Chapter Sixteen Persuasion

  The Jianzhou Security Team occupies Long Village. This news is no secret, and the county magistrate of Jian'an County soon knew about it, as did the prefectural magistrate of Jianning Prefecture.

  Jianning Prefecture was located in Jian'an County and shared jurisdiction over Jianzhou with the county government.

  Jian'an County is an area with a relatively complex administrative system. It was the ancient capital of Minyue and the initial administrative center of Fujian when the Han people expanded southward. The name "Fujian" comes from the combination of one character each from Fuzhou and Jian'an.

  During the Ming Dynasty, it was divided into four yamens: Jian'an, Ouning, Jianning Prefecture and Fujian Provincial Governor's Office. In the Qing Dynasty, except for the abolition of Fujian Provincial Governor's Office, the rest continued to use the Ming system.

  The county magistrate and prefecture governor knew about it but didn't take it seriously, and after hearing the report, they didn't deal with it. Anyway, it was just a civilian militia, this kind of militia is now in every province.

  Every village in Xixiang also knows about Jianzhou Security Team. The reputation of Jianzhou Security Team can be said to have intimidated the entire Longcun Township's bandits, even Lujia Village was taken down by them, and other bandits have been much more obedient recently.

  However, their calmness does not mean that Xia Jun will not look for trouble with them. After more than a month of training, the scouts in the reconnaissance squad were finally able to draw maps decently under the cramming education.

  Xia Jun then dispatched two squads to scout out the bandits in Xixiang, while the remaining squad began mapping out the transportation routes of Longcun Village. By this time autumn harvest had arrived.

  Xia Jun did not have time to suppress the bandits for the time being, and since autumn harvest had arrived, the time for violent resistance against taxes had also come. The villages in Xixiang were all busy harvesting rice.

  Xia Jun took a trip to Tangkeng Village and discussed with Lin Debao for a while, mainly asking Lin Debao to help preside over the autumn harvest on the side of Lu's village.

  Lujia Village has been taken over by Xia Jun, and all the land in the village has been confiscated by the Security Team. Lu Haoshen and his bandits have been put in shackles and are undergoing labor reform in Lujia Village.

  Xia Jun arranged for ten production teams in Lujiazhuang Village to be responsible for guarding.

  For the villagers of Lujia Village, Xia Jun did not push things to the extreme. Except for men wearing foot shackles and undergoing labor reform, they could still reunite with their families as usual, and the village's houses and rations were not taken away either.

  This autumn harvest will not take their grain, and the agricultural production capacity of this era is still not high enough. Xia Jun also doesn't lack that bit of grain.

  "Lin, we're short-handed in the security team and it's a lack of talent. The team has more land now, so I'd like to ask you to take on the role of Minister of Agriculture for our team and help manage the team's farmland." Xia Jun arrived at Tangkeng Village and sat down with Lin Debao to discuss the matter.

  "Hey, I'm telling you, little brother! You're a big shot, I'm just a country bumpkin, how can I be a minister?" Lin Debao waved his hands repeatedly after hearing this.

  Xia Jun had already considered it clearly, Lin De Bao was not very capable, but his ability to manage land and grain was quite good. It is said that after his father's death, the number of acres in the Lin family doubled under his hands, more importantly, Lin De Bao was a man of good character and had a good reputation.

  "Lin, let's not talk about other things for now. Come with me first, I'll show you something." Xia Jun said as he stood up and led the way, Lin De Bao didn't know what he was going to see, but he followed along anyway.

  Xia Jun brought Lin De Bao all the way to Shiniu Mountain, where five mu of paddy fields were opened at the foot of the mountain. At this moment, dense rice had grown in the fields, and the ears of grain were full of grains.

  "Lin Lao Ge, how's the growth of the rice in this field?" Xia Jun asked Lin De Bao, who was stunned by the sight of the rice paddy.

  "Heavens! How did this rice grow? This, if harvested, would be at least a thousand catties." Lin Debao was stunned, rushed over, squatted down and pulled out an ear of rice, holding it in his hand and staring at it nonstop.

  "This is our security team's unique rice variety, one mu of land can produce over 1,000 kilograms, even if the seeds are scattered and no one takes care of it, we can still harvest over 1,000 kilograms. If someone takes good care of it, with a good paddy field, one mu of land can produce up to 1,800 kilograms at most." Xia Jun said, "This rice was planted a bit late, otherwise it wouldn't be like this now."

  "What kind of rice is this, that can produce so much grain?" Lin Debao asked in shock.

  "My uncle abroad has set up a research institute, and this is the rice variety they've cultivated. Nobody else has it. He wants me to return home, actually to do something big." Xia Jun said with excitement: "Lin Ge, don't you think that what 400 million Chinese people today, those poor common folk yearn for most is just a full stomach?"

  "Hmm..." Lin De Bao nodded in agreement.

  "Now the Manchu rule is corrupt and unbearable, people's lives are difficult, their greatest desire is to have a full meal. Our security team has these seeds, we have the ability to let them eat well." Xia Jun continued to ask Lin Debao: "Then, Brother Lin, since the Qing abolished the imperial examination system, do scholars still support the Manchu?"

  "Of course I won't support it," Lin Debao said.

  "That's right, now the poor people do not support the Qing court, and the Confucian scholars also do not support the Qing court. These people are the main forces maintaining the Qing court at present. Moreover, the Qing court's army was defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance during the invasion of China. How long can the Qing court still exist?"

  "Looking at our Jianzhou Security Regiment, we have better weapons than foreigners, and high-yielding seeds that can feed all the poor people. Although our momentum is not as great as that of the Revolutionary Party, we are more confident than them. Now what we lack is only talent, once we have enough talent, we will have unlimited development possibilities, everything depends on human effort."

  Lin Debao was shocked to hear this, and he couldn't believe that Xia Jun actually wanted to overthrow the Qing dynasty. However, he didn't have much loyalty to the Qing, and in his eyes, it wasn't worth a single copper coin. He just had some... fear!

  "Lin, you can consider joining our security team. Although the salary isn't very high, if we succeed, it will be a prosperous business for your descendants." Xia Jun continued to persuade him.

  "This thing really makes me think carefully."

  "Alright, alright, let's not talk about this. I'm getting hungry anyway, so let's head back to the village first. I'll go get a free meal at Lin's place."

  "Hehe! Let's go, let's go."

  The two of them laughed and returned to Tangkeng Village, Lin Debao couldn't stop thinking about what Xia Jun had said earlier. Judging from Xia Jun's demeanor, he indeed had a strong foundation.

  Having excellent weapons and having rice seeds with a high yield that is frightening, possessing such innate advantages, whether things succeed or not, it really depends on human effort.

  Adding flowers to brocade is not as good as sending charcoal in snowy weather. At this time, the security team is short of people, and Xia Jun has come to invite him personally. If he joins now, his future achievements will surely be high, but if he waits until the situation becomes clear before going, they may no longer look up to this rustic rich man.

  Besides, it's now unavoidable. If Xia Jun really fails in his rebellion, the village will definitely be implicated. You know, there are sixteen members of the Lin family serving as soldiers in the security team.

  Having thought it through, Lin Debao agreed that day, but Lin Debao and Xia Jun said they would wait another month to take office in the team. Now autumn has arrived, and tenants from all over have to come to the village to pay rent, these things he had to deal with first.