"Go, Bao'er is a very well behaved boy. Although he is small now, he is actually very smart." Mrs. Chu likes Bao'er very much. She thinks that Bao'er is not only better behaved than the little boy in her family, but also very beautiful.
It’s not that Zhou Jiaojiao didn’t want to take Baoer to the military camp, it’s just that the military camp was too murderous and he would be easily frightened if she took him there.
Zhou Jiaojiao soon met General Xie.
General Xie was arranging tasks for his subordinates, and seemed to be transporting food and fodder.
"Miss Zhou, come here quickly."
General Xie enthusiastically called out to her, "Champa rice is back."
"Didn't you say I'd tell you if there was news about Champa rice?"
"You're back just in time."
Zhou Jiaojiao didn't hesitate and followed General Xie.
The team transporting Champa rice just returned to the grain station.
When the team leader saw General Xie coming, he quickly stood up and saluted, "Thank you, General!"
"Where's the stuff?"
"Over here, General Xie, please."
General Xie walked over quickly and saw a pile of Champa rice in burlap bags in the warehouse.
He picked up a shovel and shoveled out the rice.
"Miss Zhou, come and take a look." General Xie showed her the rice. Zhou Jiaojiao looked over and touched it. The rice was not bad, not very full, but it was almost like this now.
"Have you seen the grain harvest of the people in Champa?" Zhou Jiaojiao asked the soldiers.
"They do have three seasons a year, but it's because the weather is hotter and warmer. The winters here are colder, so I'm not sure if we can grow anything," said the soldier, scratching his head.
Zhou Jiaojiao shook her head. "It doesn't matter. If we can't have three seasons a year, two seasons a year will be fine."
"That should be fine. We can plant a season now, but the rice planted in the spring isn't ripe yet. It'll be July or August. If we plant Champa rice in July or August, it'll be too late. I've asked the local residents, and they tell us the second harvest is in early October. Now is the best time to plant. We need to clear more fertile land."
General Xie nodded. "You wrote down how to plant the crops, didn't you?"
"I have asked many old people, and the details are all written in the notebook. There should be nothing missed."
"Miss Zhou, take a look?" General Xie obviously trusted her very much.
Zhou Jiaojiao read the content above and nodded, "Yeah, that's right, that's right."
General Xie was relieved and made the arrangements.
Zhou Jiaojiao asked, "Does your team have any other food seeds?"
This time the team went to Champa not only to exchange Champa rice, but also to exchange other seeds.
"Yes, they are all here."
"But most of them are similar to the ones we have here. I've recorded the names in a book about how to plant them."
As the soldier spoke, he walked towards a pile of food nearby, among which were several packages of linen that looked different at first glance. He took out the things and found all kinds of cabbage seeds and radish seeds inside.
"Hey, what is this?"
The soldier saw the two extra bags and the food rolling out of them, and looked puzzled. "Hey, that's strange. I've never collected this kind of food before."
"Do you know what it is?" The soldier called the soldiers who were following him over and asked, but it turned out that none of the other soldiers had seen it.
Zhou Jiaojiao could tell at a glance that they were potatoes and sweet potatoes.
"Think about it again. Maybe it was given to you by one of the common people."
Zhou Jiaojiao squatted down, bent over and picked up the sweet potato, "I think I've seen it before."
"Huh?"
General Xie didn't take it seriously. "Really? Pick out the crops that have a higher yield than ours and have the military households plant them."
"I'll take it back first, figure out how to plant it, and then tell you, General."
"Okay, no problem." General Xie waved his hand and generously gave the food to Zhou Jiaojiao.
After resolving this matter, General Xie asked Zhou Jiaojiao about Coal Hill.
"Miss Zhou, the coal you mentioned has been delivered. It's just as you said, very durable and can burn at a much higher temperature than charcoal. The blacksmith has already started forging the Chu sword, but they've encountered some problems."
Zhou Jiaojiao followed General Xie to the place where weapons and armor were forged.
"These are the recently forged Chu swords. They're average quality, not very good." General Chu said as he raised his hand and chopped down the blade. With a bang, the sword broke into two pieces. "The toughness is too poor."
Zhou Jiaojiao found it strange. "There should be many famous blacksmiths making knives."
Compared to modern practices of improving the quality of knives by upgrading materials, the famous swords of ancient times are more famous. Even Zhou Jiaojiao is curious about how those so-called craftsmen made them.
Take the Tang Dynasty's Tang sword for example. When the Tang Dynasty had tens of thousands of soldiers fighting against Japan for the first time, they were facing 400,000 soldiers. Their warships were obviously more than the Tang army's. They even boarded Tang warships and occupied them. In the end, Japan was defeated miserably by the Tang army, and the Tang sword played the biggest role.
General Xie sighed helplessly upon hearing this. "If it were like this fifty years ago, but back then, that famous craftsman died under the persecution of the imperial court, his disciples left the mountain and resumed their ordinary lives, vowing never to forge iron again. Furthermore, one of his disciples, Han Xiao, burned all the books on forging in the library after the incident."
"It burned for several days and nights, and the entire sky was dyed red."
"Since then, there have been no famous blacksmiths. The ones I can find now can only forge ordinary tools at best. Even the weapons that the few in the capital can forge cannot compare to my collection."
Zhou Jiaojiao was speechless after hearing this.
This is obviously the court's own fault. Even if the craftsman does not have a high status, he cannot act recklessly. Everyone has a temper, right?
"What happened to the disciple named Han Xiao?" Zhou Jiaojiao asked curiously.
General Xie sighed, "When the library was burned down, he disappeared. I heard he's still around, but no one has seen him. Now, he's probably in his sixties or seventies. Even if he were still alive, he wouldn't have the strength to wield a hammer."
Zhou Jiaojiao was suspicious. "Aren't all the great blacksmiths quite old? I think Old Wu and his men in Yuzhou City are quite great."
"It's mainly because of rumors that although Han Xiao escaped, he was injured, especially in his leg. If the news is true, this injury plus his age means that even if we find him, he won't be able to help us."
"Of course, I don't want to force him to talk about his blacksmithing skills. After all, his master was sacrificed in the struggle among various forces in the court. He was innocent. It's a pity that there were only a few powerful people at that time." General Xie obviously gave up.
"Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to use the Chu Dao?"
General Xie laughed when he heard this. "Don't worry. I have suitable weapons in my collection. Blacksmiths know how to forge them. If you can't make a Chu sword, you can make that one. As for coal, it's needed for heating in winter. Youzhou is cold, and we didn't have the conditions before. Many soldiers couldn't withstand the cold and froze to death. Unfortunately, I couldn't get military pay from the court at that time, so I had to sacrifice some innocent soldiers."
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