Chapter 305: The Secret Letter with Three Wax Seals

Three days passed quickly.

Xiao Moting took his soldiers to the nearby villages.

Han Guiying looked up at the sky and said happily, "The locusts in the sky have truly decreased by a lot."

"The pigeons and wild ducks sent by Bai are really effective!" Qin Zhan also nodded repeatedly, "Bai is truly clever."

"Let's go check a few more villages," Xiao Moting said in a deep voice, "especially the areas worst hit by the locust plague, to see the situation there."

He led his men and spent the entire afternoon out and about.

Although there were still locusts in the air, there were far fewer than before, and they would no longer gather into swarms.

From time to time, birds could be seen flying across the sky.

Pigeons, wild ducks, thrushes... these were things that hadn't been seen before; they were all birds that Bai Wei had sent to be released.

After a few days of adapting, the birds had already survived in Daliang.

Such a large number of locusts was enough for them to eat their fill.

Flying birds are the nemesis of locusts; even if the birds couldn't eat that many, their charging into the swarms was enough to scatter them.

As long as the locusts did not gather together, they would not become a plague.

In the evening, Xiao Moting led his soldiers back to the city, impatient to share this good news with Bai Wei.

Upon reaching the city gate, he saw at a glance that a large crowd of commoners had gathered outside.

A dense mass of people crowded at the entrance, pushing forward incessantly.

The city guards blocked the gate, not letting the crowd in.

Both sides were huddled together at the entrance.

Xiao Moting immediately spurred his horse forward and asked in a deep, stern voice.

"What is going on?"

As soon as he spoke, the villagers gathered at the gate saw him and immediately surged toward him.

"Thump."

The villagers knelt down one after another in front of him, kowtowing to Xiao Moting incessantly.

"Thank you, Prince, for sending additional troops to Yannan to manage the locust plague."

"Now that the locusts have decreased so much, our villages have been saved."

"The Prince loves the people as his own children; thank you, Prince, for saving the commoners' villages and saving everyone."

At this moment, General Liu walked over quickly and said helplessly.

"Prince, these villagers came here specifically from various villages to thank you."

"They even brought a lot of food, and I couldn't stop them."

Xiao Moting looked up and scanned the area, discovering that many villagers were holding things in their hands.

Steamed buns, wild vegetables, wild fruits...

These things looked meager, but Yannan had been suffering from drought for a long time, and with the locust plague on top of that, this was already the best the villagers could offer.

An old man who looked like a village head walked forward tremblingly, supported by two young men.

He picked up a Coarse Cloth bag in his hand.

"Prince, these are fruits the villagers picked from the trees, brought specifically to thank you."

"Everyone is grateful for the Prince's kindness, and we hope the Prince will not despise them."

The fruits were very fresh and bright red, clearly just picked.

Xiao Moting nodded, "Very well, since it is everyone's heartfelt wish, I will accept them."

Having said that, he tilted his head to signal the soldiers behind him to accept the items.

Several soldiers walked forward carrying baskets and took the fruits from the villagers' hands.

The villagers put the fruits they had brought into the baskets one after another.

After one round, the baskets were more than half full.

Seeing Xiao Moting accept the items, the villagers all revealed smiles on their faces.

The other party was the noble Prince of Northern Suppression; they had been afraid that their gifts were too meager and would be despised.

Just as the villagers were about to leave, Xiao Moting called them back.

"Since everyone has come from so far away to bring me gifts, let me treat you all to a simple meal."

The villagers stopped in their tracks, looking at each other in hesitation.

The old man from before hurriedly waved his hands, "Thank you, Prince, but grain in the city is too precious; there is no need for a meal. We are already very happy that you accepted the gifts everyone brought."

"It is no matter; porridge is being served in the city, and the army is not short on grain for the time being. Everyone should eat their fill before heading back," Xiao Moting said, then turned his head to instruct General Liu, "Go to the butchers in the city, buy five pigs and slaughter five sheep to stew meat soup for everyone. The silver for the pigs and sheep will come from my private account."

Upon hearing that Xiao Moting was paying out of his own pocket to treat the villagers to meat, the villagers were moved, anxious, and happy all at once.

Yannan's drought was severe, and many villagers hadn't tasted meat in a year.

The price of pigs and sheep in the city had risen to an astronomical level; only when wealthy households in the city held banquets would they spend the money to buy a pig or sheep to entertain guests.

As for these villagers, they were all farmers; how could they afford it?

Not only did Xiao Moting open the granaries to provide grain and serve porridge to relieve the disaster, but now he was actually spending his own silver to treat the villagers to meat.

Many people were moved to tears, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing incessantly.

"Thank you, Prince!"

"With a Prince like you, Daliang will surely be prosperous and strong in the future."

Han Guiying walked over quickly and lowered her voice in Xiao Moting's ear.

"Prince, a secret letter sent from the Yuan Family Army."

Xiao Moting frowned slightly, "Sent by Er Gou? So fast, he has sent another letter."

"I fear it is an emergency." Han Guiying took out a bamboo tube and presented it to Xiao Moting with both hands.

The slender bamboo tube was sealed with three red wax seals.

Three wax seals signified an urgent secret letter.

Xiao Moting immediately took the bamboo tube, applied slight pressure with his fingers to crush it, and pulled out a tightly rolled piece of silk from inside.

On the cloth was Er Gou's crooked handwriting.

He scanned it at a glance, finished reading it quickly, and his expression immediately darkened.

"The Fusang People have collected a large batch of Iron Ore from Daliang, along with Saltpeter Mine, and are hoarding them in Yannan City, preparing to ship them back to Fusang."

Han Guiying was startled, "Iron ore, saltpeter mine—what do the Fusang People need so much ore for?"

"Saltpeter can be used to make Explosives," Qin Zhan said, a look of confusion flashing across his face, "but all this time, the method for making explosives was taught by Bai. Even within our Northern Frontier Army, only a few reliable craftsmen have mastered this technique; others have no knowledge of it at all."

Xiao Moting pondered for a moment.

Daliang's blacksmiths spent a great deal of time and energy refining pig iron from iron ore, so the Imperial Court had never engaged in large-scale mining; it was precisely because the efficiency of iron smelting was so low that iron ore was essentially inexhaustible.

The iron-forging craftsmanship in Beijiang was the same.

Therefore, the government did not conduct large-scale mining at all, merely guarding the ore veins to prevent the common people from mining them privately.

Later, Bai Wei helped build an Iron Factory and even sent over a large batch of iron-smelting equipment, including an Iron Smelting High Furnace and bellows, which finally allowed for large-scale iron smelting.

As for saltpeter, it is refined into nitrate and then combined with sulfur and charcoal in the correct proportions to produce the terrifyingly powerful Black Powder.

Apart from Bai Wei, no one in Daliang could make it.

"Could it be that over in Fusang, they have also learned the method for making Black Powder? They want the iron ore to forge weapons and the saltpeter to make Gunpowder."