Chapter 62: July Locust Plague
Most of the others were used to Xi Zhicai's mischievous style and just laughed at it. However, Guo Jiacai, who was only fifteen years old, could not bear with him, so he immediately wrote a letter and replied to Xi Zhicai.
[You are so happy that flowers don’t even catch your eye.] 】
Translated, it means that you are very happy. It's not that you can't smell the fragrance of peach blossoms in the mountains because you are too tired from exercising, but that you are too proud and lose your mind, so you can't see what is on the road.
Xi Zhicai who received the letter said: ...This child is not cute at all.
Of course, Qiao Yan was not so outrageous as to want Xi Zhicai to be trained as a military general, nor did he intend to let Leping's physical training take up the working time of county officials in order to prevent major epidemics in the following years.
The "mountain" that is mentioned in "going up and down the mountain ten times in one day" is actually just a long slope. Going back and forth ten times, even if you walk briskly when you are tired, will only take half an hour at most.
This kind of time spent walking around outside is enough for scholars like Xi Zhicai, and it is also a good amount of training for people like Lu Yuan, Qin Yu, Xu Fu and others to start with.
Of course, Qiao Yan was aiming to be able to use the two-section three-barreled rifle and put the book "The Deadly Gun in the Remaining Mountains and Waters" to use, but the training of going up and down the slope was obviously not enough.
Fortunately, she had already raised her physical fitness to 62. With a physique comparable to that of an ordinary adult male, even if she had to take a step-by-step approach considering her young age, her physical fitness was indeed much higher than that of ordinary people.
In addition, although she was somewhat reluctant to have the generals under her command have a master-disciple relationship with her, it was always okay to just ask for ordinary advice. Before Zhao Yun left Leping for Changshan, Qiao Yan had already confirmed many details of the warrior training with him, and then consulted Zhang Yang and developed a set of special training including physical strength, endurance, core strength, eyesight, arm strength and balance.
As for why not ask Dian Wei?
There's a reason this guy is called the Ancient Evil.
His answer to Qiao Yan was that he ate enough and was strong enough, and he was used to using the double halberds, so he naturally had enough killing power.
Listen, is this human language?
Although in a sense, what he said was actually correct.
For serious generals who are not as good as Qiao Yan, subcutaneous fat is definitely a guarantee for sustained combat. Just like a general's belly is not formed by sitting or lying down too much, but fat wrapped in sufficiently developed muscles to support all-day combat. As long as it does not affect the flexibility of using weapons, this state is undoubtedly beneficial to the general.
But hearing Dian Wei say this, it feels like eating, sleeping, fighting monsters, and then easily leveling up.
Qiao Yan chose to stay in the same camp with Zhang Yang to express his strong condemnation of Dian Wei, a "inhuman" general.
Before arriving in Leping, Zhang Yang thought that Qiao Yan, the Marquis of Leping, took Xu Fu to Jinyang because Leping did not have any capable generals.
He chose to follow Qiao Yan not only because he felt that his brainpower was not good enough and he might as well follow Qiao Yan's orders, but also because he felt that he was more suitable to be a military general than Xu Fu, the knight-errant.
After falling into the trap, I found out that Xu Fu was transforming from a ranger to a scholar, while Qiao Yan had Zhao Yun, who was better than Zhang Liao and of similar age, and Dian Wei, who was a big devil in close combat.
But no matter how Zhang Yang thought about it, he felt that this was a misunderstanding on his part, not some false propaganda by Qiao Yan.
Besides, no matter what, Qiao Yan treated the county officials very well in Leping. There was enough rice and meat, and when they were full, they could practice martial arts with Dian Wei. Being beaten badly was also a kind of progress.
I just heard too much about how Dian Wei's martial arts improved, and I was a little stimulated.
But to him, there was no need for Qiao Yan to feel that he had anything in common with him in this regard.
Most military commanders in border areas need to practice riding and archery, among which archery is the most important.
Take Yunzhong County as an example. Before Tan Shihuai's death, he fought against Dingling in the north, attacked Buyeo in the east, conquered Wusun in the west, and invaded the Han Dynasty in the south. One of the important tasks of defending the border cities was to shoot and kill the invading Hu people under the city. Therefore, most of his time growing up, in addition to practicing martial arts, he was practicing archery.
But no matter how Zhang Yang looked at it, he felt that Qiao Yan's talent in archery training to improve eyesight and arm strength was even better than that of him, who was under great pressure.
It also did not follow the process he knew, which was that counselors made the plans, county officials made the decisions, and generals led the attacks.
It seems that Qiao Yan, the Marquis of Leping, is fully capable of taking on multiple roles!
For example, at this moment, the girl, who has not yet grown up, is dressed in black clothes and holding a light short bow. She concentrates her energy and mind when drawing the bow and putting an arrow on it, and her aura is integrated.
It was the turn of May and June, and the sunlight had already shown some of the brightness of early summer, as if the cold winter that had lingered a few months ago had no trace left at this time, and the golden glow from the sunlight was right on the tip of the arrow of the young county lord.
The bowstring slipped out of his hand and the arrow flew out like a rainbow, hitting the center of the disc in front.
Zhang Yang couldn't help but shout "Cheers".
Qiao Yan's current level is only at the target 20 steps away, which is indeed far from being comparable to those skilled archers who can easily hit the target 50 or 100 steps away. But for someone who has only been practicing archery for two months, this progress is truly amazing.
At least in Zhang Yang's impression, the short bow in Qiao Yan's hand was made shortly after he arrived in Leping.
If things continue at this pace, maybe in two years, Leping will have a sharpshooter who can shoot accurately from a hundred paces away.
Of course, Qiao Yan was not as optimistic as he thought.
Chariot driving and archery are classified as the six arts of a gentleman, so naturally there are corresponding skills on the system panel. She had previously left extra skill points, so just like her horse riding needed to be improved to a level sufficient for traveling, she now also upgraded her archery by two levels.
At least it can ensure that if you haven't mastered the marksmanship yet, you can use archery to protect yourself when necessary.
However, the subsequent promotion must come from her own efforts.
This is not a goal that can be achieved just by talking about it. To master any skill, you must work hard.
Fortunately, Qiao Yan did not waste the archery foundation she learned through the system. So continuing to improve her foundation without going astray would undoubtedly be much better than asking for advice from everywhere.
The arm strength improved by training in opening and closing the bow was later reflected in her gun-holding strength.
This is a virtuous cycle that reinforces each other.
And when she withdrew her gaze from the target twenty steps away and looked towards the green scenery of the mountains and fields in the distance, it was also a relaxation for her vision.
In the summer in Leping, it is not only the plants and trees that flourish, but also many other things.
The keel waterwheel rolled as it moved, and the paddles on the chain were driven by animal power, bringing the water from the low places to the high places, saving a lot of labor at this time when the yam needed to be kept properly dry and wet.
The seedlings that had only broken through the ground before had now climbed up the support with their slender and fragile stems. When the summer breeze blew, the leaves that were about to enter their vigorous growth period swayed, but it did not affect the sunlight passing through the acacia branches, providing enough light to the leaves below.
The figures of people working can be vaguely seen among the fields.
The troubles associated with the high yield of yam cannot be solved by simply building a keel waterwheel.
For example, tillage.
Because its underground root system grows horizontally and shallowly, the tillage that is easy to carry out for ordinary crops requires careful care for yam. Just loosen the surface soil and then carefully remove the weeds.
Zhang Niujiao had finally made it to the upper echelons of this team of a hundred people as he wished, and could barely be considered a small village chief. He had been so busy these past few days that his back and waist ached as he had to carefully pull out the weeds growing in the fields due to the busy farming season in summer.
As soon as he stood up, he saw Chu Yan leading the people recruited from Changshan County patrolling on the mountain road above.
He couldn't help but feel a little envious.
But think about it, even though he envied others for their initiative and luck, officials in the county had to be literate and had to be assessed and evaluated regularly. Those who failed would be sent back to be used as fertilizer. So he thought he should just forget it.
The cake fertilizer that had been stockpiled from last year, which was fertilizer made from fermented beans and then processed into cakes, has been almost used up. So the supplementary fertilizer now has to be made from the manure produced by the ducks raised at the foot of the mountain that Qiao Yan had people purchase.
It seems that farming is easier to do.
What's more, when Chu Yan asked him to have a drink a few days ago, she did some calculations for him, telling him how many surviving Dioscorea plants there were in this acre of land now, and how much output this acre of land would have based on the weight of the iron stick yams they had collected before.
Zhang Niujiao's calculation ability is not very good, but he believes in his brothers. After thinking about it, he feels that there is no need for Chu Yan to lie to him about this matter.
But if this is true, doesn't it mean that they have grown the same amount of crops on mountain farmland which is less than one eighth of the original farmland in the county?
This is too scary!
If this is the case, let alone the hard work of the current tillage stage, even if you treat this field as the ancestor of your family, there will be no problem at all!
According to Chu Yan, if he could work tirelessly until the yam matures in that month, he would definitely have contributed to the harvest of the yam, and he would surely be rewarded for his merits. And since he was already a village chief, it would not be difficult for him to settle in Leping when the population registration was reported in August.
After the autumn harvest, as a citizen of Leping County, he can choose to engage in winter work. In the extra time, he can naturally participate in literacy courses. It will not be too late to become a county official after he learns a few more words.
The arrangements are clear.
Zhang Niujiao was stunned by what Chu Yan said.
He especially understood why Chu Yan had quickly risen to the position of a capable general under Qiao Yan. If Qiao Yan had not brought back Zhang Yang from his trip to Jinyang, Chu Yan would have been able to move up one more position.
But Zhang Niujiao felt that Zhang Yang might be of the same type as him...
I can only say that I hope this brother will be blessed.
But the encouraging progress in farming and martial arts training at the end of May did not mean that all Qiao Yan received was good news.
She wiped the sweat off her face after the Yishe training and just returned to the county government office when she received the letter brought back by Lu Yuan.
Two days ago, she asked Lu Yuan to go to Jinyang City again.
If Qiao Yan was selfish enough, she should have kept it secret when the dragon-bone waterwheel was installed between the ridges of the fields in Leping Mountain. After all, in Luoyang City, this thing was only used to irrigate the roads and suppress dust.
But Qiao Yan thought that the people were already suffering enough under the current situation at the end of the Han Dynasty, so why should he hide something that was beneficial to people's livelihood and population maintenance.
She was indeed planning to intensify the conflict between the local aristocratic families in Bingzhou and the newly appointed governor, but she also mentioned in the report she wrote to Zhang Yi that there had been insufficient rainfall since spring, and there were many water sources in the terrain of Bingzhou where there were basins sandwiched between two mountains. It would be better to install the mountains as a dragon bone to ensure that the dry fields everywhere were irrigated.
This was done to ensure Bingzhou's output during the autumn harvest season, and also to prevent dry fields from being attacked by locusts.
This memorial was written in April.
However, Qiao Yan did not receive a reply immediately. Instead, Wang paid special attention to Zhang Yi because of his status as a disciple of the Runan Yuan family, and soon sent Qiao Yan a reply letter.
In the letter, Wang Yang claimed that they attached great importance to the advice of their ally Qiao Yan, and naturally used the dragon bone overturning cart on their own land. In addition, he told Qiao Yan that Zhang Yi had sent a letter back to Luoyang.
This obviously meant to ask Yuan's opinion on the matter.
Qiao Yan couldn't help but frown when he saw it.
Yuan...
I'm afraid Yuan won't take her idea seriously.
The records of locust plagues in the Han Dynasty in recent years are basically concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. In addition, in the perception of the aristocratic families, the dragon bone overturning car is just an auxiliary tool, so why bother saving this little manpower.
In fact, Qiao Yan’s guess was indeed correct.
The meaning expressed in Yuan Shao's reply to Zhang Yi was probably that you are now in the position of Bingzhou Governor, and you should first establish yourself. Any drought problem can be solved by asking people to fetch more water a few times, and you should not waste your energy on worrying about it.
Zhang Yi, although you do not have direct control over military affairs at present, as a governor you can supervise the work of the governors of various counties, and you can naturally make some suggestions to guide the operations.
Prior to this, in the fourth year of Guanghe, Tan Shihuai passed away. Tan Shihuai's successor He Lian was shot to death during the conquest of the north, which directly led to the almost unified forces of the northern Hu people becoming divided again at this time.
Although this does not mean that the invasions suffered by the border areas will improve, it is undoubtedly an opportunity for the Han court.
According to Yuan Shao's analysis, instead of spending his energy on making a comeback, Zhang Yi should try to support He Lian's son Qian Man. Because of his young age, Kui Tou had seized power from him first. At this time, the Han Dynasty's support for the weaker party would inevitably lead to the division of the other party's power. Then, the fishermen would benefit from it. After reporting to the court, Zhang Yi's position as governor would inevitably become more stable, because he had established achievements in foreign conquests.
If it were another time, and if Qiao Yan knew what Yuan Shao said in the letter, she would probably have to call him far-sighted.
After the era of Tan Shihuai, the power struggle between Helian's son and Budugen's brother Kuitou did lead to further division of the northern ethnic groups. The two northern heroes, Budugen and Kebi Neng, continued to fight until the reign of Emperor Ming of Wei, and finally ended with Budugen's death and Kebi Neng's defeat in the northern desert.
But this is a politically correct suggestion, and it does not contradict Qiao Yan's feeling that it is not suitable for today's times!
More than a month later, Zhang Yi belatedly sent this reply letter to Qiao Yan after receiving Yuan's advice. Although the letter did not criticize her suggestion, it also mentioned in a rather condescending tone that Marquis Qiao had not even been managing Leping County for a full year, and the profitability of the suggestion had not yet been made clear, and the state government would consider it carefully.
Careful consideration?
Although he knew that this was different from the level of knowledge about the future, Qiao Yan still wanted to curse the boy for being unworthy of being a partner in conspiracy. But as she was a county marquis, she had to be careful with everything she said and did, so she only said, "It's a big step."
Zhang Yi did not think that this was a big step that ignored the situation in Bingzhou. Instead, he approved of the plan proposed by Yuan Shao. This was undoubtedly the beginning of his great efforts in foreign business operations.
Just one and a half months later, an urgent piece of information came via horseback across Taihang Mountain and into Jinyang.
The letter says:
In July of the second year of Zhongping, there was a moth infestation in Sanfu.
What is the Sanfu borer? The locust plague broke out first in the three prefectures of the capital!
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