Mu Ning asked worriedly, "Will this work?"
Chen Xi poured himself a glass of water, his tone somber.
"It shouldn't be a big problem. The First Prince must also be fretting over the refugees infected with the plague outside. Now, without him having to act, if this succeeds, he gets the credit; if not, he loses nothing. If things go really wrong, he can just shift the blame onto us."
The four people in the room fell silent. This was exactly the First Prince's modus operandi, and also the way most power holders operated.
After a long moment, Mu Ning sighed softly. "Our Lord should have already captured the two counties of Shanguan and Chunrong. It's a pity we couldn't take part."
Earlier, when Jiang Jin decided to attack Shanguan County, she had also dispatched another contingent to transport a shipment of new goods to Sizhou.
That shipment had indeed arrived two days ago. Not only did it bring the prescription for the Da Qing Long and Xiao Qing Long decoctions, but it also came with an instruction: if there were refugees, they could be sent to Gefeng.
Now that she had secured the 150,000 shi of grain from Ze'e Commandery, she was much more confident. What she desperately needed now was people—very desperately.
Chen Xi and the others showed joyful expressions. Their sphere of influence was no longer limited to just the small city of Gefeng.
"If Qiu Tai brings this up to his father, there's a good chance it will succeed. When the time comes, we'll find a way to bring these refugees all to Gefeng," Chen Xi said.
Sizhou didn't lack people, but Jiang Jin in the north did.
Mei Sheng frowned worriedly. "With so many people, where are we going to get the medicinal herbs?"
Chen Xi shook his head with a smile. "Have you forgotten what the Qiu family does?"
Mei Sheng gasped. "Will he agree to that?"
Chen Xi smiled calmly. "He’ll definitely agree. The Qiu family serves as physicians under the First Prince, and Master Qiu has a compassionate heart."
Mu Ning couldn't help but twitch her lips. The Qiu family would provide the medicine, the Kang family would provide the grain, and the Lord would gain the people.
She looked at Chen Xi with admiration.
Compared to those silver-tongued politicians who could talk anyone into a corner, merchants were indeed still a bit naive.
Mu Ning thought for a moment and then asked, "But is the prescription really reliable?"
Chen Xi replied, "Our Lord has tested it, so there shouldn't be any problems. Even if it doesn’t work, the only loss will be some medicinal herbs, and we won't have to cover that ourselves. If it does work, it could save tens of thousands of lives."
Mei Ren chimed in, "That being the case, we need to make some of those masks and protective suits our Lord mentioned as soon as possible. We’ll be interacting with the refugees outside the city."
Chen Xi nodded. "Right. Find people to make them right away."
He then turned to Mu Ning. "Once this is done, you'll personally escort these people back to Gefeng."
Mu Ning nodded. "Alright."
All the arrangements were in place; it was indeed time for her to return.
"But," Mu Ning said with some concern, "will these people be willing to follow us back to Gefeng?"
Most of these refugees had fled from Ju Province and Haijia Province, so they wouldn't normally be eager to go north again.
Chen Xi chuckled. "As long as there's food to eat, they’ll be willing. What we really need to think about is how to keep the First Prince from finding out."
Though the First Prince didn’t lack people, a sudden disappearance of so many refugees would undoubtedly arouse his suspicion.
For Jiang Jin, whose power was just beginning to grow, being noticed too early would not be a good thing.
While Chen Xi and the others were discussing how to discreetly move the people to Gefeng, Jiang Jin was calculating her grain reserves.
The grain from the granaries of Shanguan and Chunrong, along with the autumn harvest of over 20,000 shi, totaled nearly 30,000 shi.
Gefeng’s wheat and rice fields, covering 2,000 mu each, yielded about 40,000 shi of grain.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes, each planted on about 1,000 mu, yielded roughly 8 million jin.
The remaining land was used for cotton, radishes, cabbage, sugar beets, rapeseed, and so on.
In particular, high-yield crops like radishes and cabbage meant the granaries were now packed with dried vegetables, dried radishes, and pickled goods.
With her current grain reserves, she could support over 100,000 people without much strain.
Besides, now that they had heating walls, the people of the three counties could grow radishes and cabbage year-round, significantly reducing the need to purchase grain.
This year, she could also popularize potatoes and sweet potatoes, encouraging people to grow them in their homes or yards. It might seem like just a little here and there, but the total yield could still be quite substantial.
She also allowed families with the means to raise chickens and ducks, but with restrictions—no more than three per household.
As for the chicks and ducklings they hatched later on, she wouldn’t interfere.
If the families had leftover grain or could dig up earthworms to feed them, that would also help alleviate the demand for meat among the city’s residents.
Dong Si handed Jiang Jin a ledger. "Lord, take a look at the money and goods we seized from Shanguan and Chunrong."
Jiang Jin glanced at it and said, "Quite a lot."
Dong Si sighed emotionally. "All of this was our Han people’s property, taken by those barbarians."
Jiang Jin comforted him. "Sooner or later, it will all come back to us. There’s no need to dwell on it."
She continued, "In addition to rice straw and wheat straw, we still need to collect some dry grass for the horses to get through the winter."
This time, Qu Bai had brought her several thousand war horses, bringing her total to over 10,000.
Dong Si noted it down. "I’ll notify everyone."
Then he burst into laughter. "Now we have more horses than soldiers! If we breed them this year, we’ll easily surpass 12,000."
As the two were talking, Zhou Sui hurried in with Xie Nanxiao and Xia Chanyi.
Jiang Jin’s face lit up. "Is the recruitment done?"
Zhou Sui nodded. "We’ve recruited over 5,000 soldiers this time."
Given the current population base of Jiang Jin’s territories, this ratio was actually quite extreme, but in wartime, it couldn’t be helped.
In some other factions, the situation was even worse: all young men were sent to fight, leaving only the elderly, women, and children.
Jiang Jin looked at Zhou Sui and the other two. "I plan to expand the Dragon Shadow Guard. Two hundred is far too few."
Zhou Sui agreed. These elite troops had proven their worth time and again.
Since the Dragon Shadow Guard was established, they had achieved many extraordinary feats.
With Jiang Jin’s current army—including the new recruits—numbering about 13,000, there were enough soldiers to select a more elite group for special training.
"How many Dragon Shadow Guards does our Lord intend to recruit this time?" Xia Chanyi asked excitedly.
Jiang Jin thought for a moment. "Select 1,000 elites for special training. We'll see how many make the final cut."
The three nodded.
"How is progress on the roads and watchtowers?" Jiang Jin asked.
Xie Nanxiao quickly replied, "Everything is proceeding smoothly. All arrangements have been made. However, we might be running short on cement."
Construction was now underway not only in Chunrong County but also in Shanguan County.
Jiang Jin also planned to build three interconnected 'inner' roads: the Feng-Guan Road, the Feng-Rong Road, and the Chun-Shan Road.
With tens of thousands of laborers working simultaneously, the demand for cement was enormous.
Although the cement workshop had stockpiled some, it still wasn’t enough.
Jiang Jin wasn’t too worried. "It’s fine. The cement workshop has already expanded its workforce, and production will catch up soon."
Not only had the cement workshop expanded, but the weapons workshop had also scaled up. More soldiers meant more weapons needed.
Civilian workshops like the garment workshop and the textile mill would also be established in Shanguan and Chunrong Counties.
However, critical military workshops like the weapons forge and the blacksmith shop, Jiang Jin planned to keep only in Gefeng for now.
Zhou Sui hesitated and then asked, "Lord, should we also build watchtowers on the main roads?"
Jiang Jin pondered for a moment and shook her head. "Not for now. Let’s focus on finishing the construction projects in the three counties first."
