Chapter Seven Harvest

  In the following days, Zhang Xu's cultivation was put on hold as he devoted himself to preparing for the harvest and making military preparations. The matter of taking over the county seat was a crucial step forward in his career, and every day he would discuss it with his 15 attendants, the leader of the 15 boy scouts, three outstanding boy scouts, Wu Zhong and Guan Hai, two generals.

  Chen Gang, Li Ming, and Bu Wu, these three major officials, have been working even harder in recent days under Zhang Xu's orders. As the deputy director of Qinglin Town, Bu Wu has a heavier workload, needing to win over local strongmen and bribe officials from various departments of the Qingzhou government, so that after the peaceful takeover of the county seat, they can make preparations without being noticed. The other two deputy directors also have heavy workloads, with Li Ming in charge of the entire town's harvest work, while Chen Gang is urging the three major villages to intensify production and construction.

  At that time, the whole Qinglin Town was in a busy state, and Zhang Xu also participated in it. The first thing to do was the most important harvest work.

  The importance of grain and fodder in a chaotic world needs no further elaboration. In the past two years, Qinglin Town's most important external expenditure has been the storage of grain and fodder. In ancient times, people could do without other things, but food was the most precious resource, and Zhang Xu naturally attached great importance to this.

  The rice was golden and bright, the people of Qinglin Town were in a sea of joy, Zhang Xu stood on the city wall of Qinglin Town, looking at the endless fields, his mood also relaxed a lot.

  "Is Li Ming ready?"

  Zhang Xu looked at the clouds that were beginning to spread across the entire land, nodded slightly and said, from his angle, he could see the whole Qinglin Town, the town and ten villages were filled with white clouds, connected into a piece, along with the golden wheat, it was even more vibrant, the clouds gathered in one place, he knew that this was the scene of the people rejoicing at the harvest.

  "Master Xianshi, the strong laborers have been gathered. With your order, we can start harvesting!"

  Li Ming said with reverence, his face also filled with warmth. Seeing such a large area of fields harvested, it makes people's mood much better.

  "Hmm, General Guan Yu, have you selected the soldiers you need?"

  Although it was to let its harvest group build a second camp, the selection of soldiers had already begun, and Guan Hai had also selected the candidates with the cooperation of Li Ming and eight other managers.

  "Master Xian, the soldiers have been selected, and after the harvest, they can enter the military camp!"

  With a respectful bow, Guan Hai said.

  "Hmm!"

  Nodding, Zhang Xu said: "Bring over the 500 soldiers and have them harvest one hundred acres of grain first. Measure the average yield and use that as a basis to distribute the grain evenly!"

  "Yes!"

  Li Ming and Guan Hai, the two of them, took their orders and went down. The harvest was a big deal, so they brought along even Bian Buwu, the deputy director in charge of foreign affairs, to watch the harvest. It can be said that Zhang Xu's entire team came to watch the harvest, which was a move to stabilize people's minds.

  In this way, his followers can also be more at ease and loyal to him. The ease of the followers can also gather more cloud energy, which is very meaningful for taking down the county town.

  Soon, 500 militiamen were brought over. Zhang Xu slightly nodded and took a deep breath. A bunch of talismans suddenly appeared in his hand. He stepped on the Seven Stars with his feet and made a sword shape with his hands, shouting loudly: "Zhua!"

  Suddenly, the talisman ignited spontaneously and transformed into a faint golden light in mid-air. The surrounding followers who were preparing for the harvest all knelt down, their eyes filled with reverence as they gazed at Zhang Xuan. Threads of faith emanated from the top of their heads, flowing towards the statue of Zhang Xuan enshrined in the thatched hut, before re-entering Zhang Xuan's body through his head.

  "The immortal master has revealed his divine power!"

  The golden light in the air has already gathered, under the sunlight, it looks so dazzling, sacred and inviolable, attracting the devout hearts of believers, and their reverence for Zhang Xu grows even more.

  "Go!"

  With a wave of his sleeve, the golden light instantly transformed into a straight line, which then accurately split into 500 streams in mid-air and poured into the bodies of 500 militiamen. In an instant, the 500 robust militiamen let out a loud cheer, their arms, clad in coarse linen shirts, suddenly swelling with power.

  Zhang Xu saw this, nodded in satisfaction, this talisman is still a low-grade talisman category, but it is the talisman improved by Zhang Xu through incense and faith, its effect is extraordinary, this talisman is called 'Great Power Talisman', has the effect of increasing human physical strength for a short time, indeed it is not ordinary.

  "Go and reap!"

  Zhang Xu looked at the tens of thousands of devout followers kneeling on the ground and pointed to five hundred young men.

  "Hello!"

  These five hundred young men, who had been imbued with Zhang Xu's 'Great Power Seal' technique, were all filled with strength. With a loud shout, they immediately took up their sickles and other tools, formed into groups of five, and set off towards the fields.

  Qinglin Town Militia is a semi-military organization, all eligible young and strong men, that is, those between 16 and 35 years old, must participate in militia training. The training not only enhances their organizational strength and reserves manpower but also strengthens their teamwork ability. In this hundred mu of land, five people form a group, known as "one wu". After receiving the order, one wu is responsible for harvesting one mu of land. The speed is extremely fast, and after half an hour, the hundred mu of land has been harvested.

  Later, the cattle carts were ready, and the 100 mu of rice was all spread out on the threshing ground. Tens of cattle carts started to trample, and after the rice was threshed, Li Ming led the eight major managers, with the help of the strong young men, to quickly measure and take away the grain.

  The grain usage unit in Qinglin Town, Zhang Xu has already set the measurement standard, and the division of fields is also calculated according to the standard of Da Han Da Mu, which is about 400 square meters per mu.

  The unit of measurement is calculated in standard catties, which is for his own convenience. The standardized system of measurement is also one of the reasons why he can quickly cultivate talents in his children's camp.

  "What's the result?"

  Zhang Xu nodded slightly and looked at Li Ming and the eight major managers who came with excited smiles on their faces, nodding slightly to ask.

  "Reporting to the Venerable Immortal Master!"

  Eight stewards knocked their heads, Li Ming stood up and said: "Immortal Master, one hundred mu of land, with a total output of 31,790 catties, the average yield per mu is 317 catties, what a great harvest, Immortal Master!"

  Zhang Xu heard this and also smiled, overjoyed beyond measure. The entire town had 5 million mu of land, which was equivalent to 170 million jin of grain. This grain yield was already quite astonishing. Calculating based on an adult consuming two jin per day, a child or elderly person eight liang to one jin, the entire town of over 10,000 people would only consume one-third of the grain in a year.

  "Well, let's calculate it at an average yield of 310 kilograms per mu. This year, each mu will hand over 200 kilograms of grain, and the rest will be divided among each household!"

  Zhang Xu nodded.

  "Thanks for the immortal teacher's kindness and virtue!"

  Although two hundred kilograms of grain were handed over, it sounds like a lot, but every household still has a large surplus, at least no one will go hungry, this is a great blessing.

  At that time, Li Ming immediately spread the news and announced it to all the believers in the town. Suddenly, everyone was shouting and cheering, this is indeed a great blessing from heaven.

  "All right, don't delay the harvest. Li Ming, you organize well and bring in the grain harvest, and arrange for the land to be opened up for cultivation. After the harvest, 500 strong young militiamen will return to General Kan He's second battalion!"

  Zhang Xu said faintly.

  "Yes, Master Xian!"

  Li Ming was overjoyed, and Guan Hai also had a smile on his face. These 500 robust young men, perhaps due to the fact that they had eaten their fill for the past two years, had excellent physical quality. With some training, they could become regular soldiers. If they trained hard in the future, it was highly likely that they would become seasoned veterans, elite soldiers, or even fierce warriors.

  These days, following Wu Zhong in the military camp to learn for a period of time, Qinglin Town's system, according to Zhang Xu's division of soldiers, soldiers can be divided into four stages: new recruits, regular soldiers, veteran soldiers, elite soldiers and fierce warriors. In fact, it also corresponds to the four steps before refining essence and transforming spirit.

  New recruits are almost the same as ordinary people, while regular soldiers have already endured some hardships and their physical strength has been nourished by the energy of heaven and earth, with sufficient nutrition, they can have 200 jin (a unit of weight) of strength. Veterans are regular soldiers who have survived the baptism of the battlefield and cultivated the aura of war, with no significant difference in strength, but due to the aura of war, veterans are much stronger than regular soldiers.

  Elite soldiers have a significant increase in physical strength, the stimulation of the martial aura throughout the body, and the blood energy begins to churn. Fierce warriors are even more advanced, with the possibility of cultivating refined blood, which means that after becoming a fierce warrior, there is a chance to break through and become a martial general, this is the highest stage for soldiers!

  It can be said that these 500 young and strong militiamen have the strength of regular soldiers, which naturally makes Guan Hai extremely happy. Although he had commanded tens of thousands of troops in the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, let alone this small group, the Yellow Turbans were originally from poor commoners, and even among ordinary people, they didn't have any special abilities or symbols like the great general's blessing. Their strength can be imagined. Now being able to command 500 regular soldiers is already enough to make Guan Hai extremely happy.

  At harvest time, the whole town was immersed in a sea of joy, and the believers became more devout. One million two hundred thousand people provided Zhang Xu with even more incense and faith than usual. All the old and young people in charge of farming in the town worked together, and the 500,000 mu of land, with the help of improved tools, was also harvested at an extremely fast speed. Everyone was enthusiastic and passionate, and it took less than a month to complete the harvest. Afterwards, 500 young militiamen were completely handed over to Li Ming, incorporated into the Second Battalion, and returned to Gan Hai's command. Suddenly, the clouds surged again, and the light red cloud that had occupied one-third of the sky suddenly occupied half of it. From then on, Zhang Xu was satisfied, and after the training of the 500 soldiers in the Second Battalion was completed, it was time to send troops to capture the county seat...