The return of the son-in-law

The two dredgers were very serious, but within a few days, even the drawings of the ditches were drawn.Tonghua County is not rich in materials, but there are many stone materials in Bugui Mountain, which are just used to build ditches.

It's just that Chen Xiehao encountered a problem.

It took him three days, but only twelve people were called together. According to this number, it would be midsummer by the time the work was completed.

Chen Xiehao couldn't help pouring out bitterness to Guo Zhan'an: "My lord, there is really no way. Everyone has to go to the fields to farm, and those who don't work in agriculture also have to do business. These twelve people have managed to get together."

Guo Zhanan rubbed his fingers on the wall of the cup a few times, and said, "This water conservancy is good for all farmers, don't they want it?"

"Of course I want to, but after the beginning of spring, we must hurry up to plant the land. To tell you the truth, our Tonghua County used to get up early and work late for a few months, and the autumn harvest can only barely make ends meet. If you leave the farm work and go to build water conservancy , this year’s harvest will be gone.”

Guo Zhan'an understood what Chen Xihao meant. They built the waterwheel ditches to bring the river water to Tonghua County to facilitate the irrigation of the farmland in Tonghua County.It would be putting the cart before the horse if those people were asked to leave their farm work behind and build ditches.

However, the shortage of manpower and the slow progress of the project are also problems that need to be solved urgently.

"Let me think about it again," Guo Zhan'an couldn't think of a good solution for a while, "The work of these twelve people will be allocated first, and the work will start as soon as the snow melts."

After Chen Xiehao left, Guo Zhanan called Huo Yu, told Huo Yu about the matter, and asked, "If you were you, what would you do?"

Huo Yu thought for a while and said, "Cultivation must not be postponed, or this year's harvest will be even worse. Anyway, Tonghua County has been here for so many years. If the ditches are repaired slowly, let's wait for the next year." Enough."

Guo Zhanan shook his head and asked, "If I must finish the project this spring, what should I do?"

Huo Yu wrinkled his tender face and said, "Brother, you are in a difficult situation. There are only 12 people working, how can you finish the work before summer?"

Guo Zhanan stretched out his hand and scratched Huo Yu's upturned nose, and said with a smile, "This is how it is in the officialdom. There will always be some things you can't do. If you can't do it, then you are incompetent. Don't even think about promotion in the future." Yes. Huo Yu, this is the first problem I've given you, and I'll give you three days."

Huo Yu became anxious, and said, "Brother, you are going too far. You obviously came to me because you couldn't figure it out."

Guo Zhanan said: "Who said I can't think of it? I have already thought of a way. After three days, if you can't think of a better way, I will explain it according to my way."

Only then did Huo Yu reluctantly agree: "Then, can I stop writing big characters these days? I have to figure out a way."

Guo Zhanan agreed with a smile.

Huo Yu left the study, went back to his room with a sad face, took his satchel and put it on his back, said hello to Elder Sun in front of him, and ran to the street to wander aimlessly.

This is a way for him to relieve stress. During this period of time, apart from reading and practicing calligraphy in the study, Huo Yu has often wandered around the streets of Tonghua County. As a result, he even made one or two friends of the same age. .

"Huo Yu, why did you come out so early today!" One of the playmates saw Huo Yu from afar and greeted him loudly, "Come and play together!"

Huo Yu walked over slowly, his immature face was pulled down, like the 60-year-old old man next door, "Oh, I won't play today, my brother asked me a problem, I can't answer it .”

His playmate asked him, "What's the problem? Tell us and we'll help you think about it."

Huo Yu thought for a while, and concealed the matter of the waterwheel ditches, and only mentioned the matter of the shortage of manpower.For a while, several playmates fell into deep thought.

After a long time, a playmate said: "Otherwise, just pay more wages, calculate how much they used to get from growing crops every year, and compensate them for a year's income, wouldn't it be enough?"

Huo Yu shook his head and said, "If you give them more money, what will the others do? No, this won't work."

The playmate asked Huo Yu, "But besides this method, who else is willing to help?"

Huo Yu couldn't figure it out for a while, so he could only say, "Let me think about it again."

But how can this be said to be thought out immediately?Seeing that the three-day deadline was about to pass, Huo Yu's mind was still in a mess, without a clue.

He scribbled down the words "salary", "forty" and so on on the paper, secretly agreeing with the opinions put forward by his playmates back then.

There is no doubt that if we want to finish the project before the summer, we must increase the manpower.The people in Tonghua County are poor and frightened, so naturally they will not abandon the work they rely on to build waterwheel ditches.

But what if it's only half a month?

Huo Yu suddenly became enlightened. He calculated carefully that there are seventy or eighty agricultural households in Tonghua County. If so many people go to battle together, they don't need it.

If so many households are divided into several groups, and each group spends about half a month to build waterwheel ditches, and the wages for this half month are paid, wouldn't it be successful?

Figured it out, Huo Yu's heart was beating fast, he shouted, and ran to the study to find Guo Zhan'an with the paper.

After hearing Huo Yu's thoughts, Guo Zhan'an raised his eyebrows: "It's a good idea, but during those half a month, the crops in their farmland were not taken care of, what should we do?"

Huo Yu thought for a while and replied, "Ask others to help?"

Guo Zhanan asked him again: "At that time, everyone was busy farming their own farmland, would they have the time and patience to take care of other people's farmland?"

Huo Yu shook his head and answered honestly: "I don't know."

Guo Zhan'an put the paper brought by Huo Yu on the desk, pulled Huo Yu closer to him, and led him to analyze a little bit: "It is true that we need others to help, but you have to know that the strongest relationship in the world is nothing but love." ’, that is, ‘li’. ‘li’ is a thing that can firmly tie a group of people and make them have to do things for you.”

Huo Yu was quick-witted. Hearing what Guo Zhanan said, he probably understood: "Brother, what do you mean, use 'li' to tie those farmers together and help each other take care of each other's farmland?"

Guo Zhan'an was very satisfied with Huo Yu's inference, and nodded in praise: "Exactly. Let them pair up and help each other, and don't dare to be careless. The rest will be as you said, and the money will be distributed within half a month." .”

Huo Yu was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses: "Brother once said that he thought of a solution, could it be the same? That's why he filled in the loopholes in the solution I thought of."

Guo Zhan'an nodded and said, "That's the way. Unexpectedly, our two brothers have a good understanding."

Huo Yu pursed his lips and smiled: "My brother taught me well, and I learned from my brother."

Guo Zhan'an's words were very useful. Seeing that it was getting late, he urged Huo Yu to go back to the room to rest, while he stayed in the study to fill in the specific details of this method one by one.

On the second day, when Chen Xiehao heard about this method from Guo Zhanan, he still hesitated: "If someone refuses, what should I do?"

The waterwheel and ditches will be built sooner or later, and there will definitely be objections among these farmers. If so, how will it end?

Guo Zhanan is not afraid: "This water conservancy is supposed to bring benefits to them. As long as some people are willing to come, I am not afraid that no one will not come."

These words are a bit convoluted, but after thinking for a while, Chen Xiehao understood why Guo Zhanan was so confident - if the project was completed before summer, the harvest in Tonghua County would increase several times this year, and someone would definitely agree.This project benefits all farmers, and we are not afraid that some of them will risk offending others and refuse to agree.

Moreover, the money will be distributed as usual, the farmland will be taken care of by other people, the worries of the farmers will be solved, and they can make extra money to subsidize their families. Why not do it?

Perhaps this matter seems to be a waste of money and people now, but in the long run, it will definitely benefit Tonghua County without any harm.

Chen Xiehao stopped talking, and according to this method, all the farmers in Tonghua County were called together, and the farmers were paired up according to the number of people in each household, the number of acres of farmland, etc., and the time for starting each round of work was set. , Negotiate the price, and wait for the ground to start after the spring.

After the beginning of spring, under the arrangement of Guo Zhanan and Shu Junlang, everyone started construction in an orderly manner.Maybe it was infected by this enthusiastic enthusiasm, or maybe it was hoped that this ditch could bring new hope to Tonghua County. Not only the farmers, but even other families in Tonghua County would volunteer to help whenever they had time.

Guo Zhan'an would not refuse anyone who came, and he asked Mr. Sun and an accountant appointed by Chen Xiehao to manage the accounts together, and these people who came to help would settle their wages on a daily basis.As soon as the news spread, more people were willing to help.

Mr. Sun was worried about this: "Master Guo, the money for the construction of the waterwheel ditch this time is all your own. If you continue to spend like this, you will run out of money in a short time."

Guo Zhan'an knew it well, but the former magistrate of Tonghua County was arrested in Beijing for hiding government money, and the appropriation from the court for the new year had not yet come down, so this project could not wait.In desperation, Guo Zhanan had no choice but to take out his own money to alleviate the urgent need.

Fortunately, wood and stone materials are readily available in Bugui Mountain, which saved Guo Zhan'an a lot of expenses, but the wages of more than 30 people were paid every day, especially in the later days when the wages of up to 67 people were paid. The money given by Guo Zhan'an It's like a drop in the bucket.

On the other side, the accountant Mr. Chen Xiehao invited was also discussing this matter with Chen Xiehao.

"Really?" Chen Xiehao asked in surprise, "Master Guo really used his own money to build waterwheel ditches for us?"

"It's true," the accountant replied honestly, and there was no lack of admiration for Guo Zhan'an in his words. "I didn't know it at first, but later I found that the expenses were increasing and the money was getting less and less. I wanted to ask Mr. Guo for more money." In the end, Mr. Sun told me in private that the money was not given by the court at all! The appropriation from the court this year has not yet come, and the surplus money from the previous county government was taken away together with the former county magistrate. Your own private money."

Chen Xiehao was very moved. If it was said that Guo Zhanan's various actions before just made him let go of his guard against Guo Zhanan, then this time Chen Xiehao was completely convinced by Guo Zhanan.

"After all, this matter is for the good of our Tonghua County. I don't know when the court's appropriation will arrive. We can't let Mr. Guo bear all the expenses alone. Our Tonghua County has to express it."

Therefore, Chen Xiehao privately summoned several farmers and told about Guo Zhan'an's own money for the construction of the waterwheel ditches. These families will talk to their neighbors after they go back.Within a few days, everyone in Tonghua County knew that the new county magistrate was a very good and upright official. Instead of acting like a boss, he even took the initiative to spend money to build water conservancy projects for Tonghua County.

Guo Zhan lived in the county government and heard about it.Naturally, he wouldn't pretend to say polite words, so that the people of Tonghua County don't have to be so grateful to himself-naturally, you must leave a name for doing good deeds, otherwise who would know that you did it?

In Guo Zhan'an's view, he and Tonghua County are also tied together by "profit".People in Tonghua County changed their hostile attitude towards him, which gave Guo Zhan'an a lot of convenience.

Not only that, after ten days, someone volunteered to donate three taels of silver.

Three taels of silver is considered a huge sum of money in Tonghua County, and the man almost sold all the valuable things in the house to get together the money.

Guo Zhan'an only needs one tael of silver, and asks Mr. Sun to record it in the account, and when the imperial court allocates funds, he will return the original amount.

As soon as the news came out, everyone in Tonghua County volunteered, collected the cash at home, and went to the county government to donate it.

In this way, the urgent need to build water conservancy has been resolved, and Guo Zhan'an has gained a good reputation among the people in Tonghua County, which really kills two birds with one stone.