Chapter 124

"Ninth Prince, these crop seeds are too precious; letting farmers farm them might not be as disciplined as soldiers."

"We discussed it and decided it would be better to let soldiers farm them directly; it's more efficient and disciplined."

"Now that it's almost finished, tens of thousands of people farming together—the effect is too strong!"

Ying Ying Zi Ye was left crying and laughing upon hearing this reason.

What was so precious about sweet potatoes and potatoes?

You just bury these things in the soil, and they can be harvested in three months.

By then, there would be as many as you wanted; they weren't precious at all.

However, seeing them treat these seeds like treasures, he didn't want to discourage them.

For the soldiers of Great Qin, these were indeed treasures.

"The effect of soldiers farming is indeed stronger than farmers."

"You also exceeded my expectations; I didn't know you would directly let soldiers farm."

Ying Ying Zi Ye looked at the soldiers finishing up and smiled silently.

"By the way, General Zhang, why are you here too?"

"I can understand Shangqing Meng Yi being here."

Ying Ying Zi Ye looked at Zhang Han beside him.

"Reporting to the Ninth Prince, His Majesty asked me to come and see how these seeds are being farmed."

"The result was unexpected; they were farmed so quickly."

Zhang Han's old face was wrinkled like a chrysanthemum.

In just three months, these seeds would grow strong, and by then, no one in Great Qin would starve to death!

"So that's it. I had some free time, so I came to take a look, but I didn't know you were already finished."

"This efficiency is good, top-notch."

The four of them walked and talked, inspecting this fertile land; seeing that there were no issues, they walked toward the Lantian Camp.

As they were about to reach the Lantian Camp, Ying Ying Zi Ye stopped.

"What are those soldiers doing?"

Ying Ying Zi Ye pointed to the soldiers in the distance.

"Ninth Prince, this is His Majesty's order to have these one hundred thousand soldiers guard the new crops day and night."

"Until the harvest season three months later; if any accidents happen during this time, they will be executed immediately!"

Zhang Han looked at the group of soldiers in the distance and spoke with chilling sternness.

These seeds were the future of Great Qin and could not be taken lightly.

The biggest fear was that the remnants of the Six States would hear the news and come to cause destruction.

So heavy troops must be stationed here to guard it!

Ying Ying Zi Ye was speechless for a long time after hearing this.

Dispatching one hundred thousand Commandant soldiers to guard the sweet potato and potato planting fields.

This... wouldn't it be too exaggerated?

Did they need to take it that seriously?

Was there no reason left?

Was there no law left?

It's just sweet potatoes and potatoes; was it necessary to be like this?

Since it was Brother Zheng's decree, he didn't want to say much more.

It just felt too damn wasteful.

Truly... excessive.

Dispatching one hundred thousand soldiers to guard a key area!

And it was one hundred thousand Commandant soldiers!

Ask yourself, among all the sweet potatoes and potatoes in the world, from ancient times to the present, what crops have ever enjoyed this treatment?

The three returned to the main tent of the Lantian Camp.

Not long after they sat down, a soldier came in to report that General Wang Li requested an audience.

"Greetings, Ninth Prince."

"Greetings, General Zhang, General Wang."

Wang Li saluted; in the military camp, he didn't dare call his old man "Dad."

"Why are you here?"

Ying Ying Zi Ye looked at Wang Li with surprise.

Shouldn't this guy be waiting outside the Xianyang city gates at this time?

"Ninth Prince, good news!"

"This subordinate is here to deliver news."

Wang Li was somewhat excited, his body even trembling slightly.

"Good news? Let's hear it."

Ying Ying Zi Ye remained unmoved, quietly leaning back in the commander's seat.

"Physician Xiao Ren led a dozen or so minor officials to borrow troops from me to collect taxes."

"This subordinate assigned two hundred soldiers to each of them, and now good news has been sent back."

Wang Ben's eyes lit up, and he asked eagerly, "Finally, someone couldn't hold back and started collecting taxes? How is the effect?"

His old man was overstepping his authority; Wang Li glanced at the Ninth Prince out of the corner of his eye.

Seeing that there was not the slightest displeasure on the Ninth Prince's face, he breathed a sigh of relief.

And Wang Ben also seemed to have noticed something and hurriedly saluted.

"Ninth Prince, this subordinate spoke without thinking; it was really because I was too excited. Please punish me!"

Ying Ying Zi Ye waved his hand and smiled lightly, "Don't worry about these details; they are irrelevant."

"If there is any news, sit down and tell us; let's use it to liven things up."

Wang Li saluted and sat down.

"Xiao Ren led two hundred soldiers to collect noble taxes; there were three noble gentry in the county."

"But the first two families thought Xiao Ren was just playing around and didn't pay, so they were exterminated by Xiao Ren—both faced execution of the entire clan!"

"The last noble was the family of his concubine, which didn't suffer a disaster, and the taxes were collected."

"Afterward, Xiao Ren led the soldiers to other places to collect taxes; by this time, he should have collected the taxes from his jurisdiction."

"And the minor officials he brought with him also collected taxes; half of the nobles who refused to pay taxes were all executed and their homes confiscated!"

Zhang Han and Wang Ben were dumbfounded after hearing this, secretly exclaiming at their courage.

Was this wanting to exterminate the nobles?

Would doing this cause those nobles to unite and rebound?

"Ninth Prince, will this matter blow up?"

Zhang Han looked at the Ninth Prince with some worry.

He saw the Ninth Prince leaning back in the commander's seat with his eyes narrowed.

His face was calm and composed, not shocked by this news at all.

Ying Ying Zi Ye glanced at the three of them.

"Minor officials are also people; they are also afraid of death. If they don't want to die, they have to go and collect noble taxes."

"If the noble gentry dare to resist, then kill them; it's better for the nobles to die than for their families to die."

"This situation of minor officials collecting taxes will only increase, because no one wants to die."

"They aren't stupid either; as long as they don't collect taxes, their families' lives won't be guaranteed."

"Those high officials don't go to collect noble taxes because they think this Prince doesn't dare to touch them and only dares to use minor officials as targets."

"But minor officials aren't stupid either; they don't want to be scapegoats, and they are all very shrewd."

The three nodded in agreement upon hearing this; this strategy was brilliant!