Building a long-lasting family lineage starting with genealogy

Chapter 49: Drought
"Winning over the hearts and minds of the people is one way to do it," Xu Chuan said with a smile and a slight nod.

“A severe drought is a matter of life and death for ordinary people, but for wealthy and powerful families, it is a matter of how much they will lose.”

"Some people who only care about immediate gains will sell their land, but wise people will be patient."

"When the drought reaches a certain point, the Great Wei will not sit idly by and will definitely send people to solve it. With cultivators around, the drought is not a problem and it will be solved sooner or later."

"Our businesses, including perfumes, various wines, and medicinal herbs, all rely on the land. The more solid this foundation is, the deeper our family heritage becomes."

After pondering for a moment, Xu Mingyuan nodded and said, "Father is right."

"If these pillar industries are not supported by our own foundation and are mostly acquired from others, wouldn't we be held by the throat, which would be very detrimental to the rapid development of our Xu family?"

"Great disasters can also be great opportunities."

Xu Mingwei's eyes lit up, and he understood.

"Whether it's people or land, my Xu family wants it all." Xu Chuan's words were firm and resolute, carrying an unquestionable tone.

"However, the time it will take to resolve the drought is uncertain, perhaps several months or a year, so I have also come up with some ways to reduce the losses for our Xu family."

After speaking, Xu Chuan picked up some manuscript paper from the table. It was covered with drawings and annotations.

"You guys take a look first."

The two brothers huddled together, turning the pages one by one, their eyes growing brighter and their smiles becoming increasingly radiant.

Xu Mingwei's eyes lit up, and he said with delight, "Father, you're amazing!"

"With this waterwheel and pipe design, we only need to recruit a group of people to build it, which can greatly reduce the loss of rice in the paddy fields, as well as the fruits and vegetables in the farmland and forests. At the same time, it can make full use of the manpower of the newly recruited servants and avoid waste."

"This method of using black gauze to block direct sunlight is quite novel. But can it really absorb heat?" Xu Mingwei was both delighted and a little curious.

He originally thought that the Xu family would suffer significant losses due to the drought.

However, if Xu Chuan's methods are effective, the drought will at most affect one or two out of ten people, and may even cause prices of various goods to rise.

The Xu family will be able to earn several times more than before.

"Some hand-cranked hair dryers will probably sell very well. By the way, we also have a secret recipe for making ice. If we combine it with this, it will definitely be a hit."

The Xu family only secretly digs a small amount of saltpeter each summer.

And it was kept very secret, and no one knew about it.

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "Be careful to keep it secret. We'd rather not do this business than let anyone find out. After all, that mountain forest doesn't belong to our Xu family yet."

"I know what's important," Xu Mingyuan assured him with a smile.

"Let's all get busy."

"Yes, Father." The two bowed and left the study with their manuscripts.

Xu Chuan then left to check on the medicinal herbs at Bihan Pool.

More than ten acres of medicinal fields have been cultivated there, specifically for planting medicinal herbs, all of which are rare herbs.

If there are any twenty-year-old plants, any one of them would be worth at least ten or twenty taels of silver, and the most precious ones would be worth forty or fifty taels of silver.

If all the herbs from these ten acres of fields are harvested, they will be of considerable value.

However, Xu Chuan's purpose in cultivating medicinal herbs in the medicinal fields was not to sell them for money, but to refine medicines and prepare medicinal cuisine.

The spiritual energy here is more concentrated than in other places, which also increases the growth rate of medicinal herbs.

Besides medicinal herbs, there is also a small tree growing here.

This tree is only a little over half a zhang tall, with a trunk as thick as an arm and lush green leaves.

It grew from the seeds obtained after cutting open the hard black fruit that Xu Mingwei brought back.

Xu Chuan diligently studied medical techniques and medicinal diet recipes, researching the medicinal properties of various herbs.

After several months of effort, he improved the recipe of the Dragon Elephant Sect's secret medicinal diet for martial artists, making it suitable for the vast majority of martial artists, and its efficacy was 30 to 40% stronger than the original medicinal diet.

However, this medicine is very potent and can only be taken once every three days.

Furthermore, due to the preciousness of the secret medicinal cuisine, it is currently only provided to Xu Mingyuan and a few others.

As for the innate medicinal diet, Xu Chuan is still trying to improve it. The two of them are temporarily taking the innate medicinal diet of the Dragon Elephant Sect to assist their cultivation.

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When the prominent families of Qingjiang County learned that the Xu family was indiscriminately giving alms and taking in large numbers of people and land, they all scoffed at them, mocking the Xu family for their shallow foundation and complete lack of experience in dealing with disasters.

After all, it would be fortunate if the drought hadn't resulted in layoffs or losses, but the Xu family did the opposite, making them a laughing stock among the Qingjiang families.

Dongxi Village. Bai Family.

Bai Fu, along with his son Bai Hua and Bai Fang's son-in-law, rented over a hundred acres of farmland to grow fruits and vegetables.

Because of their marriage ties with the Xu family, Xu Mingyuan waived their rent for the stall in the West Market.

The development has been quite good in the last year or two.

They went from being an ordinary commoner to becoming a moderately wealthy family.

In the first half of this year, they even raised funds together to buy over a hundred acres of land and then rented another hundred acres.

Who would have thought that less than two months later, before the fruits, vegetables and crops could be harvested, a drought struck.

Moreover, it is a drought that is rare in a century.

At this moment, both families are gathered at Bai Fu's house to discuss this matter.

Everyone frowned deeply, their faces listless, looking as if they had swallowed dirt.

"Father-in-law, what do you think should be done about this?"

Bai Fu sat down, took a drag of his cigarette, and remained silent.

“Brother-in-law, what are you talking about? You agreed to it yourself back then, so how can you blame my father now?” Bai Hua said with a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes, “The money was raised by everyone, so we should all share the responsibility if there are any problems.”

"Besides, our two families made a lot of money in the past two years. Although we have suffered a lot of losses this time, it shouldn't be to the point that we can't make a living."

Bai Fang quickly said, "Ahua, your brother-in-law is just anxious. His family has a large number of people and many expenses. You should be understanding and forgiving."

"Why don't you go and ask your eldest sister? She loves you the most. Now that she's the matriarch of the Xu family, it shouldn't be difficult for her to help you if she's willing to."

“I heard that the Xu family is also acquiring land recently, so why don’t we sell it to them at the original price?”

Bai Hua immediately scolded, "Second sister, do you know what the price of land is now?"

"Ordinary people can't even survive, what use is land?"

"You even want my older sister to take it over at the original price? How dare you ask for it? You go if you want, I'm not going!"

"Furthermore, you know that my eldest sister never interferes in the affairs of the Xu family's outer quarters."

"The eldest brother-in-law is still the one who makes the decisions in the Xu family."

Bai Fang was also displeased upon hearing this, and they started arguing heatedly, "But you started this, if you don't speak up, who will? Are we just going to bear the loss like this?"

"We're currently experiencing a drought, and it seems like it won't end for a long time. The longer it goes on, the harder it will be. Our two families aren't like the Xu family, which is large and wealthy, and can't afford to suffer like this."

"Okay, stop arguing."

Bai Fu snorted and tapped the table with his pipe, sending up a bunch of sparks.

"I'll go and talk to them, okay?"

"I'll go there right now."

After Bai Fu finished speaking, he stood up and walked unsteadily toward the Xu family's house.

The Xu family's newly built mansion is no longer located in the original courtyard, but in a remote place far away from the village.

After all, it requires a large area of ​​land, and it's impossible to demolish other people's houses.

It took Bai Fu more than 15 minutes to walk to the Xu family's gate. He looked up at the Xu family's grand mansion, his eyes filled with both satisfaction and emotion.

He agreed to Xu Chuan's marriage proposal because he valued his agricultural skills; if Bai Jing married him, she would at least have no worries about food and drink.

Who would have thought that in just over a decade, the Xu family would rise to a height he could never have imagined.

On the day the Xu family was established, almost all the prominent families and wealthy merchants in Qingjiang were present.

How grand!

"Master Bai is here. Is he looking for the head of the family or the madam?"

"I'm looking for my daughter."

He walked straight in without being stopped, and the maids and servants he met greeted him warmly, not daring to show any disrespect.

He had attended Xu Dezhao's birth and full-month celebrations before, so he was naturally very familiar with the place.

"Father, what brings you here today? Did you come to see Zhao'er?" Bai Jing was overjoyed.

(End of this chapter)