Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 154 The Road to the Wang Family's Revival
Daming Prefecture, Tianzhou
The Wang family, consisting of more than twenty members, gathered together and sat down at five tables.

"We're all family, so I'll just get straight to the point and stop with the nonsense about how easy or difficult it is."

Wang Daoji spoke first, taking charge as the current head of the Wang family.

The wives and daughters of the Wang family, as well as the widows, all bowed their heads and waited for him to speak.

The Wang family is not what it used to be. Ever since the two dukes made a mistake together, the people who used to frequent them have stopped associating with them.

Wang Mingyu, the third young lady of the Wang family, looked up at her eldest brother and understood the hardships he had endured.

"Brother, just say what you have to say. This family is counting on you now."

Wang Daoji was a Duke, the eldest son, and the most capable man in the family.

"I'll be frank. Now that His Majesty has been magnanimous and continued to extend his previous favor, our family will naturally continue to serve His Majesty, even at the cost of our lives."

“It’s just that our family owns a million acres of fertile land, but this year we only cultivated less than 40,000 acres, and we are far from being officially registered as a household.”

"Now that most of our savings from previous years have been squandered, and we still need to hire people to make a living, we must cut back on all expenses in the household, ladies..."

Looking at the seven concubines left by his father, Wang Daoji said cruelly, "I will find you good families in the manor, and you can live peacefully from now on."

The concubines immediately turned pale.

A teenage girl immediately retorted, "Is this how the Duke's mansion treats orphans and widows? Not only do they refuse to give us travel expenses to return home, but they also want to marry us off to those widowed grooms on the estate. Aren't they afraid of being laughed at?!"

This girl has clearly received some training, is quite wealthy, has a clear mind, and is principled.

The young ladies, wives, and sons of the Wang family all showed expressions of shame.

Wang Daoji had already decided to be ruthless and use any means necessary to protect his family.

Faced with his aunt's rebuke, Wang Daoji calmly said, "Since we have submitted to the Mountain Farmers, we should follow their rules and divide the family into households, distributing money, grain, land, and women."

Once the words were spoken, there was no wavering.

“Regardless of whether you have given birth or not, the child will be raised by our Wang family. Since you have sold yourselves into the Wang family, it is my duty to deal with you as I see fit. As the head of the household here, I have a responsibility to encourage more people to marry and have children to continue the family line.”

The woman who had spoken earlier turned pale and quickly shouted, "So you're taking your anger out on us weak women? You're sending us away like toys?"

“Yes.” Wang Daoji looked at her calmly, then said coldly, “If you are unwilling, you can die, and I will give you a proper burial!”

"You!" The young concubine looked at Wang Daoji, and after a few seconds of eye contact, she put on a pitiful expression. "Why do you, a grown man, have to make things difficult for us weak women? What have I done to offend you that you have to humiliate us poor people!"

The young aunt couldn't stop the tears from falling.

The Wang family's daughter-in-law remained silent, and the young ladies who wanted to offer comfort were immediately stopped by her.

The second son, Wang Daozhong, stood up and said, "Eldest brother, these concubines are still Father's women. It's really inappropriate to give them to servants. It would damage the reputation of our Wang family. Why don't we let them go to Luoyang to make a living on their own?"

Wang Daoji frowned and looked at the second son, "What face does the Wang family have now? You don't know the cost of firewood and rice when you're not in charge of the household. Now is the time of life and death for the Wang family. You have more than a dozen women in your house who do no work, and you only have one child. What face-saving things have you done for the Wang family by spending so much money every month?"

"He doesn't understand military strategy or how to manage a household and fields. All he does is fool around with women and raise those useless birds!"

"From now on, all the maids and servants in the manor will have to go out to work and farm. Don't think that just because you ran away from Tianzhou, you're safe. No matter how down on your luck the Wang family is, they are still a household of ten thousand households appointed by the King of Wu. Even if you run away from Tianzhou, the nearby households of a thousand or ten thousand households will not take you in, not to mention the Emperor, who will never be short of people!"

"All concubines who have not had children for three years shall be either married off or sold!"

Upon realizing that his woman was about to be sold, Wang Daozhong exclaimed, "Splitting the family! Each of us will manage our own affairs! You manage your Zhao State Duke's Mansion, and I'll manage my Yan State Duke's Mansion!"

The men and women nearby all watched the two brothers. Following Wang Daoji's advice was clearly a dead end, so they might as well split up the family!
"Divide the family!" The third brother, Wang Daoming, also stood up to support his second brother's decision to divide the family property. The wives of each branch of the family also supported the decision to divide the family property. Better to live a miserable life than die. Now that the Wang family's ship was about to sink, it was better to get their share as soon as possible!

When his younger brothers misbehaved and the others were getting restless, Wang Daoji gave a disdainful sneer.

"I'll distribute the money, land, and women to the servants. The remaining servants, henchmen, and household guards in both mansions will all listen to me. You think you can take a share of the Wang family's meager fortune with just your few useless concubines?"

"Every penny of the Wang family's remaining wealth must be kept for the Wang family's future rise. This includes you all; you are all fuel for the Wang family's resurgence, and no one can escape it!"

“Starting tomorrow, the meals in the manor will be at the standard of ordinary people. The Wang family’s children will go out with me to work and get training. The women will do the laundry, cook, sew clothes and sell them for money. We will do the same things as the mountain farmers!”

"If you don't work, you'll get beaten!"

"Anyone who still considers themselves the spoiled brats they used to be, thinking they can squander the Wang family's fortune at will, I will personally clean house of them!!"

None of the Wang family members expected Wang Daoji to be so ruthless. Not only did he want to give his father's women to his subordinates as wives and mothers, but he also forcibly kept his younger brothers, who were preparing to divide the family property, as slaves and laborers. He even sold his brothers' women...

"You..." Wang Daozhong was so shocked that he couldn't speak. Soon, a breath caught in his throat, and he cursed angrily, "This is what a beast did!"

Fang Huairui kept her head down, as if she couldn't see anyone, and didn't say a word.

The maids and young ladies nearby also held their breath, unable to grasp even the slightest bit of their own future, completely at the mercy of others.

Wang Daoji pulled a sharp knife from his pocket. "I'm not talking to you today! From now on, you can curse me and hate me as you please. For the future of the Wang family, I will clean house. Anyone have any objections?! Speak!"

When they saw Wang Daoji take out his knife, the group of young masters and ladies looked at him in fear.

"You're insane! Big Brother's gone mad!!" Wang Daozhong quickly retreated, shouting, "Wang Fu! Seize this madman!"

Wang Daoji sneered, "Men! Tie this useless piece of trash up! Leave him out in the yard to dry overnight, and see if he knows what's good for him!"

"Yes, sir!" More than a dozen servants nearby immediately responded.

Under the fearful gaze of a crowd, Wang Daoji ordered his servants to tie up the second young master and throw him into the courtyard like a pig.

With the example set by the Shan Nong people, Wang Daoji could easily revive the Wang family simply by imitating what Bei Jiwu did among the Shan Nong people.

The people of Shannong have never had the concept of voluntary labor; it has always been forced labor.

If you don't work, they'll beat you without hesitation, regardless of whether you're a prisoner or a resident of the public household, whether you were one of the earliest mountain farmers or a slave who just knelt down.

Wang Daoji wasn't as ruthless as Beiji Wu. If it were Beiji Wu, several people would have been dead by now.

Although the mountain farmers' methods were crude and barbaric, they were indeed a powerful remedy for the Wang family, whose problems were deeply entrenched and difficult to reverse.

The combination of family farms and family workshops, along with the emerging stable business environment and the numerous privileges enjoyed by Wanhu, allowed the Wang family to find a path to rebirth.

Without a firm resolve, this path is impossible to traverse.

Especially for the young men and women of this era who had received formal Chinese education, those who were too concerned about their reputation would rather die than do such a shameful thing.

Wang Daoji stood coldly in the hall, having transformed from a gentle elder brother who was once respected by the Wang family into the head of the Wang family who now feared retaliation from his younger siblings, servants, and maids even while eating and sleeping.

With her younger brothers having lost their inheritance rights and spare money, her younger sisters were even less likely to receive dowries, and no decent family would be willing to marry their daughters. Their future was bleak.

Wang Daoji was deeply distressed.

He would have no peace of mind from then on, being both feared and hated by his own family.

(End of this chapter)