Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

Zhang Mo only roughly remembered the location of the mining area. The error in visually estimating the distance based on the mountains and rivers was still very large, not to mention that the terrain had been there for nearly two thousand years.

When Lu Bu dug the third pit, he found the coal mine that Zhang Mo had mentioned. He filled a sack with soil and then filled it back with the previous soil.

Zhang Mo looked at the wheat field and said, "If I'm right, this mine is almost half under the wheat field, and half under this wasteland. If we want to open a mine, we have to buy all this land first."

Looking at the Taihang Mountains stretching out behind the two hills, Zhang Mo smiled and said, "This is a nice place, with mountains and water. The village can be built at the foot of the hills. The soil excavated from the mining area can be used to build earthen buildings."

Lu Bu asked, "What is a Tulou?"

Given that the social environment in Bingzhou was not stable, the defensive function of the manor was particularly important. After much deliberation, Zhang Mo decided that imitating the architectural style of Fujian Tulou would be the most appropriate, as it could both defend against the enemy and make full use of the land area.

“Similar to a dock.”

Lu Bu knew about the fort, which was probably built during the reign of Wang Mang. Later, Emperor Guangwu ordered the fort to be destroyed. However, in the north of Bingzhou, many powerful people still built forts to resist the Hu people. In fact, it was similar to a small city, with bows and arrows installed on the city walls and arrow towers on the four corners for defense.

He looked at the vast expanse of land in front of him and said, "Your estate is quite large. If all this wasteland were reclaimed, plus your coal mine, it would be enough to support ten thousand people."

Zhang Mo said, "I won't raise that many. I'll just raise two or three thousand young and strong men for self-protection."

She had no intention of gathering tens of thousands of people to fight Dong Zhuo head-on. Even if she opened the mine, she would not be able to support so many soldiers. Quality is more important than quantity. She already had a plan in mind to kill Dong Zhuo.

Lu Bu said, "With the fort as protection, two or three thousand men are more than enough to protect yourselves. If the Black Mountain bandits come upon us, you can still fight back."

Zhang Mo said with a grin, "With the troops trained by Lu Fengxian, it's definitely no problem for them to counterattack and kill some of the Black Mountain bandits."

Zhang Mo didn't know that at this time, Zhang Yan and Zhang Niujiao were still in Jizhou attacking the capital of Julu County, Yingtao, and had not yet become the king of Taihang. The Black Mountain Army was just the name of the troops led by Zhang Yan at this time, and not many people knew about it.

It was not until this battle that Zhang Niujiao was killed, Zhang Yan took over all his troops, and then contacted the rebels in Zhongshan, Changshan and other places. His troops grew in number, and he occupied Taihang and became the king. The name of the Black Mountain Bandits became known to the world.

The reason why Lu Bu knew about the Black Mountain bandits was because he had dreamed of suppressing the Black Mountain with Yuan Shao. He did not know that the Black Mountain had not yet become a powerful force at that time. He only knew that Taihang was the territory of the Black Mountain.

The two people who knew something but didn't know it very clearly had no sense of incongruity when talking to each other. No one doubted that there was anything wrong with the other party talking about the Black Mountain Bandits at this time.

The fertile land that Zhang Mo had her eyes on belonged to the nearby Juyangli. She had gone to the village to negotiate that day and offered double the price, but only a few people were willing to sell the land.

The reason is very simple. The area around Juyangli is all wasteland. After selling the land, they can only buy good farmland farther away. The land is too far from home, and they spend all their time walking every day, making it difficult to farm, unless Zhang Mo can help them move their houses somewhere else.

Zhang Mo made a simple budget. With her current financial ability, she could only buy this piece of fertile farmland and the surrounding wasteland, which was not enough to accommodate the 100 or so households in Juyangli.

Moreover, the subsequent infrastructure construction and recruitment of workers in the mining area require a lot of funds, and selling alcohol every day can only barely save this money.

"Not enough money?"

The two walked out of Juyangli, and Lu Bu looked at her slightly frowning brows and asked.

"Ah."

“Why don’t you sell more wine?”

"I'd like to, but it takes seven or eight jars of rice wine to purify one jar of white wine. In recent years, disasters and wars have been frequent, and grain prices have remained high. Selling large amounts of wine will cause grain prices in Jinyang and even Taiyuan County to skyrocket. I don't want to see anyone starve to death because of me. Let's think about it. There are other ways. First, buy the wasteland nearby. If that doesn't work, build a farm first, and then think of other ways to make money."

Lu Bu looked at her in surprise. She was just a little girl, yet she cared about whether the price of grain would rise or not. If it were him, he would definitely sell as much as he could produce. What did the lives of those people have to do with him?

However... thinking about the topic discussed yesterday, Lu Bu felt that perhaps he should change the way he thought about the problem.

"Then sell a little more?" Lu Bu suggested.

Zhang Mo shook her head. "There are 133 households in Juyangli. The housing resettlement fee for each household is 20,000 coins. How much wine would I have to sell in a single day to raise that much money in such a short time? It's impossible!"

Taking into account the demolition and resettlement costs, the coal mine's net profit will be greatly reduced, and this deal will not be very cost-effective.

Although she has other purposes for opening this mine, if the cost exceeds the budget, mining will have to be postponed.

Lü Bu offered her another suggestion. "During the time I was living in seclusion outside the city, I saw many merchants traveling between Taiyuan and Shangdang. I'll help you rob a few of them, and you can sell more wine."

"Robbery?"

Zhang Mo stopped and looked at Lu Bu's serious expression, feeling both amused and touched. "You haven't even cleared your fugitive identity yet, and you're trying to discredit yourself again?"

"I'm not afraid of having a lot of debts, and I can wear a mask." Lu Bu said indifferently.

Zhang Mo raised her hand and covered the lower half of his face from a distance. "He's so handsome, I can recognize him no matter how hard I try."

"What does handsome mean?"

“It means very handsome.”

"Amo thinks I'm handsome?"

"He is very handsome..."

……

The two of them walked out along the wheat field path. The sun was already setting in the west, and the golden rays of light shone on the green wheat waves, making them sparkle and look very beautiful.

Wheat ears sway at my feet, the faint scent of grass fills my nose, crickets chirp in the grass, the warm breeze blows on my face, white dandelions fly, and the air is filled with the smell of summer.

In the field, an old farmer was cutting wheat ears with a flat stone. The old woman following behind him was wiping her tears while pulling the wheat into the basket.

"Old man, why are you starting to harvest the wheat when the husks are not even full yet?" Zhang Mo asked curiously while standing on the edge of the field.

Seeing the two men dressed in fancy clothes, the old farmer lowered his head in fear and sighed softly, "It's the lean season right now, and we haven't had any food at home for several days. There's really nothing we can do."

Zhang Mo squatted down and pinched the still shriveled wheat. "What a pity! The harvest will be reduced by half! Is it like this for every household in Juyang?"

The old farmer said, "Almost. These days we only have wild vegetables and bran. The adults can barely make ends meet, but the children can't. My grandson is only one year old, how can he eat wild vegetables every day? I can only cut some and make wheat porridge for him first."

"Since the situation is so difficult, why don't you sell the land?" asked Lu Bu.

"If we sell all the land, how will we survive next year? I can only sell one acre at most."

Most families in Juyangli are like this old man. Even if Zhang Mo offered double the price, they would only sell one or two acres. It would be useless to buy such a small amount.

"The old man harvested the wheat early, and after paying the tax, there won't be much left at home. I'm afraid he will starve even longer next year, and he will have to sell the land then. It's better to sell it all at once and then buy it back somewhere else, no matter how far away it is. At worst, he can just build a straw hut in the field and live there," Lu Bu suggested.

"Young Master, you don't know that the nearest fertile land is in Huai Township, and it takes a day to go there and back. Besides, they may not be willing to sell their land. Even if you offer double the price, there will be few buyers. Why should I trade the near for the far?"

As if that were the case, Lu Bu continued, "Then you can also reclaim wasteland. There are many wastelands around here, and it wouldn't be difficult for one family to reclaim ten acres."

The old man showed Lü Bu the stone he was using to cut the wheat and smiled bitterly. "Young master, you don't know how precious farming is. Iron tools are valuable, and many families don't even have a hoe. They usually work with stone hoes. The soil in the wasteland is hard and overgrown with thorns. Even if we work hard for a month or two, we might not be able to dig out an acre. Everyone is barely getting enough to eat. It's already hard work to cultivate these fertile fields, so where would we get the energy to open up new land?"

Looking at the skinny and pale farmers, Lu Bu looked embarrassed. He really thought too simply. For him, with just a hoe, he might be able to dig out two or three acres of wasteland in a day, but for these farmers, they might only be able to dig out one acre in a month.

In his dream life, he served as the governor of Xuzhou and Yanzhou, but he did not think about managing the territory well, did not care about people's livelihood, did not pay attention to farming, and robbed when there was no food. In contrast, Cao Cao, after taking Yanzhou, recruited 300,000 Qingzhou soldiers, actively cultivated land, recruited refugees, encouraged farming and sericulture, and finally obtained 10,000 bushels of grain.

Perhaps, he should take this time to better understand the people's livelihood and economy.