CH 264

Lin Wen's over-limit growth plan finally showed its power at this time.

When the primordial spirit exceeds 180%, he can use many high-end spells.

His functions have increased.

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Currently, due to the large-scale reception of refugees in Changshan County, all kinds of supplies, especially food, tents, and medical supplies, are extremely scarce.

Due to the obstruction of the council, the empire has restricted the large-scale procurement of Changshan County. Now, almost all the supplies are supported by inventory.

The tent problem has been temporarily solved by the mountain building.

According to Yang Shaohu's plan, the entire mountain building complex can accommodate a total of 4.5 million refugees, far exceeding the initial design of 1.2 million refugees.

Therefore, Lin Wen gave up the plan to build another mountain building complex and turned to solve the food problem.

Chen Xingtai's Shangxi Town has played a key role in food supply during this time.

It has supplied millions of tons of high-quality vegetables, greatly alleviating the food supply problem in Changshan County and enriching the variety of dishes.

Their Chinese cabbage is tender and delicious, and a bowl of porridge with a few Chinese cabbage leaves, a few rape leaves, a few diced radishes, and a little minced meat is a supreme delicacy for both refugees and Lin Wen.

However, the vegetable fields in Shangxi Town will be harvested in a few days, and the food inventory in Changshan County is not enough for a month.

The food problem is imminent.

If there is a food shortage, with the current scale of over 8 million people in Changshan County, it will definitely be a huge disaster.

Since the night talk with Lin Wen, Chen Xingtai has begun to mobilize the people's parties from all over and support the civilian organizations in various states on a large scale, including the Dadao Club in Hezhou, the San Dian Club in Yunzhou, the Sanhe Club in Lingzhou, the Tiandi Party in Mingzhou, the Laoge Club in Tianzhou, the Qinghong Gang in Xuzhou, and the Gongjin Club, Xinhua Club, and Nongyun Club in Shizhou, etc.

These so-called civilian organizations are actually organizations that resist the state government, resist rent and taxes, expel landlords, and resist officials, and have always been a headache for the governors of various states.

The people's party mainly provides them with intelligence and funds, as well as an escape route when the situation is not good - Changshan County.

Therefore, in just over a month, the people's party has received more than 100,000 members from various places, as well as more than 200,000 farmers who have come with them.

Shangxi Town has expanded from a scale of 60,000 people to 410,000 people.

Fortunately, Zhao Minggong had dispatched more than 100,000 laborers long ago and used the trees they felled to build more than 10,000 crude wooden houses at the foot of the Taixu Mountains to accommodate them.

The people's party has also expanded from more than 3,000 people to more than 60,000 people in one go.

Although the expansion was rapid, it still did not reach one-fifth of the peak of the people's party. Chen Xingtai urgently called for members from various places while starting large-scale land reclamation.

There are only 100,000 hectares of land around Shangxi Town, which can only accommodate more than 60,000 farmers. Chen Xingtai even had to send some people to the mountains to cut wood and hunt.

Now, with an increase to 410,000 people, the 100,000 hectares of arable land is simply not enough.

It is impossible for more than 300,000 people to go to cut wood and hunt.

Most of these people are farmers, and if possible, Chen Xingtai still hopes they can cultivate the land.

More land is needed to accommodate them.

So, he has been actively reclaiming land.

However, apart from the 100,000 hectares, the land is very barren, with compacted and infertile soil, making land reclamation extremely difficult.

For this reason, the cadres of the people's party all have worried expressions. They are all from a farming background and have a natural fondness for farmers, land, planting, and harvesting.

A bountiful harvest makes them cheer, but difficulties in land reclamation make them worried and frustrated.

But the rapidly increasing political and ideological level of the people's party leader Yun Qingshui made Chen Xingtai very happy. With their efforts, the people's party actively purchased a large amount of fertilizer, advanced agricultural tools, and even some agricultural machinery that has not yet been popularized in the empire to accelerate land reclamation activities.

The reason Chen Xingtai dared to do this is that to the west of Shangxi Town, there is a huge wasteland that extends from near the new town to the foot of the Taixu Mountains, with an area of at least 500,000 hectares, and the water source is very close. As long as the water facilities are well done, this will be a very good arable land.

If there really are 500,000 hectares of irrigated land, Shangxi Town can completely develop into an agricultural center. The promise given by Lin Wen is three years without agricultural tax, which is equivalent to the freedom to dispose of the grain grown by the farmers.

When Chen Xingtai was in Zhongzhou, the standard for agricultural tax was 72%, which means that if 100 kilograms of grain were grown, 72 kilograms of tax had to be paid, and only 28 kilograms were left for oneself.

According to information from other areas of the people's party, the tax in Zhongzhou is still the lowest, generally ranging from 75% to 92% in other areas.

If it is rented from a landlord, it is even worse. A person tills 30 mu of land, works hard all year, and in the end, there is not even half left in their own pocket.

These tenant farmers are the most miserable, unable to eat their fill and living as if they were a hundred years ago, unable to enjoy all the technological developments and welfare of the past hundred years.Some say the empire is like a monster, with its eastern part prosperous and developed, skyscrapers reaching the heavens, neon lights dazzling the eyes, airplanes and sports cars in abundance.

Yet in certain western regions, it's all about facing the loess and turning one's back to the sky, with oxen pulling plows and people tilling the land, a sight no different from a hundred years ago.

Even the landlords are the same, taking away the hard-earned harvests of the farmers, leaving them with only a pittance after being exploited and extorted.

For thousands of years, the fate of the farmers has never changed.

Only Changshan County is different.

Here, the farmers truly feel the joy of their harvest, owning everything they grow.

A single mu of land yielding 5000 kilograms of cabbage, so much that even a dozen baskets can't hold it all, that heavy sense of harvest was something they never dared to dream of before.

Xiao Xiao, considering the market issues of Changshan County, set the price of cabbage at 0.1 yuan per kilogram, which, although much cheaper than in other places, meant that with no exploitation and no transportation issues, the gross income from one mu was 500 yuan. With an average of twenty-four mu per person, the gross income was 12,000 yuan.

After deducting the 20% tax for the initial purchase of housing in Shangxi Town, as well as the cost of seeds and fertilizers, the net income reached an impressive 7,000 yuan.

An income of 7,000 yuan in less than three months, averaging 2,300 yuan per month from farming, was something they could never have imagined in their wildest dreams.

On the day of the harvest, the entire town was filled with a celebratory atmosphere. To express their gratitude, the townspeople specially commissioned a carpenter to carve wooden statues of Lin Wen, Chen Xingtai, and Yun Qingshui at the entrance of the village. Everyone returning from a day's harvest would pay their respects and light a stick of incense to thank Sheriff Lin and the Min Party for bringing them a happy life.

The cadres of the Min Party were even more excited; this was the day they had longed for. They were all from peasant backgrounds, each with talent and ability, but none willing to be the dogs of landlords and bullies, so they joined the Min Party, hoping to create a new world.

Changshan County perfectly matched the deepest dreams of their souls. They felt as if they had been crawling through hell before and were eager to rescue more people, to pull them out of that hell.

Therefore, they were also the most enthusiastic about reclaiming land. When reclamation was not going well, they were the most anxious.

But anxiety solved nothing; the land had to be reclaimed inch by inch, and the canals had to be built meter by meter. Chen Xingtai encouraged them, saying, "It doesn't matter if the land can't be reclaimed in a month; we can take two months, and if not two, then half a year, and if not half a year, then a year. One day, we will run across 500,000 hectares of wheat waves, letting all farmers enjoy the joy of a bountiful harvest!"

His words earned a round of applause, and everyone was filled with fighting spirit, determined to change the face of this land in a year or even several years.

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

Chen Xingtai then went to find Lin Wen, seeking his support.

After all, the county's current economy could not support these more than 300,000 people; funding from the county government was needed.

But Lin Wen gave an unimaginable answer: "What land needs to be reclaimed in a year or two? Get it done for me."

"Two days?"

Chen Xingtai exclaimed in surprise, "Sheriff Lin, that's impossible. Even with millions of people, it wouldn't work. That's barren land, not something you can just flip over and plant."

Lin Wen said, "Xingtai, soon, I will scatter the essence of life across 500,000 hectares of land."

"It will turn barren land into fertile ground, and poor soil into mature fields."

"You just need to organize the farmers, make good plans, and start reclaiming and sowing."

He patted Chen Xingtai on the shoulder.

"Strive to turn this land into the granary of Changshan County as soon as possible."

Chen Xingtai's face broke into a smile in an instant.

He always had unconditional faith in Lin Wen's words because he knew that Sheriff Lin never joked about big matters.

If he said there was the essence of life, then there must be; if he said he could turn poor soil into mature fields, then it could definitely be done.

"Fantastic! Sheriff Lin, I'll go right away."

Chen Xingtai immediately rushed back to Shangxi Town.

Lin Wen, on the other hand, arrived at the barren lands to the west of Shangxi Town.

Stepping out of the car, he pressed his foot against the ground, dry and barren, like the Gobi, with no sign of potential for cultivation.

This was the fundamental reason why Changshan County had remained so poor and backward for over forty years—

The land was infertile, with too little arable land.

But now,

Times have changed.

Lin Wen crushed a piece of gravel underfoot.

It starts with my stepping on this land.

【Sweet Dew Technique】

In the clear sky, a fine rain began to fall, as thin as silk.

Touching the face, it felt like cool ice beads sliding down without leaving a trace of wetness.

Falling on clothes, it was like landing on an oilcloth raincoat, sliding off smoothly without sticking.

Hitting the ground, it disappeared without a trace.

The land visibly changed before one's eyes.