However, there is only one exception in Shaanxi, and that is Li Chaosheng's newly opened Liudayukou and his own land in Tanggou Town.

What saved them were canals and reservoirs.

If it doesn't rain, we will use the water from the reservoir. There is a lot of water in the reservoir, which can be used to irrigate the land in the Liudagou Valley. The corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes in the fields here are all growing crazily.

Moreover, pigs and sheep are raised in each major valley, and they usually feed them some fodder. They can even pull out some sweet potato vines to feed the pigs. These sweet potato vines climb very quickly.

Li Chaosheng's fields in Daogou Valley are also irrigated by water from the reservoir, and they all grow very luxuriantly. However, the seedlings on Wang Laocai's land not far away can no longer hold on.

Wang Laocai sighed after looking at the seedlings every day. Finally, he couldn't bear it anymore and approached Li Jinli, hoping to borrow some water from the Li family reservoir.

Li Jinli said that he could not make the decision. Although he was the clan leader now, the whole clan listened to Li Chaosheng. You have to ask Li Chaosheng about this matter.

Wang Laocai had no choice but to go find Li Chaosheng. Li Chaosheng was enjoying the summer heat in the yard. There was a watermelon just taken out of the refrigerator on the table.

Watermelon is native to China. It entered China very early, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica that Hu Qiao got the melon seed from Huihe, and it was named watermelon.

As for the refrigerator, this is a small refrigerator that Li Chaosheng moved from modern times. There is electricity in the military camp, which is perfect for freezing watermelon.

Li Chaosheng was eating watermelon and was talking to Guzi and several people close to him. At this time, Guzi and the others each held a large piece of watermelon and gnawed it. Guzi looked at Li Chaosheng and said: "Brigadier, what do you think of this gold water quilt?"

Was it Hong Chengchou who was behind the killing?"

Li Chaosheng took a bite of the watermelon and spat out the watermelon seeds and said, "It's almost like this. Only Hong Chengchou has the means to pull off such a vicious plan."

Shi Xiaolei on the side said: "Then why did Hong Chengchou do this?"

Li Chaosheng said: "Hong Chengchou, what should I say? He is a man of action, and he understands the sufferings of the world. This year, the imperial court increased taxes in Shaanxi. This is a matter of fishing, and Hong Chengchou is so smart that he cannot do it, so he is in a hurry.

Yes, Zhang Jinshui was tricked."

At this time, Guo Bao picked up another piece of watermelon and said: "But what he did was a huge blow to the Shaanxi government. The imperial envoy was killed, which further weakened the people's fear of the officials. Moreover, these people have not been punished.

From today on, officials in Shaanxi will be on tenterhooks."

After hearing this, Li Chaosheng said: "Yes, these officials will not sleep well. It can be said that they have killed a thousand enemies and suffered eight hundred losses."

That's right, after this incident, at least half of Shaanxi's official prestige was destroyed. Anyone who has seen bullets flying knows that if you want to kill these powerful people, you must first eliminate their prestige. Once the prestige is gone,

Then it was the scene where a group of common people rushed into Mr. Huang's house.

Now that the people killed the imperial envoy, nothing happened, and taxes were reduced or exempted. The people saw the attitude of the imperial court. From then on, mobs killed officials and followed the same pattern.

Li Chaosheng gave a few people a brief explanation. At this time, Shi Xiaolei frowned and said, "Hong Chengchou can't see such disadvantages?"

After hearing this, Li Chaosheng said: "He is a very conceited person. He thinks that the power he has lost can be regained by himself."

Everyone didn't know what to say after hearing this, but Gu Zi on the side said: "But even if Hong Chengchou wants to do this, don't the prefects and county magistrates know the consequences of doing this?"

Li Chaosheng looked at Gu Zi and said: "These officials are also driven into panic. The emperor is anxious to pacify Liaodong. Taxes have been increased again and again. Shaanxi is a piece of rotten meat that can no longer support it. If the taxes set by the imperial court are really collected, the following will be done.

There will definitely be rebellion among the people, but if the people under a county magistrate rebel, do they still need their heads?"

"If Zhang Jinshui is killed now, at most he will lose a little official authority. But if Zhang Jinshui doesn't die, all he will lose is his official life. If you were to become an official, how would you choose?"

After hearing this, Gu Zi was stunned, then started to eat silently and said: "Sure enough, Zhang Jinshui should be killed."

At this time Li Chaosheng said: "It's a pity that these officials have good ideas, but God doesn't want their plans to come true. This autumn will be another year of disaster.

Li Chaosheng thought and sighed. At this moment, a guard came over to report, and Wang Laocai asked to see him.

Li Chaosheng glanced at Guo Bao and said, "I'll disappear when I come. Go and talk to Wang Laocai about our conditions."

After hearing this, Guo Baodao said: "Yes, leave a piece of that watermelon for me."

After hearing this, Shi Xiaolei said: "Yeah, let's go."

Guo Baoyi frowned, and Guo Bao and Shi Xiaolei ate big mouthfuls, with satisfied faces on their faces. It seemed that they were not prepared to leave any food for Guo Bao.

Li Chaosheng didn't see Wang Laocai, and Guo Bao saw Wang Laocai instead. Wang Laocai then looked at Guo Baocai and said, "Where is Li Chaosheng?"

Guo Bao glanced at Wang Laocai and said, "Our brigade commander doesn't want to see you. By the way, we already know why you came here this time. Our brigade commander said that we can lend water to your family, but there are conditions.

"

Wang Laocai frowned and said, "What conditions?"

Guo Baodao: "Your family has a total of 1,200 acres of land. My brigade commander said that I will leave you 100 acres and sell the rest to us. The land price will be sixteen taels for the upper-grade fields, seven taels for the middle-grade fields, and seven taels for the lower-grade fields."

Waiting fields, well, your family doesn’t have lower-class fields anymore.”

"You want my land? Impossible."

Wang Laocai stared angrily and said angrily. Guo Bao smiled at this time and said: "Haha... we are not buying and selling by force. You can do whatever you want. Go back and think about it before you come to find us."

Guo Bao said, turned around and went back to the house. Then he saw that there was only the smallest piece of watermelon left on the table. He picked it up and took a bite, but it was gone.

Wang Laocai was very angry at this time. He scolded Li Chaosheng at the military camp for being disrespectful and unscrupulous. Then he was interrupted by a group of soldiers.

When the old housekeeper saw Wang Laocai like this, he quickly stepped forward and asked what was wrong. Wang Laocai told the other party's conditions. The housekeeper thought for a while and said, "Master, I think this land should be sold."

After hearing this, Wang Laocai glanced at the old butler, who then said: "Sir, can you tell me how much money you can make from farming now? A while ago, the court wanted to charge four taels of silver per mu of land. Although it failed, this time

It’s the court’s intention.”

"If it can't be done once, it can't be done twice, and it can't be done three times?"

The housekeeper said to Wang Laocai: "Sooner or later, the tax will definitely come up, and the situation is not getting better every year. It rained in July last year, and there is not a drop of rain this year. This will cost countless grains, and the crops will not grow in the fields."

, how will we pay taxes this fall?”

Wang Laocai's eyes widened when he heard this. Yes, how do you pay the autumn tax?

The steward said: "Sir, I said something that I shouldn't say. In these peaceful and prosperous times, this land is an industry, but in troubled times, this land will be the source of disaster. Look at the landowners in northern Shaanxi. How many of them have a good ending?"

After hearing this, Wang Laocai stared, as if he remembered what he had recently heard about the behavior of the rebels in northern Shaanxi. They went to a place and killed officials, landlords and gentry, just like locusts passing through the border. As long as they came, not a blade of grass would grow.

Wanting to understand that Wang Laocai was a little shaken at this time, the housekeeper said again: "Sir, the court does not collect business taxes, so Mr. Fang sold all the land to Li Chaosheng, and now he has made a fortune with his family. It is said that the industry is not growing at the moment.

Too little."

After hearing this, Wang Laocai was moved, and turned back to the military camp.

"Let Li Chaosheng come out."

Li Chaosheng winked at Guo Bao at this time, and Guo Bao went out immediately. But as soon as he went out, Wang Laocai said: "Let Li Chaosheng come out, my land is going to be sold, he must see me."

After hearing this, the door opened suddenly, and Li Chaosheng walked out with a smile and said: "Oh, Uncle Wang, I have been busy just now. Come and sit down, uncle, and give Uncle Wang my iced watermelon."

Cut a piece."

Seeing Li Chaosheng like this, Guo Bao walked into the house and muttered: "He is looking more and more like a profiteer."

This negotiation was very successful. Wang Laocai sold 1,100 acres of land and received a total of 12,000 taels of silver from Li Chaosheng, leaving only 100 acres of land, which was regarded as his own land.

Li Chaosheng was very satisfied with this. As for the twelve thousand taels of silver, Li Chaosheng didn't care too much. After all, he had more than three hundred thousand taels of silver in his hand that he couldn't spend.

After signing the contract, Li Chaosheng is now the largest landowner in Tanggou Town. Now almost all the land in Tanggou Town belongs to him. Li Chaosheng is very satisfied with this.

Immediately afterwards, Li Chaosheng had people dig ditches overnight and divert the water to Wang Laocai's wheat field. After all, the land was sold to him. These wheat seedlings were Li Chaosheng's own wheat, so he had to take care of it.

Moreover, Li Chaosheng saw in Wang Laocai a general plan to acquire land in Lantian County.

Li Chaosheng has always had an idea to divide the land among local tycoons, but Li Chaosheng found that he could not do this now, and if he did, he would be extinct from the world.

After all, the most powerful people in this era are the local tyrants and evil gentry, as well as officials. If you practice egalitarianism, you will push yourself to be on the opposite side of the dynasty, and the end will be miserable.

Since it is impossible to blindly allocate land to local tyrants, can we make all the land our own by buying it and become the largest land annexer? Then I can make everyone have farmland on my land.

In this way, no one will reject me. If he pretends to surrender first, and then quietly strengthens himself, when he has changed the world, he will launch a vigorous land reform. I think by then the resistance will be the least.

This can be regarded as our saving the country through curves.

Moreover, money is of little use now. These days, everyone trusts food far more than money. Just like the army, military pay is also food, and everyone is very satisfied.

So the current policy is to buy land, so Li Chaosheng spent 300,000 taels of silver, leaving only a few tens of thousands taels for pocket money, and used all the rest to buy land.

In the past, the success rate of buying land was not very high, but this year is different. There are almost no canals and even fewer reservoirs in other places in Lantian, so the disaster is destined to be serious in the next few years. The large number of grains may be an exaggeration, but the 70% to 80% reduction in production is definitely common.

The situation, such a bad situation, and the tax turmoil this year, made the landowners panic.

After all, even if there is no harvest this year, you still have to pay taxes. This has caused hundreds or even thousands of taels of famine for nothing, making all the landowners feel like a thorn in their backs and a lump in their throats. They are a group of uncomfortable people.

At this time, Li Chaosheng's land collection team arrived, and the landowners were all tempted. We won't sell so much. Let's sell a few hundred acres per family first to reduce the pressure.

So this family had a few hundred acres, and that family had a few hundred acres. Soon Li Chaosheng had accumulated far more land than he had now. Three hundred thousand taels was not enough to spend. However, after this operation, Li Chaosheng was definitely in Lantian County now.

The person with the most land.

Li Chaosheng took the land and immediately thought of ways to reduce the disaster as much as possible. If this situation were placed now, it could be solved by artificial rainfall.

However, artificial rainfall in this era is simply impossible to achieve, because artificial rainfall requires the launch of rockets, and rockets are strictly controlled, and Li Chaosheng cannot get them at all.

If he could get the equipment for artificial rainfall, Li Chaosheng could even plan a Shinhwa himself event, such as doing something to move heaven and earth.

The simplest thing is that when Li Chaosheng of Lantian saw that it was not raining and the people were suffering, he felt so miserable that he wanted to live. So he set up a altar in Tanggou Town and knelt down to pray for rain. He knelt for three days in a row, fainted several times, and still wouldn't retreat when he woke up.

It moved the heaven and the earth, and three days later it rained heavily, saving the people from the fire and water.

Just do this. According to the thinking of the Ming Dynasty people, Li Chaosheng will be praised to heaven. From then on, people in Lantian will feel sorry for Li Chaosheng's favor. What a cost-effective deal this is.

Li Chaosheng thought, feeling a little excited. If he was given such a chance, it would be obviously impossible.

When Li Chaosheng was buying land on a large scale, a piece of news suddenly reached Li Chaosheng's ears. Zhang Jinshui was beaten to death. The court was furious and carried out a major reshuffle of Shaanxi's officialdom.
To be continued...