With the protection of the city walls, as long as there was enough rolling wood, firewood, and kerosene, the red wolves were nothing to worry about.
The first few days in Fort Wah Ka were a little tense, but on the third day, the ordinary village women and children would go to the city walls to see what the red wolves looked like. After 13 consecutive days of wolf attacks, there were no signs of fire in the eight villages outside Guang County. The young and strong red wolves had all left, and the remaining small red wolves posed no threat to the city walls. Fort Wah Ka often had naughty children secretly playing with red wolf cubs on the streets.
On the morning of the 15th day, the Hua Clan Fort's village protection team went out of the village to clear out the little red wolves. Then, in the afternoon, the children from the school came out with the weapons here and chased after the red wolves that had just opened their eyes outside the city to kill them. When night fell, the Hua Clan Fort's defensive formation was withdrawn.
On the 16th day of the 10th month, the spirit fields in Fort Wah Ka started to get busy again. After more than 10 days of seed selection and seedlings cultivation, today was the day the seedlings were planted in the spirit fields.
Xu Hua, along with more than ten of his own students and more than fifty Sky class students from the academy, were currently helping out in the fields. The students who were able to enter the spirit fields were all carefully selected by the academy. They were all youths that the Hua family had focused on nurturing.
The craftsmen from the Lu family from Linzi City continued to expand the inner village. Hua Zichen told Hua Zijie that the caravan would bring back 2600 new people this year. This would increase the number of Fort Wah Ka members from 2000 to 4600. This year, Fort Wah Ka had many more subsidiary villages. This winter, the population of the village might exceed 7000.
The planned population of Fort Wah Ka was 3000. Before the houses were built, the population would exceed 7000. The craftsmen from the Lu family could only change the design overnight and make new plans for the residential areas in the inner and outer villages.
The expansion of the inner village had not changed much. However, the courtyard suites previously designed for Household Servants had been reduced to single rooms, and there were many more communal bunk rooms. All the houses in the courtyard of the Household Servant had been added as well. In this way, the planned population of the inner village had barely reached the standard of 5,000 people.
In addition, an outer village residential area would be built near the outer village market area. More than a hundred large courtyards would be built. These courtyards could accommodate up to a hundred people at most. These were all prepared for the affiliated villages that might stay in Fort Wah Ka this year.
On October 19th, Hua Zichen told Hua Zijie, Wal-mart and the others a piece of good news early in the morning. Hua Jia Caravan had left Hutuo Mountain and would be home in about three days.
The core members of the Hua family were very happy to hear this. They had already prepared a welcoming ceremony for the caravan.
"Send someone to deliver the news to the Huang, Geng, Yue, and Chen clans. It's been so long, and I'm sure they're worried sick.
The Jia and Tai clans in the county town have also asked Second Brother to deliver the news. I'm sure some people will be disappointed this time, "Hua Zichen said with a smile.
It was already the end of October. At this time in previous years, the Guang County caravan would have almost finished dealing with the goods. However, this year was the first time that the Huang, Geng, and the other clans had followed the Hua family to Hun Country to do business. The success of this trip would not only affect the future of these clans, but also the reputation of the Hua family in Guang County.
The Hua family already had 14 Qi Realm cultivators, which was more than the Han family at the beginning of the year. In the past, the Hua family's attitude was to endure silently. Now that they were about to become the leader, it was impossible for them to keep a low profile.
Therefore, Hua Kai, Hua Zichen, and Hua Xing decided that the Hua family's strategy would change from this year onwards.
The Hua family was still an ordinary family. The seven villages outside Guang County already followed the Hua family's lead. The Hua family's direct influence in Guang County would reach more than 14000 people, which was not much less than the total population of Guang County.
Therefore, Hua Kai's future development plan for the family was to rope in the aristocratic families within Guang County and nurture the influence of the various villages outside the city.
The most important thing was to nurture trustworthy aristocratic families as allies. They would use the Four Seas Merchant Association and the Yao family as a springboard to establish good relations with other aristocratic families.
The Geng family was one of the weaker villages among the eight villages outside Guang County. The head of the Geng family personally led the family's caravan to follow the Hua family to Xiongnu Country. Everyone hoped that the head of the Geng family would make a big profit on this trip. Only then would the Geng family have the opportunity to develop.
Ever since the wolf disaster in the grassland this year, the entire Geng family began to panic. Especially when the bad news came from Guang County, the entire Geng family became gloomy for a while.
It was already the end of October when they finally survived the wolf disaster. The Geng family did not dare to mention the family's caravan again. In the past, the caravan that could not make it back by the 10th of October would have a hard time coming back. The Geng family did not dare to imagine the consequences of this failure.
On this day, Geng Peng was dealing with family affairs. The family had a lot of things to deal with after the wolf disaster. The biggest problem was that all the subsidiary villages had lost all their wheat this year. Without food, how would they survive the winter?
Although the Geng family's harvest was good this year, it was still unable to support the consumption of the thousands of subsidiary villagers. Moreover, there were some bad rumors in the subsidiary villages. Everyone said that the Geng family's caravan would not return.
The Geng family's experts had all gone to Xiongnu Country, leaving Geng Peng, an Initial Yuan Stage Ninth Stage cultivator, to manage the Peng family's affairs. If the caravan did not return, the Peng family would not be able to survive the winter. Many of the subsidiary villages had already thought of leaving.
A villager reported to Geng Peng that the Hua family had sent someone over.
Geng Peng hurriedly sent someone to invite the Hua family in. It turned out to be a senior Household Servant of the Hua family.
"The Fifth Lord asked me to bring a message to the Geng family. The Geng family's caravan has already left Hutuo Mountain and will be back in about three days. If the Geng family wants to prepare, you can do so now."
The Hua family Household Servant was at the peak of the Initial Yuan Stage. Seeing that Geng Peng was the current head of the Geng family, he said.
"What?
They've already left Hutuo Mountain?
That's great. How are the losses of our family's caravan? "Geng Peng asked anxiously.
"The Fifth Lord did not say the specifics. The entire Guang County's caravan has suffered some losses.
However, the caravan brought back a lot of slaves this time! "The Hua family Household Servant said.
Without waiting for the Hua family Household Servant to leave, Geng Peng told the villagers the news of the family's caravan's return. For a moment, the entire Geng family fell into a sea of cheers.
Being able to bring back slaves meant that the caravan would definitely make a profit. The Geng family had already begun to prepare for the family's caravan's return to celebrate. This way, they could strengthen their relationship with the subsidiary villages.
On the afternoon of the 19th of October, the entire Guang County knew about the Hua family's return.
This year, the Han family, the Shen Family, and the other families' expedition to the grasslands failed. In the end, it was the Hua family that led more than ten families in Guang County to return safely. This made many people sigh. The Hua family was getting more and more powerful. This time, they did even better than the Han family.
The commoners did not know much. They only knew that an ordinary family could do better than the County Magistrate's family. The Hua family was definitely not simple.
When the news reached the Shen Family, the head of the Shen Family sat in the study room without any movement for two hours.
"Can the news be verified?" The head of the Shen Family looked at the head of the Shen Family's housekeeper and asked.
"The news came from Fort Wah Ka. We can't verify it. Perhaps the Hua family also does not have accurate information …" The head of the Shen Family's housekeeper saw that the head of the Shen Family was looking at him and lowered his head in silence.
"The return time is confirmed to be three days later. The news should not be false. If such news spreads, it will not do the Hua family any good.
Let's withdraw our people from the livestock market, grain shop, and tea house first!
Clean up all the loose ends. Don't let the Hua family find out anything. We can't go against the Hua family now. The Hua family has already grown. The Han family should be worried. We just have to wait quietly! "
After the head of the Shen Family finished speaking, he gently played with the two walnuts in his hand. The head of the housekeeper quietly left.
Yesterday, the head of the Shen Family brought more than 30 family members back from Leling City.
When the entire Guang County left, there were more than 2,500 people. This time, less than 1,000 people returned.
Among them, the Han family suffered the greatest loss. The Han family lost three Qi Refinement cultivators and now only had 10 Qi Refinement cultivators left. In the future, their power in Guang County would definitely be reduced.
Now that the Hua family had returned from their business trip, their power would definitely continue to grow. It was said that the Hua family had already built their own city outside Guang County. The Han family would definitely not tolerate the Hua family's continued growth.
The discussions about the Hua family in Guang County started to increase. The Hua family's livestock market had only been in Guang County for a year, but it was already many times more prosperous than before. Now, it had become one of the busiest areas in Guang County.
It was impossible for the aristocratic families not to be jealous. The annual income of such a market was unimaginable. Their feelings towards the Hua family were still repulsive. After all, the Hua family had always been an ordinary family.
But slowly, many aristocratic families started to realize that even though the Hua family was not an aristocratic family, they were much stronger than other aristocratic families in many aspects. This was a little strange.
The attitude of the aristocratic families in Guang County towards the Hua family started to change. Everyone was waiting for the Han family's final attitude. If the Han family still did not give in, then everything would be fun!
On the evening of the 19th of October, a special guest arrived at Fort Wah Ka. All the core members of Fort Wah Ka personally came out to welcome him. All the villagers were extremely curious.
"Greetings to Patriarch Yao!" Hua Zichen led a few core members of the Hua family and bowed to Patriarch Yao.
The Yao family was a rank 7 aristocratic family. When the Hua family personally came to visit an ordinary family, it would not be excessive no matter how grand the welcoming ceremony was. However, Patriarch Yao was extremely enthusiastic when he saw the Hua family, especially when he talked about Hua Zichen's achievements in Leling City this year.
"Little friend Hua Kai and I hit it off at first sight. The relationship between the Hua family and the Yao family is unbreakable. We are as close as brothers. Everyone, there is no need to be so polite!" Patriarch Yao expressed his attitude.
Hua Zijie and the others were surprised when they heard this. This Patriarch Yao personally came to the Hua family and emphasized the relationship between the two families. Moreover, he always put the Hua family in front of the Yao family. This meant that the Hua family had taken the dominant position in the relationship between the two families. This was not simple.
Hua Zichen invited Patriarch Yao to the main hall. Although Hua Kai did not return home, Patriarch Yao could only stay in the main hall's guest room. This was related to the future development of the relationship between the two families.
When a Patriarch visited another family, he did not represent himself alone. He could not be careless.