Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 114 Qin Jin
Beijiwu arrived at the farmhouse entrance alone on horseback.

Everyone here knows Beijiwu. Several thousand households accompanied Beijiwu to the commercial district where Jinzhou merchants gathered.

"Meet the master!"

Qiao Guozhong, along with over a hundred members of his family and all the merchants and shopkeepers in the commercial district, knelt on the ground to pay a grand salute to the Arctic Martial Arts Association.

Arctic Martial looked at the impressive procession of over two thousand people.

"Are all these people you hired? How come there are so many?"

Faced with Beijiwu's doubts, Qiao Guozhong immediately replied, "Reporting to Master..."

Beijiwu interrupted him, "Just call me Marquis. You are neither a member of the Shannong tribe nor a member of Shannong County. Call me by my official title, or simply call me sir."

If you can't call someone "master," then you're not a trusted confidant.

If you can't call someone the clan leader, then you're not one of us.

Qiao Guozhong sensed a strong sense of crisis and hurriedly said, "Reporting to the Marquis! These are all..."

"Don't act on your own!" Beijiwu said angrily. "Call me whatever you're told. I don't like the title 'Lord Marquis.' Call me 'Marquis of the Mountain Farmer' if you like. Fine, just call me 'Sir'."

"Yes, sir." Qiao Guozhong replied nervously, "Reporting to sir, these are my relatives in Jinzhou. Jinzhou has suffered from severe drought for the past two years, and the people are living in misery. I have also heard that the court is planning to take action against Qin and Jin, so many Jinzhou merchants have brought their families here to hide."

Upon hearing this reason, Beijiwu nodded and said, "I see. As long as you pay taxes legally, that's fine. I'm not afraid of your large numbers. There's enough food here. But I'll tell you a red line in advance: the four million mu of public land under my control is of paramount importance and is the last resort for all the mountain farmers."

"Don't apply your landlord's ways to my land, and you'd better not touch the military and civilian farmland, otherwise you'll be sentenced to death. I'm making this clear to prevent you from doing anything wrong."

Qiao Guozhong breathed a sigh of relief and nodded hurriedly: "Yes! Thank you for the reminder, sir. I will definitely restrain my clansmen and they will absolutely not touch those fields."

Beijiwu was satisfied and said, "You can find places to reclaim wasteland yourselves. The mountain farmers do not suppress merchants, but they still encourage farming. Remember to report the wasteland you reclaim to the government. I see that there are more than 2,000 people here. We will count it as one thousand households and allow you to reclaim 50,000 mu of land for cultivation."

Four million mu of arable land is not the limit; Beijiwu believes it can be developed to eight million mu.

Qiao Guozhong was overjoyed to find that he had become a commander of a thousand households.

"Thank you so much for your kindness! I will never forget it!"

Beijiwu casually asked, "Did you get what I wanted? Everyone, stand up and talk."

"Thank you, sir!" Qiao Guozhong led his clansmen to stand up, then bowed and replied, "Reporting to you, sir, we have been asking merchants from the Western Regions for the past six months, but we have never heard of potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, or similar products."

Beijiwu nodded and said, "Take your time. Let me know when you find it."

"Yes, sir." Qiao Guozhong hurriedly agreed.

Beijiwu didn't ask about taxes and simply walked around the market area.

Qiao Guozhong breathed a sigh of relief after leaving the Arctic.

The young master of the nearby Qiao family said happily, "Uncle, our family will be a military household from now on. We can do business, lead troops, and farm!"

Qiao Guozhong looked thoughtful, unsure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Merchants generally only have money; they are not given high-ranking official positions or military posts.

But now that we have money, soldiers, weapons, and territory, aren't we afraid of being rebelled?
If it were the Wen Dynasty, it would be virtually impossible to receive such treatment.

However, anything is possible for the mountain farmers.

Arctic warriors do kill a lot of people, and they often kill those who don't obey them.

But as long as you don't do stupid things, you won't die. Beijiwu won't kill people for no reason. If he does what he needs to do, then there's no problem. If you insist on making things difficult, then you're just waiting to die.

Arctic warriors only kill people for two reasons: agriculture, which is important to the mountain farmers, and theft.

Embezzlement is not a capital offense, but stealing from Arctic Armed Forces is more likely to be a capital offense.

Whether it's agricultural matters or theft, the core issue is public household registration and public land.

In other words, as long as you don't turn against the Arctic Army, they don't care what you do in your own territory at all.

When the King of Guihua attacked various tribes, he didn't even bother to ask about the affairs of the Arctic.

The Khitans, Mongols, Xianbeis, Jurchens, Han Chinese, and Western Region people in the vicinity—as long as they didn't cause trouble, they didn't care even if they knew they were spies.

Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be killed; we are not afraid of retaliation.

They don't cause trouble, but they're not afraid of trouble either. The mountain farmers just want to farm and have enough to eat.

Thanks to Beiji Wu's laissez-faire attitude towards power, and also because everyone understood him, several Jinzhou merchants returned to the house to discuss the matter.

Lu Yuankui, whose arm had been dislocated by Beijiwu, said, "I think it would be better to call all the people from our hometown over. It's better for them to be under the command of Shannonghou than under the command of the Prince of Jin."

The other old shopkeepers are still thinking about this matter.

Qiao Guozhong said directly, "You can't put all your eggs in one basket. This time, the court is only targeting those refugees. Those of us who are doing business in our hometowns are fine."

Lu Yuankui looked at Qiao Guozhong and tried his best to persuade him, "It's fine this time, but what about next time? The Prince of Jin's mansion is there, who can escape it? Even his father can't control him, do you really think we won't run into him just because we believe he won't touch us?"

Qiao Guozhong fell silent. That beast Prince Jin had been Prince Jin for two years, and the whole city of Jinzhou was filled with complaints.

Old shopkeeper Qiao Guangsheng slowly said, "It's not wrong to leave some people in our hometown. It's hard to leave one's homeland. The houses in our hometown also need to be looked after. Besides, Shan Nong County is less than a year old. Let's wait two or three years before making any decisions. I heard that the clan leader had a child last month?"

Qiao Guozhong replied, "I had a son, but we haven't named him yet."

Qiao Guangsheng nodded his thin head and said slowly, "That's good. Having a child makes me feel at ease."

Children are the future of families and the future of organizations.

Despite the fact that Beijiwu is very young, everyone still hopes that he will have a child as a guarantee for the future. After all, Beijiwu is always at the forefront of the battles, and leaving behind a child would help stabilize the morale of the army and the people.

The people of Shannong County can defend against attacks from the south and north. As long as there is a stable ruler, they are not afraid of external attacks.

Qiao Guozhong glanced at the crowd nearby. "The clan leader didn't inquire about this year's taxes. We should pay them after the autumn market ends."

Everyone nodded.

This isn't a tax, it's protection money, and it has to be paid. You can evade taxes, but you can't skimp on protection money.

The merchants of Jinzhou all understood the difference between taxes and protection fees, and now they relied on the protection and support provided by Arctic Martial Arts.

If you want a voice, you have to pay more.

Being able to buy the power of discourse is a fantastic thing for businessmen!
In the tea-horse-salt-cloth trade, the north supplied horses and cloth, while the south supplied tea and salt.

Arctic warriors have no shortage of warhorses, ironware, and cloth; they only lack salt and tea.

The role of Jinzhou merchants was to obtain tea from Jiangnan and Shu, while Jinzhou itself had salt ponds for salt production.

Tea and salt are both necessities. However, the salt-making technology of the grasslands is not as good as that of the Central Plains, especially since the grasslands are mostly located in the west. People in the eastern grasslands can only rely on trade with the Han people.

Nomadic diets are mainly based on meat and dairy products, and lack vitamin C and dietary fiber.

The polyphenols and micronutrients in tea effectively prevent scurvy and digestive diseases. Although people may not understand these benefits, the body's dependence on vitamin supplements and the survival stories have led people to make the right choice.

Catechins in tea can increase fat metabolism by 15-20%, which is crucial for nomadic peoples who consume a high-fat diet of 4000 calories per day.

The grassland region lacks the habit of boiling water for disinfection. The boiling process of tea purifies the water source. The antibacterial effect of tea polyphenols reduces the incidence of dysentery by 60%. Grassland peoples are accustomed to using tea as medicine and drink more tea when they are sick.

The wisdom of survival has instilled in the nomadic peoples of the grasslands the idea that "it is better to go three days without food than one day without tea."

If they can't get tea, they'll resort to force.

They don't want to fight if they can avoid it. If they can exchange wool, sheepskin, cowhide, and cow bones for tea and salt, they are naturally willing to continue doing business with the mountain farmers.

Beijiwu said to the several commanders around him, "This place is a battleground. In the future, the Tatars, Xianbei, and Khitan will all attack. With your abilities, it will be difficult to stop this place."

"Since I have appointed you as commanders of a thousand households, I cannot allow you to be without territory to manage, nor can I allow you to be without complete military households. I will give each of you 50,000 mu of fine land in the fertile Weizhou Plain. After the autumn harvest, when people have more free time, you can build your own mansions and houses."

"The mansion should be built carefully, solidly, and tallly, so that people can live there in times of crisis and also defend the city. You can also live in the big house inside normally."

"I will give you five thousand taels of silver as start-up capital. How you manage the land from now on is up to you. Apart from paying taxes on time and helping out during wartime, I will not interfere with anything else. You can wear dragon robes and build palaces as you please, as long as you have money. The mountain farmers don't care about these things."

Lu Siming was deeply moved by Beiji Wu's words, but hurriedly and modestly replied, "This servant dares not!"

Beijiwu said, "I've already said I don't care about these things. You guys go together to measure the land later. Each thousand households will have 50,000 mu. Lü Siming was the first to follow me and has made contributions in defending the city, so it's okay if he gets an extra thousand mu."

"To prevent you from being unable to withstand a future invasion by a large army and protect your people until I come to rescue you, you should build a military fortress in your territory specifically for defense and pass it on to your children and grandchildren. It should ideally be in the shape of a tall tower. I will have someone give you the blueprints later. The person who builds the castle will give you five thousand taels of start-up capital."

Only then did everyone realize that Arctic Martial Arts School really did let them do whatever they wanted.

"Thank you, Master!"

The thought of becoming a lord in the fertile plains, a hereditary position, and being able to build palaces and cities filled everyone with anticipation.

Arctic Martial Arts, however, has other plans.

Nongjiakou is a trade hub, gathering caravans from various regions. It will grow larger and larger in the future, and its tax revenue will also increase.

Nowadays, people's impression of this place is that it is not suitable for farming and is quite dangerous, so they are being kind by not confining them here, but sending them to farm instead.

This crucial tax zone, of course, is under our control.

To the north of Nongjiakou lies the Mongolian grasslands, to the east the North China Plain, to the west mountains, and to the south the Sanggan River basin leading to Jinzhou.

The grassland is dotted with tens of thousands of tribes of all sizes, and the overall area is ridiculously large. It takes five or six thousand miles to travel from one side to the other.

Nongjiakou and Tongzhou are located in the middle, making them ideal for trading with people from the grasslands in the four directions.

Relying on his personal prestige and the pretext of granting fiefdoms, the Arctic general sent a group of chiliarchs to the countryside to build houses and enjoy a life of luxury. He arranged for a group of people to manage the market, and several chiliarchs from nearby areas took turns to garrison the area, providing military support and earning some extra money along the way.

Seeing that there was nothing going on in the north, Beijiwu went to oversee the autumn harvest, demonstrating the importance the mountain farmers placed on agriculture through his actions.

Clearly define punishments, safeguard production, maintain military discipline, appoint people based on merit, and most importantly, gain people's trust.

Whether they were Hu or Han, everyone knew that he was the leader here. Even the guards under the various commanders recognized him as their leader, thus avoiding internal strife.

Opinions may differ, but actions are unified. They do whatever Arctic Military says and have no illusions that they can survive by deceiving Arctic Military.

After all, you can't fool the emperor, who is far away and can't see it.

If you fool Arctic Martial, he will surely die once he turns around and sees it.

There are only 100 thousand households in total, totaling 500,000 people. Beijiwu manages his own 30,000 public households, and the remaining 70,000 households are the 70 thousand households.

The seventy commanders were scattered throughout Kyushu, and they were not of one mind with each other, so they were no match for the Arctic Warriors.

The contrast in living standards between a thousand households and public households determined that, in critical moments, the soldiers and civilians under the rule of a thousand households could kill the thousand households and become public households themselves.

Legally speaking, everyone was a surrendered Northern Army officer. The commander was just an officer who surrendered along with these former civil officials. The people who were truly loyal to the Northern Army officer of the Mountain Farm were still the ones who had surrendered.

The lord rebels; there is a reward for killing him.

The enfeoffment system in Beijiwu is different from the ordinary enfeoffment system. After the enfeoffment system is implemented, as long as taxes are paid on time, it doesn't matter if you are no longer the original commander of a thousand households.

They neither cared how the lord mistreated the people, nor how the people rebelled against the commanders.

Even if a lord leads his people in rebellion, the nearby lords will not tolerate it, and each of their guards will block and suppress them.

The Arctic Army took over the farmland near the main roads and rivers as public resources, thus creating a transportation route that only they controlled. Whether it was a merchant or an insider, they could pass through without any obstacles.

In times of war, people with public household registration will also join the fight.

To prevent his hometown from being robbed while he was away, Beijiwu began training militia after the autumn harvest.

***
That autumn, a large number of refugees from Qin and Jin provinces died near Yanmen Pass, their cries of despair echoing across the land.

The population in the Northwest region has dwindled, and large numbers of villages and farmlands have begun to fall into disuse.

After the army systematically slaughtered a large number of refugees, leaving behind skeletons and plague, by winter, nine out of ten houses were empty and there was no one for miles around.

Such a massacre of the people of two states was considered extremely outrageous in a century of chaos. Often, it was the massacre of a city or even a state, but the massacre of two states was so extreme that even the barbarian people, who were known for their killing, thought it was incredibly immoral.

(End of this chapter)