Rebirth and Reversal of Fortune

Chapter 249 Strengthening Defenses and Agricultural Reform

The Marquis's residence has strengthened security measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Xiao Ling first conducted a large-scale reorganization and review of the personnel in the Marquis's residence, dismissing all those with questionable identities or insufficient loyalty, and recruiting a new batch of servants and guards with clear backgrounds and unwavering loyalty.

Su Jinxiu was responsible for formulating a series of strict rules and regulations, including registration of personnel entering and leaving the Marquis's residence, patrol arrangements for important areas, and encryption methods for information transmission. She also organized special training to ensure that everyone in the Marquis's residence clearly understood these new regulations and crisis response methods.

Sentinels and patrols were added to every corner of the Marquis's residence, guarding its safety day and night. At the same time, surveillance of the surrounding environment was strengthened, and closer ties were established with nearby government offices and other forces to obtain timely intelligence from the outside world.

However, the implementation of these measures was not without its challenges. Some newly recruited personnel made mistakes due to their lack of experience; some veteran guards resisted the new rules and regulations, finding them too cumbersome.

Xiao Ling had to spend a lot of time and energy coordinating and resolving these issues. He personally supervised the training of new personnel, rewarding those who performed well and severely punishing those who violated the rules.

Su Jinxiu patiently communicated with the resistant guards, explaining to them the importance and necessity of strengthening defenses.

While the Marquis's residence was busy strengthening its defenses, the external situation became even more complicated. Seeing that the Marquis's residence had increased its defenses, some hostile forces began to spread rumors that the Marquis's residence harbored treacherous intentions, was secretly expanding its military power, and was planning a rebellion.

These rumors reached the imperial court, arousing the emperor's suspicion. The emperor dispatched an envoy to the Marquis's residence to investigate and demand a reasonable explanation from Xiao Ling.

On the one hand, Xiao Ling had to deal with the envoy's investigation and demonstrate the loyalty of the Marquis's mansion to the emperor; on the other hand, he also had to continue to improve the defense measures to prevent foreign enemies from taking the opportunity to invade.

In his dealings with the envoy, Xiao Ling discovered that the envoy seemed to have been bribed by hostile forces and was deliberately making things difficult for the Marquis's residence in an attempt to find fault with them.

Su Jinxiu suggested that a covert investigation be conducted to find evidence of collusion between the envoy and hostile forces, thereby resolving the crisis.

After much effort, the Marquis's residence finally found crucial evidence, exposing the envoy's conspiracy. Upon learning the truth, the Emperor dispelled his suspicions of the Marquis's residence, but also became wary of the hostile forces surrounding it.

However, just when the Marquis's mansion thought they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, a sudden fire shattered the peace. The fire broke out in the mansion's storeroom, destroying a large amount of supplies.

Su Jinxiu paid attention to the agricultural issues in her jurisdiction, promoted agricultural reforms, and increased grain production.

Su Jinxiu personally went deep into the fields to talk with farmers and understand the difficulties they faced. She found that the irrigation facilities in the area were rudimentary, the quality of seeds varied, and the farmers lacked advanced planting techniques and effective pest and disease control methods.

To solve these problems, Su Jinxiu first focused on improving the irrigation system. She summoned craftsmen to design and build new canals and waterwheels to ensure that the farmland had an adequate water supply. At the same time, she sent people to other places to find high-quality seeds, introduced them to the territory, and organized farmers to conduct trial plantings.

In order to impart advanced planting techniques, Su Jinxiu opened an agricultural school, inviting experienced farmers and professional scholars to explain planting knowledge to farmers and teach them how to plant densely, fertilize, and manage farmland.

However, the implementation of the reforms was not without its challenges. Some farmers, accustomed to traditional farming methods, were skeptical of the new technologies and approaches and were unwilling to try them. Some landlords, fearing the reforms would affect their interests, secretly obstructed the process.

Faced with these difficulties, Su Jinxiu did not back down. She led her team, going door-to-door to persuade the peasants, demonstrating the benefits of the reform with tangible results and data. As for the landlords, she reasoned with them while warning them not to obstruct the reform process.

Thanks to Su Jinxiu's efforts, more and more farmers began to accept and adopt new planting techniques. Grain yields gradually increased, but new problems arose one after another.

Due to increased grain production, the market experienced oversupply, leading to a drop in grain prices and impacting farmers' incomes.

Su Jinxiu immediately realized that it was essential to establish a comprehensive grain reserve and sales system. She partnered with local merchants to build granaries and store surplus grain to stabilize prices. Simultaneously, she actively explored markets outside the region, selling local grain to other areas.

Just as Su Jinxiu was busy with agricultural reforms, some officials in the court who were jealous of her achievements began to slander her to the emperor, saying that she had carried out reforms in her territory without authorization and had rebellious intentions.

The emperor was skeptical of these slanders and decided to send an imperial envoy to investigate.