When the villagers heard that they could get paid, they were more enthusiastic than Old Man Chu. Every day when the materials were brought over, the workers would start working and digging the foundation.

Old Man Chu followed her to look at the newly purchased land.

"It's May or June now, the perfect time to plant rice. I think the land here is flat, so it's also good for planting wheat."

"Dad, let's go buy some farmhands and ask Fang Nian to run errands for you. He can drive a carriage and ride a horse now. You and mom can live in the village peacefully. I'll stay here for the time being."

"OK."

At this point, Old Man Chu no longer felt sorry for the money. The main reason was that the money was earned for free, and his son and daughter-in-law were filial, so he just accepted it with peace of mind.

Just when Zhou Jiaojiao was concentrating on farming and growing crops.

General Xie finally sent someone to pick her up.

Zhou Jiaojiao was not polite. The first time she saw General Xie, she said, "General, I heard that there is a place called Champa on an island not far from the sea. There is a kind of Champa rice that is particularly good and can produce three crops a year."

"You want me to get some seeds?"

"General, that's right. Natural disasters have been constant over the past two years. I'm afraid there's not enough food in every place, not to mention that there will be wars in the future, which will make the food shortage even greater. What we need most right now is military supplies, and food and fodder must go first."

"How do you know there will be another war?" General Xie frowned.

Zhou Jiaojiao said fearlessly, "Need I say this? The Ninth Prince's accession to the throne was illegitimate. If there really was an imperial decree, it would have been to depose His Royal Highness the Crown Prince first and then pass the throne on. There's no such unclear way of ascending the throne."

"Not to mention His Highness, even the other princes are unlikely to give up. Moreover, from Yuzhou to Youzhou, I witnessed with my own eyes the princes colluding with local officials to raise troops. If they don't fight, their crimes are enough to behead them. I don't think anyone would willingly agree to be beheaded."

"You girl..."

"Hahaha, General Xie, I told you that Miss Zhou is very smart, and you can't scare her even if you pretend." The prince walked in from outside at this time, wearing a dark eight-clawed robe, which was the prince's crown.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

"Miss Zhou, there's no need to be so polite. The recent news is indeed as you guessed. Various places have declared themselves kings, and the capital has become the most chaotic place. Several of my good brothers have fled to their fiefdoms, but unfortunately they left their women in the capital. They have become the self-defense weapons of the Ninth Prince... Oh no, they are now the self-defense weapons of Emperor Tianshun." The prince's eyes were filled with sarcasm.

"Does Your Highness have any friends in the capital?"

"Also, they have families, they are aristocratic families, they definitely won't be willing to leave and come to Youzhou. Alas, I am worried that they will do something stupid."

"Your Highness, why don't we consider strengthening the military strength of Youzhou first to guard against the attack of Beirong." Zhou Jiaojiao was not very interested in the capital. She only wanted to know the news of the Earl's Mansion. After all, the enemy Zhou Mianmian was still there, and if necessary, she had to be eliminated.

However, since the Earl's Mansion was not planning to leave the capital, she was too lazy to arrange anyone. It was not impossible to take revenge after returning to the capital.

Next.

General Xie arranged for people to look for Champa rice seeds. Not only that, at Zhou Jiaojiao's reminder, he also started looking for coal mountains.

Zhou Jiaojiao personally led the team to search for Coal Hill.

She doesn't need to worry too much about rice. As long as you know how to farm and have high-yield seeds, you can definitely complete the grain production task.

"Sister-in-law, these places are bare, what should we do?"

Gu Meng was assigned to accompany Zhou Jiaojiao to complete the mission.

He is efficient in his work and keeps his mouth shut.

"Arrange someone to blow up the mountain first."

Mining coal is not that easy, mainly because there are not enough tools now, but simply taking some raw coal from the surface back is not a problem.

As expected, Gu Meng didn't ask any questions and went straight to get the Thunderbolt. He dug up the soil on the location chosen by Zhou Jiaojiao and then buried it.

There was a loud bang, and even though Zhou Jiaojiao and her group were two hundred meters away from the bomb, they still felt a clear heat wave.

“Cough cough cough…”

"This thunderclap is really effective."

"Don't go over there yet. Wait until the dust and smoke clears." Gu Meng ordered his soldiers.

Zhou Jiaojiao was holding a piece of broken coal in her hand. She looked at it for a while. The smoke dissipated over there, and Gu Meng was the first to go over to see the situation.

"Sister-in-law, come and take a look. There is indeed a black hard lump down there."

"What is this?"

"It's very hard. It's neither stone nor raw iron."

"This is the raw coal we are looking for." Zhou Jiaojiao walked over and said.

Gu Meng slapped his head when he heard this. "I was wondering why the mountains here are so desolate with almost no trees, and there are rocks everywhere. The soil on the surface is also very hard."

"It's frozen soil. If you want to mine coal, you have to peel off the frozen soil on the surface and transport it away."

"Wouldn't that be very difficult?" This was Gu Meng's first reaction.

Zhou Jiaojiao nodded, "It is very difficult to dig, especially when encountering white sandstone, which is very hard."

"Then we need to arrange more manpower." Gu Meng said subconsciously.

"But sister-in-law, is this coal really useful?"

Zhou Jiaojiao didn't say anything nonsense. She took him to the side, grabbed a large piece of raw coal and washed it with water.

Build the fire and put the washed coals in.

Gu Meng and others witnessed the coal burning process with their own eyes.

"Although coal is good, using too much will pollute the air. We don't need to dig too much, just enough for us to make weapons." Zhou Jiaojiao quickly made a choice. Helping General Xie and the prince pacify the world can reduce more casualties among the people. The harm of coal is much smaller in comparison. Besides, it will be discovered in the future. There is no need to evaluate whether it is good or bad. It only depends on whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages or the disadvantages outweigh the benefits at the moment.

Obviously.

The most important thing at the moment is to strengthen the strength of the Youzhou army.

As for coal, there is no need to worry about its abundance as it is too difficult to mine.

"Oh, okay."

It was Gu Meng who arranged the personnel to come and dig. While they were digging coal, Zhou Jiaojiao was thinking about a problem.

There are two conditions for conquering the world.

One is the people's hearts, and the other is food, fodder, tools and the number of soldiers.

The latter has begun to improve, but the food problem has not been completely solved.

It’s mainly about fodder for the horses. Eating grain is definitely not an option. There is not enough grain for people to eat.

That high-yield grain for horse feed.

Zhou Jiaojiao immediately thought of two, one was corn and the other was sweet potato.

"Xiao Si, can you use your merit points to exchange for corn and sweet potato seeds for me?" Ever since Zhou Jiaojiao started practicing martial arts, her abilities have become stronger and her life has become more fulfilling. Naturally, she is willing to do more good deeds and help the people of the world.

"It can be exchanged. One seed is worth 150 merit points." Xiao Si said slyly.

As soon as Zhou Jiaojiao heard this, she knew that the other party wanted to cheat her of her merit points, but she calculated the time again. According to the current trend, it would probably take at least 20 to 30 years to bring back grain seeds from overseas. Far water cannot quench a nearby fire.