My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

After everything was finalized, Jiang Li and Uncle Jiu, led by the housekeeper of the Ren Mansion, went to the outside of the town to look for a suitable mountain. They also planned the development direction of the two mountains that Ren Fa had given as a gift.

After two days, Jiang Li and his team finally found a suitable hill, a low hill called Gravel Slope. The hill was short and relatively flat, and there were many gravels and not much vegetation on the hill, which reduced the risk of insect pests.

After selecting the location, Jiang Li asked Butler Zhang to go back and report to Ren Fa, asking him to buy the place and gather people to prepare building materials.

The building materials don't have to be too precious. Just buy a lot of bamboo and build a two-meter-high shed. Then you just need to cover it with mud to block out the light, prevent wind and keep warm.

The location of the greenhouse has been surveyed. Jiang Li brought Uncle Jiu to the cave where the chimpanzee was captured before. Jiang Li smiled and asked Uncle Jiu, "Master, do you think there is anything strange about this cave? I always thought that it could breed monsters, so there should be some strange things!"

Upon hearing this, Uncle Jiu took out a compass to survey the area and said in surprise, "This place is a place where winds gather and energy gathers, with dragons coiling and tigers crouching. It is a rare Feng Shui treasure land. If our ancestors were buried here, they would surely benefit their descendants. If a cultivator occupies this place, it would also be very helpful to practice with this land vein."

Jiang Li was delighted when he heard this and said, "In that case, I will buy this mountain. When I make money from growing mushrooms in the future, I will fund the construction of a real Taoist temple for my master. By then, I will recruit many disciples and make Maoshan flourish."

Uncle Jiu was overjoyed when he heard this, but he came to his senses after a moment and said, "You don't have to be like this. Although this place is good, it is very difficult and costly to build a Taoist temple."

"Even if it is completed, how will I and my disciples live in the future? After all, this is a town with a limited population. If there is no source of income, how can this Taoist temple last long?"

Jiang Li did not explain much after hearing this, but said to Uncle Jiu, "According to my guess, this barren mountain is worth at most 200 yuan. I will buy it first. Even if I cannot build a Taoist temple in the future, it is not a loss to buy such a good Feng Shui treasure land for 200 yuan."

Uncle Jiu shook his head when he heard this and said, "Two hundred dollars is not a small amount. You're going to grow mushrooms soon, so you should keep the money."

Seeing that Uncle Jiu insisted, Jiang Li did not say much. Instead, he kept it in mind. After going down the mountain and returning to the town, he asked Ren Fa for help. He found the mayor and bought the mountain for two hundred and forty dollars.

After saying goodbye to Ren Fa and returning to the charity cemetery, he handed the land deed to Uncle Jiu and then said goodbye and left. He was now going back to cultivate the fungus to provide seed sources for the future greenhouse.

...

After returning home, Jiang Li was busy for three months. During this period, he collected blood from the two spirit chickens twice and refined eight furnaces of twenty-one Essence Pills. Jiang Li ate fifteen of them and successfully reached the seventh level of Taoist cultivation. He was not far from the eighth level.

Uncle Jiu also got six. He was determined not to accept them at first, but he couldn't resist Jiang Li's constant nagging and finally accepted them.

During this period, Uncle Jiu had refined all of Huang Silang's demonic energy, causing his cultivation to decline slightly but his spiritual energy to become more abundant. Jiang Li also fulfilled his promise and built a small temple of about 20 square meters for him on a mountain where herbs were grown.

Because the temperature was relatively low in winter during the past three months, he had people build a semi-underground dugout.

He also collected a large number of corn cobs, chopped them up and boiled them in water. After draining the water, he stuffed them into bamboo tubes that had also been steamed and sterilized and were full of small holes. He then planted the fungus in the holes on the bamboo tubes, and then placed them in a warm cave and took good care of them.

(The bamboo tube is used to lock in water and prevent bacteria. You can plug the hole with boiled soil and use it repeatedly.)

Coming to the underground mushroom cultivation base with his father again, Jiang Kaishan smiled when he saw the mushrooms that were about to mature. However, he frowned as if he had thought of something and said, "Son, your mushroom yield is indeed not low, but it should not reach the 10,000 catties per mu you said."

Jiang Li smiled and said, "Dad, you can figure it out yourself. There are 2,000 bamboo tubes in this area of ​​only 20 feet (6 meters, a total of about 30 square meters). They can be planted twice a year. They are not ripe yet, but I estimate that we can harvest six or seven times a year. It is not a problem to harvest a hundred kilograms each time."

Jiang Kaishan said happily, "That means the yield per mu is at least 10,000 catties!"

Jiang Li did not answer but said, "I planted all mushrooms this time. I think they can be harvested in two or three days. When the time comes, I will ask Master and Master Ren to come and take a look, so that they can feel at ease."

Jiang Kaishan looked at these small mushrooms and said, "Can this thing mature in two or three days?"

"Then they should come and see."

After saying that, the two left here.

Three days later, Ren Fa brought Ren Tingting and Uncle Jiu to the Jiang family. Ren Fa looked at the new house under construction and said, "Nephew, why does your new house look weird?"

Jiang Li smiled and said, "This is a hexagonal building. It looks a bit strange because there are several observation and shooting towers built on it."

Ren Fa looked at the yard and said, "My dear nephew, you want to build your home into a castle. I'm afraid you will need to hire a lot of gunmen to guard it!"

Jiang Li smiled and said, "Don't be afraid of Uncle Ren laughing at me. I am a timid person. I adopted eight orphans and beggars in the provincial capital. I taught them knowledge and martial arts and they are loyal to me. When I returned home, I recruited ten people from the tenant farmers to serve as guards. Now I have a total of 18 gunmen, which should be enough to guard the house."

Ren Fa glanced at Jiang Li and praised him, "My dear nephew, you have a long-term vision. An old man like me cannot compare to you!"

Jiang Li did not continue the conversation, but took a few people to the place where mushrooms were grown.

After bringing them in, he introduced them, "These are the mushrooms I cultivated. I planted them here using my unique method. Today is the perfect time to pick them. I'll treat Tingting and you two elders to a mushroom feast when the time comes."

The three of them looked at the small cave in amazement. Ren Tingting said in surprise, "There are so many mushrooms. They smell really good."

It was also the first time for Uncle Jiu and Ren Fa to see so many mushrooms, and they were amazed. After they visited, Jiang Li started picking mushrooms with them. After weighing them, they found that there were less than 100 kilograms of mushrooms in total.

Ren Fa and Uncle Jiu were a little puzzled when they heard this and said, "It seems that the yield is not as high as the 10,000 catties per mu that my nephew said!"

Jiang Li smiled and said, "You may not know that mushrooms are not like crops that can be harvested all at once. You can see that there are still some small mushrooms on the bamboo tubes. They will mature in three or four days."

"After picking them, there will be another crop to finish. After three harvests, the mushrooms are considered fully harvested. The entire planting to harvesting cycle will be about four to six months."

"It can be planted twice a year, and harvested six times in total. Twenty such pits can be built on one acre of land, and the yield should be far more than 10,000 kilograms."

"But unfortunately, it requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and it is quite troublesome to manage. I'm afraid it won't be easy to promote it."