Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 490 Relying on Favor (35)

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuan felt no joy; instead, he looked at Yan Zhen with a puzzled expression.

How do you know there's iron ore in this mountain?

Yan Zhen couldn't tell him that in the previous life's online strategy, the Great Liang Dynasty recovered its lost territories one by one during the decades of peace it gained through the marriage of Tan Junzhuo. The first place it dealt with was Qingzhou, followed by Tingzhou and Jingzhou.

After enduring countless hardships, Yunzhou was on its last legs. In order to save his own life, the general surrendered to the Liang Dynasty and offered up the iron mine.

By developing this iron mine, the Great Liang dynasty forged a large number of weapons and armor, which played a crucial role in the later battles against the Northern Jurchens.

The iron mine is still undeveloped, and they need to secure it before Daliang does.

Yan Zhen remained calm and said, "I have my own channels for gathering information. You just need to trust that I won't lie to you."

Seeing that she was unwilling to talk about it, Zhao Yuan did not press for details: "Alright, I will have someone take care of it tomorrow."

-

Before long, winter arrived in Tingzhou.

With ample food supplies this year, city dwellers are able to stay home and hibernate peacefully, unlike in previous years when corpses of the frozen dead could be seen on the streets every now and then.

Yan Zhen, relying on cotton quilts, cotton pants, cotton clothes, and a warm room, spent a relatively comfortable harsh winter.

March arrived in the blink of an eye, the weather in Tingzhou warmed up, and spring began.

With the potato planting experience accumulated last year, Yan Zhen hardly had to worry about anything after the beginning of spring this year. Agricultural officials and soldiers spontaneously organized farmers and refugees in and outside the city to start planting.

Yan Zhen then focused his attention on cotton seedling cultivation.

Cotton cultivation is much more troublesome than potato cultivation. Forty acres of cotton are planted in mid-April, and after a month of growth, they need to be carefully tended to, including watering, fertilizing, catching insects, and weeding.

Moreover, cotton seedlings are prone to disease, and once they get sick, the disease can easily spread to a large area and cause the entire crop to perish. Yan Zhen goes to the cotton field almost every day, taking even more care of it than he does of his children.

In June, after the first batch of potatoes was harvested, the agricultural official excitedly reported to Yan Zhen that the potato harvest had reached a total of 14 million catties.

This quantity is not the upper limit for potatoes, nor the upper limit for the labor of the soldiers and civilians of Tingzhou, but rather the upper limit for the arable land in Tingzhou.

"We won't have to worry about food for the next year," the agricultural official said with a beaming smile. "We'll plant another crop in July..."

Yan Zhen said, "In July, we will only plant one-third of the potatoes and plant wheat or millet in the rest of the fields."

The agricultural official asked in bewilderment, "Your Highness, why is this?"

The yields of wheat and millet are far less than those of potatoes, so growing potatoes seems much more profitable.

Because of the high yield of potatoes, many farmers in the city have started using potatoes to raise poultry, pigs, and sheep, which is a sign of the city's economic rise.

Yan Zhen carefully explained to them what "replanting" meant.

"Continuous cropping" refers to planting the same crop on the same field continuously, which can easily cause root diseases in plants, leading to diseases such as wilt, leaf blight, and viral diseases, and thus affecting crop growth.

Even worse, the diseased land will die no matter what you plant, and it will take several years to recover.

Over the past year, Yan Zhen had been able to continuously cultivate the same crops because Tingzhou urgently needed food.

Now that the food crisis has eased, it's time to let the land "rest and recuperate" to avoid damaging it.

After explaining the principle, Yan Zhen added, "Take advantage of the recent hot weather and have someone spread quicklime on the one-third of the land planted with potatoes to sterilize and disinfect it. Next spring, rotate it with the other two-thirds of the land to plant other crops."

The agricultural official noted down the key points one by one, then took his orders and left.

No sooner had the agricultural official left than Fu Xue came in to report: "Your Highness, General Chen requests an audience, and he has brought several handsome men with him..."

Fu Xue carefully considered her words, "A very strange person."

“Strange people?” Yan Zhen thought of something and immediately said, “Please invite them in.”

A short while later, Chen He entered with five or six foreigners who had high noses, deep-set eyes, and either blue or light green eyes.

"This humble general pays his respects to the Princess." Chen He knelt on one knee and bowed.

Seeing this, the foreigners behind him followed suit and knelt down to pay their respects.

"Meet the princess."

"Your Highness, Princess Consort."

Yan Zhen said, "No need for formalities, please rise—General Chen, who are these gentlemen?"

Chen He said, "They are merchants from Gaochang who want to do business with our Tingzhou."

One of the foreign merchants stepped forward, bowed, and presented a sandalwood box, saying in broken Liang Mandarin, "I have long admired the Princess's name. This is just a small gift, nothing more."

Fu Xue stepped forward, took the document, and then presented it to Yan Zhen.

When Yan Zhen opened it, he found a box full of valuable gems.

"You've been very thoughtful. I appreciate it very much," Yan Zhen said. "Bring a seat."

After the Gaochang merchant sat down, he explained his purpose.

Last winter, a group of merchants from the Great You Kingdom went to Gaochang to trade, bringing with them several cotton-padded clothes made of "cotton." They sold each one in Gaochang for the exorbitant price of forty taels of gold.

Merchants from Gaochang sensed a business opportunity and, after making inquiries, learned that the item came from Tingzhou in the Great Liang Kingdom. Braving the severe cold, they traveled thousands of miles to Great Liang.

"Your Highness, we have brought many high-quality medicinal herbs, furs and gems, and we would like to exchange them for cotton with you."

Yan Zhen had anticipated the other party's intentions.

She frankly said, "Last year's cotton has already been sold out, and this year's cotton hasn't been planted yet. If you want, you can stay in Tingzhou for two or three months, and the cotton can be harvested in late September."

The Gaochang merchants readily agreed, but then made another request.

"Could you grant us some cotton seeds to take back to Gaochang and plant?"

Yan Zhen refused the request without even thinking: "No way."

Cotton is the secret to Tingzhou's prosperity. If the planting goes smoothly this year, the entire Tingzhou will be able to plant it on a large scale next year, meeting the daily needs of the people of Tingzhou and selling it to foreign countries.

As the planting area expands, it is inevitable that some cotton seeds will flow out of the country; this is unavoidable.

It can be said that the time for profiting from cotton, and even making substantial profits, is limited to the next three years.

If Gaochang gets the cotton seeds so easily, how will she make money?

The people from Gaochang wanted to say something more, but Yan Zhen adopted a "no discussion" attitude and politely but forcefully asked them to leave.

To prevent the Gaochang merchants from causing any trouble during their stay in the city, such as smuggling cotton seeds, Yan Zhen instructed Chen He to arrange separate inns for them and to strictly monitor their comings and goings.

Not only Gaochang merchants, but also any foreign merchants entering the city for the next three years will receive the same treatment.

The Gaochang merchants were initially quite annoyed. They had come to do business, yet they were treated this way. Daliang claimed to be a "land of etiquette," and this behavior was truly uncouth.

However, after staying in Tingzhou for a while, the Gaochang merchants noticed that almost every household in the city was eating a staple food called "potato".

As I learned more about potatoes, I discovered their amazing yield, extremely short growth cycle, long shelf life (up to a year), and versatility as a staple food, a vegetable, and even a source of feed for pigs and sheep.

The Gaochang merchants once again sought an audience with the Queen of Zhao through Chen He, presenting two boxes of jewels in exchange for potato seeds.