Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 487 Relying on Favor (32)

Although most of the seeds lost their viability, the fact that the unexpectedly obtained cotton seeds could successfully grow into cotton seedlings was enough to surprise Yan Zhen.

Time passed day by day as Yan Zhen left early and returned late, and soon it was the end of May.

During this time, Yan Zhen did not forget to keep an eye on the battle situation outside Tingzhou.

At the end of last year, the Northern Jurchens invaded the border of Daliang. The two sides fought for more than two months, and Daliang narrowly defeated the Northern Jurchens, forcing them out of Daliang territory.

However, the Liang dynasty suffered a severe blow as a result, losing almost half of its 300,000 troops.

Seeing this, Qingzhou and Jingzhou, two large states that had declared themselves kings, raised troops to attack Daliang, intending to "take advantage of its weakness and destroy it."

However, the strength accumulated by the Great Liang over the past few centuries was not in vain. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, and it managed to withstand repeated surprise attacks from rebel kings in two states. Xie Ying led 20,000 cavalrymen and even killed the commander of Qingzhou.

Qingzhou, Jingzhou, and Daliang are in chaos due to war, and neighboring Yunzhou is also stirring up trouble.

Yunzhou, unwilling to become cannon fodder in the chaos, turned its attention to Tingzhou and provoked it several times.

However, Tingzhou's terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, Zhao Yuan had been instructed by Yan Zhen to simply defend Tingzhou. He ignored this instruction and only used the terrain advantage to drive away and warn Yunzhou when it crossed the border, without engaging in large-scale conflict with Yunzhou.

After Yunzhou provoked Tingzhou several times and seeing that Tingzhou had no intention of fighting, it had no choice but to turn to Jingzhou for cooperation.

While war raged and blood flowed outside, Tingzhou City, with its doors closed, became the only safe haven.

By mid-June, Yan Zhen and his soldiers had harvested their first batch of potatoes.

The 20 mu of land yielded a total of 110,000 jin of potatoes.

The harvest was a little worse than Yan Zhen had expected.

But for the people of Tingzhou who were seeing potatoes for the first time, the fact that 20 mu of land could produce 110,000 jin of crops was nothing short of a miracle.

This "miracle" quickly spread throughout the entire Tingzhou.

The study of Prince Zhao's residence.

Yan Zhen sat in the main seat and held a meeting with several farmers below to analyze why the potato yield had not met expectations.

From the temperature when planting potatoes to the later management such as fertilization and watering during the planting process, we strive to leave no detail overlooked.

The atmosphere at the seminar in the study was serious. Outside the study, Zhao Yuan leaned against a vermilion pillar, arms crossed, watching a line of ants moving house on the ground with a bored expression.

Just then, hurried footsteps came from outside. Zhao Yuan looked up and saw that the person who came in was Chen He.

"My lord!" Chen He bowed to Zhao Yuan, then looked at him and then at the study. "Why is my lord standing outside?"

Zhao Yuan gestured with his chin: "The Princess is in a meeting."

"Meeting?"

"Let's discuss with the agricultural officials why 1,500 catties of seeds only yielded 110,000 catties of potatoes." Zhao Yuan said, glancing at Chen He and sighing affectedly.

Chen He: "..."

A hint of embarrassment appeared on his face.

Last year, upon learning that the princess was a princess of the Great Liang, Chen He urged his lord to cease hostilities and recuperate, causing a great disturbance at the Prince Zhao's residence.

Relying on his status as a veteran who had fought alongside Zhao Yuan to rise to power, and knowing that Zhao Yuan was a man of great loyalty and righteousness who would not punish him for such a matter, he was determined to make a scene until his lord drove away this princess of Liang.

However, in order to protect the princess of Daliang, the lord made a bet with him—giving him and the princess two years. If they failed to achieve anything for Tingzhou within two years, Zhao Yuan would leave all matters of war to Chen He.

This bet is equivalent to putting all of Zhao Yuan's life on the line.

Chen He agreed.

Unexpectedly, only half a year later, this seemingly delicate princess of Liang slapped him in the face with her actions.

Seeing his master's seemingly helpless yet actually boastful expression, Chen He felt so embarrassed that he wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

"By the way, what brings you here?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Chen He composed himself and said seriously, "My lord, a group of refugees, more than seven hundred in number, have arrived outside the city. They came from Jingzhou. Should we let them into the city?"

Zhao Yuan frowned: "Refugees?"

In the past, Tingzhou's poverty was well-known throughout Daliang, so even if refugees from other prefectures needed to seek refuge, they would not choose to come to Tingzhou.

In Tingzhou, winter water freezes instantly; if one cannot find shelter, seeking refuge is tantamount to suicide.

But now, with war raging everywhere in the Great Liang, the "barren" Tingzhou has become the only place that has not been affected by the war.

Refugees came seeking refuge—this was the first time Zhao Yuan had encountered such a situation.

As he pondered how to handle the situation, the study door opened, and several elderly farmers who had been promoted to agricultural officials came out one after another, bowed to Zhao Yuan, and left.

Yan Zhen walked last, and as he stepped out of the study, he said to Chen He, "Let those refugees in."

Chen He's attitude towards her became noticeably more respectful: "May I ask, Your Highness, how should we settle the refugees after they are released into the city?"

"Find an open space to build a shed and settle these refugees in one place. Provide them with two meals of porridge every day. Tell them that a large area of ​​wasteland needs to be reclaimed behind the city. If anyone is willing to contribute, the reclaimed wasteland will belong to them. Each person will have five mu of land. The Prince's Palace can lend potato seeds. After three months, once the potatoes are planted and they have settled in Tingzhou City, it will not be too late to repay the money."

Chen He's eyes lit up.

There have been few battles in Tingzhou in the past few years, and many young men have died on the battlefield.

The city was mostly inhabited by the elderly, women, and children. In addition, the land in Tingzhou was barren, making it difficult to make a living by farming, which led to the abandonment of a large amount of farmland.

If Tingzhou opens its city gates to receive refugees, filters out those with ill intentions, and keeps those who are willing to settle here, wouldn't that allow Tingzhou to gradually grow stronger?

Yan Zhen said, "Regarding the resettlement of refugees, I can only provide a general idea. As for how to manage the refugees, down to every detail, you have more ideas than I do. You can discuss and do this together."

"Yes, I understand!" Chen He replied. "I will go and discuss it with the lord immediately!"

Chen He bowed to Yan Zhen, then pulled Zhao Yuan, who was still leaning against a pillar, into the study. He also made sure to have Zhao Yuan's confidant call the other generals over for a meeting.

The next day, the gates of Tingzhou opened, and the more than seven hundred refugees were admitted.

The refugees, fleeing the war, traveled thousands of miles to Tingzhou, and were already emaciated from hunger, with large heads and small bodies.

They were housed in a greenhouse and barely survived on two meals of thin porridge a day.

A few days later, Chen He went to the refugee camp to announce a message: anyone who was willing to stay in Tingzhou would be provided with two meals a day by the government, and given farming tools to cultivate the land after they arrived in the city.

After the land was cleared, refugees could borrow potato seeds from the government to plant, and the planting process would be guided by local farmers and experienced soldiers.

At first, the refugees were puzzled and did not understand what "potatoes" were.

Chen He brought out several baskets of steamed potatoes and handed one to each of them.

"This is a potato. If planted properly, one seedling can produce two to three pounds of potatoes."

Upon hearing this production figure, the refugees looked on in disbelief.

"Can one plant produce two to three pounds?"

“That’s right.” Chen He said proudly, “This is a specialty product of Tingzhou cultivated by our Princess!”