Chapter 15: The Mountain Village Soldier King

The light of dawn slowly spilled from the sky, lifting the black veil of night.

A cool breeze blew gently, carrying the coolness of the night.

Ling Mo arrived behind the house, on the mountain ridge to the west.

This was the highest piece of farmland in Dashi Village, and also the only relatively flat large piece of land in Dashi Village.

Ling Mo roughly calculated that this piece of farmland was about 320 meters long from east to west and nearly 190 meters wide from north to south, with a total area of about 60,000 square meters, nearly 90 mu. (Mu is a Chinese unit of measurement for land area.)

Although the drop was still more than three meters, it was already the most regular piece of land in the whole village.

If he wanted to contract land in the village, this piece of land would be the best choice.

Ling Mo had thought it over. Since he was going to stay home to develop, planting only the small plot of land his family owned would have no future. Even if he could grow gold, it wouldn’t produce much value. Only scaling up was the key.

Now, the country was encouraging the development of new agriculture.

He had collected a lot of relevant information and news. Large-scale planting not only improved production efficiency, but also received state support.

There were reports on TV of people whose annual output value exceeded ten million just by growing loofah, and there was also the former CEO of An Nanta Mountain, who, after being released from prison at the age of 70, contracted a mountain to grow fruit, and whose output value exceeded one hundred million a few years later.

An ordinary old man could do it, so why couldn’t he? What’s more, he had powerful abilities gained from traversing worlds!

On the horizon, the first ray of sunlight pierced through the thousands of miles of sky, shining on the mountain ridge.

In the field, rows of dark green corn stalks were neatly arranged, with golden corn cobs sticking out from them. The breeze blew, and the waves rose and fell. The tall and straight corn stalks were like a military honor guard marching towards him, holding golden spears and full of spirit.

The corn was about to ripen, which was a great opportunity for him to contract the land.

After making breakfast for his parents and eating, Ling Mo came to the home of Zhou Zhishu, the village director, who lived halfway up the mountain.

“Contracting land?”

When Ling Mo proposed contracting the land on the mountain, Zhou Zhishu thought Ling Mo was crazy.

“Xiao Mo, are you kidding? You’re a college student. Why aren’t you working in a company in a big city? Why are you running back to contract land? And your dad’s health isn’t even good yet. What? You want to farm? Can you even farm?”

Zhou Zhishu’s eyes were as big as copper bells, his face full of disbelief.

Ling Mo smiled and said, “Director Zhou, I’m serious. I want to stay at home and get rich.”

Zhou Zhishu touched Ling Mo’s forehead: “This child doesn’t have a fever, does he? How can we get rich in this poor mountain area? Don’t be silly. I know you’ve made some money, so you should stay in the city. Look at Zhang Erniu in the village. That kid has been working away from home for six years, and now his family’s building has been built. And Wang Dashan’s family, after working for five years, bought a color TV and a hezi pao (a type of pistol) when they came back for the Spring Festival this year. Listen to me, don’t waste your money in this poor mountain valley.” (Hezi pao is a colloquial term for pistol.)

Ling Mo understood that Zhou Zhishu meant well. As the villagers gradually left the mountains to work in other places, they had seen the prosperous world outside and earned money easily, which they had never dared to imagine before.

In the hearts of all the villagers, it had been determined that going out to work was the only promising way to get rid of poverty and become rich.

However, Ling Mo knew that because they lacked education, the villagers were doing the most difficult and tiring jobs, and some had even paid the price with their lives.

And the departure of the young and middle-aged laborers left countless old people and children in the mountains.

Had the mountains changed after so many years? Yes, they had changed, but the rich had not become rich, and the poor had become poorer.

Of course, all of this had little to do with his plans. He just wanted to stay at home, take better care of his parents, and improve his family’s living environment.

Ling Mo insisted: “Director Zhou, I’ve already decided. Anyway, most of the land in our village is barren, so why not contract it to me? I’ll pay, isn’t that a win-win situation?”

“Are you really serious?” Zhou Zhishu confirmed.

Ling Mo nodded: “Yes, in fact, there are many treasures in our mountains, but they have been buried because of inconvenient transportation. I believe I can do well.”

Zhou Zhishu sighed and said, “Hey, what a good kid. Okay, okay, since you’ve decided, then I’ll go talk to them about it.”

Ling Mo explained the location and area of the land to Zhou Zhishu. When he came out of Zhou Zhishu’s house, the sun had already reached noon. The sun was shining brightly, and the whole earth was exuding a scorching heat.

On the large terraced fields between the mountainside and the mountain ridge, many villagers were working hard in the fields under the scorching sun.

Looking at the old people, with their gray hair and wrinkled faces, trembling and bowing their bodies, or half-kneeling on the ground weeding and hoeing, Ling Mo took a deep breath, strengthening his determination not to let his parents suffer like this again.

As he walked to the hillside leading to the mountain ridge, Ling Mo suddenly stopped.

Ahead, a burly young man was holding a bow and arrow, standing quietly behind a tree. Ling Mo looked up and saw a pheasant burying its head in the grass thirty meters away, pecking at food.

Ling Mo recognized the man, named Zhang Qinglong, who was a famous filial son in Dashi Village.

He had joined the army at the age of seventeen and was said to have later entered a remarkable unit. He served in the army for eight years, but later, because his mother was sick and in poor health, he resolutely retired to take care of his mother.

As Ling Mo stopped, the arrow in Zhang Qinglong’s hand also whistled out, accurately hitting the pheasant.

However, unexpectedly, a sudden change occurred. At the moment the pheasant screamed, a flock of pheasants flew out of the bushes at the corner of the slope.

It was actually a pheasant nest.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Qinglong quickly pulled out an arrow, and with three arrows in a row, he shot down the three pheasants that had flown up.

At the same time, Ling Mo flicked his toes, and three stones whistled out, knocking down the other three pheasants.

Zhang Qinglong turned his head in surprise, looking at Ling Mo standing behind him in shock, his eyes flashing with surprise and burning light.

“Spar?”

Ling Mo smiled and nodded: “Okay.”

The two came to a wide lawn. Zhang Qinglong threw away the bow and arrow in his hand and adopted a military fighting stance, saying, “Please.”

Ling Mo also adopted the starting stance commonly used in the Canglan Continent: “Please.”

Zhang Qinglong moved his steps slowly, with a solemn expression. Although he didn’t know why Ling Mo was so powerful, Ling Mo’s attack just now showed that the other party’s strength was definitely not below his.

You know, he used a bow and arrow to kill three pheasants in a row, but the other party used stones. He had never seen such a level of hidden weapon skills in the entire army.

But the more Zhang Qinglong walked, the more solemn his expression became. The other party seemed to be standing there casually, full of flaws, but when he really wanted to make a move, he found that every flaw seemed to be a trap, leaving him nowhere to strike.

“Ha!”

Zhang Qinglong burst out with a shout, his body rushing out like a sharp arrow. As a soldier king, how could he be overwhelmed by the momentum of a younger fellow villager?