“Qingwan, I’m really glad that you’re willing to help the people of Dahe Village. I know that while your plan seems to require the villagers’ help, it’s also meant to benefit them. If Dahe Village truly develops as you say, I believe it will only get better in the future.”

With a determined expression, Old Man Lu slapped his thigh and declared, “Qingwan, I support you! Go ahead and do what you need to. That silver was ill-gotten anyway—if it can be used for something meaningful, then that’s a good thing.”

Old Man Lu assumed that Shen Qingwan was using the stolen silver from the bandits for her plans, which made him even more supportive.

If high-yield crops could really be grown, he would certainly back her in helping the refugees.

He, too, hated to see widespread starvation.

With the support of these two elders, Shen Qingwan felt greatly encouraged.

Upon returning home, she immediately began planning the construction of the livestock farm.

By the end of July, the mud-brick houses in Dahe Village were rapidly taking shape.

Although making the bricks took some time initially, the construction of the houses progressed swiftly.

According to the village head’s plan, each household had successfully built its own home.

On the day Dahe Village was officially established, the village head even brought a stone monument from somewhere and placed it at the entrance, engraved with the three large characters: “Dahe Village.”

The progress wasn’t just limited to their village—neighboring Li Family Village had also nearly completed their housing.

Since the two villages had started construction only a day apart, their progress was naturally similar.

Meanwhile, the foundation of the Lu family’s new residence was already laid, and the bricks and tiles had been purchased.

The workers were busy constructing the house, and Shen Qingwan had hired the village women to cook meals for them.

The workers were provided with two full meals a day and received a wage of one hundred copper coins daily.

Professional masons from the nearby town were responsible for building the houses, while Shen Qingwan also focused on the livestock farm.

Due to a lack of manpower, she hired Yang Zhiming to oversee its construction.

Yang Zhiming and his family were not originally from Dahe Village, but they were honest and hardworking.

Moreover, they had helped her family multiple times during this period, so she trusted him to take charge of the livestock farm.

As for land reclamation, Shen Qingwan assigned Lu Wenguang to handle it.

He was responsible for dividing the land, inspecting it, and paying the workers once the work was confirmed to be satisfactory.

To facilitate management, Shen Qingwan decided to consolidate all her land into a single area.

She instructed Lu Wenguang to maintain a workforce of no more than one hundred people at any given time—new workers would only be added when others left.

Inside her spatial dimension, she had a seed storage warehouse filled with a variety of crops—fruits, vegetables, and high-yield grain seeds, as well as rare flower seeds.

She had originally stored them in preparation for the post-apocalyptic world, but unexpectedly, they were now coming in handy.

Although she had plenty of seeds, livestock was harder to find.

Shen Qingwan planned to start with a pig farm since pork was the most commonly consumed meat. Other livestock could be introduced later.

She also decided to stock the nearby lake with fish fry.

The lake was large and already contained fish, but they resided in the deeper parts and were difficult to catch.

Fortunately, she had fishing nets in her spatial storage, so retrieving fish in the future wouldn’t be a problem.

It took Shen Qingwan a long time to find livestock, but she eventually managed to purchase two hundred piglets, thirty sows, and two boars.

Due to the famine, very few households still raised animals, and even fewer had pigs.

The pigs of this era weren’t the white domesticated breed but instead had brown or black bristly coats, with some even sporting tusks, resembling wild boars.

She hired several reliable villagers who had experience raising pigs to take care of them. Since there wasn’t enough feed available yet, they had to start by feeding the pigs bran.

Over the span of half a month, Shen Qingwan oversaw the cultivation of five to six hundred acres of farmland.

The sweet potato seedlings she had been nurturing were almost ready.

With the help of transparent plastic sheets in her spatial storage and the warm weather, the seedlings grew quickly.

In addition to sweet potatoes, she cultivated a variety of high-yield crops, prioritizing those that could be stored long-term and used as animal feed.

These included pumpkins, winter melons, and squashes.

She also allocated one acre each for cucumbers and tomatoes and planted large quantities of cabbage and radishes, which could be stored for winter.

In her past life, she had extensively studied greenhouse farming techniques, hoping to grow fresh vegetables during harsh conditions.

Unfortunately, she never got the chance to put her knowledge into practice.

Given the current refugee crisis, she decided to postpone greenhouse farming until next year.

While Shen Qingwan was busy reclaiming land and planting crops, she was unaware that war had erupted again at the border.

Due to the conflict, many businesses in Suzhou City were withdrawing.

After inquiring further, Shen Qingwan learned that Prince Zhan was once again at war with the Beirong kingdom.

The imperial court was embroiled in internal strife, while Prince Zhan was trapped in the north, facing an aggressive Beirong army.

Because of this, he couldn’t leave the battlefield.

Prince Beichen Yuan, known as the invincible warlord, was revered by the people even more than the emperor.

Under his protection, Suzhou and Yanzhou had long remained peaceful.

However, businesses were fleeing Suzhou City because the imperial court had cut off supplies to the 100,000-strong Zhenbei Army, leaving them without rations for an entire month.

For the past month, the army had relied on grain donated by Yanzhou’s merchants and citizens, but even that was running out.

Prince Zhan had ordered Suzhou’s governor to requisition food, prompting business owners to flee—not out of fear of taxation but because they feared the eventual collapse of the northern front.

If Beirong broke through, they could march straight into Yanzhou and Suzhou, which was what terrified the merchants the most.

Instead of waiting for disaster, they chose to relocate their businesses elsewhere.

…

Shen Qingwan had long wanted to open a grain store in Suzhou City but hadn’t found a suitable location. Now, with many businesses selling off their properties, she took the opportunity to purchase a grain shop for 500 taels.

The shop was small—only 60 to 70 square meters—but it had a courtyard and three back rooms.

Since she had a surplus of grain, she planned to sell it at low prices to help the refugees.

Simply giving away porridge wouldn’t be sustainable, so she set a purchase limit of one pound per person to prevent resellers from hoarding supplies.

To manage the grain store, she hired Lu Youfu, the father of Lu Dachuan.

In his younger days, Lu Youfu had worked as a bookkeeper, so he had some experience with accounting and shop management.

Since he was a trusted villager, Shen Qingwan felt confident in his abilities.

With this grain store, she now had a direct sales channel for the sweet potatoes and vegetables that the village was cultivating.

After finalizing the purchase, she returned to the village to discuss the business with Lu Youfu.