Chapter 273 Shen Lanxi Instructs on Animal Husbandry, Liu Yan Reciprocates with a Heavenly Pearl!

It wasn't until Shen Lanxi had been inside for a while that these people noticed.

Someone made a noise, and the students all looked up and bowed to Shen Lanxi.

Shen Lanxi: "No need for formalities, you can continue with your business!"

The students had experienced this scene several times before, and naturally sat down again to continue fiddling with the abacus.

She watched as boxes of silver were deposited into the warehouse, and then someone would withdraw silver from the warehouse to do other things. She took a closer look at the reason for the withdrawal: to expand the ranch and raise chickens and pigs.

Compared to cattle and sheep, chickens take longer to raise. Hens can lay eggs, and roosters can eat meat. Chicken meat can indeed quickly supplement the shortage of food supplies for the Zhenbei Army.

Sang Guo stuffed another piece of paper into Che Mingyuan's hand, making him the messenger. Instead of showing impatience, he was very happy.

He felt deep sympathy for these students' plight. These were clearly talented individuals, yet their physical disabilities ultimately led to their obscurity.

Fortunately, the general was a discerning judge of character and knew how to assign tasks to them. The tasks he arranged not only allowed them to realize their potential but also helped them regain their confidence.

If it were him, he would probably have given up long ago.

"We found more than a dozen breeds of chickens in different places. Some chickens lay a lot of eggs, while others only grow meat and lay few eggs. Some chickens are aggressive, have little meat and lay few eggs, but they don't get sick easily. There was a very good chicken breeder in the army who divided the chickens into three breeds. Currently, we mainly raise the breeds that lay a lot of eggs and have a lot of meat. There is also a hybrid of the three breeds. If we can really raise them successfully, our Zhenbei Army will never lack chicken meat in the future!"

After Che Mingyuan finished reading, he handed the paper back to Sang Guo.

He's a strategist, and one day he got so excited reading about farming that he wanted to raise chickens. Who can he complain to?

Sang handed Che Mingyuan another piece of paper and told him to continue reading; this time it was about breeding.

"The last batch of grain seeds we delivered yielded 800 jin per mu after a small-scale trial planting, even with insufficient fertilizer. This year, we've started raising cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens on a large scale, which will produce more fertilizer. We estimate that next year's yield should reach over 900 jin per mu."

Shen Lanxi nodded: "If the seeds are fine, distribute them and plant them on a large scale!"

After Sang finished writing with a few strokes, Che Mingyuan read it aloud to Shen Lanxi.

"The seeds have already been distributed."

As Shen Lanxi walked, she arrived at the ironworks workshop.

The clanging and banging of the blacksmith's hammer was deafening. Shen Lanxi casually picked up the finished farm tools and looked at them.

"The farm tools have been improved very well!"

Sang wrote in a few strokes: "It's thanks to the general's blueprints that it was so good! And it's also thanks to the iron materials that the general had someone bring in. Otherwise, even the most skilled craftsman would be helpless without ingredients."

Shen Lanxi: "I also read about it by chance in a book. We should cultivate more talents in agronomy in the future!"

Sang Guo glanced at Che Mingyuan, unsure whether he should let him hear some of his words.

“Strategist Che is no outsider, so please speak freely!” Shen Lanxi said.

Sang then stuffed another piece of paper into Che Mingyuan's hand.

Che Mingyuan hesitated for a moment, then read aloud, "A school has already been established."

Shen Lanxi nodded and continued her inspection.

~

Liu Yanhui arrived at Qinglong Lake on the third day. When she arrived, Shen Lanxi was at the ranch.

The animal husbandry officer was somewhat embarrassed, because when Shen Lanxi arrived, they were castrating pigs. If they were all men, it wouldn't have been a problem.

However, since Shen Lanxi was a woman, they found it difficult to hold the knives steady.

Under immense pressure, the livestock officer explained to Shen Lanxi, "These pigs were caught from the mountains. They were too wild. After being castrated, they became much more docile, and the meat tastes better."

Shen Lanxi nodded calmly and said, "Wild boars don't get sick easily, so they can be used as breeding pigs. Didn't the caravan bring in a few white-haired boars before? We can try breeding the two breeds!"

The atmosphere suddenly plummeted.

Shen Lanxi walked away calmly, leaving behind a group of people who looked as if they had been struck by lightning.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" she asked urgingly after walking for a while and seeing that there was no more reporting.

Che Mingyuan vigorously wiped his face. This female general is really unconcerned with formalities!

As they talked, Liu Yanhui led the caravan into the military fortress.

"General, I've brought back quite a few yaks and wild donkeys from the west, along with dairy products and horse meat. They're desperately short of sugar, tea, grain, and cloth. Bringing these things over is much more effective than bringing silver!"

Shen Lanxi: "We can grow sugarcane and sugar beets here. Let someone set aside a plot of land to grow more!"

As for tea, the most common tea grown here is barley, which is roasted and made into tea.

"The tea can be brought back by the caravans going to Jiangnan. You can arrange that!"

Liu Yanhui already had a plan in mind, and immediately said, "We can transport some salt to Jiangnan. There is a shortage of salt there. Now the imperial court is strictly controlling the private salt trade, and many trade routes have been cut off. If we send more people to transport the salt under the name of a security escort agency, it shouldn't be a problem to get through customs all the way!"

Shen Lanxi: "We can buy some established businesses along the way." This way, we can directly turn them into warehouses, or continue using the trade routes that have already been established.

Liu Yan frowned: "This will require a lot of manpower." It will also take a long time to plan. He was worried that if there was a battle in the army and manpower was needed, he would not be able to come back in time to provide support.

Shen Lanxi: "Although they are being drawn from the military, a war is not going to break out in the Northwest for the time being!"

Liu Yanhui already knew about Liang Shao's arrival in the Northwest, and he was more worried about this than anything else.

"I always felt that Liang Shao was being too friendly to us." He had already had doubts when they were in Dongchuan, and Liang Shao's visit to the Northwest this time only deepened his premonition.

Shen Lanxi: "I'm meeting him tomorrow, you come too!"

Liu Yan immediately replied, "Okay!"

This time, in addition to bringing back a lot of livestock, he also brought back some other things from his trip to the west.

As night deepened, he went over at a certain time, expecting to find no one there, but to his surprise, Sang Guo was also there.

When Sang Guo saw him arrive, he pointed to the notebook and pen in his hand.

Liu Yanhui understood; he had come to report.

"General, Mr. Sang."

Sang Guo glanced at Liu Yanhui twice, then picked up his pen and wrote: "I'm going out for a bit."

Shen Lanxi nodded.

Liu Yan smiled at Sang Guo and turned to see him off.

Shen Lanxi: "What's up?"

Liu Yanhui hesitated; all the courage she had mustered earlier had vanished.

"I……"

"Someone gave me something, saying it's a sacred object from their land, that it can bless the wearer with longevity, good fortune, and peace!" Liu Yanhui blushed and quickly took out the object.

Shen Lanxi looked at the dzi bead handed to her, but didn't take it!

"This is a good thing, you can give it to your mother!"

Disappointment flashed across Liu Yanhui's eyes. The thing in her hand felt like a hot potato; she couldn't pull it back, nor could she continue to hand it over.

“My mother already has a Buddha statue, and she burns incense and kowtows to it every day. This is something I wear on my body. I don’t mean anything by it; I just heard from the people there that only the most honorable people can wear this!” Liu Yan was glad that the oil lamp was dim at the moment, and his red face should not be clearly visible.