Chapter 715: Follow Your Curriculum
The first month of Chongzhen's sixth year had arrived!
Spring had come once more, bringing with it the season for plowing and sowing.
In the fields outside Puzhou City, a remarkable sight unfolded.
A thousand White Pole Soldiers from Sichuan stood respectfully by the field ridges, their hands clasped, watching a scholar in the fields.
That scholar was none other than Zhao Sheng, who was speaking animatedly, passionately explaining the methods of "scientific farming" to the White Pole Soldiers.
"Look here, everyone, this is urea," Zhao Sheng declared. "Using this... will greatly increase crop yields. However, it must be applied with extreme caution. An overdose will burn the roots of your crops..."
With that, he demonstrated personally, performing each step of applying the fertilizer for the White Pole Soldiers to observe.
The White Pole Soldiers watched intently, but that wasn't enough. The thousand men dispersed into the surrounding fields and began to try their hands at it.
It turned out that the White Pole Soldiers were not "fully professional soldiers." The Tujia people of Shizhu employed a system of "soldiers in wartime, farmers in peacetime." These thousand White Pole Soldiers were fierce warriors on the battlefield, but when they returned to Wan Shou Zhai, they transformed into the village's primary agricultural workforce.
After Zhao Sheng finished explaining the intricacies of fertilizer application, he saw the Heavenly Lord, test-03, stroll cheerfully from the field ridge. "Hello there, General Zhang!"
Zhang Fengyi, who had been observing from the edge of the fields, turned her head. "Ah, the Heavenly Lord has arrived."
After spending some time in Gao Family Village's territory, Zhang Fengyi had realized that Mr. Xiao was not merely Mr. Xiao, nor was he Mr. Li; he was a divine being. Thus, she now addressed him as the Heavenly Lord.
Li Daoxuan chuckled. "How is it going? How are they learning?"
Zhang Fengyi nodded. "Thank you, Heavenly Lord, for sending someone to instruct them so carefully. My soldiers are learning quite well. My only concern now is that the land in our Shizhu Wan Shou Mountain is barren, mostly rocky with a thin layer of soil. I'm not sure if it will... Alas..."
Li Daoxuan replied, "Don't worry, I have three crops I want to recommend to you. They are very suitable for the planting conditions of Wan Shou Mountain."
Zhang Fengyi was overjoyed. "Oh? Which three?"
Li Daoxuan extended his hand, holding a potato, a sweet potato, and an ear of corn.
These three crops were all extensively cultivated by the Tujia people of Shizhu in later eras.
They could flourish even in the thin soil of Wan Shou Mountain.
When people from later generations traveled to Wan Shou Mountain, they could still savor the local Tujia specialties: potato rice, corn rice, and sweet potato rice.
In short, these crops were perfectly suited for the White Pole Soldiers to cultivate.
Zhang Fengyi mused, "These three... I'm not entirely unfamiliar with them, but I have absolutely no experience in cultivating them."
"Don't worry," Li Daoxuan called out to Zhao Sheng. "Mr. Zhao, I'll trouble you further. You still need to teach the White Pole Soldiers how to plant corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes."
Zhao Sheng smiled. "Rest assured, Heavenly Lord, I had already planned to teach them. We simply haven't reached that lesson yet."
Li Daoxuan laughed. "Haha, excellent, excellent. Follow your own curriculum; don't disrupt the sequence. I wouldn't want this amateur to be guiding an expert."
Zhao Sheng burst into laughter. "The Heavenly Lord loves to joke! You know five centuries past, five centuries future, and five centuries in between. There is nothing in this world you don't know. How could you possibly be an amateur?"
"Hey, you're learning the wrong things; you're starting to flatter me shamelessly," Li Daoxuan playfully scolded. "Get back to your lesson."
Zhao Sheng bent his head and continued to instruct the White Pole Soldiers.
The White Pole Soldiers studied with intense seriousness!
Li Daoxuan turned to Zhang Fengyi. "General Zhang, the bandit armies are now causing trouble in Hebei. For a short while, you shouldn't pursue them. First, return to Wan Shou Mountain. Have your soldiers quickly implement these new planting techniques to resolve the food crisis and ensure the Tujia people are well-fed. This takes precedence over everything else."
Zhang Fengyi clasped her hands. "Thank you! I, too, planned to return soon. The bandit armies are growing stronger by the day, and with only a thousand White Pole Soldiers, it's truly difficult to contend with them. I must call upon my husband to join me."
"Understood!" Li Daoxuan said no more.
Three days later, after diligently learning the new scientific planting techniques, and taking several carts of fertilizer as samples, the thousand White Pole Soldiers returned to Sichuan.
Gao Family Village had provided grain, fertilizer, technology, and even seeds for three new crops: potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes.
Overwhelmed by such immense kindness and generosity, Zhang Fengyi could barely express her thanks, only managing to say, "I shall repay this kindness in the future," before leading her troops away.
The second month of Chongzhen's sixth year.
The bandits wreaked havoc in Hebei, successively capturing Zhaozhou, Xishan, Shunde, and Zhending. They then descended from the western side of Motianling in Xingtai, reaching Wu'an, where they routed Zuo Liangyu's army; garrison commander Cao Ming and registrar Wu Yingke were among the fallen.
The bandit army's power in Hebei surged significantly.
Unfortunately for the jubilant bandit army, they were soon ambushed by a formidable force.
Lu Xiangheng's Tianxiong Army appeared, first striking hard at the bandits in Xishan.
Next, Lu Xiangheng selected elite troops in Huaxian and ambushed them in a dense forest. When the bandit army arrived, his forces immediately launched a fierce attack.
Following this, Lu Xiangheng swiftly reinforced Linming County, delivering a brutal blow to the bandits at the foot of Motianling.
The bandits were forced to flee back to Xishan, where they besieged guerrilla commander Dong Weikun in Lengshui Village. Lu Xiangheng set up an ambush in southern Shicheng, decisively defeating the bandits. He pursued them to Qinglonggang, where he again routed them, forcing them to retreat to Wu'an.
Wu'an was outside Lu Xiangheng's jurisdiction, and the bandits finally escaped with their lives.
A difficult situation now confronted the bandit forces.
In southwestern Shanxi, there were the four formidable figures: Xing Honglang, Lao Nanfeng, Shi Jian, and Wang Xiaohua. In northern Hebei, there was the monstrous Lu Xiangheng. In northeastern Henan, stood the two fearsome figures: Bai Yuan and Chen Yuanbo.
The bandits' very space for survival had been drastically compressed.
The bandit forces still in Shanxi were forced to head north, first entering the northwestern Shanxi region, then crossing the Yellow River to return to Shaanxi.
Meanwhile, the bandit forces already in Hebei gathered in Wu'an to discuss their future.
"Brother Zijing Liang, what should we do now?"
Zijing Liang had no idea!
He could only sweep his gaze across his subordinates.
One by one, they averted their eyes, avoiding his gaze.
Until his eyes landed on Chuǎng Wang.
Chuǎng Wang did not flinch; instead, his eyes sparkled with intensity. "Brother, I have a plan."
Zijing Liang responded, "Oh? Tell me."
Chuǎng Wang explained, "As things stand, we have only one option: to cross the Yellow River southward..."
Zijing Liang shook his head. "We can't cross the Yellow River there. That Bai Yuan fellow..."
"No need to worry," Chuǎng Wang interjected. "Last time we crossed the river, we chose Mengjin, which unfortunately put us directly in the path of Xiaolangdi, allowing Bai Yuan to intercept us. But this time, since we're already in Hebei, we can choose to cross near Kaifeng Prefecture."
Zijing Liang said, "Oh?"
Chuǎng Wang continued, "Kaifeng is far from Xiaolangdi, so Bai Yuan won't come to block us. After crossing the river, we won't head towards Luoyang. Instead, we'll bypass Luoyang and proceed southeast, advancing into Huguang."
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