Chapter 51: Natural Disasters and Man-Made Calamities

Days passed one by one.

Qingjiang County still showed no signs of rain whatsoever.

Day after day, the scorching sun blazed overhead, baking the earth. Fields cracked in large swaths.

Within the surrounding ten li and eight villages, many ordinary common people, in order to survive, could only sell their fields and land to exchange for some grain to endure this drought disaster.

As for Qingjiang County town, clear water per ladle had risen from one wen to ten wen, with a continuing upward trend.

Because countless fruits and vegetables planted in farmland and mountain forests had withered and died, the price of fruits and vegetables sold in the county town had also increased tenfold.

The same applied to everything else.

In Dongxi Village, the Xu family was bustling with activity.

Building water wheels, hollowing out and joining bamboo pipes to form long water transport pipelines, continuously conveying river water from long distances to irrigate rice paddies and farmland.

Black gauze that allowed light through covered the sky and earth, shrouding large expanses of orchards.

Therefore, there was no need to water daily, once every ten days or half a month was sufficient.

In terms of manpower, the Xu family wasn't too short.

The Xu family's many medicinal fields also had a layer of black gauze canopy erected to avoid excessive heat that would scorch the medicinal materials to death.

Besides absorbing heat, when nighttime temperatures dropped, these black gauze would condense water droplets that dripped into the medicinal fields, relieving some of the water resource pressure.

Combined with constant supervision, after several days like this, the medicinal materials that had originally been wilting somewhat also recovered their condition.

As for the rice, with water sources plus heat, ripening had even accelerated.

The bamboo pipelines were of utmost importance. The Xu family dispatched quite a few guards to supervise, lest they be sabotaged. However, due to water source issues, once they dried up, the water wheels and bamboo pipelines also had to change with them, requiring new searches, also quite a troublesome matter.

And if nearby water sources all dried up, even Xu Chuan would be helpless.

After all, he was just a mortal, unable to summon rain from nothing.

A month later, all of the Xu family's rice paddies had matured. Within ten li and eight villages, almost only their family was harvesting.

The same applied to fruits and vegetables.

More and more common people sold their land to the Xu family.

In a short time, nearly eighty percent of Dongxi Village's land had become the Xu family's property.

It was just a pity that the grain, fruits, and vegetables on those lands had already withered and died. Xu Chuan was also powerless, able only to wait until enduring this drought disaster before planting.

In a flash, another three months passed.

Who knew how many common people had starved to death within ten li and eight villages of Qingjiang County? Nearby counties were mostly the same.

During this period, many wealthy households in other villages met with disaster. Cases of entire families being killed occurred repeatedly, their property also completely plundered.

Nor was there any county office coming out to manage things.

The Xu family was also like this. In just two months, heaven and earth had been overturned.

Servants, maids, and guards, those who died died, those who fled fled.

Some even robbed their master's household and escaped without a trace.

The Xu family's estate was burned to nothing. As for how many survived and where they escaped to, that was unknown.

Of course, the Xu family had also encountered several incidents, but those who came to attack were all slaughtered.

…

In the Xu family's great hall, the Xu family direct line gathered together. The white tiger sprawled behind Xu Mingshu's chair back, yawning with mouth open.

Also present were Gu Yiping, Li Er and his son, Zhou Ming, Zhao Dalong, Chen Ergou, and others.

It could be said that all of the Xu family's current core people were here.

"Truly the world's affairs are unpredictable. The Xu family, once Dongxi Village's foremost wealthy household, has actually fallen to such a state."

Chen Ergou said with emotion, then looked toward Xu Chuan.

"Yes, when I was young, I followed my father as a tenant farmer at their household. Back then, the Xu family's young masters, how imposing and unrestrained each one was."

"Natural disasters cannot be blocked by human strength. Whenever they occur, they inevitably bring calamity for a thousand li." Li Er also sighed deeply, thinking of his former clan.

Under natural disasters, even the county town might not be safe.

Therefore, Xu Chuan had called everyone back, simply closing all businesses in Qingjiang County, pooling their wisdom to respond to this drought disaster.

"A once-in-a-century great drought. If Great Wei doesn't take action again, I fear Yuehu Commandery will truly have starving corpses for a thousand li."

Gu Yiping shook his head and sighed.

At this moment, Bai Hua entered the great hall, looking toward Bai Jing with a grief-stricken expression. "Elder sister, the Zeng family is gone. Second sister... is also gone."

Bai Jing was immediately thunderstruck, then tears streamed down her face. "Little Fang—"

"Bai Hua, take your sister back to her room to rest, and also properly comfort father-in-law and mother-in-law. Tell them to accept their grief."

Xu Chuan couldn't spare time for mournful sighs.

"Understood, brother-in-law."

Xu Chuan looked toward the others. "From this moment on, the Xu family surroundings rotate day and night shifts, including the Xu family's fields, mountain forests, and businesses."

"If encountering villains' assault, immediately fire cannons to signal. Release different colored signals for different threat levels."

"I want to see how many desperate outlaws dare to make trouble for our Xu family."

The Xu family now couldn't worry about other people in Dongxi Village either.

In this chaotic world, being able to protect one family was already extremely fortunate. The rest also had no objections.

Kindness, sympathy, at this time, they all seemed superfluous.

…

"Big brother, we've robbed almost all the wealthy households within ten li and eight villages of Qingjiang County. Only the Xu family remains."

"That's no ordinary rural wealthy household. In all of Qingjiang County, they're a renowned great aristocratic family."

A thin, tall middle-aged man said.

"Do I need you to remind me? The Xu family's reputation has long spread to every corner of Qingjiang County."

A muscular, scarred middle-aged man kicked him, bit fiercely into a somewhat unripe fruit, then immediately spat it out and threw the whole fruit away.

"Damn, this tastes awful!"

But that fruit, reaching outside the house, was fought over by quite a few young, sturdy common people, who even started fighting over it.

Another person said, "Big brother, I heard the Xu family has fine wine, grain, fresh fruits and vegetables—everything."

Having said this, the dozen or so people in the room all had their Adam's apples roll, involuntarily swallowing.

All dozen or so people in the entire room were second-rate martial artists or above. Among them were three first-rate martial artists. As for the scarred middle-aged man, he was at peak Postnatal realm.

The room was piled full of grain, plus quite a few slightly shriveled fruits and vegetables, two gray wolf corpses, several wild rabbits, and a wild deer.

"The Xu family isn't easy to break into."

The scarred middle-aged man's pupils suddenly contracted tightly, like a drawn bowstring.

"Big brother, yesterday when going to hunt in the mountain forests, I passed the Xu family orchard. There were over ten people patrolling. The Xu family has quite a few businesses. I believe they've also dispersed quite a few people in other places."

"We can create a diversion."

The scarred middle-aged man looked at this person, raised his eyes, and said with a smile, "Old Six, you're worthy of being our strategist."

"I imagine you already have ideas. If I want to attack the Xu family, what should we do?"

Old Six pondered briefly. "If we want to destroy the Xu family, it's probably impossible. At most we can cause them losses."

"We can take advantage of nighttime when vision is poor, have several martial artists lead a portion of refugees to attack the Xu family's more important businesses. As long as they're attacked in multiple places, they'll inevitably divide their forces."

"If they don't, then we can just rob a portion and leave, we won't lose out either."

"But if they divide their forces, then big brother, you lead the remaining refugees to assault the Xu family estate. Use them as cover. The Xu family will definitely dispatch large numbers to respond. With your high martial prowess, you can take advantage of the chaos to enter and plunder extensively."

"The Xu family's first young master is an innate martial artist." The scarred middle-aged man added.

"If the Xu family estate is surrounded, won't this innate come out to kill enemies? We're numerous. In the chaos, that First Young Master Xu surely can't attend to everyone, right? As long as we don't rashly take action, we definitely won't be targeted first."

Old Six continued, "Moreover, he's only early innate realm. Innate true qi is powerful, but how many times can he use it? Once exhausted, if surrounded and attacked, we might even be able to kill him."

"Big brother, Old Six speaks reasonably. The success rate is very high!" Someone immediately became excited, the smile at the corners of their mouth gradually becoming wild.

As if they had already seen the hope of success.

"Yes, the Xu family has developed so rapidly these years. Their wealth is probably much more than all we've robbed these days combined."

The scarred middle-aged man continued pondering.

Suddenly, his brows furrowed sharply like two swords clashing, even pulling sharp creases at the corners of his eyes. He looked toward Old Six. "Xu Qian, you're not deliberately provoking me to attack the Xu family, are you?"