Upon hearing the scout's words, the King of Nan Jing's eyes gleamed, and he couldn't help but ask.
"Have you found out how to grow this sweet potato?"
Seeing the two shake their heads, the King of Nanjing frowned slightly.
"Your Majesty, after our investigation, we found that the entire land in their village is planted with sweet potatoes, and the yield of these sweet potatoes is so high. It seems that the people of Beichen are not short of food. However, the people of Dongli told us that Beichen not only has an empty treasury, but also no food to eat and can only fill their stomachs with wild vegetables. I wonder what their intentions are."
"Hmph! Those treacherous people in Dongli must have suffered a great loss at the hands of Nangong Yuan in Beichen, so they want my Nanjing to follow in their footsteps..."
"Your Majesty, the envoy from Dongli has arrived again, requesting an audience with you..."
Before the King of Nanjing could finish speaking, he heard that the people from Dongli had arrived again. A cold glint flashed in his eyes. He waved his hand, dismissing the two scouts, and then brought up the Dongli envoy.
"This humble servant greets Your Majesty of Nanjing. I am unaware of Your Majesty's consideration of the proposal put forward by our King that our two countries jointly send troops to Beichen..."
"Guards, drag him out and behead him, then send the body back to my sovereign in Dongli..."
The envoy from Dongli came full of confidence, because in his view, both Nan Jing and Bei Chao had the ambition to bring Bei Chen into their fold, so they would not miss such a good opportunity. However, before he could finish speaking, he heard the King of Nan Jing say that he was going to drag him out and behead him, and he was immediately shocked.
"Your Majesty, what do you mean by this?"
"What do you mean? You Dongli people have always been cunning and treacherous. Now you've even schemed against my own ruler, wanting my entire Southern Jing to follow in your Dongli footsteps and suffer defeat. You deserve to die..." With that, he waved his hand, ordering his men to drag him away.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the treasury of Beichen is now empty, and it has also suffered from floods. The whole country is out of food. If our two countries join forces now, even if Nangong Yuan is brave, he will not be a match for our combined army without food. Don't you think so? At that time, Beichen will surely be in the hands of Dongli and Nanjing."
The King of Nanjing completely ignored his envoy's shouts. Instead, he focused his gaze on the sack of sweet potatoes beside him, lost in thought.
Seeing that the King of Nanjing really intended to kill him, the envoy couldn't help but shout again.
"In times of war, envoys are not to be killed. King of Nan Jing, you are breaking the rules. Are you trying to leave the country to the east to fight?" However, at this moment, no one cared what he was shouting.
After the people were dragged away, the King of Nan Jing only turned his gaze away from the sweet potatoes a moment later. Then he ordered someone to grind ink and write a letter to send to the Bei Chen Palace.
Meanwhile, Nangong Yuan arrived at the border and ordered his men to investigate Dongli's movements. Sure enough, historians departed from Dongli again, heading to Nanjing and Beichao respectively.
Because Nangong Yuan also wanted to see how the two countries would react, he did not kill the person directly, but instead sent people to guard the return routes on both sides.
When he learned that the people of Nanjing had not only killed the envoy, but also openly sent him back to Dongli, he was puzzled as to why the ruler of Nanjing would do such a thing, but he was also slightly relieved. This at least showed that Nanjing would not ally with Dongli in the short term.
Seeing that the envoys who had gone to the Northern Dynasty were returning safely and with smiles on their faces, Nangong Yuan frowned deeply and hurriedly ordered them to be arrested.
Sure enough, a letter was found on his person. After reading the contents of the letter, Nangong Yuan's eyes were filled with coldness, and he ordered the envoy to be dragged out and killed.
Since its crushing defeat, Dongli has been eager to get revenge. However, after being severely injured by Nangong Yuan, Dongli alone dared not send troops to Beichen again. Therefore, it decided to unite with the other two countries.
However, his reputation as the ruler of Dongli was not good, and the rulers of both countries would not easily believe what he said. Therefore, they both sent spies to Beichen to investigate.
However, the results of the investigation were completely different. With the help of sweet potatoes, the King of Nanjing naturally believed that Dongli had ulterior motives and wanted Nanjing to follow in Dongli's footsteps. Naturally, he would not go along with them. But the situation in the Northern Dynasty was different.
Their spies discovered that after the flood in Beichen, the whole country was indeed facing a severe food shortage. Therefore, the letter brought back by the envoy stated that the Northern Dynasty agreed to form an alliance with Dongli to jointly send troops to Beichen. Once Beichen was brought under their control, the two countries could divide Beichen equally.
The written agreement only expressed an intention to form an alliance; how to form an alliance and when to send troops would naturally require further clarification from both countries.
However, now that this letter has fallen into Nangong Yuan's hands, it seems that there is no longer any possibility of an alliance between the two countries.
Another half month passed, and it was almost the end of October. Everyone was worried that if the sweet potatoes were not dug up soon, they would freeze. So they dared not wait any longer. In order to confirm the yield per mu, the village chief took the scale to the field and weighed them while digging.
Previously, Han Yi's family's sweet potatoes were not well cared for or fertilized, and they were harvested about half a month early. Although the yield was already amazing, it was still different from the number weighed by the village chief.
When the village chief saw the calculated amount, his mouth gaped open so wide it could almost fit an egg. A full nine thousand catties! Even some poorer families had eight thousand catties.
Seeing piles of sweet potatoes in front of them, everyone couldn't help but kowtow to the "gods" in the heavens.
As the sweet potatoes were placed into the cellar, everyone's eyes were filled with happiness and satisfaction.
The nearby villages that had previously planted sweet potatoes along with Zhushan Village were also shocked when they learned that the sweet potatoes were ready for harvest.
Such a high-yield and delicious product naturally spread quickly throughout Ping'an Town, and eventually reached the town's governor's residence.
I heard from the servants that a new food has appeared in Ping'an Town. It is not only sweet and delicious, but also has a particularly high yield, with a yield of an astonishing eight or nine thousand catties per mu.
Upon hearing this, the supervisor rolled his eyes at the servant.
"You believe such rumors? I've lived for decades, and I've never seen a yield of eight or nine thousand catties per mu, let alone eight or nine hundred catties per mu. Don't listen to those nonsense..."
"Master, someone has delivered a lot of things to the manor, saying they are sweet potatoes."
Upon hearing the report, before the supervisor could even speak, the servant became excited and hurriedly spoke up.
"Sir, I've heard that something that's both high-yielding and delicious is called sweet potato!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
