Chapter 207: Prince, Spare My Life
Hei Hu could not answer Jin Sui’s question because he had also gone to the Northern Frontier and had not participated in the reclamation of the border city.
But as soon as Jin Sui got out of the carriage, she guessed the reason. Cheng Yu’s courage was truly immense! He was taking advantage of Li Heng’s fence-sitting and indifference towards the border city to reclaim land on the border of Yanzhou.
Although it was ostensibly the Garrison Army reclaiming land, this was actually an excellent strategic location for stationing troops and building clear roads for surprise attacks on Yanzhou.
Cheng Yu was preparing to directly enter the heart of Yandi and turn it upside down if the gentry of Yandi dared to make a move against the border city!
That’s right! This is the style of our border city! If you all gang up to target me at the card table, then I’ll flip the table!
Jin Sui praised repeatedly, “This land is very good!”
Yan Shiyi actually didn’t notice and was still praising, “It’s close to Yanzhou, so it’s convenient to grow vegetables and sell them to Yanzhou.”
Jin Sui was glad she hadn’t brought Yan Jiu along; he would definitely have seen through Cheng Yu’s intentions.
As the few people entered the vegetable patch, a group of soldiers from the Tuntian Camp and their families busied themselves to greet them.
Not to Yan Shiyi, but to Leader Ji.
Hei Hu and Han Xing had already spread the new title “Leader Ji” throughout the army; everyone would remember it with just one mention.
“If you want Leader Ji to stay and continue to lead us to a good life, you must respect her!”
Did this even need to be said? Who in the entire army didn’t respect Leader Ji! Others called her the Fake Li King, but in the hearts of the border city people, it was because of her that the border city had its present day!
Who would have thought that last year, this winter, not a single person would have starved to death or frozen to death, that children could eat their fill and be warmly clothed, live in new houses, and eat meat every few days.
More importantly, there used to be frequent Tartar and bandit raids, but now these enemies didn’t even dare to approach the border city!
And the people of Yanzhou, who used to be arrogant towards us, now had to be polite when they saw us.
Leader Ji had reshaped the backbone of the border city people!
Seeing many children helping in the vegetable patch, Jin Sui took out the sugar from her purse and gave it to them, but in her heart, she thought that the Academy needed to be built quickly.
Leader Ji was narrow-minded and couldn’t stand seeing children chasing chickens and dogs, running around wildly. Everyone go to school!
“These are not seasonal vegetables, so the harvest shouldn’t be too good, right?” Jin Sui asked with a smile.
The captain quickly smiled and said, “Compared to the autumn harvest, the yield is indeed lower, but compared to other crops, this harvest is still high!”
“One mu can yield five hundred jin of chili peppers!”
Yan Shiyi remained unmoved, but his accompanying Yan Clan Bodyguards all gasped. A mu of vegetables yielding five hundred jin, and it was winter greens. In the city, people would snatch them up for ten wen per jin at the big restaurants.
“The yield of tomatoes is even higher! One mu can yield two thousand jin!”
This time, even Yan Shiyi was surprised, “Two thousand jin! Are you sure?”
Jin Sui rolled her eyes at him, “It’s winter, and a yield like this from a greenhouse is already very good.”
Yan Shiyi paused for a moment before jumping up and exclaiming, “You mean that planting them in season would yield even more than this?”
Jin Sui frowned, “You’ve eaten tomatoes for so long, haven’t you inquired about their yield? If a mu yields less than four thousand jin when planted in season, it’s considered low yield!”
Yan Shiyi felt like his ears were playing tricks on him. No matter how much of a young master he was, he knew about crop yields. This was too exaggerated!
What kind of magic did the border city possess? It had produced several high-yield crops in a row: potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, with yields measured in thousands per mu.
We used to not even get this much fodder from planting grass on one mu!
Jin Sui chuckled, “No wonder no one has come to buy large quantities of seeds even though our border city has been planting them for so long. They don’t believe it! Even you, who come to the border city every day, haven’t inquired closely, let alone others.”
This was thanks to her improving the fertilizer, developing an insecticide, and most importantly, the seeds she took from her space.
These were the highest-yielding fine breeds that our descendants had improved over many generations. With such advantageous conditions, if the yield were still low, then I would have to reflect on myself.
Yan Shiyi still didn’t believe it. He personally went to the greenhouse that hadn’t been harvested yet, “I’ll watch you harvest. Can it really yield two thousand jin?”
Jin Sui nudged him with her elbow, rolled up her sleeves, and said, “You came here just to watch? Roll up your sleeves and let’s harvest together!”
She gave Yan Shiyi a bamboo basket and a small pair of scissors, teaching him how to cut and pack them into the basket.
The Yan Clan Bodyguards naturally wouldn’t let their master do the work. Soon, everyone except Hei Hu was harvesting tomatoes.
The reason Hei Hu wasn’t allowed to do it was that his strength was too great to control; he would either pull down the trellises or step on the seedlings. So, he was simply made to carry and weigh them.
Yan Shiyi was quickly convinced because after harvesting just a few tomato plants, he had already filled a basket.
Calculating it this way, a yield of two thousand jin per mu was definitely not a problem!
He looked at Jin Sui with a hint of resentment. With such high yields, why did she still sell them to me so expensively?
Before, you didn’t sell me tomatoes by the jin, but by the piece! Do you have any conscience?
Jin Sui noticed his gaze and asked with a smile, “Now that you have confidence, can you open a thousand hot pot restaurants? We’ll have plenty of tomato broth!”
Yan Shiyi took a deep breath, swallowed his resentment, and asked curiously, “Tomato skins are thin, won’t they get crushed easily during transport?”
Jin Sui nodded, “So most of them are made into tomato sauce, and in the future, we’ll also make canned goods to sell to the Northern Frontier people.”
One greenhouse was half a mu. It was harvested in a little over half an hour. The baskets were piled outside, Hei Hu carried them to the scale, one person reported the count, and another kept the ledger.
Jin Sui gnawed on a tomato while calculating in her mind. Soon, the weighing was done. The half-mu yielded one thousand five hundred and eighty-two jin. After deducting the weight of the baskets, it was a little over a thousand jin.
It seemed this captain was honest, reporting on the lower side without inflating the numbers.
The Yan family members watched with red eyes. No wonder the border city could develop so well! With such high-yielding crops, it was hard not to become rich!
Jin Sui asked the captain, “Are you sending them to the tomato sauce workshop immediately?”
The captain smiled and shook his head, “This batch has already been pre-ordered. The gentry from various prefectures of Yandi have sent their servants to wait. As soon as our vegetables are harvested, they will transport them home themselves.”
Jin Sui chuckled, saving on shipping costs, that’s good! She casually asked, “How much are tomatoes per jin?”
“Fifteen wen.”
Jin Sui thought about the price of tomatoes in later generations. This price was a bit high, but since only the border city had them, and they were winter vegetables that could also be eaten as fruit, this price wasn’t considered expensive.
Yan Shiyi gritted his teeth, “Next year, our Yan family will also plant them.”
Jin Sui smiled, “Go ahead and plant them. Send someone to learn. As you are a salt representative, I’ll give you a discount on the seed price.”
The main reason Jin Sui came to see today was not tomatoes and chili peppers, but Chinese cabbage.
It had been since she first proposed the concept of hybrid vegetables that she had finally grown the first batch of Chinese cabbage.
It was also only half a mu, and it was not being harvested; all of it was being kept for seeds.
They just needed to ask Leader Ji to take a look and see if this was the Chinese cabbage she had spoken of.
The greenhouse was guarded by the Black Feather Camp. This was the only greenhouse in the entire camp area that was heavily guarded.
Apart from Yan Shiyi, the Yan Clan Bodyguards were not allowed in.
“Hiss, is this a vegetable?”
Yan Shiyi squatted down to look. These plump, green heads, each weighing at least ten jin, were they vegetables?
Jin Sui glanced over. As expected of vegetables grown by the army, the Chinese cabbage on the half-mu of land stood like soldiers at attention, arranged neatly one by one.
It was indeed Chinese cabbage, with emerald green outer leaves, jade-white stalks, loose outer leaves, and a tightly wrapped core in the middle. It was growing exceptionally well.
After inspecting it, she said, “You can remove the greenhouse roof. Cabbage is frost-resistant, and it even becomes sweeter after being frosted.”
It was really grown!
By cross-breeding and harvesting a mix of coriander, rapeseed, and cabbage, and after several generations of hybridization, they had truly grown Chinese cabbage!
Jin Sui was very satisfied and proposed to reward this experimental team, and at the same time, have them write a tutorial for hybridizing more varieties of vegetables and fruits in the future.
Yan Shiyi quickly asked, “How much can this Chinese cabbage yield per mu?”
Jin Sui estimated, “At least three thousand jin. As you can see, each head weighs about ten jin.”
Yan Shiyi slapped his thigh and said, “Our Yan family will pre-order seeds from you first!”
He tentatively said, “If these high-yield seeds are presented to the Imperial Court, you could be granted a noble title!”
Jin Sui scoffed, “Our border city’s people haven’t eaten their fill yet! Where would there be any extra to present to the Imperial Court!”
Yan Shiyi smiled, “Exactly! The people of Yandi haven’t tasted them either! Who cares about that noble title!”
Jin Sui became even more eager to open the Academy. There was so much work to be done in agricultural science! Without an Academy and a professional research team, progress was too slow.
For the next period of time, she walked through the entire camp area led by the captain. When they reached a muddy pond, she almost stepped into it.
Hei Hu pulled her back, “The ice on the muddy pond is thin. If you fall in, you’ll get frostbite.”
The captain said regretfully, “The mud from the Qinghe River is all dumped here, and it has become a muddy pond over the years. What a waste of such a large area of land.”
Jin Sui quickly said, “How can it be a waste? If we plan it out to plant lotus roots, Chinese pears, and taro, it would be great!”
There were no water-grown crops in the north. In this era, even rice was not grown in the north. The granary of the Northeast was still barren land.
The captain had never eaten any of these things and looked at Jin Sui in surprise. Even Yan Shiyi had only eaten lotus roots.
Jin Sui smiled, “It’s difficult for you. I’ll send people to the south to find seeds, and then I’ll plan this muddy land!”
Quite unexpectedly, on the way back to Yanzhou, Jin Sui ran into Cheng Yu! He was in a hurry to see Gu Changxiao.
“The refugees have been brought back, and as Leader Ji predicted, many gentry along the way came to buy them. These are border city citizens, not slaves, how can they be sold to them!
Since they couldn’t buy them, they started to tempt and instigate the refugees to escape on their own. The troops I brought were too few, and I need the Prince to send reinforcements.”
Jin Sui immediately abandoned the carriage and switched to riding a horse, leaving Yan Shiyi to accompany Cheng Yu back to the city to find Gu Changxiao.
Gu Changxiao handed the half-discussed commercial tax to Jin Sui and personally led troops to intercept the refugees.
Jin Sui directly handed him over a dozen boxes of fish oil firearms:
“These don’t need to be used on our own people, but they can be used to deter the gentry. They’ve gone too far! Do they really treat our people like slaves!”
Unexpectedly, Yan Jiu heard about it and wanted to go with Gu Changxiao, “I will persuade those gentry.”
Gu Changxiao didn’t really want him to go. If he went, there wouldn’t be a fight. Taking this opportunity to severely punish the gentry was an opportunity Gu Changxiao had been waiting for.
Yan Jiu seemed to see through Gu Changxiao’s intentions and said softly:
“Trade with the Northern Frontier has not yet begun, and Chang’an is waiting to see how Your Highness handles these refugees. If there is further conflict with the gentry, it will be detrimental to Your Highness.”
Jin Sui agreed with Yan Jiu’s words and whispered to Gu Changxiao, “Just scare them a little. The most important thing is to bring the refugees back to the border city. We can settle the score with them later!”
Gu Changxiao then agreed to Yan Jiu accompanying him. The news that both the Li King and the Yan family had left Yanzhou simultaneously spread like wildfire.
Li Heng was the happiest. The Li King was gone! He could finally relax!
When he heard that the Li King had handed over the task of drafting the border trade tax to Leader Ji, Li Heng was disdainful. If Cheng Yu had come, he might have appeased him.
What Leader Ji? As an official appointed by the Imperial Court, was he afraid of some Jianghu leader?
As it turned out, the visitor was not some Jianghu leader, but an extremely beautiful young woman. Yan Shiyi and Miss Yan accompanied Jin Sui, fearing that Li Heng would bully Sui Sui.
Li Heng put on his official airs. So what if you are the Li King’s woman? You’re not a Princess Consort, at most a concubine or an intimate friend. As a Prefect, would I be afraid of a woman like you?
Jin Sui followed courtesy with force. She bowed to Li Heng and asked with a soft smile, “Sir, could you show this humble girl the Commercial Law? Since the Prince has entrusted this important task to this humble girl, this humble girl can only take on the responsibility.”
Li Heng was quite authoritative in front of others. He stroked his beard and snorted coldly, “Commercial Law is a major border affair! The Imperial Court values law. Is it something you can look at?”
Yan Shiyi was about to step forward to defend Jin Sui, but Jin Sui raised her hand, “Young Master Yan, would you please escort Miss Yan out? Allow this humble girl to have a private chat with Lord Li.”
She kept referring to herself as “this humble girl” to Li Heng, which made Yan Shiyi’s heart tremble. You and the term “humble girl” are as incompatible as a black bear and “cute”!
Yan Shiyi began to pity Li Heng. I thought I was blind before for not recognizing that Miss Ji was the Fake Li King.
Now it seemed Li Heng was even more blind than himself! He instantly felt much better.
He pulled Miss Yan out and thoughtfully closed the door.
Li Heng still had a look of arrogance. What do you want? To kneel and beg me? Or to cry and make a scene?
Of course, he didn’t think about seduction. This was the Li King’s woman; he wouldn’t dare to think that way!
The result was that this little beauty still had a smiling face, “Sir, you really won’t let me see it?”
Li Heng said sternly, “No matter who you are to the Prince, I will not show you something this important!”
Then he looked up and saw Jin Sui striding towards him, flicking away the things on his desk, and leaping onto his desk.
The contrast was too great. Just moments ago, she was a gentle and demure beauty, and suddenly she turned into a mischievous monkey!
“You, what are you doing? Assaulting an official appointed by the Imperial Court, even the Prince couldn’t protect you!” Li Heng’s voice trembled slightly.
He thought to himself, if she really dared to make a move, he would have to hit a woman.
Then he realized he was wrong. This young girl grabbed him by the collar, still with a smile on her face:
“As I said, if you dare to be a fence-sitter again, I’ll shave off your grass!”
As she said this, Jin Sui’s voice changed to Gu Changxiao’s. She wasn’t wearing makeup, and looking at him so closely.
Even if Li Heng’s eyes were blind, he recognized her. His eyes widened instantly, sweat poured down his face, and his limbs trembled, “You, you are…”
Jin Sui twisted her wrist, and a small knife appeared in her hand. With a few quick strokes, she shaved off Li Heng’s beard.
She slapped his hat off with one palm and then moved the knife towards his hair.
Li Heng was completely terrified and collapsed, “Your Highness, spare me!”
