Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Once only Zhang Youtie and Liu were left in the room, Liu sighed.

"Now we're back to where we were before, and we still have to rely on delivering hot pot base to a few restaurants in the town and county to make a living."

“What’s the big deal? Even if we do nothing, we’ll have more money than we can spend. Besides, we sold the corn this time and brought in several thousand taels of silver, which is enough for us to get through the next two years.” Zhang Youtie patted Liu’s hand.

"Speaking of which, everything in our family was earned by our daughter, even your title was earned by her. Now that the child is growing up day by day, we should start preparing her dowry. After the New Year, we'll send someone to the south to buy some good timber so we can make furniture for our daughter. We'll also go to the north to collect some good furs so they can all be used as part of her dowry." Madam Liu glanced at the furnishings in the room and sighed.

"I'll do whatever you say. I'll send someone to handle these matters after the New Year. Anyway, we still have a few years. We can slowly look around and acquire any good ones we find." Although Zhang Youtie said this, he still felt a little uneasy at the thought of his daughter getting married one day.

The couple were talking when they heard Gao Shuanzhu coming and going outside.

"My lord, the village chief has arrived. He says he has something to discuss with you."

"Alright, please invite the village chief to the main hall first. I'll be right there," Zhang Youtie said to Gao Shuanzhu.

"Yes"

"I wonder what brings Uncle Village Chief here at this hour?" Liu asked, helping Zhang Youtie put on his coat.

"It's probably about the village patrol team. He said last night that he wanted to get this sorted out today, so he must be having some trouble." Zhang Youtie thought of what the village chief had said the night before and voiced his guess.

"Then you should hurry up and go. The patrol team's affairs are related to the safety of our entire village. Let's help if we can," Liu instructed.

"I know what I'm doing, so don't worry."

When Zhang Youtie entered the flower hall, he saw the village chief frowning, tapping his fingers on the table as if he were thinking about something.

"Uncle, what brings you here so soon? How's the patrol going?"

"I came here to tell you about this. I selected fifty people for the patrol team, but some people have raised objections..." The village chief told Zhang Youtie what the villagers had said.

"Uncle, what do you mean?" Zhang Youtie asked.

“I was thinking, how about we pay the patrol team some wages, ten coins a day? We’ve made a lot of money selling off the wasteland these past few years, and I’ve already calculated it; we have enough money in the account.”

"I'm afraid people might not be willing to pay ten copper coins," Zhang Youtie said with a sigh.

"Ten coins is not enough? There's no farm work to be done in the fields these days, and there's not much work to be done in town. You're just lying at home anyway, and you still think ten coins is not enough?" The village chief found it unbelievable.

The two discussed it for a while, and finally Zhang Youtie suggested that they use grain instead of wages, one pound of corn per person per day.

"In that case, do you have enough food to eat?" the village chief asked with some concern.

"That should be enough. My family's workshop has also stopped operating now, so if we save some money, it should be enough to eat," Zhang Youtie replied after a moment of contemplation.

"Alright, let's do it that way. You can't give this grain for nothing; the village will pay for it at ten coins per pound. I'll go get the money for you right now." With that, he scurried off.

With a daily wage of one pound of grain, the formation of the patrol team went much more smoothly, and no one objected anymore.

The patrol team doesn't just patrol; they also train, and the people training them are Uncle Ma and Nineteen. Everyone knows Uncle Ma; they all know he's skilled in martial arts. But as for Nineteen, everyone's impression of her is just that of a maidservant following Xia Yu around. Many people are disdainful of having her train a group of grown men.

But their disdain vanished after Nineteen chopped a thick log in half with a single blow right in front of everyone. They obediently followed behind Nineteen, getting up early every morning to run two laps around the village before doing other exercises. Their enthusiastic daily training brought a lot of life back to the somewhat deserted village.

As the weather grew colder, a heavy snowfall suddenly fell on October 18th. This snowfall finally alleviated the drought that had lasted for nearly six months without a drop of water.

However, grain prices continued to rise, and in some places, even money couldn't buy grain. Some unscrupulous merchants hoarded grain and refused to sell it. For a time, the grain market in Zhongzhou Prefecture was characterized by high prices but no buyers.

The report on the disaster in Zhongzhou Prefecture had already been submitted to the imperial court, but the court only exempted the autumn taxes and did not take any other disaster relief measures. It was becoming increasingly clear that people were starving to death in some areas, and refugees were beginning to flee the famine on the roads.

A large influx of refugees from other places poured into Ming'an County. At first, it was thought they were just passing through and would leave soon. But they weren't; they seemed intent on begging there.

The magistrate of Ming'an County had no choice but to submit a memorial to the imperial court while calling on wealthy households in the county to set up porridge stalls to relieve the people.

"Sir, don't we have granaries? Why don't we open them to provide relief? Also, where did those refugees come from? Why have we never heard of the government opening granaries to distribute grain?" someone asked.

The magistrate of Ming'an County was at a loss for words in response to their questions. The tax grain collected this summer had already been requisitioned by the imperial court, and the granaries were now empty. Where could they find grain for disaster relief? Moreover, this wasn't just the case in their area; the granaries throughout the entire Zhongzhou Prefecture were likely empty. However, he couldn't reveal this fact. If the people knew the government's granaries were empty, it might incite a riot.

After calming himself down, he could only reply.

"Opening the granaries and distributing grain requires the imperial court's approval, and the memorial has already been submitted. We expect to receive news soon. However, the current difficulties in Ming'an County still require everyone's full assistance. There are a large number of refugees now, and if soup kitchens are not set up, those people will be driven to desperation by hunger and may even resort to violence and riots!"

The magistrate's words left everyone present speechless. If such a situation were to actually occur, the wealthy households would likely be the first to suffer.

"My Shen family will open two soup kitchens outside the city tomorrow," Master Shen said after a moment's thought.

With the Shen family taking the lead, many others followed suit and expressed their willingness to open soup kitchens. Some families with less resources even opened one soup kitchen together, with two or three families joining forces.

Hearing everyone's support, the magistrate finally felt relieved. At least for now, he could stabilize the refugees and prevent a riot; other matters could be considered later.

After all the merchants had left, the magistrate went to the back hall to meet two people, Zhang Youtie and Xia Yu.