Chapter 669 Set sail
Before the spring plowing, the Yuanshi battleship finally set sail again.

The snow melted and the Wei and Jing rivers rose.

On the Jing River, the Yuanshi was moving at a constant speed.

From time to time we encountered trees, which were pushed to the sides.

In the command tower, Black Bear looked at the rainfall records of each county last year. Rainfall was frequent in autumn, and some counties had rain for more than 20 days in a row.

In winter, there is heavy snowfall north of the Wei River, which leads to snowmelt flash floods.

“The law of nature is balanced. There will be more rain and snow in autumn and winter. Sooner or later, the extra snow will be paid back.”

Black Bear put the booklet on the table with emotion. Li Feng, who was accompanying him, had resigned from his official position and was wearing a purple Bagua Tai Chi robe and a lotus crown.

He also picked up the booklet and examined the rainfall records: “Sir, do you want to save food?”

“How much can we save?”

Black Bear asked in return, with the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture, the five-year grain supply system came to an end.

However, the purchase and sale of grain is still unified, and most of the grain is still controlled by the shogunate’s dispatch system.

We are not afraid of this year’s drought, but we are afraid of three consecutive years of drought.

Black Bear was a little reluctant: “Sir, we still need to take care of Shuzhong. After we go to Qingcheng Mountain, we must actively encourage farmers. Although it is difficult to transport grain, the grain from Shuzhong and Hanzhong can eventually solve the problem of the capital.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Li Feng responded in a deep voice. Because of the ridiculous assassination plan, most of the people who came with him, nearly four thousand people, were packed up and sent to Shangjun to plant trees.

Fortunately, the sentence is not long, and most people only get five years.

Wang Fu, the governor of Yizhou, was about to close the case. As a result, more than 5,000 families were implicated and their property was confiscated, and they were exiled to the four counties in Hexi.

Wang Fu had been very restrained and withstood the pressure from the black bear.

If a cruel official were to come, at least 30,000 households in Shu would need to relocate.

After this round of exile, many government fields suddenly appeared in the Shuzhong region where land was precious. Wang Fu then needed to piece the government fields together through land exchange.

This was destined to be another offensive assignment. Most people would not be grateful to Wang Fu for not implicating many others. Instead, they would think that he was an accomplice and helped outsiders murder their fellow villagers.

But a small number of people will actively cooperate. If something happens to Wang Fu again, there will be no need for land exchange or merger of official fields in the thousands of miles of fertile land in Shu.

Wang Fu had been dragging his feet on closing the case just to make it easier to merge official fields.

If we encounter diehards, we will simply register their names, confiscate their entire families, and relocate them to the four counties of Hexi as a one-stop service.

The official fields merged from Shu, whether in Heixiong or Yizhou, will be leased.

With two crops a year and only 30% of the rent collected, it is still a huge profit.

After the official fields are merged, trees will be planted as boundary walls to prevent land loss.

After chatting for a few more words, Li Feng walked down the command tower and came to the bow of the ship, leaning on a seven-section staff.

Dozens of people stood behind the guardrail, watching the bow of the ship break through the waves upstream.

Peng Ying, who was highly recommended by Li Feng, was also here, but he had been punished by having his hair shaved. At this moment, he was wearing a yellow turban, a green robe, and dressed like a servant, holding a wooden tray in his hand.

Black Bear punished Li Feng’s entourage too harshly…he let off more than 300 people, and the rest were sentenced to five years in prison.

It’s not harsh, it’s just too strict.

When Peng Ying refuted the argument with rude words, he had his head shaved and was demoted to a ship servant on the Yuanshi warship.

Even so, Peng Ying did not feel depressed. He stopped doing his job and watched the scenes on both sides of the Taiwan Strait with great interest.

After all, the punishment for Li Feng’s entourage was too severe. If Peng Ying did not plead for mercy, he would be socially dead and his reputation would collapse.

Things are very good now, even Li Feng is a little envious of Peng Ying.

Even among the servants on the ship, who would dare to despise or humiliate Peng Ying?
When Peng Ying saw Li Feng approaching, he quickly stepped forward and said, “Master.”

“Yongnian is lazy.”

Li Feng joked with a smile, holding the guardrail with his left hand, squinting his eyes and looking upstream. There was an obvious flood peak pushing down.

He said to Peng Ying: “This is a good opportunity, Yongnian must cherish it. When I followed the Lord to travel around the country, in my spare time, the Lord would let me explain the classics to the officers and soldiers on the ship and study the texts. Now when I think back on it, I am really filled with emotion.”

“Thank you for your teachings, Master. I understand.”

Peng Ying also reached out to grab the guardrail, and then the bow of the ship ran over the two-foot-high flood peak, causing slight turbulence.

Peng Ying was deeply moved by the flood peaks that were crushed from time to time. The forces of all parties, just like this muddy flood, could not resist the forward momentum of the Yuanshi battleship at all.

Li Feng didn’t want to say anything more and just quietly enjoyed the feeling of riding the boat.

Only when he was on the Yuanshi did he feel a true sense of tranquility and accomplishment that transcended the world.

But Yizhou couldn’t do without him. The construction of the Taiqing Dao Palace in Qingcheng Mountain had already begun, and he needed to go back to preside over it. On the first floor of the cabin, Zhen Mi was sleepy. She was pregnant again.

Lying on the couch, under the warm glow of the crystal chandelier, she began to seriously think about and weigh the situation in Hebei.

Whether it was Cui Zhouping before or Cui Yan now, they are all trying to submit letters to her and seek early pacification of Hebei.

The longer this matter is delayed, the more disadvantageous it will be for the people of Hebei.

The main projects in the past two years have been to repair the Shu Road and to dig through the Dizhu. If any one direction is completed first, it means that a large army can be launched in that direction to completely eliminate the remaining resistance forces.

Even in Shuzhong, many people began to look forward to this southwestern war.

If the Shu Road was opened first, almost no one would be able to stop this war.

After the war is over and Dizhu is dug, should we prioritize attacking Hebei or pacifying Yan and Yu states?
These are not things that Zhen Mi can influence, as they are determined based on the completion time of the two key projects.

But Hebei has one special thing, that is Youzhou.

With Youzhou in hand, by recruiting the Xiongnu and Xianbei volunteers and combining them with the garrison troops in Dai County, he could inflict a devastating blow to Yuan Shang.

During this period, several elite troops left Shangdang and Henei, crossed the Taihang Mountains and headed eastward, which was enough to destroy the Yuan family in one battle, allowing the people of Hebei to enjoy peace from then on.

So in fact, the foundation for defeating the Yuan family has been established, and what is lacking is how to ignite this fire.

As long as Ma Teng holds the seal of the General of Zhenbei, the fire will not start.

But Ma Teng’s return to the court meant that Saigo would regain favor.

Zhen Mi did not intend to completely kill Xixiang. The two sides did not have such a deep hatred, and Xixiang’s behavior was just that, so there was no need to cross the bottom line.

However, she was worried about one thing: after pacifying Hebei, would she encounter the same experience in Xixiang as in Dongxiang?

“Meow~!”

The raccoon cat arched its back and stretched, and was about to come in, but was driven away by the female official guarding the sliding door with a wave of her sleeves.

Hei Rui ran in small steps to chase the raccoon cat, and the raccoon cat hid in other compartments.

Zhen Mi was worried that the cat would scratch her son’s face, so she said to the court lady, “Please bring the prince here.”

“Here.”

The female official stood up and carried Hei Rui into the compartment.

“Mother.”

Hei Rui landed on the ground, walked forward to grab Zhen Mi’s skirt, but looked around as if looking for a civet cat.

“Don’t be naughty, be careful that Jiannu bites you.”

Zhen Mi tapped his forehead with a finger and said, “It’s stuffy in the cabin, so put on your scarf and hood and go find your father.”

“Yes.”

Hei Rui agreed, turned around and ran out, saying to the four twelve-year-old boys waiting outside the sliding door, “Scarf, scarf, go find your father.”

“Yes.”

Two people were holding Hei Rui’s arms, one on the left and one on the right, and two more people were following behind.

Returning to Hei Rui’s cubicle, he immediately put on his hood, wrapped himself in a scarf, and put on soft, loose leather boots.

Only then did he dare to take Hei Rui out of the cabin. All the guards and officials on duty he met along the way bowed to him and saluted, and gave way as much as possible.

At the steps of the command tower, Hei Rui didn’t want anyone to hold him, and climbed up using his hands and feet.

By the time I reached the third floor, I was already out of breath.

Black Bear sensed it as he approached the tower.

Whether it was Hei Rui or any other child, he could roughly sense it.

Perhaps a hundred years later, these children will all be the material for innate puppet Taoist soldiers.

No extra mana is required…but he couldn’t predict what it would be like.

The more children he has, the more white mana he can use to strengthen himself.

He didn’t care much about this, and hundreds of years later, the country was really destroyed and the race was extinct.

Then another ‘self’ will appear, and this offspring will be as strong as you are.

But how strong are you?

The black bear had no idea and never actually took action.

(End of this chapter)