Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 544: King Yue's Melon Field

While Zhao Guangyuan was selling seeds, he also set up a stall at the market to buy seeds from various countries in the Western Regions.

Although there are more seed varieties nowadays, including many genetically modified high-yield seeds, the various seeds he takes out must have a source.

Hearing that it was the shop of the King of Yue, many people were grateful to him for opening up the trade and stopping the war. Almost every merchant from the Western Regions would bring him various seeds, including many flowers and plants that had never been seen before.

Lin Zhaoxia really saw many plants and seeds that are unheard of in modern times.

He excitedly ordered people to plant it and protect it carefully.

After the cotton seeds and potato seeds were planted in the military fields, Zhao Guangyuan also had people plant watermelon seeds in the land he bought around Hangu City.

The generals who were allocated fields naturally trusted the King of Yue. They excitedly sent their personal soldiers to look after them, and they also went to the King of Yue's servants to learn very carefully how to plant and manage the fields.

The land is free, so don't miss it. And this is a gift from the King of Yue, so of course I have to take good care of it. Not to mention making money, one acre can yield 10 to 20 melons, which can at least help me get through the hot summer.

The summer in the northwest is so hot that it can kill people.

Many generals in the northwest have only heard of Linggua, but have never eaten it. It is said that eating a bite in the summer is cooler than eating ice cubes, so it must be planted.

No matter how poor the land is, as long as you put in some effort, you don't have to grow too many trees, just 10 or 20 will be fine, as long as it can open their eyes.

The generals sent their personal soldiers and servants to plant the crops themselves, and they were very careful. But the Magistrate of Wu County dared not be careless, for fear that the King of Yue would find fault with him.

The merchants simply look down on it.

Anyone who can receive the news first, open a shop and do business in the market, and be treated as a guest of honor by Magistrate Wu, must be from a wealthy family, right?
They knew about the gravel land around Hangu City. If it was good land, it would have been divided up by the rich families in the city long ago. How could they get it?
Just think of it as spending money to ward off disaster.

Anyway, whenever they went to a city to do business, the local government would always find various excuses for them to donate money. They were familiar with this routine.

So the King of Yue ordered his men to bring them melon seeds, and after thanking them with a smile, he didn't pay much attention to it and handed it over to the servants to deal with.

Servants are always bullying the weak. How much can they care about something that their masters don't care about?

The King of Yue is good at fighting, but can such a noble prince farm?
Even if he was banished to the imperial mausoleum, he was still served by countless servants.

So the servants passed the task to the lower people below them, and thus, while the melon fields of the King of Yue were full of green, the melon fields of the merchants were still sparsely planted, without even a single thick melon seedling to be seen.

When his master asked about it, he even made a nice excuse, "Our land is all rocky. The better land has been taken by the King of Yue. The King of Yue has many people under his command. If we bring a large army over, we can dig up not only one or two layers of rock, but even if there are eighteen layers of rock underground, we can dig them up."

They can't compare. No matter how hard they work, they won't get any results.

Even though the King of Yue's fields are green now, it is still unclear whether they can produce melons.

So the merchants just ignored it. It was not worth much to buy the land anyway. However, Magistrate Wu, in accordance with the principle of currying favor, sent people to ask for advice on how to manage the land.

His land was like the King of Yue's, mixed with stones. He was worried that the crops would not grow well.

He was a weak county magistrate, working under the generals and marshals who had military power in Hangu City. How could he dare to be greedy for money? His life was much harder than that of officials in the Central Plains and Jiangnan.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the land could produce some results?

One reason was that he wanted to make some progress from the farm, and the other was that he wanted to curry favor with the King of Yue, so he valued the melon field more than the merchants.

But it's a gravel field and I'm afraid I'll put in all the effort but get nothing in return.

But the steward of the King of Yue told him, "These melon seeds are suitable for this kind of land. There is no need to clear out the stones in the ground. The temperature difference between day and night is large in the northwest, and water evaporates quickly during the day. Covering them with stones can help store water and reduce the evaporation of underground water."

The county magistrate hired a good farmer, but he was confused. They were all farmers, so why couldn't they understand what the Yue Wang family said?
But it did not affect the servants of Wu County Magistrate's family from following suit and learning.

So when the melon field of King Yue was full of greenery, the melon field of Magistrate Wu was also growing well.

While Zhao Guangyuan was cultivating crops in the northwest and building a guard camp to recruit soldiers, undercurrents were also surging in the capital.

Although Hangu City was protected by Zhao Guangyuan like an iron barrel and all the hidden spies in the city were cleared, the ears and eyes of Emperor Zhizheng were everywhere. Even if Zhao Guangyuan knew, he pretended not to know. Anyway, if you don't move, I won't move either. The northwest wind was busy hoarding fields and reclaiming wasteland for farming, and all kinds of news were passed to Emperor Zhizheng's dragon case.

He discussed with his confidants several times how to deal with the King of Yue, but they all agreed that the King of Yue's move was beneficial to the country and the people. If he sent troops to stop it, the people in the northwest would be unhappy.

Land and food are the basis for people's food and survival. Anyone who touches them may cause fierce resistance from the people.

Since you took office as Emperor Zhizheng, you have never cared about the people in the northwest, and the population in the northwest has been declining year by year. We finally waited for a King of Yue to come, and we were about to teach them how to have enough food, but you are taking all kinds of actions in the capital?
I'm afraid there will be civil unrest.

Throughout history, there have been constant peasant uprisings. What is the reason? Isn’t it because those in power don’t care about the lives of the people and only pursue pleasure, leaving the people starving?
The founder of the Great Qi Dynasty, Taizu, was just a farmer at the time, so why did he lead his troops to rebel and establish the Great Qi Dynasty? How could the ruler of the Great Qi Dynasty not know this?

"If the people in the northwest can have enough food to eat, it will be a great achievement for the Great Qi and the emperor."

The ministers urged him.

For a ruler of a country, whether he has achievements or not is very different. The length of the records in history books is different. Those without achievements are only mentioned briefly.

Although the portraits of every monarch are hung in the Taimiao for descendants to worship, the treatment of wise and meritorious monarchs and incompetent and incompetent monarchs is very different.

Emperor Zhizheng understood this very well. Who wouldn't want to be known as a wise and enlightened ruler by future generations?

So until the watermelons in Zhao Guangyuan's field grew as big as fists, Emperor Zhizheng still hadn't figured out a way to deal with the King of Yue.

But the prince couldn't wait.

If Zhao Guangyuan is allowed to grow in power step by step, his position as crown prince will only become more dangerous.

Not only Zhao Guangyuan, but the King of Qin, King of Jin, King of Wu and others were all secretly making arrangements in their respective fiefdoms. When his brothers had money and soldiers in their hands, he would be attacked from all sides.

The prince wanted to kill a chicken to honor the monkey.

Emperor Zhizheng was not unaware of this, but he chose to remain silent.

He wanted to see how far Guangyuan could go, and also wanted to see if the prince could handle this position.

The Seventh Prince was unwilling to take a step beyond the line because he was afraid of his father, the Emperor. The Crown Prince was right under his nose, but he chose to forbear because he was also afraid of him.

Emperor Zhizheng believed that as long as he was in charge, his two sons would not cause any trouble.

But the prince had secretly sent people to Changzhou several times in an attempt to take back his fiefdom.

But no success.

Changzhou was originally the fiefdom of the late crown prince. Even though the owner changed hands over ten years ago, the late crown prince had worked hard for more than ten years in his fiefdom. It is impossible that he had no connections or backup, and it is impossible that no one cared about the late crown prince.

Although Zhao Guanghuan succeeded to the throne of the crown prince after the death of the former crown prince, as a concubine's son he was afraid that the latter would follow in the footsteps of the former crown prince, so he had handed Changzhou over to the emperor's people to manage over the years and refused to get involved at all.

This gave Zhao Guangyuan the opportunity to cooperate with Changzhou from inside and outside.

Now Zhao Guangyuan has stockpiled another 50,000 troops in Changzhou. No matter how unwilling the prince is, he will not be able to find a breakthrough for the time being.

Although the prince wanted to retaliate against the King of Yue, he was afraid to do so. He also did not have a large army. The emperor's attitude was unclear. The prince was only the crown prince, not yet the emperor. He did not dare to do anything too big to anger the emperor.

If Changzhou were not to be returned, the prince would turn his attention to Yuezhou.

But Yuezhou, from the prefect to the county magistrates, has long been the king's men. And Yuezhou has soldiers!

"Yuezhou has soldiers? Nearly 100,000 soldiers? Is the news true? Aren't they all pirates and bandits?" The prince was very surprised.

"We haven't found out exactly how many soldiers and horses you have. But according to the distribution of troops in each county, I'm afraid it's no less than 100,000. And they are well-equipped. They are not ordinary civilians, nor are they ordinary pirates or bandits. They are strictly disciplined and obey orders. They have fought with our people, so they are trained soldiers in the army, no doubt."

Summer is here again. Are you like Banana, with no appetite and wanting to eat watermelon every day? Do you throw away the leftover watermelon rinds?
The green skin of bananas is often cut off, and the remaining white skin is used for cooking or chilling. It is refreshing, crisp and sweet, and very delicious. It tastes better when it is cut with a little red flesh. The melon skin is also delicious when cut into thin slices and boiled into soup. Clam melon skin soup is very refreshing. Everyone try it, don't waste it.