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As the Clan Leader, Wang Shouzhe usually only needed to manage the overall strategy and naturally did not need to participate in every step of the plan.
Thus, during this ti, he stayed in the main residence, spending his days cultivating or "teasing" so younger siblings.
With abundant resources, his cultivation progress was rapid, and he had already reached the peak of the Sixth Layer. In just a few days of polishing, he could attempt to break through to the Seventh Layer of the Qi Refining Realm.
However, today, he needed to take so action.
After arranging things through Wang Gui, he first summoned one of the family’s children.
Not long after.
A gentle woman in her early thirties, with an attractive appearance, led a ten-year-old boy into Wang Shouzhe’s side hall.
"Greetings, Patriarch." The woman bowed slightly. The boy, however, seed sowhat fearful and hid behind his mother.
"No need for formalities, Sixth Aunt, just call Shouzhe." Wang Shouzhe returned the bow and invited her to sit, saying, "Please, have a seat."
This Chen Family mber was the wife of his Sixth Uncle, Wang Dinghai, and a direct lineage daughter of the East Port Chen Family.
In the sixth generation, intermarriage between the Wang Family and Chen Family was very frequent. Two mbers from the Ding Generation married daughters of the East Port Chen Family. Also, two aunts of the Lu Generation married into the East Port Chen Family.
Now, both families have even started intermarriages among their direct lineages, so the relationship is very close.
After the servant Wang Gui served tea, fruit, and candied snacks, he withdrew to the side.
Then Wang Shouzhe began to chat with Chen Family, exchanging pleasantries, before focusing his attention on the boy and smilingly asked, "Shouye, how have your studies been lately?"
This boy, the youngest male in the seventh generation Shou Generation, was nad Wang Shouye. He was only ten years old, ranking as the seventh child.
Why currently? That’s because the sixth-generation mbers of the Ding Generation like Third Uncle Wang Ding Race and Sixth Uncle Wang Dinghai are still young and vigorous. It’s possible that they might have more children.
It’s not without precedent, just like First Uncle Wang Dingchuan, who fathered Wang Shouyong, the fifth of the Shou Generation, at the age of fifty, truly vigorous at an advanced age.
Of course, the credit goes to First Aunt, who gave birth in her forties and was particularly fertile.
But let’s not digress.
Wang Shouye was visibly shy and very respectful of Wang Shouzhe, who, upon hearing this, was so scared that his face paled, clutching the Chen Family mber’s clothes tightly, "Fourth, Fourth Brother. It’s, it’s okay."
"Shouzhe, don’t bla him. The child has always been shy." The Chen Family mber explained sowhat awkwardly, "But he has been quite diligent lately..."
As she spoke, she sneakily glanced at Wang Shouzhe.
Wang Shouzhe understood. The seventh child must have heard about the recent reputation of the Examining Great Demon King, fearing that he would be singled out for an examination by Fourth Brother soday, so he started working hard early.
That’s a good thing.
Wang Shouzhe sipped his tea, increasingly pleased with the reputation of the Examining Demon King. It was like a Damocles sword, constantly hanging over the heads of his younger siblings and the next generation.
Alright, then we’ll just go with the flow and carry out an examination.
Wang Shouzhe started examining Wang Shouye, from basic literature to basic arithtic, all the way to understanding of Body Technique and Combat Skills.
At first, Wang Shouye was terrified, answering in a stamring manner, but under Wang Shouzhe’s encouragent, he started answering fluently, showing that his fundantals were quite solid and he had indeed been studying diligently lately.
"Not bad, not bad." Wang Shouzhe smiled, full of praise, "Shouye is doing quite well. This is your reward." Wang Shouzhe directly gave a reward of ten Qian Gold, to honor the first child to successfully pass his examination.
"Thank you, Fourth Brother." Wang Shouye’s small face flushed with excitent, and his eyes and speech beca considerably more confident.
Recently, the pressure from the Great Demon King had made the younger generation and the youth everyone apprehensive, and rewarding outstanding ones at this ti would surely provoke so envy.
Wang Shouzhe believed that the carrot-and-stick policy would make the younger family mbers increasingly excellent.
Wang Shouye’s good performance made the Chen Family mber very gratified and joyful. What mother doesn’t hope for her son to beco a dragon?
After the examination, Wang Shouzhe proceeded to the main topic, saying, "Sixth Aunt, I’ll have Shouye accompany to Xingsheng Farm to pay respects to Sixth Grandpa later." The implication, of course, was that she should not go along.
Wang Shouzhe didn’t oppose Chen Family going together, but he felt that Shouye, as a male in the family, seed overly reliant on his mother.
Take Wang Luqiu, for instance, though only a year older than Shouye, she had already started to confront the heavens, confront the earth, and even confront the air, shouting every day about slaying gods and exterminating Buddhas, taking on the heavy responsibility of the family’s rise alone.
Though Wang Shouzhe couldn’t understand what slaying gods and exterminating Buddhas had to do with the family’s rise... Furthermore, her so-called [Lonely Girl] bearing the family’s fate... Such a strong atmosphere of a middle-schooler girl also made him want to give her a thump, treating the whole family as if they were all pig teammates?
But that didn’t prevent Wang Shouzhe from appreciating Wang Luqiu’s energetic and ambitious spirit.
Therefore, Wang Shouzhe had to let the seventh child leave his mother’s embrace early and quickly beco a little man.
"Everything listens to Shouzhe." Sixth Aunt Chen Family, though sowhat pained for the seventh child, still complied.
Soon after.
Wang Shouzhe took Wang Shouye, heading through the backyard waterway to Xingsheng Farm. He was increasingly fond of taking water routes now, serene and natural, with a wide view, aligning with nature and allowing ample ti to plan the family’s grand strategy.
For instance, along the waterway to Xingsheng Farm, on both sides were low-lying wetlands. At this season, it’s overgrown with reeds. So farrs from nearby villages took the opportunity to co and harvest the reeds, treading through the mud.
Reeds, although not valuable, have nurous uses. For instance, once dried, they can be used as roofing for so rustic houses or woven into reed mats to make the upcoming sumr a bit cooler. At the very least, they can be dried and used as firewood.
However, reed fluff is not very useful. Although it looks like cotton, it does not have the warmth of cotton. If on Earth, reeds could be used to make paper, among other uses.
So of the information buried in his brain was touched, appearing vaguely.
Wait a mont?
Cotton, papermaking?
Cotton crops had long been planted in the Daqian Kingdom, with so noble families relying on large-scale cotton plantations as their industry. If Wang Shouzhe wanted to get involved, it wouldn’t be easy.
But what about papermaking?
In this world, there is of course paper. Books and letters use paper everywhere. The quality of paper is widespread, but the decent ones are controlled by a select few noble families who possess the papermaking technology.
After searching his mory, he couldn’t recall any noble families within the Changning Guard having papermaking technology.
Wang Shouzhe considered the information, touching upon this scene, and was quite interested in the vast marshlands on both sides.
Generations before, when the ancestors developed the Fenggu Farm, they sought areas that were low cost to reclaim into arable land: places with flat terrain, fertile soil, and strong expandability, to keep the developnt costs relatively low.
These two marshland areas on both sides, however, have various disadvantages, such as being situated at a low altitude. Once it rains, these areas easily flood, but when rain is absent, they beco the life vein of the land.
To transform them into farmland, large-scale landfilling is required, raising the entire terrain. Even the Ancestors, back then, couldn’t easily tackle the scope required for transforming the Fenggu Farm.
Of course, back then, thanks to First Uncle, who fathered the fifth of the Shou Generation, Wang Shouyong, at the age of fifty, still strong and vigorous.
Rembering back, at the ti of the first uncle Wang Dingchuan, Shouye was born when his aunt was over forty. Not only was she able to conceive at such an advanced age, but she was also incredibly fertile.
The side talk aside.
Consequently, Wang Shouzhe often pondered, whenever he passed by those swaths of wasteland, about how to develop the area.
If filling up the marshland was to be carried out, these areas would lose their water storage capacity co the rainy season. Nonetheless, if the total volu of water remained unchanged, the water level of Zhuwei Lake and other bodies of water could overflow, leading to potential water disasters.
The optimal solution would be to carry out large-scale landfilling of the wetlands, gradually transforming it into fertile land that can continue to expand, thus reducing the overall cost of reclamation.
Moreover, by deepening the water level of Zhuwei Lake, large-scale projects could enhance its water storage capacity, which could assist in mitigating floods when rain is abundant.
A few tis when passing by these two large abandoned lands, Wang Shouzhe kept thinking about how to develop this area.
Ever since settlent safety was established fairly securely in Ping’an Town, it has been challenging to find large areas of land that could be more easily developed into fertile land. So, if the project of filling the wetlands is carried out properly, these areas could gradually be turned into productive farmland, aiding the growth of the Wang Family.
Thus, Wang Shouzhe had already begun to include the plan for reclaiming the marshlands into future plans. He could rely more on young ones to possibly realize this grand ambition.
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