My lord, spare his life!

What's a homestead game without farming?

How can farming be done without clearing land?

If she doesn't clear the land, where will she plant the seeds in her backpack?

She painstakingly collected those items by traversing various maps, and even if there were no conditions for cultivation, she would create the conditions to plant them!

Zhang Yang awaited Xu Jin's reply.

She didn't deliberately exert any pressure, but Xu Jin felt his back drenched in sweat, his heart pounding with fear. He had no choice but to silently apologize to his old friend Du Fang. According to their discussion, Dong Su wanted three parts superior land, four parts medium land, and three parts inferior land. They had added the three parts inferior land in the hopes that Zhang Yang would dislike it, but unexpectedly, all of it was given to the inferior land.

Despite the pressure, the county magistrate still wanted to try.

"My lord, you may not know this, but there are three grades of land reclamation: superior, medium, and inferior. The superior grade is abandoned land. During its fallow period, it can regain some fertility. With a little tilling and clearing, it can recover quickly, yielding a good harvest in one or two years. The next grade is sloping grassland, which has never been cultivated before and has compacted soil. This inferior land, with frequent tilling, composting, crop rotation, and fallowing, can improve its fertility and become arable in three to five years. The worst grade is barren mountain land. Its fertility is extremely low; even if you cultivate crops that are not picky about location, the yield will be very low… It's time-consuming and labor-intensive, not worth the effort…"

These fields were used as military settlements, where soldiers endured hardship and toil.

"What are the relative merits and demerits of the uncultivated wasteland within this county?"

Xu Jin respectfully replied, "Reporting to my lord, the wasteland in this county consists of only two grades: middle and lower, with the lower grade making up the majority."

Zhang Yang asked in confusion, "Aren't there any high-quality wasteland fields?"

Xu Jin shook his head with a wry smile: "No."

Why not?

"This... is easy to explain."

These fields, which yield a bountiful harvest within two or three years of reclamation, are all fertile and productive. Local gentry and wealthy households have so many tenant farmers under their names, providing manpower for reclamation at any time. How could they allow such fertile land to fall into the hands of others? Naturally, they would occupy it early on, leaving no opportunity for other self-cultivating farmers to take advantage.

Medium-sized wasteland was also the main force that drove tenants to cultivate it.

In order to entice tenants to work hard to cultivate the land, some families would make grand promises to them, such as promising that if tenant A cultivated a certain amount of land, that land could only be leased to tenant A for the next few years, with rent reductions and preferential treatment for loans.

The remaining inferior wasteland was cultivated by poor but not starving farmers. No one fought over these fields. They were tended to for more than ten years to develop fertility, and many years later they could be passed down to their descendants.

They held onto the simple idea that they would eventually succeed generation after generation, but little did they know that once the fields became fertile, they would attract wolves.

Zhang Yang beat up all the wealthy local families in one fell swoop.

The land was forcibly confiscated and seized. The best and medium-grade fertile land was given to the local people and the refugees who came to join them. Only the second-grade land and the uncultivated low-grade wasteland were left for military settlement. The county magistrate was afraid that Du Fang would overturn the table in anger. The soldiers had to use all their energy to cultivate this kind of low-grade wasteland with little value. How much energy did they have left to train?

County Magistrate Chong Fanyou cast a pleading look his way.

Hopefully, the new master's former servant can help.

Just as Xu Jin was sweating with anxiety, Fan You finally spoke, explaining in detail to Zhang Yang several potential problems with the reclamation of inferior wasteland in the military settlements. However, he didn't offer advice as the magistrate had expected. As the chief strategist, Fan You was only responsible for providing suggestions; the actual decision-making remained with Zhang Yang. If he could make the decisions, he would be the ruler himself, not a strategist advising others.

Zhang Yang silently processed the information for a while before making a summary.

"Oh, so the effort put into cultivating the land isn't commensurate with the fertility of the harvest?"

Xu Jin added in a low voice, "This kind of inferior land needs to be cultivated for ten years or so before its productivity can barely catch up with that of medium-grade land. Even if I and Dong Su can wait, these soldiers who need to train every day can't. My lord, what do you think about this matter...?"

He no longer sought the best quality land.

It would be fine to divide the medium-grade and low-grade fields equally.

Zhang Yang said, "This is simple!"

Xu Jin's eyes lit up, and he immediately beamed with joy, bowing and expressing his gratitude. But before he could speak, Zhang Yang pulled out a bag of "black soil" weighing two hundred pounds from his game backpack and introduced it to the magistrate: "This is No. 001 nutrient soil."

"Huh? Number 001... nutrient soil?"

"Calling it 'nutrient soil' isn't quite accurate... should we call it 'nutrient powder'?" To be precise, it's the "ashes" of mutated plants. Zhang Yang captured a lot of mutated plants and sent them to factories for processing. This method of obtaining nutrient soil is the most cost-effective and suitable for poor people. Players who don't mind spending money can just buy it directly from the NPC merchant who sells nutrient soil. "Sprinkling a few handfuls on an acre of land can greatly improve soil fertility."

This is a "usage" that Zhang Yang carefully considered.

The actual "cremation nutrient soil" is not used as fertilizer, but as soil. The seeds planted in it can complete a growth cycle of several months in just a few hours, and the yield is surprisingly high.

That's understandable, actually.

Without such high fertility and growth-promoting effects, would players really have to wait for months for their homestead crops to harvest?

This game has only been running for sixteen years. Waiting three to five days for crops is long enough; waiting for half a year or a year is impossible.

There are many types of potting soil.

Some increase output, some shorten growth time, and some do both. The raw materials are all mutated plants, ores, and even zombies and zombie crystal cores. Zombies are truly "loyal and devoted," not only providing heating but also being used for advanced technology.

However, this setting is only available to players. The NPCs in the various survivor bases still live a miserable life in the normal post-apocalyptic wasteland. Their diet is so scarce that they only have earthworms, dried cockroaches, and jelly. Even a piece of bread that has been expired for who knows how many years can fetch a high price.

If there weren't such a large market demand, Zhang Yang, this corpse dealer, wouldn't have been able to make a profit for so many years.

County Magistrate Xu Jin was bewildered and suspicious.

"what?"

Zhang Yang's words are really beyond the scope of what is expected.

Zhang Yang: "Why not give it a try?"

Do you even know what it means to "make a game, and it must be a masterpiece"?

County Magistrate Xu Jin: "..."

Zhang Yang said, "However, I have a limited amount of nutrient soil, so we can't rely on it entirely. We still need to rely on methods like slash-and-burn agriculture and water weeding to improve fertility. We should still burn straw, as it not only provides compost but also kills insects. Human and animal manure compost can also enrich the soil... Oh, by the way, is there a river nearby? If so, we can use the silt in the river, which would be a good resource."

She was holding a notebook when she said this.

Fan You secretly glanced at it from the side.

The surface was covered with strange patterns and text.

These are clearly notes that Zhang Yang made at some point in time.

The magistrate was stunned. He hadn't expected Zhang Yang, so young and seemingly not from a farming background, to know so much about these matters. His worries were miraculously dispelled. After a long while, he sighed and temporarily agreed to use the lower-grade land for military settlements, promising to persuade his friend Dong Su. He agreed, but Xu Jin knew Du Fang's temperament; persuading him couldn't rely solely on silver tongues, but required presenting facts and reasoning.

"Does this No. 001 nutrient soil really have such miraculous effects?"

Not only Xu Jin was curious, but Fan You was too.

Where in the world can you find such a magical fertilizer?

The two of them each grabbed a handful.

Upon handling it, their expressions became quite subtle: "My lord, what is this No. 001 nutrient soil made of?"

Both of them felt a powerful vitality from the nutrient soil.

To put it simply, it's like someone stuffing all the stellar energy that exists between heaven and earth into this soil. You see, while stellar energy is omnipresent and can be absorbed to enhance itself, once it dies, it returns to nourish heaven and earth.

It dissipated back into the world.

These potting soils are incredibly "fertile".

Zhang Yang rested his hands on his knees and bent slightly: "What is it made of? You mean the raw materials? Uh, some tall, decaying plants."

She was vague. But she wasn't wrong. How can a mutated plant NPC that gets killed not be considered a type of decaying plant?

Xu Jin nodded: "I see."

His worries vanished, and his eyes lit up with a smile as he looked at the nutrient-rich soil: "I will certainly make good use of this."

"Jiusi, is there enough grain in this county?" Zhang Yang thought to herself. Since the county magistrate was already calling her "Lord," it would seem distant for her to call him "Magistrate Xu" as well. So she decided to treat him the same as Fan You and call him by his courtesy name.

Xu Jin cupped his hands in greeting: "That's enough, my lord, please don't worry."

It makes Zhang Yang pay for everything, which makes him seem incompetent.

Zhang Yang nodded: "Okay, that's good."

The food seeds in your game inventory can be saved for another chance.

Magistrate Xu Jin was a truly energetic and dynamic person, capable of working non-stop without getting tired, and handling several tasks simultaneously without showing any signs of fatigue. He first visited Du Fang to persuade him, and the two of them huddled together, chatting away, their laughter deepening as they talked.

With the ability to rapidly improve fertility, every acre of inferior wasteland can be regarded as medium or even superior fertile land.

These can all be used as military settlements.

As long as there is a small bumper harvest, there will be more food than we can eat!

but--

Du Fang still had a question.

"Why is this potting soil named No. 001?" Doesn't such an obvious number mean there are also No. 002, No. 003, and No. 004? Do these potting soils have some special effects? Using mutant star plants as fertilizer is really a big investment.

"We'll find out in time," Xu Jin said with a satisfied sip of tea. "The origins of our new master are a mystery."

"He's your new master, not mine." Du Fang looked at his old partner speechlessly. Typical money-grubber, he bowed down way too quickly. How come he never knew he had this side to him before?

Xu Jin smiled and said, "Let's see what tomorrow brings."

Even if he's not a new boss, he's still a future supervisor.

It should be noted that Zhang Yang also held the title of Prefect of Tianyue County.

Du Fang was among them, as he was one of the officials under his command.

After all, this involved the county's future development, so Xu Jin naturally dared not neglect it. He entrusted the military settlement project to Du Fang, while personally handling the minting of coins. Fan You had been doing only one thing these past few days: getting Zhang Yang to read and learn to read and write. Guan Zong mocked him, saying this wasn't the work of a strategist. Didn't he see how busy Xu Jin and Du Fang were?

They weren't afraid that they would take away Fan You's position.

Fan You glanced at him coldly: "I've forgotten about you."

Guan Zong was also brought in to study.

Guan Zong, sensing Fan You's subtle disdain, flew into a rage: "...Do you think I'm still that helpless infant?" He had now recovered to his youthful and robust physique, and apart from not yet having grown a thick beard, he looked almost the same as a man in his prime.

Zhang Yang said, "That's not how you put it; there's no end to learning."

Zhang Dami blocked Guan Zong's path.

Guan Zong looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Zhang Yang speaks eloquently, but what is his actual behavior?

When Fan You read a sentence, her expression became dazed; when Fan You read three sentences, her soul seemed to leave her body; when Fan You read for a quarter of an hour, her eyelids would stick together, and her sleep quality was enviable.

Zhang Yang is clearly using himself as a scapegoat.

Unfortunately, circumstances were beyond his control; he couldn't win...

I became the third auditor, feeling utterly worthless.

Who are first and second?

Shi Xu, Zhang Dami.

Guan Zong coldly watched Zhang Yang yawn, and Zhang Dami, who was lying on the ground, yawned as well, causing the not-so-sleepy Zhang Yang to yawn as well.

The only person who listened attentively in class was Shi Xu.

The teacher's guidance was also the driving force behind Fan You's perseverance over the past few days.

But, there are three annoying underachievers!

Fan You could no longer tolerate it.

"You three are hopelessly ungrateful!"

Zhang Yang said, "It's really boring. This babbling is making me sleepy. Can't Uncle Yan look for problems within himself? For example, he could improve his teaching methods. Making learning fun is the right way."

Her principle is to first look for problems in others when they arise. If she can't find them, she looks twice more. If she still can't find them after three times, she reflects on whether she herself has any problems.

In general, the problem lies with other people.

Fan You has a big problem; he is not suitable to be a teacher.

Zhang Dami lay down at Zhang Yang's feet and whispered in support.

Guan Zong shrank his neck.

"...You three, get out! Get as far away as you can!"

Only the obedient Shi Xu remained.

Upon receiving the command, Zhang Yang and Zhang Dami high-fived, and in the blink of an eye, Zhang Yang jumped onto Zhang Dami's back and disappeared.

Fan You: "..."

Guan Zong chuckled, "I don't think my lord is entirely ignorant. She does have the necessary knowledge, but she lacks experience, which makes her seem naive. However, she understands everything she should, and she doesn't seem to suffer any losses. If I may be so bold, Mr. Fan is not a proper lecturer at the academy. If there's an opportunity in the future, perhaps we could have my lord spend some time at the academy, or perhaps we could hire a renowned teacher to come and teach her?"

Fan You punched the armrest of the wheelchair.

He sighed and said, "How could I not know? Let's talk about it another day."

He wasn't unaware that his lecture was boring.

But the lord is not a child; he should endure even the most tedious things.

Guan Zong gave a couple of ingratiating laughs and quickly left. He had been in a very good mood these past few days, especially after seeing the spoils Zhang Yang had looted from the Eastern Barbarian rebels; a smile had never left his face. Even when Fan You forced him to accompany Zhang Yang and the others in their studies, he agreed.

The tutoring stopped on the fourth day.

Puyang Kui, who had been recruiting soldiers in his ancestral home, has returned.

Outside the city, she led the way, followed by five or six hundred people.

"My lord!"

Puyang Kui dismounted.

She received news on her way that Zhang Yang and Fan You had returned safely from the Dongfan Mountains with a great haul. This news relieved her greatly. Maintaining a private retinue was extremely expensive.

She recruited over a thousand people this time, bringing back five or six hundred. The rest need to settle their families before they can come. These people and their families are all counting on Zhang Yang to provide them with food and provisions.

Money and provisions, of course, the more the better.

Besides his troops, Puyang Kui also brought back a surprise.