Chapter 209 [VIP]

The arrest went smoothly because the tunnel hadn't been dug yet, and Jiang Daoming hadn't expected the truth to come out so quickly, so he wasn't prepared at all.

Some people resisted stubbornly, but were knocked unconscious and taken away. These elite soldiers were not only good at fighting on the battlefield, but each one of them was a top-notch fighter.

Jiang Daoming was escorted to the government office. He knelt on the ground and looked at the group of officials above him. His face did not show much fear. Instead, he smiled slightly and said, "My colleagues, it's been a long time."

Governor Feng rose and angrily exclaimed, "Those Turkic traitors, how dare they disguise themselves as Han Chinese!"

"Hahahaha!" Jiang Daoming threw his head back and laughed loudly. "You're all stupid and clumsy, how can you blame me?"

"you!"

Xu Mao pulled him back, "I have served as your fellow official for three years, and I have never seen you as a completely wicked person. Is there some unspeakable secret behind this?"

Jiang Daoming sneered, "What unspeakable difficulties could there be? It's just a matter of each serving their own master. You serve the emperor of the Wu Dynasty, and I am loyal to our Khan and the Eternal Heaven, so what unspeakable difficulties could there be?"

"Sigh..." Xu Mao turned his head away and sighed.

Governor Feng slammed his fist on the table and roared, "What's the point of keeping this scoundrel alive? Just kill him!"

"Kill me? Sure, just don't worry about my uncle bringing troops to attack you."

Governor Feng was taken aback, remembering the man's special status. If he were killed, the Turks might actually use this opportunity to send troops to attack the border. He turned to Li Mu, "What does Your Excellency think we should do?"

Li Mu tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and after a while, he said, "I'm quite curious about how you managed to disguise yourself as a Han Chinese and become the assistant prefect of this prefecture."

Jiang Daoming didn't intend to hide it, since such a thing could be found out if investigated carefully, so he simply told the truth.

“A few years ago, my subordinates and I sneaked into the interior of China. We originally planned to go to the capital to take a look. On the way, we happened to meet a man who looked six or seven parts like me. After talking to him, we learned that his name was Jiang Daoming and that he was an official going to Shanzhou to take up his post. So I killed him and took his place.”

He spoke simply, but everyone who heard him was shocked by his ruthlessness. It turned out that the real Lord Jiang had died on his way to take up his post!

Jiang Daoming, or more accurately Ashdoli, looked at Li Mu with a fearless and defiant expression, as if to say, "You dare not kill me."

Li Mu certainly couldn't kill him directly. This matter was of great importance and had to be reported to the court for the emperor's decision. However, he could escape the death penalty but not the punishment.

He waved his hand and said, "Take these spies away and torture them severely to see if they have anything else to say."

"Bah, you coward of the Wu Dynasty! Kill me! Kill me!" The man tried to bite his tongue to commit suicide, but the general standing next to him reacted quickly, dislocated his jaw, and dragged him away.

With this matter concluded, Li Mu handed over the remaining cleanup work to Chen Qingyan, as he trusted no one except his cousin.

He couldn't stay away from the border for too long, so he led his troops away the next day.

Chen Qingyan then began to deal with matters at the mine, because "Jiang Tongzhi" had been operating in Shanzhou for too long, and almost all of the mine's staff were his subordinates. Some of these people were Turks, and they had to be completely eliminated to avoid future troubles.

After more than a month of investigation, seventeen more Turks were finally captured, and a hidden ledger was discovered, which recorded the fine iron that had been secretly hoarded over the years and the ironware that had been smuggled to the Turks, totaling as much as tens of thousands of shi (a unit of dry measure).

Chen Qingyan personally wrote a memorial, detailing the matter, and sent it to the capital in mid-June.

The Emperor was furious after reading it. Xu Mao, as the prefect, was dismissed for his ineffective supervision. Feng Zhien was also implicated and had his salary deducted for half a year. Chen Qingyan was promoted by the Emperor to the position of the new Assistant Prefect of Shanzhou for his meritorious investigation and for his role in helping the case. Li Mu also spoke on his behalf, saying that he had done a great service. He was given full authority to handle the matter.

Since this case, whenever the imperial court sends officials to take up their posts in other places, it has been required to send ten soldiers to accompany them, in order to prevent similar incidents of being robbed, murdered, or impersonated from happening again.

*

July arrived in the blink of an eye, and Wang Ying's second book was also printed.

Wang Ying personally funded the printing of 500 copies of the book. He didn't intend to sell them, but rather to promote them so that scholars in various counties could learn them and then teach them to the local people.

The second part mainly covers breeding, cultivation, soil nutrition, and pests and diseases. The first part is mainly theoretical, while the second part is mainly practical. The book is almost entirely practical, detailing scientific breeding methods for crops, cultivation methods for plants, composting, and the prevention and control of various pests and diseases.

In the past, it would have been difficult for Wang Ying to promote this book, since agricultural books are different from other books and have a narrower audience.

However, things are different now. Since Xu Mao was dismissed from his post, Chen Qingyan has been promoted to Assistant Prefect of Shanzhou. Until the next Prefect arrives, he will be in charge of all affairs in Shanzhou, and power has now been completely handed over to him.

Promoting this book was much easier; it only took a word from him, and county magistrates from all over the country rushed to learn it.

Wang Ying was a little scared as she watched the experience points in the experimental field rise rapidly. The increase was too fast! Before, it was only a few hundred points a day, but ever since Chen Qingyan ordered the magistrates of various counties to study this book, the experience points had been increasing by tens of thousands every day.

The experimental field was upgraded not long afterward.

[Experimental Field 03]

Level 8.

New Feature 1: The number of people allowed to enter and exit has been increased to ten. (Note: Entry is only permitted with the consent of the experimental field owner. If more than ten people are allowed, the space will be compressed.)

This new feature means that, apart from Wang Ying's family, he can now bring others into the experimental field! However, the note at the end reminded Wang Ying of the first time he brought a cricket in, which was instantly compressed into a two-dimensional plane. It must be space compression!

However, this new feature is indeed useful. If combined with the teleportation function, he could instantly teleport his family back to Jizhou in the event of war.

New feature 2: The experimental field area has been increased to ten mu.

Finally, the area has increased, which is a real benefit!

When Wang Ying first opened her vegetable shop, she was worried because the experimental field was too small. Although she grew a lot of vegetables, she couldn't supply enough for the many people who wanted to buy them.

They faced the same problem in Shanzhou, and had no choice but to sell vegetables with daily purchase limits, making it difficult to earn money. Now, the experimental field area has doubled, which will greatly increase production of both vegetables and grains in the future.

Two new features have been added this time, both of which are very useful overall. The rest are just feature improvements.

For example, the experimental field can now increase the speed by up to twenty times. Wheat that takes 120 days to mature can mature in a maximum of six days if the speed is increased.

Of course, the cost is also terrifying; using the speed-up function once costs tens of thousands of experience points.

Wang Ying glanced at the experience required for the next upgrade. The row of zeros made his eyes dizzy. He conservatively estimated it would be tens of millions of experience points, and he didn't know when he would be able to upgrade.

That said, the second agricultural book was titled the same as the first, "Qi Nong Geng Shu Er" (齐农耕术二).

The book has a total of 30 chapters and 180 pages, and it is also illustrated by Wang Ying herself, which is quite exquisite.

When this book was first sent over, the county magistrates in various places only studied it to appease their superiors.

Magistrate Tan was a scholar who passed the imperial examinations. Years ago, he offended someone and was demoted to the position of magistrate of Dafeng County in Shanzhou.

Dafeng County sounds impressive, but in reality, it's the complete opposite of its name. Although it has a lot of land, it's barren, and the local Qiang and Han people, who live together, don't cultivate it. Every year, its harvest is at the bottom of the prefecture, and its performance is naturally lackluster, consistently poor year after year.

The local people still use the most primitive slash-and-burn farming method. Every spring, they use tools to cut down the dead roots and stems of trees and other plants on the ground, dry the vegetation, and then burn it to loosen the soil. They then use the ash from the vegetation as fertilizer.

After sowing, it all depends on the heavens. No fertilizer, weeding, or pest control is needed. In a good year, an acre of land can yield a bushel of wheat, but in a famine year, there may be no harvest at all.

Poor mountains and bad waters breed unruly people, and the local people are notoriously difficult to manage. There are many who turn to banditry, farming in the village during the agricultural season and robbing people on the mountain roads during the off-season.

In recent years, the imperial court has been strict in its control. Although there have been fewer robberies, collecting taxes every year is still a huge headache. The common people don't even have enough to eat, so where will they get the grain to pay taxes?

Magistrate Tan, having nothing better to do, flipped through the agricultural book and discovered upon closer inspection that it contained much more than he had expected.

The methods for preventing pests and diseases look very practical, and the composting and fertilization methods are practically tailor-made for Dafeng County!

He immediately spent half a month studying it carefully. He not only studied it himself but also organized the scholars and students in the county to study together. After studying it, he went to various villages to explain it to the people.

At first, the people were too lazy to listen, and even if the lessons were taught for free, no one came to learn.

Later, Magistrate Tan came up with a solution. He personally paid for an opera troupe to perform in several towns in the county, interspersing each act with a farming method before continuing the opera.

The villagers had few forms of entertainment, so the prospect of watching a free opera was very appealing. Everyone spontaneously brought their own stools to listen to the opera, and unknowingly, they learned all the contents of the book.

When spring came the following year, the people spontaneously began to plant crops according to the professor's methods, composting, fertilizing, watering, and catching insects. Unexpectedly, they had a bumper harvest that year!

For the first time, Dafeng County collected all the tax grain, and Magistrate Tan's performance evaluation jumped from the bottom to the middle to upper level!

The changes in Dafeng County were evident to all other counties, and any county magistrate with any achievements would follow suit, with various places vying to study this agricultural book.

Even illiterate old farmers in the village knew about the book "Qi Nong Geng Shu" (The Art of Farming in Qi), and the name of Jiaxuan Jushi (Layman Jiaxuan) resounded throughout Shanzhou.

*

Two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Under Chen Qingyan's governance, Shanzhou gradually developed. Although its agriculture was not as advanced as that of the Central Plains, it had steadily improved overall.

During this period, Wang Ying also cultivated a type of extremely cold-resistant spring wheat based on the local climate. Because the area often experiences late spring cold snaps, ordinary wheat is prone to crop failure, but this cold-resistant wheat can often survive freezing rain and cold waves.

The new wheat seeds sell very well in the shop. Now Wang Ying has opened branches in various counties, where she sells not only seeds, but also fertilizers and pesticides.

Of course, there were no chemical pesticides like in my previous life; they were all simply mixed mineral medicines. Although the effects were a bit weaker, it was still much better than having no other options before.

Over the past few years, I have made a lot of money. In addition to what I saved in Kyoto, I now have more than 10,000 taels of silver in the experimental fields and more than 20,000 catties of grain. I live a simple and fulfilling life.

However, the peaceful days were soon broken. On an ordinary afternoon, Chen Qingyan rushed over from the front.

"Ah Ying, something terrible has happened!"

Wang Ying was reading a book when she heard this and looked up, saying, "What's the matter that you're in such a hurry?"

"Fighting has broken out at the border again. Take Yuanbao and hurry back to Jizhou!"

A note from the author: