Chapter 417: You

Ang had absolutely no interest in being a city lord or anything of the sort. If Silver Coin hadn't said that the vegetables were hard to sell, he wouldn't have bothered with these things. However, he was extremely interested in seizing a piece of fertile land to grow vegetables; his eyes were sparkling, and he couldn't wait.

However, after being stunned for a moment, Fei Wo said with a bitter smile, "If there were fertile land, our place wouldn't be called a wasteland. Two mountain ranges cut off the abundant moisture from the south, leading to year-round drought and little rain. The only river in the territory is the Shahe that flows down from the mountains, all the way to God-Fall Town."

"The two banks of the Shahe are the main planting areas, but they can't be considered fertile at all. The food in the city is mainly purchased from outside. If you want land, just go to the City Lord's Mansion and buy it; it's very cheap. Many barren lands have no takers at all."

……

At the City Lord's Mansion, Silver Coin spent 50,000 magic crystals to buy all the barren land along the banks of the Shahe from Northwind City to God-Fall Town, averaging one gold coin per mu, totaling a full 500,000 mu.

If you say this price is cheap, it's not really cheap. After all, it's just barren land; being able to sell it for one gold coin per mu is simply insane.

But it would be absolutely impossible to buy it under normal circumstances, because this is equivalent to fencing off both banks of the Shahe. Even if it is barren land, isn't there still a river there?

However, the Northwind family was already preparing to slip away. They didn't care what kind of trouble selling it off like this would bring to the subsequent rulers, or perhaps there would be no trouble—after all, it was just barren land. But regardless, it had nothing to do with them anymore; getting 50,000 was better than nothing.

"Then can't we wait until we win the bid for the city lord before buying it?" Negris asked, puzzled.

Silver Coin and Fei Wo shook their heads together: "No, no, no. If we buy it now, it will be a problem for the 'previous administration' when the time comes, and there will be plenty of room for buck-passing. If we buy it after we become city lords, it won't be easy to shirk responsibility once problems arise."

Negris was stunned for a long while, then muttered: "That makes so much sense. You black-hearted profiteers and politicians..."

Du Luo Ken also sneered: "The excessive caution of the weak. If you've occupied it, you've occupied it; does anyone really dare to come and snatch our territory? Silver Coin, what is your status now? You aren't an ordinary person anymore. Appropriate caution is fine, but there's no need to be overly careful."

Silver Coin blinked blankly. What was his status?

Poor goblin merchant—to this day, he still hadn't adapted to his status: God of Profiteers.

Seeing his expression, Du Luo Ken knew that saying anything was a waste of breath, so he said irritably: "Forget it, forget it. Just do it your way; just leave the alchemy, forging, and such to me when the time comes."

When a person's thinking becomes rigid, their behavioral patterns and way of thinking will follow fixed habits. Once they go beyond these habits, they will be at a loss, or even unable to proceed.

Silver Coin had the mindset of a merchant: achieve great things with small costs, pursue profit, and take risks to pursue excess profit. If you asked him to get used to his new status and suppress others with force, he would be very uncomfortable.

……

Walking along the Shahe toward God-Fall Town, Ang, holding a stick, followed the officials sent by the City Lord's Mansion. He marked out a dashed line based on the measured points; the land inside the dashed line belonged to him.

Just as Negris said, everyone's understanding of barren and fertile is different. Even in a place like the desert, Ang can grow things, let alone in a wasteland; it just depends on how much transformation cost one is willing to invest.

In Ang's eyes, this kind of wasteland soil is quite fertile. Even without improvement, he can plant some special crops. The only thing that needs to be solved is the lack of water; no matter how special the crop is, it's impossible to grow without watering it at all.

Along the way, Ang was pondering this problem.

The official sent by the City Lord's Prefecture to measure the land was named Jimi. He was respectful and very cooperative along the way. Occasionally, when Ang inserted the stick in the wrong place, resulting in dozens of extra acres of land, he pretended not to see it.

Naturally, no one dislikes such an "obedient" guy. Negris even started chatting with him: "Jimi, you've worked hard. Do you get any subsidies for working in the field like this?"

Jimi gave a bitter smile: "What subsidies? But I can get some black bread to eat on the road."

"Uh, just that?" Negris was stunned.

Jimi smiled bitterly: "It's already not bad; at least I can eat my fill. I took a few extra, and if I go back early, the saved bread can be taken home for the children to eat."

Negris blinked: "Listening to you? Could it be that your family has already run out of food?"

Jimi shook his head: "Not yet. The salary grain issued from above is barely enough to eat, but the children are growing and eat a lot, so they are always hungry. Sigh, we are still considered lucky; those commoners are the ones who are truly miserable, as many have already run out of food."

"Sigh..." Negris also sighed.

It had long known about the food shortage in the city, but they couldn't do anything about it now. It would be fine if Ang's main body were here; the Elf Beans in the Palace of Rest alone would be enough for the people in the city to eat.

But unfortunately, Ang can only grab a handful every twenty minutes, a handful being a few hundred seeds. Even if he grabbed them twenty-four hours a day without stopping, he couldn't save everyone.

Actually, the city isn't truly lacking food. For example, powerful figures like Marquis Feivo each have dozens of tons of stored grain. There are also grain merchant associations, major guilds, big merchants, etc., all of whom have stored grain.

As long as they are willing to contribute, the food problem can be solved immediately.

However, in the current situation, it is too difficult to expect them to show kindness. Only after Silver Coin takes the City Lord position and gains power will it be possible to change the situation.

"Too pitiful, Jili, Jili! Kubada, why are you running so fast!" When Negris turned back to call Jili, it discovered that she had already run far away clutching her bag.

At this moment, a large drop appeared in the Shahe ahead, with the terraces dropping sharply by more than ten meters, forming dozens of small waterfalls.

After passing this drop, the Shahe took a big turn and flowed south toward God-Fall Town.

Ang suddenly stopped here, looking left and right at this drop, then even jumped up and looked toward the direction of Northwind City, just hopping and looking for a long time.

"What are you looking at?" Negris asked puzzledly. It felt some fluctuations of divine power on Ang; no need to think, this guy was using a divine skill again.

But divine skills cannot be projected over, and the only divine skill that can be used on the main body and be effective here is the Ring of Scales. Is this dead skeleton using the Ring of Scales to measure something?

Ang pointed to the drop section and then pointed to the direction of Northwind City, saying: "Flat, build dam, raise water level, water fields."

"Uh, you mean, the height here is level with the height of Northwind City? You want to build a dam here to raise the water level to water your fields?" Negris asked.

Ang nodded.

Negris flew up, observed the terrain, and calculated silently in its heart. It had to admit that this was a feasible and reasonable plan. The only problem was that the amount of work was too large.

The amount of work is too large? Ang tilted his head.

Seeing this, Negris's heart skipped a beat: "What idea do you have again? Tell us first so we can discuss it; don't mess around."

PS: Still typing, probably won't make it in time, updating at dawn.