With the rise of my family, I can summon the Daoist Soldiers' Nest.

"What is it that you, a sir, need to discuss with me?" Liu Zhenghua put down his book, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and had a teasing smile in his eyes.

Lin Ye walked to the stone table, his expression becoming more serious: "Now, people from the county town are continuously coming to settle outside the fortified village. The families in the county town are temporarily managing it, but this is not a long-term solution."

Yesterday, Lin Yi of my Lin family broke through to the third-rate martial artist level, and I have put him in charge of this matter. He paused, a hint of worry in his voice.

"But there are too many people now, and my Lin family has too few martial artists to manage them all. So I would like to ask Uncle Liu to send some manpower to help manage them."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhenghua's expression turned serious: "Didn't the sect leader tell you that, in order to avoid misunderstandings from the imperial court, the sword sect's power can only be used to protect the nest, and we cannot interfere in the family's development?"

"I just want to borrow some low-ranking handymen disciples, is that not allowed?" Lin Ye asked earnestly, with a pleading tone.

"No," Liu Zhenghua replied decisively.

"But—" he changed the subject, a slight smile playing on his lips, "if they participate in their individual capacity, that would be fine."

Lin Ye was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Personal identity? But without orders from the Sword Sect, why would they help my Lin family?"

Liu Zhenghua put down his teacup. "Didn't we have a bumper harvest of spiritual plants? A while ago, those lowly servants were quite envious of Lin Yi for being able to consume third-rate spiritual plants."

"They don't have a large share of third-rate spiritual plants in the Sword Sect."

Lin Ye's mind cleared instantly, and his eyes lit up: "That's right, we can hire them using spiritual plants! This way, we won't disobey the Sword Sect's orders, and it will solve my urgent problem."

With a sudden thought, his gaze shifted to the inner disciples sparring in the distance, and he even glanced at the few second-rate true disciples.

Seeing his expression, Liu Zhenghua immediately guessed what he was thinking and interrupted him calmly: "Don't you dare try anything with them."

"If you can hire low-level menial servants with third-rate spiritual plants, then third-rate inner disciples and true disciples certainly don't need your meager third-rate spiritual plants."

Lin Ye could only smile awkwardly, bid farewell to Liu Zhenghua, and turned to run among the inner disciples who were sparring.

Through his relationship with Wang Qing and Liu Yingcheng, he quickly became friends with everyone, chatting about interesting things about the sword sect. He even hosted a banquet in the evening, which brought them even closer.

Liu Zhenghua said he couldn't impress the inner disciples and true disciples because he didn't know that he had a family nest, which would eventually manifest as a second-rate nest and he would start planting second-rate spiritual plants.

Who knows, it might come in handy in the future. It's never a bad thing to build a good relationship with them first.

The next day, Lin Ye took more than a dozen second-rate martial artists from the small courtyard where the sword sect's servants lived and handed them over to Lin Yi to help manage the people outside the fortified village.

During this time, Sun Qian brought an even thicker book to see Lin Ye, and gave a detailed report on the situation in Xiang County, especially the current situation of the eighteen towns:

According to news from the town's martial arts school, six out of the eighteen towns are on the verge of being abandoned.

Six years ago, the town was bustling with people in the thousands, even tens of thousands. Farming, fishing, and manual labor were all profitable. But then monsters started running rampant, and the Wu River and its tributaries were all taken over. Boats couldn't sail, the roads were unsafe, and caravans dared not come.

Seeing the situation was turning against them, the local gentry quickly fled with their families. With the person in charge gone, the town lost its leader.

There are far fewer people now, only a few hundred to a little over a thousand, and most of them are elderly people, women and children.

The orchards, tea gardens, pastures, brick kilns, and weaving workshops of the past have all been abandoned. The townspeople can only rely on the martial arts school to lead them to grow some grain on a small piece of land in the town, and the harvest is just enough to fill their stomachs.

Things from outside couldn't get in, and things inside couldn't be sold. They couldn't even exchange salt, iron, or cloth for anything. Winters were cold, and they were hungry, making life extremely difficult.

Black Tiger Martial Arts School is now the only one that is still somewhat organized. Although the headmaster is not a master, he used to have some prestige. They take in orphans, teach them a few self-defense moves, and help the townspeople barely make a living.

There are twelve other towns where the situation is slightly better.

The local gentry were still around, and in order to protect their own interests, they intensified their exploitation of the townspeople.

The fields were ravaged by monsters, resulting in a poor harvest, but taxes were still collected, even more ruthlessly. If taxes weren't collected enough, people would beat and scold them, forcing them to hand over their last bit of food. The townspeople could only dig up wild vegetables and peel tree bark to fill their stomachs.

Black Tiger Martial Arts School no longer collects protection fees and only teaches kung fu, but because the local gentry control grain and livelihoods, no one listens to the school, and its influence is suppressed.

The local gentry had servants and private soldiers under their command, who would beat people at the drop of a hat. They also set up their own courts of torture, and would severely punish anyone who dared to resist.

The townspeople were too afraid to gather together to discuss matters, and could only endure it day by day.

"He deserves to die." After listening to Sun Qian's report, Lin Ye clenched his fist lightly on the stone table.

"Do they know that my Lin family has become a lord?" He stared at Sun Qian, his eyes sharp.

"They should all know by now. The Black Tiger Martial Arts School even led the townspeople in a secret celebration, but the news was suppressed by the local gentry, so it didn't cause a big stir," Sun Qian replied cautiously.

Lin Ye sneered, "Not a single person has come to Linjiawu to pay their respects yet. It seems these local gentry are used to being in charge and value their own little plot of land more than anything else."

"How's the situation in the county town?" he suddenly asked.

"The county town used to have a population of about 100,000, but now about 30,000 have moved to the vicinity of Wubao."

Our Lin family is kind and righteous; they built a wooden house for them, and Lin Yi and his men manage it, so the security is very stable.

Other families are also planning to move here. After all, the five major families have all moved here, and Magistrate Cao has left. Without someone in charge, the county is even more dangerous and desolate. It looks like it won't be long before everyone leaves.

With the people of the county town scattered and the local gentry exploiting the common folk, this disorganized situation presented Lin Ye with an opportunity to win over the hearts of the people and establish his authority. Lin Ye secretly plotted in his heart.

There are also families from the county town, such as the Five Great Families and the Tian family, who are now all crammed into Linjiawu.

Although banding together can help us consolidate our strength, it ultimately limits us to one place and prevents us from achieving real development.

There is only so much land near Linjiawu, and with a large population, farming and making a living become extremely difficult.

Looking at other towns, each has its own advantages: mulberry orchards can raise silkworms and weave silk, orchards produce fine fruits, and iron mines can be used to forge weapons and farm tools... These are resources that Linjiawu does not have.

If we continue to confine all people and industries to the dock, it will only hinder each other and lead to difficulties in the long run.

It seems that it's time to implement the long-planned strategy: differentiate resettlement and implement policies according to the specific towns.

Allow dependent families to move into towns with potential in batches and develop production by utilizing local resources.

At the same time, with the Lin family as the core, the martial arts school and the new policies gradually reclaimed the towns that were controlled by the gentry, and reassembled the scattered sand into a vibrant whole.

If this move is executed well, it will not only solve the land and resource problems of Linjiawu, but also weaken the power of the local gentry, win the hearts of the people, and rebuild the framework of Xiangxian County one by one.