I'm in the Red Mansion

The three new crops have a satisfactory yield per mu, much higher than their wheat harvest.

And this season's crops have all come out of nowhere. How can people not be happy?

After the autumn harvest, they were busy preparing the land, preparing to start sowing winter wheat after the frost.

But Jia Cong's agricultural assistance project has not yet ended.

For example, for peanuts, Jia Cong asked every village to raise funds to build an oil mill.

Then the villagers in the village can take turns to use the oil mill to press oil.

After squeezing out the peanut oil, you can keep a portion for your own use.

The rest can be sold to the Xue Family Chamber of Commerce.

The Xue Family Chamber of Commerce purchased it and then transported it to other places to sell it.

Jia Cong began to hype the benefits of peanut oil in the Daxia Monthly, advocating that cooking with peanut oil could enhance human physique and prolong life.

In the Central Plains region, vegetable oil has been widely used for cooking since the Song Dynasty.

But at that time, peanuts had not yet been introduced.

Therefore, the vegetable oils used are usually sesame oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, tea oil, etc.

These vegetable oils each have their own advantages. Compared with peanut oil, we can only say that each has its own advantages.

But in order to promote peanut oil, Jia Cong didn't care about much else.

Nowadays, only the five states of Jizhou have begun to grow peanuts on a large scale.

Peanut oil is only available here, so scarcity makes things valuable.

Therefore, as soon as the price of peanut oil left the Yanyun area, it would rise sharply and was driven up to the sky.

As long as peanuts are not popularized nationwide, the price will not go down.

After a few years, peanuts became popular and the Xue family shop had already made a lot of money, so it was no problem.

However, the Xue family only took 10% of the profits.

The remaining 90% belonged to the Jiedushi Mansion.

Now, the Yanyun area has been regarded as Jia Cong's own private land.

The area of ​​Yanyun had been badly ravaged by the Qing Dynasty and was in ruins. If they wanted to rebuild it, they would need a lot of money.

Therefore, Jia Cong had to find a way to make some money.

In Jizhou, there's more than just peanut oil.

It was the sweet potatoes and corn that Jia Cong carried out secondary processing.

For example, Jia Cong bought a batch of sweet potatoes from the public, cooked them, let them dry for a day or two, and then cut them into strips to make dried sweet potatoes.

(Some people cut first and then steam, the effect is almost the same)
Then they are shipped out and sold at a high price.

As for corn, it is naturally shipped fresh and sold after being cooked.

However, today’s preservation technology is very backward, so not too much can be shipped out.

However, as long as each one is shipped out, you can make a lot of money.

Jia Cong did not directly process these three crops from the output of the land reserved for the government.

Instead, we give benefits to the people and purchase directly from them.

The purchase price is directly twice that of wheat.

If calculated in this way, the income from wheat stubble alone can be three or four times that of wheat or even more.

Just this one item allowed the people of the five states to earn at least a few taels of silver.

Now that the people have money, they will naturally be more supportive and loyal to the Marquis of Guanjun.

In the imperial palace in the capital, Emperor Yonglong was having a meal.

He tasted two dishes fried with peanut oil and after comparison, he felt that they were indeed more delicious.

Then he tried a piece of dried sweet potato and ate a small piece of corn, and thought it tasted really good.

After dinner, Emperor Yonglong couldn't help but summon the chief physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau to ask questions.

"My dear, can long-term use of peanut oil really strengthen the body and prolong life?"

The Imperial Physician pondered for a long while before saying, "Your Majesty, I think there are some benefits."

Although the imperial physician had superb medical skills, he was not a nutrition expert like later generations.

He had no idea about the emerging product, peanut oil, and he didn't dare to make any rash comments.

When Emperor Yonglong heard this, he thought that peanut oil really had such effects.

Therefore, after ordering the imperial physician to leave, he instructed Dai Quan to order the imperial kitchen to buy peanut oil and use peanut oil for cooking in the future.

After hearing this, Dai Quan immediately gave orders.

After dinner, Emperor Yonglong returned to the study and reviewed some memorials.

He started to look through the intelligence on the Five States of Yanyun.

Emperor Yonglong's focus now is on Yanyun and the south.

If we can recover the Yanyun area and reduce the three tribes, then Daxia will no longer have to worry.

Therefore, Emperor Yonglong also attached great importance to the intelligence of these two places.

For example, in the Sanfan area, Emperor Yonglong sent Feng Ziying to take charge of it personally.

Emperor Yonglong also received very detailed intelligence about the Yanyun area.

At this time, Emperor Yonglong opened the intelligence and looked at it carefully.

When he saw that the people in the five states had surplus food in every household and could wear new clothes.

All children in the family can be sent to school for free.

Even the medical clinics in these five states are far superior to those in other places.

Even the widowed, the orphaned, and the lonely will all be provided for and have someone to rely on.

The people live and work in peace and contentment.

The wealth of the people is far greater than that of any other place in Daxia.

Even the people in the so-called prosperous times are probably not as wealthy as the people in the five states of Yanyun.

Jia Cong had only governed these five states for a few years.

For example, Zhuozhou was just captured this year.

This champion marquis is a man of great military power who can decide the fate of the world on horseback, and he is also a man of great literary power who can bring peace to the world with his pen.

He is indeed a pillar of society!

With such talent, I'm afraid no other official in the court would be able to achieve this.

Such talent made Emperor Yonglong admire him very much.

However, Jia Cong's talent also made Emperor Yonglong shocked.

Such talent is truly terrifying.

Today, the people in the five states of Yanyun only know the Marquis of Guanjun, but not the emperor.

If he were to take over the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, wouldn't he be able to quickly make the water in their management impenetrable?
If they establish their own regime in the future, how should they be governed?

Emperor Yonglong was distracted and was thinking, can the development of the five states of Yanyun be promoted nationwide?

After thinking about it, Emperor Yonglong couldn't help but shook his head.

The Five Prefectures of Yanyun have a special situation as they were seized from the Qing Dynasty.

Order was re-established and the land was equally distributed among the people.

This strategy would be difficult to implement anywhere else.

Thinking of this, Emperor Yonglong couldn't help but shook his head again.

Next, Emperor Yonglong took out Jia Cong's memorial.

It turned out that the autumn harvest was over, and next, Jia Cong was preparing to begin the comprehensive recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

Emperor Yonglong had waited for this day for too long.

Although there will be new troubles after recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

But at least we have to wait until we recover Yanyun Sixteen before we can do anything about it.

Therefore, Emperor Yonglong and the imperial court would naturally cooperate fully with Jia Cong to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.

In Youzhou City, Jia Cong had already given the order.

He ordered all his generals to prepare for battle.

At the same time, we had to guard against the news leaking out and arouse the Qing Dynasty's vigilance.

Although they will know as soon as they send troops.

But it's better to hide it for a while.

If they could hide it until the moment they send their troops, the Qing would then become aware of it.

Then they will be able to gain a great advantage in the early stages.

Half a month later, Daxia quickly dispatched troops, divided into four groups, and headed straight for Mozhou and Yingzhou.

Mozhou and Yingzhou are located in the southeastern border of Yanyun.

After taking over these two states, the entire Yanyun was completely divided into two parts, east and west.

There are seven states in the east and nine states in the west.

It also completely separated the western Kyushu from the Qing Dynasty, making it a waterless source.

Because Jia Cong's Jizhou army moved quickly, they caught the Qing Dynasty off guard.

The four armies marched straight in, and before the defenders of Mozhou and Yingzhou could even react, they had captured eight cities in a row.

Because the Jizhou army moved so quickly, they had no time to launch their prior preparations, and the city was captured.

After the Manchu defenders in Mozhou and Yingzhou states reacted, they hurriedly defended themselves while quickly sending the news back to the court to seek support.

However, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. As for the Nine Provinces in the west, they were directly cut off by Zhuozhou, and there was no way to send troops to support them.

Before the Qing Dynasty sent troops to support them, these two states had become isolated.

It took the Qing court at least a month from receiving the news to preparing military rations, organizing troops and sending support.

The defenders of Mozhou and Yingzhou felt that they would not be able to hold out for less than a month.

Now, they have no way out.

Now they have no choice but to fight to the death, or simply surrender to Daxia.

However, the Qing Dynasty had already been prepared for these defenders.

The Qing Dynasty welcomed all the families of these garrisons into the Qing capital Shengjing and settled them properly.

If these defenders made meritorious service or died on the battlefield, their families would be regarded as martyrs' relatives and would be treated well.

But if they surrendered to Daxia like Fucha Chusheng did, then their entire families would be executed.

However, those who are as selfish as Fu Cha Chusheng are still a minority after all.

The defenders of these two states have already made plans to fight to the death.

And after some discussions, they simply gave up on the other counties.

Transfer all the troops back to the cities of the prefectures and counties.

The garrisons in those county towns were limited, and even if they had been deployed in advance, they could not pose much threat to the Jizhou army.

In this case, it would be better to just gather all the strength together.

This, coupled with the arrangements they had made in advance.

Even if the Jizhou army could eat them, they would surely lose all their teeth.

The reduction of their troops saved the Jizhou army a lot of trouble.

They directly took over the county towns launched by the Qing Dynasty.

Then the troops were divided into two groups and surrounded Mozhou City and Yingzhou City respectively.

The two cities were besieged by the vanguard army led by Jia Huan and the left army led by Wu Shan.

As for the Fucha Army and the Sharp Blade Legion led by Liu Xianglian, they were just assisting the two armies.

After besieging the two cities, the two armies were not in a hurry to attack them.

And this was also Jia Cong's prior arrangement.

As the saying goes, a trapped beast will still fight. After being surrounded, the Qing troops in these two states, knowing that they would die, did not care about life and death.

If we attack at this time, we will be met with a frenzied counterattack from them.

Therefore, it is better to surround them without attacking. After a long time, their morale will be lost.

The two states were reinforcing their city walls every day, while the Jizhou troops surrounding them had no intention of attacking the city.

But this made their hearts sink a little bit.

There wasn't much food and fodder in their city, but they had some stored there, enough to last them for half a year.

But now, after the troops were withdrawn, the number of soldiers doubled.

As a result, the food and grass in the city would only be enough for three months.

Once, the Xia army that was besieging them outside did not have to attack them.

It would only take three months to surround them and they would all starve to death in the city.

Now, they no longer expect the Qing court to send a large army to support them.

Support will definitely come, but how could the Champion Marquis be completely unprepared for it?

I’m afraid that this reinforcement will never come to rescue us.

After three months, they will die!

Thinking of this, the morale of the Qing troops in the city could not help but decline day by day.

Some generals even volunteered to fight, asking to fight their way out of the encirclement and break out.

The defenders of these two states strongly opposed it.

The Champion Marquis is as cunning as a fox. At this moment, he must have set up a tight net outside and ambushed people from all sides.

If we break out at this time, wouldn't we be walking into a trap?

While they were arguing, the two cities were suddenly breached by the Jizhou army overnight without anyone noticing.

This time, it was the Fucha Army that made great contributions.

During the past six months, Fuchajun has been very busy.

Fucha Chusheng sent out a large number of scouts to infiltrate various cities in the Yanyun area.

Now that the Qing Dynasty is shrinking its front lines, naturally, these Fucha troops have also gathered together.

Then, these Fucha troops infiltrated the city defenses, secretly gathered and grew stronger, and at the same time contacted the Jizhou troops outside.

Then, they agreed on a date, and they secretly guarded a section of the city wall.

Then, taking advantage of the cover of night, they dropped more than a dozen ropes to allow the Jizhou army under the city to climb up the city wall.

Soon, these Jizhou troops expanded their defense line again, allowing a steady stream of Jizhou troops to climb up the city walls.

They did not open the city gate because it was completely blocked by huge rocks.

Instead of moving the huge rocks, it would be faster to climb the wall from this side along the rope.

There were more and more Xia troops on the city wall, and the Qing soldiers in the city, frightened and angry, began a frantic counterattack.

At this time, the automatic rifle began to show its power.

No matter how the Qing soldiers fought back, they were unable to break through the fire network.

Apart from leaving a pile of corpses, they were unable to even cause any harm to Xia Jun.

At this time, the Xia army had already moved the ladders over.

As ladders were placed on the city walls, it meant that the city had been completely lost.

At this time, the Qing troops in the city could not break out even if they wanted to.

Because the city gates were blocked by them.

The Xia army kept attacking, so how could they have time to move the huge rocks?
This is also a trap for them.

The Manchu garrison commander once again withdrew his troops.

Their arrangements are not just city walls and gates.

They also set up a large number of traps and ambushes in the city.

There were even large amounts of gunpowder buried underground in several places.

If necessary, they could die together with the Xia army.

However, the Xia army was not in a hurry to attack.

After seeing the Qing soldiers retreat, they moved the huge rocks and opened the city gate.

Then, move forward step by step.

However, none of the traps and ambushes set by the Qing Dynasty worked.

It seemed that Xia Jun had the ability to predict the future.

At this point, everyone in the Qing army knew that there was a traitor in their midst, and the Xia army was well aware of all their deployments.

In this situation, how can we fight this war?
The entire Qing garrison fell into despair.

Under the continuous attacks of Xia Jun, they finally collapsed.

The defending general committed suicide on the spot, and the remaining soldiers, some who surrendered, some who refused to surrender, were all killed.

At this point, Mozhou and Yingzhou were completely recovered.

The people of these two states all came out of their homes, weeping and cheering.

They had long heard about the heavenly life that the people of the five states lived.

And now, this tremendous wealth has finally come to them.

Next, Jia Cong began to take over the two states in an all-round way.

Re-deployed troops, sent officials, and distributed land to the people.

At the same time, the good news was also spread to the court.

It was not until these two states were completely captured that the Qing Dynasty's 100,000 reinforcements were halfway there.

At this time, the main general of the Qing Dynasty had already received the news of the fall of the two states.

At this moment he was in a dilemma.

I really don't know whether to lead the troops back directly or fight directly with the Xia army.

The Xia army was so brave that his army of 100,000 was probably no match for them.

But if we turn back at this point, we will lose face.

Therefore, the Manchu general had to move slowly while sending people to the court to inquire.

The military order that was finally received was to deploy troops on the border and wait for an opportunity to act.

Well, the imperial court also has to save face.

He was afraid that the 100,000-strong army would be completely wiped out, and he was also worried that if he returned directly to the capital, the people would laugh at him.

Therefore, they simply placed these 100,000 troops on the border.

After some time, when the weather gets colder, there will be a reason to return to the capital.

Jia Cong was naturally also paying attention to the Qing Dynasty's every move.

After hearing the news that they had deployed troops on the border, I was completely relieved.

It seems that the Qing Dynasty was scared of being beaten.

They have tacitly accepted the fall of these two states.

Even the Kyushu area west of Yanyun was tacitly abandoned.

Otherwise, they would not have let it go so easily.

In this case, Jia Cong felt relieved.

There was no rush for these two states. Jia Cong only left a small number of garrisons and then focused all his attention on the west.

Next, we need to capture Guizhou and Ruzhou.

As for the remaining seven states, it won’t be too late to work on the theory after the new year.

However, this time, there is no need to wait for another year or two to seize the other states.

This time, Jia Cong planned to attack cities and villages along the way and take over all the remaining states.

At this point, the strength he had accumulated was enough, and it was time to show his fangs.

Moreover, if it is delayed for too long, some accidents are bound to happen.

The plan was decided, and next, Jia Cong led his troops westward.

The troops were divided into two groups and headed straight for Guizhou and Ruzhou.

The nine states in the west of Yanyun are all connected together and can support each other.

However, the land of Kyushu is quite long and narrow, except for the neighboring states.

It will take time for the four westernmost states to provide support.

Moreover, they also need to be wary of the Xia army attacking from Daizhou and Yanmen Pass.

The Xia army attacked once at the beginning of this year.

Although they were easily defeated in the end, the situation would have been different if they had sent out all their main forces.

Therefore, except for Wuzhou and Xinzhou, the other five continents did not send reinforcements.

……

A month later, the territories of Guizhou and Ruzhou were captured by the Jizhou army.

The time taken was even shorter than Jia Cong had expected.

As expected, the reinforcements sent by Wuzhou and Xinzhou were all surrounded and wiped out by the Jizhou army.

The garrison in Wuzhou and Xinzhou was already insufficient, and now it is even more stretched.

They hurriedly asked for help from the other five states.

As for the other five states, it was even less likely that they would send troops to support after they knew that the Xia army's strategy was to besiege a point and attack its reinforcements.

The angry defenders of Wuzhou and Xinzhou shouted angrily: You didn’t send reinforcements to support us today when we are surrounded. When you are besieged tomorrow, no one will support you!

The attitude of the other five state defenders was, let’s wait and see tomorrow!

Therefore, another month later, Wuzhou and Xinzhou were also taken.

At this point, eleven of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun had been recovered, leaving only five prefectures unrecovered.

At this time, the weather was getting colder day by day, and suddenly it started snowing heavily.

The heavy snow fell for several days in a row, covering the sky and the earth in a blanket of white.

It is impossible to send troops out in this icy and snowy environment.

Besides, it was already the end of the year, so Jia Cong simply let the soldiers have a good rest.

Let's wait until after the New Year and when the ice and snow melt, it won't be too late to attack the remaining five states.

Afterwards, Jia Cong had no leisure time either.

Just because it snowed heavily this year, Jia Cong's territory has now expanded from five states to eleven states.

He is the official in charge of the country, so naturally he cannot ignore the lives of the people in the eleven states.

In particular, the four states in the western part of Yanyun were newly acquired at the end of the year, and the officials have not yet been gathered.

These four states were mostly harmed by the Qing Dynasty, and life there was already difficult.

How can anyone withstand such heavy snow?

Many people's houses were crushed and it was difficult for their families to survive.

Jia Cong sent troops to provide disaster relief.

And a death order was issued, but if a civilian died of the severe cold, the general would be held accountable.

Jia Cong even personally treated the people who were frostbitten.

Because so many people were frostbitten, Jia Cong often could not sleep for more than a few hours a day. After a few days, he lost a lot of weight.

Many of the people in these four states were so moved by Jia Cong, the Marquis of Guanjun, that they burst into tears and knelt in the snow to kowtow to him.

Almost every household has set up a shrine to Jia Cong and offers incense every day.

As the saying goes, what goes up must come down. As a military governor, Jia Cong acted like this, so how could the officers and officials at the lower levels dare to be negligent?

Therefore, although the snow was heavy, in the end, apart from the people who were killed when their houses collapsed, no one was harmed.

Not a single civilian died in the disaster.

This also made Jia Cong's reputation spread widely in the Yanyun area.

This makes the people in Yanyun area more loyal.

After these disaster victims were properly resettled, the end of the year gradually arrived.

Since he couldn't go back this year, Jia Cong simply made dumplings with the disaster victims, had New Year's Eve dinner with them, and spent the New Year together. (End of this chapter)