Chapter 71【Face Control】
Mrs. Wen had also heard Zhang Xin talk about the He family's head. She explained to Jiang Lili, "The He family's head is named He Shao. She's a legendary woman. She has two older brothers, but in the end, she inherited her father's estate."
"I heard that in addition to renting out land, the He family also does business at the port with merchants from overseas."
"Yes!" Zhang Xin's eyes lit up as he spoke of this. "The jasmine, purple banana, and hibiscus that Lingnan pays tribute to the capital every year, as well as exotic flowers and plants imported from overseas, and treasures like agate, ivory, and jade, all pass through the hands of the He family."
Jiang Lili was astonished. This sounded like a wealthy man, and he also controlled the port and so much land. He could almost walk all over the Lingnan area.
"The head of the He family loves flowers, beauty, and dressing up, and he likes beautiful people and things."
Mrs. Wen relished gossip: "Not to mention her lovers, even the maids and servants around her are all outstanding in appearance."
It turns out he’s a face control!
Jiang Lili realized that if she wanted to establish a good relationship with He Shao, she had to work in this direction.
However, this matter still needs to be discussed with Lin Ye. If the land rent issue is not handled properly, it may be used by people with ulterior motives to cause riots.
The night deepens.
After exchanging pleasantries with Zhang Xin and his wife, everyone washed up and went to bed.
Although the Zhang family's house was simple, it was warm and tidy. Zhao Pinghou and Xin Che went to Lin Ye's yard, and the rest of the people stayed at the Zhang family's house. It was not too crowded and they slept soundly that night.
On the next morning, Zhang Xin and his wife got up early to prepare breakfast for the people in Zhaoping Marquis' Mansion, but Lin Ye had already sent someone to bring breakfast bought from the city.
Zhang Xin and his wife had breakfast and went to work in the fields. They had hired people to cultivate the large fields, but today was the first day after the disaster, so they went to the fields to check the situation.
Lin Ye asked the people who came back from the government office to count the money they had taken out to Jiang Lili: "The money spent on the insecticide has been withdrawn. Miss Jiang, please check the amount."
Jiang Lili took the purse and counted it. It was exactly twenty taels of silver.
Selling insecticide is really profitable: "Which other villages need this locust medicine? I have enough here."
"I've had my people check it out, but the damage is quite severe. I guess the officials in charge of statistics won't be able to submit the information until later today."
Lin Ye was worried: "Do you have any idea where these locusts are laying their eggs? If you can completely destroy these eggs, the government will reward you with another 100 taels of silver."
If we don't kill the eggs quickly, the locust plague will probably come back again. Lin Ye has spent a lot of money this time.
Liao Ji held his chin in his hand and said, "Locusts like to lay their eggs in dry wastelands."
Jiang Lili also recalled the scene from yesterday: "Yesterday I saw that most of the locusts came from the southwest. Is there such a place in the southwest?"
Lin Ye pondered for a moment after hearing this, and then said, "There are thousands of acres of ownerless wasteland with almost no fertility in the southwest, which meets the conditions you mentioned."
"Let me take you to have a look."
Lin Ye greeted Wang Zifu and said that he wanted to take Jiang Lili and Liao Ji to the wasteland outside the village. How could Wang Zifu dare to disagree!
After arriving at the wasteland in the southwest, everyone began to use shovels to search for locust eggs on the ground.
Master Liao is at the lowest altitude and can see the situation on the ground most clearly.
He was fiddling around in the fields with his two short legs, and since he could use copper coins to tell fortunes and find things, he soon found a batch of locust eggs that had been laid recently, and called everyone over.
The yamen runner asked, "Two masters, what should we do with these insect eggs?"
Liao Ji spoke in an adult tone: "Spread hay on the land covered with insect eggs, and then burn it with smoke."
"So this is why Brother Liao asked me to bring some hay yesterday!"
Lin Ye sent people to spread hay for fire.
Liao Ji said to Jiang Lili, "There are insect eggs not only in this place, but also in other places. I'm afraid the hay we brought from other places won't be enough."
"I've been to Xiaopang's home in the countryside. He has a lot of corn stalks and straw. Why not ask Xiaopang for some ash from burning hay? It can also increase the fertility of this wasteland."
Jiang Lili, as if enlightened, continued Master Liao's words, "Then we'll give this newly fertilized, unowned wasteland to Zhang Xin to manage. Let him grow medicinal herbs and crops, and we'll take a cut! This way, he won't have to buy land from others."
Liao Ji was stunned after hearing this, and then silently gave Jiang Lili a thumbs up. He only thought of the first level, while his sister Li was already in the atmosphere, so she deserved to make money.
It’s just that I don’t know how long it will take to burn the insect eggs on this thousand-acre land. Let’s go find Zhang Xiaopang to get some hay first, so that we can get the money and finish the work as soon as possible after burning it!
Jiang Lili was just about to look for Xiaopang, but unexpectedly Xiaopang sent a message first.
@张小胖: Sister Li, can you find where the locust eggs are hiding?
[@江麗麗: Looking for it! What's up?]
@张小胖: The owner of the pesticide factory saw me buying so much locust medicine and asked me where I got so many locusts. He asked if I could send him a batch of eggs. He would buy them at a high price.
Jiang Lili was shocked: [Someone is buying this thing?]
@张小胖: Absolutely! Locusts can be used as a medicinal herb to relieve asthma and coughs, and they're also nourishing and strengthening. There's even a health supplement company specializing in locust research. If the locusts in the plague weren't already adults, having been feeding on omnivorous creatures for so long, their bodies already laden with toxins, we wouldn't be that rich.
Jiang Lili was enlightened. She discussed with Liao Ji, "Do we still need to burn the eggs? They've already started."
Jiang Lili looked at Lin Ye with some embarrassment as he had someone set the grass on fire.
Liao Ji shook his head: "It's okay. This wasteland is so big, it will take a long time to deal with it. While they are burning here, let's go and deal with the locust eggs over there first."
"Do we still need to ask Xiaopang to borrow some hay to burn into the ash?"
Jiang Lili is still thinking about this ownerless wasteland.
"If there are no insect eggs, then there's no need." Master Liao snapped his fingers. "We have modern, more powerful technology and hard work to improve fertility."
So the two of them took advantage of the time when the yamen runners were busy to look for insect eggs on other wastelands. After finding them, Jiang Lili selected the eggs and sent them to Xiaopang in the form of a red envelope.
As time passed, by noon, people on both sides had finished their work.
Lin Ye originally thought that it would take at least a day to search for insects and then burn the thousand acres of wasteland, but he did not expect that many places in the wasteland were very clean, as if insect eggs had disappeared.
"The source control went very smoothly today." Lin Ye stroked his beard. "Maybe it's God's blessing. We in Yunhai County have been through so much hardship."
Jiang Lili and Liao Ji were already hungry and were chewing on compressed biscuits. When they heard what Lord Lin said, they showed a knowing expression.
Lin Ye caught a glimpse of what the two of them were eating. He had never seen it before, so he asked curiously, "What are you eating?"
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