Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 747 - 742: Dealing in Grain

The construction of the mountain base is progressing smoothly, Wang Dulei is a reliable person who does things well as long as he gets paid.

Lin Wanwan has collaborated with him multiple times, always very happily.

This time, the base design not only includes modern steel and concrete, but also incorporates a stone array positioned by the twenty-eight constellations.

The former was procured by Lin Wanwan from modern times, while the latter is the masterpiece of Xiao Chong. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

In terms of base construction, Xiao Chong seems more invested than Lin Wanwan, often riding to the construction site to personally oversee the work.

Wang Dulei, being a craftsman, is registered with the court and under Xiao Chong’s jurisdiction. This time, teaming up with Xiao Chong to work on Lin Wanwan’s base, both parties greatly benefited.

Xiao Chong is implementing what he learned from books, while Wang Dulei helps him fill in gaps and increase viability.

Conversely, Lin Wanwan, the owner of the construction site, is the laziest of them all, visiting the site merely to check progress, hardly expending any effort.

As the weather gets colder day by day, fewer people are going sea fishing twice a month at Lin Family Manor.

In the freezing weather, most people are unwilling to soak in the sea, and Lin Wanwan is naturally no different.

Because she has Xiao Chong’s backing, Lin Wanwan can do as she pleases in Mao County.

She built a warehouse on land originally owned by the Wang Family, which she later bought, outside the town of Xiaoxi, specifically for trafficking modern goods.

The majority are modern rice, of course — the cheapest modern rice, which Lin Wanwan specially went to the wholesale market to buy under the guise of stocking a cafeteria.

In modern society, with so many people coming and going, who has the leisure to watch others’ business? Just buying the cheapest rice that will turn stale in two months is not the same as buying heaps of gold.

The shop owner, happy to sell, wasn’t being nosy.

After Lin Wanwan hauled loads from the suburban warehouse, she brazenly transported them to the dock, loaded them onto a ship, and shipped them back to Lin Family Manor.

Though the large tarpaulin drew some eyes, no one had the leisure to investigate.

After all, Lin Wanwan is a Village Lady, a bit distant from ordinary folks.

The docking at Lin Family Manor sparked a crowd, with clan members gathering around to help unload.

Lin Wanwan gracefully got off the boat, smiling brightly at the clan members: "Use wagons to load them, drag them to the workshop square. These are the Southern rice sent over by my senior brother; everyone go home and bring something to trade. Dried fish, shrimp, money can all work, four pences per dou of rice."

"Oh! Rice! Lin Senior Brother’s rice delivered!"

Those on the dock couldn’t help but shout, with some going to inform others, some helping to unload, and others escorting Lin Wanwan home.

Lin Wanwan turned to Kun Lun and instructed: "Carry a few bags to families who had newborns this year, as a small token of my feeling."

Kun Lun responded with an "Um", nodded, and merged into the unloading crowd.

This year, several women in the clan gave birth, Mengbo’s wife Qin gave birth to a son in February.

Lin Wanwan sent him a Ruyi Golden Lock as a belated confinement gift.

Upon learning this, Mengbo returned the favor, as the lock alone could rival their entire family’s assets, and he dared not accept it.

Yet Lin Wanwan said, "I now only have you, my kin. The Lin Family must rise sooner or later, if I don’t support you, who else will?"

Eventually, Mengbo accepted the golden lock, then sent over the family’s freshly processed Golden Cod Fish Roe to Lin Wanwan.

Lin Wanwan naturally accepted graciously.

She not only gifted golden locks to Mengbo’s child, but also to all the newborn families in the clan.

Their reciprocation was mostly seafood, particularly fish glue.

While Lin Wanwan doesn’t directly give gold to her clan, Lin Family Manor, given this development speed, will flourish sooner or later.

However, she is eager, wanting to accelerate the progress.

After a visit to Chang’an, she realized her power was still too weak and needed development. As her clan forms a natural community of interest, they became her top support targets.

The rice she sells to the clan is refined through modern milling techniques, superior to the widespread milling techniques in the Great Tang, rendering the taste incomparable.

Moreover, she sells at extremely favorable prices, using the record in history books of the Great Tang’s Zhenguan era, four pences per dou, to sell to the clan.

Lin Wanwan’s actions certainly couldn’t escape Xiao Chong’s notice. Having heard her mention modern food abundance, more than enough to consume, he was continually intrigued.

This time, upon hearing that Lin Wanwan’s "Senior Brother" shipped Southern rice over for a grain transfer, Xiao Chong didn’t expose her; instead, he helped fill in loopholes to justify everything.

Of course, Xiao Chong’s efforts weren’t simply to please Lin Wanwan; he hoped she would aid the Lin Family Manor while also benefiting the general populace.

Although Mao County, under Xiao Chong’s two-year campaign for high-yield crops, now has sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes.

Overall, due to excessive saline-alkali land and limited per capita cultivable area, there are still many impoverished people under Xiao Chong’s jurisdiction unable to fill their stomachs.

Through collaboration with Lin Wanwan, he legitimized the origin, while she smuggled modern grains for the court.

Then Xiao Chong exchanged these new rice for more stored stale rice, distributing them as paid labor subsidies, providing food to those laboring all year without means to fill their stomachs.

At least ensuring no one in Mao County dies of hunger, even a wandering vagabond can earn food by labor.

Hearing this news, many mountain dwellers hiding in the mountains spontaneously came out, and naturally, Xiao Chong converted them directly into citizens.

With sufficient manpower at Ta Mountain Dam, progress accelerated significantly.

Once Ta Mountain Dam is completed, Mao County will be freed from the suffering of seawater intrusion, welcoming numerous fertile lands.

By then, using the equal-field system, families with insufficient land will be reassigned, completely resolving Mao County’s famine.

To accomplish this, Xiao Chong temporarily has no intention of leaving for a promotion.

Promotion is difficult, but for a Direct Lineage of Lanling Xiao clan, refusing promotion is quite easy.

In essence, with Lin Wanwan and Xiao Chong’s combined efforts, her elusive "Zhen Shiyin" Senior Brother has indeed achieved great success.

Now, Mao County is essentially ruled by Xiao Chong’s authoritative voice, even the official of Yuezhou can’t intervene — despite Mao County being under Yuezhou’s jurisdiction.

Originally, in the idle farming season of late autumn, Lin Family Manor’s clan couldn’t afford to eat dry rice, instead consuming more corn or sweet potato porridge at the table.

But since Lin Wanwan transported loads of rice back to Lin Family Manor, selling it to the clan at low prices, everyone’s life has gradually improved.