Chapter 480 - Autumn Levy (Part 35)
Liu Youren started. So the "land survey" that Chen Minggang's gang had conducted was completely fictitious—just as he had suspected. Old Eight had been using it as a pretext for his own schemes.
"At last!" he sighed. "The land survey business is over."
"Third Uncle! The land survey business isn't over yet!"
"What do you mean?"
"Third Uncle, look at this. This is the Australians' 'Administrative Appeal Response.' Every grain household who signed the petition received one."
Liu Youren hurriedly unfolded another neatly-creased piece of paper. It was also a printed document. The heading was blunt—"To Liu Youren of Liu Family Stronghold, Lingao County."
No salutation whatsoever. Named directly. But Liu Youren didn't care about such niceties. He scanned the response quickly and immediately understood its meaning. He slumped back in his seat.
According to the response, the Australians were absolutely going to proceed with land surveying. All this commotion—the Australians had rejected Chen Minggang's "survey," only to conduct it themselves!
"Third Uncle, what now? With Chen Minggang's gang finished, even if we wanted to negotiate, there's no one to talk to! Should we invite Zhou Qi over for a chat? He just got promoted to Household Clerk. He's now a top favorite under the Australians..."
"You're quite mistaken about that." Liu Youren shook his head. "Zhou Qi isn't any kind of favorite—he's merely a front man. If they really valued him, they wouldn't have created a Grain Collection Bureau."
The Grain Collection Bureau's Director-General was County Deputy Wu Ya, and the Managing Director was an Australian. Apart from carrying the hollow title of "Household Clerk," Zhou Qi was completely excluded from grain collection matters. Not a trace of favored status.
"And if you go looking for him now, he probably won't even dare meet with you."
"What can we do?" Liu Guangbiao's anxiety was genuine—not an act. Liu Family Stronghold's finances passed through his hands. How much taxable land was assessed directly affected his own economic benefits.
Liu Youren fell silent. He too was among those who had signed the petition. Should he approach Huang Binkun again and consult about continuing to appeal through Liu Dalin?
"It won't work." He immediately rejected his own idea. As things stood, the Australians had given Lingao's gentry and major households ample face. Chen Minggang's gang had just been dealt with. If he submitted another petition now, the other side wouldn't be so polite—especially with the renewed rumors about the Australians' various "sorceries" circulating again. A chill ran down his spine.
Huang Binkun was right there in the county seat and should have heard the news before him, yet there had been no word. Apparently this Huang Second Young Master had lost his nerve and didn't dare take the lead again.
What about following the same approach they'd used against Chen Minggang—reporting some land while hiding some? Last time they'd already reported an additional two hundred thirty mu. Going below that figure was absolutely impossible. But exactly how much to report...
Suddenly, realization struck him with a start: many of Chen Minggang's people were now in Australian hands. These people knew the true land holdings of local major households perfectly well—take Zhou Qi, for instance. He knew the actual extent of Liu Family Stronghold's land holdings with complete clarity. Zhou Qi had secured his Household Clerk position by relying on the Australians. Nine times out of ten, he would use these secrets to curry favor with them.
Fortunately he'd thought of this—otherwise he might well become the "chicken" in "kill the chicken to warn the monkeys."
"Third Uncle, should we invite Chief Xun over for a chat?"
Liu Youren recalled that the Divine Society's agricultural technician was currently at their estate. Perhaps he could sound out the Australians' intentions—though he didn't hold out much hope. The last time he'd tried to extract information about the "land survey" from Xun Suji, using every method to draw him out, he'd gotten nothing. These people kept their lips sealed tight.
"What is Chief Xun doing?"
"Teaching the farmhands to use the threshing machine." Liu Guangbiao smacked his lips. "That thing really is remarkable..."
Xun Suji's days were quite fulfilling—which is to say, he was exhausted every waking moment. On one hand, he served as Deputy General Manager of Lingao Grain & Oil Food Products Corporation, concurrently holding positions as factory director and chief engineer of the food processing plant. He also taught weekly classes at the National School's "Chef Rapid Training Program." Finally, three times a month he had Divine Society service assignments—as a technical advisor.
At least the Divine Society was considerate enough to assign him only one major landlord, Liu Youren. Unlike other agri-technicians who had to make constant rounds, he didn't have to travel continuously.
Liu Youren's holdings were the largest among Divine Society clients—rivaling the County Academy's school-endowment lands—qualifying him as a priority client with dedicated agri-technician service.
For Xun Suji, serving as Divine Society advisor was practically a vacation on his schedule. Liu Youren was a major landlord, and Liu Family Stronghold's living conditions were excellent. Each visit was quite comfortable—real landlord treatment, unlike the rural minor-landlord treatment at Wan Lihui's. He was given a private courtyard with two servants assigned to handle his daily needs.
Now the most demanding phases of planting and management had passed. The farmhands were gradually mastering the new agricultural methods. Throughout the growing process, Xun Suji had used new techniques and management approaches to solve longstanding problems, building the farmers' confidence in the Divine Society's "Australian agricultural methods." The arriving harvest had made them true believers.
Liu Youren's trust in him had also increased substantially. Previously, he'd always considered the Divine Society's implements too expensive. Now he purchased and used whatever the Divine Society promoted without hesitation, quite decisively. Sometimes he even proactively inquired whether the Divine Society had any new agricultural supplies coming out.
Before this harvest, the Divine Society had organized the Agricultural Implements Factory to produce a batch of pedal-powered threshing machines. Simple threshing machines had existed in ancient times, but in Lingao, people still used the most primitive method of beating rice stalks against wooden bins—inefficient and wasteful. The Divine Society's threshing machine was built according to blueprints from a 1990s-era human-powered model: a rectangular box shape with a foot pedal below the threshing end, connected by a belt to an iron wheel on the side. The wheel shared an axle with an internal drum fitted with U-shaped curved tines, their sharp ends driven into the drum. The drum ends had iron wheels; between them ran parallel wooden beams. The rotating tines threshed the grain and could also shell peanuts. Much faster than beating stalks against a wooden bin, with far less waste.
This machine was not only convenient but lightweight—two adult men could carry it between them. When first demonstrated, the initial batch of ten units was snapped up immediately by members.
Another piece of equipment was a wind-powered grain winnowing machine, using small windmills to blow and separate grain husks—replacing the manual winnowing traditionally done in villages. Not only faster but also saving labor. Lingao's wind resources were fairly abundant, and small windmills presented no difficulty for a transmigrator industry that had mastered gear manufacturing.
Both agricultural implements caused quite a stir among Divine Society users and amazed other farmers as well. Add to this year's autumn harvest: every Divine Society client had enjoyed bumper crops of varying scale, with yields increasing anywhere from thirty to fifty percent. The sensation was considerable.
"Watch your rhythm. Don't pedal too fast." Xun Suji, wearing a straw hat, instructed the farmhand who was threshing. The man nodded, seemingly understanding. Xun Suji went to check another machine—it had broken down. The belt was jammed.
Using tools from his belt, he struggled to repair it. The substandard parts produced by the Mechanical Industry Department had terrible tolerances and frequently malfunctioned. While laboriously correcting the deformed component and repositioning the belt on the guide wheel, he didn't forget to teach the young farmhand beside him about the machine's principles and how to troubleshoot simple problems.
Finally, the belt was back in place. Xun Suji rose from the ground, sweat streaming down his face. He removed his straw hat and, mimicking the heroic laborers in old movies, fanned himself with a grand gesture.
"Looking like this, I should at least get a Model Worker award or something."
"Chief Xun, would you like some tea?" The speaker was none other than Liu Meilan. Ever since Liu Guangbiao had decided to marry her off to Xun Suji, he'd been visiting her family constantly, wearing down her father with persistence. Liu Meilan's father had finally relented and agreed.
As for the girl's own opinion—no one in this era gave it a thought. Thus Liu Meilan was now preparing to be married off to Xun Suji. To create opportunities, whenever Xun Suji came to Liu Family Stronghold, Liu Meilan was frequently sent to serve tea and bring refreshments; sometimes she even delivered fruits and snacks to his residence.
The Liu uncles and nephew calculated that if Xun Suji took a liking to her and spoke up, they would immediately agree. Unexpectedly, Xun Suji behaved like a perfect gentleman. Whenever Liu Meilan came to deliver something, he was very polite, sometimes barely exchanging a few words before the conversation lapsed into awkward silence.
Xun Suji had no idea such good fortune was waiting for him. He hadn't interpreted Liu Meilan's frequent appearances before him as any sort of matchmaking signal—partly because he was dense about romantic matters as otaku tended to be, and partly because he simply didn't understand seventeenth-century courtship customs.
"Thank you, Miss Liu." Xun Suji accepted the tea bowl and drained it in one gulp. The tea was bitter and astringent, but drinking it down was cooling and thirst-quenching—quite refreshing.
Liu Meilan couldn't help but giggle at his manner of gulping it down like a cow. This man was nothing like the Australian "chiefs" she had imagined. He was unremarkable in appearance. Though his skin was a bit fairer, his every gesture lacked any resemblance to the elegant young gentlemen of romance novels. He looked distinctly uncouth—and he actually did farm work himself! She had always thought that truly distinguished young masters wouldn't soil their hands with farm work. Only landlords like her family, small-time landowners, would go out to the fields alongside their farmhands and tenants.
Being told by her elders to marry this Australian, Liu Meilan was somewhat reluctant. The young man she fancied was the son of a small landlord in the neighboring village—very refined-looking, having just recently "entered school." Liu Meilan had seen him several times at village temple fairs and still harbored fantasies about him.
(End of Chapter)