As soon as Jiang Jin returned home and entered the house, a wave of warmth washed over her. She took off her fox fur cloak, and Liqiu hurriedly took it from her.
Guyu brought her a cup of hot water: "My Lord, drink some water to warm your body."
Jiang Jin took it, warming her hands by holding the cup with both hands. Looking at the expanse of white outside, a flash of worry crossed her eyes. The weather was too cold, a bit abnormal.
"You're back." Sun Yi watched his eldest grandson come in from outside, his face wrinkling with a smile: "It's cold outside, hurry up and get on the kang to warm up."
Although there was a heated wall in the room, it was still not as warm as the kang.
He rejoiced countless times over his initial choice.
If they hadn't come to Gefeng, who knows where they would be freezing and starving right now. They might have already become a pile of yellow earth, let alone enjoying the good days they had now.
Sun Guang smiled shyly: "Grandpa, I'm not cold. The academy has heated walls and floor heating."
Yang Sanniang sat on the kang, mending a piece of clothing, and sighed with emotion: "Our Lord is truly gifted to be able to create these heated kangs and walls. Life is so comfortable now."
Sun Guang sat on the kang: "Grandma, don't do needlework after dark, it's bad for your eyes. The Lord said that reading or working in dim light easily causes nearsightedness."
He didn't really understand what nearsightedness was either, but he firmly remembered the Lord's words.
Yang Sanniang's eyes curved into a smile, and she immediately put away her needle: "Alright."
Sun Yi shook his head and laughed, instructing: "You have a holiday during the New Year period, so rest well."
Sun Guang waved his hand: "I happen to have free time during the New Year, so I can teach you all Pinyin and how to read."
Sun Yi was stunned: "Teach us how to read?"
Sun Guang gave a soft mm: "The Lord said that once we learn, we will teach the commoners in the city. She said she wants universal literacy."
"Wh-what did you say?" Sun Yi's face flushed with excitement.
As the village head, he had some breadth of vision.
Knowledge was controlled by the powerful and noble families. Ordinary commoners like them had no access to it at all; even if they wanted to learn, there was no way.
He thought his grandson being able to study and read was already the greatest blessing, but he never expected that their Lord would actually popularize this blessing to all of them!
Sun Guang nodded affirmatively, a brilliant smile on his face: "Our Lord is quite extraordinary."
Although he had only studied for a month, he now understood many things he hadn't before. The more he learned, the more he realized his own insignificance.
"Good, good!" Sun Yi was very excited, clapping his hands and laughing, though his nose felt a bit sour: "You must study hard under the Lord, listen to her teachings, and follow her."
He didn't know the exact term for the literacy campaign, but he understood the meaning. The emotional impact on his heart was beyond words. He only felt that Jiang Jin was the best lord in the world, and being able to follow her under her jurisdiction was the greatest fortune.
Yang Sanniang was also very happy, though her eyes reddened: "Let's celebrate properly today and eat something good. I'll go pick a couple of spinach plants in a bit."
With a large family, they had made several long wooden boxes and placed them in the kitchen to grow radishes, Chinese cabbage, and spinach. It hadn't been long, so only the spinach, which had a short growth cycle, was barely ready to eat.
In the evening, Yun Chengxuan came over to Jiang Jin's place to mooch a meal again, and Dong Si came along as well.
Jiang Jin felt helpless and instructed: "Then let's have hot pot today."
She had iron ore, coking coal, and iron and steel smelting technology, so making a hot pot wasn't difficult.
Under the forging and smelting technology she provided, not only were hot pots made, but stainless steel whistling kettles for boiling water were also produced. The weapons forged in the armory had advanced by leaps and bounds, easily capable of crushing anything else in this era.
Liqiu and Guyu hurriedly went to prepare, bringing over the stove, the hot pot, and the ingredients.
This wasn't Jiang Jin's first time having hot pot, so the two of them were already well-versed in setting it up.
"Auntie, this hot pot is amazing, it's so delicious." Even though it was the freezing winter, Yun Chengxuan was sweating profusely from eating.
Dong Si was much more refined. While eating, he didn't forget to study: "My Lord, I still don't quite understand that spreadsheet you mentioned."
He managed all of Jiang Jin's finances and provisions, which involved a vast array of categories and quantities. Using his previous bookkeeping methods, it took up several account books.
Ever since he learned Arabic numerals, arithmetic, spreadsheets, and so on from Jiang Jin, it was as if a whole new world had opened up to him, though he still didn't quite understand how to apply them all.
Jiang Jin smiled gently: "There's no rush. I'll make a spreadsheet for you tonight, and you'll understand."
Unexpectedly, after dinner, Dong Si wasn't the only one who came to learn how to make spreadsheets.
Zhou Sui, Mu Qing, Luo Qingci, and Feng Qingzhu all came.
Jiang Jin remained silent for a moment. Alright then, teaching one is the same as teaching two, so she might as well teach them all together.
Time hurried by, slipping away inadvertently like flowing water. In the blink of an eye, it was mid-February, and Jiang Jin's underground granary was finally completed.
This granary was built very large. Not only could it store grain, salt, and oil, but it could also hold weapons and other supplies, divided into several zones.
The surroundings were built with thick walls made of bricks and cement, and the floor was likewise paved with thick bricks and cement.
Even if someone tried to tunnel in, it would be nearly impossible to break through this shell with the tools of this era.
The granary was built beneath the horse farm and the military barracks, in a concealed location.
Jiang Jin felt the temperature; the surface temperature was already minus twenty or thirty degrees, while down here it was only around four or five degrees.
Dong Si was very excited: "My Lord, this granary is fantastic. I want to transport the grain down here right now."
Jiang Jin shook her head: "Why go through the trouble? As if we aren't tired enough. Let's wait until we harvest this year's crops before putting them here."
As soon as Jiang Jin returned home, Liqiu followed behind her and reported in a low voice: "My Lord, the Master of the Mu family is waiting for you."
Jiang Jin raised an eyebrow and went to the discussion hall.
Upon seeing Jiang Jin, Mu Qing hurriedly stood up to bow.
Jiang Jin offered a supportive gesture from afar: "No need for formalities. What brings you to see me?"
Mu Qing chose his words carefully: "My Lord, this year's winter is significantly colder than in previous years."
As someone who had dealt with farming, mulberry cultivation, and water conservancy his entire life, he was particularly sensitive to changes in temperature.
In this era where people relied on the heavens for their livelihood, the weather played a crucial role in the crops.
This was also what Jiang Jin had been worrying about recently. She suspected that they might be entering a Little Ice Age.
The most direct consequence of a drop in temperature was a decrease in rainfall. A reduction in rainfall would lead to reduced crop yields, and in severe cases, outright drought with no harvest at all.
Therefore, a Little Ice Age was often accompanied by various disasters and plagues.
Jiang Jin asked: "Do you have any countermeasures?"
Mu Qing smiled bitterly. If he had countermeasures, he wouldn't be so worried that he couldn't sleep at night. His heart was very unsettled.
In the face of such natural disasters, humanity seemed exceptionally insignificant.
"I wonder if My Lord has any good strategies?" He looked at Jiang Jin with a face full of hope.
Jiang Jin shook her head. The only thing she could do was prepare in advance by hoarding grain and supplies.
She comforted him: "Let's plant more grain this year. I don't have the ability to help others right now, but I can certainly guarantee that the commoners within Gefeng City will be fed and clothed."
Seeing her calm expression, Mu Qing couldn't help but ask: "My Lord, do you already have a plan in mind?"
There were currently several thousand commoners in the city. Just keeping them fed required a considerable amount of grain.
Jiang Jin didn't hide it from him either: "That's right. Aside from the seeds I gave you, I have other high-yield crop seeds. When the time comes, we can plant them in large quantities."
Mu Qing's eyes lit up, but then he thought of something and his gaze dimmed again: "It won't work. We don't have enough land; we can't plant that much."
Jiang Jin: "Elder Mu has forgotten, we can plant on the land outside our city."
Mu Qing was stunned. It took him a long moment to find his voice. "Outside the city? Do you mean that expanse of land beyond the North Gate?"
Jiang Jin nodded. "Yes. Didn't I give you a few manuals on composting? Study them thoroughly when you have the time. I plan to cultivate thousands of acres out there. Without sufficient fertilizer, even the finest seeds will yield disappointing results."
"Thousands of acres?" Mu Qing was dumbfounded. Then, his expression lit up with excitement. "If the harvest is anything like the vegetables from before, then..."
Jiang Jin shook her head. "Vegetables are difficult to store, and we cannot survive on them alone. We still need to plant rice and wheat. Their yields won't be as miraculously high, but we can discuss the specifics when the time comes."
Days passed, and the weather finally began to warm. The ice and snow started to melt.
Although the thaw arrived much later than in previous years, with the bare earth only revealing itself in early April, Jiang Jin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In truth, she had been anxious. She still held about ten thousand shi of grain in her spatial dimension, but that would only feed the city's civilians and soldiers for about a year.
If the land remained frozen year-round, making farming impossible, she would be doomed. Her only option would have been to migrate south, searching for a warmer, arable region to establish a new base. Yet, without the protection of these city walls, the small force she commanded could easily be wiped out.
She was currently outside the North Gate with Mu Qing and Mu Wanbai, mapping out agricultural plans across the vast, empty fields, when a soldier came sprinting toward them.
"My Lord! The Qu Zhao army is approaching!"
Mu Qing and his granddaughter were thoroughly alarmed. They immediately looked at Jiang Jin. Seeing that her expression remained completely unruffled, their racing hearts somehow settled, and they breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Jiang Jin had not expected the Qu Zhao forces to arrive so swiftly. They must have been suffocating from being cooped up all winter. "How many men?" she asked.
"About fifty thousand!" the soldier reported.
Jiang Jin narrowed her eyes slightly. That was more than she had estimated.
She swung herself onto her horse and turned to look down at Mu Qing. "Return to the city at once."
With that, she spurred her horse into a gallop, charging through the North Gate and heading straight for the South Gate.
