“Then I will invite the county clerk over tomorrow to measure that wasteland. After he signs and seals the document, the wasteland will belong to you,” the village head said excitedly.
"Then we'll have to trouble Uncle Lizheng. Once we get the wasteland, we'll hurry up and start cultivating it, and try to plant a batch of winter wheat this year. We'll also need to ask a group of villagers to help us cultivate the wasteland."
"Okay, no problem. I'll take care of finding people to help you clear the land."
The next day, the village head went to the county town and invited the land clerk to Shuixian Village. After careful measurement, the area of the wasteland was measured to be 362 mu. Zhao Xian paid 724 taels of silver and signed and sealed the prepared documents.
The village left behind 289 taels and 6 mace of silver. The remaining silver, along with the original documents, was taken back to the county government by the registrar.
Li Guang was overjoyed. He hadn't expected Zhao Xian to buy the wasteland so quickly, and the area of the wasteland was so large. He was determined to cultivate this land well and produce more grain.
Then he began to transform the wasteland, first dividing it into sections, and then digging ditches.
This workload was too great; a frail young man simply couldn't do it. So Zhao Xian arranged for several of his household soldiers to help, and also asked the village head to hire some skilled farmers to guide them in reclaiming wasteland.
After completing the important tasks of redeeming farmland, purchasing wasteland, digging wells, and hiring soldiers, Zhao Xian prepared to build a workshop.
Currently, there are only about twenty people in the family. As the family business develops, the number of people will increase, so we must plan ahead.
This workshop will not only have dormitories, but also warehouses and restaurants to ensure the needs of the family's future business development.
Although he had this idea, there was no enough open space near his home to build the workshop, and he was unwilling to move away from his old house to build the workshop.
Near the old house is a plot of land where a thatched hut once stood, but it has long been in ruins due to years of neglect.
He couldn't remember whose homestead it was, and wondered if he could buy it. That would be another problem for Wang Lizheng.
This matter cannot be delayed; it must be implemented immediately.
Zhao Xian felt that the family's rapid development was not a good thing. Fortunately, the bandits in Qianniu Mountain had been wiped out, and this huge security threat had been eliminated.
However, there are too many uncertain risks in this era. Although Zhao Cheng and ten guards are protecting the family, it cannot be guaranteed that everything will be safe.
During this period, producing white sugar earned him a high profit, and he was able to do many things with ease. However, such high profits could not be maintained in the long term. Once similar white sugar products appeared on the market, his profits would drop rapidly.
Therefore, we still need to do what needs to be done now, without too many concerns. We need to diversify our operations as soon as possible and broaden our sources of income.
During the purchase of barnyard grass, the village headman was present every day. Because of his on-site supervision, no one caused any trouble.
He arrived early that day and wanted to say something to Zhao Xian, but hesitated to speak.
"Uncle Village Head, what's the matter? Tell me about it," Zhao Xian said with a smile.
"The village head of Meihua Village just came by. He asked if the villagers of Meihua Village could also send some millet to sell, because they really can't hold on any longer," the village head said with difficulty.
"What does Uncle Village Head think? Should we open this door?"
"Here's what I'm thinking: if we agree to Meihua Village's request, then the village heads from more than a dozen surrounding villages might come to discuss this matter."
"It's definitely not feasible for so many villagers to come and sell barnyard millet, so this door can't be opened, but I really don't know how to solve this problem."
Zhao Xian nodded approvingly; it seemed the village head wasn't stupid.
"Here's what we'll do: if the villagers in their village are willing to come and help me reclaim the wasteland, I'm willing to pay them wages of thirty coins a day. That's all I can do for the villagers in their village."
“That’s a good idea. Thirty coins a day isn’t bad. I’ll go to Plum Blossom Village later and talk to their village head to explain this matter.”
“Uncle Village Head, I need your help with something else,” Zhao Xian said.
“I want to build a workshop, but I don’t have any more land available for building. I don’t know whose land is next to the workshop, but I want to buy it.”
The village head was taken aback. What a grand gesture! They even wanted to build a workshop.
"This plot of land belongs to Chen Zhenggang's family. This story begins five or six years ago." The village head took a puff of his pipe and began to recount what happened five or six years ago.
Five or six years ago, there was a man in the village named Chen Zhenggang who died in battle. The government sent people to his home with some condolence supplies and a pension of thirty taels of silver.
At that time, Chen Zhenggang's wife was struggling to make ends meet with their two daughters at home. The two daughters were very young; the older daughter was named Chunni, who had just turned four, and the younger daughter was named Erya, who was not yet two years old. When her husband died on the battlefield, the family collapsed.
Although Chen was grieving, life had to go on. Her two daughters were still young, and she was determined to raise them.
Fortunately, there was still a pension of thirty taels of silver. Although she couldn't do farm work, she knew some needlework and could sew clothes for the villagers, which would earn her a few copper coins. It shouldn't be a problem to support herself and her two children.
But that very night, two thieves broke into her house and stole thirty taels of silver.
This is the family's life-saving money; if it's gone, the family won't be able to make a living.
Chen chased after them, grabbed one of the thieves' legs, and shouted desperately.
The thief, caught in the grip, was unable to break free. He was terrified; once the villagers arrived, they would be trapped.
Then another thief returned and struck Chen's head repeatedly with a large wooden stick until she was knocked unconscious.
By the time the villagers arrived, the two thieves had already fled, leaving behind the unconscious Chen.
Chen was bedridden for three days and three nights before she was finally revived, and her parents-in-law breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he survived, Chen's head was repeatedly struck with a wooden stick, damaging his brain and causing him to become mentally impaired.
The theft of the pension issued by the imperial court was a major incident, and the government immediately sent people to investigate. However, Chen had become mentally impaired and could not provide any valuable clues. But Chen kept muttering two words: "note".
"Tiaozi" is clearly a nickname for a person. Could he be the thief? The government investigators did not let go of this clue and first searched the village to see if there was anyone nicknamed "Tiaozi".
Soon someone thought of Zhou Ertiao from the village, and the investigators immediately went to his home to investigate. Zhou Ertiao looked completely innocent.
The investigators quickly ruled out Zhou Ertiao as a suspect, but because his name contained the character "Tiao," he was unjustly implicated.
The investigators couldn't find the person in the village, so they expanded their investigation to the surrounding villages and towns, but still found no clues. As time went on, the case was eventually dropped.
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