Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Chapter 858: Cheng Ding's bitter completion

Although it is a little hard to see from here, it is much better than falling behind the crowd and looking at the back of everyone's heads.

Zhou Guo stood up and looked at the increasing number of people pouring onto the street. He frowned and wondered if there would be any stampede.

After watching for a while, I saw that no new people were coming into this street. From a distance, I saw many yamen guards with big swords guarding the intersection. It seemed there was nothing to worry about.

The dragon dance team danced from one end of the street to the other.

Zhou Guo was addicted to it.

After half an hour, Li said, "You'd better go down. I don't know where your uncle and the others have gone."

"Okay." Zhou Guo stood up and took her over the wall and into the yard.

The two walked several streets before they found the person.

After being tired from shopping, they ate at a wonton stall.

Zhou Dacang asked, "Where have you been? We have been looking for you for a long time but couldn't find you."

Zhou Guo said: "There's a fire dragon dance over there, why don't you go and watch it? It's so beautiful, the dance goes "dong dong dong" with great enthusiasm, it makes my blood boil just by listening to it, I want to go and dance a bit too."

Zhou Su and Li Lai were envious. "We wanted to go, too, but we were late and didn't get in."

Zhou Mai asked, "Where did you watch it?"

Zhou Guo chuckled, "There were so many people that I took my mother to watch it on the roof. Although it's definitely not as good as watching it from below, at least I watched the whole thing."

Everyone looked at Li in surprise.

Li felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, "This girl insisted on dragging me up."

Zhou Dacang said: "If we had known earlier, we would have gone up to the roof as well."

The main reason was that he couldn't take care of so many naughty boys by himself, and he was afraid that they would not behave themselves and fall down accidentally, which would have disastrous consequences.

Zhou Guo sat down and took a bite when Zhou Gu and four others came. Xiaohua grabbed several lanterns with both hands, her eyes sparkling and her face flushed from playing with them.

Li smiled and said, "Where did our Xiaohua go to play? Why was she having so much fun?"

After everyone at the table had finished eating their wontons, the old man also arrived.

Zhou Guo hurriedly asked, "Master, have you eaten? How about I order you a bowl of wontons?"

The old man shook his head and said, "I've eaten."

It was already very late at this time and the city gates were locked.

Unable to get out, the family had to find an inn to stay for the night.

The next day, Zhou Dacang had breakfast with his family and then left. He had to rush back to the camp.

Zhou Guo watched him walk away, and the family hurried back to the farm to pack up their things and returned to Cangshan Village.

The crabs are starting to be sold out.

Zhou Guo rushed to Chengding. The project in Tanghe was estimated to be completed next month, so she had to go and watch it. She couldn't miss such a big event.

She visited various farms and found that these farms supported nearly two thousand people, half of whom were new this year.

If more people come, she will have to go find the governor and the county magistrate. She can't just push every one of them to her, right?

Tang He took her to look at the projects. "The progress of the several villages is quite fast. The projects will be completed by the end of this month at the latest, or the middle of next month at the latest."

Zhou Guo said, "That's good. I didn't expect that these farms, which were built so much later than those in Song County, could be completed in the same year. There was enough rain this year. I see a lot of rainwater accumulated in these ponds. They can be irrigated and drained for at least one and a half months before winter. By the beginning of next spring, we can sow grass seeds. We can plant forage grass for a year next year, and then we can plant good farmland the year after."

In the end, it all depends on the water conservancy. She said to Tang He, "Engineer Tang, you are a great contributor to my Zhou family. Without you, these lands cannot be turned into fertile fields, and these many refugees have no place to live."

Tang He said: "No, Boss, without me, there are still Li He and Wu He, but without you, I don't know how many years it will take for these salty and bitter lands to welcome their owners, and I don't know how many years it will take for someone to discover these lands."

The two of them praised each other, and the corners of their mouths kept rising because of the praise.

Looking at these lands with pride, they all contributed to them, and each person’s contribution was not small.

The water conservancy project had not been completed yet when Hu Zi came from home.

She asked curiously, "Why are you here? Is your family not busy anymore?"

Aren’t they selling crabs now?

Hu Zi said, "Madam asked me to come. She said that since she has a young master at home, selling crabs is still possible. You can't be left alone to serve you, so I came."

He said happily: "Master, I think these water conservancy projects are almost done, are they going to be finished?"

Zhou Guo nodded, "Yes, we can take care of the land before winter comes, and then take care of the irrigation and drainage next year, and we can plant rice in these fields the year after next."

Thinking of the several acres of experimental land in Song County, she also opened a few plots in these places, starting from at least ten acres.

On the day the floodgates were opened, nearly a thousand people gathered in the village, running after the live ones, and the children were shouting and yelling.

Zhou Guo looked at these cheerful people and imagined that next year, these people would run around on the rice fields. He felt that the picture was extremely beautiful.

That was her greatest hope when she was a refugee. Now she is helping these people live such a good life, and the sense of accomplishment she gets from it is no less than earning a million shi of grain a year.

The magistrates of several counties also came after hearing the news.

How could they not know about such a big event? They knew it from the endless influx of refugees. They were more concerned about when these lands would be completed than Zhou Guo.

Zhou Guo was stunned when he saw all this. He smiled and went to meet them, saying loudly, "What gust of wind brought you all here today?"

The three county magistrates who came here all had saline-alkali land under their jurisdiction that was being rehabilitated, and this was the first one to be completed. No one knew how these people got together and were able to come together at this time.

The auspicious time had just passed, and they either set out before daybreak or had gathered together a few days before.

The county magistrate, surnamed Lu, looked at the large piece of land and said with a smile, "I heard that you have completed the construction here. As the parents of the county, we must come to see such a great thing and share in the good news. Mr. Zhou will not be unwelcome, right?"

Zhou Guo said with a smile: "You are joking. You are the father and mother official, and I am also your citizen. How can I not welcome you? Lord Yan and Lord Chen have come all the way here, thank you for your hard work."

The two adults waved their hands, already fascinated by the vast land.

Zhou Guo said, "How about I take a few adults downstairs for a walk?"

Several people were eager to see it, and they started walking before they even said anything. "Let's go, let's go and take a look together. This is really amazing."

As the group strode forward, Zhou Guo was left at the end.

She smiled, shook her head, and followed.

Following a few people, he briefly explained anything they had no idea about, and they nodded repeatedly as he listened.

Stay in this field until noon.

I still can't get enough of it. I feel everything is new and interesting. This method sounds simple, why haven't they thought of it before?

They got such a great bargain for nothing. If it can be cleaned up in one or two years, this land will become a big granary!