshing and sweet flavor.

"It tastes good, doesn't it?" Yun Er asked smugly.

The sugarcane grows like a bamboo shoot, which is very hard to chew; if you have bad teeth, you can't bite it off.

Lin Yinan finished drinking and put down the cup. "The taste is refreshing, it's really good. Is your manual juicer very tiring?"

Yun Er frowned. They were martial artists, and this issue was not even within their scope of consideration.

He gestured with his hand, "Just use a little more force."

Upon hearing this, the crowd was not very optimistic about the machine he had made.

Now that there are people harvesting sugarcane, Lin Yinan inquired about the construction progress at the No. 3 Sugar Refining Factory.

"Have the sugar carts been installed at the sugar factory yet?"

When the sugarcane was almost ripe, Lin Yinan chose a secluded spot in the city and built a sugar mill.

"It's all set up. Uncle Qingxiang is leading the team to do the final adjustments, making some minor modifications to the original design. Trial production can begin tomorrow," Yun Er said.

The sugar cart was made by Yun Er based on the diagrams in the "Tiangong Kaiwu" (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature). It required oxen or horses to pull it. The sugar cart was installed in the large courtyard of the sugar factory, where there was ample space.

Lin Yinan looked at Pan Qingfeng, "How are the personnel arrangements at the sugar factory going?"

"We selected about twenty people, and we've been training them these past two days, explaining the operating procedures and some precautions," Pan Qingfeng said.

Lin Yinan made a mental note of this and decided to go to the sugar factory the next day.

"If there's nothing else, you should go as soon as possible."

Lin Yiheng stood up and said, "Then Qingfeng and I will go and register them now."

Lin Fu cleverly began tidying up the account books on the table.

As the group arrived at the city gate, the villagers spontaneously gathered around them.

A young man helped an elderly man step forward shakily and respectfully asked, "Sir, how can we settle down in Longtan?"

After setting up the table and chairs, Pan Qingfeng and Lin Yiheng exchanged a glance.

Pan Qingfeng then cleared his throat and said loudly, "There is a village at the junction of Longtan and Xihe that is uninhabited. If you wish to stay, you must register. According to our new regulations in Longtan, anyone who settles in Longtan this year will be exempt from taxes for two years."

After hearing this, everyone felt reassured; it was indeed the same information they had gathered.

Having a clear understanding of the situation in Xihe, he felt a sense of worry, thinking, "Isn't the village located too close to Xihe County? There are Japanese pirates there."

“Yes, yes, it sounds really scary,” a villager chimed in.

Lin Yiheng smiled and waved to everyone, signaling them to quiet down, and the crowd all looked at him.

He said slowly, "Don't worry, everyone. We have wiped out all the Japanese pirates in Xihe County. Currently, our Longtan Guard is guarding the area, and there are still many people in Xihe who are farming."

"Didn't they say that everyone in Xihe County was killed?" a villager exclaimed.

Lin Yiheng: "They hid, but after we wiped out the Japanese pirates, they came back again."

His words put the villagers at ease.

"I heard you can also sell rice seeds on credit?" a villager asked cautiously.

They had originally planned to beg, so they didn't leave any seeds. Now they can start cultivating again, but they haven't even found rice seeds for next year yet.

Lin Yiheng smiled gently, his eyes as warm as a spring breeze, and patiently answered the villagers' questions, "Yes, we also have professional technicians to guide rice planting."

"No need, we all know how to grow rice, no need for you to teach us," the villager behind immediately said loudly.

"But our city lord invented a new method of rice cultivation that can yield 200 jin per mu. Don't you want to learn it?" Lin Yiheng asked rhetorically.

Upon hearing this, the villagers looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Really? I've been growing rice all my life, and the highest yield I've ever achieved was only 150 jin per mu."

"What method can produce so much grain?"

"Could it be a lie?"

"..."

Lin Yiheng pointed to the rice paddies on both sides of the official road, "Those are the rice grown using the new method. There's still some left to harvest. Send a few fast-moving people to check each rice stalk and you'll see if I'm lying."

Several young people immediately stepped out from the group of villagers and ran towards the golden rice paddies.

Half an hour later, the young man who went out to check returned.

"How is it? How is it?"

One of the young men, panting, said, "Uncle, really, we pinched them carefully, and only about 10% of each rice ear was empty."

"And their rice-threshing machine is very strange. You put the rice stalks in, step on it a few times, and the grains come off," another young man said.

Lin Yiheng said with a smile, "That is also a foot-operated rice threshing machine invented by our city lord, Da Chang. Every village will have one when harvesting rice, and you can rent it then."

"Good! Good! Good!" the old man said three times in a row. He turned to the villagers behind him and said, "We want to stay."

So everyone took out their household registration documents and wanted to register with them.

Pan Qingfeng clapped his hands and said, "There is one more thing I want to announce. We need to hire people to harvest the sugarcane we planted. They will provide two meals a day and pay twenty copper coins for each day. If any young or strong people are willing to do it, they can register separately."

Not only do you get food, but you also get paid. Only a fool wouldn't want to do it!

This was like a windfall for them.

Besides the elderly and young children, even women enthusiastically signed up.

Lin Yiheng and Pan Qingfeng quickly registered the household registration information of all the people, and everyone received a new identity card.

A woman hesitated before tentatively asking Lin Yiheng, "Sir, I only have an elderly mother and a child under five years old at home. Could we bring them to the construction site as well?"

Fearing that others might misunderstand and think her family was taking advantage of her, the woman hurriedly explained, "Sir, please don't misunderstand, they don't eat with us workers."

Lin Yiheng looked at the expectant eyes behind him and said gently, "As long as it doesn't affect your normal work during the day, it's fine. When you build the shacks, just make them bigger."

The woman quickly waved her hand, "No need to trouble yourself, they don't need to sleep in the shacks."

After all, when they were begging in Nanzhou Prefecture, they would just find a dilapidated house or a remote street corner, spread out a mat, lie down, and close their eyes for another day.

"The weather is getting colder, and it's easy to get sick if you sleep outdoors."

The man pulled the woman back from speaking, saying, "We'll do as the adults say."

The young man who had just gone to the rice paddy to check on the rice ears came over and stared at Lin Fu, who was packing his things.

Lin Fu felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, so he asked, "Is there anything else?"

The young man scratched his head. "Sir, are you still hiring?"

Lin Fu craned his neck to look up at the official road, "Is anyone still missing?"

The young man blushed and didn't know how to speak for a moment, but the villagers immediately understood who he was talking about.