The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

The pale-faced old man, Zuo Wenkang, a fifth-rank official and the Imperial Textile Commissioner of Guanzhong, who was the subject of much discussion among the Guan soldiers, was blushing with embarrassment every day.

Some idle gossip, however trivial, reached his ears through malicious individuals.

But they weren't annoyed at all.

Dressed in a light blue spring court robe and black shoes, he walked with a steady gait, exuding the demeanor of a civil official in every gesture.

Pointing to his official hat, he shook the brim and said smugly to Gan Minglan:

“My wife, the men who envy me are now lined up from Ganluchuan to Yili River Valley. But I have earned this great fortune by suffering for more than thirty years in my previous life. Those who did not suffer in their previous lives can only envy me.”

"Yes, as long as you don't feel wronged, that's fine!"

"My wife, please don't say that. I'm just a scholar who has risen to the rank of a fifth-grade official, and I'm even running the family business that was passed down from my previous life. If I complain about being wronged, even the heavens will take back the blessings they gave me."

They weren't wrong. If it weren't for your immense merit beforehand, His Majesty wouldn't have bestowed an official position upon me just because I made that dragon robe well.

"We are husband and wife, our fates are intertwined, so there's no need for such formalities! It's all thanks to you, my husband, that you were reincarnated from a matriarchal dynasty to this patriarchal one. For over two thousand years in the past, and now, and perhaps for hundreds or thousands to come, ninety-nine percent of men wouldn't tolerate a wife more capable than themselves. Meeting you is my blessing!"

Zuo Wenkang's smile grew even brighter; others might fear his ruthless wife who was so fierce in battle.

But he was different.

The stronger the wife is, the more secure he feels.

Unfortunately, this dynasty had a reversed yin and yang system, emphasizing that men were in charge of external affairs and women were in charge of internal affairs.

He could only desperately try to earn some resources to support himself, fearing that if he didn't work hard, his wife would kick him off his throne as the number one gigolo in Kansai.

Most men can't understand how their marriage works.

In private, his wife is actually a very good-tempered person.

After they talked things out, they never argued, let alone quarreled or fought.

Of course, having obtained the most precious treasure in the world, he wouldn't go around bragging about his wife's good nature.
After the first month of the lunar calendar, the land was still uncultivated.

But the Kansai region has already entered a busy phase.

A new wave of immigration is coming!

After the autumn harvest last year, specific immigration and introduction plans began to be implemented in various health stations.

Guan Jun and his men selected more than a thousand representatives from some relatively well-off immigrant villages and provided them with clothes to wear when they returned to their hometowns.

The items included: carriages, clothes, and many Kansai specialties.

One can imagine the visual impact these elderly immigrants will have on their hometowns when they return in triumph.

What's the situation across the country right now?

Under Emperor Qianwu's bloody suppression last year, the Equal-Field System Decree was finally promulgated.

Each male aged sixteen and above was allocated six mu of land, and each female was allocated four mu.

The allotted land was used for growing grain and belonged to the imperial court. The common people only had the right to use it, not the right to own it. It was not allowed to be bought or sold, and the land had to be returned to the imperial court when the common people grew old or died.

This finally stabilized the people who had fled back home, keeping them tied to the land.

Even though the imperial court exempted these allotted lands from land tax for two years, the farmers were still very poor. When they fell ill, they had no money to buy medicine.

They have no money to prepare betrothal gifts and dowries for their children's weddings.

They didn't even have a decent set of clothes to wear when they went out.

Then I heard this old immigrant, who had returned from the village of Ganluchuan, go to his maternal grandfather's house and spread the word:
"As the old saying goes, even a penny can stump a hero, but you can't live without money! Another saying goes, a tree dies if it's moved, but a person thrives if they move."

My great-uncle, with your village of about 100 or 200 people, guarding these 300 or 400 acres of land, how much money can you save in a year?

Although we also have the same allotted land, each household in Ganluchuan only has twenty mu. With just these twenty mu, we can harvest 118 shi of grain per season.

In addition, we hope that each household in the village has twenty mu of mulberry land. Planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms can earn them over 150 taels of silver a year from selling silkworm cocoons.”

The words of the elderly immigrants in the countryside left the farmers in his maternal grandparents' village speechless.

"Is the land in your Northwest so fertile? On average, one mu of land can yield about six shi of grain? The best fertile wheat in our village only yields three shi per mu."

An elderly migrant from the village pulled out a small burlap sack and showed everyone the wheat inside:

"It's not that the soil in Northwest China is fertile, but rather that the seeds from Northwest China are highly productive. Look at this year's new wheat; aren't the grains large and plump? This variety is also particularly drought-resistant! It can be planted in both spring and autumn!"

What farmer wouldn't want high-yield seeds?

The elderly maternal uncle even scolded his cousin:

"Why didn't you bring more of these good seeds back? If we could grow wheat that yields six shi per mu back in our hometown, wouldn't we be able to make money by farming?"

His grandson begged for mercy repeatedly:
“Uncle, in Guanzhong, wheat seeds are distributed by the garrison according to the amount of land allocated to each household. Some people have tried saving their own seeds to plant the following year, but the yield is not as high as that distributed by the garrison!”

And the young man asked:
“Cousin, farming is seasonal, and mulberry trees take several years to grow before they can be used. If we went to Guanzhong, we still wouldn’t have any money until the crops are harvested. Now that we’re back in our hometown, we can work as porters at the county docks when we have free time, and we can earn about ten coins a day.”

His cousin looked down on carrying heavy loads all day for only ten or so coins.
"Cousin, with your physique in your early twenties, if you're willing to put in the effort, your cousin is willing to vouch for you. With room and board provided, you can earn at least one tael of silver a month!"

"What? Food and lodging are provided, and you can earn one or two taels a month? That would be twelve taels a year!"

"Yes, we are going to build two border trade cities in Kansai next year. After the cities are built, we will also build roads between ten garrisons. These projects will take two or three hundred thousand people two or three years to complete."

The younger cousin listened, his eyes wide, muttering to himself:
"If we do this for three years, we can save up thirty-six taels of silver. With the high yield of wheat in the fields, we'll be rich, we'll be rich!"

The old immigrant in the village curled his lip and said:

"This little bit of silver is nothing! In the ten immigrant villages of Ganluchuan, if a family doesn't earn seventy or eighty taels of silver a year, they'll be looked down upon by their neighbors!"

"hiss"

No one could believe that just forty acres of land could make a farmer so wealthy!

But this grandson had no reason to lie to his penniless relatives.

My maternal uncle asked again:
"If your cousins ​​come to Kansai with you, can you arrange for them to stay in your Wangxiang Village? With you, their local cousin, leading the way, we can feel more at ease."

The elderly migrants in the village shook their heads:
"Our garrison's general is the most capable man in Guanzhong. Not long ago, he seized a large piece of the Hu people's river valley grassland. The plan is to send 50,000 households to this new territory to reclaim the wasteland next year!"
Uncle, don't worry. The land in the Iri River Valley is the best among the ten guards of Kansai. The terrain is very flat and the water source is abundant.

The soon-to-be-built border trade city is located at the western exit of the valley. During the day, my cousin goes to the city to carry bricks, and at night he can return to the immigrant village to rest.

Once trade takes off in the Yili border city, many foreign merchants and people from the Western Regions will come to the Yili River Valley to do business. (End of Chapter)