Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 49 Miscellaneous Matters (Please continue reading)

"Haha, Zixu is so witty. It's very comforting to talk to you. No wonder Ziren likes you so much."

Dressed in a long, elegant robe and adorned with a hairpin, Guo Wei, the magistrate of Zhending County, and Zhang Xian were having a very pleasant conversation.

He should have visited the magistrate of Zhending County earlier, but Guo Huai told him that he could go to the county government office last when he left the Guo family.

At first, he didn't know why, but after talking with him, he realized that the magistrate of Zhending County was also a member of the Guo family, and in terms of seniority, he was Guo Huai's uncle.

"Uncle, you flatter me. I'm clearly only good with words."

"Haha, Zixu is too modest. Who in Zhending could match Zixu's talent!"

County Magistrate Guo raised his wine cup and laughed.

Zhang Xian drank with him, and after putting down his wine cup, Guo Wei said with a hint of deeper meaning, "I wonder if Zixu has any interest in an official career?"

"He is of low status and lacks real talent; if he were to enter officialdom, he would only become a laughingstock." Zhang Xian shook his head with a smile.

He roughly guessed Guo Wei's meaning: he wanted to completely bind him to the Guo family's carriage. If it were an ordinary person, this would indeed be a good thing, and it could be said that the Guo family was the one who put in a lot of effort without asking for anything in return.

But he's no ordinary person. He appreciates the good deeds of the Guo family, so he can't afford to get too closely tied to them.

He could see the direction of the world more clearly than any strategist. Becoming an official was inevitable for him, but he did not intend to follow the Guo family's path.

Instead, they followed Liu Hong's approach and bought!

Guo Wei's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he could see through Zhang Xian's heart. He chuckled and said, "It seems that Zixu has his own plans. In that case, I will not interfere. I only hope that Zixu will remember that the Guo family of Zhending will always remember Zixu's kindness."

The implication was clear: the guest was to be seen off. Zhang Xian then knelt down, stood up, and bowed respectfully.

"I have learned a great deal from my conversation with my uncle. It is getting late today, so I will visit him again another time."

"Hmm." Guo Wei nodded and raised his wine glass.

Watching Zhang Xian's departing figure, he murmured, "Nurture the people, cultivate their prestige, win their hearts, and raise their retainers."

"Zhang Xian, Zhang Zixu, what are you planning to do?"

He held the cup to his chin without drinking, lost in thought, before finally putting it down.

“Find some diners to go to his estate.”

"promise."

A reply rang out from outside the covered bridge.
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The old horse clucked and trotted along the road outside Zhen Ding County.

Two or three guards stood beside him, all of whom were members of the Peach Blossom Spring gang.

Compared to a few days ago, the eyes of the people of Taoyuan now have a sharper edge. Since Huang Zhong arrived, the training methods have become more militarized.

"Xian-ge'er, there's a tail behind you, you need to..." Huwa spurred his horse forward a few steps and made a throat-slitting gesture towards his Xian-ge'er.

Zhang Xian shook his head: "Let them follow us. They are mostly eyes and ears of wealthy families in the county. We've made quite a bit of money these days, which is naturally enviable."

"Ignore them?" Tiger Cub asked again.

"When we get back, pick a few smart brothers to keep an eye on them and see which family they belong to."

"Understood!" Tiger Cub immediately understood and bowed to accept the order.

The horses moved at a moderate pace, and after about two hours, the group returned to Peach Blossom Spring.

There was a long queue at the entrance to Taoyuan, with people seeking medical help and refugees hoping to enter Taoyuan.

As Zhang Xian's reputation and deeds spread, quite a few people came to Taoyuan every day seeking medical treatment. However, he only personally saw patients at the beginning; later, he handed over all the treatment to doctors who came to Taoyuan to learn the smallpox vaccination method.

Consider it tuition.

The refugees had only arrived in the last few days. Zhang Xian had sent Huang Zhong out to recruit tenant farmers once, and there were as many as a hundred households. So many refugees who were not selected also came with the tenant farmers, hoping to find food and clothing in Taoyuan.

Zhang Xian welcomed all comers. Whether or not you were allowed into Peach Blossom Spring was another matter, but providing labor was a necessity for Peach Blossom Spring, which was starting from scratch. There were still thousands of acres of wasteland that had not been cultivated, and many fields in the small mountain village also needed to be worked on.

He took almost all the able-bodied men and women away from the small mountain village, leaving behind women, children, the elderly, and the infirm, who naturally had to be properly settled.

By providing labor and food, Taoyuan developed a simple work-for-relief system.

However, on the surface, the number of households that Taoyuan handed over to the Zhending County government was still 139, up from the original 39, with 100 new households added a few days ago.

The total number of people exceeded 565.

However, the elderly and infirm made up half of them.

Forty-seven children aged five to eight.

Fifty-two children aged nine to eleven.

One hundred and twenty-two people were over forty-five years old.

The remaining 342 able-bodied men were the only ones left.

However, of the able-bodied men, women make up half.

There are only 171 adult males.

Of course, the twenty-nine members of Peach Blossom Spring were not included in this count.

With so many more mouths to feed, production in Taoyuan naturally proceeded at a rapid pace.

Some were reclaiming land, some were chopping wood, and some were building fortifications.

Facilities such as toilets, canteens, and threshing grounds are also being widened and expanded.

To ensure grain production, composting is essential, and the waste generated by hundreds of people every day also needs to be disposed of.

Human and livestock waste were all dug and piled up on the edge of the paradise, far from where people lived, while weeds and rotten leaves were also collected.

In general, there is still a lot of work to be done in Taoyuan. The two or three hundred refugees gathered outside Taoyuan are not even enough to fill the labor shortage in Taoyuan.

Not to mention that Zhang Xian was already preparing to expand the Peach Blossom Spring community.

The twenty-nine young men from the small mountain village were not enough. Even with the addition of Zhao Yun, Xiahou Lan, and Huang Zhong, it was impossible to maintain order in Taoyuan, where hundreds or even thousands of people gathered.

Therefore, after the new household register of 100 households was submitted to the township office and then to the county government, he planned to select 31 more men from the 171 men to expand the population of Taoyuan to 60.

It's time for the experienced to mentor the new, and it's a good thing to let the people of Taoyuan get used to the military system and ranks in advance.

One-on-one, this is the ratio Zhang Xianxiang envisioned. This way, the young men won't expend too much energy while allowing the newcomers to Taoyuan to improve quickly.

As for the two extra people, well, there's nothing we can do but trouble the best-performing guy among the young men, Gouzi, to carry the three of them.

This kid seems to have undergone a complete transformation since he was injured last time.

I don’t know if it was because he was afraid of being laughed at, but he was the most hardworking among the Peach Blossom Spring disciples. In the month or so after his recovery, his martial arts improved rapidly. He could even fight back and forth with Zhao Yun for a few rounds.

This attracted Zhang Xian's attention.

Several horses passed through the queues for job assignments and medical treatment and entered Peach Blossom Spring.

As soon as he dismounted, Zhang Xian headed towards the deepest part of Peach Blossom Spring, which was the warehouse and the very center of the spring.

Smoke curled upwards, the aroma of wine wafted through the air, and a dozen or so women dressed in special clothing were working.

Five cauldrons were constantly emitting steam, and the wine was flowing from the outlets into the vats.

One vat for first-distilled liquor, one vat for second-distilled liquor, and one vat for liquor with the first and last distillations removed; each is labeled.

(End of this chapter)