Qiu Liao understood only half of what she meant. Seeing that Jiang Jin had no desire to continue the topic, he did not press her further.
Jiang Jin explained helplessly, “Our territory is still too small. All we can do for now is dig as many canals and ponds as possible and store as much water as we can when it snows in winter.”
“Rest assured, Lord,” Qiu Liao replied. “The Agricultural Sciences Institute has already sent quite a few people over. They’re drawing up plans now.”
It was currently the autumn harvest season, so Mu Qing and Mu Wanbai were both too busy to leave.
Fortunately, over the past two or three years, they had trained quite a number of people in this field. It was no longer necessary for everything to rely on the two of them.
Dongzhi was filled with anticipation. “I wonder how much grain we’ll harvest this year.”
Qiu Liao was quite optimistic. “It will certainly be a great deal. We conquered Donghu Prefecture early, so nearly all of it was planted with grain.”
Donghu Prefecture was vast, with fertile soil. With Jiang Jin’s high-yield grain varieties, the harvest would surely be substantial.
Otherwise, Jiang Jin would never have gone to such lengths to provide disaster relief.
Thinking of the relief efforts, Qiu Liao could not help asking, “Lord, what are you planning to do with all those refugees?”
Jiang Jin smiled. “If everything goes smoothly, Keyuan Island and Xiaoyuan Island should both be completed before the New Year.”
Qiu Liao was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood what she meant. He could not help praising her, “Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”
As they were speaking, they saw Yun Chengxuan hurrying down from the mountains. He was pouting, looking thoroughly displeased.
“Auntie, Auntie, the mountains here are so poor! There’s nothing at all!”
He had originally wanted to hunt some wild rabbits in the mountains and roast them for dinner, but he had not caught a single thing.
Jiang Jin was speechless. “There are so many bandits in Chongzhou that the wild animals in the mountains were hunted to extinction long ago.”
Yun Chengxuan refused to accept that. “No! I’m going to look over there again. I refuse to believe I can’t catch even one rabbit. I have to eat rabbit today, or I’m not going to poop!”
Everyone: “…”
While Yun Chengxuan went into the mountains to hunt rabbits, Lu Ping finally arrived at the contact station in Xigan Prefecture with his men and met up with Qingming, Shangguan Zhan, and the others.
Shangguan Zhan was extremely excited. This was his first time seeing genuine soldiers from the Jinyang Army. Looking at their vigor and spirit, he felt a deep longing to join them.
Lu Ping patted him on the shoulder. “You’re all impressive. We hold you in the highest regard.”
Shangguan Zhan was embarrassed by the praise. “You flatter us.”
Lu Ping shook his head. “I doubt there are many people who could have held out as long as you did.”
When Shangguan Zhan saw the supplies the Jinyang Army had brought, he was overcome with excitement. “Are all of these for Wenlong City?”
Lu Ping nodded. “Yes. A large shipment of supplies is still on its way.”
He had brought three hundred soldiers ahead of the main group. Since they had to carry their own personal belongings, they had not been able to bring too much this time.
Still, three hundred people was no small number. If each person carried twenty or thirty jin of grain, that amounted to eight or nine thousand jin in total. It was quite a substantial amount.
Lu Ping looked at Qingming. “The people delivering the supplies should arrive within the next couple of days. They’ll come to you first as well.”
Qingming nodded. “Understood. I’ll keep an eye out. If anything comes up, we’ll contact each other by messenger pigeon.”
“Are those… for us?” Shangguan Zhan asked, staring at the small pile of weapons on the ground.
It was no wonder he was so astonished. After living there for several days, he knew all too well how formidable the Jinyang Army’s weapons were.
Lu Ping smiled. “Lord knows that your weapons are in short supply, so she prepared these for you.”
“However, we had limited manpower and had to carry our own supplies and provisions, so we couldn’t bring many weapons this time. Why don’t a few of you choose first?”
As he spoke, he picked up one of the changdao and tossed it to Shangguan Zhan.
“I don’t know what weapon you usually use. I—and most of the Jinyang Army’s generals—use changdao. You can give it a try.”
Shangguan Zhan caught it. The weapon felt somewhat heavy in his hand. If he had not been eating well these past few days, he might not even have been able to swing it.
He himself used a long saber, and now that he was holding such a fine weapon, he felt the blood in his entire body begin to boil.
“Good!”
The moment Shangguan Zhan gripped the changdao, his entire presence changed. The blade swept through the air, flashing with a cold, razor-sharp gleam as though it could cleave through every obstacle in its path.
His chest seemed to surge with power. He wished he could charge onto the battlefield and fight at once. His heart was filled with both excitement and gratitude.
Lu Ping patted him on the shoulder, understanding his feelings perfectly. “Lord will never mistreat anyone under her command—especially her soldiers.”
He then looked at the men accompanying Shangguan Zhan. “You may choose weapons that suit you as well. If none of these are suitable, wait for the next shipment.”
“They’ll definitely suit us!” the men shouted excitedly.
No one knew just how poor Wenlong City was. After going several years without receiving any support, many of their weapons had long since become damaged.
Wenlong City currently had more than eight hundred soldiers, yet they did not even have enough undamaged weapons to equip one per person.
As Shangguan Zhan watched his companions swarm forward to choose their weapons, his heart ached with bitterness.
“Is Lord’s army really equipped this well?”
Lu Ping explained, “Weapons are a soldier’s second life. Lord cherishes every soldier’s life.”
“That’s why whether it’s weapons, armor, or food, she provides the best available. Her only goal is to give her soldiers the greatest possible chance of surviving the battlefield.”
Those words made Shangguan Zhan’s chest heave violently, leaving him overwhelmed by a storm of emotions.
He thought to himself that he was willing to follow such a lord to the death.
Lu Ping glanced at his pocket watch. “It’s getting late. Everyone should get a good rest today. We’ll set out for Wenlong City tomorrow.”
Qingming looked at Lu Ping’s pocket watch with undisguised envy. Unfortunately, his rank was not high enough to receive one.
Besides, his work involved surveying terrain and gathering information on the enemy, so he did not have much need for precise timekeeping.
Shangguan Zhan, however, was very curious. “What is that?”
Lu Ping rarely had the chance to show off, so he put on an air of mystery. “This is a pocket watch specially bestowed upon me by Lord. It can tell the time with great precision.”
Shangguan Zhan’s eyes widened. “S-something that small can tell the time?”
Lu Ping smiled. “That’s right. See? This is the hour hand, and this is the minute hand…”
Shangguan Zhan felt as if he were listening to a lecture from the heavens. His head spun, and he understood almost nothing.
At that moment, he was filled with anticipation for Qingming’s literacy lessons. He knew that once he learned to read, he would definitely be able to understand all of this.
Only after Lu Ping finished explaining did he eagerly ask, “Does Lord specially bestow one of these pocket watches on every general in the Jinyang Army?”
“Not necessarily,” Lu Ping replied with a smile. “But anyone who reaches the rank of brigade commander or above gets one. I’m only a regiment commander, but I was one of the first people to follow Lord, so she specially gave me one as well.”
He looked at Shangguan Zhan. “There’s no need to lose heart. The institute is already researching pocket watches. Once they’ve developed one, there will eventually be enough for everyone.”
As he spoke, he snapped the cover of the pocket watch shut with a click.
“But this one was specially bestowed by Lord. It’s different from the ones the institute develops.”
Shangguan Zhan: “…”
Even Qingming was rendered speechless.
You’re being far too obvious about showing off.
Still, there was no denying that Lu Ping had gotten to them. No matter how good something was when mass-produced by the institute, how could it compare with an item specially bestowed by Lord? The meaning behind it was entirely different.
