Chapter 218: Suggestion
Editor: Atlas Studios
After counting the rabbits in the shed, Fan Zijin said, “There are only about 4,000 that can be put up for sale. Isn’t that too little?”
The corners of Mu Yangling’s mouth twitched as she said, “Even if you think it’s too little, you have to look at how big my land is. It’s already a high burden for me to raise so many rabbits on my 68 acres of land. If it weren’t for the fact that these rabbits aren’t picky about food and can even be fed with just dry wheatgrass, I would have sold all 4,000-odd of them. You have to know that I still have thousands of little rabbits on hand.”
Fan Zijin snorted and said, “Whether you have enough land or not is your problem. I only care about the results. If it’s not enough, you can convert forestland or directly buy land.”
Qi Haoran took a piece of pasture and bit it in his mouth. He spoke up for Mu Yangling. “How can she have the money to buy land when she hasn’t earned a single cent yet?”
Then, he assured Mu Yangling, “Don’t worry about raising the rabbits. The trade caravan that Zijin sent south has already returned. Our diced rabbit meat is very popular. Butler Chen has already negotiated with someone to send them three shipments a year. I’ve asked the accountant to calculate it for you. According to such a profit, you can earn a lot of money a year.”
Fan Zijin glared at him and said to Mu Yangling, “There’s no problem with the sales now, but there are too few raw materials. Every time, there are only a few thousand rabbits. The diced rabbit meat made looks like a lot, but in fact, there’s not much at all when it’s distributed.”
Not someone who would only set his sights on Lin’an Prefecture, Fan Zijin did not want to let go of any of the large cities outside Lin’an Prefecture. Butler Chen had just transported the grains back when he brought the last batch of diced rabbit meat out. This time, his main mission was to discuss business and find good sales channels. There were only a few hundred jars of diced rabbit meat, which wasn’t much.
Qi Haoran had already planned to officially allocate a part of the 5th Division to build a workshop for him. Fan Zijin had also chosen a manager from among the veterans and remnants of the army. As for the soldiers sent from the various camps who could no longer go to the battlefield, they were all assigned to the workshop.
Not only were they ensured to be fed, but all the medicine they needed to treat their injuries would also be provided by the workshop. In addition, the workshop would also give them a military salary.
Aside from reducing the army’s expenditure, the veterans who would have been starved for food and clothing were also resettled.
The commotion in the 5th Division was too big, so it was inevitable that it would attract the attention of outsiders. In the end, Qi Xiuyuan asked Mo Xiong to bring people over. “Little General, the general asked me to take those few large boxes and escort them back to the West Camp.”
Qi Haoran blinked. “Just the few of you?”
Smiling, Mo Xiong said, “Therefore I still need Little General to send someone to escort me.”
Although there were only stones in those few large boxes, many people had designs on them. Since Qi Haoran had to send this trouble away, he naturally could not let anyone know that the things inside were simply stones.
Qi Haoran and Mo Xiong brought their troops to the West Camp in a high-profile manner. Along the way, there were many people watching, but nothing happened.
That cart was protected by several layers of men. Whoever rushed out would be courting death.
Jiang Ze took over these big boxes and sighed. “I’m taking over trouble, eh.”
Mo Xiong glanced at him and said, “If you’re unwilling, I’ll tell the general. I can take care of this.”
Jiang Ze snorted and said, “If you want to snatch credit, say so. Don’t make it sound too nice, as if you’re helping me out.”
“Then don’t pretend to complain after getting an advantage. How much credit can these boxes bring you? Our West Camp is not totally under the general’s control now. If the general wants to use this matter to kick those people out, you should open your eyes and see who has been fooling around in front of you recently.”
As the general only told a few trusted aides about the corn, the other soldiers had no idea of the exact situation.
With the corn seeds planted, they could naturally hide it for as long as possible. The Shen family was also paying close attention to this matter.
Initially, he thought that Qi Xiuyuan could only delay it for at most another ten days to half a month. Surprisingly, after a month, the corn had already grown to the height of a calf, yet the Imperial Court still had not heard anything.
Shen San wanted to cover his face, but Fifth Miss Shen asked in surprise, “Is Qi Xiuyuan too good at keeping secrets, or is the Imperial Court too incompetent? The people here have more or less guessed it, right? How long has it been?”
Shen San said, “I’m afraid Qi Xiuyuan is also anxious to let the Imperial Court know now. His documents have probably been withheld by the Cabinet.”
Qi Xiuyuan’s document had indeed been detained by the Cabinet. Since it was only stamped as urgent and not a military report, after the Cabinet received it, they did not even open it and simply directly put it aside. Because the harvest of grains everywhere this year was poor, more and more troops had submitted letters requesting military rations since May. The Emperor was furious. Hence they could delay the less-urgent memorials as much as they could.
Therefore, when the Emperor finally saw the corn data reported by Qi Xiuyuan and the document asking for rewards for Four Tray Village, the corn in Xingzhou Prefecture had already been harvested.
The Emperor’s eyes widened as he looked at the data on it. Then, looking at the date below, his hand couldn’t stop trembling. He pointed at the Cabinet ministers below and was so angry that he could not speak.
“…Such an important expedited document, but you actually suppressed it for so long before submitting it. You’re simply neglecting your duty. I…” The Emperor took a deep breath and said, “I’ll punish you by deducting half a year’s salary. Go back and write a confession memorial.”
Minister Qin lowered his head and had no choice but to take a step forward and ask in a low voice, “Your Majesty, I wonder what General Qi wrote in the memorial that made you so infuriated?”
“Infuriated?” The Emperor directly slapped the memorial on his head. “I’m delighted. If you had reported the memorial instead of suppressing it, would I be angry? Someone under Qi Xiuyuan’s rule successfully planted corn, the corn Emperor Shizong mentioned.”
The Emperor’s eyes lit up, “Didn’t the Imperial Astronomer say that there might be a drought in various places next year? Coincidentally, this corn can withstand drought. If we plant it widely, my subjects will be able to survive this crisis.”
Minister Qin picked up the memorial and read it carefully. He narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled. “Congratulations, Your Majesty. It’s just that General Qi said in the letter that the yield of an acre is only 572 catties. There’s still a huge difference between this yield and the 1,000 catties per acre mentioned by Emperor Shizong.”
The Emperor smiled and said, “That’s because they used low-grade land. If it’s planted on high-grade land, the yield will naturally be higher. Even if it can’t reach 1,000 catties per acre, it’s already not bad to have 600 to 700 catties.”
“Sounds right, but General Qi only has 16,000 catties of corn on hand. Even if we use all of them as seeds, we won’t be able to plant much. I’m afraid…” Seeing the Emperor’s expression darken slightly, Minister Qin continued, “Therefore, I’m afraid the main crops will still be wheat and rice. However, since General Qi knows how to plant them, it won’t be long before we can promote corn cultivation widely. In two to five years, we will definitely be able to plant more corn to use as seeds. Therefore, His Majesty, let General Qi send people to transport the 16,000 catties of seeds to the capital first. Next spring, we will distribute the seeds to the farmers to plant. Oh right, the villagers of Four Tray Village have to be sent to the capital too, in order to guide the farmers. This way, we can ensure that nothing goes wrong.”
Minister of Revenue, Zhang Cheng, took a step forward and said, “Your Majesty, Minister Qin is right. Jiangnan has always been known for its fish and rice. It’s definitely better to plant corn here than in a desolate place like Xingzhou Prefecture. We should have issued a decree for General Qi to send the seeds and people over.”