Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 55 Talks 1
The Arctic family is now the local tyrant of Kitada Village.

There weren't many grapes in the yard, and they were picked by several girls in just one morning.

After finishing his breakfast, Bei Jiwu went outside to check the situation. Around lunchtime, he saw more than a dozen girls working in their yard.

"gentlemen!"

Li Bing was waiting in the backyard. When he saw Beijiwu climb over the wall and come in, he quickly went over to greet him.

Beijiwu stood in the woods in the backyard, watching the girl and child clearing the grass.

"Did the girls from the village come to help, or did they come to have fun?"

Arctic Martial asked casually.

Seeing that Beijiwu was in a good mood, Li Bing happily said, "Come and help pick grapes. After we finish picking the grapes, we'll put them all inside the house, and the rest of the people can work in the backyard."

Arctic Martial nodded.

"Alright, we'll calculate half a day's work points. Go eat at the canteen. After lunch, call the whole village over, and I'll give you a lesson."

A group of girls, ranging from a few years old to teenagers, stood up easily and waited for Beijiwu to leave before leaving together.

There are actually quite a few women in the village, most of whom are healthy young women.

They were generally thin and looked malnourished, and a few had slightly yellow hair, it was unclear whether this was due to malnutrition or mixed with Hu (non-Han) blood.

In Beijiwu, the villagers cook and eat their own meals in the canteen, and even the grain is brought out by themselves.

However, this credit should indeed be attributed to Arctic Martial.

Without the threat of Arctic Martial's fists, these people would rather watch half the villagers starve to death than share their food with each other.

Beijiwu didn't care about spending money, and the villagers also sensed his indifference.

"Sir, my mother just came over. She's cooking in the village and said she's eating three or four bushels of grain a day now. At this rate, it definitely won't be enough."

Beijiwu sat down and waited for his meal, seemingly indifferent to the issue of food.

"It doesn't matter how much or how little food you eat, as long as it gets into your stomach, that's a good thing."

Arctic Military's view is exactly what he says; that's what he means.

Li Hong looked distressed. "If we eat like this, we definitely won't last until the New Year. There are only four hundred bushels of grain left in the granary, and it's still a long way from the New Year."

Beijiwu did the calculations and then said to the others, "There are about five months until the New Year. A month has thirty days, which is one hundred and fifty days. If we eat three shi of grain a day, that's four hundred and fifty shi."

"There is indeed a shortage of food before the Lunar New Year, but every household is not without food. We can grow some vegetables and pickles ourselves."

"I collected about 100 shi of millet this year, and the beans grown in the village can also yield several hundred shi. That should be enough to last until the wheat harvest."

Humans are actually quite capable of surviving unless threatened by danger.

We don't need any government assistance, just protection to keep bandits away.

This has been how we've lived for thousands of years; there's no reason why we wouldn't be able to survive after the arrival of Arctic warriors.

Beijiwu said to Li Hong, who was working hard to cook, "You can't read or do math, how would you understand accounting? From now on, just cook, do chores, and serve me! Stop talking so much nonsense all day long!"

Li Hong replied awkwardly, "Yes, sir."

Beijiwu immediately corrected him, "How many times have I told you, call him 'sir' at home."

"Yes, sir." Li Hong tried to be clever and quick-witted, but only became more embarrassed.

Beijiwu picked up his chopsticks and started eating. "Alright, you all go eat too. Eat more so you'll have the energy to work and serve me."

"Yes, sir." Seeing that everything was alright, Li Hong went back to the kitchen to eat.

Beijiwu has great confidence in Beitian Village. The village has a population of one or two hundred and currently has more than a thousand mu of arable land, but the amount of arable land that can be developed is about three or four thousand mu.

To have enough to eat, the first thing to do is to solve the problem of grain production.

We can actually eat our fill of food now, but there won't be much left after paying taxes next year.

Fortunately, the current system is a tax-inclusive system, so I still have a little money in my hands.

As long as the grain can feed everyone, it's acceptable to use it to pay taxes.

But if you can't survive after paying taxes, then naturally you don't need to pay taxes anymore.

The villagers have to use their own work points to eat, and the village canteen isn't a free place to eat.

After eating, Bei Jiwu rested for a while and watched the girls and wives hang raisins in the well-ventilated shed to dry while waiting for others.

Besides raisins, the girls also made some wine.

It can be drunk, or it can be sold.

Arctic Martial Arts found these people to be really useful, as they were very attentive in both their work and their service.

After supervising others for more than half an hour, over a hundred people gradually gathered outside the door. "Sir, everyone in the village has arrived," Xiulan greeted them respectfully, unlike her earlier casual demeanor.

Today, Beijiwu is no longer just a reclusive boy. It was the villagers who needed him and thus made him their grandfather.

This is the self-choice of the thirty households in Beitian Village.

Everyone currently believes they made the right choice.

"Let them all come in."

Beijiwu had already thought about what he was going to say. He stood up and stretched, preparing himself to handle the meeting situation with a good mental state.

Before long, more than a hundred people entered the small courtyard. The original courtyard of more than 500 square meters now looks a little crowded because a few more rooms have been built.

It can definitely hold two or three hundred people without any problem, it's just that it can be a bit chaotic with a lot of people.

"The woman comes out and sweeps the floor. Then the woman kneels down and the man sits and listens to me."

Why do we have to kneel?

Despite the women's doubts, apart from a few older women, who else dared to question Beijiwu?

It's not like I haven't been beaten before...

So the wife of the Beigong family took the initiative to lead several young wives out to work. After sweeping a clean area with brooms, they handed the brooms to the people behind them.

The men behind them also swept the surrounding area clean themselves, removing dirt, fruit peels, leaves, and dirt from the edges.

Making villagers kneel before you is an act of rebellion, and in most areas it would certainly be reported to the imperial court.

Fortunately, this is a border region, and Arctic Martial Arts University doesn't make a small number of people kneel, but everyone kneels.

Whoever reports it will die.

Beijiwu looked at the people standing in the courtyard.

"What are you all standing there for? Do you want me to kneel down or lie down for you? Huh?"

Under the threatening gaze of Beijiwu, the women, men, and children all knelt down or sat on the ground.

Beijiwu then coldly said to the women standing nearby, "You all kneel down too. You are all women of the mountain farmer tribe, so you should know your place."

Upon hearing this, Li Hong and the others also knelt down one after another, facing Beijiwu.

Beijiwu was satisfied and said with a smile, "Let's talk about what we need to do before the New Year."

"The first thing is autumn plowing. It's best to apply some fertilizer to make the soil loose and more nutritious so that we can have a good harvest next year."

"The second is land reclamation, increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. If we want to have enough to eat, we need more land."

"Newly reclaimed land is not required to pay taxes for the time being according to the law, and the government allows these lands to become private lands, which I also allow."

"No matter who it is, as long as you have worked hard to reclaim the land, half of it belongs to you, and the other half will be considered public land."

"Don't worry about being forcibly taken by anyone. I, the clan leader, will stand up for you and resolve this matter. You won't need to spend money or beg anyone."

"Many of you have accumulated quite a few work points. Five days' work points can be used to rent a cow for one day. Be careful not to overwork or injure the cow, or you will have to pay compensation according to the rules."

"Work points can also be used to rent tools, such as hoes and sickles, or exchange for seeds and grains."

"The third thing is to prepare food. I saw that the village planted some fruits and vegetables this year. There was no time this year, but next year we will use public land to grow vegetables."

"Before the snowfall this year, we collected a vegetable tax per capita, with each person handing over 100 catties of vegetables and fruits to be stored in the cellar for use in the canteen."

“Each household needs to make two tables and chairs, or you can ask someone to make them for you. Schools need tables and chairs for classes.”

"The fourth thing is to dig irrigation canals from the mountains and build water conservancy projects, so that it will be easier to irrigate the more farmland we have in the future."

"Tomorrow we'll start with autumn plowing. Everyone should plow their own fields first, using ashes from the stove, manure, and a mixture of wild grass and other green plants. When you're plowing, turn the mixture into the soil so that the wheat will grow well next year."

After explaining the general timeline, Beijiwu looked at the group of men and women kneeling down.

"Let's get together now that everyone has some free time and have a heart-to-heart talk."

Beijiwu looked at the women in the first row.

"Tell us about the hardships you faced when you were out there. Tell us in detail so we can all hear your stories."

Upon hearing this, Old Man Zhang said sadly, "Clan Chief, those are all things of the past. We are living a good life now. Bringing up those things again is just reopening old wounds."

Beijiwu had no sad memories of the past and said with a smile, "That's why we must face those past hardships! Otherwise, your sons and daughters will forget those bitter days and won't know how to cherish the good days we have now!"

"Speak! Every family must tell us about their past!"

"You start with Kitada! Go on, speak!"

Arctic Martial Arts aims to let people tell stories and learn about the outside world.

(End of this chapter)