Building a long-lasting family lineage starting with genealogy

Chapter 51 Natural and man-made disasters
Time passes day by day.

There is still no sign of rain in Qingjiang County.

The scorching sun beats down day after day, baking the earth and causing large patches of land to crack.

In order to survive, many ordinary people in the surrounding villages had no choice but to sell their fields and land in order to exchange for some food and get through the drought.

As for Qingjiang County.

The price of a cup of clear water has risen from one coin to ten coins, and it is still trending upwards.

Because countless fruits and vegetables planted in farmland and forests have withered and died, the prices of fruits and vegetables sold in the county town have increased tenfold.

The same applies to the rest.

Dongxi Village.

The Xu family is extremely busy.

Waterwheels were built, with bamboo tubes cut open and spliced ​​together to form long water pipelines, continuously transporting river water from a distance to irrigate rice paddies and farmland.

As for the mountains and forests, because they are too far away and the terrain is complicated, the only option is to have people carry water.

There, a sheer black veil blocked out the sun, covering vast stretches of orchards.

Therefore, there is no need to water it every day; once every ten days to half a month is sufficient.

In terms of manpower, the Xu family will not be too short of resources.

The Xu family's many medicinal herb fields were also covered with a black veil to prevent the heat from killing the herbs.

Besides absorbing heat, these black veils also condense water droplets at night when the temperature drops, which drip onto the medicinal fields, relieving some of the pressure on water resources.

In addition, there are always people looking after them.

This continued for several days.

The medicinal herbs that had been growing somewhat wilted have all recovered.

As for rice, the availability of water and the heat even accelerated its ripening process.

The bamboo pipes were of utmost importance, and the Xu family assigned many guards to oversee them to prevent them from being damaged.

However, due to the water source problem, once the water dries up, the waterwheels and bamboo pipes must also be replaced, which is quite troublesome.

However, if all water sources, near and far, were to dry up, even Xu Chuan would be helpless.

After all, he was just a mortal and couldn't conjure rain out of thin air.

A month later.

Xu Chuan's rice paddies were all ripe, and his family was practically the only one in the surrounding area harvesting.

The same applies to fruits and vegetables.

More and more common people sold their land to the Xu family.

A short time.

Nearly 80% of the farmland in Dongxi Village became the property of the Xu family.

Unfortunately, the crops, fruits, and vegetables in those fields had all withered and died, and Xu Chuan was powerless to do anything about it. He could only wait until the drought was over before he could plant anything else.

More than three months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Countless people in the surrounding villages and towns of Qingjiang County starved to death, and the same was true in many nearby counties.

During this period, many wealthy families in other villages suffered misfortune, with many families being murdered and their property being robbed.

There was no sign of any county government coming out to manage it.

The Xu family was the same; in just two months, everything changed dramatically.

The servants, maids, and guards were either killed or fled.

Some even robbed the owner's belongings and fled.

The Xu family mansion was burned to the ground, and it is unknown how many survived and where they escaped to.

Of course, the Xu family had encountered this several times, but all the attackers were killed.

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The Xu Family Hall.

The direct descendants of the Xu family gathered together. Baihu lay on the back of Xu Mingshu's chair, yawning with his mouth open.

Also present were Gu Yiping, Li Er and his son, Zhou Ming, Zhao Dalong, Chen Ergou, and others.

It can be said that the core members of the Xu family are all here.

"The world is truly unpredictable. The Xu family, once the wealthiest family in Dongxi Village, has fallen to such a state."

Chen Ergou said with emotion, then looked at Xu Chuan.

"Yes, when I was young, I worked as a farmhand at his house with my father. Back then, the young masters of the Xu family were so arrogant and unrestrained."

"Natural disasters are beyond human control, and whenever they occur, they inevitably spread far and wide." Li Er sighed deeply, thinking of his former family. Under the shadow of natural disasters, even the county town may not be safe.

Therefore, Xu Chuan called everyone back and simply shut down all industries in Qingjiang County to brainstorm solutions to the drought.

"This is a once-in-a-century drought. If the Great Wei doesn't take action soon, I'm afraid Yuehu County will truly be filled with starving people."

Gu Yiping shook his head and sighed.

At this moment, Bai Hua walked into the hall, looked at Bai Jing with a sorrowful expression, and said, "Eldest sister, the Zeng family is gone, and second sister is gone too."

Bai Jing was struck dumb, then burst into tears, crying out, "Xiao Fang—"

"Baihua, take your sister back to her room to rest, and also comfort your father-in-law and mother-in-law, and tell them to take it easy."

Xu Chuan could not care less about his sorrowful sighs.

"Okay, brother-in-law."

Xu Chuan looked at the others and said, "From this moment on, the area around the Xu family will be transformed day and night, including the Xu family's fields, mountains, forests, and industries."

"If attacked by criminals, fire a cannon immediately to signal the attack, releasing different colored signals depending on the level of threat."

"I'd like to see just how many reckless fools dare to cause trouble for the Xu family."

The Xu family can no longer care about the others in Dongxi Village.

In these chaotic times, it's already a blessing to be able to protect one family; the rest have no complaints.

Kindness, compassion.

All of this seems superfluous at this moment.

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"Brother, we've robbed almost all the wealthy families in the surrounding villages of Qingjiang County, except for the Xu family."

“They are not ordinary wealthy rural households; they are a renowned and prominent family throughout Qingjiang County.”

A tall, thin middle-aged man said.

"I don't need you to remind me. The Xu family's reputation has already spread to every corner of Qingjiang County."

A burly, scarred middle-aged man kicked him, took a big bite of the somewhat unripe fruit, then spat it out and threw the whole fruit away.

"This is fucking awful!"

But once the fruit was outside, it was snatched up by many young and strong people, and they even fought over it.

Another person said, "Brother, I've heard that the Xu family has everything from fine wine and grain to fresh fruits and vegetables."

After he finished speaking, the Adam's apples bobbed and everyone in the room swallowed hard.

There were more than a dozen people in the room, all of whom were martial artists of at least the second rank, including three first-rank martial artists, while the scarred middle-aged man was at the peak of the acquired realm.

The room was filled with grain, a lot of slightly shriveled fruits and vegetables, two gray wolf carcasses, a few wild rabbits, and a wild deer.

"The Xu family is not easy to infiltrate."

The middle-aged man with the scar suddenly narrowed his pupils, like a taut bowstring.

“Brother, yesterday when I went hunting in the mountains, I passed by the Xu family’s orchard and saw more than a dozen people patrolling. The Xu family has many businesses, and I believe they have many people scattered in other places as well.”

"We can use a feint to the east while attacking in the west."

The middle-aged man with the scar looked at the man, raised his eyes, and said with a smile, "Sixth Brother, you truly deserve to be our strategist."

"You must have a plan in mind. If I want to attack the Xu family, how should I do it?"

The sixth brother pondered for a moment and said, "It's probably impossible to wipe out the Xu family. At most, we can only cause them to suffer losses."

“We can take advantage of the night and poor visibility to have a few martial artists lead a group of refugees to attack the Xu family’s more important properties. If they are attacked in multiple places, they will inevitably split up their forces.”

"If not, we can just grab some and leave without losing anything."

"If they split their forces, then you, brother, should lead the remaining refugees to storm the Xu family mansion. Use them as cover, and the Xu family will definitely send out a large number of people to deal with them. Brother, you are all highly skilled in martial arts, so you can take advantage of the chaos to go in and plunder."

"The eldest son of the Xu family is a Xiantian martial artist," the scarred middle-aged man said again.

"With the Xu family mansion surrounded, wouldn't this Xiantian master come out to fight? We outnumber him, and in the chaos, the young master Xu won't be able to take care of everyone. As long as we don't act rashly, we won't be the first to be targeted."

The sixth brother continued, "Moreover, he is only at the early stage of the Innate Realm. Although the power of the Innate True Qi is strong, how many times can he use it? Once he is exhausted and surrounded, he might be killed."

"Big brother, what Lao Liu said makes sense, the chances of success are very high." Someone immediately became excited, and the smile on their face gradually became rampant.

It was as if the hope of success had already been seen.

"Yes, the Xu family has developed so rapidly in recent years, their wealth is probably much more than what we've robbed all these days."

The middle-aged man with the scar was still deep in thought.

Suddenly, his eyebrows shot up like two swords clashing, and even the corners of his eyes creased into sharp lines as he looked at Lao Liu and said, "Xu Qian, you're not deliberately trying to provoke me into attacking the Xu family, are you?"

(End of this chapter)