Can You Connect to the Modern Internet?
Undeterred, Wang Houde went to Cai Yaozong's house after leaving Chen Kang Family's.
Cai Yaozong just laughed it off, saying that matters related to the village head, such as grain requisition, water conservancy, and land reclamation, had been handed over to Zhao Ruxi, and that there was nothing he could do if Zhao Ruxi wanted to replace the village head.
Wang Houde had already believed Chen Kang's words, and seeing Cai Yaozong's expression, his heart sank.
However, he still went to the prefectural city the next day.
"Brother-in-law, I advised you before that everyone in your village is related to the same clan, and one shouldn't offend those close to their own burrow. No matter how you want to make money, it's best not to offend your fellow villagers too much. But you wouldn't listen. This time, I can't help you."
"Do you know how many people have suffered since the new Prefect Lord Wu arrived in the city? He comes from the Court of Judicial Review; he's extremely perceptive, nothing can be hidden from him, and he won't tolerate any nonsense."
"Moreover, he has extremely powerful backing. Even if those sub-prefects and assistant prefects have connections in the capital, how can they compare to Mister Kumu? He can freely enter and leave the palace and drink with the emperor every day. If anything happens, he doesn't even need to say anything; as long as he shows the slightest Gao Xing, the emperor will send someone to investigate and resolve the matter. Now, everyone in the prefectural government is living in fear."
"Your brother-in-law is just a nobody, I can't even get close to the prefect. If you were in the right, I would risk everything to get the prefect to speak up for you. But you're both in the wrong."
After hearing these words, Wang Houde completely gave up hope.
When he got home, he told his wife what had happened, and the couple dared not cause any more trouble. They restrained their family members and behaved themselves obediently.
The village heads of Nanyang, numbering over twenty, all knew that Wang Houde had connections and that he had been dismissed. They were all waiting to see how he would handle the situation. But all they saw was that he went to the prefectural city for a short while, then returned and stayed home, not doing anything. Everyone realized how formidable the newly arrived Lord Zhao.
Therefore, when Zhao Ruxi went to the countryside for inspection, the village heads were extremely obedient, and everyone responded actively to her orders. In addition to Wang Houde, she also dismissed two other village heads, and those two village heads did not dare to utter a word.
Not only the village head, but also the magistrates of the four counties were watching the state government's actions closely. They heard about Zhao Ruxi's various deeds and found out everything about her backers.
"From now on, carry out all the tasks assigned by Lord Zhao properly, without the slightest perfunctoriness, and without any disrespect for Lord Zhao. Otherwise, see how I deal with you." The county magistrates instructed their subordinates.
As Zhou Chun recounted these events, he smiled and said to Zhao Ruxi, "It's only because you directly targeted Wang Houde that these people wouldn't have had such a troublesome time."
If it weren't for his daughter, any other official, without any background or connections in the capital or the prefectural city, would have been powerless against Wang Houde. Even though his cousin-in-law was only a Ninth Rank official, he was still an official of a higher-level government, and lower-ranking officials had to give him some face. Although Wang Houde was a local bully and did unethical things, his actions didn't violate the law, so the officials had to turn a blind eye.
This is precisely why Wang Houde and his family acted with such impunity.
Unfortunately, Wang Houde encountered this girl this time, which was also considered bad luck for him.
"How's the land I asked you to buy coming along?" Zhao Ruxi had been running around the countryside every day lately and hadn't had time to think about the distillery. Now that she had finally visited all twenty-odd villages around Nanyang, she started asking about the distillery.
Of the three tasks she was in charge of, grain collection could only be carried out in the autumn, while water conservancy and land reclamation could only be done during the winter off-season.
As soon as she took over, she spent almost a month tirelessly traveling around the area surrounding Nanyang. Of course, this wasn't to reprimand the village heads, but to observe the water conservancy and wasteland conditions.
Nanyang has abundant water resources, but there are also high-altitude areas where water cannot be drawn. After taking this trip and gaining a clear understanding of the situation, she planned to draw a map of the water distribution and, based on her own ideas and the difficulties raised by the village heads, formulate a solution.
During the winter off-season, she conscripted laborers to build water conservancy projects, digging ditches where needed and building waterwheels where necessary, ensuring that ditches covered the fields so that the farmland could be better irrigated.
As for the land to be reclaimed, she had already found a suitable spot.
Nanyang has a fairly large forest area. In modern times, these forests cannot be logged and converted into farmland; it would be good enough if they weren't converted back to forest. But in ancient times, this was not a problem. The Great Jin was vast and sparsely populated. It had plenty of forests, but it lacked people to cultivate the land and, even more so, food.
Nanyang is close to the capital, has fertile land, and relatively flat terrain; it would be a waste not to develop it into a granary. Zhao Ruxi plans to write to Xiao Lingyan to discuss how to improve farming tools to better cultivate wasteland. At the same time, she intends to submit a memorial to Xiao Ge to see if she can secure some preferential policies to increase farmers' enthusiasm for land reclamation.
However, she can only make plans for now; she can only implement them during the winter when farmers have no time to work.
All she can do now is conduct brewing experiments.
"That land was originally wasteland. If the young lady wants to buy it, she only needs to pay a certain fee to the government office," Zhou Chun said.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Ruxi stood up. "Come on, let's go take another look."
She went out of the city and walked around the nunnery. She found that it was a hill, covering several acres. The nunnery was located at the foot of the hill. The hill was overgrown with thorns and miscellaneous trees, a place where city people cut firewood.
Although buying this hilltop would allow for land reclamation and fruit tree planting, clearing away the weeds would be too much work and not worth the effort. City dwellers would also lose a place to cut firewood.
Zhao Ruxi abandoned the idea of buying it and said to Zhou Chun, "Let's buy this piece of land at the foot of the mountain. You negotiate with the nunnery first, then go to the government office to buy the land. Register it in my name."
"Yes," Zhou Chun replied.
Back in the carriage, Zhao Ruxi called out to the system, "System, do you have the recipe for Danyang Sealed Jar Wine?"
Ever since the system offered to help her look up information, but the two couldn't agree on a price, the system hasn't made a sound. Zhao Ruxi was very busy and wanted to ignore the system for a while, so she stopped paying attention to it.
When Zhao Ruxi called out, the system took a while to reply, "No. Everything that exists is displayed on the light screen."
"Can you find out about modern technology?" Zhao Ruxi asked.
System: "... No."
Zhao Ruxi sensed the hesitation in its voice and quickly encouraged it, "Give it a try, it might work. Since you were able to bring me from the modern world to the ancient world, your light waves might also be able to travel through time and space and connect to the modern network. You haven't tried this method of earning points before, have you? It requires no cost, just a little energy. Why don't you give it a try?"