Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 130 Traitor

"There's flooding in the south again."

Early in the morning, Wang Mingyu, Fang Huairui, and the three girls in the family chatted together.

Fang Huairui laughed and said, "It's normal for things not to happen every year. Floods and droughts will pass on their own. As long as there are no wars or plagues, then everything is fine."

Floods and breaches are common occurrences in the Yellow River region, and they regularly kill tens of thousands of people.

Every hundred years, hundreds of thousands of people die. The century of war is caused by the Yellow River constantly turbulent, making everyone uneasy.

In a hundred years, there can be 120 floods and dozens more breaches of the dikes.

However, as long as the Yellow River is managed well, the Heluo region will be the best grain-producing area.

Short-term consequences, but long-term benefits.

While the girls were reading the newspaper and chatting, a maid ran in from outside.

Tong Bao'er exclaimed with delight, "Great news! Our eldest master and the fourth master of the Li family have both been granted the title of Duke! Our family is the Duke of Zhao, with a fief south of Baoding Prefecture, while the Li family is the Duke of Qi, with a fief in Qizhou. King Wu has also allowed our two families and four dukes to have two million mu of land connected together to form the character '田' (field), establishing Tianzhou!"

Tong Bao'er finished recounting the good news in one breath, and then smiled at the surprised grandmothers and young ladies, saying, "Grandma, give me some silver to use, and I'll have someone buy a map so I can know exactly where it is!"

Fang Huairui immediately stood up and said with a smile, "Go and get a thousand taels of silver, and give each person a tael as a reward! I'll give the reward. You go and buy a map. We passed through Baoding Prefecture on our way here, so I need to find out which piece of land it is first."

Fang Huairui is Wang Daoji's wife. Now that Wang Daoji has become a Duke, she is naturally the Duchess.

Wang Mingyu asked curiously, "Why isn't this story in the newspapers?"

Tong Bao'er laughed and said, "It was just mentioned in court today. The master sent someone back with the news, and it should be in the newspapers tomorrow or the day after."

Fang Huairui laughed heartily, "Great! We'll buy several hundred more copies of the newspapers tomorrow and the day after!"

I already knew about the rewards from my family when I arrived, but they were only officially confirmed today.

Two dukes from one family—that's a great honor.

Wang Mingyu's half-sister, Wang Minghui, pondered, "Now that my elder brother has been granted the title of Duke of Zhao, what will happen to Father's title of Duke of Yan?"

Fang Huairui, who had just been happy, quickly frowned and sat down quietly to think about the matter.

"It will definitely be your eldest brother who inherits it. Didn't King Wu enfeoff the territories together? It seems he meant that they would govern them together in the future."

Wang Minghui reminded, "Local areas can be managed together, but one person can't hold both ducal titles, can he?"

Fang Huairui raised an eyebrow, her tone suddenly becoming impolite, and said, "We can't just give it away, can we? Your eldest brother took a huge risk to come here. Our whole family is risking our lives to gamble on this fortune. Your second and third brothers are good-for-nothings, and they're probably hiding somewhere right now!"

Seeing that her sister-in-law and younger sister were about to argue, Wang Mingyu quickly said, "These kinds of things aren't up to us women to decide. Whatever the King of Wu says goes. We'll find out when our elder brother comes back. Let's go and have a get-together with the Li sisters, and have some good wine and food to liven things up."

“That’s true.” Fang Huairui stood up and smiled. “Let’s go talk to the Li sisters and the matriarch first. We’ll give out the rewards after the Duke returns tonight and confirms it’s true.”

The Wang and Li families already had a good relationship, and now that their fiefdoms have been combined and they have both been granted the title of Duke, they have gained the honor of having two dukes from one family, which has made their relationship even better.

There wasn't enough space inside the mud house, and since it was already autumn and it wasn't hot outside, they set up ten tables for a banquet in the yard.

The Wang and Li families all brought their entire families with them, and many more people have moved here recently.

There are eight people at each table, so even ten tables would only seat eighty people, and it's still shared by two families.

The oldest person present, Li's mother, said, "What makes me happiest is not that I was granted the title of Duke, but that the world is finally at peace and we no longer have to live in fear."

When will your father arrive?

Li Yuanrang and Wang Daoji sat at the same table as the ancestor, along with several of his brothers.

The sisters and wives sat elsewhere, along with some concubines and relatives from the clan.

The Wen Dynasty also had some issues of etiquette between men and women, but it was not as feudal. Although the daughters of ordinary officials could not go out, they were not confined to their homes and had to avoid men.

At least during banquets, there's less need to be wary of one's own brothers; physical contact is fine, and there's no need to avoid others or be alone with them. Li Yuanrang replied, "I was originally stationed at Zijing Pass and Juyong Pass, and I'm on my way back now. I should be back by the morning after tomorrow. After resting for a while, I'll head north to lead troops into battle."

Li's mother immediately became anxious, "Why are we going to war again? Are we going to fight the Khitans or someone else?"

The others also suppressed their excitement and listened to the conversation.

Wang Daoji replied, "We will fight the Khitans and drive them out of Youzhou. At that time, all four of us, the four dukes from our two families, will have to go north to fight."

Li's mother was extremely worried. She tried to stand up anxiously, stamping her foot and saying, "Why is there going to be another war? And why are you all being asked to go? We've only had a few days of peace, and now the fighting has started again. How can I have any peace and quiet!"

Li Yuanrang comforted him, saying, "Don't worry, Ancestor. The Khitans have already withdrawn from Youzhou on their own. Since King Wu killed 50,000 of their elite cavalry in the spring, the Khitans have not dared to go south. Their advance has long been cut off. There are also several generals of the Shan Nong tribe with them. Moreover, they are mainly on the defensive, so it's no problem."

Li's mother said worriedly, "Since the mountain farmers are good at fighting, why not just let them fight?"

Li's mother had absolutely no sense of loyalty to the country, nor did she understand how much blood tax this family of four dukes needed to pay.

Wang Daoji said, “Our two families have gained wealth and status through military force. This time, our allegiance to the Shan Nong Kingdom is merely icing on the cake and will not be of any help to the Shan Nong tribe. If we do not make any contributions, we will surely be disliked by the king in the future.”

"Now that the king has given us the opportunity to make contributions, it is also a chance for our two families to gain the respect of the people. If we refuse, we will definitely be looked down upon by others."

Li's mother sighed, "Your father has fought all his life. I was hoping that once our two families had fiefdoms, we could become county magistrates and not have to worry about these and that."

Wang Daoji smiled and said, "Ancestor, rest assured, the Mountain Farming Kingdom is invincible. We are just going out for a trip. If we encounter a powerful enemy that we cannot defeat, King Wu will naturally take action and solve the problem!"

"Besides, winter is approaching, so any fighting will have to wait until next year. This year, the main task is to clean up the bandits and robbers in the Youzhou area."

Li's mother felt a little better and then started to nag, "How are your younger siblings and in-laws in Luoyang?"

Wang Daoji replied, "King Wu brought up these matters when he negotiated peace. Luoyang did not arrest these people; they were all allowed to come on their own. Some refused to come, having severed ties with us, so we let them go."

Li Yuanrang said, "When my father returns, Daoji and I will go to Baoding Prefecture and Qizhou to find a good place to be our fiefdom. Baoding Prefecture is a good place in Jizhou, and Qizhou is also a good place in the west of Shandong. Both places have large areas of fertile land."

"The king has allowed us to build palaces and castles and establish government offices. We need to go there as soon as possible to recruit some refugees to farm, and also call on our clansmen and people we know to come and help."

Mother Li nodded. "Good. With a million acres of land, life will be much better from now on. How will your titles be divided? How will your father's title be passed down?"

This is a crucial question, as it relates to future factionalism.

Wang Daoji replied, "The king said that everyone can inherit it, or you can choose someone else to inherit it yourself. However, when dividing the family property, the title and the estate cannot be separated, nor can the 500,000 mu of land be separated."

"Whoever inherits the title will inherit 500,000 mu of land, which can be inherited by 20,000 households and 1 million mu of land by two dukes. However, when serving the country in the future, they must also pay the full amount of land tax and 2,000 soldiers to fight."

"The land cannot be sold; it can only be inherited for life. These rules were established to prevent unworthy descendants from selling the ancestral land. However, the king also said that the land can be used to build gardens, cities, grains, cotton, and oilseeds to earn more money."

"If we combine the two million mu of farmland belonging to the four families, it would take seventy-two li (approximately 3.5 kilometers) to walk from one side to the other!"

"The entire Kyushu region behind the mountains will only plant two million mu of wheat this year."

Upon hearing this, Li's mother and the wives and young ladies of the Wang and Li families all understood the significance of this.

Before long, the Duke's newspaper was published, and everyone knew about this family's incredible luck.

When it comes to one million and five million, people don't have a clear concept of it; they just think it's a lot.

But two million is a different story!

This year, Kyushu, the land behind the mountains, has used two million acres of land to feed nearly one million people!

People who don't usually have a concept of two million mu can appreciate how generous the rewards from the Wang and Li families were once they apply that number to the land of Kyushu behind the mountains.

Within a few days, even the princes and nobles in Luoyang City secretly bought copies of the Shan Nong Daily.

"Traitor!"

While they verbally criticized him harshly, they were secretly extremely envious. This was essentially equivalent to being granted the title of king, and even more free than a prince.

(End of this chapter)