Sheng He also felt a surge of bad premonition. With Gefeng's style of doing things, even if they agreed to send troops to assist Ze'a County, Ze'a County would probably be skinned alive. He only hoped he was overthinking it.
Sheng Shang agreed to Dong Si's price without haggling. He was afraid, afraid that if the other party was even slightly dissatisfied, that brick-smashing hammer might accidentally smash into his head.
There was not a single good person in Gefeng; they were definitely capable of doing such a thing.
Jiang Jin still didn't know that because of her subordinates' outrageous operations, Gefeng had been labeled by the Sheng family as having not a single good person.
She was currently at the sugar mill in the Gefeng Industrial Zone.
Since Jiang Jin had planted sugar beets, a sugar mill naturally had to be built.
Feng Qingzhu was very excited. My Lord, look, is this right?
Looking at the white granulated sugar in the glass jar, Jiang Jin's expression turned joyful. She dipped her finger in, tasted a bit, and found the sweetness to be pure.
In this era, there was maltose and cane sugar, but no white granulated sugar.
Even maltose and cane sugar were extremely precious, and ordinary people mostly couldn't afford them.
The supplies she had collected in Liang City and Lin County originally included sugar, but very little, so she specifically planted a large number of sugar beets.
Sugar beets have a short growth cycle. Although they were planted in batches relatively late, they had begun to mature one after another.
She wrote down the ancient method for making white granulated sugar and had Feng Qingzhu lead the experimental production.
It had to be said that Feng Qingzhu was a person with great perseverance and determination. For the past half month, she had basically immersed herself in the sugar mill, and finally produced white granulated sugar according to Jiang Jin's requirements.
Auntie, what is this? Yun Chengxuan asked curiously.
Without waiting for Jiang Jin to answer, he imitated her, dipping a little sugar and putting it into his mouth.
His eyes suddenly lit up. It's sweet! It's sugar! Such white sugar!
Jiang Jin smiled. Mhm.
Yun Chengxuan immediately hugged the glass jar to his chest. It's all for me and Auntie.
Feng Qingzhu couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Jiang Jin shook her head helplessly and said to Feng Qingzhu, We can start mass production. I'll have Elder Mu harvest the sugar beets and send them to you.
At this moment, Mu Qing was excitedly looking at the numbers on the large steelyard scale. Good, this is wonderful! The wheat yield per mu is actually 1,124 jin!
One must know that the yield per mu in this era was only about 150 jin. Even with the best farmland and the most meticulous care, it would not exceed 200 jin.
He then thought of the potatoes they had been harvesting one after another recently, with a yield of over 5,000 jin per mu!
To be exact, the yield was 5,201 jin per mu. Considering that they had planted over 500 mu of potatoes alone, that amounted to two or three million jin!
That very night, the military camp had potatoes for dinner.
Following the Complete Guide to Cooking Potatoes provided by Jiang Jin, the cooks tried making two dishes: one was stir-fried shredded potatoes, and the other was braised potato chunks.
The potatoes became an instant hit and were loved by all the soldiers.
The grocery stores were now selling potatoes.
Although potatoes couldn't be stored as long as wheat or rice, they could still be kept for about half a year, which was not a short time.
These high-yield crops were absolutely life-saving items in these current times of natural disasters and man-made calamities.
He looked toward Gefeng City, seemingly seeing a stunning and brilliant figure through the city walls, his voice carrying a trace of ethereality. The Heavens have finally left a ray of hope for us Han people!
Mu Wanbai was registering numbers in a notebook. She understood her grandfather's feelings because, at this very moment, she was thinking the same thing: the Heavenly Dao is merciful, and the Yan State has Princess Jinyang.
Jiang Jin and Feng Qingzhu had already left the sugar mill and gone to the weaving mill to check on the weaving progress.
Following behind her, Feng Qingzhu recalled what Jiang Jin had just said and couldn't help but ask, My Lord, you said mugwort can dye cloth green?
Dyeing techniques already existed in this era, but mostly they produced indigo blue, or red using safflower as a dye. Other colors were not very common, and the techniques were not very mature.
Jiang Jin nodded. There are also the printing and tie-dyeing techniques I told you about. Take some people and do more experiments.
It wasn't that she had an obsession with green military uniforms, but green indeed provided a huge advantage for jungle warfare.
That was why she had found dyeing and tie-dyeing techniques in her spatial domain that could be realized with the current production level, hoping to make green military uniforms and tie-dye camouflage suits in this era.
As for printing, cloth printing also existed in this era, but due to technical reasons, it was not widespread. The clothes of the nobility mostly still used embroidery techniques.
Shuangjiang led the people and smoothly arrived near Gefeng City.
Looking at the vast expanse of green in the distance, the villagers widened their eyes.
Han Yi asked excitedly, What is planted there? Is it grain?
Shuangjiang nodded. That is the grain grown by our Gefeng. If any of you know how to farm, you can also sign up to farm.
Han Yi and the others exchanged glances. The distance was too far for them to see clearly what was planted, but being able to grow grain in such a drought year meant hope.
At this moment, they wished they could sign up immediately. They used to farm every day in the past, and besides farming, they didn't know how to do anything else.
Shuangjiang pointed to a mountain path not far from the official road. The bodies of your villagers can be buried here.
Thinking of the dead villagers, everyone's mood sank again.
Han Yi asked hesitantly, Can we leave a dozen people to go over there and bury the bodies first, and enter the city a bit later?
Shuangjiang gave a soft mhm and said, I will explain the situation to the city gate guards. Be as quick as you can.
Han Yi shed tears of gratitude. Yes, thank you, young lady.
Entering the city, the villagers were all stunned by the sight inside. When had they ever seen such clean and bustling streets?
It was as if this place and the outside were not the same world. Outside, corpses littered the fields; inside, it was peaceful and harmonious.
The crowd became even more restrained, even walking carefully, feeling as if they would dirty the clean streets and afraid of being kicked out by Gefeng.
The wounded were taken directly to the medical clinic. Suo Qian, Liu Mi, and Mu Zhuo were all very experienced with such external injuries and quickly treated the wounded's injuries.
The villagers were taken directly to the county office. Shuangjiang explained the situation of these three villages to Luo Qingci and then left.
The subsequent registration and housing arrangements were all handled by Luo Qingci.
Looking at the unkempt, emaciated villagers, some of whom still had bloodstains on them, Luo Qingci sighed inwardly. She had the yamen runners maintain order and began registering their household information.
Gefeng Inn.
Sheng Shang's head was finally rescued. He almost wept with joy; it had truly been too painful, too awkward, and too stifling.
Since Suo Qian and the others were all treating the villagers' arrow wounds, the clinic only sent an apothecary boy to treat the abrasions on his neck and ears, which cost him another two taels of silver.
Sheng Shang didn't want to say anything anymore. Really, it wasn't a matter of prices, it was just that there was not a single good person in Gefeng!
Dong Si looked at Sheng Shang, who only had abrasions but had his head wrapped entirely in gauze. A hint of a smile flashed in his eyes. The clinic staff were getting better and better at handling things; just this bandaging technique alone was definitely worth two taels of silver.
Come, drink some water and rest, Dong Si said, looking at Sheng He and Sheng Shang with a beaming smile.
At this moment, Sheng He and his companion were in no mood to drink water. I wonder if your City Lord has agreed to send troops to support our Ze'a County?
Dong Si picked up his cup, blew on it gently, and took a sip of water before speaking unhurriedly. We are all Han people, it is only right that we help each other.
A hint of joy touched Sheng He's face. He thought to himself that he had indeed been too narrow-minded; Ge Feng truly kept the greater good in mind.
Yet, before this delight could fully blossom, Dong Si's voice rang out again.
"However, as you can all see, our Ge Feng is poor—far too poor. We lack the grain to even feed ourselves properly, and we lack the funds to pay the soldiers' wages. How can we possibly fight a war?"
