The scorching sun of early June hung high in the sky, baking the blue bricks of Zhenbei City's walls until they were scalding hot.
Heat waves rolled up from the base of the city walls, and the distant Gobi Desert turned into a blurred yellow mirage in the steaming air.
The few water sources that had been cut off and poisoned by the Helian nomadic cavalry now shimmered with a murky, dark hue. There was not even a trace of a flying bird around them.
"Commander, all the nearby water sources outside the city have been destroyed." Xu Qinghuan turned her head and asked Tie Lanshan beside her, her tone carrying a hint of scrutiny. "The army of thirty thousand in the city, with men eating and horses chewing daily, is a bottomless pit when it comes to water consumption."
"If this continues, where will the water come from?"
Tie Lanshan rested one hand on the saber at his waist, his gaze also looking outside the city. However, regarding the cut-off water supply, the veteran general did not show much worry.
He raised his hand and waved it casually.
"Imperial Envoy, there is no need to worry!"
"It is currently June, and rain is already scarce outside the pass. It is within my expectations that those small puddles would dry up or be destroyed." Tie Lanshan turned around and pointed to the northwest. "The Zhenbei Army has been stationed here for over a decade. The established rule is to send heavily armed troops to escort water carts to fetch water from the Yellow River, dozens of miles away."
"The waters of the Yellow River flow endlessly. No matter how capable the Helian people are, they cannot cut off the Yellow River. Although the journey is a bit far and escorting it is troublesome, as long as it is arranged properly, it is enough to support the entire city's needs."
"The Yellow River?" Xu Qinghuan repeated in a low voice.
Hearing these words, she suddenly realized that she had been trapped by her own narrow perspective.
A complete topographical map of the Great Qian's northern frontier immediately appeared in her mind. That long river stretching across the land drew a massive bend, shaped like the character 'ji', across this northern territory.
And this curved region was precisely the famous Hetao Plain of later generations.
She did not stay long on the city tower. Hastily bidding farewell to Tie Lanshan, she led Li Sheng quickly down the horse ramp and headed straight back to her residence in the western district of the city.
As soon as she entered the study, Xu Qinghuan instructed Li Sheng, "Go and bring all the historical geographical records of Zhenbei City, as well as the detailed maps of the northern frontier, here."
Li Sheng did not dare to delay. Before long, he walked into the study carrying a thick stack of dust-covered scrolls and several rolls of parchment maps, piling them all onto the wide desk.
Xu Qinghuan unrolled the top parchment map and pressed down its four corners with paperweights.
Her gaze quickly searched through the intricate lines, her fingertips sliding north along the wavy pattern representing the Yellow River, finally stopping at the vast area between the Yin Mountains and the Yellow River waterway.
She picked up a vermilion brush and drew a large circle around that area.
In her memory,
this land nourished by the Yellow River had fertile soil and convenient irrigation. It was known as the Little Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall and was frequently mentioned in videos from her past life.
What was intriguing was that this should have been a rare agricultural treasure land in the world.
With this land, why would the Zhenbei Army ever worry about going hungry?
However, when she opened the yellowed geographical record of Zhenbei City beside her and read through the accounts of this land word by word, her brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
The ink on the record was somewhat faded, but the recorded content was crystal clear: this vast plain was actually a wasteland overgrown with weeds, yielding absolutely no agricultural produce. There were no records of villages, farmlands, or water conservancy facilities, only endless wilderness and occasionally roaming wild beasts.
Xu Qinghuan closed the geographical record.
Why was such a vast expanse of fertile soil a dead land on the map of Great Qian?
She pondered for a moment and decided to figure out the reason behind this. Thus, she ordered Li Sheng to go to the Commander-in-Chief's office and invite Tie Lanshan to the study.
Half an hour later, Tie Lanshan stepped into the study. Looking at the desk full of scrolls and the map circled in vermilion ink, he looked puzzled. "The Imperial Envoy summoned me here in such a hurry. Do you have a brilliant strategy to defeat the enemy?"
Pointing at the red circle on the map, Xu Qinghuan got straight to the point and asked, "Commander, the area between the Yin Mountains and the Yellow River has flat terrain and river water for irrigation. Why do the geographical records state that this place is entirely a wasteland of weeds, without a single acre of fertile farmland?"
Tie Lanshan looked in the direction guided by the vermilion brush. Upon seeing the circled area clearly, the veteran of a hundred battles immediately darkened his face and shook his head repeatedly.
"Your Excellency may not know this, but for over a hundred years since the founding of Great Qian, this area has always been a battlefield where we and the Helian Royal Court have repeatedly engaged in a tug-of-war." Tie Lanshan pulled up a chair and sat down, his voice laced with exhaustion. "In the early years, it wasn't that no commoners went there to clear the land and farm."
"The soil there is indeed fertile. The crops planted grew even better than those inside the pass! But as soon as the commoners sowed the seeds in the spring and painstakingly tended to them all summer, just as autumn harvest approached, the Helian iron cavalry would arrive."
Tie Lanshan's finger tapped heavily on the map twice, his knuckles making dull thuds against the parchment.
"Those barbarians don't farm; they only rob what's ready! Riding swift horses, they would sweep past the border, plunder all the commoners' crops, burn what they couldn't take, and even abduct the people to be slaves."
"By the time the imperial court's troops rushed over, they would have long disappeared without a trace! Over time, who would dare go there to farm? Farming there would only be making a wedding dress for the Helian people... And so, this fertile land gradually turned into wilderness."
Xu Qinghuan listened quietly to Tie Lanshan's account, her gaze never leaving the map.
Great Qian's logistical supply line was too long. Transporting grain from Jiangnan to the northern frontier, with the losses along the way and the corruption of officials at all levels, meant that less than one-tenth of the grain actually reached the hands of the Zhenbei Army.
Relying on the capital to transport grain, this army of thirty thousand would sooner or later starve to death or be dragged down by this endlessly long supply line.
If this Hetao Plain could be developed and the Yellow River used for irrigation, the Zhenbei Army could establish military agricultural colonies right there.
With grain, the army could be self-sufficient and completely break free from the constraints of the imperial court's provisions.
They could even use this as a foundation to gradually push northward and completely drive the Helian people north of the Yin Mountains.
An eternal foundation established at the border pass?
Seeing Xu Qinghuan remain silent for a long time, Tie Lanshan assumed she had given up on the idea. He stood up and took his leave, leaving Xu Qinghuan alone in the study to continue her contemplation.
Xu Qinghuan picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote the two characters for Military Farming on a blank sheet of rice paper.
These two words carried the weight of a thousand pounds, bearing her grand vision for the future of Zhenbei City.
However, when she prepared to continue writing the specific implementation strategies, the tip of her brush hovered in mid-air, unable to fall for a long time.
A full drop of ink dripped from the brush hairs, bleeding into a dark stain on the rice paper.
She understood the schemes of power and could use the strength of others to make He Minghu suffer in silence; she even understood some principles of physics and could guide Jenny Huang in making firearms.
But facing this vast land, she found herself in a blind spot of knowledge.
How were the ancient solar terms divided? What kind of soil improvement did this saline-alkaline land need? What kind of wheat seeds could adapt to the drought and severe cold of the northern frontier? How should the water irrigation canals of the Yellow River be excavated and laid out?
When it came to this knowledge about agriculture, she was completely clueless.
Xu Qinghuan placed her writing brush on the inkstone and let out a long breath as she stared at the two solitary words written on the paper: Garrison Farming.
No matter how grand a strategic vision might be, without the right experts to execute it, it would forever remain mere talk on paper.
She rolled out a fresh sheet of paper and began listing the prerequisites for the farming settlements.
First, drought-resistant and high-yield seeds were needed; this was the absolute foundation.
Second, experienced farmers proficient in water conservation and agriculture were required to guide the land reclamation and irrigation.
Finally, and most importantly, a defensive line strong enough to keep the Helian iron cavalry out of the fields had to be established to ensure the crops' safety.
These three points could never be achieved relying solely on Zhenbei City's current resources. She had to recruit true agricultural experts and bring them to this barren land.
Xu Qinghuan turned her gaze toward the half-open window of the study, looking south in the direction of the capital.
Her father, Xu Youde, currently managed the allocation of funds and provisions in the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry not only handled finances but also oversaw the agricultural affairs of the entire empire.
The agricultural prodigies across the eighteen provinces of Great Qian, as well as the superior seeds from various regions, were all thoroughly documented in the Ministry's registers.
If her father could use the convenience of his position to gather a few geniuses well-versed in farming and water management from the capital or Jiangnan, and send them to the Northern Frontier along with those drought-resistant seeds...
Perhaps this dead end of garrison farming could be easily resolved?
Dear readers! Thank you so much for your continuous support and for accompanying Qinghuan, her father, and her brothers on this journey.
Recently, I have been thinking about making some small merchandise of the main characters (^u^) to give away to you all! Do you have any ideas? Is there anything you would particularly like? Please leave a comment!
If there are enough comments, I will open a poll for everyone to vote on the type of merchandise.
