Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 254: Immigrants Reclaiming Wasteland, Developing Agriculture and Protecting Borders
The next day after Qu Shaoyang returned home, he asked the warehouse to buy the ginseng they brought back at the normal purchase price of five hundred taels.

As for Miao Erjiazi, Qu Shaoyang found a place in the back mountain and hid him away.

Generally speaking, when a gang goes into the mountains and takes the goods, the leader gets an extra share, and those who contribute more and those who are more insightful also get an extra share, and the rest are divided equally.

The seedlings of Grade 6 leaves were found based on Qu Jiang's dream, so Qu Jiang must have contributed to it, so he should take an extra share.

There were a total of five hundred taels. Qu Shaoyang kept one hundred and twenty taels for himself and gave eighty taels to Qu Jiang.

There were three hundred taels left, which were divided equally among the seven of Xingye and his companions, with each of them getting more than forty taels of silver.

These people followed him into the mountains, and in less than ten days they earned more than forty taels of silver, which made the guys very happy.

Some of those who have not yet married are shouting that they will return to their hometown to get married in winter.

"Xingye, take a few people with you and go to Daqinggou in Kuandian to find someone and ask them to deliver the letter to the Shuangqiang Gang."

Qu Shaoyang suspected that there was a gold mine in Sandaogou, but he was not a professional, so he wanted to ask Chen Yunzhe for help.

The Chen brothers transport gold back and forth to the interior. They know people in gold mines, and there must be someone among them who can identify gold veins.

The Double Gun Gang has a contact point in Daqinggou. Chen Yunzhe had said before that if there was anything urgent to find him in the future, just have someone send a letter to Daqinggou.

Qu Shaoyang wrote a letter to Chen Yunzhe and others, asking them to find two people who can identify gold veins and take a look around Maoer Mountain.

In fact, Qu Shaoyang had thought about this before. He always suspected whether there was a gold mine at that Starry Sky Outpost.

But Qu Shaoyang never dared to move because he had no power, no influence, and no backing.

Gold panning is different from grazing and hunting. With the latter two, you can make money as long as you have real skills and good luck.

When panning for gold, the most important thing is to have a backer. Without a backer, or a weak backer, discovering a gold mine will be a dead end.

No matter whether it is the bandit gangs or the government, they will not let go of the fat meat in their mouths. Killing people and stealing mines are very common.

But it’s different now. Qu Shaoyang is already the Yalu River inspector, and the area along the Yalu River is under his jurisdiction.

Moreover, he now has one or two hundred patrol teams under his command. Who dares to confront him head-on?
As for the county and the East Road government, as long as Qu Shaoyang distributes part of the profits from the gold mine to his superiors, it will be a compliant gold mine. Who would dare to cause trouble?

“Also, go to Fuzhou, Jinzhou and other places and recruit a group of people for me as soon as possible.

Bring the official document from our inspection office, saying that we are recruiting people to reclaim wasteland.

We can lend them food and tools, and they will pay us back next year when the land produces something.”

Another important thing right now is to develop the economy, promote agriculture and protect the border.

The Northeast is a vast country with abundant resources. There are many good places along the Yalu River. If our people don't occupy them quickly, those people on the other side of the river will always want to run over here.

Wait a few years, and when the other side of the river is occupied by the Japanese, they will use this as an excuse to confuse the border and achieve their goal of annexation.

Qu Shaoyang thought he didn't have much ability, but he couldn't just watch that group of people jumping around in front of him.

For some things, it's better to prepare early and take precautions in advance. Even if the final outcome cannot be avoided, he has done his best.

"This winter, we will arrange for a few more guys to go back to our hometown in Shandong and recruit more people from there.

Whether you come to reclaim wasteland or work, we can arrange it for you."

Qu Shaoyang didn’t dare to say this before, but now there is definitely no problem.

You should know that the current jurisdiction of the Yalu River Inspection Station was divided into one county and two county-level cities in later generations.

It’s such a big place, but how many people are there now?

The refugees are welcome to come. Only when there are more people can the place prosper and the economy develop. Without people, everything is empty talk. Xingye received the letter and immediately went out, called five men, packed up his things, and rode out on a fast horse.

Qu Shaoyang settled his family down before going to the inspection office to do his work.

Zhou Chuanren and his men are quite reliable. During the ten days that Qu Shaoyang was away, they handled both big and small matters properly, so Qu Shaoyang didn't need to worry too much.

The inspection office gradually got on the right track, and various policies to benefit the people were issued one by one and implemented steadily and effectively.

This is a long-term plan and we won’t see significant results in the short term, so we need to be patient.

Qu Shaoyang went to the government office to do his work every day, and left the big mess at home to Chen Xiuyun to deal with.

Fortunately, Chen Xiuyun is literate, able to write and do math, so taking care of the household chores is not difficult for her.

But Gensuo is still young and cannot be left alone, so he needs special attention and care.

In the past, Li helped out with the housework, but since Doctor Chen opened the clinic, Li was often asked to deliver babies and see patients, and she didn't have much time to visit her daughter's home.

Originally, Chen Xiuyun and Lin Ruolan had discussed that once the Liu family's house was almost built, they would let the two little girls from the Yang family come over to do the work, so they wouldn't have to look for help outside.

As a result, just as July began, the two daughters-in-law of the Zhou family gave birth to children one after another, and the fourth daughter-in-law gave birth to twins.

Yang was alone and could not take care of her two daughters-in-law during their confinement, and she couldn't even take care of the eldest and second daughters-in-law's own children.

So, I called back my three nieces from my mother's side to help.

Chen Xiuyun asked someone to spread the word that the inspector wanted to recruit a few smart girls around 11 or 12 years old.

They are young and easy to discipline. If they are trained for a year or two, they will be of great use. When they are seventeen or eighteen years old, it will not be too late for them to go back and get married.

Just as Chen Xiuyun said, no matter where you are, there are always families who are so poor that they can’t make ends meet.

So after the news got out, within less than a day, more than a dozen families sent their daughters here.

Chen Xiuyun picked out four girls who looked good, signed indentures with the girls' parents, and gave them money. From then on, those girls became members of the Qu family.

Chen Xiuyun settled the four girls in the west wing and asked the wives in the family to help her by making several sets of clothes for them.

After all the girls were dressed up, they were given new names and taught the rules.

Chen Xiuyun now has four more maids to serve her, and with Xiaohua and Yue'e coming to do the work during the day, things become much more convenient.

There was someone to take care of Gensuo, and apart from taking care of the household chores every day, Chen Xiuyun would read Doctor Chen's medical books and medical records, as well as the secret recipes passed down by the Li family.

I have to say that Chen Xiuyun is indeed talented in this area. She can remember all the prescriptions and medical records she has seen.

The only thing lacking is clinical experience.

Qu Shaoyang fully supported Chen Xiuyun's decision to study medicine.

But Chen Xiuyun is now in charge of the family, so how can she have time to study in the clinic? So, this can only be regarded as a hobby.

On July 15th, Qu Shaoyang and Liu Dongshan went to Xiaodonggou with incense, candles, paper money, sickles, shovels and other tools to pay tribute to the two.

Things in Xiaodonggou are the same as usual, with no changes.

The ginseng near the grave is growing well, and the bright red ginseng seeds are very rare.

Qu Shaoyang had to pick all the ginseng seeds and take them home, so that they could sprout and open up next year and then be scattered on the ground.

(End of this chapter)