Chapter 418

Upon arriving at West River Commandery, they found that this obscure commandery of the desolate Merged Province was actually quite bustling.

It wasn't that many people were queuing to exchange new copper coins; rather, the commercialization level of this small commandery in the Northern Land exceeded their understanding.

This was their first stop in a relatively large county town, and the students of the Lu clan and the Imitating Yang Academy couldn't help wanting to stop and buy something.

In a Northern Land town they'd never heard of, there were proper-looking bookstore and stationery shops, clothing shops, fabric shops, pottery shops, and even ironware shops? They actually openly sold ironware outright!

Of course, there were also street snacks you couldn't find in Fanyang.

They had no idea of the King and Chief Steward's commercial blueprint; even a mosquito's leg is meat.

Rather than let others profit, they might as well do it themselves.

Moreover, a plot of land in the Northern Land isn't expensive, and opening a shop costs little. Unlike Chang'an, where finding a good street-front spot requires going through princely connections.

The men were fine; seeing this scene, the Lu clan women finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Places like West River Commandery all have this scene; I suppose the capital Youzhou must be even stronger.

They had been worried and frightened all along, fearing that leaving Fanyang's Elegant Gathering Abyss Marsh would mean enduring a harsh life in the bitter cold northern lands.

In their minds, Youzhou was the extreme northern place of exile; living there seemed like a lifetime without hope, but now this feeling has finally eased a bit.

Lu Xiu had already jumped down from the carriage, and before long he bought a bundle of dried salted fish from a roadside stall, then climbed onto his uncles' carriages to present it as a treasure.

"Look what I bought—genuine dried sea fish! The stall owner said just frying it in an iron pan makes it taste great; I heard it's been salted, so when we roast it later, it won't be a hundred times better than eating dry biscuits?! Listen, they in the Northern Border actually just buy iron pans to fry fish!"

Several renowned literary figures gathered around a bundle of dried fish, discussing enthusiastically; who would have thought the people of the Northern Border eat so well?

Fanyang isn't lacking this kind of dried sea fish, after all the Chief Steward also has a shop there.

In Fanyang, such dried fish are only sold in expensive dried-goods shops, unlike in West River Commandery where you can buy them cheaply at a street stall.

Changli didn't linger long in West River Commandery, handing over more than a thousand captives to the mine and bringing back an equal number of miners before continuing on the road.

These replacement workers weren't easy to pick either, since most of the mine's labor force consisted of Xiongnu war captives seized by the King; this time the thousand people almost pulled out all the slaves of Great Jin origin inside.

These thousand people needed to be sent to Anding Commandery; Changli assigned five hundred of them to the Deputy Commander to escort. Actually they didn't need that many, but since the King was also loafing around in Bing Province, keeping extra people might come in handy.

After finishing the business, Changli reported to the King, then took the Lu clan and hurried east back to Youzhou.

The King scattered silver all the way, arriving at Anding almost at the same time as the convoy escorting the miners. Upon reaching Anding, he rolled up his sleeves, ready for a big undertaking, and that very day seized the governor's office and convened everyone for a meeting.

The governor of Anding Commandery, Jiang Yong, was a student of Xie Yuan; previously he had served as magistrate of a small county in Jiyin Commandery. His family was a fallen scholar clan of the Northern Land, and Xie Yuan approved of both his learning and character, so upon taking office he immediately recruited him and gave him the governor's position.

Here he was the only 'outsider'; even the King had only just met him for the first time today.

After kowtowing to the King and letting him find a casual seat, Jiang Yong took a quiet corner of the room to keep a low profile, but unfortunately his hiding was useless—the King mentioned him within three sentences.

"Everyone is here, so I, the King, hereby formally announce: the Northern Border State's Anding Commandery Grand Farm is officially established!"

The crowd below wore puzzled expressions; only his paternal cousin asked aloud: "What is this again?"

The King ignored him, threw out a map, saying, "As shown in the diagram, this large tract of land is hereby designated as my farm; I will use this large tract to unify cultivation. Starting today, I am nominally the owner of this grand farm! Jiang Yong, you are the deputy farm manager of Anding Commandery's Grand Farm! From now on your salary will be increased by six hundred dan of grain!"

Jiang Yong was dumbfounded·JPG

"Huh?" He hadn't reacted yet.

What is that?

The King: "Are you happy?"

Jiang Yong knelt down, "Your servant is very happy." It was the first time answering such a question; anyway hearing that his wages were raised sounded like a good thing.

The King was satisfied, turning his gaze to the rice worms he had brought.

The King's gaze swept over; Wei Shen showed no fear, Wei Ke was looking at his own hand, and Xie Tu unfortunately sat opposite him, their eyes meeting. But he wasn't too afraid either, after all he still had plenty of work to do.

The King obviously thought of that too, and then turned his gaze to the person beside Xie Tu.

Zhou Huan, Xie Tu, and Liang Ben all have tasks in hand; the cousins and the Xue family brothers are all on the military official track… Like this, those whose names weren't called, you'll first take up technical advisory posts at the farm. Don't get happy too soon—this job isn't easy!

Most of this farm of mine is wasteland; it needs scientific methods to cultivate. What can you talk about science if you're illiterate? So, you can consider yourselves to have found a place to put your skills to use!

Those whose names weren't called, the unlucky ones: ……

Where do you see any happiness?