"Your Majesty, look! Such a colossal creature can actually fly by, moving at lightning speed!"
Jiang Ran pointed at the long, white box that looked like a house speeding past and exclaimed in surprise.
And standing in front of her was Empress Jiang Yao of the Jiang Kingdom.
To her left front was the saintess Jiang Lianyue, dressed in white, wearing a cloak, and with her face covered by a light veil.
Behind them followed a large contingent of Jiang Guo's civil and military officials and their families, numbering in the thousands, who were "escorted" to the capital by Zhang Chaozong's western expeditionary army.
It was called "escort," but in reality, it was a forced escort.
The road was lined with a vast and densely packed group of soldiers and people from the Jiang Kingdom.
General Zhang Chaozong looked at the newly repaired asphalt road and the large trucks that sped past at an astonishing speed, and his eyes revealed shock.
Unexpectedly, in just over a month, His Highness the Prince of Yan has brought about earth-shattering changes to the entire Daqian region.
Not only were straight roads connecting every county built, but asphalt was also laid, and "freight trucks" were invented. Gas stations were built between prefectures and cities, and a bicycle was distributed to everyone in the country. Bicycle repair shops were set up in every county town, with banners advertising "ticket inflation and repair." Rice, meat, oil, and other supplies were also distributed... All of this added up to more than a billion taels of silver!
Could it be that the Prince of Yan is truly a deity, possessing such abilities...?
Just as he was pondering this, he heard Jiang Kun, the prime minister of the Jiang Kingdom, point at the large truck and ask, "May I ask, General Zhang, what is this? How can it be so fast?"
Zhang Chaozong explained to him, "This is something developed by His Highness the Prince of Yan of our Great Gan Dynasty. It is called a 'cart' because it can carry a large amount of goods."
Jiang Kun exclaimed in shock, "Your Great Gan actually possesses such a divine object! Your Highness, the Prince of Yan, is truly terrifying!"
Zhang Chaozong smiled disdainfully, thinking to himself, "Today I'll show you country bumpkins what it's like!"
Empress Jiang Yao stepped onto the asphalt road and said to Jiang Lianyue and Jiang Ran behind her, "This road is so smooth. What is the blue substance poured on it?"
Jiang Ran called Zhang Chaozong, who was on horseback, over. Zhang Chaozong looked at the road surface and said, "This is asphalt. It was made by His Highness the Prince of Yan to reinforce the road surface. It will not break for decades."
"Qin Chuan, he actually has such abilities..."
Jiang Yao's bright eyes sparkled, and she bit her red lips slightly, as if she had even greater anticipation for seeing Qin Chuan.
Looking at the lush green crops on both sides of the asphalt road, Jiang Yao stretched out her slender hand and pointed with her jade finger: "What are those? Even my great Jiang doesn't have them!"
Zhang Chaozong said, "Those are also items distributed by His Highness the Prince of Yan. That row is called potatoes, and that row is sweet potatoes. Your Majesty, please wait a moment for this foreign minister..."
With that, Zhang Chaozong dismounted, donned a suit of armor, and walked down the asphalt road.
Zhang Chaozong walked up to an old farmer, asked him for a potato and a sweet potato, and gave him a piece of silver.
Seeing this, the Empress asked Jiang Lian Yue and Jiang Ran behind her in surprise, "As a great general, why are you so humble when asking an old farmer for something, and even asking for money? Why is that?"
Jiang Lianyue said, "In Dagan today, under the rule of Qin Chuan and Xiao Li, the laws are strict and the people are united. Even a great general cannot take things from the people for free."
After listening to Jiang Lianyue's explanation, Jiang Yao slowly nodded her head and said softly, "This Qin Chuan is really good at governing the country. If I had known earlier, I would have snatched him to my Great Jiang. Then it would have been my Great Jiang that unified the world. Alas, it's all fate and destiny. That bitch Xiao Li got lucky!"
Jiang Lianyue suddenly understood the Empress's unspoken meaning; it turned out that she admired Qin Chuan so much...
Then he recalled Jiang Ran's infatuated look, how she wished she could sleep with Qin Chuan.
She wondered, is Qin Chuan really that charming? Why didn't she notice it when she first met him, and only saw his lecherous side...?
Is it my fault?
As Jiang Lianyue was thinking this, Zhang Chaozong walked up and returned to the asphalt road.
Zhang Chaozong showed the people of Jiang Kingdom a clean sweet potato the size of an egg and a potato the size of a quail egg: "These are our country's sweet potatoes and potatoes. They are not yet ripe and will take six months to mature. Two harvests can be planted a year. When they are ripe, they may weigh one or two pounds..."
"Wow, it weighs one or two pounds..."
Upon hearing this, the people of Jiang Kingdom all showed expressions of surprise. Some officials who knew about planting did not doubt Zhang Chaozong's words at all, and instead took the potatoes and sweet potatoes to examine them.
He then exclaimed in great admiration, "A single seed can grow into something so miraculous! It surpasses even rice! With such a crop, the people are truly blessed!"
Zhang Chaozong chuckled and said, "His Highness the Prince of Yan said the same thing. Planting these crops is to reduce the number of people who go hungry. In years of disaster, it can reduce the number of people who starve to death by more than 90%."
"His Highness the Prince of Yan may not be a wise ruler throughout history, but he surpasses even the wisest rulers of all time!"
The ministers of the Jiang Kingdom sighed.
Zhang Chaozong remained noncommittal and said nothing more.
After several days of winding and impressive travel, the long queue finally arrived at the capital city of Dagan.
The south gate of the capital city.
Qin Chuan was dressed in a prince's dragon robe, wearing a winged crown, and riding a snow-white Akhal-Teke horse. He looked very majestic on the horse.
Behind and around him, the Imperial Guards and the Embroidered Uniform Guards on both sides formed a semi-circle, surrounding him and a group of officials in the center.
Behind Qin Chuan stood Princess Xiao Yue, dressed as a female official, with a flying fish robe, an embroidered spring knife at her waist, and a winged crown on her head.
The Empress did not come today, which was also the wish of the ministers. After all, Jiang is a small country, and it is already a great honor that the Prince went to greet her and her ministers.
If the Empress were to go again, it would exceed the bounds of protocol.
Besides, the rulers and ministers of Jiang were, after all, slaves of a conquered nation who came to surrender. It was already incredibly merciful of Da Gan Fang not to bring them all to the capital bound one by one...
Now that the officials of Da Gan have seen that Da Gan has destroyed the Southern Xiongnu, conquered the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions, and conquered the Jiang Kingdom, except for the Northern Xiongnu north of the desert, Da Gan can be said to have achieved great unification. At this moment, the ministers all became proud!
When Qin Chuan went to welcome the Jiang Kingdom's ruler and his ministers, they all felt it was unnecessary; sending the Minister of Rites was already a great honor.
However, what Qin Chuan wanted to welcome was not the ruler and ministers of the Jiang Kingdom, but Zhang Chaozong and his many soldiers.
Zhang Chaozong led a portion of his troops to escort the Jiang Kingdom's ruler and his ministers back to their homeland. The remaining troops stayed within the Jiang Kingdom's borders, temporarily stationed there alongside the forces of An Dingguo and Ma Yuxiang, controlling every city within the kingdom.
Qin Chuan waited for a while, and then saw a large group of people coming in a mighty, overwhelming procession.
He did not dismount, but waited calmly for Zhang Chaozong to lead the Jiang Kingdom's king and his ministers over.
Empress Jiang and her entourage followed Zhang Chaozong to a position about twenty steps away from Qin Chuan. Jiang Yao gazed at Qin Chuan and softly asked Jiang Lianyue, "Is he Qin Chuan?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After receiving an affirmative answer, the Empress couldn't help but glance at Qin Chuan a few more times. Then, her bright eyes narrowed, revealing her pearly teeth: "Who said he's not good-looking? This temperament, this aura, he's absolutely mesmerizing..."
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