In the following days, the villagers of Zhengjia Village began to busy themselves. They gathered at the entrance of Gaojia Fortress early in the morning, at sunrise, waiting for the sun to rise. Then they would board Solar Vehicle No. 2 and head to Zhengjia Village.
Of course, this was only what Li Daoxuan had observed.
Li Daoxuan could not read their inner thoughts: “Every morning, Miao Ri Star Official woke the sun. We rode the magical car borrowed by the Deity from Miao Ri Star Official, returning ho to farm. Ah, each day unfolded so spectacularly. Even the emperor wouldn’t have such a magical car to travel in on the way to farm.”
In reality, the newly appointed Emperor Chongzhen was a young man, not old at all, but that was beyond their concern.
After observing for a day, Li Daoxuan noticed one issue: only a quarter of Zhengjia Village’s farmland was being utilized.
Originally, Zhengjia Village had a far larger population than Gaojia Village, with twice the amount of farmland.
When Zheng Yanfu followed Wang Er to revolt, he swept away most of Zhengjia Village’s population. These people either perished in battles or were now labor offenders at Gaojia Village.
The farmland belonging to those “lost” villagers lay entirely abandoned, with no one to sow seeds. The remaining twenty or so villagers obediently refrained from occupying others’ fields, tending only their own. Hence, farmland utilization beca severely inefficient.
Such waste was unacceptable.
Li Daoxuan summoned Gao Yiye and Thirty-Two, instructing them to resolve the idle farmland problem.
Thirty-Two, experienced in such matters as a magistrate’s aide, tackled it skillfully. He first inventoried Zhengjia Village’s remaining residents and their land deeds. Then he checked the labor offenders to identify who hailed from Zhengjia Village and which land deeds they possessed.
This revealed the deceased, whose land beca “unclaid territory.” Normally, such plots would be discovered through the imperial court’s periodic “land surveys” before being resold or reallocated.
But with Gaojia Village now powerful, they wouldn’t wait for the court. Thirty-Two sent Clerk Tan Liwen to survey Zhengjia Village’s land. He lent this “unclaid territory rent-free” to the twenty or so remaining residents—labor offenders excluded.
Thus, the Zhengjia villagers doubled their farmland for free, causing wild excitent. They worked with frenzied energy, as if electrified.
The labor offenders watched with envy. Those resigned to lifelong exile vowed secretly: “I must behave well, end my sentence early, regain freedom. Next ti rent-free land is distributed, my chance will co.”
anwhile, Li Daoxuan pondered another problem: Solar Vehicle No. 2 bounced violently on the official highway, hampering efficiency. If his Tiny Kingdom expanded to uncover more villages, these decrepit roads would hinder developnt severely.
Apparently, an old saying rited implentation: “To prosper, build roads.”
Li Daoxuan went downstairs, crossed two streets, and approached a small construction site. Workers were digging up a sidewalk to rebuild it. He had no clue why this path was perpetually under renovation—patched, torn apart, repatched, and torn apart again for years.
Boldly, he handed a drink to an elderly worker and smiled, “Uncle, my ho wall needs cent repair. Buying a whole sack at the market is excessive. Could I take just a tiny bit from your site? Barely a pinch.”
The worker chuckled, “Sure, take it quickly—before the foreman notices.”
Li Daoxuan thanked him. Using two small plastic bags, he scooped a minute bundle of cent and another of sand, then scurried off, pleased with his petty heist.
Upon returning, he intended to place the cent inside his box for the tinies to manage—but reconsidered. Road construction was a massive undertaking. Gaojia Village’s population was too small. Building just three miles of road would take ages.
Forget it. He’d build the first road himself—an experint he’d long found intriguing.
Retrieving an unused plastic box, he looked up cent formula online. He mixed cent, sand, and water at proportion, stirring vigorously. Soon, a small box of concrete was ready.
He reached into the box and tapped the “East” and “North” buttons, shifting the view to an area distant from the village. Using a small tal scraper, he shaved the ground twice, sweeping dead trees, weeds, and stones aside. Parallel to the official highway, he scraped space for a fresh path.
Online “rural cent road guides” were overwhelmingly complex. Ignoring most steps, he sprayed water to dampen the soil, then ford “expansion joints.” He dumped concrete and smoothed it flat with plastic film.
Li Daoxuan personally constructed a road asuring approximately three miles long and fifteen ters wide inside the box. In reality, this translated to a thin cent strip only fifteen ters long and 7.5 centiters wide—an effortless endeavor achieved in minutes.
Had the tinies handled this labor, the duration would’ve been unknowable.
Acting as the nanny Deity while troweling cent proved surprisingly fun.
“Ah! Look—the Deity is working divine magic again!”
As Li Daoxuan labored, villagers gathered to marvel. From afar, they watched a colossal “tal plate” scrape the earth with a thunderous “crunch,” splitting rocks with godlike might, forcibly carving a parallel road alongside the official highway.
Then gray slurry poured from the sky, flooding the path for miles. The bizarre “tal plate” scraped repeatedly over this thick, odd sludge, polishing it smooth as water.
Dumbstruck, the villagers mumbled, “This… this divine act befuddles us. What is this ant to achieve?”
Debating endlessly, they only hushed upon Gao Yiye’s approach. “The Deity has bestowed a road linking Gaojia Village and Zhengjia Village. For seven days, no one may approach it—only after that may it be used. Understood? Should anyone defy the Deity’s decree…”
She pouted her petite lip and snorted—barely nacing, rather cute. But the unspoken punishnt behind her pause amplified dread, twisting her loveliness into nace.
The villagers protested hurriedly, “Dare not! Who would dare disobey the Deity?”
Gao Yiye pointed at the labor offenders. “Send a group of you. Smooth the road with planks. Then patrol along both sides. For seven days—not humans! Not even mice or rabbits step on it. Catch and beat any trespassers to death.”
The villagers sweated, “Saint Lady, after years of drought, mice and rabbits are practically extinct! Rest assured.”
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