Zhao Kuan said, “Put the land dispute aside for now. Let me ask you—have you planted this year’s spring wheat?”

“Planted, planted it all,” the village elder said. “How would we dare delay the farming season?”

Zhao Kuan said, “That’s good then.”

The village elder breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to arrange lodging for Zhao Kuan.

Who would have thought that the next morning, Zhao Kuan left before breakfast to inspect the wheat in the fields, taking along the villagers who came to watch the excitement.

By the time the village elder caught a chicken, everyone had disappeared. Terrified, he didn’t even kill the chicken for Zhao Kuan but hurried after them.

How could one village elder alone keep things hidden from Zhao Kuan, let alone so many people?

With everyone contributing a sentence or two and their expressive urges quite vigorous, they instantly spilled everything.

The entire village’s attention was on the land bordering the neighboring village. To争 claim the land, they not only sent people to dig ditches and erect fences in the field but also fought.

Not a single family had truly planted all their wheat. If the sowing was like this, fertilizing the winter wheat was even more neglected.

When the village elder arrived, Zhao Kuan’s expression was already dark enough to drip ink. Seeing the village elder, he immediately erupted in fury. “What ‘without long-term considerations, one will have immediate worries’! I think you’ve all read your books into a dog’s belly! You can’t even eat your fill, you’re looking at the lean season ahead, yet you’re thinking about dividing land more than ten years from now. If you can’t grow grain this year, whether you can survive until next year is uncertain, yet you’re thinking about things more than ten years away—idiots!”

The villagers quickly looked to the village elder, their faces very uneasy. They all knew Zhao Kuan was the provincial governor, an even bigger official than the county magistrate, and they’d heard he was the Grand General’s elder brother.

No one dared contradict his words. Seeing the village elder kneel to beg forgiveness, they followed suit, kneeling trembling on the wet ground.

Zhao Kuan was so angry he turned and left.

The village elder quickly got up to chase after him. After pursuing for a distance, he happened upon the neighboring village’s elder leading people carrying large hoes and lifting a large stone, which they suddenly set on the ground with a loud thud, then declared, “Old Man Yu, see clearly—from here eastward belongs to our village, from here westward belongs to your village!”

Zhao Kuan abruptly stopped and raised his head to look at him, his chest full of fury no longer containable. He waved his hand, “Bring him here!”

The guards immediately rushed forward.

Seeing this, the neighboring village’s residents immediately swung their hoes to attack. “Old Man Yu, you’re playing tricks, actually hiring outsiders!”

“Audacious! This is the provincial governor!” A guard drew his sword and deflected the hoe with one strike, kicked the person away, and pressed his blade to the man’s neck, saying coldly, “Move again and face execution without mercy!”

The villagers were startled and quickly looked to their village elder.

Their village elder hadn’t seen Zhao Kuan before, but Zhao Kuan clearly looked different from them. He quickly put down his hoe, waving his hands to have the villagers stand down, then ran forward.

Village Elder Yu had already knelt first. Seeing this, Village Elder Jiang from the neighboring village also knelt.

Zhao Kuan stood before the two of them, first asking Village Elder Jiang, “How many acres of spring wheat remain unplanted?”

Village Elder Jiang hadn’t calculated it and said quietly, “This humble one will calculate it when I return.”

Zhao Kuan sneered coldly. “How many acres remain unplanted in your own family? Surely you don’t need to calculate that, do you?”

Village Elder Jiang’s heart trembled. He had arrived directly facing Zhao Kuan’s fury and was still somewhat dazed, so he didn’t dare lie. “Still… still three acres.”

“You still have three acres—what about the other families?” Zhao Kuan sneered. “You truly have far-reaching vision, abandoning the farming season for a plot of land that might not even be divided more than ten years from now.”

“Who told you that land belongs to your two villages? All land under heaven belongs to the court, belongs to the Grand General! Besides you, there are villages all around in the four directions. In the future, as the population grows, new villages will be established here!”

“If they can farm diligently, pay taxes to the nation, and save more grain for their families—if they can better support children and have more children—then this land should go to them to divide! If their village has more children, this land will be theirs to divide!” Zhao Kuan pointed at their noses and berated them. “You can’t even finish planting your spring wheat, yet with such lofty ambitions you’re thinking about things more than ten years away, and you even dare deceive me! I tell you, if your grain production this year is below average, you’ll all serve labor duty for me in winter!”

Zhao Kuan said furiously, “Both your villages together—if you delay the farming season and miss the harvest, you’ll all get twenty additional days of service!”

The villagers’ faces instantly turned pale, kneeling on the ground not daring to make a sound.

Zhao Kuan said coldly, “Summon your neighborhood head. The village elders of both villages cannot restrain the villagers and have all delayed the farming season—replace them all! The ringleaders of the land dispute will serve twenty days at the salt fields after spring plowing ends, to serve as a warning to others!”

Both village elders collapsed to the ground, not daring to object.

Zhao Kuan turned and left.

When the neighborhood head arrived, Zhao Kuan was already mounted and waiting. “Commissioner, the county magistrate received word and is heading this way. Would you like to rest at home first and wait for the county magistrate?”

“I won’t wait for him.” Zhao Kuan was relatively calm now, because this matter was originally just something the county magistrate had casually mentioned in an official document. He was on his way to another county to handle the recruitment of mountain bandits and happened to pass by here. Thinking that encouraging agriculture and sericulture was also important, he stopped by to take a look.

Who knew the inside story of their land dispute would be like this?

Zhao Kuan said, “You’re the neighborhood head—you should still be more diligent, supervising them to plant in time and apply fertilizer, lest the farming season be missed.”

Zhao Kuan asked, “The almanacs distributed by the government office should be read more often. Don’t just keep them at home as decorations. It’s best to explain them to the common people more frequently.”

The neighborhood head quickly agreed.

Guo Pu had produced an almanac before the end of the first month. It was actually just minor revisions made to the previous dynasty’s almanac based on current celestial phenomena.

After Zhao Hanzhang received it, she immediately ordered the Printing Bureau to publish it. The speed was quite fast—on the fourth day of the second month, it was delivered to the postal stations for distribution to each province and commandery.

Then the provinces and commanderies distributed them to the counties below. At the same time, they also printed their own copies, then distributed them to each neighborhood head and village elder.

Currently, having one almanac per family was impossible, but at least they could ensure each neighborhood head definitely had one, and some village elders possessed them. With the almanacs, they could clearly determine the farming seasons.

But obviously, not everyone could appreciate the court’s painstaking efforts in this regard.

Zhao Kuan felt the county magistrates still needed to strengthen supervision.

In the neighboring province, Sun Lingxiu also realized this point.

What she had thought was common knowledge wasn’t understood by everyone. Most people in this world lived in confusion. Combined with the war, many young people left now had no elders to guide them. They truly didn’t know when to plant seeds, whether to weed first or fertilize first.

Many county magistrates also didn’t understand.

Thus, to encourage agriculture and sericulture, Sun Lingxiu basically traveled constantly. Official documents were also reviewed on the road. In just twenty days, she had lost a considerable amount of weight. For her health, even when exhausted and without appetite, Sun Lingxiu forced herself to eat. She sat in a thatched cottage watching the light rain outside and sighed, “It seems everyone needs not only almanacs but also agricultural texts.”

Her secretary said, “But most common people are illiterate. Even literate people rarely read agricultural texts. Moreover, most existing agricultural texts have been lost and really can’t be found for printing.”

Sun Lingxiu said, “We just need to annotate the almanac—we don’t need overly complex agricultural texts.”

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