Guo Erniang followed Lu Tu to a secluded spot and smiled shyly, "Lord Lu, is there anything I can do?"
Lu Tu bluntly stated, "That's right. Since you, Guo Erniang, have such skills, you shouldn't let them go to waste. Are you interested in making money from them?"
"Make money? Our whole family is well-fed and clothed under Lord Lü's protection, what would we do with silver?"
Lu Tu was taken aback. He hadn't expected his actions to have such an effect on the villagers.
He nodded to Guo Erniang and said, "Guo Erniang, I know you are a smart person, but you can see the current situation. It's not that I don't want everyone to leave the village, but I urgently need people, money, and food. Once things stabilize, everyone can still move freely and settle in Wuchuan City or other places if they want."
Guo Erniang's eyes lit up upon hearing this: "Really, sir? Then I still have a chance to go back to Jianye?"
Lu Tu gave her a deep look: "Are you from Jianye? Jianye is so far from Wuchuan, how did you get here?"
"To be honest, sir, I was exiled here. I had been living in Huai Shuo before, but my husband died, so I escaped and came here with the refugees fleeing the famine."
Coming from Jianye, it makes sense that she knows this skill, since it's the provincial capital of Jiangnan Province.
"I promise you, as long as you save enough money, you can leave whenever you want."
Guo Erniang shook her head with a wry smile: "Sir, if I may be so disrespectful, although I am a woman, my family are merchants. You decide how much money we have. When will I ever be able to save enough?"
Lu Tu wasn't annoyed and laughed, "It seems you haven't been here long enough to understand me. In that case, I won't force you. You can continue sewing the masks."
After saying that, Lü Tu turned and left. Since she didn't believe him, there was no point in saying more. Lü Tu didn't need to coerce a middle-aged woman to make money for him. Wouldn't that be the same as being a pimp, a despicable act?
Guo Erniang looked at Lü Tu's retreating figure, feeling somewhat worried, but in the end she shook her head and sat back down.
Lu Tu rode his horse and arrived at the shore of Xisha Lake. From a distance, he saw Xiao Zhong directing the people to reclaim wasteland.
He stopped to watch and saw that more than 20 oxen were carrying plows and had already cultivated an area of more than ten acres.
When Xiao Zhong saw Lü Tu arrive, he stepped forward and reported, "Sir, based on the current efficiency, it will only take ten days to reclaim 700 mu of abandoned farmland."
"Mr. Xiao, where is the map you drew before?"
Xiao Zhong pulled a map from his pocket: "Sir, do you think 700 mu is too little?"
Lu Tu opened the map and nodded: "Of course it's too few. How many people do we have right now?"
"Including the soldiers, there are a total of 1,825 people, and 700 mu is enough for us to eat."
Lu Tu dismounted and drew a large area on the map with his finger, saying, "Only 1,800 people? What's enough? We'll cultivate this whole area."
Looking at the area drawn by Lü Tu, which almost encompassed the outer areas of the four villages of Kuishan, Songshan, Daozhuang, and Luzhuang, Xiao Zhong said, "This... is really too big. The Commandant only allocated you 700 mu of fertile land."
Lu Tu smiled slightly. It seemed that although Xiao Zhong was good at domestic affairs, he did not have the courage of a tyrant.
"Mr. Xiao, have you ever heard the saying, 'The bolder the man, the greater the harvest'?"
Xiao Zhong's expression brightened upon hearing this: "My lord, you mean to..."
"The world is in chaos now, and refugees are everywhere. In the coming year, we will definitely not be able to accept only this wave of refugees. Moreover, Wuchuan has a lot of abandoned land. Although Wuchuan is under the system of military garrison and land reclamation, a lot of land has been abandoned. This land is the least valuable thing."
"Leaving aside the land of these four villages, even if I were to cultivate all the land within a ten-mile radius, who would dare utter a single word against me, Lü Tu? Would the Commandant dare? He wouldn't, because he knows that only by silencing me can I defend this place. This will both prevent the Wuhuan troops from entering from Aiying Mountain and Gubei Peak, and also make Huai Shuo Town wary!"
Xiao Zhong was shocked after hearing these words. He could even detect a hint of kingly authority in Lü Tu's words, which was extremely unusual for a hunter who had lived here for generations.
He was shocked by Lü Tu's domineering presence and boldness, as well as his ambition. Only at this moment did he truly realize how great the gap was between himself and Lü Tu.
He knows almost everything, and Lu Tu seems to know even more than him. However, his role is to save Lu Tu trouble, while Lu Tu's considerations are things he dares not even think about!
Even when people are at their lowest point in life, they can still display a temperament and aspirations that are different from others and even out of place in their current environment.
This is the kind of person the Mysterious Female Society seeks for generations—someone who can rival the glory of the world!
Xiao Zhongxin said with heartfelt admiration, "Sir, in your opinion, shall we cultivate this entire area into fertile fields?"
"No, I've changed my mind. One circle is too small. Let's make it ten miles in radius!"
"Huh?" Xiao Zhongren was dumbfounded: "My lord, there are still many saline-alkali lands here that cannot be planted."
Lu Tu patted him on the shoulder: "I know, but I have a way to turn saline-alkali land into farmland!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhong's expression was beyond shock; it was one of terror!
He stood there, momentarily at a loss, staring blankly at Lü Tu: "M-Sir, is what you said true?"
Why would I lie to you? If I didn't have the skills, would I dare take on this job?
Without saying a word, Xiao Zhong knelt down with a thud, tears welling in his eyes: "My lord, if this is true, I can truly represent the vast number of suffering people in the world to kneel and thank you!"
Lu Tu helped him up: "You've hit the nail on the head. The reason I had everyone reclaim so much wasteland was to verify how long it would take to improve saline-alkali land. If we succeed, this northern land may become the Jiangnan of the North."
"Please give me your instructions, my lord. No matter how difficult it may be, I, Xiao Zhong, will do it!" With that, Xiao Zhong took out a pen from his pocket, licked it on his tongue, and left a trail of black ink.
Lu Tu paced back and forth, trying to recall how the political instructor had instructed them to improve the surrounding saline-alkali land when they first joined the company.
"There are two methods. One is to dig open ditches in the saline-alkali land to drain the groundwater at the bottom and then irrigate with a large amount of lake water. This method is too troublesome. The other method requires the use of a large amount of gypsum."
"Gypsum? Is that the milky white stone? Our Wuchuan is famous for producing that."
Lu Tu laughed and said, "Of course I know that Wuchuan is rich in gypsum, so you should immediately send people to Wuchuan to buy up large quantities of gypsum, as much as you can get."
Xiao Zhong said excitedly, "I'll handle this myself. I know a merchant named Jia in Wuchuan. I'll go and negotiate the price, and I'll definitely buy the plaster back at a low price!"
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