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

Mr. Zhao is not the kind of person who would reclaim land on a whim.

He was well aware of the principle of planning before taking action, so he first carefully crafted a batch of sophisticated tools that could be used to collect stones in Wandu, ensuring that every piece of stone excavated met his high standards.

Then, he meticulously classified every stone in the soil and registered them in detail, like a rigorous craftsman carving his work.

Under his guidance, the people of Shigang Village were busy, and three stone kilns were built on the other side of his house. Zhao Sheng put some stones into them, and after calcining, the color and texture of the stones underwent subtle changes.

"What are you planning to do, Master? Burning the stone once and then leaving it there, isn't that a waste of money and time?"

The villagers began to discuss Zhao Sheng's intentions, but Zhao Sheng remained unmoved and continued to act according to his plan, as if he had a clear mind and a clear vision.

Zhao Long and Zhao Hu, the two brothers, were now completely attracted by Zhao Sheng's charm and became his loyal followers, like two asteroids, tightly surrounding the sun in their hearts.

However, as time passed, Zhao Sheng's pocket became like a funnel, and the money gradually became scarce, just like morning dew quietly evaporating in the sun.

Despite their hard work day and night, the land they reclaimed was less than ten acres that could actually be used for farming.

Zhao Sheng was not discouraged by this. He knew that every inch of land carried hope and dreams, so he planted soybeans on all ten acres of land. Those golden beans were like the determination and persistence in his heart.

"Master, soybeans aren't a precious crop," Zhao Hu reminded him with some concern. "They don't taste as delicious as other grains, and their prices are often low in the market."

Zhao Sheng smiled slightly. "Shu", this ancient name, represents the general term for all beans, and soybeans are the best among them.

He knew very well that the value of soybeans lay not only in their edible value, but also in their toughness and tenacity. Just like himself, no matter how difficult the environment, soybeans could take root, sprout, blossom and bear fruit in this land.

"Erniu, it's difficult to grow rice or millet in this soil right now. The more you plant, the lower the yield will likely be. This is because the soil here has its own special composition, so I'm planting some soybeans, which have their own uses."

The weather has turned cold in a blink of an eye. It is already October. Although it is not covered with ice and snow, there is a huge temperature difference between morning and evening.

Suddenly, he heard that the county magistrate Zhao Guangyi was coming to visit, and people gathered in front of Zhao Sheng's house again.

"County Magistrate, doesn't County Zhao have any official business? How could you have the leisure to come and visit a humble commoner like me?"

The more Zhao Sheng belittled himself, the more Zhao Guangyi felt that this person was unfathomable.

"We're all from Yuzhou, so there's nothing wrong with coming to visit, right?"

As she was speaking, Zhao Zhen came out from the inner room. According to etiquette, she should call Zhao Guangyi "cousin".

"How can I feel at ease that my cousin has come here in the cold wind?"

Zhao Zhen bowed and spoke.

In fact, Zhao Guangyi did not come to visit them specially. He just felt strange that the people in Zhao County were afraid of the outsider Zhao Sheng.

Secondly, he discovered that Zhao Sheng was quite wealthy and was said to trade mostly in gold. You should know that during the Zhou Dynasty, neither silver nor gold was a circulating currency.

Silver was divided into official silver and market silver. Both had to be weighed during transactions, and the fineness was different, which often led to disputes.

Gold transactions were even rarer, and silver transactions also occurred. Since many people were unfamiliar with gold, most refused to trade it. At this time, the imperial court introduced an official form of gold and silver that could circulate on the market.

Gold is called gold leaf.

In fact, the shape of gold leaf is similar to that of banknotes, with patterns pressed on the four sides and inscribed with words that are consistent with the inscriptions on gold ingots and gold medals. It is called this because of its thin shape.

There is also a type of silver that the government officially introduced for ease of use. It is called "qingji", which means easy to carry. It also has words cast on it for easy use.

Yan Shigu's commentary on this passage in the Book of Han reads: "Lightly carrying means not bringing baggage with oneself, and the amount of food and provisions one brings is small. The word '赍' is the same as '资', meaning "equipment and supplies."

It can be seen that the currency used by Zhao Sheng all came from the formal officialdom, which shows that he was not down and out, but was interested in doing things among the people.

"Mr. Zhao, I won't put on airs in front of you anymore. I'll just call you that. I see you're no ordinary person."

Seeing that Zhao Guangyi stated his relationship directly, Zhao Sheng couldn't be too direct. After all, identity is something that cannot withstand investigation.

"You are the head of a county, our father and mother official, and we are from the same clan in Yuzhou. It is only natural for me to call you elder. From now on, you can just call me nephew. It is my honor. How dare I pick on you?"

"Haha~"

Seeing that Zhao Sheng was very respectful and did not put on the airs of a big family, nor could he explain his identity, Zhao Guangyi asked tentatively: "Since you are a relative, I have something unclear."

"Speaking……"

Mr. Zhao didn't waste any time and asked directly.

"You can live in the city, why do you live in this deserted village ten miles away?"

"Perhaps you think it's difficult to survive in this wasteland, but I think it's a Feng Shui treasure land."

"Oh? How do you say this?"

Zhao Guangyi was very curious about what Zhao Sheng said. He really couldn't see what was worth staying here for.

In fact, the reason why Zhao Sheng chose to settle here was because the local county government did not conduct a detailed identity check on these people. As long as they reported and were found to have no homicide record, there would basically be no problem.

Secondly, there are tens of thousands of acres of land here, but crops cannot grow there. Zhao Sheng saw the problem, but he did not plan to continue farming, so he would not have to pay land tax.

Because of this, most of the people in Zhao County left their hometown, and many of them served as soldiers. Until the State of Zhao was destroyed, few people returned to Zhao County.

As for Zhao Guangyi's inquiry, as it is a business secret, Zhao Sheng naturally would not tell him, but his family has a dish for him to taste today.

"Zhen'er, did Erniu catch any loaches in the river?"

The Great Zhou Dynasty had been suffering from drought for years, and even the cities in the north were not much better off. There was only stagnant water in the rivers, and most edible fish had been caught. Almost no one ate foods like eels and loaches.

"Brother, Brother Erniu dug up more than ten pounds of loaches today!"

Zhao Zhen was happily talking outside. Ever since Zhao Erniu had a falling out with his father and was kicked out of the house by Zhao Youcai, Zhao Sheng took him in and built a thatched hut in his yard.

"My Lord, the harvest in Zhao County is poor right now, and the price of grain in the city is too high. I can only ask you to eat some coarse grains here."

Although Zhao Sheng was polite, the fine grains in the countryside were still coarse grains to him, a time traveler. He ate mixed grain steamed buns every day.

However, Mr. Zhao bought many kinds of beans that farmers were reluctant to eat, some of which were even beans that were fed to cattle and horses.

He first made tofu from soybeans, not much every day, just three to five pounds to test his skills.

There was nothing good to serve at noon, so we cut open the intestines and stomachs of the loaches that had been spit out clean, stir-fried them in hot oil, added the necessary seasonings to remove the fishy smell, and started to simmer over low heat.

About three quarters of an hour later, Zhao Guangyi saw Zhao Zhen cut a large piece of food as white as jade into pieces and put it into the pot, then added some soybean paste and water and continued to stew it in the pot.

Although the house was simple and the stove was a bit far away, the aroma of the loach instantly made County Magistrate Zhao's mouth water.

"What is this thing that tastes so delicious?"

Zhao Guangyi couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, this is loach stewed with tofu."

Zhao Guangyi knew about loach; it had a strong earthy smell and few people ate it, but what was this tofu? He had never heard of it before.

Tofu is a soy product. The juice can be heated and drunk directly. It is a good choice for breakfast and is better than drinking tea.

After being marinated, it becomes the tofu we see today. After being pressed, it can be made into dried tofu or stinky tofu, which can help stimulate the appetite of patients with anorexia.

Of course, it can also be made into other foods, but I won’t introduce them one by one here.

Zhao Guangyi was confused by what he heard. He felt that there were so many delicious foods in the world, but he had never tasted them all, and he felt very aggrieved.