Daming Greedy Wolf Star

Chapter 187 The Pit Dig for the Enemy
"Well done, but you can't be so conservative next time."

Zhu Zhanhe looked at the data compiled by his father and spoke calmly to Li Chengliang, Zhang Yucheng and Song Shiyi below.

But even if it was dull, Li Chengliang and the others could hear the urging in Zhu Zhanhe's tone.

"I think you are mainly taking the Shushen Poison Road now. In the future, you need to reduce investment here. From now on, your attention will be mainly on the Mengyang and Awa areas to stabilize the road there."

"This..." Li Chengliang and the three of them looked at each other, and all three of them saw the hesitation in each other's eyes.

Being able to climb the big tree of King Han, especially the crown prince of Han, is what they dream of, but this also comes with circumstances.

If climbing the tree would cost them all their fortune, then they had to think about it.

Money is not important, as long as you can hug this big tree tightly, even if you put all your wealth into it, you will make it back quickly. After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that from now on, Yunnan will belong to the lineage of the King of Han.

But for Li Chengliang and others, the most important problem is that they can't be sure whether they can hold on to this big tree after spending all their wealth on their side.

What if, after using it, you throw it away?

"Your Highness, if you want to leave from Mengyang and Wala, you have to pass through Siam and Nanzhang..." Li Chengliang was pushed out and said with some stumble.

"Siam was not very friendly to our businessmen from the Ming Dynasty before, but now it is catching up..."

Li Chengliang stopped abruptly in the middle of his words, because the next words already touched upon areas that he, a businessman, could not touch.

"Look, isn't this a bit... risky?"

"Just do as you are told." Zhu Zhanhe put the paper aside and said nonchalantly.

"Since I let you go, it proves that I have a way, you just need to do it, and you should be able to see the results in less than half a year."

"Furthermore, I asked you to change the route not just to make money in business, but because I have other things for you to do."

"Take this, I'll remember it by heart when I get home."

With that said, Zhu Zhanhe picked up another piece of paper and placed it in front of Li Chengliang and the others.

Li Chengliang quickly took it over, cast a questioning look at Zhu Zhanhe, and only looked down after getting Zhu Zhanhe's consent.

There wasn't much on the paper, so Li Chengliang read it quickly and handed it to Zhang Yucheng and Song Shiyi next to him. As for him, he looked at Zhu Zhanhe with a smile on his face.

"If His Highness the Crown Prince wants it, then we will certainly obey His Highness the Crown Prince's order."

"Okay, I've heard this kind of thing for as many as eight hundred times. If you really have the heart, just get things done and don't work on your words."

Zhu Zhanhe waved his hand, picked up a few letters from the desk and threw them to Li Chengliang.

"This is a letter I wrote to a few people in Yingtian. I need you to send me some things. Don't send them wrong."

"Yes." Li Chengliang hurriedly brought those letters over, and put them away carefully.

"If His Highness has no other instructions, then we should leave first?"

"You go back first, Song Shiyi will stay." Zhu Zhanhe waved his hand.

Li Chengliang paused when he heard the words, and he and Zhang Yucheng turned to look at Song Shiyi. The expression on his face was so complicated that it was difficult to tell what emotion it was for a moment.

"His Royal Highness..." Song Shiyi watched Li Chengliang and the others leaving, and did not dare to sit still, and stood up tremblingly.

He thought he had done something wrong and made Zhu Zhanhe dissatisfied.

But having said that, he has been involved in a lot of troubles, because businessmen and officials are all the same, and there are basically few clean ones.

"Don't be nervous." Zhu Zhanhe stood up, patted Song Shiyi's shoulder, and used some strength to make him sit down.

"There are some things that I have to leave to you, but you have to pay attention. If a third person besides you and me knows about this matter, then..."

……

After sending the last Song Shiyi away, Zhu Zhanhe walked out of his yard and looked in the direction of Dian Lake.

When building the palace, Zhu Gaoxu left the best position to his son, not as he said on the surface. When he built the Han Dynasty palace for himself, he also built a palace for his son.

Looking at Dianchi Lake in the northwest, Zhu Zhanhe's eyes narrowed.

The three businessmen Li Chengliang will be his most important chess pieces for a long time to come, because the Ming Dynasty has now entered a stage of recuperation, and it is unlikely to launch external troops in a short period of time.

If they want to move, it can only be a war without spending a single soldier like Zhu Zhanhe burned Annan.

For the current Ming Dynasty, with the new high-yielding grain, food will no longer be a problem in the future. It may have to wait for one, two or three years, but the Ming Dynasty can afford to wait.

In future wars, Ming Dynasty did not need to think too much about food and grass, so there was only one problem left that could not be solved.

Military strength, that is, population.

This is the main reason why Zhu Zhanhe chose to use businessmen instead of solving the problem through simple and crude war as before.

However, although this was the reason why Zhu Zhanhe chose to use merchants, it was not just this.

……

In Kunming City, in a house that looked like it was not affordable for ordinary people, Li Chengliang and three people gathered here.

Businessmen, in addition to having money, also have money.

"What do you think?" Li Chengliang knocked on the table with a serious expression.

"I don't think there's any problem." Zhang Yucheng continued Li Chengliang's words.

"The news that the King of Han asked us to spread is nothing more than to attract ordinary people from Siam, Nanzhang, Ava and Mengyang to enter Annan and increase the population of Annan."

"So, in my opinion, this is the problem of the Han prince trying to replenish the population lost after the war. Because of this, I don't think he treats us as chess pieces that can be thrown away after use."

With that said, Zhang Yucheng looked at Li Chengliang and Song Shiyi and said in a very serious tone.

"To sum up, I think Prince Han has no intention of abandoning us in the next three to five years."

"You are overthinking..." Song Shiyi sighed softly, which made Li Chengliang and Zhang Yucheng suddenly feel nervous.

"Don't be nervous, what I'm going to say is not what you think."

Song Shi waved his hand to calm the two of them, and then his expression became serious.

"Here, take a look." Song Shiyi took out a piece of paper from his sleeve pocket, opened it, and placed it in front of Li Chengliang and the others.

There is not a word on the paper, but there is a bright red pattern, which is the seal of Zhu Gaoxu, King of Han Dynasty.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince left me here just now and told me something. I can't tell you about it, but you should be able to guess it in the future, but..."

Speaking of this, Song Shiyi's tone lowered, making people feel like their hearts were pinched.

"You can guess it, but everyone is no longer a child. Everyone knows what can and cannot be said."

"All I can say is that by then you won't need to worry about this problem anymore."

"Now, what we have to discuss is our business..."

……

Kunming City, Qianning Palace.

Mu Ang also came back with Zhu Zhanhe. After all, Mu Sheng is mainly stationed in Shenglong City now, and most of the affairs in Yunnan are handled by him.

It can still be left to Mu Xin for a short period of time, but it won't work for a long time.

Speaking of this, there is another very interesting point, that is, there was actually no problem before. They were all members of the Mu family. Regardless of who they were, the older ones would always take the blame for the younger ones, and so on.

In the past, when Mu Sheng conquered Chen Jikuo, Mu Ang acted as agent for Yunnan affairs. If Mu Ang also had something to do, Mu Xin would come on board.

But not anymore.

The power that Zhu Di gave to the Hanwang lineage was so great that the Mu family had to think carefully before doing so.

It's not like she hasn't done this before, but she can't do it now.

Mu Xin's wife is Princess Chang Ning, Zhu Di's daughter. If Mu Xin is allowed to handle matters in Yunnan, it will most likely put pressure on the Han Palace.

but!

Today, after the Prince of Qianning received an edict and an imperial edict from Yingtian, everything was about to change.

"What should we do?" Mu Ang looked at his brother with a blank expression.

In the past, if Mu Sheng was not at home, Mu Ang would make the decision on everything. Even if Mu Ang couldn't make the decision, he would immediately write to Mu Sheng to inform him.

All in all, no matter what happened, Mu Ang would never show a dull expression like today.

"The edict has come and the imperial edict has been issued. What else can we do..." Mu Xin also sighed.

"Just do it..."

The Mu brothers fell into silence at the same time, looking towards the door in unison.

What they were looking at was not the gate of their own house, nor the Dianchi Lake outside the city, but the... Hanwang Mansion on the opposite side of the Dianchi Lake.

……

"Is everything settled?" In Prince Han's palace, Prince Han and his son were sitting together drinking tea without knowing anything.

"Do you really believe these businessmen?"

"Don't tell me that you don't know who they are. I told you as early as when you asked me to choose. None of these three people are good people."

"I know." Zhu Zhanhe was very indifferent and gave his father a mysterious smile.

"It's not good people who are good, what I want is wicked people."

"Don't worry about this. Are the potato seeds ready?"

"It's been prepared a long time ago." At this point, Zhu Gaoxu looked at his son again.

"These are seeds with a yield of at least four to five hundred kilograms per mu. You know better than me how much Qian Yong and the others paid to get these seeds."

"Just give it away like this? Or give it to the enemy country."

"When have you ever seen me do anything that harmed myself and benefited others?" Zhu Zhanhe rolled his eyes angrily.

"You have been dealing with the breeding of new grains. Why don't you notice any difference in these potatoes?"

"What's the difference?" Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, his face full of confusion.

Looking at the expression on his father's face, Zhu Zhanhe felt very familiar, but also very helpless.

After coming to Yunnan, his father had improved a lot, but his expression at this moment made Zhu Zhanhe feel like he was dreaming.

Back to the old Han King Zhu Gaoxu who didn’t understand anything.

"It's normal that you can't feel it now, but you'll know it later." Zhu Zhanhe's thoughts were disrupted by his father, and he smiled.

Zhu Gaoxu doesn't know about the disadvantages of potatoes, or it should be said that only Zhu Zhanhe himself knows about it in the whole world. Maybe the native Americans also know about it, but it doesn't matter, they can't get involved in this huge situation.

It was precisely because he didn't know that when Zhu Zhanhe went to conquer Japan and Zhu Gaoxu took charge of the breeding work, he chose the fastest and most convenient way.

Repeat planting.

The so-called double-cropping planting means that the land is not changed, and the land is not stopped. After one wave is harvested, the next wave is planted immediately, using the same land and the same seeds.

Even in later generations, farmers rarely planted crops again.

Taking the north as an example, wheat is harvested in May and June in the summer. After the wheat is harvested, corn or soybeans will be planted. When the corn and soybeans are harvested, wheat will be planted again, or the ground will be left empty for the winter, and peanuts or soybeans will be planted next year. It's Xiaomi.

This is the normal planting sequence, which contains the experience of the Han people for thousands of years.

Leguminous plants can fix nitrogen and fertilize the land, so a piece of land will be planted with at least one wave of soybeans or peanuts within one to two years, and usually wheat and corn are rotated in the first year, and wheat and soybeans are rotated in the second year.

This planting sequence can ensure that the soil fertility declines relatively slowly and can also prevent certain diseases.

Repeat planting is different. Continuous planting of the same crop will lead to a rapid decline in soil fertility. At the same time, pathogens in the soil will slowly accumulate, affecting the next crop.

Potatoes are a crop that consumes a lot of land resources. Zhu Zhanhe still remembers an old saying in his hometown, which says, "Eggs can be raised in one year for three years."

Didanzi is the regional name for potatoes. This sentence means that it takes three years to grow potatoes for one year.

In addition to soil fertility, potatoes are inherently susceptible to disease and can be passed on to the next generation through their seeds.

Repeated planting will lead to aggravation of diseases, coupled with the characteristics of potatoes...

In his father, Zhu Zhanhe saw what Central Asia and even European countries would look like in the future.

"If you don't want to say it, don't say it."

Zhu Gaoxu is no longer as demanding as when he was in Yongle's seventh or eighth year, and he is no longer as demanding on his son to explain everything clearly to him.

Now he is very aware of his own shortcomings and the strengths of his son, so no matter what it is, he will leave it to his son with confidence.

He knew that without this son, he would only work hard for a lifetime of vain goals and achieve nothing in the end.

"It's not that I don't want to say it, it's that no one believes it, including you." Zhu Zhanhe smiled. He really didn't expect his father to understand his plan.

This is caused by differences in cognitive levels and cannot be understood through analysis.

"His Royal Highness King of Han, His Royal Highness Shizi!"

Just when both father and son started laughing, Zhu Heng suddenly walked in.

"Prince Qianning's Mansion, command the governor on the right and Consort Mu to ask for an audience."

(End of this chapter)