Mu Qing had never expected to run into someone familiar here either. “You—you’re Lord Mo?”
Lord Mo was a few years younger than Mu Qing. He had once served as the Secretariat Vice Minister of the Yan Kingdom.
“It is indeed this humble servant.” Lord Mo hurried forward and bowed excitedly.
Mo Song followed suit. “Greetings, Elder Mu—”
Mu Qing raised a hand to stop him. “There’s no need for such formality.”
Lord Mo looked at Mu Wanbai, who was standing beside Mu Qing. “Is this your granddaughter?”
Mu Qing laughed heartily. “That’s right.”
“And you are here…” Only then did Lord Mo notice the several bud-shaped things Mu Qing and Mu Wanbai were holding.
Mu Qing waved his hand. “These are cotton bolls. They’ve been ruined by bollworms.”
Remembering that Mu Qing had once served as the Grand Minister of Agriculture, Lord Mo drew a sharp breath. “You—you are now Ge Feng’s Grand Minister of Agriculture?”
Mu Qing smiled. “What Grand Minister of Agriculture? I merely hold an idle post. The crops here are almost ready for harvest, so I’ve been staying in this area lately.”
An agricultural research park had been built in the prosperous farming district. Besides producing and researching various pesticides and fertilizers, it also housed dormitories for the researchers and employees.
Mu Qing even had a private courtyard there. Ge Feng and the agricultural research park were the places where he spent most of his time.
The moment Lord Mo heard this, he understood. Mu Qing clearly held an extremely important position under Princess Jinyang—perhaps an even more prominent one than before.
He felt a pang of envy. Looking at the waves of rice in the distance, then at the vast fields of cotton before him, his envy only deepened. All of these were high-yield crop varieties.
Even though the seeds had been provided by Princess Jinyang, as the first person to put them into practice, Mu Qing would certainly have a place in the annals of history.
“Congratulations,” he said sincerely.
Mu Qing was stunned for a moment before understanding what he meant. He could not help laughing. “Those things are merely empty titles. I don’t care about them.”
“But I am genuinely happy now. These high-yield crops can save lives. They can ensure that people have enough to eat and enough clothing to keep warm.”
Mu Qing’s words made Lord Mo feel somewhat ashamed. “I was being narrow-minded.”
Mu Qing laughed again. It was rare for him to encounter someone familiar, and he was in an excellent mood. “Come on, let’s go to the agricultural research park and have a chat.”
Lord Mo was delighted. He had just seen the research park from a distance, but soldiers guarded the entire area, so he had been unable to enter.
Mo Song was happy too. He had been in Ge Feng for some time and had heard people speak of the agricultural research park. He had always felt that it was an extraordinarily mysterious and sacred place. He had never expected to get the chance to take a look inside so soon.
Then his father’s voice reached him.
“You don’t need to come along. Hurry back to Ge Feng.”
Mo Song: “…”
Sun Zheng had been unable to meet Jiang Jin, and the frustration had been weighing on him.
The bill from the inn in Ge Feng made him even more irritated. There were more than a hundred people traveling with him, after all, and the daily expenses added up to a considerable sum.
There were even more people staying in Feng County. With the injured among them, the expenses had become outrageously high.
In short, every moment he spent here felt agonizing.
Left with no choice, he went to request an audience with Dong Si again.
This time, his attitude was much more agreeable. He explained the reason for his visit. “We came to Ge Feng under His Majesty’s orders, naturally for the sake of Fengzhou.”
Dong Si was puzzled. “What matter concerning Fengzhou?”
Sun Zheng ground his teeth in anger, but he now understood the principle that one had to bow beneath another’s roof. He forced a smile onto his face.
“Now that His Majesty has ascended the throne, Fengzhou is still a part of the Yan Kingdom, and His Majesty remains deeply concerned about it. That is why he sent us here to take a look.”
Dong Si said nothing. He merely watched him with an amused smile.
The smile on Sun Zheng’s face could no longer hold. After a moment, he continued, “The nation is now in peril, and Fengzhou possesses powerful weapons. To recover the Yan Kingdom as quickly as possible, His Majesty hopes that you will put those weapons to use for the good of the nation.”
A mocking glint flashed through Dong Si’s eyes. “Fengzhou may once have been the Yan Kingdom’s Fengzhou, but the Fengzhou of today belongs to my master.”
“Besides, your ‘His Majesty’ is the emperor of Sizhou. When did he become the emperor of the Yan Kingdom? Does he possess an edict of succession from the former emperor?”
The second time Dong Si said “His Majesty,” he was referring to Emperor Yan.
Sun Zheng was momentarily rendered speechless. “In times of emergency, extraordinary measures are necessary. His Majesty accepted the responsibility in the midst of a crisis. Everything is for the sake of the Yan Kingdom.”
Dong Si scoffed. “It certainly is an emergency. Sizhou is almost gone. Are you trying to come here and take refuge in our Fengzhou?”
His words were deeply humiliating, yet they were also undeniable facts, making the insult all the harsher.
Sun Zheng could no longer contain himself. He slammed his palm onto the table. “What exactly do you mean? Who else besides His Majesty is qualified to ascend the throne?”
“Could it be that you still want the Sixth Princess to become emperor? No matter how capable she is, she is still a woman. Even if the late emperor were still alive, he would never allow her to ascend the throne.”
Dong Si did not argue. There was no point.
Instead, he tossed several account books onto the table. “If the First Prince wants Fengzhou, that isn’t impossible. These records detail what we have spent over the years on maintaining the army and supporting the people, as well as on developing Fengzhou. Why don’t you pay the amount first?”
A look of delight appeared on Sun Zheng’s face. At least there was room for negotiation. It was only money, after all.
But when he saw the figures written inside, he was completely dumbfounded. For a moment, he thought he had read them incorrectly. He quickly brought the account books closer and examined them carefully.
After a while, he slammed the books back onto the table. “You—you’re making fools of us?”
Dong Si was completely serious. “Of course not. It simply took someone as exceptionally gifted as my master to support so many soldiers and so many civilians with this little money.”
“This little?” Sun Zheng laughed in fury. “You call this little?”
Dong Si nodded. “Let’s speak frankly. Even if we gave the First Prince this much money, could he train an elite force like the Jinyang Army? Could he produce a divine weapon like the Dragonfeather Crossbow? Could he grow high-yield crops?”
“And that’s not even counting the construction of our various cities, the roads and transportation routes, the water-conservancy projects…”
The more Sun Zheng listened, the quieter he became. At that moment, he was completely certain that getting Fengzhou to return to the Yan Kingdom would be extremely difficult.
Princess Jinyang truly had the ambitions of a wolf.
At this time, Jiang Jin had already gathered her people and was preparing to set out for Wenxia City. The underground passage was almost finished.
Zhou Sui felt somewhat regretful. He would not be able to take part in this battle; he had to remain in Fengzhou and oversee matters there.
Xie Nanxiao was equally disappointed. As the commander responsible for the navy, he had to oversee the entire coastal region of the Yan Kingdom, as well as the three islands. He, too, would be unable to join the battle this time.
Two days later, beyond the pass.
On a stretch of grassland west of the Flood Dragon Clan’s territory, the ground was covered with the corpses of the Flood Dragon Clan’s people.
