My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 139 The Foundation of Rebellion
During this period, Li Yuan lived a rather comfortable life.

Because of his previous conspiracy with Liu Xuan, Li Yuan now has many ideas in his mind.

Liu Xuan's claim that he could replace Yang Xuangan was an exaggeration, but he should still have a chance to leave the local area and enter the imperial court.

Li Yuan had been waiting for the imperial edict to arrive these past few days.

Once the imperial edict regarding the mining issue arrives, he can then proceed with the next major task.

After waiting for several days, instead of receiving the emperor's decree, they were met with the arrival of several powerful clans who came to cause trouble.

They were all there because of the mining business.

Li Yuan remained calm, receiving each of them one by one, muttering incantations, and speaking in the form of imperial decrees, which they had no choice but to obey.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan's children were also busy with their own tasks.

In just a few days, the dilapidated farmland had changed.

Because there were no neighboring villages nearby, and no special name, Li Xuanba named the place Dade Farm.

Zhang Du and the others set up a temporary dwelling, and Li Xuanba, like a traveler on a journey, stayed in the tent.

Many things are still under construction, and the militiamen have to sleep outdoors.

However, they felt more comfortable here than in the city.

Li Xuanba was not idle either. He sent people to the nearby countryside to find some manpower and recruit some laborers.

Because of the previous examples in the city, the people were quite willing to come and do the work.

The entire farm became much more lively as a result, and the results became increasingly apparent.

Li Xuanba would occasionally talk to the residents in the nearby houses, asking about the situation outside the city.

They were initially a little reserved, but after spending a few days together, they learned about the lord's character and began to speak frankly about what was happening outside.

Jingle is not comparable to Guancheng. There is only one township outside, which is in the north direction. People cannot go to the other directions because there are many military buildings that others are not allowed to approach.

This village is called Sandui. I heard that it used to be a garrison under the rule of the puppet Qi state, specifically used to defend against people from the west.

In Loufan, the people were not greatly affected by the thieves. The area was sparsely populated and had many military outposts, so the thieves were not as frequent as in Xingyang. Of course, some people still fled to the mountains.

Although there are no bandits, there is little arable land, and the soil is far less fertile than in the Central Plains. In addition, they have been given priority in several rounds of corvée labor, so the people here are actually worse off than those in Xingyang.

When it was time to rest, everyone sat down in the mud with their bowls in hand and ate heartily.

Li Xuanba also mingled among the crowd, but the bowl in his hand was much more exquisite.

Everyone was used to this young lord who liked to ask questions, so they ate while watching him and waiting for him to ask.

"This recruitment isn't an annual event. You can currently make a living from this, but have you thought about what you'll do in the future?"

Upon hearing Li Xuanba's question, the farmers sitting next to him who had come to do chores fell silent.

One of them said, "I only own a few acres of land, and even if I made money from it, it wouldn't be enough to feed myself. In this world, how can I worry about the future? I'll just have to eat one meal at a time."

This man had no family and spoke casually, but the others who did have families were speechless at that moment.

The atmosphere suddenly became somewhat oppressive.

Li Xuanba suddenly spoke up, saying, "After I finish repairing the house and courtyard, I plan to develop some land here. I think this place is not completely uncultivable, and it is relatively easy to manage."

“If you are willing, you can come here to cultivate new land, and tell others that it is the prefect’s public land.”

Upon hearing this, several people's eyes immediately turned cold. One of them hurriedly said, "If Your Excellency could take us in, we would be happy to. However, I have two young boys at home. If Your Excellency could leave me even a little more food, I would do more work, even if it meant taking on a few more acres of land."

They clearly took Li Xuanba's words as an invitation to be taken in as tenant farmers. Tenants themselves do not have farmland, cannot own production, and cannot retain food. They only need the landlord to provide rations, and they have to keep working for him, which is similar to an employment relationship.

If the connection were to be further deepened, the original household registration would be cancelled, and the person would be directly hidden by the landlord, freed from corvée labor and taxes, and become the landlord's private property.

Of course, under such intense corvée labor, even landlords were struggling to survive, and tenants were not immune either.

Li Xuanba looked at him, then gently shook his head.

"No need, it's all yours."

"Huh??" "I don't lack food right now. I've heard that when you develop farmland, you usually have to plant it three times. It takes three years for the yield to barely reach a normal level. I don't know how much grain can be grown here. You can plant as much as you can."

"I can't do anything else. At most, I can lend you some things for reclamation and give you a pretext so that the officials can't punish you for it."

"I don't know how long Grandpa can stay here, but as you said, we'll just have to eat as much as we can."

"Before I leave, I will try to transfer these farmlands to my name, so that no one will dare to take them away directly in the future. I will find a way."

The farmers around Li Xuanba looked bewildered as they listened to his words.

The man who had spoken just now was trembling, "My lord, you..."

He stood up, trembling, and exclaimed, "What a great kindness! What a great kindness!"

He immediately knelt before Li Xuanba, and the others, only then realizing what was happening, also knelt down. Li Xuanba was taken aback and helped them all up. "Why bother? According to the official records, each of you owns several hundred acres of land. Since the government has written it that way, then you should have that much!"

"My lord."

"We are of lowly birth, and have never had the honor of meeting such a noble person as Your Excellency. We are truly grateful."

"I wonder what kind of good fortune we have accumulated."

The farmer, tongue-tied, couldn't say anything, but his eyes were red. Li Xuanba gestured for them to sit down again, then spoke: "When the court practices benevolent governance, it should prioritize the people. It cannot treat the people as lowly and thus humiliate them. There was a great sage named Mencius who said that the people are the most important, and the state comes after the people."

After everyone finished eating and started working again, they became exceptionally energetic, seemingly bursting with vitality.

Liu Chounu stood beside Li Xuanba with some suspicion. He felt that the Marquis had become somewhat different since he left this time.

Li Xuanba pointed into the distance, then turned to Liu Chounu and said, "I think we can establish a village here and let the people settle down. The location is good, there's plenty of land that can be developed, and there's a water source over there."

Liu Chounu just nodded absentmindedly.

Having settled things here, Li Xuanba led Liu Chounu back to the city.

Zhang Du stayed behind to continue managing things here.

When Li Xuanba returned to the mansion, Li Yuan had just seen off another person who had come to question him. Even though he had offended so many people, Li Yuan didn't feel anything was wrong. Just then, Li Xuanba found him again.

"Grandpa."

"Oh? Saburo? You're back?"

Li Yuan happily called Li Xuanba to his side and asked about the situation at the farm, to which Li Xuanba answered in detail.

“Grandpa, I previously recruited some laborers to build the farm, but I found that the public land granted to you is insufficient. I plan to have those laborers continue to cultivate the surrounding area, partly to make up for the shortfall in public land, and partly to help these poor families so that they can make a living in the future.”

"Good, good, my son is kind-hearted, just like me!"

Li Yuan nodded with a smile, and Li Xuanba suddenly spoke again: "Grandpa, there is one more thing I would like to ask you for help with."

"Oh? You said."

“I happen to have some money on hand, and I want to buy a few of those illegal mines that have been seized.”

"Buy a mine??"

Li Yuan was genuinely surprised this time.

What do you need the mine for?

"I also want to acquire some property. I don't intend to set up private mines. After I buy those mines, I will definitely pay the taxes on time. I also want to use the mines to provide employment for more people, so that more people can be supported. With you here, Grandpa, these mines will be much less troublesome."

Li Yuan suddenly realized that if someone else had said they wanted to buy mines to resettle the people, he would never have believed it. But since Li Xuanba said it, he believed it, because his son was simple and kind.

Buying some private mines isn't a big deal.

He nodded. "Alright, once the imperial edict is issued, you can buy a few private mines to manage!"

Li Xuanba quickly got up and bowed in gratitude.

Li Yuan chuckled and patted his son's head, marveling at the little guy's kindness.

The little guy had his head down, deep in thought.

People, food, iron, horses.
(End of this chapter)