The Legend of the Farm Girl

After the ten people left, Li Muwen said to Yun Fang: "Madam, based on the current situation we have, I feel like I don't know where to start. What do you think?"

Yun Fang thought for a moment and replied, "We still have too little information at the moment. We have to ask Yun Wu and the others to continue to gather information. We are not yet able to manage the families in the county and the troops on the border. We can only manage the prefecture first."

Yun Fang repeated affirmatively: "That's right, we should first revitalize the prefectural city. After we have our own power, we can gradually absorb the people from the surrounding counties. By then, those aristocratic families will collapse on their own."

"The specific situation of the two counties managed by the army still needs to be known after contacting the garrison troops there. I don't have any idea yet."

Li Muwen nodded in agreement with Yunfang's words, and then asked, "Madam, how do you think we can make Liangzhou Prefecture rich?"

Yunfang had studied all of these carefully in the system in the recent nights. Yunfang said, "There are two ways. One is to find seeds that are suitable for Liangzhou's soil and climate. Such seeds must not be picky about the land, but must also be drought-resistant, and the growth cycle cannot be too long, as Liangzhou's warm days are too short."

"There is another way. My master once told me that in some countries in the Western Regions there is a kind of grass called alfalfa that can grow all year round in the climate of Liangzhou and is very suitable for feeding sheep. Along the way, we have seen too much land that is not suitable for farming. If we plant alfalfa and raise sheep, I don't know how fertile it will be."

Li Muwen couldn't help but sigh in his heart that Yunfang was really knowledgeable, but neither of these two methods was simple. Both the first plant and alfalfa were things that Li Muwen had never seen or heard of before.

Yunfang added: "If we have a little capital, I can teach my embroidery skills to the people here and turn the entire Liangzhou Prefecture into the most famous embroidery city. The people here will have other ways to make a living besides farming, and they will become richer and richer."

Li Muwen nodded, but he had to interrupt Yunfang now.

"My dear, I know your ideas are good, but what is the first step? How do we get the seeds of the plants or alfalfa you mentioned? If we raise sheep, where do the sheep come from?"

Yun Fang said seriously, "Mu Wen, I know where to find drought-resistant and high-yield seeds, but we can't get there now and no one has ever been there. But I have a way to slightly improve the drought resistance of wheat seeds. You can soak the seeds with the juice of Oxalis. I also know where the alfalfa suitable for raising sheep is. I want to take 20 people to find the seeds."

Li Muwen immediately shook his head violently and said, "No, Yunfang, I don't agree. It's too dangerous."

Yun Fang said soothingly: "Mu Wen, we don't have anyone useful here! If I don't go, who is capable of going?"

Li Muwen refused to agree to anything and just said not to consider this method for the time being.

He said softly to Yunfang: "I know you are eager to change the status quo, but we have to do it step by step. First, we can soak the seeds with Oxalis juice, which is a big step."

Yunfang also knew that what Li Muwen said was right. With their current ability, even if they went to buy alfalfa seeds, how much could they buy?

Li Muwen looked at Yunfang quietly and said, "My lady, don't be anxious. Let's take it slowly."

Yunfang and Li Muwen went to the warehouse again and looked through the files in the warehouse, especially those about the prefectural city. In particular, they focused on what the previous governor had done in the prefectural city.

After searching the warehouse for a long time, the two did not find any traces of the previous governor. Li Muwen speculated, "I'm afraid they were all taken away when they were convicted, so some insignificant things were left behind. We still have to let Yun Wu and the others go outside to get more information."

Speaking of Yun Wu and the others, the two began to discuss again about the treatment of these forty people. Li Muwen's annual salary is two hundred taels. Now they have no other income, so they should try their best to live on these two hundred taels, so the monthly salary for forty people cannot be too high.

But there has to be something that makes them willing to work for them even without a high monthly salary.

Yunfang thought for a moment and said, "Why not change their death indentures into living indentures? After ten years, they can be free if they want."

Li Muwen nodded in agreement.

Then the two decided to set the monthly salary at 100 wen, and 200 wen for the leader. Of course, as Li Muwen and Yunfang developed better and better in Liangzhou, their monthly salary would also increase.

When Yunfang told the forty people about the monthly salary, they were very happy. They never thought that one day they could gain their freedom and no longer be slaves.

If I work hard, I can save some money and take it back home. That would be great.

The three groups that had not yet chosen a leader had their eyes shining, and were all eager to try and earn the 200-wen wages.

From then on, the forty people studied harder the knowledge taught by Yunfang and Li Muwen, and paid more attention to the tasks assigned to them.

The next morning, Li Muwen got up early to practice martial arts. What he didn't expect was that Yunfang also got up with him to practice martial arts, and forty servants also got up.

Yunfang then realized that she was busy arranging everyone to learn things, but did not arrange anyone to do the housework. Everyone wanted to study, but no one wanted to cook.

They ate the dry food that had been prepared long ago on the way, so there was no trouble. But now that they had arrived, there was still no one to cook as everyone was thinking about practicing martial arts and studying.

Yun Fang finally discovered the problem and immediately said, "Mu Wen and I don't need anyone to serve us, but I still have to choose five kitchen staff from you. Is there anyone among you who is willing to go to the kitchen? I will also pay the kitchen manager 200 coins as well."

When they heard that the kitchen manager also earned 200 coins and there were only five people in the kitchen, there would be much less competition, someone raised his hand immediately. One person raising his hand immediately led the others, and about seven or eight people expressed their willingness to go.

Yunfang picked out five people who looked cleaner and said to them, "Go prepare breakfast first! I will decide who will be the manager in a month."

Then he turned around and said to everyone, "Except for Yun Wu and the others, you too, I will select the person in charge in a month."

After everyone finished breakfast, Yun Fang asked Yun Wu and the others to continue going out to gather information, focusing on the affairs of the previous prefect, and then took the rest of the people to continue studying.

She wanted her people to learn as much knowledge as possible before they were noticed by others.

The study time passed quickly, and Yun Wu returned with the information he had obtained to report to Yun Fang and Li Muwen.

"Master, Madam, we asked many people before we pieced together the story of the previous governor. It is said that when the previous governor first arrived in Liangzhou City, he brought sixty or seventy carriages and countless servants and guards. The day after he arrived, he forcefully summoned people from various county families and two families in the city, the Sun family and the Zheng family, to the city and asked them to pay taxes."

"How could they agree? They said their children had many achievements and that the land was exempted from tax as a reward from the imperial court. It was said that they parted on bad terms that day."

"Then the new governor ordered the guards to surround the Sun and Zheng mansions overnight, saying that an assassin had sneaked in and wanted to capture the assassin. They turned the Sun and Zheng mansions upside down, but they didn't find the assassin, but they did find a large number of land deeds and indentures, which almost included all the arable land in the city and more than half of the population. In other words, the vast majority of people in Liangzhou belonged to the Sun and Zheng mansions, and they didn't pay land taxes or head taxes. But how could they have so many people with honors!"

"The prefect arrested all the people from the two prefectures and sent all the land deeds and indentures they found to the capital. However, before they left Liangzhou, they were burned. When the previous prefect heard about it, he was furious and executed all the people from the two prefectures for treason, even the elderly and children were not spared."

"It is said that blood flowed like a river, the sky and earth changed color, and the former governor also confiscated all the property of the two prefectures."

Yun Fang was shocked and said, "Where are the Tongpan and Limu of the prefectural government at that time? Didn't anyone supervise him? Even if he wanted to govern Liangzhou, he couldn't be so reckless!"

Yun Wu shook his head and said, "It is said that no one dares to stop it. The guards brought by the previous governor are all highly skilled in martial arts, and one can defeat ten people. He has more than a hundred such guards. Who dares to speak out to stop it?"

Yunfang nodded and asked, "Then what?"

Yun Wu went on to say, "After that, the people of the prefecture city had a good life for a few days. The new governor distributed all the confiscated money to the people, and restored the freedom of those who had signed the indentures of the Sun and Zheng families. Not only that, he also distributed the land of the Sun and Zheng families to the people of the prefecture city."

"But within a month, soldiers surrounded the prefectural government and executed all the people in the prefectural government for the crime of treason."

Yunfang asked, "Do they have any evidence?"

Yun Wu replied, "It is said that the guards brought by the previous governor were all children of the Xiongnu and the Han people, which was evidence of his collusion with the enemy and betrayal of the country. It is said that the governor's mansion was filled with cries of killing, and finally a general walked out of the governor's mansion and said that the governor had led people to resist and had been executed on the spot, and his family members were also killed. The official seal of the government was found and sent to the capital along with the evidence."

Yun Fang was a little stunned and asked, "Are you saying that they all died in the prefectural government?"

Yun Wu was also a little terrified and said, "That's true."

Yunfang looked at Li Muwen helplessly, and Li Muwen said calmly: "Don't worry, don't be afraid."

Seeing that Yunfang was still a little nervous, Li Muwen quickly changed the subject and asked, "Yunwu, what happened next?"

Yun Wu said quickly, "What happened later. These people don't know much about it. They only know that the emperor issued an order to dismiss all officials in the prefecture. It has been half a year, and there is no official left in the prefecture. They are the first batch of officials in our case."

Li Muwen knocked on the table with his hand and asked, "Are there still 50,000 people in the city now?"

Yun Wu replied, "There should be some. The people we inquired said that they were given some silver by the new governor last year, so they didn't have to sell people or land, and they have managed to survive until now. They have seeds in their hands, and are waiting for the next rain to prepare for farming. They plan to see how the new governor collects taxes after he comes, and then see how the harvest goes. If they can survive, they won't sell their land or themselves."

Yunfang also came to her senses at this time. This was good news.

After Yun Wu reported the news, Yun Fang asked her to take her people to dinner.

Yunfang said to Li Muwen, "Husband, we must arrange to soak the seeds of Oxalis as soon as possible. They haven't started farming yet, so we have to soak them for a while!"

Li Muwen also nodded. The current situation in the provincial capital was better than he had imagined. However, how could he, as a prefect alone, implement the government policies?

Just when he was worried, someone came to the second hall and said, "Master, Madam, there are four people coming to the main hall. They say they are the newly appointed Tongpan, Tui Guan, Li Mu, and Xun Jian..."

Yunfang and Li Muwen were stunned for a moment, then realized that this was to have all the officials in his prefecture in place.

Li Muwen brought Yunfang to the lobby of the prefectural government. When they saw the crowd, they found two familiar faces. They were both successful candidates in the same imperial examination.

Seeing Li Muwen and Yunfang, they all bowed at the same time and said one by one: "Master Li, I am Wang Yu, a newly-appointed third-class Jinshi, appointed as Tongpan by the Emperor's order."

"Sir Li, I am Huang Xuan, a newly-appointed third-class scholar, appointed as a magistrate by the Emperor's order."

"Sir Li, I am Lin Zirui, a Juren who has been ordered to serve as an official."

"Sir Li, I am Zhao Hui, a scholar who has been ordered to serve as an inspector."

Among the four, Wang Yu and Huang Xuan are relatively young, both of them are of the seventh rank, while Lin Zirui and Zhao Hui are older. Only those who have no hope of passing the imperial examination would choose to become an official as a juren, and the eighth rank is the limit for such an official.

Seeing that they all came alone, Li Muwen asked, "Didn't you bring any luggage or family members?"

Upon learning that their luggage and family members were outside the government office, he quickly asked them to settle down first.

The Tongpan and Tuiguan had their steward's houses to live in, which were not far from the prefect's government office. However, the clerks and inspectors had to live inside the government office. Fortunately, they had their own courtyards inside the government office.

After the few people were settled, Li Muwen invited a few more people to come with their families. Li Muwen set up a banquet in the government office to welcome them. Li Muwen was in charge of the male guests, and Yunfang was in charge of the female guests.

Several people recounted their experiences of arriving in Liangzhou.

Wang Yu and Huang Xuan received the appointment on the third day after Li Muwen received the appointment and set out, and they were also required to arrive in Liangzhou within fifteen days.

They grew up in a well-off family and had their own servants and attendants. After receiving the appointment, they set off without delay, taking their servants, attendants and families with them.

Lin Zirui and Zhao Hui were different. They both worked as low-ranking treasurer clerks in the Yongzhou prefectural government office. They had spent money to become high-ranking officials. A few days ago, they received an appointment to work as clerks and inspectors in the Liangzhou government office.

There is a huge difference between being a rank official and not being a rank official. Now they can be said to be appointed officials of the imperial court, so even though they knew that there were many disputes in Liangzhou, they still came. However, they did not bring their families with them, only a few servants.

There were only two female guests on Yunfang's side, and they were having a pleasant conversation.