Chapter 165 Construction Site

She spoke so highly of sweet potatoes. Zhong Jing actually knew about sweet potatoes, but he just regarded them as an ordinary crop and didn't think much about it. When he heard what Zhao Liya said, he suddenly felt as if what he had heard about was fake.

"Is that thing really that good?"

Zhao Liya said firmly, "At least it's very suitable for raising pigs! If you want to raise a lot of pigs, you must have it! Otherwise, wouldn't it be a pity to feed the pigs with radishes, greens, Chinese cabbages, and small cabbages? Besides, radishes and cabbages don't grow as fast as sweet potato vines. You can't just find wild grasses and vegetables to feed the pigs. That way there is no nutrition, and it's hard to make the pigs fat. Besides, sweet potatoes are even more nutritious for pigs when they bear fruit!"

Zhong Jing nodded, "That makes sense!"

Life in the military camp was actually very hard. It seemed as if the imperial court had completely forgotten about them. Military pay and the like were basically out of the question. If he had not arrogantly asked for and intercepted some of the taxes that were to be paid to the capital, it would have been even more difficult.

The poor soldiers could only eat a few meals a year to have a full stomach, let alone meat. Raising pigs could also improve their food.

Of course, things are much better now. Ever since I met Sister Xiaoya and became rich with her, my life has become more and more comfortable.

Zhong Jing didn't know how to choose a location for the pig farm, and he knew without hesitation that his soldiers knew even less. He had to ask Xiaoya for help!

Of course Zhao Liya wouldn't give in. The military and civilians are one family, and that's what should happen.

So the next day, Zhong Jing simply accompanied Zhao Liya to wander around his own territory and the surrounding area. The military camp was in an important area, and the Lingnan region was vast and sparsely populated. According to regulations, there were no people within forty miles of the military camp. In fact, there were no people within a radius of fifty or sixty miles. There were no houses further away, so raising pigs was a very simple matter.

Yu Xiaofang wanted to go into the mountains, so he observed along the way. He felt that there were many mountains here, and they all looked pretty good. He was looking forward to gaining something.

"Xiaoya, how many days will you be here? I'll need to arrange my time."

It is very rare to go into the mountains to collect herbs and come back the same day, unless you go there specifically for a certain herb and know where it grows not too far away, and then you pick it and come back quickly.

Collecting herbs is similar to treasure hunting. It is hard to say how many days it will take to go into the mountains. It depends on the situation.

Zhao Liya thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Since we're here, and it's a rare opportunity, we'll have to stay for at least four or five days."

Zhong Jing: "Just stay here for a few more days, I'd love for you to!"

Yu Xiaofang was also eager. So he said, "Then—five days? I'll be back in about five days."

"good."

Zhong Jing was very generous and assigned five people to accompany Yu Xiaofang into the mountains. "They are very familiar with the mountains in this area, you can rest assured."

Yu Xiaofang thanked him happily.

Lin Mo thought to himself, General Zhong was a good man, and Zhong Ming and the others were okay, but this was the military after all, and who among them didn't have a temper? Who could have known what would happen if they weren't in General Zhong's presence? They had been ordered to follow the boat into the mountains. General Zhong's words were like military orders, and they dared not disobey. But if they were away from General Zhong, who knew if they would pretend to obey but secretly disobey?

With Xiao Fang's temper and foul mouth, he won't tolerate any injustice. If he refuses to be offended and keeps talking nonsense, and angers others, a fight might break out.

Of course, although Xiao Fang didn't know martial arts, he was always equipped with all kinds of rare and exotic medicines. If a fight really came to a head, it would be hard to say who would suffer the most.

But if we do this, wouldn't it just create discord and filth?

Not worth it.

Lin Mo discussed with Shu Yan whether it was feasible for her and Zhao Liya to stay in the military camp. He was not very confident about Yu Xiaofang.

Shu Yan quickly smiled and said, "Xiao Ya and I can stay in the barracks, so what? I was just about to say that the mountains are dangerous, so you should just follow Xiao Fang."

Lin Mo smiled gently: "Okay."

So, Lin Mo also followed him into the mountains. He had good martial arts skills, so as long as he found an opportunity to show off his skills, he would not be afraid of not being able to intimidate those people.

When Zhao Liya and Shu Yan were wandering around accompanied by Zhong Jing, Yu Xiaofang and Zhong Jing had already left.

Zhong Jing felt that with Xiaoya, a smart, capable, and lucky sister, helping him, his pig farming business would surely prosper. So, he decided to make a big splash.

He wants to raise a thousand pigs.

Zhao Liya also thought it was a good idea. There were more than 22,000 people in the military camp. What was the big deal about raising a thousand pigs?

She also suggested raising about 20 sows so that they can produce and sell their own pigs without having to buy too many piglets from outside.

Zhong Jing thought it made sense and nodded to indicate that he would do as he was told.

One thousand pigs and twenty sows can be paired with four hundred acres of sweet potatoes. The output is enough to feed the pigs, and the sweet potato vine sprouts and sweet potatoes can also change the taste of the soldiers and satisfy their cravings.

Zhao Liya suggested dividing the farm into six, with five farms raising the 1,000 pigs each and one dedicated to raising sows.

After walking for a day, six locations were identified.

Zhao Liya did not make the decision randomly. She tried her best to keep the distance between them reasonable so that they would not affect each other, but not too far either.

Because we need to consider the later processing of pig manure composting, we should not keep it too far away from the sweet potato field, which will make feeding and management more convenient.

Repair the roads and connect all these places, so that ox carts and donkey carts can pass smoothly, and they will be connected into one, making travel easier.

Zhong Jing was very happy. After getting the drawings of the pig farm from Zhao Liya, he immediately ordered Zhong Ming to find someone to be responsible for this matter and to build several pig farms according to the drawings.

Sweet potatoes are also being planted.

Zhao Liya reminded him to send someone to find piglets quickly.

If you buy a few, or even thirty or fifty, it's not a problem, it's easy to buy. But a thousand is a huge number!

It is absolutely impossible to buy it suddenly. You can only look for it in advance and pay a deposit to make a reservation.

Zhong Jing slapped his forehead in sudden realization: "That's right, thank goodness Xiaoya reminded me! Otherwise, if the pig farm is built but there are no pigs, it would be a big joke!"

Zhao Liya and Shu Yan both laughed.

Zhao Liya asked with a curious smile, "By the way, after walking around a lot today, I noticed you have so many lychee trees planted here. They're everywhere, almost covering the entire mountain. How come there are so many?"

There are other fruit trees as well, such as longan, mango, jackfruit, pomelo, orange, even star fruit, bayberry, loquat, jujube, water apple, wax apple, banana, etc., but at first glance, there are only lychees.

Shu Yan smiled upon hearing this. "I saw that, too. I was also puzzled! Could it be that the soldiers all particularly like eating lychees?"

Although, the scale of this lychee tree is still a bit exaggerated.

(End of this chapter)