Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 27 Black Market
After two or three days of setup, Beijiwu built a simple wooden shed next to his bedroom.

The wooden shed was used to store miscellaneous items and hay, and the excess straw was piled up in the woods behind the yard.

The Beijiwu family was mainly busy packing things up, building houses, fetching water, cooking, and drying grain.

It also resolved the ransom issue for the Li sisters and wrote indentures for the Li sisters, Gao Conglian, and Ai Xidan.

The Zhang sisters came to our home on their own; they were sent over by the Zhang family. They didn't need to write anything like that.

Arctic Martial sent fish and meat to the Zhang family, but had no dealings with the Li family.

Although they weren't exactly polite to the Zhang family, when Aunt Zhang came to teach her daughter how to sew clothes, she still provided a meal and even gave her some rice to take with her when she left.

That day, Beigong Dingbian shouted loudly outside the door.

"Brother Wu! I'm here!"

Beijiwu went out of the house, got dressed, and left the bedroom.

Not long after, Li Hong buttoned up her clothes and followed her out.

The Zhang sisters, Aunt Zhang, Li Bing, and Xi Dan were all here. Young Xi Dan was holding her younger brother in the yard, basking in the sun.

Beiji Wu and Beigong Dingbian were talking outside the courtyard gate.

Bei Gong Dingbian rode a horse by himself, while the two brothers Bei Tian Biao and Bei Tian Hu drove an oxcart and a couple of horses beside him.

The four were talking when they saw Gao Conglian return.

Beijiwu instructed Gao Conglian, who was watching this side:
“I’m going with them to the county to buy some grain and farm tools. You can eat by yourselves at noon, and I’ll come back in the evening.”

Gao Conglian nodded quickly, "I understand, Brother Wu."

Beiji Wujin found a suitable wooden stick, took his money, mounted his horse, and set off for the county town with three other men.

All four were military households, and all were young or middle-aged men, so traveling together could avoid a lot of trouble.

The two brothers drove an oxcart, while Beijiwu and Beigong Dingbian rode horses.

After leaving the village, Bei Gong Dingbian looked at the bloodstains on the ground.

“Brother Wu, I rode my horse over there the day before yesterday. The pig you killed bled all the way to the edge of our village.”

Bei Gong Dingbian was very idle, so he left the farm work to the women and went out to watch the excitement.

Military households were traditionally accustomed to the men going out to work while the women stayed home to farm, do housework, and take care of the children.

They prefer wives who are simple and unassuming, knowing full well that beautiful women can cause trouble and they can't protect them.

Those who are too straightforward won't give you a chance to hand over your woman; they'll just kill you by taking her away.

It's more common to kill someone outright than to threaten them into giving him their wife.

For a poor man to marry a beautiful wife, the constant visits from men are a major problem.

Not to mention that good-for-nothing Ai Jia, Gao Conglian isn't exactly a feisty person either; the two of them are destined to be bullied wherever they go.

Knowing they were lowly underlings, both the Kitamiya and Kitada families married women who were physically strong and had fiery personalities.

Bei Gong Dingbian's older sister got engaged to a man from the county, who was also a military household.

Beigong Dingbian, who is already married and has children, has a strong admiration for people like Beiji Wu.

A man with great ability can easily gain praise and forgiveness by lowering his attitude slightly.

Even if a coward kowtows and dies, he will only be looked down upon.

Beijiwu looked at the fields in front of him.

“I’ve taken a quick look, and we can probably reclaim three to four thousand acres of land here. We need to get this land ready as soon as we have some free time this year, otherwise, if a few more villages come nearby, we’ll have much less land in the future.”

Beijiwu's words prompted Beigong Dingbian to complain, "Our village only has two cows, and it's not easy to reclaim wasteland. We can't get that much land."

Beijiwu said, "We'll develop as much land as we can, and whoever develops it owns it. If we don't do it now, our sons won't have any land to go around when they grow up."

Both the Beigong and Beitian families own more than 100 mu of land, and they are currently unable to cultivate it all, not because they lack land.

The more men in a family, the more land they are allocated.

The four of them weren't exactly a group a few days ago, but now that they're traveling together, they can be considered a group in a more haphazard way.

The main thing is that Beijiwu is still the same as before. It's already good enough if he's willing to talk to women a few more times. He has no intention of chatting with men and building relationships.

The four chatted idly for a while, and soon they went from a small path to a main road, and then from the main road to the official road. It took them more than an hour to reach a county town.

Outside Kitahara Prefecture, there is a horse market that lasts for more than ten days each spring and autumn. Taxes are levied based on the number of horses used to transport goods, and usually two out of ten horses are kept.

Now is not the time to trade with the grassland people; the market outside is full of inland merchants and nearby residents.

As the four members of the Arctic Martial Sect slowly approached, ambushes from the market soon arrived.

"Where are you from?"

“We are all military households from Beitian Village.”

After a brief negotiation, Beijiwu and his group paid to enter the market.

The market was located on a hillside to prevent the nomads from raiding it during their trade.

Every time a trade takes place, ambushes are deployed, and garrison troops are also mobilized to keep watch, otherwise trouble could easily occur. There have been instances of imposters posing as merchants attacking the city during trade, so any sign of trouble is dealt with immediately.

Ordinary people don't come here to trade; those who do are people with some purchasing power.

The seller pays the tax, and the buyer pays the entrance fee.

About two hundred people were setting up goods or using tents, vehicles, and wood to create a circle in this place full of horse and human excrement.

Cattle, sheep, and horses are the most common animals here. Beiji Wu feels that at least half of the people here are grassland people.

However, Bian Jun doesn't care about such things, and he wouldn't be foolish enough to report it.

Only someone who's ready to die would report something that could kill their whole family.

Just like the Kitada family, Takeshi Kitakaki didn't cause any trouble for his family.

Beijiwu arrived at a stall run by an inland merchant. It was similar to the stalls at the night market, where various items were laid out on the ground.

The valuable things are in front of you, the worthless things are outside.

How much does a pot cost?

Beijiwu asked the price of the merchant's tea, salt, iron pots, hoes, sickles, and silk from the south.

Qiao Guozhong held up two fingers.

"Two taels of silver."

Beijiwu said directly, "I came here last year, and I know the rules here. I am from the military household village in the south, not a Hu person."

Qiao Guozhong raised an eyebrow. "Fifteen hundred coins, no less. If it were a barbarian, a pot would cost three taels of silver!"

Beijiwu does have some money, but not much, and he's thinking of saving up to buy a cow.

It doesn't really matter to the Hu people. Over the past hundred years, the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and various other ethnic minorities have occupied this land, bringing surnames such as Helian, Murong, Yuwen, and Yelü.

This place is not Han territory; it has always been an area that has been repeatedly occupied. The real Han territory is located hundreds of kilometers behind the county seat.

"I'll go check out the nearby shops first, and then we'll talk about it later." Since he wanted to save money wherever possible, Beijiwu wanted to compare prices before making a decision.

Seeing that Beijiwu was genuinely interested in buying, Qiao Guozhong asked, "How many do you have?"

Beijiwu said, "I have two taels of silver, but I also need to buy some other things to reclaim the wasteland, and I also need to buy some grain."

Qiao Guozhong said with a smile, "I have all of these things you mentioned. To tell you the truth, they are all good stuff from the military settlements."

There were no surprises at all regarding Arctic Martial Arts.

Relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to draft water.

Reselling military rations and supplies has always been a major way for generals to make money.

Black markets like these, which operate outside of normal times, must have military backing.

However, it's usually done by the lower and middle levels, while the upper levels turn a blind eye.

The methods used by those at the top are even more elaborate.

They embezzled military rations, fraudulently claimed military pay and imperial rewards, smuggled contraband and delivered it to people's homes, falsely reported military achievements and killed innocent people to claim credit, seized military and civilian settlements, robbed honest tribes that did not cooperate, and extorted merchants and wealthy households.

When those in power make money, those below always need a share. Transactions with merchants are permitted, but the court is generally hesitant to kill them indiscriminately for fear of attracting attention if too many merchants die.

In this remote area, far from the emperor's reach, generals, merchants, and local powerful figures protected and cooperated with each other.

The general wanted grain, iron pots, oxen, and land, but he couldn't take them with him. He always had to find merchants and wealthy households to sell them for cash. If he killed them, he wouldn't be able to get silver or enjoy high-end goods from the interior. So, everyone was trying to maintain a balance.

It's all about money.

Even for children from military households, unless the supplies were within the city limits and they could take advantage of the convenience to obtain some, once they left the city, they were no longer considered military supplies.

If you need to spend money to buy it, then you should spend money to buy it.

Whether it's seeds provided by the imperial court for military households and immigrants to settle down, or free oxen for plowing, everything is available here.

Can you make the pot cheaper?

Beijiwu asked another question, clearly displaying the honest nature of someone who isn't good at bargaining.

At this moment, a burly man walked out of the tent behind Qiao Guozhong and glared at Beijiwu.

"If you can't afford it, get out! Screw your mother!"

When Qiao Guozhong heard his friend scolding someone and acting like a bad cop, he smiled and decided to say something nice to persuade the person.

At this moment, Bei Gong Dingbian and the two brothers from the Bei Tian family quickly pulled Bei Jiwu back, saying, "Master Wu, don't argue with him. It's not good to cause a death here."

Beigong Dingbian reached out and stood in front of Beiji Wu, trying his best to persuade Beiji Wu not to be angry.

Arctic Martial looked at the three of them with a puzzled expression, feeling that they were acting strangely.

Qiao Guozhong and Lu Kuiyuan also felt that the three of them were acting strangely.

This kid isn't a bad person.

(End of this chapter)