"Where did you get so much money?"
Qiao Yunqing asked, "Mother, have you forgotten to let your son earn money from selling candles?"
"Sold them all?"
Qiao Yunqing explained, "The main reason is that our candles are large in quantity and affordable, and they don't produce black smoke. They are much better than the goods outside. The shopkeeper bought them at two taels of silver each. My son got 160 taels of silver, and he spent 50 taels to sell two cows to send back, and bought some farm tools. The rest is all here."
He didn't expect that the candles that Qiao Xin asked his family to tinker with would be so easy to use. Compared to the current candles with wicks that emit black smoke and have some pungent odors, the smokeless candles made by Qiao Xin also have a faint plant fragrance. It's a pity that the quantity is too small.
Qiao Xin looked at the banknotes in her hand and wondered if she should do something else. After all, raiding a bandit's lair would not be a long-term solution!
Bandit: Ancestor, please let us go!
Never mind, this is just one time and that is enough. The eldest and the third brother are officials after all, and what they did before could be said to be self-protection. But if they do it again now, it would only cause trouble for them!
She took out ten taels and handed it back: "You have to buy something in the academy, you can't be without money."
Qiao Yunqing didn't hesitate to take the question and then went on to talk about the issue of personnel placement.
"The dozen people Heng Wen sent over here are here to help us look after the house. They are mainly worried that you might not have enough manpower to do anything, mother."
Qiao Xin sneered and laughed, "You take me for a fool, don't you? Do I look like I need help? Just tell me what he wants to do. He's already on the battlefield, why doesn't he bring more of his own people with him? I'm just sitting there doing nothing! He's giving away the yard and people, it's obviously not right!"
Seeing that Qiao Xin hit the nail on the head, Qiao Yunqing had no choice but to tell the truth: "Our family has suffered an innocent disaster because of him, so it is only right to give some compensation. It is not easy for him and his adoptive mother to tear each other apart at this time, but he is afraid that if I am on the side, I will not be able to take care of this side, so I arranged for my guards to come.
Ah mother, our family does not have the strength to directly confront the Marquis' wife at present. Heng Wen's people are now working as guards in our house. I think the other party should be a little concerned. After all, tearing up with your adopted son for an irrelevant person is a losing deal no matter how you look at it. "
"I understand. I won't do it again!" Qiao Xin took great effort to calm down the anger in her heart.
Qiao Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that he didn't want Qiao Xin to take revenge. Killing people was easy, but it wasn't worth it if he also got himself into trouble. Or maybe they were too weak. It wasn't all bad to keep these people here! At least there was no shortage of people to do the work and run errands.
As expected of a mother and son, they knew at a glance how to make the best use of everything and people. The handsome young men who used to be so imposing and wielding swords and knives now rolled up their sleeves and pulled up trees, cut grass, and dug the ground in the wasteland.
Everyone was miserable. This kind of environment was no easier than practicing martial arts!
Zhang Yun was even more shocked when he saw Nanny Qin not far away. The Nanny who taught people the rules with a stern face everyday, now disregarded her image and searched for tree roots in the ground with a basket.
Looking at Qiao Xin plucking green willows as easily as plucking onions, they were too embarrassed to say anything. Wasn't it all something they asked for?
With these new laborers, the Qiao family's land reclamation in Laohu Town was far ahead of others, crushing all their opponents.
Others used hoes to turn the soil little by little, and it was good to dig one acre of land a day. Qiao Xin asked three strong men to use parallel iron forks in parallel. With one kick, a meter-wide piece of land was turned up. The efficiency was several times higher.
After the land is turned over, five oxen will pull the curved plow in parallel and the wasteland will be used again. Then, farmyard manure will be spread on it, and the large pieces of land will be raked with iron rakes and irrigated with appropriate water. Then, the rice seedlings can be planted and sown when the sowing season comes.
Qiao Xin's meticulous farming process stunned the other people in the village. How can the crops be planted like embroidery? Most places in Dajing Country are sparsely populated. With so many fields, it is naturally difficult to cultivate them with manpower. People usually manage the land in an extensive way, sowing seeds in spring and letting them grow. How much they can harvest in autumn depends on luck!
So even though a family of seven or eight people may be busy planting forty to fifty acres of land all year round, the harvest of two to three hundred kilograms per acre is barely enough for food after paying taxes!
When Qiao Xin heard the harvest figure, she was stunned for several seconds, and she couldn't help but sigh in her heart that it was really not easy for farmers to live at that time!
So when Li Zhong came over and asked her why she did all this, Qiao Xin was able to patiently explain to him that everything was for high productivity!
"Auntie Qiao, where did you buy that iron fork? I think it's very useful for turning the soil!" Li Zhong hesitated for a long time but couldn't resist the desire in his heart and asked.
"I bought it at a blacksmith shop, but I gave you the blueprint. If you make another one, it'll be a bit expensive, five hundred coins each!"
"Hiss~~~Five hundred coins! So expensive!" Li Zhongxinzhong felt a pain in his heart. This is really not something that an ordinary family would be willing to buy! His family couldn't afford it either!
Qiao Xin thought, how can it not be expensive? A full iron row weighs more than 30 kilograms! Although the government has liberalized the use of ironware, ordinary people cannot have it if they want to. The threshold is high! It's like looking up to the unlimited purchase of 8, but not everyone can afford it!
Li Zhong walked back with regret. An iron fork cost 500 coins. He didn't dare to ask for other novelties. They must be much more expensive than this one. He just used the hoe and shovel to dig a little bit. At least it was much better than last year. He didn't have to worry about the land being ruined by livestock again.
Qiao Xin's family worked for more than 20 days and reclaimed 1,000 mu of wasteland. Except for some scattered areas around Laohu Town, the rest of the land was basically owned by Qiao Xin. It's not that others don't want to reclaim wasteland, but Qiao Xin's family is too strong. Every time they go out, a large group of 30 or 40 people are all young and strong guys, with all the tools they can use, and buffaloes to help. You dig a shovel, and they have reclaimed half an acre of land.
There is no comparison, no comparison! The villagers watched helplessly as Qiao Xin took over all the land, near and far. Qiao Xin did not leave room for others to live. The direction she chose was basically close to the official road and the north mountain. These were all lands that were difficult to cultivate. Qiao Xin avoided the flatter south and left them for other villagers.
Li Zhong was originally worried that Qiao Xin would be ruthless, but now that he saw that they only left a few hundred acres of land in the south and did not move, he immediately understood what Qiao Xin meant. In his heart, he couldn't help but thank the Qiao family again for their righteousness.
He was afraid that the villagers would not understand and make mistakes, thus angering Qiao Xin, so he specially organized a meeting for everyone, explained the matter in detail, and the reclamation of Laohu Town finally achieved unprecedented harmony.
Qiao Xin didn't care what Li Zhong did in private, and she wouldn't care even if she knew. Qiao Yunqing was going to participate in the Spring Examination, and she planned to go to the capital city tomorrow to check the situation and give everyone a holiday!
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