Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 52: Opening up the Mountains and Forests
Xu Huai caused a big disturbance in Huolu Hall, and for more than half a month there was no movement in Beizhai.
Over the past twenty days, in addition to carrying two to three thousand kilograms of grain as supplies to Jinshagou on their shoulders and backs, Su Di, her father Su Laochang, and Xu Xin'an's father Xu Guanshan took the lead in clearing out all the fields that were rented and cultivated by the families of the soldiers outside the South Village.
However, there are more than a hundred people in the families of the various soldiers , and so many people cannot just sit there idle.
Firstly, people cannot sit idle, and secondly, when people are idle, there will be a lot of trouble.
Nanzhai is located in the Zhongfeng Basin of Yuhuangling Mountain. The terrain is fifty or sixty feet higher than the banks of Qingliu Creek and there is no stream flowing through it. For hundreds of years, the ancestors of the Xu family have built dozens of ponds of various sizes in the mountains according to local conditions to store rainwater and irrigate one or two thousand acres of arable land in the basin.
In fact, the population of Nanzhai has grown to more than 400 people, and the land resources available for cultivation are too limited. Even if Xu Zhongyu and others did not interfere, Su Di and the families of the other soldiers would not be able to rent or buy land near Nanzhai for cultivation.
However, the southern and western slopes of Yuhuangling are too steep and rugged, with rocky cliffs and rocky land everywhere, making it difficult to reclaim sloping fields according to local conditions.
Only the eastern and northern slopes are gently paved, and are livestock pastures controlled by the upper Fang Xu families. They would never easily allow the Wuzu families to go there and reclaim the land.
In order to obtain enough land to accommodate the families of the soldiers, Su Laochang, Xu Guanshan and others could only plan to occupy the mountainous area west of Yuhuangling.
This hill called Lion Camel Ridge is generally more steep and rugged than the northeast slope of Jade Emperor Ridge, but better than the southwest slope of Jade Emperor Ridge. Unfortunately, there is no ready-made stream around it and it is far from a water source, so the reclaimed dry land can only rely on rainwater for irrigation.
In the early years, there were some scattered families living and cultivating dry land in Lion Camel Ridge. However, in addition to the long-standing conflict over land with Lutai Village, the bandit problem in Tongbai Mountain became increasingly serious, and the scattered families could not gather together to form a force, and were finally forced to move away.
Lion Camel Ridge then became a mountain forest area controlled by the Xu family, where the Xu clan members collected herbs and hunted.
If Lion Camel Ridge really needs to be reclaimed, some arable land resources can still be excavated. However, after the Xu family had settled in Yuhuang Ridge for four or five generations, the arable land and grassland and other resources were concentrated in the hands of a few Xu families in the upper house, and there was no motivation to dig land from the deep mountains and forests.
Shangfang Xu has abundant resources and is more willing to expand his business in Huaiyuan Town and Biyang City.
It is easier for them to control Lion Camel Ridge if the entire mountain forest is not developed, rather than reclaiming pieces of mountain fields and distributing them to each household. Even if they organize people to reclaim the land and then rent it out for farming, the harvest will be very limited.
In addition, there are disadvantages when the tribesmen are dispersed, which makes it difficult to control them.
The various Wuzu families were forced to come together due to the situation, and thus had the conditions to develop large tracts of mountain fields.
Xu Wufu also sent people to say at first that Lion Camel Ridge was the clan's property, but how to reclaim the clan's mountain forests and wastelands, how to pay taxes to the clan after reclamation, and how to purchase clan land, the Xu family had settled in Tongbai Mountain for 150 to 160 years and had already formed rules, which were not something Xu Wufu could change unilaterally.
Xu Wufu, Xu Zhongyu and others would definitely not allow it. Su Laochang and Su Guanshan could also request a clan temple meeting to summon all the male heads of the Xu family to come out and discuss the matter.
The Xu family first settled in Lutai North Village, and the East Village, West Village and South Village were also established step by step in this way.
In the past two or three decades, the Xu family's population has grown and has long exceeded the carrying capacity of Yuhuangling. A large number of people have been forced to go out to find a livelihood. The lower branch of the Xu family has long called for the reclamation of Shituoling.
Shangfang Xu did not dare to oppose openly over the years, but without Shangfang Xu's financial support, Xiafang Xu was led by the nose and could not gather strength. No one had ever been able to accomplish this before.
There were more than a hundred people from the various soldiers' families, young and old, and they had more than 500 strings of cash borrowed from Liu Qiong'er, which they used to buy oxen, mules, horses, farm tools, and grain seeds. They entered the Lion Camel Ridge to cut down trees, level the land, and build water storage ponds and roads.
They even hired more than a hundred young and strong men from the four villages to help build houses in the village. Xu Wufu, Xu Zhongyu and others could not object openly and could only watch the foundation of a small village quickly emerge on the east slope of Lion Camel Ridge.
Of course, the root of all this is that Xu Wujiang and his men are determined to gain a foothold in Jinshagou.
Lion Camel Ridge is the eastern gateway to Jinshagou, separated by a hill. If a small path can be opened in the middle, it will only take an hour for people with strong legs to walk back and forth. The families of the military soldiers can move into Lion Camel Ridge, and even use the manpower of Lutai Village to build a walled village with the help of Lutai Village. Then, they will be able to establish a foothold in Jinshagou, supporting each other.
This was also the day after Xu Huai caused a big fuss in Huolu Hall. Xu Wujiang personally sneaked back to the South Camp and discussed and decided with Su Laochang, Xu Guanshan and others. Xu Wujiang also met with the leaders of the various military families to further rally people's hearts.
Whether it was desertion from the army or joining the bandits, it was a serious crime that the court could not tolerate.
As long as people's hearts had not been scattered in the beginning, at this time, the leaders of each family and the soldiers had no choice but to follow Xu Wujiang to death.
The shabby road opens up the mountains and forests.
The initial conditions were certainly difficult, but fortunately, most of the soldiers were from impoverished families and could endure any hardship. After more than ten days, they built forty or fifty shacks in a valley on the east slope of Lion Camel Ridge, and everyone moved out from the South Village one after another.
Naturally, Xu Wukun also parted ways completely with Xu Wuqi, Xu Wufu and the others, and moved to Lion Camel Ridge with his family. He and Xu Wuliang were not responsible for the chores of reclaiming fields and building village walls and houses, but mainly patrolled the mountains and forests with Xu Huai. After a busy day with the soldiers, they would also organize the young and strong to conduct training in the evening.
After driving Tang Tiande away, Xu Wuliang, Xu Wukun and others were worried that Deng Gui would report the matter of "surrendering to the bandits" to the prefecture and county, and the prefecture and county would directly send officials from Biyang City to arrest the families of the military soldiers and interrogate them.
In fact, more than half a month had passed, and not only was Huaiyuan Town calm, Deng Gui acted as if the incident had never happened, and the prefecture and county did not send officials directly to Yuhuangling.
A few days ago, I only heard from the people of Beizhai that some officials went to Qingxizhai to check the situation and then went straight back to Biyang City. There was no accurate statement as to whether Xu Wujiang and others had surrendered to the bandits or were annihilated by the bandit camp of Hutouzhai.
However, news came out from Hutou Village that Xu Wujiang had led people to join them, but this news was only circulated in secret and no one would make it public - after all, no one would admit that there was such a source of news.
Xu Huai also anticipated the current situation.
Deng Gui revealed his true feelings in the secret letters he exchanged with Chen Tong .
Deng Gui arranged Xu Wujiang and others to die, just waiting to be transferred away from Huaiyuan and have Cai Ying send his own direct subordinates to take over as inspectors. By then, whether Wang Bing lived or died would have nothing to do with him.
Xu Wujiang and others disappeared from Qingxi Village. No matter whether they surrendered to the bandits, were annihilated by the bandits in Hutou Village, or hid in the deep mountains and forests, it didn't make much difference to Deng Gui.
Deng Gui is just waiting to leave, why would there be any need to create any more trouble?
As for the prefect Chen Shi and the county magistrate Cheng Lunying, even if they had not directly colluded with the assassin, it was obvious that they would not easily get involved in this vortex at this time.
It was not difficult to imagine the calm at this time, but Xu Huai had no idea what kind of storm was brewing underneath the calm...
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One day in mid-May, Xu Huai sat on a cliff on the east slope of Lion Camel Ridge. In front of him was a broad valley formed by the east slope of Lion Camel Ridge and the west slope of Jade Emperor Ridge.
This valley covers a very large area, about seven miles long from north to south and nearly three miles wide from east to west.
The valley is sandwiched between two mountains with steep terrain at the edges. When rain falls, it flows directly into Qingliu Creek and Baijian River in the north, and cannot form a stable stream.
The valley is full of rocks, making it difficult to cultivate. In the summer, flash floods occur from time to time. As far as the eye can see, there are stone ditches created by the flash floods distributed in the valley like leaf veins.
Under such natural conditions, there are no houses except for the overgrown trees and shrubs and the occasional intrusion of roe deer.
These past few days, images related to the valley terrain often flashed through Xu Huai's mind, making him unable to help but ponder it.
"What are you thinking about?" Liu Qiong'er saw Xu Wuliang and Xu Wukun standing aside and talking, while Xu Huai was sitting on the cliff in a daze, so she came over and asked.
"Su Laochang and his colleagues are now leading people to build ponds in the mountains to store rainwater. I thought that ponds could also be built in this valley to store enough rainwater, and the three or four thousand acres of valley land below could be improved little by little and cultivated." Xu Huai said.
"It's not as simple as you say. If we build a steep pond in this valley, it will probably cover thousands of acres. How high a dam do you need to build to store water? And how strong does the dam have to be before people can live in the valley below? You have grown up in Tongbai Mountain for more than ten years. You have seen how ferocious mountain torrents are in summer. You were stupid before, are you still stupid now?" Liu Qiong'er is now the biggest "creditor" of all the martial arts soldiers. She stays in Yuhuangling and does not have to work with them. Every day she strolls around accompanied by Ge and Xiaohuan.
Su Di has been very tired and haggard these days, while Liu Qiong'er has been traveling and sightseeing, still as charming as a flower.
On the one hand, Liu Qiong'er was knowledgeable in Yuehonglou, and on the other hand, she also liked to read miscellaneous books in her spare time. As for the construction of dams and ponds, she thought she knew a little more than the craftsmen in the villages, and she would occasionally help Su Di, Su Laochang, Xu Guanshan and others with some ideas.
She had to ensure that the "debt" she had lent out could be recovered one day in the future, unlike Xu Huai who had been idle these days and ignored these chores.
Of course, although Xu Wujiang adopted her suggestion and secretly used Wang Bin's comeback to encourage the other soldiers, he did not even send anyone to Huaiyuan Town to inquire about the news, let alone contact Wang Bin.
This made Liu Qiong'er suspect that Xu Wujiang was just using this statement to keep everyone hooked, and that he actually didn't care about Wang Bing's life or death.
To put it bluntly, Liu Qiong'er suspected that Xu Wujiang was also waiting for the assassins to withdraw after Wang Bing's death and for the situation in Tongbai Mountain to become simpler before thinking of other options.
To a certain extent, Xu Wujiang's approach is not fundamentally different from Xu Wufu's.
This is not what Liu Qiong'er wants to see.
However, for most of the past half month, apart from practicing martial arts, Xu Huai had been patrolling the mountains and forests with Xu Wuliang and Xu Wukun to prevent anyone from infiltrating and spying, and he did not make any other comments.
Liu Qiong'er had no idea what Xu Huai was thinking, so she couldn't help but feel upset.
Hearing Xu Huai's wild idea of building a pond between two mountains without considering the practical difficulties at all, I couldn't help but ridicule him.
"Am I stupid?"
Xu Huai smiled, picked up a piece of reddish red stone, and simply painted the scenes that had flashed through his mind in the past few days on the white cliff, and said to Liu Qiong'er,
"If you want to build a dam that is over a hundred feet long and several feet high to hold back the rainwater in the mountains, it is undoubtedly a foolish dream. Even if you build it at all costs, every time a flash flood occurs, the downstream will be extremely dangerous, and the dam will be in danger of collapse at any time. Who would dare to build a house under the dam or cultivate land? However, what if we follow the terrain and build shallow dams one after another to store rainwater in grades? You see, each dam does not need to be too high, three to five feet is enough. Even if there is a downpour in the mountains, the rainwater will overflow the dam and discharge, which will not only not pose a threat to the downstream, but will actually greatly weaken the summer flash floods. Don't you think this makes sense?"
Liu Qiong'er stood there in a daze, wanting to ask Xu Huai how he came up with all this, but remembering how he often said those weird things like "born with knowledge", she refrained from asking and didn't give him the chance to show off.
