Chapter 10

Twenty-nine displaced people joined the Liu family village, and a month passed in a flash.

The Wang family settled down in the Liu family village. As the system had said, they were absolutely loyal to Liu Ming.

Starting from the second day, Liu Ming paid them wages and had them help with logging. The other villagers, seeing this, immediately understood that this was the method used to solve the problem of no grain income for them!

However, everyone was very curious about why the village chief needed so much wood.

No one knew that Liu Ming personally gathered Gao Shun and the Wang family, and on the mountain, they cleared five acres of farmland, which he then entrusted to the Wang family to cultivate. For this sudden appearance of cultivated land on the flat ground, Gao Shun, who had some psychological resilience, was still puzzled as to why Liu Ming entrusted these 'divine fields' to these 'outsiders.'

Liu Ming did not hide this from him, saying that these people had been enlightened by the divine, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to travel so far and only find refuge here. Enlightened by the divine, these people were absolutely loyal to him, and could even be used as loyalists.

Hearing this explanation, Gao Shun finally understood: So these were the true 'insiders'!

He had momentarily doubted the power of the divine, but then acknowledged it with a bitter smile. Miracles frequently appeared; once might be a coincidence, but more than twice couldn't be explained by coincidence. This poor child's worldview was clearly already shattered.

After a month of farming, the five acres of land yielded fifteen shi of grain. This harvest made Gao Shun, who understood agriculture, directly stunned. As for the Wang family, they were surprised but quickly regained their composure, as if this yield was what it should be.

At that time, one acre of cultivated land yielded about one shi of grain, and three shi was considered high yield. Not to mention, the millet planted only took a month to mature, which was nothing short of a miracle.

By now, the autumn harvest was complete, and the local officials, along with the clerks, came to collect taxes. The twenty-nine new residents were exempted from taxes for the year, mainly due to the respect for Liu Ming's grandfather.

The villagers left seeds for next year's planting and enough grain to last until the next harvest, and the rest was piled onto carts, led by Gao Shun to be sold in the county town.

Usually, they would wait for grain merchants to come and buy directly, but selling directly to the county town fetched a higher price. Plus, the county town was not too far from the Liu family village, so they usually sold the grain this way and then had the people in the convoy buy what the villagers needed in the county town.

Liu Ming was originally going to go, but Gao Shun had him stay in the village to train.

The reason Liu Ming later found out was that these grain convoys occasionally encountered bandits, and in the ensuing fight, some people inevitably got killed. As the village chief, Gao Shun naturally couldn't let Liu Ming take such risks.

However, before knowing the truth, Liu Ming indeed blamed Gao Shun for several days.

Life continued, and Liu Ming sold ten shi of grain, keeping the rest for the Wang family who cultivated the land. He didn't need to keep too much grain, as he could harvest again next month. In return, he needed to sell the grain to get money, otherwise, other constructions couldn't develop.

Based on previous knowledge, ten shi of grain could sell for about three guan. Knowing this number, Liu Ming couldn't help but feel a bit disheartened, wondering how long it would take to develop at this rate.

After about three days, Gao Shun and the others returned to the village. With them were seven large carts and a pile of miscellaneous goods. However, what caught the most attention were the more than ten boxes.

"These are the Zhang family's additional investments. Zhang Fei, after carefully investigating the actions of the noble families and the Taiping Dao, found that what you said has a high possibility of happening. Just for this, it's worth the additional investment. After all, knowing the news in advance, the Zhang family might also be able to develop rapidly, and the benefits far outweigh the money in these ten boxes." Gao Shun explained.

Information is money, it seems that people in ancient times also understood this.

Carrying the boxes back to the room, he opened them and scanned them with the system, finding that his account had an additional five hundred guan. The Zhang family's wealth was indeed very substantial!

Thinking of continuing to build more farmland, at this moment, a guest arrived.

Liu Ming naturally didn't know who he was, but Gao Shun knew and whispered, "This is your third uncle!"

"Third Uncle, please sit down quickly!" Knowing that the guest was related to him, Liu Ming warmly welcomed him.

"Wow, it's been only half a year, and the house has been rebuilt?" Liu Jing said with a worldly expression.

"Ha ha..." Liu Ming didn't bother to explain, knowing that he could find out how the new house appeared by checking. Explaining it himself would seem like showing off or boasting.

"Never mind, seeing that you're doing well... I and the clan leader are relieved. I came here for one thing, to invite you to the ancestral temple in Lou Sang Village to attend the clan meeting." Liu Jing, seeing Liu Ming's silence, didn't bother with small talk and directly stated his purpose.

"Oh, what is the meeting about?" Liu Ming asked curiously.

"Nothing much, just to let the Liu descendants from different places catch up and avoid becoming estranged. But for you, there might be something more, you'll know when the time comes." Liu Jing finished and got up to leave.

"Third Uncle, won't you stay for the night?" Liu Ming asked kindly.

"No, I still need to contact other Liu clan members..." Liu Jing shook his head and left.

"What's up with Third Uncle, so rushed." Liu Ming found it amusing to see him leave so quickly.

"Maybe he feels embarrassed, so he left first." Gao Shun, however, looked worried.

"Master, what's wrong?" Liu Ming sensed something was off.

"Right, you have amnesia and don't remember... I'll tell you!" Gao Shun sighed and recounted what happened two years ago.

At that time, the village was attacked by the Hu people, and only fifty-two people survived by hiding in the mountains. The rest were either killed or fled far away.

It was also the autumn harvest, but after the Huns' rampage, the fields were left barren.

Unfortunately, a new county magistrate had just taken office, and he needed to quickly recoup the money he had spent to buy his position, so he did not exempt the Liu family village from taxes. He even threatened to sell all the villagers to large households as slaves if they didn't pay.

Under these circumstances, the old village chief knelt in front of the Liu clan temple for a day and a night, earning the sympathy of the old clan leader, who provided a large amount of grain, allowing them to get through the crisis.

Recently, the old clan leader learned of the old village chief's death and soon passed away himself. The new village chief, as the saying goes, "a new emperor, new ministers," likely had the idea of reclaiming the loan.

Repaying debts is a matter of course, and Liu Ming could only bitterly laugh at his bad luck, having just gained a golden finger for over a month, and now a creditor was at his door.

Suddenly, Liu Ming realized something and immediately asked, "Master, how much is this grain worth?"

Gao Shun was surprised by Liu Ming's question but thought about it and answered, "It's worth five hundred guan..."

At this point, he fully understood the key to the matter. But he was very curious how the Liu clan leader knew that these ten boxes contained exactly five hundred guan.

Then, a figure appeared in his mind...

"Liu Dog Egg, that damn traitor!" Gao Shun said angrily.

"It's him?!" Liu Ming was shocked to hear this.

Liu Dog Egg was quickly detained, and Gao Shun personally interrogated him, confirming that he was the one who leaked the information.

The reason was simple: the system-built farmland was discovered. There were no protective measures around it, and the Wang family's mysterious behavior naturally aroused others' curiosity.

Actually, Liu Dog Egg went there mainly to prevent these people from doing anything harmful to Liu Ming, with good intentions.

But when he discovered such miraculous farmland, and Liu Ming didn't entrust it to him, his 'trusted person,' but to the newly arrived 'outsiders,' he became furious.

They say, "A small favor is a kindness, a large favor is a grudge." He didn't understand the kindness before, only feeling that Liu Ming had betrayed him.

Later, according to his confession, the new clan leader had found him early on, hoping that Liu Dog Egg could be his eyes and ears in the Liu family village, closely monitoring Liu Ming. At first, he refused, but later agreed because joining the clan leader Liu An would be profitable!

The events unfolded in a way that was both unexpected and laughable.

"You can leave..." Liu Ming didn't explain anything, just quietly told him.

"Hmph, if this place doesn't want me, there are other places that will! Today you betray me, and when you are poor and hungry, don't come looking for me!" Liu Dog Egg cursed and left the Liu family village after packing his bags.

Soon, other villagers came to ask why Liu Dog Egg was leaving, and someone mentioned the farmland. Clearly, more than a few people knew about it.

Liu Ming inwardly cursed the poor confidentiality in ancient times and then smiled and announced to everyone, "The divine fields have just appeared. I don't know exactly what they are, and neither do you. In such a situation, should I delay everyone for a month to try planting? If there's no harvest, wouldn't that delay everyone's autumn harvest?!"

"The divine fields are only five acres, not many, but they have high yields and quick harvests. Now I announce that each household in the Liu family village can, within their capabilities, take turns occupying one acre of divine field for a month. After a month, the harvested grain will be split equally between the occupying household and me!"

Everyone isn't stupid and knew this might be Liu Ming's way to calm the people.

However, a month's harvest of three shi, even if they only get one shi, considering that they can rotate every three to four months, this means an additional three to four shi of grain per year, which is quite beneficial!

Fortunately, Liu Dog Egg's departure saved one turn, and no one had any objections.

Finally, Liu Ming, having calmed the people, breathed a sigh of relief. The next day, he instructed Gao Shun and quickly packed his bags to head to Lou Sang Village. This was his first time attending the clan meeting, and he didn't want to be late.