Farming to Defy My Fate 26

Chapter 26: The Wisdom of Farmers

The harsh sunlight streamed in through the window. Zhao An opened his eyes; Hu Sheng was already gone.

The atmosphere last night had been so good, yet Hu Sheng had still left. Zhao An felt a moment of disappointment. In both soul and body, he was long an adult, yet why had his relationship with his boyfriend not made any critical progress?

He could only blame it on the conservatism of ancient people, completely ignoring how busy he had been lately. Seeing him so occupied, Hu Sheng naturally felt it would be wrong to tire him out in other ways.

Zhao An got up and combed his hair. He could now tie up his long hair very neatly without anyone’s help. After getting up, he brushed his teeth with a custom-made boar bristle brush and a coarse tooth powder made of fine salt mixed with soapberry powder, then washed his face with soapberry powder.

Breakfast was vegetable congee with fried small fish and fermented tofu. The small fish had been a gift from a villager who had just received bricks and tiles to repair his house yesterday. The fermented tofu had been made last month with highly distilled white wine, which he had bought after selling the strawberry seedlings and receiving the money.

The price of white wine was not cheap; a small jar cost ten liang of silver. Zhao An had used half a jar to make the fermented tofu. The price of oil was not cheap either, basically only a third cheaper than pork. So, although it was just a simple meal of fried small fish and fermented tofu, before he had earned a large sum of money last month, these were luxuries Zhao An could not have afforded.

Of course, after seeing the prices of wine and oil, Zhao An couldn’t help but be tempted, thinking of some wine-making and oil-pressing methods he had seen in novels.

But he quickly dismissed the idea of getting involved in wine-making. Like salt, alcohol was a government monopoly. Although the control over wine-making was not as strict as that over salt—private individuals could make wine, but only for personal use, not for sale—selling wine was the private treasury of local officials. In some ways, the crackdown on illicit wine might be even stricter than that on illicit salt.

Zhao An had even asked Feng Shaoping about the issue of wine-making. He had said, “The brewery is managed by my father’s most trusted finance secretary. No one is allowed to take wine from the cellar privately. Perhaps only when my elder brother, who is studying in the capital, passes the imperial examinations will my father open the wine cellar to celebrate.”

Zhao An thought about the wine-making methods he knew, which were just distillation, not much more advanced than the brewing methods of this era. It was only because the cost of distilled wine was at most seven or eight hundred wen per jar, and the profit was so high, that he was a little tempted. But after understanding the reality of the situation, he immediately dismissed the idea of making wine.

As for oil pressing, he thought of using soybeans to make oil, which should be cheaper than the rapeseed oil and sesame oil in Changxi County. But after careful inquiry, he found it was not very feasible. Because Changxi County had a low hilly terrain, the arable land, besides the paddy fields, was on the hillsides. The paddy fields were used to grow rice, and the hillsides were planted with sweet potatoes and corn, crops that could stave off hunger. Soybeans were only planted sporadically by the paddy fields as fresh seasonal vegetables. Each household would at most keep ten or twenty jin a year to make tofu.

If he wanted to press oil from soybeans, he would have to buy them from the shops in the city. Not only was the price not cheap, but the quantity was also very small.

So, the method of pressing oil from soybeans was only suitable for the north, which had large areas of arable land but a drier climate. However, unlike wine-making, which he had given up on readily, Zhao An still held a little hope for oil pressing. Perhaps after he had developed the rural enterprises in Zhaojia Village, he could go to the north to develop the oil pressing industry.

Compared to when he had just arrived in this world, where he only wanted to get by, Zhao An felt that he now had some ambition. He was a transmigrator, after all. With so many technologies that surpassed the era in his hands, it shouldn’t be a problem for him to become a wealthy merchant in this world.

He had a boyfriend now, too. He couldn’t always spend his boyfriend’s money. Zhao An put the one hundred liang of silver Hu Sheng had left last night into his sash pocket and at the same time swore that he would definitely make money, so that in the future, he could also casually take out a lot of silver for Hu Sheng to spend.

Zhao An carried the money-filled sash to the kiln and found Liu Huan, who had been acting as the supervisor here recently. “I see the water in the fields has all dried up, and the rice is not growing well. I’m afraid there won’t be enough grain to eat this year.”

Liu Huan had been managing the first earthen kiln that fired bricks and tiles, which Zhao An had already given to the villagers as public property. The other new kiln, built with firebricks, was managed by a master potter he had hired at a high price. At most, he would buy some wood and simply processed clay, washed clean of gravel and impurities, from the villagers.

There weren’t too many people working at Zhao An’s private kiln each day, so it was relatively easy to manage. But Liu Huan’s job was not easy. He managed all the affairs of the brick and tile kiln, but the benefits he received were not many. It was just that whenever someone needed to build a house, the surplus bricks and tiles belonged to him. This was not counted as part of the income his son earned for helping out.

Liu Huan’s only pursuit was to build a few more rooms for his family so that his three sons could each have enough space. As a result, he was drenched in sweat every day and didn’t mind being tanned several shades darker by the sun. Seeing Zhao An arrive, a mouthful of white teeth showed on his dark face. Hearing him talk about the grain problem, he still maintained a smile. “You don’t have to worry about not having enough to eat. Everyone has money this year. We can use money to pay the taxes, and the grain from the fields will be enough for everyone to eat.”

This was also the reason for the constant smile on his face. In the past, how could the villagers have sent so many people to work at the brick and tile kiln? They would have long since organized people to carry water to irrigate the fields.

Zhao An opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t mention the military conflict. On one hand, it was for the sake of secrecy; on the other, he was afraid it would cause panic among the villagers. So he could only say to Liu Huan, “Even if we don’t use grain to pay taxes this year, I’ve heard that many places in the south have suffered from drought this year. If refugees flee to our county, the government might requisition grain again. And there’s the safety issue of each household. We have to consider all of this.”

Liu Huan had no doubt about Zhao An’s source of information. The last time people from the palace came, the government had invited Young Master Zhao to the banquet. The people he knew were definitely more than these country bumpkins, and his sources of information were certainly wider.

After hearing Zhao An’s description, this seemingly simple and honest old farmer suddenly became vigilant. “Our village does indeed need to store more grain, and we need to forge more sickles and hoes.”

In fact, even without the threat of drought, there had been quite a few relatives from the surrounding villages coming to ask for help recently. Zhao An didn’t live in the most populated part of the village and didn’t know that there had already been several disputes in those households, all because relatives from the wife’s side had come to ask for money, or married-out daughters had returned with their husbands, wanting to work at the village’s kiln.

These things were not a big deal in times of peace, but if a large-scale disaster really occurred, their village would become a thorn in the side of the surrounding villages. At that time, it would not be surprising if their village was targeted by refugees or mountain bandits.

Zhao An hadn’t expected Liu Huan to be more reasonable than he had imagined. Not only was he willing to take the five hundred liang of silver stored by the clan and Zhao An’s one hundred liang to the prefectural city to buy grain, but he also agreed to hire a blacksmith in the name of the clan to forge a set of iron farm tools for each household.

When Zhao An proposed to add training programs for all those who came to work at the kiln, he even expressed his full support. For these farmers living in ancient times, war was not as rare as Zhao An had imagined. Each of them would encounter war at least once in their lifetime, as well as famines of various sizes. The vigilance they showed was basically comparable to that of people in the era of spiritual energy revival.

Moreover, the obedience of these villagers was even stronger than that of the people in the era of spiritual energy revival. After hearing from Liu Huan that there might be a large-scale famine and refugees, most of the families supported Zhao An’s plan to hoard grain, make iron tools, and train.

Of course, no group could have a one hundred percent unified opinion. The money for buying grain was paid from the public property managed by the clan, but the money for forging farm tools had to be paid by each household. Some people who had received money from the strawberry seedlings but had not participated in the work at the brick and tile kiln, and had spent money to buy bricks and tiles to build their houses, now had no money and clamored that forging farm tools was a waste of money.

There were also the dozen or so Zhao households who, under the leadership of Scholar Zhao, were unwilling to listen to Zhao An’s orders. Because Zhao Tongming had gone to the capital to enjoy life, he had handed over his fields to Scholar Zhao to manage, asking him to send money to the capital every year.

So, the Zhao family members all felt that since most of the fields in the village belonged to the Zhao family, even if there was a famine, at worst, they wouldn’t send money to Zhao Tongming and would keep his grain to divide among themselves. So they didn’t have to be afraid. Therefore, they were not very enthusiastic about Zhao An’s plan to hoard grain and defend.

Seeing Scholar Zhao’s smug expression, and the way he looked at him as if he were a fool doing a thankless job, Zhao An was about to laugh with anger.

He told himself over and over again that these Zhao family members thought their ability to resist risks was higher than that of ordinary farmers, which was why they seemed so stupid. Only then did he manage to hold back the word “idiot.”

Zhao An, who had personally come to Scholar Zhao’s house to persuade him, took a sip of tea and then managed to maintain a smile. “The village head is right. Our Zhao family does not lack grain or farm tools. But I hope the village head will not stop me from having the Zhao family members train. When the time comes, those young men from the Liu family will all be strong and healthy. Our Zhao family has few people. Living in the same village, it’s inevitable that there will be some quarrels. Won’t our Zhao family’s children be at a disadvantage then?” Unable to persuade him from the front, Zhao An had already started to stimulate his sense of rivalry.

However, Scholar Zhao remained unmoved. He picked up his teacup with a self-satisfied air. “Our Zhao family’s children are all going to study. There are five elementary scholars under the age of twenty, and the whole clan, including myself, has four scholars. Within this generation, there will definitely be another provincial graduate. Eldest Young Master, I am also your elder. I advise you to study more. Those businesses of merchants and craftsmen are all lowly professions. You are also a relative of the imperial family. It’s not impossible for you to become an official in the future. Don’t ruin your own reputation.”

This was truly a case of “not a word more if you don’t hit it off.”

Zhao An left Scholar Zhao’s house dejectedly. Walking in the village, he saw three men supporting each other, limping home. Beside them, some women and children were wiping their noses and tears. Liu Huan followed behind, scolding, “Alright, no crying! Go home and get the money. Tomorrow, all three of your families must send someone to work at the kiln.”

Liu Huan turned and saw the dazed Zhao An. He immediately put on a smiling face. “These guys were disobedient. A beating according to the clan rules is all it takes.”

Suddenly, Liu Huan’s image grew tall in Zhao An’s mind. He also wanted to be like Liu Huan and just drag those disobedient Zhao family members out for a beating.

Of course, he couldn’t do this himself, nor did he have the authority. Perhaps when the news of rogue soldiers entering the territory spread, he could suggest that Feng Shaoping use the government’s name to conscript some militia. At that time, he could just have Feng Shaoping pay special attention to those Zhao family disciples who were studying in the city.