Chapter 35: Winning People's Hearts

Zhuo Heng was the first to speak: "I am willing to stay."

The other few guards hesitated for a moment, then all indicated they wanted to stay.

They said in unison: "We swear to follow His Highness to the death!"

Yan Ning was very satisfied; she took a large bag of silver directly and distributed one hundred taels to each person.

Zhuo Heng acted as if he had been injected with adrenaline and asked: "Are we going to get some iron to make weapons?"

Yan Ning: "No rush, let's take it one step at a time. First, we need to go buy a few oxen; the matter of weapons can wait."

"Besides the oxen, we also need to build houses. When the time comes, you all look for a few nearby villages and ask if there is anyone willing to come help with the work, and while you're at it, inquire about how much the daily wage is for hired labor."

Zhuo Heng agreed to each point.

"Right," Yan Ning remembered: "From now on, don't call me Princess or His Highness. There are too many eyes and ears, just call me Miss."

"Yes, Miss."

After returning, Yan Ze accompanied Yan Ning on a trip to the brick kiln, where quite a few blue bricks were stacked inside.

Yan Ning asked: "I need a lot, a lot of blue bricks. Can you deliver these stacked bricks tomorrow?"

Lao Wu frowned: "No, you have to wait. These have all been reserved by others and must be delivered in two days."

Yan Ning placed two five-hundred-tael Silver Notes on the table, "Can you do it now?"

Lao Wu was stunned for a moment, then said: "Yes, yes, they can certainly be delivered tomorrow."

Yan Ning was satisfied.

As for the others who wanted bricks, they would just have to wait.

Early the next morning, the bricks from the kiln were delivered to Yan Ning's side; they were transported by boat, and they even helped unload the cargo.

Zhuo Heng and the others had already rushed to various villages to inquire, and also asked if others were willing to come over for day labor.

Zhuo Heng returned and said to Yan Ning: "Miss, I have inquired; generally, the daily wage is twenty wen. I didn't mention our price, I came back to ask you."

Yan Ning thought for a moment: "Give them thirty wen a day, and provide two meals, breakfast and lunch. The price is a bit higher because I want them to finish building quickly."

"These past two days, I've always had a bad premonition."

Yan Ning needed efficiency, so she was not too stingy with food and drink; in the morning, there were two large meat-filled pies, and for lunch, the meal consisted of two dishes and one soup, with a mix of meat and vegetables.

The Prince of Nanyang had sent quite a few maidservants, and Yan Ning had brought one along who knew how to tend a fire and cook.

At thirty wen a day, plus the meal arrangements, the able-bodied laborers from the nearby villages all came over, and even some strong women came as well.

Upon hearing that not only was the wage higher, but there were meat pies in the morning and meat and vegetables at noon, these people were all quite excited.

Some even asked if they could call their relatives to come along, and Yan Ning looked at the work that needed to be done and nodded.

Yan Ning was not just building houses here; she was also preparing to reclaim thirty mu of land to grow crops.

She couldn't buy paddy fields directly, and even if she could, they would be very far away, so she could only reclaim wasteland first and then use plenty of Fertilizer to nourish the soil.

With so many able-bodied laborers, plus a few oxen, and a wage of forty wen a day for land reclamation, the group worked with great enthusiasm.

Yan Ning's secret house-building and land-reclamation efforts were very efficient over these two days; the foundations had already been laid. One must know that the residence she designed was very large, and in ancient times there were no tractors, so it all relied on human labor to dig.

Perhaps because the commotion was a bit too loud, County Magistrate Lin came over.

The place Yan Ning chose was remote, and logically speaking, no one should have been able to discover it. It was just that County Magistrate Lin had gone to the countryside to understand the people's situation and discovered that the able-bodied laborers in the village were all absent, having gone to help someone build houses.

County Magistrate Lin then followed the path they pointed out and arrived.

Yan Ning saw County Magistrate Lin riding over on a horse, and her pupils constricted.

She hoped she wasn't doing things secretly only to be discovered by County Magistrate Lin.

Yan Ning looked at County Magistrate Lin vigilantly and frowned: "County Magistrate Lin, why have you come?"

County Magistrate Lin didn't know how to speak for a moment; if he opened his mouth to ask for money, would Yan Ning use her sword to point at his neck again?

County Magistrate Lin weighed his words: "According to the laws of this dynasty, it is not allowed for you to enclose land to build houses."

Yan Ze frowned as he looked at him.

Yan Ning began to fiddle with her Crossbow.

County Magistrate Lin hurriedly said: "I won't take extra. These three hundred mu of land total thirty thousand taels of silver; once you buy the land, it will be yours."

Yan Ning pondered for a moment and felt that taking out thirty thousand taels all at once was truly too conspicuous.

She thought for a moment, rummaged through her System Space for a few Silver Notes—one for ten thousand, four for five thousand—and handed them all to County Magistrate Lin.

County Magistrate Lin was slightly stunned; he found it somewhat unbelievable that she would give thirty thousand just like that. What he understood even less was how a child like Yan Ning could have so many Silver Notes on her.

County Magistrate Lin hurriedly said: "I will trouble you to come to the yamen another day to sign and press your fingerprints, and this land will be yours."

Yan Ning did not feel a bit of heartache giving away thirty thousand taels of silver.

Her space was piled high with gold, silver, and jewelry, as well as several large-denomination Silver Notes.

It was a pity that she was carrying so many treasures but couldn't take them all out to use.

The people building houses over there also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the wages and meat they had easily obtained were about to fly away.

Since so many of these people had come, Yan Ning asked: "Is there anyone who knows carpentry?"

Two people stepped out.

Wang Dagui stepped out of the ranks, "I don't do it very well, I can only make some simple tables and chairs."

The other person, Zhou Erzhu, said: "I'm about the same as him."

Yan Ning then let them go do carpentry work; fifty wen for a chair, one hundred wen for a table.

The eyes of the two men lit up instantly; if they were diligent, they could make quite a few in a day, and perhaps they could earn over one hundred wen a day.

Yan Ning didn't just want tables and chairs; she simply drew a diagram and wrote down the prices for everything she needed—chopsticks, wooden bowls, and the like all needed to be made.

Yan Ning asked again: "Who among you is good at farming?"

At this time, Zhou Erzhu said: "My cousin is, he is very good at everything from selecting Seed to composting Fertilizer."

Someone else raised their hand: "I can too! The wasteland in front of my house was reclaimed by me!"

Yan Ning selected ten older people to come and help. She also had Zhou Erzhu's cousin, Zhou Tieniu, take her to Shawan County to buy Seeds.

After buying the Seeds, Yan Ning didn't even blink as she bought five cows.

If the seller hadn't run out of cows, Yan Ning would have bought several more.

A single cow costs ten taels of silver!

Seeing her spend money like water, Zhou Tieniu's heart was trembling.

Is this what a young lady from a wealthy family is like?

Yan Ning prepared to buy enough at once, and also brought back several chicks and ducklings; the fluffy yellow balls were exceptionally cute in their cages.

Braised chicken, white-cut chicken, spicy chicken wings, spicy diced chicken...

The more Yan Ning looked, the more she liked them.

With the chickens and ducks kept together, the group hurriedly began to build a chicken coop.

The chicken coop must be built tightly, otherwise these chicks and ducklings will all run off across the mountains and plains.

Yan Ning said to Ji Lan, "It's a pity, we can't find dairy cows here, and I haven't seen any goats either."

Ji Lan looked at those few cows in the distance: "These cows should also be able to produce milk, just not as much as dairy cows; don't worry about the goats, we'll find someone to ask about them later."

Yan Ning predicted that they would be able to move in within a few days.