Traveling through time and space to become a child, supporting the family by catching fish and shrim

What Shi Liguo didn't expect was that when he woke up, his beautiful hope of returning to Nanhe County to pick peaches was dashed.

The squire's daughter-in-law stood at the head of the bed, holding a bowl of black stuff, and whispered, "My lord, please eat something."

Although it didn't look good, Shi Liguo knew that they had suffered a disaster and the gentry couldn't offer him anything good, so he didn't mind the appearance and just took it and ate it.

Not to mention, it tastes pretty good.

"What is this?" Shi Liguo asked, looking up while eating.

The young lady whispered, "Qinggangzi jelly."

"Oh."

"what?"

Shi Liguo stared at the black jelly in the bowl, his eyes almost popping out: "Say it again?"

"Qinggangzi jelly..." The young lady was frightened and her voice became smaller and smaller.

Shi Liguo smashed the bowl to the ground and cursed, "You want to kill me?"

"I even wanted to take you to the county town to enjoy a delicious meal, and this is how you repay me?"

"My officer...my officer..."

Shi Liguo was so angry that he grabbed a pillow and started hitting him.

The young lady didn't dare to dodge, so she could only squat on the ground, holding her head with both hands, and endure it silently.

Fortunately, Shi Liguo still had a conscience. He didn't let the pillow fall down after all. He said breathlessly, "Get up and talk!"

The young lady stood up with a wronged look on her face, tears streaming down her face like beads from a broken string.

"I believe you don't have the guts to harm me. Tell me, who told you to feed me this?"

The young lady said, "Sir, this is a recipe sent back from the county. You won't get poisoned if you take it."

"We've all eaten it before giving it to you. We made sure it was okay before we dared to serve it to you."

Shi Liguo frowned and asked, "A recipe from the county town?"

"Yes," the little girl said, "the county yamen runners said that the disaster victims around the county are eating this, and one bowl is enough to fill you up."

Shi Liguo's face instantly turned pale. He paced back and forth in the room and said through gritted teeth, "Fan Cheng, I underestimated you!"

"You can really make a lot of fun out of a Qinggangzi."

"Prepare the sedan immediately. I want to go back to the county town."

After a cup of tea, the sedan stopped in the yard.

Shi Liguo, wearing an official robe, got into the sedan chair.

The young lady suddenly stepped forward and grabbed the door of the sedan chair, saying in a trembling voice: "Sir, you said you would take me away."

Shi Liguo's voice came through the sedan chair curtain: "After the disaster, I will send someone to pick you up."

"hurry up."

The sedan bearer pushed the young lady away and strode away carrying the sedan.

The young lady collapsed on the ground and turned around to find her father-in-law and husband standing on the steps, looking at her indifferently.

The young lady knew that it was all over.

……

On the ninth day after the flood, Shi Liguo, the magistrate of Nanhe County, finally returned to the county government office.

The first thing he did when he came back was to take away the power from Fan Cheng.

He took charge of all disaster relief matters.

This was what the county magistrate should do. Fan Cheng had no way to resist and could only agree reluctantly.

The first thing Shi Liguo did after regaining power was to cause widespread complaints.

The original policy set by Fancheng was that one pound of Qinggang fruit could be exchanged for one bowl of jelly, with a maximum of three bowls per day.

By doing this, we can ensure that every disaster victim has food to eat.

Shi Liguo directly changed this policy.

The victims were required to hand over four kilograms of Qinggang fruit to the government every day.

Please note that it is surrendered, not exchanged.

If you want to eat Qinggang fruit jelly, you have to pay for it.

Five cents a bowl!

At first, some of the victims did not know what was happening, and after being given the green oak fruit as usual, they went to get the jelly. As a result, they were beaten with sticks by the police and almost beaten to death.

Later, when they learned that they had to pay for the Qinggang fruit jelly, the victims were so angry that they started cursing and even overturned the shed where the jelly was cooked.

After Shi Liguo learned about this, he ordered the constable to arrest the ringleaders of the riot. Right at the city gate, in front of all the victims, they were beaten with sticks, leaving all of them half dead.

The victims were extremely disappointed with Shi Liguo. They packed their bags and returned to their hometowns.

After learning about this, Fan Cheng immediately called Chen Lang to discuss countermeasures.

Chen Lang said, "Sir, it's actually a good thing for the disaster victims to return home."

"Now that the flood has receded, it's time to start rebuilding our homes. If we continue to keep them outside the county, it will easily lead to disasters."

"What the county magistrate did was a bad intention but a good one."

Fan Chengdao said, "But the flood has passed, and the people are short of money. How can it be easy to rebuild their homes?"

Chen Lang sighed, "Sir, the common people are like weeds, inconspicuous but with very strong vitality."

"No matter how strong the wind and rain are, it's hard to knock them down. As long as there's a little sunshine, they can stand up straight again."

These words touched Fan Cheng deeply, after all, he was also born in a poor family.

"Your Excellency only needs to take the lead, and the people will be able to rebuild their homes spontaneously." Chen Lang said.

Fan Cheng frowned: "How to take the lead?"

Chen Lang said, "Send someone you trust to visit the countryside and select three or four families in each village. The county government will pay to help them build houses."

"These families must be those who are completely unable to make ends meet, so that they can serve as role models."

Fan Cheng said, "What about the other farmers? As the saying goes, it's not the lack of wealth that's worrying, but the inequality of it. If the government only builds houses for some people, the others will probably cause trouble."

Chen Lang took out a paper roll from his sleeve and placed it in front of Fan Cheng.

"Please have a look, sir."

Fan Cheng curiously opened the paper scroll and found a pattern of what looked like farm tools in the middle, surrounded by various loose parts with their sizes marked.

Looking up, you can see the three words "Quyuan Li" written on it.

Fan Cheng asked, "This name... could it be that the drawing on the paper is a farm tool?"

Chen Lang nodded. "That's right. The plows of our dynasty are long straight-beam plows. They're not very flexible when turning back and forth, and it takes a lot of effort to move the soil, so they're not very efficient."

"When I was a student farming, I was always thinking about how to improve this thing, and finally I designed this thing."

"The curved plow solves all the pain points of the long straight plow and increases the efficiency of the plow several times."

Fan Cheng was a little excited. If what Chen Lang said was true, then this agricultural tool would bring earth-shaking changes to the entire Nanhe County!

Chen Lang said: "If you don't believe it, you can find a few masters to come over and make one on the spot to see the effect."

"However, this matter needs to be kept highly confidential at this stage, so the master you find must be trustworthy."

Fan Cheng pondered and said, "We can't use the people from the government workshop. They will probably tell Shi Liguo about this."

“We can only find someone from outside.”

Chen Lang said, "Sir, if you want to find someone outside, I have an excellent candidate."