After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

Dong Jin and Jiang Xiwen's family have been in Linhai County for several months, and they are still not used to the local climate.

The seaside is humid, and the air is full of salty smells. The county government office is not far from the sea, less than 20 miles away.

Linhai County is a small county with a small population and a small area.

The land is barren, and apart from some fruits, the yield of grain is extremely low.

The only advantage is that there's an endless supply of seafood.

After Jiang Xiwen and her mother-in-law, along with their servants, settled the servants in the back of the county government office, they did try some of the local specialties.

Today it's clams, tomorrow it's razor clams, and the day after tomorrow it's shrimp and crabs.

After boiling in water, it's eaten directly with soy sauce.

It's quite delicious, but people absolutely can't stand eating such a single type of food all the time without enough rice.

Dong Jin's first priority upon taking office was to solve the food problem for the people of Linhai County.

This is a problem that previous county magistrates had been unable to solve for many years.

Dong Jin personally visited various parts of the county to inspect the soil conditions.

However, the more I looked, the colder my heart became. The land was barren, and the water source for irrigation was too far away. It was truly barren to an extreme degree.

The soil contains almost no nutrients, though they are negligible.

The soil here, if you hold it in your hand, it's still just a handful; if you let go, it's still just a handful.

Even if you clench your fist tightly, some of the liquid will leak out between your fingers, making it only slightly better than sand.

Dong Jin, accompanied by his clerk and several constables from the county government, spent more than a month traveling to most of the fields in various villages.

After visiting various places, Dong Jin returned to the county government office and convened a meeting with local gentry and farmer representatives.

Dong Jin's first suggestion was to increase soil fertility. He wasn't just making this up; he had several recipes for fertile soil.

To be precise, his wife, Jiang Xiwen, had several formulas for fertilizing.

After Jiang Xiwen learned about the soil problem, she produced a prescription before Dong Jin could even ask, as it was part of her dowry when she married into the Dong family.

This was a dowry her younger brother secretly prepared for her; this recipe was more precious than gold, silver, or land.

Dong Jin felt it was wrong to use his wife's dowry for nothing, so after discussing it with his parents, he transferred a sizable farm to Jiang Xiwen's name.

Although they are all family, and the property belongs to the family no matter whose name it is under, Jiang Xiwen still appreciated the Dong family's attitude towards doing things.

Throughout the years she's been married into the family, she's always known that her in-laws value her. Now, in addition to valuing her, they also show her a great deal of respect.

Dong Jin held his wife's dowry recipe and never doubted whether it was effective or not.

After all, this is my brother-in-law's recipe. Who is my brother-in-law? He's a genius who can train five people to become Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations).

If he himself hadn't studied hard with his father-in-law's family and urged him on by his brother-in-law, could he have passed the imperial examination on his own?

Obviously, no!

If one can't even pass the provincial examination, how can one pass the imperial examination? How can one become an official and become a seventh-rank county magistrate?

It's absolutely impossible!

Becoming a scholar (秀才) was the end of his academic and official career; becoming a primary school teacher was his ultimate goal in life.

All of this is because of the Yue family, and because of the brother-in-law, this genius boy.

So, does the question of whether a brother-in-law's dowry to his wife is truly useful need to be answered?

No need!

Because the answer was already clearly written on his official robes: anything produced by his brother-in-law is bound to be of the highest quality!

Dong Jin's advisor was actually introduced by Jiang Xiaoqi, but he didn't have much of a connection with Jiang Xiaoqi.

Unlike Master Qian, Master Xing, and Mr. Sun, who were, after all, people who served their grandfathers and fathers, they could act without any scruples.

When recommending talent to your brother-in-law, you should still consider the matter carefully.

The monthly salary of this Mr. Yang and his associates was also paid by the Dong family. After all, the Dong family had developed even better in the past two years and didn't care about this small amount of money at all.

At this moment, Master Yang led in some well-known gentry, landlords, and farmhands from various parts of Linhai County. As soon as they entered, they found that their master was in a daze.

Has Linhai County really caused the adults so much worry? They're racking their brains for a solution all the time?

Alas, it's difficult. Even if we bring these people here, it might not solve the food problem in Linhai County.

Previous county magistrates had asked these people to donate money and grain before, and these people would not refuse to donate, but even if they did donate, who would really cut off their own flesh to feed others?

Besides, this isn't how you rob the rich to help the poor! Even the landlords don't have surplus grain.

Besides, even if there were surplus grain, wouldn't it still be a drop in the ocean?

Linhai County is not large, but it has a population of tens of thousands. If each person eats ten catties of grain a month, that's one hundred thousand catties!

Who has this kind of stock? And even if they do, why would they throw it away for a mere word of thanks?

He's a landlord, not a complete idiot.

When the local gentry and landlords arrived at the county government office, they all knew perfectly well that a new official would make a big show of things, but the county magistrate couldn't just let them run wild.

After finally getting rid of the corrupt Magistrate Chen, another Magistrate Dong has arrived.

That's why people say that of all professions, only studying is noble. Officials can just talk and landlords and rich families have to bleed themselves dry!

Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants—farmers were always ranked after scholars. It sounded good, as they were considered to have a higher status than artisans and merchants, but they were still just ordinary people struggling to make ends meet.

Even if we don't say the gentry and landlords had bitter faces, their expressions at this moment were certainly not pleasant.

Even a seventh-rank official was a figure who could suffocate them and leave them with no way to resist.

With a reminder from Master Yang, Dong Jin finally snapped out of his reverie.

Looking at the dozen or so people of all ages in front of him, he finally revealed his plan—the Fertile Soil Project.

Over the years, influenced by his brother-in-law, he has become accustomed to making a reliable plan before doing anything.

The plan details everything from what to do next to what to do, and what parties need to cooperate with during the process.

Even the timeline for each step of the plan is clearly marked.

Just like when his brother-in-law made up a study plan for them for the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, and the palace examination.

This is called "sharpening the axe before chopping wood." With a plan, everyone will no longer be working haphazardly like headless flies.

Setting goals is important, but the plans and steps to achieve those goals are even more important.

Just as the local gentry were anxiously calculating how much they should offer to "spend money to avoid disaster," they heard an unexpected decision.

"Fertilizer? We can't fertilize ourselves? It won't work. Coastal land can't retain fertilizer. No matter how good the fertilizer is, less than one-tenth will survive!"

Everyone present made their living and built their fortunes in the fields. While they might not all be agricultural experts, their understanding of crops and land was certainly quite good.

"Let's listen to what the magistrate has to say first. Perhaps he has some secrets that we don't know?"

This person was just trying to ease the awkwardness. To directly refute the magistrate's decision would be courting death, wouldn't it?

"Master Yang, please explain the specific terms and conditions."

Dong Jin knew that the people present thought he was acting on a whim. However, although he could not do the kind of "robbing the rich to help the poor" things that the previous county magistrates had done, he would not back down from his decisions just because of a few words of objection from others.

After all, compared to these people's so-called experience, he trusted his brother-in-law more. Hmph, no reason needed!

Master Yang explained the "Fertile Soil Plan" to everyone in detail, but the crowd remained skeptical.

Only because of their status and the strong recommendation of the county magistrate and his advisor did they reluctantly decide to offer a small portion of land as a trial.

This was on the premise that the county government indicated that it would provide some support.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xiwen was also busy.

She handed over the affairs of the inner quarters to her mother-in-law, and then went out to organize the local women of Linhai County to collect rotten seaweed, useless shellfish, etc. to dry, and then crush them with a stone mill.

They also collected decaying leaves, soot from the bottom of pots, animal excrement, and so on from various places, gathering anything that was even remotely useful.

As the days went by, crops were planted on the first batch of land that had been specially fertilized, as planned.

The local gentry and landlords would send people to check from time to time, and if it really worked out, they would work for the county magistrate.

If it doesn't work out, losing a little money won't matter, since this is only a small-scale incident and won't cause any serious damage.

However, even if they were reprimanded, they were determined to make the magistrate abandon this unrealistic plan to improve the land!