Chapter 517

At dawn, the gates of Chang'an City just opened, and already quite a few people were queuing to enter and leave the city. The West Gate was especially lively today; a few inconspicuous caravans left the city heading toward the Wei River, their destination—Liangzhou.

Zhao Er, who lived in Yangshu Village, worked a day in the fields and went to bed early. Although no one knew what kind of year this would be, or whether Heaven would give them a livelihood, the land still had to be planted.

Nowadays people are indeed panicky, but if they don't work, the whole family has no hope at all.

In the middle of the night he suddenly woke up, hearing the village dogs barking nonstop; hearing the commotion, the old man next door also woke up. Zhao Er's little son, half-asleep, crawled over and snuggled into his mother's arms, asking, 'Mother, are the bandits coming into the village again?'

Indeed, this sort of thing hasn't been rare at all these past two years.

Zhao Er got up, grabbed the wooden splinter hidden under the mat, and before he could push the door open to listen, he saw someone climb over his wall and come in, saying, 'Second brother, it's me!'

It was his family's Old Three, who worked as an assistant at the cart and horse shop at the village entrance.

'Quick, pack up and hide in the mountains! A night march is coming from the east! When I ran out, the horsemen at the front hadn't even finished passing; I glanced and couldn't see the end—it was heading straight for Linchuan!'

'Has the uprising brought disaster?'

Villagers with plenty of similar experience weren't stupid either; in the dark, without lighting lamps, they gathered their food, planning to sneak into the mountains to hide. To them, whether it was soldiers or bandits made no difference.

The villages scattered outside the city attracted no attention; meanwhile, Linchuan City changed hands before dawn in the distance. Two inconspicuous pigeons that flew out of the city were shot down by the soldiers who had just taken over the city walls, not far from where they took off.

'Nice shot! Even though the bird is small, it's still meat!'

'Not enough to stuff between the teeth.'

'We haven't had a grain of rice or a drop of water in a day and night—send Lin San out to scavenge something back!'

The Great King's carrier pigeon had hidden the message well, but the starving soldiers tossed both feather and letter into the fire to roast, so the news from Linchuan was delayed by a whole step.

The Great King was still at home thinking about increasing efficiency by twenty percent—after all, he still had eighty percent left—but who knew where the previous timeline had ended up? What if it was zero? That wouldn't be far off, would it?

Having figured it out, he felt more at ease playing around.

Lu Hen, this failed examinee, hadn't returned to the city since the palace exam; no matter who came down the mountain to go home, he wouldn't follow, honestly just staying in the mountains for a stretch of days. Once again, during his ten-day leave, he hadn't heard that the Great King came to school, nor that the Great King wanted to find him, and he let out a deep sigh of relief. With his heart set down, he especially missed the bustling Youzhou City.

Even though Academy Mountain had plenty of tasty snacks, it couldn't compare to Vermilion Bird Avenue, so he gritted his teeth and went down the mountain.

Lu Jia and Zhou Huang weren't around; he now always brought a boy attendant when coming and going. The two entered the city and headed straight for Vermilion Bird Avenue. Standing at the street entrance, he took a deep breath—all sorts of delicious aromas mingled together, accompanied by the vendors' cries: 'That's the flavor! Let's go!'

Just after entering, seeing the first stall set up inside the Vermilion Bird Archway, Lu Hen's big grin snapped shut.

He had miscalculated.

It was a stall that took up a fair amount of land, stretching ten meters long, with rows upon rows filled with various vegetable and tree seedlings, a lush green stretch.

The stall was run by two youngsters who didn't look well-off; each had a huge patch on their clothing.

Lu Hen twitched the corner of his mouth, never having seen anyone wear pants worn through at the crotch and patched with such a huge piece! This kind of skill looked quite extraordinary.

This stall really was different, surrounded by many people in patched clothing, all chattering away asking prices, as lively as a vegetable market.

'Wei Xiaodong's family, why is this red pepper more expensive than the green one by one wen?'

'It's spicier when red! So it's pricier!'

……

'Is this really an apple seedling? Is it the same as the red apple from the fruit shop?'

'Look at your skill—the tree is the same; if you raise it well, it will be the same red apple~'

……

'Can these well-raised seedlings really survive when planted back home?'

Wei Xiaodong's family thumped their chests, 'Definitely! As long as you take good care of it, if it doesn't survive, come find me on Vermilion Bird Avenue—I won't change my name or seat, Wei Taiping!'

The kid beside them with a big patch on his shoulder also thumped his chest in the exact same way, 'You can come find me too—I won't change my name or seat, Wei Anding!'

Lu Hen: 'Cough cough cough cough……'

The attendant: 'Young master, are you all right?'

Lu Hen: …… I see they've both changed, but I dare not say.

Upon hearing the seller's confidence, the onlookers also felt a bit reassured. There were plenty of rare crops on this stall; if they grew and yielded a harvest tomorrow, they could sell at a good price.

The Great King just had a mouth; he grew dry-mouthed from talking. He realized today's stall was a bit hard to manage, with too much to say and some technical difficulty involved. Evidently Wei Anding Heng thought the same—he simply couldn't tell these crops apart.

'Elder brother, what kind of seedling is this?'

The Great King pulled out his cheat sheet, flipped it open, and said, 'Number eleven, white-heart sweet potato, ten for six wen.'

All he's selling today are the seedlings that form the basis of a vegetable garden; after being nurtured by the black soil's blessing, even if moved to ordinary land they're easier to keep alive and yield more than usual. Now is precisely the planting season in the north, so Da Wang had Tong Hui send over a batch, and he personally brought Wei Heng to set up a stall and promote them.

"Brother, I still prefer selling roasted sweet potatoes." When roasted, split open, sprinkle a layer of white sugar and roast a little more—it's sweet and fragrant, and that overpowering aroma can drift down a whole street.

"Let me think… that'll be the day after tomorrow." Da Wang's stall schedule is a bit full.

There's too much to explain; even Da Wang, this chatterbox, is worn out. He looks up and sees a familiar face standing stupidly on the street, staring at their little stall… "Isn't that Lord Lu?"

Wei Anding craned his neck curiously and asked, "Who's Lord Lu?"

"…That's my brother's classmate who failed the exam!" Da Wang turned his head and just invented a new NPC.

Da Wang got excited, waved at Lu Xing, and said, "Lu brother, this is your specialty—come on!" After studying farming so long, selling some sweet potato and pepper seedlings is totally on point!

The onlookers turned and looked—oh my, they're wearing the uniforms of the Northern Border Academy's scholars; this little stall is even more reliable, right?

Lu, the failed classmate, upon hearing the loud words "failed," hurried over with quick little steps.

"Um… Wei family's younger brother, is there anything I can help with?"

He was polite; Da Wang was not.

He took Wei Anding and stood up, slipped the little notebook to Lu Xing, and said, "Lu brother, you take over selling for a while; I'm taking Anding to get a bite to eat." As they brushed past, he lowered his voice and instructed, "Send all the proceeds to my place once everything's sold."

Lu Xing: ……

Da Wang went off to eat and never came back, so Lu Xing's ten‑day holiday ended up selling seedlings all day.

The so‑called plan changed quickly—Lu Xing's one‑day city tour turned into a hot‑spring soak, and Da Wang's stall plan never got around to roasted sweet potatoes.

That day, the south just ended up as a pot of mixed porridge.

On the morning of the roasted‑sweet‑potato day, Da Wang received news that the Prince of Jiangxia had moved again, having taken Suyang two days prior.

Da Wang's dream was shattered.

It turns out the timeline has already passed seventy-odd? Adding his twenty percent push, they went straight to war?

Great King, following the warning in the contemporary 'Alert the World' document, immediately sent a letter to the King of Jiangxia, informing him that Jiangxia's private mobilization of troops had caused turmoil across the world and offended the Northern Border, and that the Northern Border would take action against Jiangxia. While sending the letter to berate the King of Jiangxia, he also transferred the Snow Cavalry and the thirty thousand Dark Armor Cavalry from Youzhou City to Luoshui Pass. At this time he still thought that after the King of Jiangxia passed Suyang, it would not be so easy; this was already pressing close to Chang'an, and Baili Jin had to bring out his resources and fight desperately.

Frankly, the Great King really didn't want to spend manpower and material resources to help Baili Jin defend Chang'an; preemptively stationing troops at Luoshui Pass was just a precaution. Who would have thought that after Suyang fell, there was silence for two days with no news, and afterwards Linchuan and Tongle also sent no word; the Great King still thought the King of Jiangxia was resting and building up strength, and just let a few days pass, then upon receiving news that Jiangxia's army had already attacked Chang'an!

This time, not to mention the Great King, everyone under heaven was shocked.