The Soldier of the Red Mansion

Chapter 392 Sweet Potato
An unnamed place north of Camel Mountain.

Because there was a small pond, the soldiers called it "Water Pond," and it was marked as such on the map. There were many places called "Water Pond," so they were named after the battalion where the army was located.

Shijiashuipaozi.

As the name suggests, the battalion commander's surname is Shi.

There was only one battalion commander surnamed Shi in Datong Military Town, named Shi Gandang, so the place was called Shijia Shuipaozi (Shi Family Water Pond).

Since it's called a water bubble, it must contain water.

A sentry was set up, with 90 people stationed there. They were given more than 1,100 sheep and had to go out to herd the sheep every day, as well as be ready to deal with any possible appearances of the Hu people.

These sheep belonged to the herders in the former Tarim Basin, where the original pastures were insufficient and the areas were too large for the herders to manage. Therefore, these cattle and sheep were distributed to the army.

Accompanying them were several herders, selected from among the thirty-six herder households, who instructed and guided the soldiers on how to herd sheep and other matters.

The soldiers could drink goat milk every day and occasionally even kill a goat.

However, when the disaster ends and they return to the interior, the sheep must be returned. The number must remain at over 1,100, and can only be more, not less, so the birth of lambs is a major event.

They had goat milk to drink and occasionally some mutton to supplement their diet, but due to the restrictions of food coupons, they could not eat their fill every day. They could only have a full meal once every three to five days, and they still had to work every day.

They patrolled at night, looked after the sheep during the day, trained, and went out to search for bandits when they received reports of them.

The sky is clear and cloudless.

The weather was normal.

Upon learning that the squad had spotted the Hu people outside and had already given chase, the sentry officer immediately led his team to meet them, leaving half of the men to protect the camp.

The camp not only had tents and sheep pens, but the soldiers also erected fences.

Having forty or fifty soldiers guarding the camp and sheepfold was more advantageous than confronting the Hu cavalry head-on in the open field.

They chased him for over ten miles.

More than twenty Zhou soldiers and Hu people were locked in a fierce battle.

You chase me, I run away; you circle around me, I retreat.

They occasionally shoot arrows at each other.

The two sides had dozens of cavalry scattered across the entire earthen slope, covering a larger area than the battle between thousands of infantry.

Without wasting a moment, the sentry led his comrades into the fray, splitting into several groups to intercept and kill the Hu cavalry.

When the Hu cavalry saw that Zhou's army had arrived with reinforcements, they retreated without hesitation.

This time it's a real withdrawal.

One side galloped away on horseback, while the other chased desperately.

Both horses were from the grasslands. Zhou Jun's horsemanship was somewhat inferior, but his horse feed contained a lot of high-quality ingredients, and Zhou Jun's equipment was more advanced.

"Swish swish."

They chased each other all the way, occasionally shooting arrows at one another, leaving three of their men dead.

"stop."

The officer ordered the pursuit to cease.

For three days in a row, everyone was exhausted.

“The Hu people are more tired than us. If we persevere a little longer, we might catch up with them,” someone said, unwilling to give up.

The sentry shook his head. "They're fleeing for their lives; even if they're exhausted, they can hold on longer than we can."

Upon hearing this, the man stopped arguing.

"How much rations do you have left?" The sentry officer immediately took stock of the supplies in the camp. The camp was short of supplies; there wasn't much to begin with, just enough for everyone to have one meal.

"I hope those guys starve to death in the desert," someone cursed after eating half a meal.

Everyone has traveled so far, and no one has any leftover food.

They might have a meal, but the Hu people might not even have one. I don't know how they'd manage to get back.

The sentry did not speak.

I didn't have any hope.

Humans are much more resilient than wild animals. They can find some wild vegetables, eat some grass roots, or catch a ground squirrel or something. There's always a way. If they're really unlucky, they can just kill a horse.

three days later.

They finally returned to camp, all of them starving.

"You're finally back! If you hadn't come back, we would have gone out to look for you," the captain who stayed behind complained.

They were torn between going to meet them and searching for them, or staying behind to guard the sheep.

Everyone had been starving for days, but they still couldn't eat to their heart's content.

However, there was a lot more goat milk, and everyone drank a lot. With something in their stomachs, they seemed to come back to life. Then the captain took out a notice from his pocket and handed it to the sentry officer.

"what is this?"

"It was sent from the battalion headquarters; it was distributed to each battalion by the military governor's office," the captain said with a smile.

Someone read it.

"A total of 247,136.32 taels of silver was received from the imperial court for military expenses. Of the 20% of the profits distributed to the army by Juzhongchang, the usual amount was 90,000 taels, but due to the disaster, only 50,000 taels were actually received."

"Thirdly, merchants transported grain to Datong to offset import and export tariffs, totaling 145,372 taels and 6 mace and 3 fen of silver, and obtained 291,716 shi of grain."

The entire notice resembled an account book.

Although not every single item of the Jiedushi's (military governor's) income, expenditure, and percentage of each item was listed in detail, the expenditure items were very detailed and easy for everyone to understand.

"Why are you showing us this thing?" the returning soldier said with a chuckle.

The soldiers were very curious when they first saw something like this, and they looked at it over and over again.

"My goodness, Datong has seven or eight hundred thousand people?"

Some soldiers were amazed.

This is Datong!

"We're here to treat disaster victims, so all the local disaster victims are coming here. It's a wonder they've come all this way; the roads to Datong aren't easy to travel."

Everyone was talking at once.

They've worked hard for several days, so we won't be assigning them any work for the next couple of days.

However, there were only ninety people in the outpost, and everyone had to work. On the third day, the soldiers, who had just won a small victory, got up as usual to work and let the sheep in the sheepfold out to graze.

"Yo ho!"

The soldier, mounted on horseback, shouted loudly, as if venting all his pent-up emotions.

"Meow meow meow".

"Meow~"

The sheep passed by the soldiers and headed towards the grassy areas.
-
"A life for a life, a debt for a debt—isn't that what your military governor's office says?" a village headman argued vehemently. "His family owes me money, and I was just trying to get him to pay it back. What's wrong with that?"

The inspection team had seen this kind of thing many times before. The interrogating officer remained expressionless. "Yes, a life for a life."

The director there was stunned.

"I...I..." the village chief struggled, "This has always been how it's done, why should you change it just like that?"

"The principle of 'a life for a life' and 'debts must be repaid' has always existed. It's just that you've colluded with some officials, not that what you've always done is right. This principle has never changed from ancient times to the present. It's you who have changed, not the principle itself."

The village chief was speechless.

His face turned bright red.

The blood on the platform at the entrance of the market has been impossible to wash away in the past few months.

Who isn't afraid!
However, there are people checking at every passage. Unless they give up all their property and sneak out, but if they don't have any property, wouldn't they become vagrants if they sneak out?

The village chief, clinging to a sliver of hope, tried to coerce the villagers, but to his surprise, the bolder villagers still dared to report him.

"Be lenient with confession, strict with resistance!"

The calmer the inspector was, the more terrified the village chief became by his words, making him fear him like a tiger: "Your crimes are enough to warrant execution and confiscation of your property. If you want to make amends, you not only have to pay the fines and confiscate the stolen goods on time, but you also have to take the initiative to confess and expose who cooperated with you in the yamen to cover up the murder."

"If I confess, can I live?" The village chief was afraid of dying. "Whether you live or not ultimately depends on the judgment of the military governor's office," the inspector said calmly. "However, your performance and the extent of your merits will have a significant impact on your sentence."

"I...I confess."

The village chief gave up resistance.

His crimes were more than enough to warrant ten beheadings, so his entire family was to be exiled and their property confiscated. The village chief wanted to live; if he truly couldn't survive, at least he could spare his family from exile.

Murder pays off lives, debts pay off.

If the government takes the lead in complying, the people will absolutely support it.

Although Datong's approach caused considerable unrest, the merchants from other places had traveled all over the country and had seen all kinds of things. They were not only the group most receptive to new things.

If they cannot enjoy privileges, they will be the group that most yearns for fairness and justice.

Because of the enormous profits involved, businessmen are motivated to distance themselves from ordinary people.

The dozen or so grain and vegetable shops that the Xue family had spun off quickly attracted enthusiastic participation from merchants. Some even went to the Jiedushi's office, demanding that the office lift the restrictions and not allow the Xue family to monopolize the business. They argued that the Xue family should be able to obtain the business without participating in the competition.

In the end, Wang Xin himself had to speak out.

Because the Xue family helped, but also promised that the dozens of grain and vegetable shops under the Xue family's control would be re-contracted after five years, with fair competition among the shops.

Only then did the merchants calm down.

“I have no objection,” Xue Baochai replied without hesitation.

Wang Xin was very pleased and said, "Your Xue family has a first-mover advantage. You have priority in talent, market, and capital over others. There's no reason why you can't compete with others."

However, the Xue family now undoubtedly holds a monopoly.

Relying on the support of the military governor's mansion to monopolize the market, five years later it would be equivalent to giving up the monopoly and engaging in fair competition, which would inevitably come at a high cost. Therefore, not everyone can recognize their own worth like Xue Baochai.

More than a month later.

Wang Xin became increasingly satisfied; this was what true allies were.

Duspine was speechless.

He was personally involved in Datong's business, but now, because of the owner's situation, he watched as the eldest son's family surpassed the second son's family. This sense of powerlessness was very painful for Du Song, who had grown up in the second son's family.

"When you return this time, I will send a cavalry troop to escort you." This was partly out of concern for your safety on the road, and partly to show support for Xue Baochai.

Xue Baochai felt she had learned a lot from Wang Xin and said earnestly, "I will personally handle the matter of purchasing grain overseas, and also go to Fujian to inquire about sweet potatoes."

Wang Xin nodded.

This is my weakness. Although I can do a lot in Datong, I can't make my voice heard outside of Datong.

However, the Jia family and the Xue family are allowed to have children.

The Jia family had relatives and friends all over the Great Zhou Dynasty, so a letter was enough to urge them to do so. Although the Xue family did not have the power of the Jia family, they had their own business connections and could do it themselves if they did it personally.

As for the health benefits of sweet potatoes...

Sweet potatoes were already a mature crop in the Americas, otherwise why would the Spanish have traveled all the way to Luzon to cultivate them?
Surely it's not for agricultural research.

Because sweet potatoes are high-yielding, drought-resistant, and tolerant of poor soil, unlike wheat and rice which have high requirements for environmental and arable land conditions, such as leveling the land and digging ditches, sweet potatoes are one of the most cost-effective, high-yielding, easy-to-grow, and drought-resistant crops.

The Spanish brought sweet potatoes to Luzon because they lacked manpower and the natives had limited food supplies. They also cracked down on merchants smuggling sweet potatoes at the docks, with those caught being hanged.

Not only that.

To prevent the sweet potatoes from being lost to the outside world, they were only planted far from the docks, around the Spanish's own stronghold.

As for why there is a shortage of food for the indigenous people, it is because if there were plenty of food, the indigenous population would have already spread everywhere, leaving no vacant land for Westerners to develop.

In the original timeline, sweet potatoes were smuggled back to China by Ming Dynasty smugglers at great risk, decades after the Spanish began cultivating them in Luzon.

Smugglers are not well-liked by the prefect, so they asked someone to arrange a meeting so that the prefect wouldn't refuse.

Then he planted sweet potato vines in his hometown by himself, and within ten years it spread throughout his hometown, within thirty years it spread throughout Fujian, within fifty years it spread throughout the south, and within one hundred years it spread throughout the whole country.

It spread spontaneously among the people without any official organization.

Before this, no foreign crop had ever been introduced so quickly and so widely. Then came the population explosion in the Qing Dynasty, the introduction of crops at the end of the Wanli era, and ultimately benefited the Kangxi Emperor.

The 17th and 18th centuries were the centuries of sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes do have many drawbacks, but in today's world, these drawbacks are not drawbacks at all.

Seeing that Wang Xin had no further instructions, Xue Baochai left the next day.

The same convoy, but now accompanied by a squad of cavalry bearing the banners of the Datong Military Town.

However, Xue Baochai was not very convinced that such crops existed, but she was still very interested in the Datong Ten-Year Mortgage Certificates being promoted in Jiangnan, which included a bank, a grain and vegetable bank, and a bond bank.

Thinking of the principles Wang Xin had mentioned, and combining them with her own thoughts, Xue Baochai in the carriage couldn't contain herself any longer and couldn't wait to put them into practice.

Wealth flows throughout the world.

"The Xue family has already left."

“Aside from spending those few days with Miss Xue, Wang Xin usually doesn’t leave the governor’s mansion.”

Zhou House.

The butler said in a low voice.

Zhou Shiming lay on the bench, his face ashen.

"Has Li Yuan replied?" Zhou Shiming cried out pitifully. "I want his letter."

"It should be soon."

The butler was somewhat afraid.

Since the young master was beheaded and the Zhou family had a large amount of wealth confiscated, even the other young masters were implicated, leaving only the master in the mansion.

The master never talks about Wang Xin, but he is always in contact with outsiders, especially the imperial court.

Zhou Shiming was filled with remorse.

Why did I support Wang Xin in the first place? I really regret it. The Zhou family is in this predicament today because of my greed back then. How could I have been so blind?

"do not worry."

Zhou Shiming knew what the butler wanted. Seeing the hesitation on the butler's face, Zhou Shiming smiled silently, "You've seen the letters I wrote. The Zhou family's connections will definitely be used on your son."

The steward's expression relaxed; his son had already gone to study at the Imperial Academy.

Even if one fails the imperial examination, one can still obtain an official position as a student of the Imperial Academy, but this requires extremely strong connections.

If one could pass the imperial examinations and obtain official rank, then one's future would be even brighter.

"There are less than 20,000 troops inside the pass. Lord Li is the Minister of War. He must know how to deal with Datong. When the time comes, even if Mount Tai is crushing us, we will not be able to suppress Wang Xin."

"shut up."

Zhou Shiming said viciously.

No one is allowed to mention it, lest we alert them.

at this time.

Wang Xin was visited by an old friend.

"Qi Yinghao." Wang Xin never expected this.

Qi Yinghao had become much calmer, having moved past his past hatred. Luo Ming had been dead for so many years. He smiled and bowed, saying, "General, it's been a long time."

"Hahaha."

Wang Xin smiled and patted Qi Yinghao on the shoulder.

"I have been entrusted by someone to come and see the commander-in-chief."

"Who?"

"The Grand Secretary."

Wang Xin suddenly realized.

The Qi family used to be Zhang Jifu's men, the kind of lackeys. Otherwise, Luo Ming wouldn't hate the Qi family so much, and the first thing he did upon returning to Jiangnan was to kill the Qi family as a sacrifice.

(End of this chapter)