Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 15 Landlord
Wen Caizhu was a prominent figure in Hutou Town and the largest household with the most wheat fields.

After avoiding Bei Jiwu and going to eat in another field, the rest of the Wen family glanced at Bei Jiwu and then went to Wen Caizhu's place.

The eldest son, Wen Jinglun, said, "Father, aren't you going to keep an eye on him?"

Wen Zhaohu shook his head and whispered, "Don't mess with him. He only pays for what he eats. He's a reasonable person. He'll do as much work as he eats and will work a little extra as payment for his food."

Eating is not a problem. People who work should eat, and they should eat better than usual.

Otherwise, I definitely won't come tomorrow.

Wen Jinglun stood there and glanced at the harvested wheat field in the distance, squinting as he examined it.

"In less than two hours, they have harvested three or four acres of land."

Wen Zhaohu, holding his bowl, glanced over there as well. Although he had looked at it more than ten times, he was still very satisfied.

“Now every household is busy with their own land, and there is a shortage of people everywhere. Our family has money, but we don’t have enough people. If we work hard these next few years to save up some wealth, things will be easier when we have more land.”

Wen Zhaohu knew very well how landlords in history built their empires; his ancestors had successful experience in this area.

Having inherited the experience passed down through generations, Wen Zhaohu knew the importance of first becoming bigger and stronger. In recent years, the grassland tribes had been slaughtered to the point of being unable to stand up straight, and there had been no war on the border for several years.

Without war, one can expand significantly. Other disasters, such as droughts, locust plagues, floods, and snowstorms, are all good opportunities to grow.

The only thing I can't do is fight; fighting can really kill your whole family.

As long as there's no war, it's fine. It's safe here now, so we should hurry up and expand our territory.

Land that no one cultivates isn't land; Wen Zhaohu spends every night calculating matters concerning land and people.

Now, such an opportunity is rare. In the past century, the Wen family has gone from a large family in Guanzhong to a small family on the frontier, and has almost been wiped out several times.

When it came to his generation, he finally managed to bring his wife, son, and daughter here, and even bought a maid. Now he had to develop faster than others as soon as possible so that he could hire more landless people to work for him in the future.

County officials all want political achievements, and land output is a political achievement. Wen Zhaohu knows very well that if he wants to gain the support of the county magistrate, he needs to pay more taxes and provide more grain.

Only a group of officials and military households who don't know how to farm will help him, allowing him to expand his power and be in charge of tax collection.

Acquiring more land is Wen Zhaohu's most pressing need right now.

Now that his eldest son is married, he and his wife, along with his deceased younger brother's two children, two young daughters, and a capable maid they've bought, are all living together.

Two adult men, an old woman, a daughter-in-law, four children, and a maid who takes care of the children and daughter-in-law.

The maids should be given extra benefits when they work in the fields, otherwise they won't work properly and might even have bad intentions, which would be troublesome.

Wen Zhaohu didn't want to offend even a maid he bought, let alone the capable and tough Arctic Martial.

Apart from government officials and soldiers, or organized forces, other self-employed individuals generally maintain a polite attitude towards the adults they hire.

Not only are meals provided, but during busy farming seasons, you can also eat some meat.

Meat is relatively cheaper in border regions, and there is a relatively stable trade between local and grassland tribes. Grassland herders also have tax pressure, as they have to pay tribute to various nobles above them.

Because not many people eat meat, mutton is relatively inexpensive.

After finishing four bowls of knife-cut noodles with mutton, Bei Jiwu lay comfortably on the edge of the field, enjoying the breeze. After resting for half an hour, he continued working.

Wen Zhaohu's wife went over and asked, "Why aren't you eating these two bowls?"

Beijiwu, with his eyes closed and rubbing his belly, said, "I'm full. You can eat by yourselves. I'll make four bowls tomorrow, and three with soup will be enough."

The woman took Beijiwu's offer seriously, saying, "Okay, you can eat at the house tomorrow, it's not far."

"Hmm." Beijiwu didn't want to talk. "Don't bother me. I'll rest for half an hour before I start again."

The woman dressed as an old lady quickly said, "Okay, you lie down properly, I'll take this bowl away."

Arctic Warriors ignored her.

The old lady and the women in her family took the bowls away together, and took the leftovers home.

The maidservant had her own bowl of rice, similar to that of Beijiwu, except there were slightly fewer slices of meat and no egg at the bottom of the bowl.

The four women, along with the children, went home to rest. After entering the house, the old woman said, "We can finally rest for a while. Go back and lie down for a bit."

"Yes." The maid quickly went back to sleep and cool off.

The old woman divided the rice in her bowl among her daughter-in-law, grandson, and daughter. Even for a landlord's wife, meat wasn't something she ate every day. Her daughter, Wen Huiliang, said, "Mother, we have money. Can't we hire a few more people?"

The old woman replied, "There aren't that many people who are idle. Nowadays, every household is busy taking care of their own fields, so there aren't many people who can actually do the work."

Wen Huiliang ate a couple of bites of noodles. Since she had just eaten, she wasn't too hungry, and her mind started to think about all sorts of convenient things.

"They don't make much money from an acre of land, so why not just spend more money?"

Daughter-in-law Gao Qiuyue said with a smile, "Then our family will lose money. The cost of hiring them to do the work is less than the money our family can earn."

Wen Huiliang nodded, "Sister-in-law is so smart!"

Wen Zhaohu, who had returned home with his son to rest, overheard the conversation among the women in the main room and pulled his son aside.

"It's good that your wife is well-educated, gentle, and virtuous, but do you know why I don't pay higher prices to hire the local people to do the work for our family?"

Wen Jinglun replied, "If we offer too little money, they won't do it; if we offer too much money, our family will lose money."

Wen Zhaohu sighed and said, "That's true, but not entirely. Remember what your father said: if you can get one tael of silver per mu of land, the money for hiring people should not exceed one hundred wen. Never spend a lot of money to hire people to farm for our family, otherwise the government will find out and you will be beheaded. People who own land farm for the imperial court, not for our family."

"If people without land come to work, the price must be even lower. We must keep our wealth hidden and our names within the village, so that the government won't cause us any trouble."

After a natural disaster, it is permissible for ordinary people to work for landlords. However, if the villagers are farming well and the landlords incite them to give up their land and harvest for money, that is pure rebellion.

Let alone in ancient times, even thousands of years later, they would still be subject to the iron fist.

Wen Jinglun digested his father's words and retorted, "There are quite a few that have been given to Beijiwu as well."

Wen Zhaohu said, "That's because he's capable of working. He can work for whomever he wants, and he gets paid according to the amount of work he does. It's his business if he can earn that money. Others can do the same work and get the same pay."

Wen Jinglun nodded, having roughly understood how to be a reliable landlord.

An hour and a half later, when the men and women of the Wen family went to the fields, the top-quality ox and horse, Beijiwu, had already harvested more than half an acre of wheat.

With the help of this top-notch ox and horse, Wen Jinglun, who had previously made a lot of money by doing shady business during the chaotic times, finally had a place to spend his money.

Wen Jinglun is reluctant to spend money on food, drink, and enjoyment.

Even Wen Jinglun, who was used to being frugal in chaotic times, couldn't bear to eat white flour, and the gold and silver that his family had saved for generations had nowhere to go.

Now, Wen Zhaohu feels it's worth it to exchange some money and goods for Arctic Martial Arts' help in harvesting wheat for his family.

For Wen Zhaohu, who inherited his landlord family's legacy, land was an obsession, a stronger obsession than the education of his sons and grandsons.

For over a century, scholars have been slaughtered indiscriminately, just like pigs and dogs.

No one is sure if things will be peaceful now, so stockpiling food is the best course of action.

Four or five hours later

"Old man, the bill's ready!" Beiji Wu, fanning himself with his straw hat, called out to Wen Zhaohu in a rude manner.

Wen Zhaohu stood up, wiping his sweat. "Finished?"

Beijiwu urged, "Go and see for yourself, hurry up and pay the bill, I need to go home for dinner."

Wen Zhaohu looked around and saw that there was indeed a large flat area ahead, and the wheat that had fallen there was clearly different from the wheat in other places nearby.

Wen Zhaohu asked, "Are you coming again tomorrow?"

His wife mentioned that Beijiwu would be eating tomorrow, but Wen Zhaohu was unsure and asked again.

"Come on, we need to work for a few more days to save up some food for the winter. I spent ten acres of land to buy two women, but I feel it was too expensive and I lost a little money."

Beiji Wu grumbled to Wen Zhaohu, and what he said was the truth.

Wen Zhaohu also felt that Beiji Wu was at a disadvantage. This kid ate the food of two people and did the work of eight. If he were to marry his daughter, Wen Zhaohu would be willing to give his daughter double the dowry and would not accept Beiji Wu's money at all.

“Qiuyue, take him back to get the money, and lend him our horse.” Wen Zhaohu looked at Beijiwu. “Come over early tomorrow, so we can finish the rest in two or three days.”

“Okay,” Arctic Martial readily agreed.

Before long, Beijiwu rode home on horseback, carrying grain, cloth, and salt, returning laden with his spoils.

(End of this chapter)