After Zeng Dashan took over the management of Xiaoshantou, Geng Qiu basically didn't have to worry about his own family's affairs, and instead concentrated on helping Yu Mingyi take care of her affairs. In fact, he often comes to the hill of the Yu family, and he can always take some time to come to his house to have a look, and the two families are adjacent to each other, so there is no need to waste time at all. No, while he helped the Yu family find tenant farmers, he also helped his family find two more tenant farmers. Beixian County is poor, and most of them are poor families who have no land and no food to eat.

He and Yu Mingyi agreed that because these tenant farmers were going to help open up the wasteland first, they would provide food, lodging and seeds in the first year, and the harvest would only be 30%. Thirty percent of the fields cultivated by each household belong to the owner's family, and seventy percent are planted by tenant farmers. In the second year, the rent began to be collected normally, and the rent was 40%. The tenant farmers lived in the same mud façade, with three huts with thatched roofs, and a little open space at the back of the house. If it is not enough to live, you can build one or two more rooms by yourself, or you can use it as your own vegetable garden, these vacant land, adding up to 300 square meters, is actually not worth anything.

The tenant farmers of the two families are treated the same, which is also extremely generous in the local area, attractive enough, and Yu Mingyi's reputation is loud enough, and there are many tenant farmers who want to work here. Soon, after the selection of Geng Qiu and others, the two families each received a lot of people, the Yu family has eight tenant farmers, plus two families from Shannan Town, a total of ten households, one of which is the head of the village here, and the Yu family is an old relationship, and the people are also very reliable. The Zeng family also received six tenant farmers, plus Zeng Dashan's family, with a total of seven households.

In just three months, this originally barren and sparsely populated place has become a small village with 17 families and a population of nearly 200. And a large neat field was opened. The Yu family opened more than 100 acres, and the Zeng family opened more than 90 acres, although it was said that it was 100 acres, but in fact, it did not include the back mountain, if it was all opened, both families could open 120 or 30 acres of fields. Tenant farmers have a large population of 10 acres of land, and a small number of 5 or 6 acres of land. The Zeng family planted only six or seven acres of land, and they were ready to grow all the grain. The Yu family only left five acres of land, and Yu Mingyi was going to plant some herbs, melons and fruits. The manpower has been found by Master Zhou.

Seeing this situation, the county magistrate sighed greatly, and with a stroke of his pen, he gave this land a name, called Yujiazhuang. Hearing such a name, Yu Mingyi and Geng Qiu couldn't cry or laugh, but no matter what, it's not bad to have a name, at least it's easy to call, it's much better than calling it a wild place at random before. It's just that none of the people who live here have a family name.

At the end of September, autumn begins. All the fields that should be opened have been opened, and all the crops that can be planted have been planted. The rest of the days, everyone is relatively idle, and the hard-working people begin to collect firewood, or sell it or keep it for their own homes in the winter. The fields opened by the two families are near their own hills, and the tenant farmers are now consciously going a little farther, there are a lot of grassy slopes nearby, and there are a few small hills farther away, all of which are unmanaged, and can be cut at will, and even people with flexible brains have opened an acre and a half of self-reserved land here. Don't dare to do more, such a little, no one cares, even if someone buys it in the future, it's a big deal not to plant it, but now you can grow some coarse grains and vegetables for your family to chew.

Usually, everyone has to rush to open up the wasteland, and they don't have time to go far to collect firewood, so they all collect firewood at hand, such as the small hills of the two families, because everyone goes to the top to collect firewood, and now they have inadvertently cleaned up half of it.

On the two hills, firewood and grass were the most produced. The mountain is overgrown with strange shapes and all kinds of unknown trees, these trees are no thicker than the thickness of an adult's thigh, and the thin ones are only as thick as an arm, and very few can become adults. In addition, there are all kinds of vines and thorns, which are really not of much use except for firewood.

At the beginning, when everyone was asked to go up the mountain to collect firewood, Geng Qiu said that only the thick trees were left and the mountain was cleaned up. This mountain is not small, he didn't want it to be barren forever, he had to let it play a role. At first, he didn't have any plans, so he thought about planting some bamboo. In the bamboo garden, there are bamboo shoots that can be eaten, and can also be used to make various agricultural household items, and under one kind, you don't have to worry about it, and there are new outputs every year. You can also plant some fruit trees. In this way, the mountains that could only produce firewood and grass can produce much more.

For more than three months, the south side of the hill of the two families was actually cleaned up very neatly. Most of the small trees, bushes, thorns, etc. have been cut down, leaving only some of the thicker trees, one in the east and one in the west, and it seems that the southern mountain is very empty, and it is excellent to re-plan.

Geng Qiu spent a few days to draw a few plans for these two mountains, and painted beautiful pavilions halfway up the mountain and on the top, near which you can plant some bamboo, plant a few plum trees, peach trees or something, and then get some beautiful flowers and plants for the four seasons. The hill became a beautiful garden. It's much stronger than the rockery that people in the city deliberately made in the yard, I don't know how many times stronger, this is a real mountain, and it's a lot bigger than the rockery.

He took these drawings to Yu Mingyi, Yu Mingyi was really interested, chose one, and made some changes himself, so that Geng Qiu could start looking for someone to construct. Because he had to take care of the Yu family's mountain first, Geng Qiu asked the third uncle to dig some bamboo from the village and plant a large piece of his family's mountain first. I'm going to plan the rest slowly.

Yu Mingyi's literati temperament, his mountain is somewhat literary and artistic, focusing on aesthetics, the pavilion is more repaired, the style is more beautiful, and there are stone benches and stone tables everywhere, flowers and plants, and most importantly, there is a large plum forest. Geng Qiu's own hill is more practical, he simply divided it into three pieces, one is a bamboo garden, one is a peach orchard, and one is a nursery, preparing to raise some flower seedlings here, ornamental small saplings, and sell them. In general, these three pieces of his family will be produced in three or five years, and they can be sold for some silver money and come back. The Yu family, on the other hand, is more ornamental, and it will become a beautiful garden in three to five years.

Geng Qiu was busy with the Yu family's garden, but Zeng Dashan's family had already made up their minds to go into the mountains to hunt. Since there was no time to clear the land during these days, they had been only looking for food in the nearby swamps. Now that they are free, the two older sons of the Zeng family said anxiously: "Dad, it's time to take us into the mountains." ”

"That's it, every day is to touch some fish to satisfy our hunger, and the hares in the neighborhood are all going to be eaten by us." The other children also shouted.

Zeng Dashan smiled happily: "Okay, I'll ask the master to see if he wants to go." Although he settled down with his family, all of them were ordinary people, but in fact, he still regarded Ah Hao as the master, and even Geng Qiu became the master. It's just that Ah Hao and Geng Qiu have explained to him, don't call the master, usually call him by name like everyone else. But Zeng Dashan still educates the children in private, and this is the owner's property. It's just that he said that they were urged to come here to be the head of the village.

As soon as Geng Qiu heard that he was going to go into the mountains to hunt, he immediately agreed, and he had the same psychology as these children, wanting to go into the mountains to see how many things he could get out. This guards the mountain, and it must gain some benefits. Don't look at Zeng Dashan gave two thousand taels of silver, raising seven or eight households, just eating is a lot of expenses, he has to give the tenant farmers more than 1,000 catties of grain every month, although coarse grain is not worth much. But after a year, that's a lot of money, and even Yu Mingyi has complained that with this expense, his family's tenant farmers have a larger population. The so-called sitting and eating mountains are empty, and I still have to think of a way to increase my income.

On this day, as soon as the sky was exposed, Zeng Dashan secretly put a bow and arrows and spears on his back, took two mules that he bought not long ago, and went hunting with Zeng Changping, Zeng Changan, and Geng Qiu. Geng Qiu practiced archery with them from time to time, and his current hunting level should have become higher, but he still had to test it in a real way.

This is the first time to go into the mountains to hunt. Geng Qiu was quite well prepared, because without Ah Hao by his side, and with two and a half teenagers, he was a little worried. They crossed the shallow river, and it took them two days and one night to reach the foot of the mountain. The mountains here are bigger than the ones he and Ah Hao went to, and the forests are more encrypted. It was only nighttime when I heard a faint wolf howl in the distance. But Zeng Dashan and his two sons didn't care at all, but the mule was a little nervous.

At night, resting by a stream at the foot of the mountain, the two children only went around in a circle, and actually got two fat rabbits, and caught several fish in the water, disemboweled, and soon cleaned up, and they were ready to roast and eat directly. Geng Qiu was greatly surprised when he saw their skillful movements, and said with a smile: "I'll get it today." "He is a good eater, and it is too easy to eat just roasting, and sure enough, the hares and fish he made are even more delicious, and make everyone's stomachs full. The relationship between the two children and him immediately became closer.

This hunting opened Geng Qiu's eyes, it was obvious that Zeng Dashan's kung fu was higher than Ah Hao's, if it weren't for his kick being a little crippled, I was afraid that it would be even more powerful. And Chang An and Chang Ping, it is obviously not the first time that the two have seen blood, the two of them are holding weapons, happy, you have an arrow, I have a shot, there is no place for Geng Qiu at all. In the end, the four of them brought back, six fat big wild boars and small wild boars, and they didn't want them at all. As for hares, pheasants, and so on, there were more than a hundred of them, and even a large basket of wild eggs was picked up.

Zeng Dashan said with a smile: "Brother Qiu, this is the first time you come out, let's not rush in, that's all there is to it, next time you come, you can get more good things." After doing it for a long time, Geng Qiu was excited alone, and the three of them actually felt that this idea was nothing. Dare to love this mountain for them, but they can come if they want to, and they can get whatever they want. made Geng Qiu feel like a big fool who picked up a baby, and he didn't know how to be happy.

During this time, everyone's food was not very good, because there were too many tenant farmers, Geng Qiu and the Yu family only provided the most ordinary coarse grains, and there were basically no vegetables, so they relied on themselves to plant a little and find some wild vegetables, and occasionally gave a little meat to everyone. Anyway, there are many swamps, wild ducks, and more fish in the vicinity, so everyone knows where to look. Each person can get it according to his ability, like the people of the Zeng family, they have meat and fish to eat every day, and other people can get some every three or five days, which is enough for the family to fight tooth sacrifices. But you don't have the time to actually eat meat in large chunks.

The prey brought back by the Zeng family is more than 1,500 catties, which can make the envious eyes of the tenant farmers of the two families shine. Because these tenant farmers are still provided with food by the main family, Geng Qiu generously gave each family more than 20 catties of wild boar, one or two pheasants and hares, including the tenant farmers of the Yu family. Anyway, he is also a member of the Yu family, and he has not been touched by the light of the Yu family, and these things are extremely easy to come by.

However, judging from the situation of the first hunting, the mountain goods store in Yujia County is busy, and it has just opened now, and there is basically no business to do, so it is completely at a loss. Geng Qiu has been worrying, if Yu Mingyi didn't take this shop seriously, he would have been in a hurry to go to the source of goods.

On the same day, as soon as Geng Qiu came back, he sent someone to send fresh wild boar meat and pheasants and rabbits to Yu's house in the county seat, saying that Yu Mingyi and they also tasted game. And he himself cooked in Zeng's house, making the two little girls a little embarrassed, because Geng Qiu's craftsmanship is not ordinary, a large piece of wild boar chops stewed with winter melon, the whole pork ribs stewed in a large pot, plus a whole spicy hare meat made of two wild rabbits, which is enough to fill four large bowls. I also made two side dishes.

This big pot and bowl of meat and vegetables were brought out, and the entire Zeng family was full of oil, and the bones spit out on the table were piled up like a hill, and the dishes on the table were swept away, including two side dishes. This allowed Geng Qiu to see the amount of food that these children of the Zeng family eat. It's really half a child, eating poor people, and each person eats an average of two or three catties of meat. He also thought that he couldn't finish cooking so many dishes by himself. Where did I think that I actually ate cleanly.

Zeng Dashan saw his surprised appearance and said with a smile: "The children are also hungry, and they haven't eaten meat seriously for a few months." "It's as if the little ones didn't catch hares and fish every day, and he smuggled meat to their house a few times. This life is better than when they lived with their third uncle and aunt before. They had been hunting at that time, and they had never eaten like this. Thinking of this, he admired Zeng Dashan even more. This person has real skills, with so many children, not only to keep them fed and clothed, but also to raise them with big fish and meat.

The first time the Zeng family hunted, the tenant farmers of the entire Yujiazhuang were shocked, and everyone wanted to learn to hunt with them. They came here just to eat, and every family had something old and young to support. In fact, if you are a tenant farmer, you can't get much food down all year round, and if your family has a large population, you have to go hungry for at least half a year of the year. Forty percent of the grain was given to the main family, and one percent had to be left for seeds, and the remaining half of the grain had to be sold, and the family always had to add some clothes and other daily necessities, so even if the harvest was good, the tenant farmers would not have a good time.

Everyone is ready to move, especially a few families who have children who are about the same size as the children of the Zeng family, and who have usually played together, and even figured out the relationship between the children and talked about it with Zeng Dashan. In fact, Zeng Dashan hit this idea, he wanted to select some people from the surrounding area to come out, train slowly first, and leave it for later.