Traveling through time and space and becoming a deposed prince, he just wants to survive!

The biggest problem Mr. Zhao faces when staying in Shigang Village this time is his identity issue, because this matter has been exposed to Zhao Youfu, and even Zhao Youcai may know about it.

Of course, they now only know that Zhao Sheng is a member of the royal family, and he is just here to experience farming and will return soon. So they probably won't bother them with the two brothers in the village.

The local magistrate, Zhao Guangyi, has been wondering: Why didn't Zhao Shicheng see his daughter when she came?

What is more important is that Zhao Guangyi was not thinking about the friendship between relatives, but whether he could establish relationships in the hope of achieving success in the future.

On the day when Zhao Sheng's house was completed, he invited the young and old in the village, as well as the elders of the clan, to have a simple meal together, especially the elders of the neighboring Zhaojiazhuang. Upon hearing that the new family was surnamed Zhao, they prepared some gifts.

"Young man, who is your father, and why did you end up here?"

The elders of Zhaojiazhuang saw that Zhao Sheng had the air of a Confucian scholar, so they wanted to know more about him.

"Elder, although you are my elder, my identity is the glory of our Zhao family. It is inconvenient to let too many people know. Please forgive me!"

Upon hearing this, the elder of the Zhao family was so angry that he pounded the ground with his cane.

"From my original ancestors, in the Yanshan Mountains, due to population growth, the migrations led to the division into three major branches: the Renyi, the Niaoyi, and the Yuyi. The Niaoyi were the ancestors of the Zhao clan."

"Yanshan is the authentic lineage. The Handan, Xuanyuan, and Wucheng clans are the legitimate and orthodox. You, the Zhao clan of Yuzhou, have merely changed your surnames or been given them!"

The clan leader meant for Zhao Sheng to return to his ancestral home. Now that the Qin State had destroyed the Zhao State, the Zhao people of the Handan clan were becoming increasingly scarce.

Zhao Sheng was not in a hurry. He looked around to see if there was anyone around and asked quietly, "What do you think, old man? Should the current emperor pay homage to your family's ancestral hall?"

The clan leader was really annoyed by Zhao Sheng's words.

"How dare you say such a thing? How can you be so disrespectful!"

The clan leader's voice was quite loud. Coincidentally, the county magistrate also came to congratulate Zhao Sheng on the completion of his new house. Hearing the clan leader of Zhao Village getting angry, he knew it must be another old story.

"Old Patriarch, the Zhao family is one family. Why do we have to argue endlessly about kinship?"

Zhao Guangyi wanted to be a peacemaker, but the old patriarch ignored him.

Zhao Sheng saw that the situation was difficult to fool around with, so he took out the gold medal again, first showing the python pattern from his sleeve and said: "Patriarch, do you know what the python pattern on the gold medal means?"

While the clan leader was still stunned, he pulled out the character Zhao, "Elder, does your family have a gold medal with the character Zhao on a python pattern?"

After saying that, there were flamingos paying homage to the entire gold medal. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that the person holding this identity was from a very important background.

"Elder, would you like to ask my father to come over and kneel before you?"

Although Zhao Sheng's voice was low, it was extremely harsh to the elder. He felt that his body was no longer his own and he was about to slide down the chair he was sitting on.

"Elder, you should be a wise man. You sent me here for one reason only. You must not let others know my intention at this time. If you do well, the Handan family will prosper in the future. If... "

This series of threats and intimidation, coupled with Zhao Sheng's meaningful smile, made the clan elders believe what Zhao Sheng said, and the county magistrate Zhao Guangyi seemed to understand what he meant.

"Serve this young man well. Your future wealth and glory may depend on him!"

The clan elder said only this one sentence after the county magistrate repeatedly requested that he keep it secret.

For this reason, the two mysterious men with the surname Zhao here were worshipped as ancestors by the crowd, and no one dared to go out and talk nonsense.

Although the house has been built, Zhao Sheng and Zhao Zhen's life here is not stable.

It was a year of severe drought, and the years seemed to have lost their moisture under the scorching sun, and every inch of land revealed a hopeless dryness.

In years like these, people passed by their door in an endless stream, like travelers driven by fate. The plaintive begging voices, like the harsh cold wind, penetrated the doors and windows and struck Zhao Zhen's heart.

Whenever that voice sounded, she couldn't help but want to go out, see those people in distress, and give them some help within her ability.

However, in this difficult world, how much can she help? But the kindness from the bottom of her heart makes her unable to sit idly by.

"Little sister, you must never leave the house without permission," Zhao Sheng said solemnly, his eyes gleaming with deep worry. "In this world, cannibalism is not uncommon. You've heard and seen it all before."

His words were not groundless, and Zhao Zhen naturally knew this. She had witnessed with her own eyes those people who had lost their minds due to famine, with the gleam of beasts in their eyes, willing to do anything to survive.

Shigang Village, this barren land seems to be a corner forgotten by time. Its unique landform, with salt and alkali intertwined with calcium oxide, makes the growth of grains extremely difficult.

The ancient people worked hard on this land, planting the only grains and wheat, hoping for a good harvest.

It's August, the prime time for winter wheat planting. However, in this barren land, even hard work doesn't always guarantee a bountiful harvest.

"Uncle Youfu, I see you're all selecting seeds. Are you planning on planting winter wheat?"

Now Zhao Youfu has become the village chief, and this was also due to Zhao Sheng's encouragement of everyone to report to the county government.

"It's already autumn and winter is coming soon. If we plant seeds now, we'll probably have some harvest next spring."

"Uncle Youfu, in my opinion, if we want to improve life in the village, we must change our mindset." He grabbed some soil and said, "This kind of soil is not suitable for growing rice or winter wheat. And look..."

Zhao Sheng pointed at the surrounding land and said, "This is all rocky land. Although our village still has some water, have you noticed that the water tastes incredibly bitter?"

Zhao Youfu was touched by Zhao Sheng's words. He had been here for two years, digging soil from the cracks in the rocks, and the crops he grew were only about a hundred kilograms. Fortunately, he did not have to pay taxes, and the crops were barely enough to support his family.

"I know that the land in the village now belongs to whoever cultivates it. It is rent-free for three years, but after the fourth year, the county government will measure it. Given the current yield, you will still have to give up this place by then."

Zhao Youfu lowered his head at Zhao Sheng's words. The soil here was basically sandy and gravelly. Crops could be grown, but they would not produce any results.

"Look, there are a lot of rocky hills near my home. I don't think you will come here to open up wasteland. Please help me find some idle people in the village. Of course, lazy people and bad people are not recommended. Help me break the rocks and open up wasteland here."

Reclaiming land? You might not even make money doing it yourself, so isn't it a waste to let your family do it?

But on second thought, Mr. Zhao is a member of the royal family, so perhaps what he did has its reasons.

Shigang Village originally had a small population. When a gong was struck, the villagers ran to gather under a big tree at the entrance of the village.

"Hey, gentlemen, Young Master Zhao wants us to go and reclaim the rocky hill behind his house in our free time. We'll provide meals and pay two large coins a day."

Shigang Village built a house for Zhao Sheng some time ago, so he had enough to eat. This time, they said they would go to open up wasteland, so he would still have food to eat, and most importantly, they would give him money.

"I go……"

"I am coming too……"

"Anyone who doesn't take advantage of such a good opportunity is a fool!"

The villagers were all excited. Zhao Youcai, who was squatting nearby, started to grumble, "What's so great about having a few bucks? Why don't you just settle down in our poor village?"

The sound was not loud, but it was heard by other people in the village.

"You old bastard, you were the one who made things difficult for him and almost drove the God of Wealth out. And now you're still saying these sarcastic things."

The villagers were all glaring with anger, wishing they could beat him to death and feed him to the dogs. Zhao Erniu really hated his father to the core, but the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty stipulated that anyone who harmed their parents or elders would be beaten to death or exiled a thousand miles away.

This has also been the case in feudal society for thousands of years. Everyone has been using the pretext of respecting the elderly and loving the young. Even if they encounter those who are disrespectful to the elderly and break the law when they are young, they have no way to deal with them.