Chapter 45

Li Zheng had been busy for two whole days, recruiting over a dozen people to help measure the three barren hills. In total there were 4,800 mu.

These hills all belonged to the village, and were extremely infertile, so Li Zheng gave Li Yao the lowest price—100 wen per mu, totaling 480 taels of silver.

The 400 taels earned from the opening of the upscale shop, plus her previous savings, left her with around 100 taels after paying this money. She would use this to make bricks.

As for the shortage, didn't she earn money every day? With so many bricks, they couldn't be fired in just a day or two. She could pay in installments, or even wait until the quantity built up before paying—so there was no need to worry about money for building the house.

These past two days, Li Zheng had marveled continuously.

He had lived over half his life, and never imagined that River Bend Village could produce such a wealthy person, and it just had to be Li Yao. He really didn't know where her luck came from.

The villagers also knew that Li Yao had bought several thousand mu of barren hills. While incredibly envious, some soured greatly, badmouthing her for being foolish.

With so much money, she could have lived comfortably in Yizhou Prefecture. She really was an idiot.

Li Yao turned a deaf ear to this. Let them be sour—she was a landowner now.

"I've received the money. I'll go to the county office to handle the title deed now," said Li Zheng before leaving.

After he left, Li Yao took Da Zhuang and his wife Xiaoya to the back hill, pointing to the vast mountainous area, "Da Zhuang, from now on, manage these lands."

"Yes ma'am!"

Although it was barren mountain land, the quantity was massive. Da Zhuang was so overjoyed he nearly fainted.

Since childhood, he had farmed with his father, and knew deeply how important land was. He had always dreamed of owning tens of mu of good farmland, so his family would never have to worry about starving again.

Now his childhood dream had come true!

Although it was barren hills, he was confident in making them fertile—growing wheat, or vegetables to raise geese. Wouldn't that be a hundred times better than tens of mu of good farmland?

Xiaoya tightly grasped Da Zhuang's sleeve, on the verge of tears. She had suffered too much hardship marrying Da Zhuang, and endured too many contemptuous looks. Even now, her parents looked down on Da Zhuang, not even letting him sit at the table when they ate at her parents' home...

But now things were good.

Not only could they earn money from the business, but they also had so much mountain land. Life would get better from now on.

At this coming Spring Festival back home, Da Zhuang could finally stand tall and not have to stay silent before her parents.

"Mother, starting tomorrow I won't hawk anymore," said Da Zhuang. "I'll start opening up wasteland."

"Why do you need to open up wasteland?"

"If I don't, how can I farm in the future?" asked Da Zhuang.

"With the drought now, what could you grow after opening it up?" said Li Yao. "Plus you're alone - when would you finish?"

Da Zhuang was even more confused. If they didn't plan on opening up wasteland, why buy the land?

"Just stockpile it for now. In the new house vicinity, sow over ten mu of cabbage seeds - later it can be used to feed the geese. That's fine," said Li Yao.

The goslings hatching at home would come out in another ten days, estimated at over a hundred. So many geese needed to eat a lot of greens daily, relying solely on foraged weeds was definitely inadequate.

So they had to grow their own vegetables and grass, but without water now, large-scale planting was impossible. Just over ten mu was the limit.

"Don't worry about watering either," said Li Yao. "Spend a little money to hire some villagers - two days at most to water thoroughly. Watering twice a month should be enough." Da Zhuang was even more baffled. If others were doing the work, what was he supposed to do?

"You're in charge of management," said Li Yao. "In the future, I'll tell you what to plant where on this mountain land, and how to plant it. You just need to tell the hired people and get the specific work done well—that is your responsibility."

"Understood, ma'am. But I still want to farm a few mu myself, otherwise just watching others work while I do nothing will make me very uncomfortable. The ox at home will be wasted too."

Li Yao: ...

"Do as you wish, it's your own land. You can farm it however you want."

The three arrived at the flat land halfway up the hill. Li Zheng had already marked out a rectangular foundation with wooden stakes.

Surrounding the foundation was considerable flat open space, especially the large area behind the main house, plus the gentle slope - over ten mu in total.

Li Yao had deliberately reserved this space. In the future, it would be her backyard garden.

"Li Zheng will help check the almanac. The day after tomorrow is suitable for breaking ground, so excavate the foundation," said Li Yao. "I'll tell you how to dig now, and you supervise on site later."

"Alright." In this era, house foundations weren't dug too deep, with just one story after all.

But Li Yao wanted durability, so the digging had to be deep and wide enough. She would then fill it with rocks, lime, fine sand, and copious amounts of glutinous rice and tung oil paste.

The mortar used to build the Great Wall followed this recipe. Although not as good as reinforced concrete, it would certainly last decades.

...

In the study, after hearing Wang Jiafu's words, the Song County Magistrate took a long time to recover from the shock.

"You're saying... Li Yao from your River Bend Village spent 480 taels of silver to buy 4,800 mu of barren hills?"

"Yes sir," said Wang Jiafu. "If she hadn't already given me the silver bills, I wouldn't have believed it either."

"Do you know what she plans to do with so much barren hills?"

"I didn't ask for details," Wang Jiafu replied.

She was probably crazy, or had her own ideas, but Wang Jiafu didn't dare say this in front of the county magistrate.

"This Li Yao is increasingly puzzling," said the Song County Magistrate. "Since she's paid the silver, go find the clerk to register it and handle the title deed."

"Yes sir."

"Right," the magistrate asked again, "How are things in River Bend Village now? Do you still have surplus grain?"

"Who has any grain left, sir? Most families are just getting by on wild vegetables. Winter is almost here, and there won't be many wild veggies left. Everyone is still hoping the court could open the granaries for relief."

Opening the granaries was impossible. With drought across the land and border conflicts, the court's belt was cinched even tighter than the commoners'. Where would they find grain for disaster relief?

"You should figure something out first," said the Song County Magistrate. "Didn't you just sell several thousand mu of hills for silver? Aside from remitting taxes, 96 taels could be left. Use that to purchase grain. If you get through this winter, things might improve in the spring."

"That's all we can do now."

After Wang Jiafu left, the Song County Magistrate heaved a long sigh.

The most difficult time had arrived.

River Bend Village was slightly better off, but he heard other villages in Bai County were already preparing to flee the famine.

Yet faced with this, he still hadn't come up with any solutions.

If a massive exodus occurred, with refugees scattering everywhere, he would be guilty of dereliction as the new county magistrate.

What should he do?