Mr. He rushed in from outside and saw the angry patriarch. The words he wanted to say stuck in his throat.

The Zhong family has been having a lot of bad luck lately, and he doesn't really want to get involved.

"Mr. He, is there something you need?" Young Master Zhong asked, sensing that he had something to say.

The head of the Zhong family turned to look at him, "Sir, please speak freely."

"Master, we must reduce the tax revenue next year, otherwise all the people will flee."

"Tell me how to do it?" The Zhong family head was in a state of utter panic.

Mr. He said, "Write a notice and have the officials go to each village to spread it, so as to appease the people."

"This matter will be handled by you, sir," said the head of the Zhong family.

Mr. He received the task and hurriedly went down to get to work.

After watching him walk away, the head of the Zhong family went to the steward and said, "Summon those people from Chi'an County to come see me. Tell them there's a big deal coming up."

The steward knew the problem well and that the blame couldn't be placed on Longtan. He advised, "Sir, it's better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester..."

The head of the Zhong family waved his hand to interrupt him, "If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll really be disrespecting the Zhong family."

Ah San had spent the longest time in Longtan, and he opened his mouth, wanting to say a few words in defense of Longtan.

Feng Shan stopped Ah San with a look and said with deep agreement, "Master is right!"

The Yu family's domineering and tyrannical behavior successfully aroused the resentment of several other major families in the Southern Barbarian Prefecture.

Shigong City.

The head of the Ye family, along with his uncles and stewards, discussed the Yu family's request to increase grain purchases.

"We have taken in a lot of free slaves this year. If we sell all the grain to them, we won't even have enough for ourselves."

"The price is too low."

"How about we sell half?"

"Spring plowing can begin at the start of the year, and we believe the food supply will be replenished soon."

"Can we afford to offend the Yu family?"

"What if they want to increase it again next year?"

The people inside the house sighed and lamented, lamenting their inability to contend with the Yu family.

In the end, the head of the Ye family firmly agreed to sell 20% of the grain to the Yu family.

Yongqing City

Chen Xianming was even more direct, taking the letter handed to him by the steward and tearing it to shreds.

"Business deals should be based on mutual consent. But the Yu family is something else entirely. They didn't even send anyone. They just issued a notice offering to buy our grain at a 10% discount to the market price. They're just dreaming!"

"If you don't sell, the Yu family will not get a single grain of rice from the Chen family!"

Seeing his old man jumping up and down in anger, Chen Gu quickly poured him a glass of water.

"Dad, have some water. If you don't want to sell, then don't sell. We won't get angry. Don't make yourselves sick with anger."

He remained calm and composed, showing no concern whatsoever.

Chen Xianming glanced at him sideways, "I really wish we could release the low-priced salt right now and see what they're still so smug about."

"Don't rush, listen to the Lord of Longtan City. When the time comes, we'll crush them along with Cangwu County."

"Yes, there aren't many days left until the New Year anyway." The manager was also afraid that Chen Xianming would get too angry.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xianming's mind cleared up considerably, and he was so angry that he almost forgot about the important matter at hand.

He said to Chen Gu, "The end of the year is approaching. Go and take the prepared things and people to Longtan. The shops in Longtan should be opening soon."

Once the affordable salt is released after the New Year, it will surely cause a strong reaction. There will definitely be a lot of people going to Longtan at that time, and they must make good use of this flow of people.

Unlike other powerful families caught off guard by the Yu family, Longtan seemed to have been forgotten by the world, and everything was proceeding in a vibrant and orderly manner.

Lin Yinan and the key personnel from Longtan are at the sugar factory, where the sugar mill has successfully produced its first batch of sugar.

The sugar that solidifies after cooking is the same as modern traditional brown sugar.

She took a piece, put it in her mouth, and took a small bite. It was very sweet and had a pure flavor.

Lin Yinan specially found a carpenter who knew how to make woodwork to make the mold into the shape of a gold ingot.

Everyone stared in amazement at the brown sugar cubes that looked like gold ingots.

"This candy looks so good, it's almost too beautiful to eat," Hu Shao said, swallowing hard as he tried to clear his throat.

After the busy farming season was over and the corvée labor was collected, Yunyu led them back to prepare for the New Year.

Lin Yinan picked one up and stuffed it into his hand, saying, "How will you know how good it is if you don't try it?"

“Yes, everyone should try it,” Lin Shuo said.

He's really trained now; he can talk non-stop even when lecturing to a hundred or two people.

Liang Wen picked up a piece, broke it open forcefully, ate only a small piece, and kept the other half to take back for his younger brother to try.

Lin Yinan handed the remaining half of the candy to Yun Mo. It was too sweet; she couldn't stand the taste.

Yun Mo didn't mind and took it, stuffing it into his mouth.

Lin Yinan flipped through the records in Lin Tiezhuang's notebook. This was the first time sugarcane had been planted this year. With insufficient manpower, the yield per mu was only five or six thousand jin. This yield is not high by modern standards, but it was already considered very good.

Based on the recorded data, she roughly estimated that more than 300 acres of sugarcane would yield less than 10,000 catties of sugar.

Lin Yiheng took out the small abacus he always carried with him, fiddled with it a few times, and unconsciously frowned.

"Anan, where do you plan to sell less than 10,000 jin of sugar?"

Their candies look so appealing, they're sure to be a hit.

Lin Yinan said, "We'll sell it in our county town during the Spring Festival. Next year, we'll have all the villages plant sugarcane, and once we've measured it out, we'll consider selling it outside the county."

We'll improve the process and try making higher-end white sugar and rock sugar.

Upon hearing that all villages would be planting sugarcane next year, Yunyu asked, "Should we save more sugarcane seeds this year?"

“Yes, Second Uncle, remember to collect the sugarcane seeds later. Yunyu needs to calculate how much land each family needs to plant. We will distribute the sugarcane seeds to everyone, and deduct the cost of the seeds when it’s harvest time,” Lin Yinan said.

Lin Shuo and Yun Yu wrote down what they each needed to do.

Lin Yinan turned to Lin Qingxiang and said, "Uncle Qingxiang, the construction of the oil press should also be put on the agenda. I'll draw up some blueprints for you later, and you can take a look and see where we can choose the best location for the oil mill."

“Okay, I have a few plots of land on hand. I’ll explain them to you in detail later,” Lin Qingxiang said.

He already knew the terrain inside and outside Longtan by heart; now it was just a matter of determining the size of the area needed to locate the site.

Lin Yinan said, "Okay!"

“The rapeseed planting has been completed in every village,” Yunyu added.

Yun Mo listened like an observer as they arranged one task after another, and finally he sighed, "There's never a moment of rest in this kind of farmland."

Lin Shuo patted him on the shoulder and said, "I believe that in another year, Longtan will no longer have to worry about food."

A guard entered from outside and approached Lin Yinan respectfully, saying, "City Lord, Young Master Chen has arrived."

“Okay, take him to the county government office and wait for a moment. We’ll be there soon,” Lin Yinan said.

Yunyu asked, puzzled, "The year is almost over, what is he doing here at this time?"

"Let's open a shop," Lin Yiheng said.

Lin Yinan asked Lin Tiezhuang to find a small winnowing basket and put a dozen or so gold ingot-shaped brown sugars into it.

"Let's go see what good stuff he brought over."

A group of people, led by Lin Yinan and his wife, headed towards the county government office.