Chapter 156 The Passerby Who Died Before the Famine Even Began (12)
“Brother Jiang, this is what I’m thinking: each household can have a maximum of fifty mu of land. For example, if your family has five people, each person can contribute five mu, that would be twenty-five mu of land. And if you want to rent it out, you can rent a maximum of twenty-five mu. Moreover, there are limits on the amount of land each household can contribute. It’s impossible for every fifteen people in a family to contribute. When we find people, we will look for families with more able-bodied men. We will also reduce the amount of land contributed by the elderly and children as appropriate.”
Bai Ze explained to Jiang's father, Chen, that there was no need to worry about this at all. The puppets had already processed the land once, and now the wasteland was basically the same as land that hadn't been cultivated for many years. Moreover, Jiang Yue's plan was to use the puppets to clear the wasteland first, and then recruit normal people. By then, the clearing would be completed, and they would just recruit tenant farmers.
After discussing it, Bai Ze went into the city to find the puppet Li Si. Bai Ze had already discussed it with Jiang Yue. This wave of 21 puppets, each with a family of three, would come, making up seven households. The other puppets would develop in the capital, so they would have an excuse to do anything in the future. Besides, they would have to find some normal people to come, otherwise it would become like The Truman Show, living in a false world.
During times of war and chaos, puppets are used to protect the safety of families. After the Ninth Prince ascends the throne, Jiang Yue will gradually remove the puppets and replace them with normal people. Besides, it's not easy to find people now. With war raging everywhere, even if you want to cultivate the land, normal people won't come. If it were easy to cultivate the land, it would be more reasonable to rent it to them for farming.
The next afternoon, Bai Ze returned with the puppets. The first thing he did was not to clear the land but to build houses, since the puppets also needed housing. After that, a large-scale construction began. The land clearing was much faster than Jiang's father had expected. In one month, nearly 200 acres of land had been cleared. If they hadn't been clearing and planting at the same time, the speed would have been even faster.
In reality, a single puppet could complete the initial clearing in a day, but to make the clearing speed more reasonable, they didn't release water but rather released the sea, which even Jiang's father felt was unreasonable.
As the peach blossoms bloomed, more and more people came to the area for outings and flower viewing. Then, news spread that the lake had been refilled with water. When the chubby seller came and saw the lake, he cried his eyes out, filled with regret.
Jiang's father and Bai Ze have been extremely busy these past few days. First, someone came to inquire about becoming a tenant farmer, and second, they were busy working on the lake. The first thing was easy; they just needed to choose someone and sign a contract. There were even discounts if they rented wasteland and cultivated it themselves. Because the puppet had already processed it once, the rental was quite fast. The second thing was that they were busy buying fish fry and bringing back aquatic plants. This was not easy to do, as there were no people in the capital who raised fish fry.
In the end, Bai Ze had no choice but to send his puppets to steal a lot of silt and aquatic plants from places with water and lakes. Of course, there were also some fish fry in them. After that, he poured them into the lake. The rest could only be purchased when the weather was better and people could go into the water to catch fish. At that time, he would put some fish in and throw in a few pills. In a few years, the ecosystem would be complete.
While her mother, Chen, was busy tidying up the house, there were many things missing after moving here. With both parents busy, the responsibility of taking care of the children fell on Jiang Yue. So, she took the twins around the village every day. It could be said that, apart from the puppet, the people who knew this place best were Jiang Yue and the two little ones. Although Jiang's father was busy and rarely home, when it came to being observant, Jiang Yue was the best.
In the afternoon, Jiang Yue took the twins to play at the foot of the mountain. Actually, she was studying how to transform the two barren mountains. The tops of the two mountains were somewhat recessed, which was a natural advantage to build a reservoir. In case of drought, there would be water available. As for floods, Jiang Yue was not afraid, since the puppets were always watching. As for how to develop the mountains, Jiang Yue already had a plan. First of all, the area below the halfway point of the two mountains would definitely be used for farming. Above the halfway point, one mountain would be planted with fruit trees and the other with medicinal herbs. With the puppets around, she was not afraid that the crops would not be able to grow.
After planning the future development, Jiang Yue stretched her body. Having puppets was really great, saving her a lot of effort. She checked the time and it was time to finish eating, so she called the twins, who were almost having a blast, back home. She patted the dirt off them, took one in each hand, and headed home. The two little ones were jumping and skipping around, and if Jiang Yue hadn't been strong, she wouldn't have been able to hold them. On the way, they met some people who were collecting stones and greeted them. Stones are a good thing now, and they can be used to build houses.
After returning home, Jiang washed the dirt off his hands. His mother kept lecturing the three children, telling them to be cleaner, especially since Jiang Yue was eleven years old. When Jiang's father returned home at night, smoke was rising from the chimneys of other houses. Nowadays, no one had lunch; most people ate one meal in the morning and one in the evening, and those in poverty ate only one meal a day.
Today, Mrs. Chen stewed a chicken. Mr. Jiang had lost some weight from being busy these past two months, so Mrs. Chen specially killed a chicken to help him recover. After eating for a while, Mrs. Chen said to Mr. Jiang, "There's a secret room in this yard. Should we buy some grain and store it?"
Mr. Jiang was busy eating and nodded in agreement without saying anything. Mrs. Chen then said, "Go and find the Bai brothers to think of a way. Do it quietly and don't make a big fuss. Otherwise, if everyone finds out, it's better not to buy it at all. It will become a disaster."
Seeing that Mr. Jiang understood her meaning, Mrs. Chen started talking about other things. Xuanxuan had just finished a chicken leg and was licking his fingers. After eating vegetables for a few days, he started to like meat again. Mrs. Chen wiped his hands and put some radish and cabbage in his bowl. The radish and cabbage were bought. In the past few days, he had been eating wild vegetables.
After dinner, Jiang Yue helped Chen wash the dishes and tidy up. When they finished cleaning the house, Jiang's father chatted in the evening and planned to take a day off the next day. He had been quite tired recently and wanted to rest and take the opportunity to discuss road repairs. The current roads were all dirt roads, which were impassable when it rained. Some time ago, Jiang Yue had Bai Ze talk to Jiang's father about the idea of building a gravel road, which would make travel more convenient in the future.
Of course, it can't be repaired now. Everyone is busy clearing land and farming, so there's no time. Bai Ze has already made a plan, and now it's just a matter of guiding Jiang's father slowly.
The next morning, after washing up, Jiang Yue changed into men's clothing. Recently, she had been wearing men's clothing when she went to Taolin to play, which was more convenient. When Chen saw her in this outfit at breakfast, she knew that Jiang Yue was going out to play again. At first, she wanted Jiang Yue to run around everywhere, afraid that she would get hurt, but Jiang's father said it was fine, so she agreed. Seeing that Chen was looking at her with displeasure, Jiang Yue was not angry. She even made a face at Chen, which almost made Chen angry to death.
Jiang Yue wasn't just playing around. She'd heard from people who'd visited in previous years that the peaches in the orchard were inedible. Since the bloodline seed she'd fused with had the ability to promote plant growth, she figured if she went there more often, maybe she could eat fresh peaches this year.
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