Chapter 21: The Autumn Harvest

For the past three days, the Kaixing Tavern has been bustling with activity. An ever-increasing number of people have tasted the food served there. The tavern’s reputation has truly spread, with patrons returning to praise the deliciousness of its dishes. After three days, one might have expected the crowds to thin, but groups of people still arrived, carrying food containers and money purses.

"Can we pay to take the food home?"

"Yes, that is now possible!" Yue'e said, sitting at the front counter. She was puzzled, however, as to why everyone coming today only wanted to pack their food to-go rather than dine inside.

After a wealthy merchant’s wife brought the meal home and set it on the table, she went about her other chores. The merchant and his wealthy associates ate while boasting and spinning tall tales.

"Actually, I snuck over there to take a look. It is quite grand, not shabby at all!"

"Let’s go eat there next time!"

"To think they didn’t invite us wealthy folk to the opening, but let those paupers eat there instead. What is our status, and what is their standing? They are hardly worthy of eating the same food as us. This first meal should have been ours!"

The concubine responsible for pouring their wine muttered to herself, "Then you shouldn't have asked us to go buy it for you!"

*Sigh! There’s no helping it! It really is delicious!*

Chen Fan and Li Xing sat at a desk on the second floor, overlooking every movement in the tavern. They were each working on their respective files. Chen Fan looked at the earnings from the past few days and felt that in less than a month, the profits would be sufficient for the next phase of his plan.

The next step involved teaching hunting methods to the local women and purchasing the game they caught, allowing the already scarce male labor force to be freed up for other tasks. Chen Fan had the yamen open a shop to sell the hunting tools they manufactured, providing the women with the necessary equipment. He called this "improving production tools to increase efficiency."

Once the tavern’s capital began to circulate, they intended to open chain locations. First, they would train the cooks at the Kaixing Tavern until they were proficient, then dispatch them to other taverns. The Kaixing Tavern would then continue to train new cooks. Gradually, they could renovate all the taverns in the county and then move on to other industries. Chen Fan wanted to build an entire industrial chain in this county to thoroughly resolve the economic problems of Zeng County.

Meanwhile, Li Xing was studying the document formats Chen Fan had shown him. He had already begun practicing by writing a few drafts.

This shop, in a county of sixty thousand people with fewer than five thousand men, employed thirty staff members. Fifteen of them were men, and these fifteen were actually informants arranged by Chen Fan. After reading the books on espionage in the library, Chen Fan discovered that this country’s spycraft was surprisingly advanced. He had previously wondered how the bailiffs, wearing their official uniforms every day, could ever collect evidence against criminals. Criminals would be scared off the moment they saw the uniform!

It was crucial to clear up the entire criminal network of Zeng County, but criminals usually kept themselves well-hidden. To uproot them, one had to investigate every detail of their lives. Thus, intelligence gathering became essential. Chen Fan had racked his brains—he had never been an undercover police officer, so how was he supposed to teach it? After reading the treatise on espionage, he combined its concepts with his own ideas to draft new methods for bailiffs to handle cases, such as disguising themselves as commoners to hide their identities and defeating the enemy from the shadows. These fifteen bailiffs were currently gaining experience and honing their skills.

Magistrate Cao was currently preoccupied with the autumn harvest. He sat at his desk in the study, filled with joy. Although he had been in office for nearly a year, he hadn't achieved much in terms of administrative reform, but he had accomplished one major feat: he had used the majority of the funds allocated by the imperial court to vigorously support agriculture. Believing that "the people regard food as their heaven," he had hired a large number of commoners to till the land. Zeng County was vast and sparsely populated, with much of the arable land left uncultivated. Judging from the first batch of early rice already harvested, Zeng County could yield sixty thousand piculs of grain this year! After paying the ten-percent tax, there would be enough to feed the entire county for a year or more.

He leaned over his desk and laughed aloud, with Secretary Du smiling beside him. Suddenly, an official rushed in to report: "Disaster, Magistrate! The village chiefs have gathered at the public hall with an urgent matter!"

Realizing the situation might be serious, they went straight to the hall without a word.

"Since all you village chiefs have come in person, and together, is there something of the utmost importance?"

"Magistrate Cao, you do not know the half of it!"

"The young women in our villages have all disappeared without a trace! The infants in the village are now being nursed by the elderly women! Relying on the men alone to harvest the grain is simply not enough!"

"If this continues, how can we fulfill the 'People-Rearing Edict' given to us by His Majesty?"

"These young women are in their prime child-bearing years! They are human lives, after all!"

"Without them, our Li Village will only dwindle further. In a few years, our village might cease to exist!"

"My daughter-in-law, Xia Linhua, I don't even know if she is dead or alive!"

"Could it be that they were killed by wild beasts?"

"Absolutely not! On the day they disappeared, a group of people came to the village with wine and meat, often getting our village men so drunk they passed out. When they woke up, many of the women were gone, but we were left unharmed!"

"I understand. It seems to be the work of bandits. They have no respect for the law. To dare to commit such atrocities and openly abduct innocent women! It is unforgivable! I shall immediately request troops to purge these petty thieves and scoundrels." Having said this, he flicked his sleeves and left in a rage.

The village chiefs knelt to thank him: "The Magistrate is wise! The commoners are deeply grateful!"

Magistrate Cao returned to his study and sat down, taking half a day to calm his anger. Secretary Du remained silent, not daring to speak.

"To think that these villains could be so rampant! Do they not hold this county in any regard?"

"My Lord, do not be angry! Take care of your health. After Xia Ya died, Chief Constable Sun and his men began laying the groundwork. They are only waiting for your command after the New Year to strike with full force. You must not be impatient now!"

"How can I not be impatient? To ensure the grain harvest, I turned a blind eye to the employment of women in the fields! Now that they are gone, who is left to do the work?"

"Magistrate, you worry too much. The workers and farmers of Zeng County are sufficient to complete the autumn harvest. It is just that transferring people from the county seat to help with the harvest will be a great expense!"

"I have already used up almost all the funding for the sake of the harvest. What am I to do?"

The two paced back and forth in anxiety, unable to come up with a good strategy. Finally, Magistrate Cao thought of someone. He said, "Go, summon Chen Fan. If it is him, he will surely have a way to solve this!"