Chen Zikun is not a mercenary person, let alone a worldly master who regards money as dung, he only knows that there are thousands of mouths waiting to be fed under his hands, and there are also some brave and ruthless bandits, if they are not paid, it is the common people who are unlucky.

Since there were people who resisted opium cultivation, it was decided democratically, and Chan ordered a meeting of the county gentry.

In all dynasties, the rule of the imperial court is only at the county level, and then it will depend on the power of the clan squires, without their consent, even a warlord like Chen Zikun will be helpless, fortunately, Chen Zikun's image in the eyes of the squires is not bad, he said hello, the leaders of the county immediately came.

In order to alleviate the official meaning of this meeting, the venue was set up in a private room in Shanghai at night, and Chen Zikun did not wear a military uniform, a short-sleeved shirt, summer cloth pants, and sandals, and looked no different from college students in the provincial capital.

The gentry were meticulous in their robes and coats, and they gently shook the folding fan in their hands, looking complacent.

Chen Zikun said: "I summoned all the fathers and elders to come here today, just for one thing, poppy planting, who is in favor of it?" Who is against? ”

The gentry were silent, the gentry all bowed their heads to drink tea, avoiding Chen Zikun's gaze, Nantai is a conservative place, most of the gentry have been educated by the way of Confucius and Mencius, opium is not a good thing, the Qing Dynasty was defeated on it, everyone understands this principle, but the temptation of white flowers and silver is also very great, and there is also the official pressure of the protectors.

Li Juren was the first to stand up, and the little old man has been in the limelight recently, as if he was the first gentleman in the county.

"Protector envoys, everyone, Li Mou is not talented, I have a few words to say." Li Juren arched his hands in all directions, his eyes blazing.

"Please." Chan said.

"The land in Nantai is barren, the harvest of sorghum corn and wheat is not good, and it is impossible to feed people, and the money obtained from planting one acre of opium can buy wheat from ten acres of land, and it is enough to pay rent and pay to feed the tenants' families, so Li is in favor of planting opium poppies."

After speaking, he looked around again, arched his hands, and sat down triumphantly.

In fact, everyone had already made up their minds, since Li Juren took the lead, and ignored the last trace of reserve, the gentry pretended to whisper and whispered to each other, and some people came forward one after another to express their approval.

Gong Jiaxuan also stood up and said, "I'll just ask, the land is all grown with opium, what do you eat?" ”

Li Juren held the teacup and chuckled disdainfully: "What are you eating?" I don't know how much rice and white flour have been transported to Shanghai by big ships from abroad, and the price is cheaper than what we grow ourselves. ”

Everyone chuckled, and they all felt that what Li Juren said was reasonable.

"Then Gong Shanren means that he is unwilling to grow poppies?" Chen Zikun asked lightly.

Beads of sweat oozed from Gong Jiaxuan's forehead, Chen Zikun is a general who kills people without blinking, although he used to be close to him and helped a lot, but he was very disobedient to him in the matter of poppy planting, his younger brother also wrote a letter to scold him, and his son also resigned, in case he was angry with himself, how could he get it.

"Actually, it's not that you can't plant, as long as the adult says a word......" Gong Jiaxiang still gave in.

Chen Zikun waved his hand: "I never force people, so let's do it, those who are willing to plant poppies, I provide seeds, package harvest, and those who do not want to plant will never be reluctant, Li Juren has a saying that is very right, the land in our county is barren, and it is impossible to feed people by planting crops alone, I am ready to import a batch of breeding sheep and cattle from abroad, so that the people can have a few more ways to live, and I will ask you to help me when the time comes." ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, this young general is a reasonable person, he doesn't use a gun to press people, and it is really fortunate that there is such a master in Nantai County.

Chen Zikun did what he said, did not give any landlord who was unwilling to grow opium poppy small shoes to wear, and those who were willing to plant could get cheap poppy seeds from him at a preferential price, and they could also get the careful teaching of Master Long, after the harvest of this sorghum corn, half of the hillside land and dry land in Nantai County were planted with opium poppies.

The Chinese's golden mean and heavy agricultural thinking are perfectly reflected in this matter, and even activists like Li Juren did not plant all the land with poppies, and the best watered land was still planted with wheat. ”

Chen Zikun did another feat, he ordered the 1st and 2nd regiments to go to the Jiangwan area, 80 miles away from the county seat, which is the place of the last military exercise and the fierce battle of the provincial army on the bank of the Huai River.

The soldiers of the two regiments put down their rifles and picked up hoes, and began their careers in the fields, the efficiency of the army's reclamation of wasteland was not known how many times faster than that of the common people, Chen Zikun bought ten American-made tractors from Shanghai, and bought 100 ploughing cattle and 100 mules from Xuzhou, all the harnesses, ploughs, and hoes were newly built by the blacksmith shop, and the work was twice the result with half the effort.

Most of the soldiers are from the crops, and they are all bachelors who have no children to drag them down, and they are called a quick to work, although the ploughing is hard, it is much easier than fighting, Chen Zikun is good at mobilizing enthusiasm to make a mobile red flag, and there is a competition between the companies, who opens up more wasteland, who holds the red flag, and the soldiers are all straight men, and they work hard for the sake of collective honor, and in just one month, tens of thousands of acres of wasteland were opened, a barracks were built, and a ditch was dug to bring in the water of the Huaijiang River to water the crops.

Chen Zikun's Jiangbei Protector has lived up to his name, with soldiers and guns, like a hegemon, at this time, there is also good news from the back house, Yao Yilei is pregnant.

Pregnant women should strengthen their nutrition, in the poor and remote areas of Nantai, there is no milk powder condensed milk in foreign countries, and there are few ginseng bird's nests in China, only the best ones are for the elderly hens.

The escort made the adults wear civilian clothes, take two orderly soldiers to buy chickens on the street, today is the day of the big gathering in Nantai County, the most lively street in the county is crowded with people who rush to the market, the pergola is overcrowded under the people, the sound of selling comes and goes, the fragrance of frying and cooking in the kitchen of the drunken immortal house smokes to the street, on the balcony on the second floor of the opposite night Shanghai, a few bitches wearing high-forked cheongsams lie on the railing and knock melon seeds, from time to time throw a few flattering eyes, see the seduced person hit the stall or step on people's shoes, immediately laugh back and forth.

The street is lively, Chen Zikun is also comfortable, although Nantai is not as prosperous as Beijing and Shanghai, but it is always his own territory.

As he was strolling, he suddenly saw someone arguing in front of him, and when he leaned over to see, it turned out to be a man holding a woman, and said viciously that she had stolen his own chicken to sell.

The woman was dressed shabbyly, and wept and said that it was her own hen that laid eggs, and that she had sold them for her mother-in-law's medical treatment, and that she had not stolen them.

The man refused to give up, and swore to the onlookers that this was his own chicken, and he had just fed the weeds in the morning, and he would never be wrong.

Chen Zikun stood up and asked the woman, "Sister-in-law, is this your chicken?" ”

The woman cried and cried: "It belongs to my family." ”

"What do you feed the chickens in the morning?"

"Bran."

"Double happiness." Chen Zikun greeted.

"Yes!" The orderly with a box gun jumped out, and the onlookers were startled.

"Kill the chicken, and see what's in it?"

Shuangxi took out the dagger and killed the chicken, peeled it off, and it was wheat bran.

The man was terrified and fell to his knees begging for mercy.

Chen Zikun said: "In broad daylight, he dared to slander people, and the crime of corrupting the people's customs was unforgivable, so he stripped naked and stained chicken feathers to show the public at the city gate." ”

Shuangxi escorted the man away, and Chan asked the woman how much the chicken was sold for.

"Fifty wen." The woman timidly said that she was a countryman and did not know Chen Zikun.

Nantai is too poor, and the common people rarely use silver dollars in their daily economic life, and even copper slots are used less.

Chen Zikun took out a silver dollar and handed it over: "Sister-in-law, I bought this chicken." ”

The woman took the silver dollar in a daze, but she didn't know the money, and others coaxed: "Erniu's family, you can make a fortune, this is Yuan Datou, the current foreign of white flowers, one can be exchanged for a hanging and a half money." ”

One and a half of fifteen hundred copper plates were thirty times the asking price, and the women were stunned.

"It's not worth that much, big brother." The countrymen are kind in the end, and they want to return the silver dollars to Chen Zikun.

Chen Zikun said: "I said it was worth it, take it." "Say goodbye and leave.

The woman was at a loss and asked, "Who is that?" ”

Others said disdainfully: "You don't know his old man, he is our Jiangbei Protector Chen Dashuai." ”

The woman hurriedly knelt down and shouted in the direction where Chen Zikun had gone: "Qingtian, good man." ”

The people in the county are idle and have nothing to do, and they have the strongest ability to make up jokes and tell stories, plus there is the liar who is covered with chicken feathers at the city gate as a live advertisement, Chen Zikun's reputation instantly flew all over the county.

At this time, Chen Zikun had already returned to the back house and showed Yao Yilei the fat chicken he bought, Yao Yilei vomited and said: "How can you buy chickens like this, chop off the heads of the chickens, how much do you buy them?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "One dollar." ”

The servants next to him are secretly talking, one dollar can buy a nest of chickens, the handsome man is really a loser.

Yao Yilei is used to being a big spender, and nodded and said, "It's okay, it's not too expensive." ”

Just as he was about to take the chicken to the kitchen, suddenly there was a rumor outside, and Qingfeng ran in to report that a woman claimed to have been raped by her brother-in-law, and she came to beat the drum to complain.

Yao Yilei was furious when she heard this, and said, "Go and do it, I hate the villain who bullies women the most." ”

Chen Zikun said: "This case shouldn't be under my control, what about County Magistrate Liu?" ”

Qingfeng said: "County Magistrate Liu is digging a pit in the countryside." "It turned out that Liu Youjin dug all the mansions of the county government and didn't find the treasures left by Zeng County, so he had to go to the mansion in the countryside of Zeng County's order to excavate, and he was not in the county seat at this time.

"If this kid's county magistrate can't do it, let Xian, the guy who occupies the pit and doesn't." Chen Zikun complained, but he was promoted to ask about the case.