Even in a famine, there's no panic; the eldest sister has stockpiled plenty of money and grain.

Jiang Bai raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Never mind them, they're helping with land reclamation anyway. Go dig up some soil, and then mix it with some human fertilizer."

Jiang Bai was cutting yams into sections, each about twelve centimeters long.

After cutting, put it in the stove ash and smear the cut surfaces with the ash to disinfect them.

After everything was taken care of, he took Jiang Lu to the family's paddy field.

After the autumn harvest, the water in the paddy fields was never turned off. Now, all you can see are cracks. The paddy fields, which should have been moist, have become as dry as dry fields after the drought.

He took farm tools and turned over all the soil, then dug ditches and leveled the bottom of the ditches.

"Sister, I'm here."

At this moment, Jiang Lü, who had been instructed by her to cut bamboo, came over carrying a pile of sliced ​​bamboo.

"Come on, spread them all in the ditch."

Jiang Bai pointed to the ditch he had leveled, then to the bamboo strips, while Jiang Lu busied herself in the field.

Seeing the sisters' actions, many villagers stopped looking for yams and gathered around.

"Little Bai, what are you going to plant?"

Third Aunt Liu walked over carrying a basket on her back, looking at them with curiosity.

Jiang Bai kept digging a ditch while replying, "Planting yams!"

"Can these yams still be grown?"

The village head hadn't told the villagers that yams could be grown. They only knew that they were edible and were thinking of digging more to save up some food. Now that they heard Jiang Bai wanted to grow yams, they were all very surprised.

“The things you dig up in these mountains are not easy to grow. They will either rot or turn out bitter and astringent. Don’t waste the soil’s nutrients and delay next year’s spring planting.”

The villagers had previously grown other things dug up from the mountain, and the results were predictable.

So now when they see Jiang Bai saying he wants to grow yams, they all think it's doomed.

"It's okay, I'm just trying it out, I'll plant a small plot of land to see how it goes."

Jiang Bai could only plant enough yams to cover one plot of land; she didn't have enough seeds for more, so she never intended to plant them all on her five acres of land.

Beans are more important than yams.

Of course, she also wondered if there might be other seeds on the mountain.

Hearing her say that, the villagers didn't dare to persuade her anymore, but some curious people stayed to watch how Jiang Bai planted the yam.

Jiang Bai wasn't afraid of them copying her, after all, she had a big goal of her own.

Thinking of this, Jiang Bai felt a little heavy-hearted.

Ever since she learned that the crops underground possessed the same energy as her, she had a premonition that the merit she had used up last time could at most ensure good weather for the surrounding area of ​​Pingshan for a year. Once the merit was exhausted, she feared that there would be extreme weather again.

Now that everyone is learning, there will be one more variety of grain that can be grown in the future.

It's a pity there are no potatoes or sweet potatoes; those two are truly high-yield crops!

Jiang Bai's mind was filled with random thoughts, but his hands didn't stop moving.

After the ditches were dug, the two sisters spread bamboo strips throughout them. Jiang Bai then sprinkled the mixed soil into the ditches, took out the diced yams, and buried them horizontally, section by section.

"This yam section was not only covered with ash, but also with insecticide to prevent root rot."

Jiang Bai explained as he planted the plants.

Of course, her main purpose was to prevent the newly planted yams from being dug up and eaten by some heartless people.

If it's toxic, they'll have to think twice.

Sure enough, after she said that, some people in the crowd had clear eyes.

The two sisters worked all day but only managed to plant a small portion of the seedlings.

The next day, they continued working.

For three consecutive days, the two of them got a shade darker from the sun before they were able to plant yams in the field. Jiang Bai also buried the yam beans along the way down Pingshan Mountain.

Plant them both on the mountainside and at the foot of the mountain, and they will bloom everywhere.

After finishing one task, Jiang Bai remembered the five acres of wasteland he had bought. When he arrived at the field, he saw that the wasteland, which had originally been full of weeds and saplings, had been cleared. Jiang Anshan and his wife were turning over the land, picking out the grass roots and pebbles as they worked, sweating profusely. They really hadn't been slacking off at all.

Although Jiang Anlin had a dark expression, he worked diligently under Jiang Anshan's encouragement.

Jiang Bai pursed his lips slightly.

She was an extremely soft-hearted person, and seeing them like this, she always felt that five acres of land was still too little.

Let's go find the seeds first! We'll come back and check back when we find them.

Believing the old house will get better is less reliable than believing the clan chief's old dog can climb trees. Since they like to do it, let them do it.

Since we can't kill them anyway, we'll just go all out.

If you do a good job, you might get some wages, just like fodder for cattle and horses.

She thought to herself, but when she left, she didn't feel any reluctance at all.

Zhang picked up some grass roots from the ground and sat down heavily on the ground, panting heavily from exhaustion.

"Honey, do you think Grandpa and the others have found a place to dig a well? If they keep working like this, I'll die of thirst."

I thought that if they helped with the work, Jiang Bai would provide them with meals, or at least a sip of water.

Who knew that the girl was busy in the field every day, and even Jiang Lu was busy helping out. They didn't stop working here, and neither did they.

There was only a five-year-old child and Scholar Ji left at home, so they couldn't very well go to their house to beg for food.

These past few days, they've had to work for Jiang Bai but haven't even gotten any food. Their families are already starting to have complaints about them.

"If you can find it, get to work!"

Jiang Anshan was more patient than Zhang Shi. He was willing to endure any hardship to send his youngest son to school.

They didn't have that much of a conflict with Jiang Bai. It was just that after her mother disappeared, they took things from her house, but they returned them all later.

The idea of ​​selling the sisters wasn't even from their second wife's side.

He believed that as long as they showed sincerity, they would surely be able to move Jiang Bai.

With that in mind, he worked really hard.

Even after Jiang Bai climbed the mountain, he still glanced this way.

The five acres of wasteland are gradually decreasing, and the grass roots in the field have been turned up and piled up to one side.

Jiang Bai was busy on Pingshan Mountain, sometimes digging up yams, sometimes finding other things, and carrying some grain home on his back.

Life went on peacefully, but those seemingly peaceful days were anything but.

It was thought that the government would give up once they couldn't find the person who robbed the government grain, and the county magistrate would have to bleed a lot of money to make up for the stolen tax grain.

Some of the disaster victims who had looted the grain were found, but they had already eaten all the grain.

Less than one-tenth of the grain was recovered.

Yingzhou Changping Granary issued several demand notices for payment, and the county magistrate, having no other recourse, resorted to crooked means.

Sure enough, early in the morning, the county government summoned all the village heads from the surrounding area to the county town.

The village head went there full of worries, and when he returned, he was filled with anger but couldn't vent it, simply because he was accompanied by the grain official from the county government.

Everyone was summoned to the square in front of the ancestral hall in the dead of night.

"Twenty percent of the grain was borrowed from everyone by the county magistrate, and it will be returned to everyone after next autumn's harvest."

"Therefore, everyone should also understand the difficulties faced by the county magistrate."

Borrowing grain.

This was the method the county magistrate came up with.

There are so many wealthy merchants in the county town, their granaries are full, but he doesn't borrow from them. Instead, he asks these people he has exploited to borrow grain. He says he's borrowing, but he won't even issue an IOU. Can't you see how dark everyone's faces have turned?

This county magistrate position is no longer suitable.

Jiang Bai's eyes turned cold. "That corrupt official who plunders the people's wealth and disregards their lives, it's better to remove him from office."