Chapter 284

Chapter 284: August Harvest

For Qiao Yan, the sight of a bountiful harvest was nothing new, but for the people of Guanzhong, this was a rare occurrence after many years.

Last August in Chang’an, when Qiao Yan led her troops from Liangzhou, her confrontation with Dong Zhuo’s army even raised concerns that the crops in the fields might be destroyed by the marching troops before they could be harvested.

From Chencang to Maiwu, the harvest was carried out early.

Fortunately, at that time, Dong Zhuo had a sensible subordinate, Duan Wei, and court officials mediating on the side, which barely prevented farming from becoming as absurd as Dong Zhuo’s petty coinage.

This year was different, vastly different!

Substantial improvements and增产 measures were implemented in agriculture, all to ensure that every household could enjoy the satisfaction of a full granary.

Comparing the situation across different regions, the people of Guanzhong could experience double the joy.

Ji Province, fearing that soldiers from Bingzhou might cross the Taihang Mountains to attack, had already completed the task of unification within the year. In addition to military deployments, many commoners were conscripted for defense within Ji Province.

Xuzhou, plunged into chaos due to Tao Qian’s death, was divided into north and south, making the autumn harvest a secondary concern.

But Chang’an? Here, all efforts could be focused on harvesting millet and wheat, allowing people to immerse themselves in the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Those discussing this were not just the commoners engaged in farming but also the people at Hongwen Hall.

Tian Feng had just arrived at Hongwen Hall in the morning and sat in his seat when he overheard people talking about the bountiful harvest in Guanzhong.

Regardless of whether these people had real talent or not, after Qiao Yan, the powerful minister, showed a preference for pragmatists, they could only try to discuss livelihood issues more and avoid empty talk in public, hoping to gain the Grand Marshal’s favor.

Tian Feng was well aware of this. While he worried about Yuan Shao due to the current atmosphere in Chang’an, he also pricked up his ears to listen to their conversations, hoping to gather more information quickly.

After all, the position at Hongwen Hall was not like that of the Grand Minister of Agriculture and his subordinates, who could quickly obtain the actual data of this year’s harvest in Guanzhong.

Fortunately, among those who came here were a few who managed farmland in Guanzhong, and Tian Feng heard their news.

“The Grand Marshal ordered the teaching of this year’s farming methods since last winter, distributing high-quality seeds before spring arrived. Even the most stubborn and unteachable tenant farmers in my family followed the new methods. Unfortunately, this is only the first year of practice, and the vast but sparsely populated Guanzhong still has some fields that couldn’t be fully tended.”

Another person asked, “So, what was the final yield per mu?”

“About five dan.”

Compared to the rumored tripling of yields, this was still quite a bit short.

But just as Tian Feng thought this, he almost wanted to slap himself.

Five dan per mu and still complaining? Was he some kind of deity who could magically produce grain out of thin air?

The people of Chang’an needed time to adapt to the new farming methods.

In this first year, the agricultural fertilizer produced in Bingzhou couldn’t be supplied to every household, and a centralized fertilizer production site was being re-established in Chang’an, requiring the development of a gypsum mining system.

Given this, increasing the yield from three dan to five dan per mu was already a remarkable improvement.

At least, none of the people in Guanzhong were dissatisfied.

This year was like this, and next year it might climb even higher, giving them twice the stored grain they had before.

This, more than the miraculous road built in Chang’an, made people directly feel the essence of the Jian’an era.

This was indeed building Chang’an!

Thinking about the situation in Ji Province, Tian Feng had even less right to say that the five dan per mu yield didn’t match what he had seen in the Leping Monthly Report, as if it were some kind of false advertising.

After all, it was only in May or June of this year that he had sent the farming methods of Bingzhou to Yuan Shao through Yuan Xi.

Even if Yuan Shao accepted this intelligence without doubt, it would still be too late to promote and implement it within this year, creating a further gap between the two sides.

Who knows what the situation in Ji Province is like now.

Being in Guanzhong and at Hongwen Hall, which had supply relations with the Chang’an court, Tian Feng was clearer than most that the current situation in Chang’an was not one of imminent military action.

This relatively relaxed atmosphere couldn’t be explained simply by saying that Lord Qiao was invincible in battle.

In other words, Qiao Yan had no intention of launching a full-scale attack on Ji Province this year.

The troop movements before the autumn harvest were more of a psychological disruption to Ji Province than a prelude to war.

With Ju Shou and Shen Pei by his side, I wonder if the Lord can quickly realize this.

And… when will the Lord send a stable contact to meet with me?

With Chang’an’s development booming and more people settling here, as the news of the autumn harvest spreads, the city is bound to attract a new wave of settlers. If we can arrange for people to enter Guanzhong now, the chances of arousing suspicion are the lowest.

We can’t wait until Guanzhong starts conducting population checks before sending people, can we?

Thinking of this, Tian Feng couldn’t help but sigh again.

He also overheard the scholars at Hongwen Hall listlessly mentioning that the Grand Marshal was not in Chang’an today, so they probably couldn’t attract Qiao Yan herself through debates like Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang had done earlier, earning the titles of “Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix.”

Speaking of which, Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, these two young men, are still far from reaching the age to officially take office, probably still toiling away as diligent students at Leping Academy. It’s unclear why Qiao Yan holds them in such high regard.

However, no matter how much they speculate, they probably wouldn’t guess that Qiao Yan had assigned them an exceptionally special thesis project.

At the same time, she was inspecting the autumn harvest in Guanzhong with Cheng Yu, discussing the war situation in Xuzhou.

“Even with the Huai River dividing north and south, the alliance between Liu Bei and the Xuzhou gentry is not to be underestimated,” Qiao Yan said.

She couldn’t fully trust historical developments, as the current situation had no precedent.

Liu Bei might still have conflicts of interest with the Xuzhou gentry, until Chen Deng hands Xuzhou over to someone else, or perhaps, with Xuzhou’s controllable territory reduced to about half its original size, they might enter a longer period of磨合蜜月期.

In any case, it’s better to consider Xuzhou’s development based on the latter scenario.

Comparatively, Zhang Yi is at a disadvantage.

He might only have two advantages over the Xuzhou governor to the north.

First, he had previously served as the prefect of Guangling, allowing him to adapt to his position faster than Liu Bei.

Second—

The Chang’an court he serves has clearly outperformed the Ye court in external displays.

After this autumn harvest, this contrast will be as evident as the rumors of Chang’an’s new roads and wine gatherings.








Just like that, they were taken there by merchants heading to Xuzhou for business, bringing some support to Zhang Yi.

There was a sense of relying on one’s mother’s status.

So, Qiao Yan thought for a moment and said, “This year’s autumn harvest in Chang’an, the yield data from each county must be detailed. After handing it over to Zhaoji, have her draft an initial report for the Leping Monthly Report for me.”

She still needed to give Zhang Yi a helping hand, otherwise, he might not be able to withstand the enemies from the north.

Even with Zhou Yu’s support from Yang Province, Zhang Yi’s disadvantage in armed forces was extremely evident.

The news of Ze Rong’s death had already reached her from Xuzhou.

It was fortunate that Zhang Yi, with Zhou Yu’s guidance, acted decisively in using the secret of the Kongming lanterns to expose Ze Rong’s Buddhist scam.

Had he been even slightly slower, the outcome might not have been as effective.

It was on the night of a thousand lanterns rising by Baima Lake that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, under Chen Deng’s command, crossed the river from Huaipu and launched a surprise attack on Ze Rong’s camp south of the Huai River.

The only regret for Liu Bei’s side in this sudden river-crossing battle was that they didn’t encounter Ze Rong in the camp.

It wasn’t until they retreated to the north bank due to the Huai River boundary that news came out: Ze Rong had died in the outskirts, his head taken by someone unknown, and only his body was found by Zhang Yi’s men and sent to Gaoyou.

After various detailed identifications, everyone could confirm that this was indeed Ze Rong’s body, not some trick to escape.

In the development of Ze Rong’s death, the one who benefited the most was undoubtedly Zhang Yi.

Ze Rong couldn’t refute Zhang Yi’s questioning of the lanterns’ ascent and died in the outskirts, so the Buddhist followers in Guangling either returned to normal farming or joined Zhang Yi’s ranks as proper soldiers.

Some of the grain stored in Gaoyou was secretly transferred to Yang Province by Zhou Yu as a reward for his assistance, while the rest became the material guarantee for Zhang Yi to recruit these soldiers.

His subsequent cleansing of Buddhist statues and temples in Guangling also exposed Ze Rong’s various acts of arbitrary wealth accumulation to the public.

In exchange, his reputation in Guangling soared, and he obtained gold and copper coins from melting the statues.

But his opponents also sent a clear signal to Xuzhou through this river-crossing battle—

The Governor of Xuzhou from the north was a military man with a tough stance and the ability to repel enemies.

No one could predict when he would advance southward into Xuzhou to reclaim the land south of the Huai River.

Similarly, because of this swift military action, Zang Ba and Sun Guan, who were entrenched in Kaiyang County of Langya and had almost separated Langya from Xuzhou, softened their attitude towards the Xuzhou gentry.

Unlike before, when they only showed an arrogant attitude of self-importance.

That said, Liu Bei still had a long way to go to reach a cooperative state with Zang Ba like the Xuzhou gentry, which also limited his ability to fight across the Huai River.

During this period of north-south stalemate in Xuzhou, it was also an opportunity for Qiao Yan to build her shipyard in Hailing.

She said she could only send out two ships, but if the system could provide precise navigation tools, the standoff in Xuzhou could be maintained for a while longer, and she wouldn’t mind building two more ships to set sail together.

With fewer ships, it might be a bit difficult to attract a certain brocade-sail pirate to join the voyage.

As for why the assignment for Leping Academy was two ships and five hundred people?

What’s wrong with slightly increasing the difficulty in students’ assignments considering extreme situations?

Qiao Yan thought righteously.

After all, they were Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Sima Yi, and Lu Yi…

Hearing her mention the arrangements for Hailing in Xuzhou, Cheng Yu couldn’t help but ask, “By the way, my lord, who do you plan to appoint as the strategist for this place?”

As Qiao Yan had said in court, sending only Zhang Yang was a temporary measure under the current circumstances.

While showing her support for Xuzhou, she couldn’t be too harsh on Yang Province.

In fact, Zhang Yang’s personality was completely unsuitable as a main general.

So Qiao Yan had to arrange for some others to go there.

She replied, “Don’t you think, Mr. Zhongde, that using Xuzhou as a training ground for young people is quite interesting?”

Training for young people?

Although her tone was teasing, Cheng Yu had a feeling that Qiao Yan was speaking her mind at this moment.

The situation in Xuzhou being pushed to form such a pattern was her test for the Qiao sisters.

Then the subsequent support for Zhang Yi and the expedition to Liaodong… could indeed be used as tests for young people?

By the time she really intended to change the situation again, the oldest of the potential talents in Leping Academy would be sixteen.

In this era, that was certainly an age to start working!

Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao also took on heavy responsibilities under Qiao Yan at this age.

Ten years in a cycle, it was time for the next generation to step up.

Thinking of this, Cheng Yu belatedly realized that he was already over fifty.

But moving forward with Qiao Yan without stopping, he hardly noticed the passage of time.

Perhaps it was only when she mentioned these young successors that he felt a ripple.

“Yes, it’s time for the young people to step up.”

Qiao Yan heard the emotion in his words and laughed, “They still have much to learn. In terms of experience and steadiness, it’s still up to you, sir.”

With Cheng Yu by her side, she could strategize with peace of mind.

This bond was not something the rising stars could replace.

Cheng Yu didn’t say much, just smiled at her and continued walking towards the next field ridge.

This was the默契 between them as ruler and minister, no need for sentimental words.

After all, he was in good health now, just needed to continue serving his lord diligently.

How many in the world could have such待遇?

A few days later, Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting in Xuzhou received a letter from Qiao Yan.

The letter said she was very satisfied with their performance in Xuzhou, but staying longer and doing more could lead to more mistakes. She asked them to ensure the stable development of the outpost and then return as soon as possible to prevent their role in the Xuzhou incident from being discovered.

Without hesitation, they immediately reviewed each other’s actions for any improper endings.

After confirming everything was fine, they set off with the merchant convoy.

To Xuzhou, it was just two merchants from Yizhou who had completed their sales and left.

Perhaps it was because of the possible turmoil in Xuzhou that “they” left in a hurry to avoid being caught in the war.

But in fact, they had done much more in Xuzhou than just trading.

As the convoy passed through Xiapi, Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting looked back from their horses.

They saw the Huai River, shimmering under the rising red sun in the east, dividing Xuzhou into north and south.