Having had the experience of opening up wasteland once, Shi Zhongkui only needed to give instructions and the landowner was watching over him, so he basically did not need to worry about the preliminary preparations.

And this time it will be even easier to find people to donate food and grass and get money from the Ministry of Household Affairs for land reclamation.

Even the family that profited from land reclamation last time directly blocked the door of several heads and doctors of the household department.

Five thousand shi of grain and 10,000 taels of silver were quickly approved.

This time no one from the Ministry of Finance dared to give him any scraps of silver.

Together with the 10,000 shi of grain donated by the gentry, it was enough to supply 6,000 field troops in Daxing and Wanping for 10 months.

After Shi Zhongkui thought for a while, he simply repeated his old trick.

Let Xue Biao take 10,000 taels of silver to exchange for broken silver.

Because the number was small, and the Xue family's shops and channels were there to cover it, they dispersed and did not attract the attention of outsiders, not even a splash of water.

Ten thousand taels of silver ingots can be exchanged for 11,000 taels of broken silver.

Using the space farm, 11,000 silver ingots appeared in his hands again, and he once again ordered people to exchange for broken silver.

After repeating this process several times, the money in hand became 14,600 taels.

He took out 5,000 taels of silver and bought 8,000 taels of grain.

Then buy large quantities of iron shovels, hoes and other items.

In just a few days, I only had five thousand taels of silver left in my hand.

The Tuntian Division also summoned 6,000 people.

The only trouble is that there are 15,000 field troops in Gyeonggi, but we only need 6,000.

Although the remaining 9,000 unselected field soldiers did not dare to cause trouble, they could not help but complain constantly.

Shi Zhongkui, who had originally planned to pick up the troops for training in the winter or next spring, mounted his horse and took twenty servants including Shi Xingguo, Shi Xingtai, Shi Xingmin, and Shi Xing'an to the Tuntian Camp.

Gathered 6,000 young men and began training.

After passing the tests on marching without weight, lifting stone locks and other events, more than a thousand people were quickly eliminated.

When the remaining 9,000 people heard about the 8 to 1 chance, everyone was gearing up.

The 6,000 people finally selected were definitely the best group of people.

Although his combat effectiveness is not even comparable to that of the Beijing camp, his physical fitness is absolutely no problem and he is very obedient.

Shi Zhongkui then wrote to the Ministry of Works, requesting that Wailang Jiazheng, a member of the Ministry of Works, be dispatched to cooperate with the farming affairs.

As soon as this letter entered the Ministry of Industry, the news quickly spread to everyone.

But everyone knew that Shi Zhongkui was helping his wife's second uncle, but no one could say anything.

Because what Jia Zheng wants to do is very simple, just to be a bridge of communication, and all the real work is left to small officials and officials like Fang Lizhun.

Since he is a clay statue Bodhisattva who doesn't even handle money, naturally no one will argue with Jia Zheng.

But when the news came back to the Jia family, everyone was happy except Jia Baoyu, Jia She, Mrs. Xing and others.

Although Jia Zheng was a member of the fifth rank, Yuanwai Lang, his rank was that of a principal of the fifth rank.

If he makes meritorious deeds, he might be able to become a fourth-grade official, but Jia Zheng waited for more than ten years and failed to achieve this level.

Jia Lian soon came to the house with generous gifts, and then Yuanchun in the palace also gave many gifts from the inner court to Baochai and Yingchun.

When Shi Zhongkui came back to welcome spring in a fifth-grade imperial uniform, the entire Jia family was mobilized.

Not only Jia She, but also Jia Zheng personally greeted him at the main gate, and even Jia's mother appeared outside the second gate waiting for him and Yingchun.

And Yingchun's fifth-grade imperial uniform made all the girls in the Jia family extremely envious.

It's not that the Jia family's daughter-in-law doesn't have a royal destiny.

Not to mention the superb Jia Mu, Mrs.

But what everyone envied was that Shi Zhongkui was so young and already at the same level as Jia Zheng.

And when it comes to power, the entire Jia family combined is probably no longer as powerful as Shi Zhongkui.

In other words, in less than ten years, Yingchun's imperial grade will definitely be lower than that of Jia Mu, a super grade.

How can this not make the girls of the Jia family jealous?

This time when I went home to celebrate the Spring Festival, I finally felt elated.

Moreover, before coming here, Shi Zhongkui had repeatedly warned him that he could rely on him for everything and there was no need to worry about Jia She, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang and the like.

Moreover, when Jia Lian came to express his gratitude, he had told him to ask Wang Xifeng to take good care of her when he came back to welcome the Spring Festival.

On the one hand, Wang Xifeng is jealous of money, but on the other hand, she cares about face.

Looking at the sixteen various gifts that Jia Lian brought back, as well as the thank-you letter written by Shi Zhongkui himself, I suddenly felt that Shi Zhongkui, the second brother-in-law, was a good person.

In addition, after marrying Yingchun, she is not only Jia Lan's aunt, but also his master's wife.

Li Wan only cares about Jialan's future and will definitely look after Yingchun at all times.

The two granddaughter-in-laws took care of him together, and Mrs. Wang was most concerned about whether Jia Zheng could be promoted, so she could only put down her dignity and be kind to Yingchun.

Even if Mrs. Xing wanted to plot something from Yingchun, let alone speak out, she wouldn't even have a chance to be alone with her.

However, although Mrs. Xing is selfish and stupid, her appetite is not big.

In other words, I have no rights in Rongguo Mansion all year round. Even if I am greedy for money, two to three hundred taels per year is considered a high price.

Faced with the hundred silver coins and more than a dozen various gifts presented by Shi Zhongkui, Mrs. Xing was actually very satisfied.

Looking at this situation, every time during the holidays, I can receive gifts worth thirty or fifty taels of silver.

Not to mention spending money on Yingchun, it is basically ignoring Yingchun.

There is no effort, but there are rewards every year. This marriage is really perfect.

But Jia She was unwilling to accept it.

But it was a pity that Shi Zhongkui didn't care about him at all.

An old dandy who is greedy for money and lustful can't reason with Shi Zhongkui, let alone have power.

Wanting to use his father-in-law's status to suppress him, Shi Zhongkui simply ignored him.

Anyway, the proper etiquette was done, no one could blame it, and it only cost a few dozen taels of silver.

Just treat it like sending a beggar away.

The angry Jia She blew his beard and stared, but he had nothing to do.

But this time when I returned home, I was in a very good mood to welcome the Spring Festival. It would be an understatement to say that I was feeling elated.

The years of siltation in my heart were swept away, and I felt tender towards Shi Zhongkui.

But the Jia family was scolded later.

And the people he was criticizing were relatives and family friends.

The reason is simple. The dishes at the banquet are absolutely fine, but the wine they drink is several levels behind the Babao wine provided by Xue Pan.

As for Jia Lian, his shares in Babao Liquor belong to Xue Pan in name.

If he spoke out, not only would he not be able to keep his shares, but he would also be severely beaten by Jia She.

So even though the Jia family was embarrassed, Jia Lian still resisted saying anything or doing anything.

Not to mention how Yingchun served Shi Zhongkui after he brought his wife home.

Everything was ready for the preliminary work of the Tuntian Division. Shi Zhongkui looked at the map drawn by the three landowners of Daxing, Wanping and Changping, plus the mountain gods, and thought for a long time, and finally selected Chenjiagou in Changping as the land reclamation site.

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In addition to having a water source, this place is also only 9 kilometers away from the nearest Great Wall.

The most important thing is that Chenjiagou has a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides.

Although the valley is not big, it is still as big as three football fields, and there is no problem in stationing 6,000 people.

Moreover, by using rocks and soil excavated from land reclamation and piling them up at the ravine exit, it is easy to erect two simple city walls that are twenty meters long and two to three meters high.

When the time comes, you can retreat to defend, and advance to rescue the front line of the Great Wall.

The food and grass can last for more than a year, and there is water in the valley. The troops stationed in the valley for half a year are enough to prevent the enemy from running out of food and grass.

Not to mention those grassland people who can't survive, it's impossible to surround this oil-free valley for a long time.

After everything was almost ready, 6,000 people from the two camps brought their equipment and set off with food and grass. Shi Zhongkui stayed in the camp for two days.

While pretending to be looking for water, he ordered the field soldiers to camp in Chenjiagou.

Food, grass, tools, ironware and other items were also pulled into the valley.

Xue Jinping and Yan Guixiang observed for two days and then found Shi Zhongkui to persuade them, "Sir, although this place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is also a dead place. Once besieged, we will have no choice but to wait for reinforcements."

Shi Zhongkui also knew this and said with a smile, "We are just here to open up wasteland and farm fields, and we are within the Great Wall, so we don't have to worry about being trapped to death.

We chose to camp here for safety and ease of management at night.
To be continued...