A daily intelligence report; in chaotic times and famine years, grain is plentiful.

The system refreshed again the next day.

[Daily information has been updated, please select:]

[First, in a corner of the abandoned garden of Zhang the Rich Man's house at the east end of the village, there is a considerable amount of rotten soybean cake fertilizer buried underground. This soybean cake fertilizer, weighing approximately fifty kilograms, can be dug up and used as highly efficient fertilizer. (The garden has long been neglected and is in a state of disrepair.)]

[Secondly, there is a narrow section of the stream in the middle of the mountain, suitable for building a simple waterwheel to irrigate farmland. This project is quite labor-intensive and requires the appropriate tools to complete.]

Thirdly, along the official road thirty li away, there are belongings left behind by refugees, including a damaged but repairable plowshare. (The journey is quite long, and one may encounter refugees or rebel soldiers.)

Chen Mo chose information one without hesitation.

fertilizer.

This is exactly what his sinkhole vegetable garden lacks most.

Spring plowing is just around the corner, and with this batch of fertile soil, this year's harvest is guaranteed.

a few days later.

But the oppressive, famine-stricken clouds hanging over the village showed no sign of dissipating.

Chen Mo quietly dug up the fifty catties of fertile soil and used it to fertilize the potatoes and bean sprouts in the sinkhole in batches.

It is growing well.

The blind shrimp in the cellar have also started to multiply, and we can catch a small bowlful every week to give our family a change of pace.

Everything is developing in a good direction.

But the Wang family's surveillance tightened even further.

That day, Zhao Si hurriedly went to find Wang Mang.

"Brother Mang, I've discovered something strange!"

"explain."

"Chen Mo's family...it's been almost half a month, and they haven't gone to the well to draw water even once!"

Wang Mang was lying in the courtyard sunbathing when he heard this. He immediately sat up, his eyes wide, and said, "No water? What do they drink then? The northwest wind?"

Zhao Si also looked puzzled: "I find it strange too. Unless... they have another way to get water."

"Other ways?" Wang Mang stood up and paced back and forth in the courtyard, his eyes growing increasingly fierce.

He suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Let's go! To his house!"

This time, Wang Mang did not intend to make any excuses.

He led seven or eight servants and stormed straight towards the Chen family.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The heavy pounding on the door sounded like the beating of a drum.

"Chen Mo! Open the door! The village head has ordered a crackdown on unauthorized water sources and illegal water extraction!"

Inside the cellar, Chen Mo had just finished catching a net full of blind shrimp and was about to go up.

Hearing the fierce banging on the door, his heart sank.

coming.

He was very quick and nimble. He immediately covered the hole in the ground with a stone slab, then quickly covered it with the soil he had dug out earlier, tamping it down firmly with his feet. Finally, he sprinkled a layer of loose soil on top, making it look exactly like the surrounding ground.

But before he could climb out of the cellar, he heard a loud crash as the courtyard gate was smashed open from the outside.

Wang Mang kicked open the courtyard gate and led a group of people in like hungry wolves and tigers.

He spotted the water vat in the corner of the yard at a glance.

He ran over and looked inside. There was only a shallow half-full tank of rainwater, with a few fallen leaves floating on top.

"Water?" Wang Mang turned around and grabbed Chen Dashan by the collar as he came out at the sound of the noise: "Where is your water?"

"Cough cough..." Chen Dashan coughed incessantly as he was being choked. "Go...go to the river to fetch water..."

"The riverbank?" Wang Mang sneered, shoving him aside. "The riverbank is three miles from here. Your sickly husband and your near-death son, running that far to fetch water every day? Don't try to fool us, search them!"

Several servants immediately dispersed and rushed into the house, starting to rummage through chests and cabinets looking for things.

The clanging and banging of things being smashed could not be heard incessantly.

Inside the cellar, Chen Mo pressed himself against the ceiling, listening to the chaotic footsteps above getting closer and closer, his heart pounding in his chest.

A servant was rummaging through the kitchen, cursing and swearing.

He stepped onto the ground next to the stove and suddenly felt that one of the bricks under his foot seemed to loosen.

He stopped, squatted down, and used his fingers to pick at the cracks between the bricks.

The entrance to the cellar was right beneath his feet.

The servant bent down and poked at the cracks in the bricks next to the stove with his fingers.

The bricks are loose.

There is a cavity below.

A greedy gleam flashed across his face as he prepared to pry it open.

In the cellar, Chen Mo's heart felt like it was about to jump out of his throat.

It’s over.

This is the entrance to the real storeroom; once discovered, it's all over.

He can't gamble.

In a flash, Chen Mo made a decision.

He picked up a handful of wet soil and hurriedly smeared it into the cracks of the stone slab leading to the underground spring, pressing it firmly with his palm before sprinkling on a layer of dry soil.

After doing all that, he no longer hesitated and forcefully lifted the loose brick next to the stove.

"Splash—"

The bricks were turned over, revealing a dark hole.

"who!"

The servants above were startled and instinctively took a step back.

A dusty head poked out of the hole.

It's Chen Mo.

His face displayed just the right amount of panic, like a mouse that had been caught.

"Mang... Brother Mang..." His voice trembled as he looked towards Wang Mang, who was leading the way in the courtyard. "This... this is my family's cellar where we store some wild vegetables... there's... nothing else..."

Wang Mang's eyes lit up instantly, like a wolf seeing meat.

"cellar?"

He immediately pushed aside the servants blocking his way, strode over to the stove, and looked down into it.

A damp, earthy smell mixed with a hint of mold wafted over.

"Get out here right now!" Wang Mang shouted impatiently.

Chen Mo crawled out using both hands and feet, looking quite embarrassed, his whole body covered in dirt.

Wang Mang kicked him aside, and without hesitation, jumped down the simple earthen steps.

Zhao Si followed.

The cellar wasn't large; you could see the whole thing at a glance.

The light was slightly dim, and there was a burlap sack piled up in the corner. The sack was open, and you could see that some of the sorghum inside had turned black, and it looked to weigh about ten pounds.

Next to it was an even smaller cloth bag filled with dried wild vegetables.

Several small, dried fish hung in the corner of the wall; they were thin and small, as if a gust of wind could cause them to fall apart.

Inside a broken earthenware jar, you can see a few precious grains of salt.

that's it.

Wang Mang did not believe it.

He walked to the wall and pounded on it with his fists.

The sound was dull and solid.

He walked to the center of the cellar and stomped his feet hard.

The ground was solid, without a single hollow echo.

Chen Mo stood at the entrance to the cellar, his heart pounding in his chest.

Fortunately... fortunately, he reacted relatively quickly and used wet soil to seal the gaps in the stone slabs at the actual entrance. The dry rammed earth surface was solid when tapped or stepped on.

"Brother Mang, it's really nothing." Zhao Si rummaged through the sorghum sack for a long time, his hands covered in black ash, but he found nothing.

Wang Mang's expression grew increasingly grim.

He had considered many possibilities.

Chen Mo's house has a secret passage leading to a water source.

Chen Mo's family had a large amount of grain stored away.

But the scene before me... is too shabby.

This stuff isn't even as good as what the Wang family feeds their dogs.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Mo scrambled to the cellar entrance, pleading with a sob in his voice, "Brother Mang, Brother Mang, this is truly all the food our family has left... Please, spare us, the orphans and widows... My father is sick, and my sister is still young..."

Wang Mang crawled out of the cellar and looked at the family of old, weak, sick and disabled people, who were in a pitiful state.

"snort."

"You dare to complain about being poor to me?"

"Move everything out of the cellar! Confiscate it!" Wang Mang ordered his men.

"yes!"

Two servants immediately jumped down into the cellar and ransacked the half-sack of sorghum, the small bag of dried wild vegetables, the few dried fish, and the jar of salt, leaving nothing behind.

"No!" Chen Mo scrambled forward, trying to grab the sack of sorghum. "Brother Mang, this is life-saving food!"

His performance was so realistic because he was truly bleeding inside.