Chapter 14: To conquer the Dongyi, sixteen small chieftains only...
Of the sixteen small chiefs, only fifteen remained, leaving five hundred acres of land unattended. Now that Fu Li was the agricultural official in charge of the fiefdom, the matter naturally came to her attention.
Fu Li thought about it and did not appoint anyone directly. Instead, he picked out two slaves who had come forward the day before and asked them to be his deputies.
Lingzhuzi asked, "Are you going to manage these 500 acres of land yourself?"
"Yes," Fu Li said, "I learned all the knowledge about farming from books and have never put it into practice. Now that I want to be an agricultural official, of course I have to understand how to farm."
She said to Ling Zhuzi, "If you feel bored, you can go and play with Fairy Jin Ning."
Ling Zhuzi raised his chin slightly and said firmly: "I will be here."
He threatened Fu Li with his eyes: If you dare to drive me away again, I will make you pay!
Fu Li immediately backed off and said with a smile, "Then why don't you come with me and experience some pastoral joy?"
Lingzhuzi muttered, "What's the fun in farming?", but his feet followed her very honestly.
He was not interested in farming, he just wanted to see what this little girl who pleased him could do.
The two selected slaves were named Xi and Zhi, a boy and a girl, both in their teens.
In fact, the slaves who had enthusiastically performed before her the day before yesterday were all relatively young. The older ones had already been bent and worn down by the heavy burden of life, so how could they dare to hope to stand out?
When the group arrived at the 500-acre land that Fuli was personally responsible for, she asked Xi and Chi to gather all the slaves in charge of this area, a total of 50 people.
That is to say, each slave was responsible for ten acres of land.
Most of the produce from these ten acres of land was sent to the Grand Tutor's Mansion to purchase weapons and armor, and to reward the retainers and guards. Only a small portion was left to feed the slaves.
The yield per mu was low, and Wen Zhong's fief was limited, so naturally there was even less left for the slaves. To fill their stomachs, they not only had to farm, but also had to go hunting in the mountains and forests and gather wild vegetables and fruits.
In addition to the 8,000 acres of fertile farmland in my fiefdom of Wen Zhong, I also allocated some woodland so that they will have something to eat when they are hungry.
After learning all this with Fuli, Lingzhuzi, who never cared about mortals, couldn't help but feel pity and said to Fuli privately: "No wonder mortals want to cultivate immortality and seek the truth."
Fu Li showed a look of surprise, and Ling Zhuzi instantly became angry and embarrassed: "What are you looking at? Can't I care about mortals?"
"Of course not." Fu Li quickly smoothed over her words. "I just didn't expect that despite your immense magical powers, you could also possess such a kind and compassionate heart. You truly are worthy of being from the Wa Palace!"
In fact, Fu Li had never expected that someone as arrogant as Ling Zhuzi would know how to avoid mortals when saying such things, and not let those slaves face his superior mercy.
More importantly, when Lingzhuzi did these things, he did it subconsciously according to his nature, and it was not done intentionally.
His tough words and soft heart made him look more like the great god of Santai Haihui who would help the weak in Fu Li's mind.
Psychologically, Fu Li felt that the distance between them had suddenly shortened a lot.
Ling Zhuzi found the stairs and walked down, but he didn't want to appear too easygoing, so he slightly tightened his jaw and said with feigned reserve, "Of course. The human race was created by the goddess Nuwa. As her servant, I naturally have to take care of her a little more."
Fu Li gave him a thumbs up and said, "You are the one!"
Lingzhuzi stretched out his thumb in confusion and looked at it. He also imitated her gesture and asked sincerely: "Which one is this?"
Fu Li: "It's the best and the most powerful!"
Ling Zhuzi suddenly felt that the corners of his mouth were not obeying him: "You stupid mouth, why are you sticking up? Hurry up and put it down!"
Fu Li saw it all and felt secretly proud in her heart: Tsundere is easy to coax as long as you stroke his fur.
But she also knew that she had to stop coaxing the tsundere. If she did it too much, it would easily make the other person angry and embarrassed.
So, she naturally changed the subject and taught the "Longmu Method" to Lingzhuzi first, and Xi and Chi also followed to learn.
In fact, this method is very simple. Even Xi and Chi learned it after watching it once, so the naturally intelligent Lingzhuzi can do it too.
"Such a simple thing, do you still need to learn it?"
Fu Li said skillfully, "That's because you are so gifted and intelligent. We mortals are naturally no match for you."
Ling Zhuzi thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he nodded in agreement and asked with his arms folded, "Tell me, what do you want me to do?"
"I knew I couldn't hide it from you," Fu Li said with a smile. "Since we're here, please help me teach this method to the slaves in charge of farming."
Lingzhuzi glanced at her and said with a reluctant look: "Alright. I also want to see how useful your method is."
The definition of one mu at that time was very different from that in later generations. It was usually measured in steps, with six feet as one step, and one mu as one step wide and one hundred steps long.
If you calculate carefully, one acre of land is actually not that much.
Although Fuli had no experience in work and sometimes even made things worse, she worked hard and was willing to farm with the slaves. This was a great encouragement to the slaves who had never been treated as human beings.
As a result, this group of people were very efficient and they plowed all 500 acres of land in just five days.
Normally, after the land was turned over, the ridges should be plowed, but Fu Li said he was not in a hurry. He ordered the soldiers to kill two wild boars, cook them into soup and share it with them as a reward for their hard work over the past few days.
It wasn't that she was stingy and couldn't bear to give them even a bite of meat. It was just that the slaves' diets were always lacking in oil and water. If they ate too much greasy food at once, they would probably cause diarrhea.
Even just drinking the broth was too much for the stomachs of some of the older people. Fortunately, after the two slaves had recovered from their illness, Fu Li still had some leftover garlic and salt. The two slaves, having had experience with illness before, cooked the garlic and gave it to them, which quickly stopped the pain.
Through farming together and two wild boars, Fuli was initially established among these dozens of slaves.
Next, when she asked everyone to collect human and animal feces, although some people felt confused, they still followed her.
At that time, there was no concept of composting. A lot of human feces were collected in a short period of time, and there was no need to pick up animal feces.
Now that he had the manure and the straw left over from last season's crops, Fu Li had the straw chopped up and mixed with the manure.
This time, all the slaves hesitated.
Fu Li was puzzled: "What's wrong?"
Xi said with embarrassment, "After each season's harvest, the straw is split in two. Half is sent to the Grand Tutor's Mansion to be used as horse fodder, and the other half is left for the slaves to use as firewood for warmth."
Slaves had limited resources to begin with, and straw was the perfect kindling for them. Without it, how could they protect themselves from wild beasts at night? How could they keep warm in the winter?
As for the vast land, sparse population and widespread forests, this is also good.
But all land has an owner, and the trees growing on the land naturally have an owner as well.
Fu Li realized that she had taken it for granted.
"Let's take a break today and continue tomorrow." Fu Li decided to go back to Wen Zhong and ask him to allow the slaves to cut branches to start a fire in his forest.
Before leaving, she specifically instructed: "You don't have to work today, but you can still eat. If anyone wants to hold you accountable, let them come to me."
During this time, Lingzhuzi had been watching silently, just wanting to see how far she could go. Seeing that she was about to go back, he casually cast a cleansing spell, turning her from a dusty face into a clean and white one.
"Thank you." Fu Li smiled at him with curved eyebrows.
Lingzhuzi nodded as if nothing had happened, but his ears were red.
Of course Fu Li saw it, but very wisely did not expose it. She blinked her eyes and asked him to help Fu Shuang clean it up as well.
Lingzhuzi muttered, "What a hassle!" But he still recited the spell silently and helped her.
After cleaning up, the group returned to the Tai Shi Mansion in Boyi and saw that Wen Zhong, who was always busy, had returned.
Fu Li felt strange and worried, so she asked with concern, "Grand Master, are you feeling unwell today?"
Wen Zhong said, "No. It's just that I will be leading the army tomorrow with the Queen to attack the Dongyi. I will be gone for at least two years, and at most five years, and there are some things I need to arrange. I have already given the order that during this time, you will be in charge of the Grand Master's affairs, and the family elders will assist you."
Since Wodin had just ascended the throne, this was the first time that Lady Guo had accompanied the army on an expedition, more so to learn from Wen Zhong's experience. This time, Wen Zhong was in charge of the battle, while Lady Guo was in charge of the sacrifices and logistics.
He couldn't tell Fu Li about these court affairs.
He told Fu Lilao that it was not because he was ill, and quickly agreed: "Don't worry, Master, I won't do anything rash."
Wen Zhong smiled and said, "I know you're a steady child. If anyone foolishly offends you, just go to the west wing of the main courtyard, light three sticks of incense, and pray to the tablet enshrined there. Someone will come to support you."
The one enshrined there is his teacher, the Golden Spirit Holy Mother. Before that, he had specially sent a letter back to Jin'ao Island, asking the teacher to take care of Fuli.
The Golden Spirit Holy Mother has only one disciple, Wen Zhong, and she has always cherished him very much. How could she not agree to such a small request?
Fu Li thanked him gratefully and told him about the firewood cutting.
This was no big deal to Wen Zhong. He simply handed her a token and said, "The king will be responsible for all food and fodder during the expedition. You will also be in charge of all the harvests from the fiefdom in the next few years."
"Thank you, Grand Tutor!" Fu Li responded happily, and considerately took her leave in time so as not to delay Wen Zhong's preparations for the expedition.
When she returned to her own courtyard, she couldn't help laughing out loud, playing with the token and saying, "I knew that the Grand Tutor is a good person!"
Fu Shuang agreed repeatedly, and Fu Yue brought two female slaves to prepare hot water for her bath.
"Junior Sister Fuyue, that's not necessary. Look, I'm so clean." She spread her arms and spun around, saying rather proudly, "Lingzhuzi's cleaning technique is amazing. With just one hand gesture, 'swoosh,' I'm squeaky clean."
When Lingzhuzi was mentioned, she realized that this person had not spoken for a long time.
She couldn't help but look over in confusion, and saw the man standing there with a stern face, the red silk ribbons on his bun hanging down to his ears, fluttering in the breeze, making him look like a sculpture, motionless for a long time.
Is this... angry?
Who pissed him off?
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