Chapter 106: Down-to-earth is easy to sustain

Alright, alright, the money you got from liquidating your assets in Myriad Phenomena City is enough; no need to exchange more.

However, his older brother Bai Ge didn't let the Great King down; he really came up with an idea: 'Spring is just around the corner, you can implement the garrison farming system!'

What fields to stockpile?

Bai Yang explained to him what garrison farming was; he could now try military farming, using the available wasteland and soldiers.

You can draw out some ordinary soldiers and their families together to reclaim and farm in the military garrison area; you change their household registration to Youzhou military registration. Then you provide them seeds and tools, and later share the harvest with you proportionally. This way you can stabilize military supplies, agriculture also develops, win-win. The more you think about it, the better it sounds! Right now you only have eight thousand people; how will you feed more later? In your situation, eight thousand people basically can't do anything useful—listen to me, feed as many soldiers as you can, the more the better. Besides your elite troops, you can't have everyone training eight hours a day, right? The remaining ordinary soldiers can train in the mornings and prepare for battle, then go back to farm in the afternoons; during busy farming seasons, give them time off.

The Great King's eyes sparkled; 'Sounds good!'

It's complicated; it needs to be perfected step by step. Implementing a new system will surely bring many problems, but Youzhou is yours, you can definitely try it. For example, the tax for Great Jin farmers is forty percent, right? You can then appropriately relax the tax for military households, collecting only thirty percent. There's profit to be made, so many people would want to join the military registration; single people living elsewhere can pay grain and continue eating at the military mess hall, and the remainder becomes their property. During work hours, let them farm their own land; you can even reduce or withhold their salaries.

The Great King sent Wei Shen's words to Bai Yang: 'You modern people are still crafty.'

Bai Yang: '... Thank you. But this was invented by you ancient people; we've eliminated it here for over a thousand years.'

Great King: ……

Garrison farming really suits the current Youzhou—vast land, few people, lacking food and clothing. Keeping all eight thousand people idle in the prince's residence just to eat is truly unaffordable; if Youzhou suffers another drought, the Great King would be dumbfounded. Moreover, the population of such a vast Youzhou is only twelve thousand households; people are really scarce.

The Great King thought it was a good idea, and he was all smiles when setting up stalls.

The next day at court, the Great King brought up the matter of military farming, ordering the Chancellor and Zhang Tu to prepare together.

After dismissing, he also gathered the newly arrived three thousand people for a meeting.

The theme is that you have now fallen into my hands; all your past performance and history are wiped clean. Joining the Imperial Guard Battalion becomes my private troops; life and death are at my whim. From now on, just obey my words and settle peacefully in Youzhou. If you harbor any treachery, I will send you all to fish at sea, not even allowing you to dock for a day.

The newcomers who just arrived didn't understand; the veterans of the Imperial Guard Battalion shook.

After the New Year, the big fishing ship left Youzhou for the sea, returning only after a month. It was said they caught a shipful of fish, unloaded and sold it in Northern Sea Commandery, then returned with a shipful of grain, stayed ashore for three days, and set out again. Soldiers from the inland, unfamiliar with the great sea, still felt a bit wary; none wanted to spend their adulthood drifting on the ocean fishing.

I heard that ship needs seven or eight hundred people to operate; the quota is really not small.

The Great King, in some aspects, has eight hundred little tricks; when he doesn't leave the residence, he lets Ling Yin not follow him around—since they both need to practice swordsmanship, they might as well train in the camp. Not only can it deter any possible troublemakers with martial might, but it can also observe promising seedlings; the Great King intends to later let him lead the Owl Cavalry.

Just like that, a few days passed, and the time finally arrived at mid-March; Youzhou finally thawed.

That night, the Great King excitedly opened a side quest; a translucent rectangular frame floated over the full terrain map of Youzhou. He found Youzhou City and dragged the frame onto it, and instantly a familiar bubble popped up:

【Are you sure you want to build the Youzhou city walls at the current location? (Long-press and drag the 3D projection's border to adjust to a suitable position) Yes / No】

Huh?

Can you still drag it?

The Great King tried it; he placed his finger down and held it still, and the eastern wall floated up again while the other three walls didn't move. He shifted inward a bit, suddenly realizing! Could it shrink and expand? The Great King instantly felt delighted.

He stubbornly moved it far outward to a place far from the original Youzhou city walls and set it down…… but it didn't succeed.

A new bubble popped up: 【This location is not within the Youzhou city limits; below is Jade Dragon Mountain, please reselect.】

Great King: ……

The Great King, pinching and scraping, moved just a little each time; he swore to take as much advantage of Meng Meng as possible.

After moving it six or seven times, he finally managed to place it down; the Great King looked at the map, very satisfied, thanks to His Majesty not minding the trouble!

Once the eastern side was set down, the other three sides immediately extended and connected on their own—amazingly. The Great King applied the same method to the other three sides; this time on the north he truly enclosed everything that could be enclosed, and Youzhou City instantly doubled in size, thus securing the land for garrison farming.

The Great King returned and clicked confirm; this time the bubble that popped up was also familiar,

【Should we build according to the original scale of the 'Youzhou City Moat Wall Construction Diagram'? The scale can be adjusted up to 1.5 times. Build per original diagram / Build per original diagram at 1.5x】

The Great King happily jumped in place for a moment before coming back to select 1.5x; his You King's Residence expanded just like that!

Indeed, it's a construction game; the Great King thinks Meng Meng's house-building is especially impressive, especially perfect.

【Claim the raw materials, tools, equipment, and specialized manpower x3000 needed for the 'Youzhou City Moat Wall Construction Diagram'? Yes / No】 Yes.

【Already distributed to the respective construction sites. Summon the on-site technical chief NPC—Zhao Zhu Ge? Yes / No】 Yes.

After waiting a while with no one appearing, the Great King turned his head to look for the newly arrived three thousand little ants. Sure enough, four bright spots appeared in the four directions outside Youzhou City, and out of nowhere a large batch of building materials and a swarm of busy little ants appeared.

The Great King poked at the tall stack of bricks and stones, 'Good thing we could expand outward; having all this stuff appear overnight at the doorstep is also quite strange.'

Just thinking that once the city walls are finished, Youzhou's safety index will greatly increase, and the Great King's little life will become much sturdier—he got so excited he couldn't contain himself.

The Great King reached out and grabbed the little fat bird strolling on his table, 'Your Majesty is so happy—are you happy too?'

The Cloud-rolling Eagle: 'Chirp!' Release the nest!

The Great King translated for it: 'Are you very happy? Hahaha~'

Bai Ze couldn't help but ask, 'Aren't you going to give it the best name in the world? It's grown plump all around, twice its original size—what's its name?'

The Great King exclaimed, 'You don't know? I've already come up with a name for it!'

The bird and beast both turned to look at him; the Great King loudly announced, 'Little fat bird ah! Your Majesty calls him every day!' Down-to-earth and easy to raise, down-to-earth is easy to sustain—this principle he just learned!

Pia—! The Cloud-rolling Eagle flopped into a split on the smooth tabletop.

Bai Ze: 'Really…… this is unnecessary, why bother?'