Farming to Defy My Fate 49

Chapter 49: Three Years Later

Three years passed in a flash. Zhaojia Village’s business had spread throughout the several southwestern provinces. They sold strawberry seedlings, sweet potato vermicelli, fresh eggs, and also salted eggs, cured chicken, and cured fish.

Besides simply processed agricultural products, there were also the bricks and tiles continuously fired from the brick kiln. These things seemed insignificant at first glance, but in order to fire the kiln, they had directly bought a large mining area in Qianzhou to mine coal.

A great deal of effort had also been spent on building large-scale breeding farms and fish ponds. Multiple layers of protection and disinfection were required to prevent the spread of plagues and diseases.

There were also caravans that traveled thousands of miles from foreign countries, coming here at regular intervals every month to set up stalls and sell all kinds of novel overseas treasures.

That’s right, after three years, Zhaojia Village had undergone a world-shaking change. A small hill in front of the village had been leveled and converted into a market.

Changxi County had also taken on a new look. The road to the county town had become a flat cement road, and three more prosperous streets had been added to the city. The annual tax revenue had increased by one hundred thousand liang of silver.

In such rapid development, some conflicts would naturally arise. For example, County Magistrate Feng was very interested in the cement that could quickly pave roads and was also waterproof. He wanted to get the formula for cement and present it to pave the way for his official career. But Zhao An had always insisted that the cement was brought back from a foreign country by the horse caravan, and he did not have the formula.

But how could County Magistrate Feng believe him? Yet, he was indeed afraid of the power of that horse caravan. That was several hundred strong men, plus livestock and mules. If they were to attack the county town, the yamen runners of Changxi County would not be able to stop them.

County Magistrate Feng very wisely gave up the plan to sell cement and could only look at the road from Zhaojia Village to the county town and sigh with regret.

However, even without cement, County Magistrate Feng still got the opportunity to be promoted. Because in these three years, the tax revenue of Changxi County had increased by a large margin, and the population of the county had also doubled. This was his solid political achievement, so he was transferred to a prefectural city in the north to be a prefect.

Feng Shaoping, however, did not leave with him. After he went to the Nanyue Kingdom, Zhao An’s side had stopped producing glass and had instead moved the kiln and technology to the Nanyue Kingdom for production.

Now, glassware had appeared in the homes of all the upper classes of the Xu Kingdom, and they had mastered the technology of mass production. So they began to consider making some cheap goods to sell to more people.

All of this seemed to be developing in a prosperous direction, but Zhao An and Hu Sheng felt the danger approaching ever more.

At night, when Hu Sheng was holding Zhao An in bed, he told him again, “I found the emperor’s secret guards in the market at the village entrance again today. Their movements are becoming more and more frequent. They should have already confirmed that you have played an indispensable role in the changes in Changxi County.”

In any case, everything Zhao An had done could be described as beneficial to the country and the people. But the emperor’s reaction was to constantly send secret guards to investigate, instead of personally ordering Zhao An to hand over the formulas and technologies he knew, which showed the emperor’s attitude towards him.

Because after contributing the technology, the emperor would have to give Zhao An a considerable reward and a certain noble title. But he was unwilling to give either money or an official position, a real cheapskate. This was almost identical to County Magistrate Feng’s original thoughts.

Although they felt that the things made by these craftsmen were indeed useful, they looked down on the status of craftsmen from the bottom of their hearts. They felt that Zhao An should have offered them up on his own initiative, instead of waiting for the higher-ups to ask. This was already a form of transgression.

But the emperor was not County Magistrate Feng. He would not back down just because he was afraid of a horse caravan of a few hundred people. On the surface, the new county magistrate he had sent, Zhang Hui, was a student of the emperor who had just passed the imperial examinations last year.

His attitude towards Zhao An was always polite but with a deep sense of distance. At the same time, from time to time, he would bring yamen runners to the market, sometimes to check the accounts, sometimes to check identities.

Although Zhao An and his people had managed to fend them off with various methods, Zhang Hui’s existence was like a nail under one’s foot, making one feel uncomfortable.

Then there were all kinds of secret investigations. The last time, someone had even tried to sneak into their room. After being discovered by Hu Sheng, his neck was directly broken, and he was taken to the mountain to be buried overnight.

Zhao An could only sigh helplessly. “In this situation, even if I hand over all the formulas I know and kneel before the emperor to beg for mercy, I’m afraid he won’t let me go.”

Hu Sheng helplessly stroked Zhao An’s head. “Have you still not figured out why they are so shameless?”

Zhao An let out a soft “mm,” with a wronged nasal sound.

Hu Sheng could only break it down and explain to him, “Because the emperor thinks he is the Son of Heaven. Under the heavens, there is no land that is not the king’s. On the shores of the land, there are no people who are not the king’s subjects. Everything in this world should belong to him. And besides the emperor, the other officials and gentry all hate you, because in these three years, you have been continuously promoting high-yield grain seeds, which has greatly damaged their interests. You have let the common people eat their fill, so they will not sell their sons and daughters, nor will they sell their own land. For some things, they will come up with a high-sounding reason, but the truth is born from the most selfish greed.”

Zhao An did not originally belong to this world, but after he had Hu Sheng, he wanted to live a good and stable life. So he had spared no effort to change the surrounding environment, teaching the children in the village to read, and preventing the surrounding people from being trapped in famine. But the current result seemed not to be good. Zhao An bit Hu Sheng’s pectoral muscle in a dejected mood.

He said in a seductive voice, “I want you.” He wanted to use this joyful way to resist the coldness of the surrounding world, hoping to forget all his worries in a brief moment of numbness.

However, even this hope of escape was shattered. The dangers hidden in the dark launched their first attack on him impatiently. Just as they were embracing, a dozen or so people sneaked up to the second floor of their house and pounced on them from the windows, the door, and the roof.