Chapter 68: Rise Salt Fish Elder (Patreon)

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After a rough calculation, it's clear that Zhuwei Lake isn't a large lake, but it still has an area of around 10,000 acres of water. If we dredge an average of one meter, that's about 6-7 million cubic meters of silt...

Wang Shoujie has seen the dredging ships in this world. They're all manually operated, using dredging rakes to scoop up the silt onto the ships. One dredging ship can hold around 10 cubic meters of silt.

The silt that's normally dredged up already contains a decent amount of organic matter, which can be mixed with other fertilizers and fermented to create a good agricultural fertilizer, supplementing the fertility of the farmland.

After all, the riverbed and lakebed silt in this era don't have heavy metal pollution, so it's a good resource.

The problem is, 6-7 million cubic meters is equivalent to 600,000-700,000 shiploads If we have 10 dredging ships working year-round, with each ship dredging three loads and filling three loads per day, it would take around 20,000 days, or 60-70 years, to complete the project without any breaks!

And after the silt dries, it shrinks significantly, and the marshy land itself is mostly muddy, so we can only expect to reclaim around 2,000-3,000 acres of fertile farmland. The entire project would cost tens of thousands of gold coins.

After spending a huge amount of human resources, material resources, and time, we can only expect to earn around three to four gold coins per acre of reclaimed land, which doesn't seem worth it.

If we were to dredge Zhuwei Lake to a depth of two meters, the cost would increase exponentially, and it would be even harder to dredge. Even buying fertile farmland would only cost around two to three gold coins per acre.

However, the calculation isn't that simple. As Zhuwei Lake is dredged on a large scale, its water storage capacity would increase, allowing us to raise large fish, including Spirit Fish. From the family patriarch's perspective, relying solely on wild fishing isn't a long-term plan, and the income isn't stable.

If we can scale up the cultivation of economic fish species, including Spirit Fish, that would be the correct way to open up a family-based industry. The investment would be huge, and it would take a long time, but once it's successful, it would provide a steady stream of income for the family.

Moreover, the government is encouraging martial clans to open up new farmland, and for the first ten years, there would be no grain tax on the new land, which would be a significant saving.

Of course, with Wang Shoujie's personality, even if he wanted to undertake this massive dredging and land reclamation project, he wouldn't be willing to spend 60-70 years on it. By that time, even his great-grandsons would have grown up...

This project has been brewing in his mind for a long time. He originally planned to start small next year and gradually increase the scale of the project, aiming to dredge Zhuwei Lake to a depth of two meters within ten years, reclaiming 4,000-5,000 acres of fertile farmland, and gradually building it into the family's next large farm, with tens of thousands of acres of water for fish farming and several thousand acres of fertile farmland. The annual output would definitely be high, and the total investment should be controlled within 30,000 gold coins.

However, the plan has changed a bit now!

Standing on the Black Canopy Boat, Wang Shoujie had his hands behind his back, gazing out at the wild fields on both banks. He had a commanding presence, as if he were surveying his territory and planning for the family's future.

Wang Shouye, the seventh son of the Wang Clan, sat in the cabin, his initially anxious heart gradually calming down as he looked at Fourth Brother's tall and majestic figure, feeling a sense of reverence and admiration.

I, Wang Shouye, will definitely become a man like Fourth Brother, standing tall and proud.

...

The Black Canopy Boat docked at the small pier of Xingsheng Farm, where Wang Shoujie and Wang Shouye followed the nervous and respectful lead of the farm's manager to find Wang Xiaohan.

At that time, Wang Xiaohan was carefully tending to the 20-acre spirit field, meticulously removing weeds that had just sprouted to prevent them from absorbing nutrients and spiritual energy.

A single acre of spirit field, if cultivated carefully, could produce a significant amount of resources, even if it's just half the normal yield.

Wang Shoujie didn't disturb him, instead waiting patiently.

Xingsheng Farm, founded by Ancestor Zouxuan, was the second farm of the Wang Clan. It had 2,000 acres of fertile farmland, a small livestock farm, and a vegetable garden. Most importantly, it had 20 acres of spirit field.

The terrain here was surrounded by a small branch of the Six Flat Mountain range, and the original land had many scattered rocks, making it theoretically not very suitable for farming.

However, Ancestor Zouxuan chose this location and even dug canals to bring in water to open up the farm. This was because there was a Spirit Spring in the mountain valley, which represented a small spiritual vein.

With the Spirit Spring, it was possible to build a Spirit Gathering Array to condense the spiritual energy and nourish the land, making it suitable for planting various spiritual crops. Having one's own spirit field meant having one's own Spirit Rice output, which was essential for a martial arts family.

Therefore, Ancestor Zouxuan named the farm Xingsheng Farm, hoping for the family's prosperity.

This Spirit Spring and the small spiritual vein could support around 60 acres of spirit field. However, the Wang Clan was still unfamiliar with the technology of planting Spirit Rice, so they only built one Spirit Gathering Array and opened up 20 acres of spirit field.

They planned to open up the remaining 40 acres of spirit field once their technology improved. But before they could implement the plan, the Wang Clan faced a great disaster.

Later, the family was in a state of anxiety and worry, and resources were scarce.

Investing in the spirit field was also a major investment, a slow-returning project. Everyone was thinking about cultivating a powerful ancestor first, and then slowly accumulating wealth to expand the spirit field and build up the family's foundation.

However, the first person to be cultivated, Wang Dingtian, the eldest son of the family, unexpectedly died at the age of 20. It was unclear whether it was due to the psychological trauma he suffered at the age of 5, or because of the pressure from the family patriarchs, or because of his own anxiety.

It's worth noting that the Wang Clan's "Mysterious Origin Technique" has always been known for its stability and balance, and even going back a thousand years to the Longzuo Wang Clan, cases of practitioners going berserk were extremely rare.

After the family's grief, they shifted their attention to Wang Dingyue, the second son, and Wang Xiaohan, the sixth son. The elders, who had learned from their mistakes, did not put too much pressure on Wang Dingyue, but instead cultivated him in an orderly manner.

More pressure was actually focused on Wang Xiaohan, who was exceptionally talented. However, he was already quite old when he started on the Path to Spirit Realm Stage, and it wasn't until nearly 20 years ago that he managed to obtain the "Heavenly Spirit Pill" in secret, after selling many family assets.

But he failed to advance!

Later, Wang Dingyue also died in the outer domain.

This matter was also strange, and Wang Shoujie thought that the family had really reached a dead end, unable to afford the "Heavenly Spirit Pill" for Wang Dingyue. However, Wang Shoujie recently thought about it carefully and felt that something was not quite right.

Ancestor Longyan could have sold the "Turtle Scale Treasure Shield" to raise funds for Wang Shoujie, so why didn't she do the same for his father Wang Dingyue? Moreover, after Wang Dingyue's death, Ancestor Longyan didn't even show her face, as if she was afraid of being seen through. There was a high possibility that she had taken action during that time.

If Ancestor Longyan had taken action, then who had she acted with? Could it be that Wang Dingyue wasn't the only one who went to the outer domain, but was accompanied by Ancestor Longyan?

If this speculation was true, then why did Ancestor Longyan and Wang Dingyue go to the outer domain at such a critical moment? Was it really just to raise funds and seek opportunities, as publicly announced?

It couldn't be.

Wang Shoujie had reason to believe that Ancestor Longyan and the clan elders were hiding a big secret from him. And that secret must be very important to the Wang Clan. Perhaps there were opportunities to advance to the Spirit Realm in the outer domain, but Wang Dingyue had failed?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it must be so. Otherwise, Ancestor Longyan would have chosen to sell the "Turtle Scale Treasure Shield" to buy the "Heavenly Spirit Pill" for Wang Dingyue, rather than taking a risk together to seek something in the outer domain.

If possible, he would try to extract some information from Ancestor Longyan's mouth.

Just as Wang Shoujie was thinking, the Sixth Elder finished dealing with the weeds and walked out of the forest fields, seeing Wang Shoujie and Wang Shouye waiting outside. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and smile: "Shoujie, how did you come? Have you been waiting for a long time? Why didn't you call me earlier?"

Wang Shoujie couldn't see through his cultivation, but he could sense a feeling of depression and melancholy in his spiritual state. It was very clear that he still hadn't recovered from the failure of his attempt to break through to the Spirit Realm at a great cost. He was only 65 years old, but he felt older than the Fourth Elder Wang Xiaozhi, like a true old farmer.

"Sixth Grandfather is well," Wang Shoujie bowed.

"Grandfather," Wang Shouye exclaimed, running up to him.

"Hey, you little rascal, why did you come with Fourth Brother to see Grandfather?" Wang Xiaohan picked up Wang Shouye, teased him for a while, and then let the steward take him to play on the side.

Later, Wang Xiaohan invited Wang Shoujie to drink a cup of ordinary tea in front of his humble thatched hut: "Shoujie, did you come to persuade me to retry the Path to Spirit Realm Stage?"

Earlier, Wang Shoujie had sent a retainer with the "Peiyuan Pill" and Spirit Stones, and wrote a letter to him about his plans. However, Wang Xiaohan had refused, saying that his ambition had faded, and he only wanted to live a simple life in his thatched hut, guarding the spirit field.

This kind of mindset didn't surprise Wang Shoujie.

He took a sip of the ordinary tea, looked around, and glanced at Wang Xiaohan's simple hut, smiling: "No, Shoujie just came to bid farewell to Sixth Grandfather and take a last look at the spirit field left by Ancestor Zouxuan. After all, Shoujie is just a dying person."

"What?"

Wang Xiaohan almost crushed his teacup, his face filled with shock and anger: "Wang Shoujie, what nonsense are you talking about?"

A shocking aura burst out from his body.

...

[Heartfelt thankyou for the support! SlaySaga]

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Next Chapter ->Chapter 69: The Clan Background Handed Down by the Old Ancestor