Dramatic changes in the movies and TV shows

Chapter 1263 Rejuvenation, Restoration of Youth
At almost the same time, a similar scene unfolded outside Xizhou City, but with a different atmosphere.

Yang Xigu, who had been calm and composed, walked around the carts carrying grain and weapons several times, occasionally reaching out to squeeze the grain sacks and tap his armor. He could no longer maintain his composure and was now trembling with excitement.

"Hahaha! Well done! Well done, Lin Hao! Well done, Grand Commander Lin! You truly win people's hearts!"

He slapped his thigh suddenly, the sound booming like a bell, making the ears of those nearby ring.

"I thought he was just bragging, but I didn't expect that in just a few days he would actually send me such good stuff, food and iron equipment that are more real than gold and silver!"

He grabbed the list, glanced at it briefly, and his face lit up with delight at the enormous number. Then, a cold glint flashed in his eyes as he said:
"You Tibetan scoundrels! Back then, my Xizhou City was short of food and supplies, so I had to retreat to Xizhou. Now my troops are well-trained and my provisions are plentiful..."

With that, Yang Xigu loudly ordered the soldiers:

"Brothers! Get everything inside! We're killing a chicken and having meat tonight, and each of us will get an egg. Let us old folks have a treat!"

The veterans of Xizhou City erupted in cheers and quickly began to move the goods, creating an atmosphere even more enthusiastic than that of Kucha.

Their eyes gleamed as they looked at the brand-new swords and armor, as if they could already see the scene of using them to cut off the heads of the Tibetan bandits.

Yang Xigu pulled aside the captain leading the team, Lu Wenbin, and lowered his voice, saying with barely concealed excitement:

"Go back and tell Grand Commander Lin! I, Old Yang, am indebted to him. As long as Xizhou City has a breath left, I will never let the Tibetans advance an inch further north! Whatever Grand Commander Lin's plans are in Luntai, just send a message, and my Xizhou soldiers will have no objections!"

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At the foot of Kucha City, after hearing Guo Yuanzheng's reply and learning that another caravan had already headed to Xizhou, Guo Xin's last bit of concern dissipated, replaced by an indescribable complex emotion.

There was a great hope for the Anxi army to escape from its desperate situation, a sense of awe at Lin Hao's unfathomable methods, and a surging feeling of witnessing history unfolding before our eyes.

Looking at the young, spirited soldiers of Luntai before him, at the grain carts laden with hope and the gleaming armor, his gaze finally sharpened and hardened.

"Pass down the order! Tonight, the city of Kucha will reward the entire army! Let us old folks taste the fresh grain from Luntai City and see what it's like!"

The afterglow of the setting sun bathed the ancient city of Kucha in a warm golden hue, and the long-lost aroma of delicious food wafted through the city.

A ray of hope finally shone upon this isolated city at the westernmost edge of the Tang Dynasty.

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When Lin Hao sent them over, he originally planned to invite Guo Xin, Yang Xigu, and others to visit Luntai City. Now that Guo Xin had taken the initiative to speak, it saved him a lot of trouble.

That evening, the cook sent by Lin Hao showed off his skills, preparing steamed buns, mantou, and flower rolls; knife-cut noodles, dandan noodles, and hot dry noodles; and chicken prepared in a variety of ways, including steaming, boiling, and cold dishes. The veterans thoroughly enjoyed the abundant food.

This entirely new flavor stimulated their dulled taste buds.

If the chefs hadn't been instructed beforehand to carefully control the portions, several people would have been stuffed.

If you're constantly hungry, suddenly binge eating can cause problems. Luckily, everyone has a lot of experience with hunger, so they understood after a little explanation.

After staying in Kucha for a few days and waiting for Guo Xin to make preparations, he led a group of four thousand white-haired veterans on the road to Luntai City.

Indeed, the white-haired old soldiers who had become younger, brought by Guo Yuanzheng, remained in Kucha City.

Then he took another 5,000 white-haired old soldiers from Kucha to Luntai. As for what he was going to do with them, well, let's just say that's another story!

In addition, a small portion of the ordinary supply train sent by Lin Hao was left behind to teach the Kucha garrison how to raise earthworms, chickens, and these new improved crops.

On their way, Guo Xin and his group encountered Yang Xigu, who shared the same plan as Guo Xin. They both wanted to go to Luntai City to see how Lin Hao had managed to cause such a commotion there.

As they were about to arrive in Luntai City, Lin Hao received the news early and went to meet them thirty miles outside the city. Guo Xin and Yang Xigu praised them highly upon seeing them.

As they passed around Luntai City, they saw with their own eyes the vast tracts of land that Lin Hao and his men had reclaimed, and they all dismounted to take a look.

Seeing this, Lin Hao introduced them to the situation:
"These are chickpeas, a common legume in the Western Regions. After improvement, they have a high yield!"

These chickpeas have the shell of peas, with flesh pointed like an eagle's beak and a texture like chestnuts. They are very suitable for planting in saline-alkali and sandy soils, and Lin Hao has improved them and is preparing to plant them on a large scale.

Although chickpeas are not as effective at fixing nitrogen as soybeans, they are extremely adaptable to different soil types. They are drought-tolerant, salt-tolerant, and tolerant of poor soil conditions, and can survive and fix nitrogen in arid, sandy soils where soybeans are difficult to grow. This makes them more suitable for improving poor soil conditions.

However, Lin Hao did not overlook soybeans either. After improvement, the soybeans, while maintaining their nitrogen-fixing ability, possessed some of the drought and salt tolerance of chickpeas.

"This type of legume can be rotated with wheat to fertilize the soil. Wheat and chickpeas can be planted together to restore the soil fertility that wheat has depleted, saving the effort of resting and recuperating."

Guo Xin's guards, some of whom were familiar with farming, nodded silently. In their hometown, fallowing and crop rotation were common practices.

The reason for this is simply that growing crops depletes the soil's fertility. If crops are grown every year, over time, the land will not be able to produce many crops.

If what Lin Hao said is true, and chickpeas can fertilize the fields, then we can divide the land into strips like this, planting wheat in one strip and chickpeas in the other.

The following year, the land that was originally planted with wheat was replaced with chickpea fertilizer, and the fertilized land was then planted with wheat, so that it could be cultivated every year.

Guo Xin's gaze, however, fell upon the irrigation ditches, and he asked curiously:
"The Grand Commander has quite the grand scale! Even in Guanzhong, the irrigation canals probably aren't this well-constructed."

“The land in Guanzhong belongs to each family. Building irrigation canals will be troublesome. Every household along the way needs to negotiate, otherwise there will definitely be trouble!”

"And this land belongs to the entire army of our Western Regions Protectorate, so building irrigation canals is much less troublesome. Moreover, with the soldiers united, it's naturally easier!" Lin Hao said confidently. In fact, the most important thing is that he has a scientific plan and is willing to lead by example. Of course, the assimilation of the Hive Consciousness skill is also indispensable.

"It's getting late. Why don't we go into the city first, have dinner, and rest for the night? We can go see the place where weapons and armor are made tomorrow." Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Hao led them back to Luntai City.

Upon arriving in the city, Guo Xin and Yang Xigu discovered something strange: many Tang soldiers were walking around the streets with one or two women with them.

Moreover, many of those women were pregnant, so he asked Lin Hao about it.

“Great Protector, things are not what they used to be. In the past, the court would send us a steady stream of new soldiers, but now the roads are blocked by the Tibetans. Although the trade routes have been barely opened, the transport capacity is really worrying. In addition, the court is temporarily unable to take care of the Western Regions.”

"These young men from Chang'an can certainly fight for another twenty or thirty years, but what will happen to them when they get old? We need fresh blood too; how can we fight without people?"

"So after we captured Luntai, I arranged for the women I brought from Chang'an to be their wives, so that they could have an heir. When these children grow up, they will take up their swords and continue to fight for our Great Tang. If any of them die in battle, incense will be offered for them!"

If these veterans had all married and had children in the Western Regions, how could the cities of Kucha and Xizhou be filled with white-haired old soldiers now?
According to Lin Hao's plan, it wouldn't be enough for each of them to marry a Han Chinese wife; they would also have to take Western Region women as concubines.

As long as Luntai City can support them, the more wives and concubines the better. With more wives and concubines, there will naturally be more children. With a large population, would the Tang Dynasty still worry about not being able to gain a foothold in the Western Regions?
As for the origins of these Han Chinese women, they were naturally brought here through the existing trade routes. As for the women from the Western Regions, it was simple: some were captured when they conquered Luntai City, while others were purchased by Lin Hao from nearby tribes through commercial trade.

Nowadays, women have a low social status and lack a sense of national identity. Once they get married, most of them will wholeheartedly follow their husbands to live their lives.

When their children grow up, Lin Hao will teach them to read and write, practice martial arts, and tell them about the glory of the Tang Dynasty, so that they will always remember that they are the proudest citizens of the Tang Dynasty.

"Taking a wife on the battlefield, what a boost to morale!" Guo Xin seemed hesitant. Military law throughout history has been very strict about this.

"Look at them, Grand Protector. Do they seem to be neglecting their training because they have families to support them?" Lin Hao pointed to the guards in key areas of the city, who were all standing ramrod straight.

"They all know that their wives and children are in the city, so if the enemy attacks, they would probably risk their lives to protect their wives and children."

This is a double-edged sword. If used improperly, it can damage morale, but if the strategy is correct, they can unleash even greater fighting power in order to protect their families.

"If it weren't for so much grain, we wouldn't be able to feed so many people!" Guo Xin was just thinking about why he hadn't allowed all his soldiers to marry and have children back then.

But then he thought, how much food would it take to feed so many people? If Lin Hao hadn't been so effective in cultivating land in Luntai City, he probably wouldn't have had such an idea.

Yang Xigu nodded silently. If it weren't for the grain sent by Lin Hao, his Xizhou City would have run out of food. Even the soldiers themselves couldn't get enough to eat, so how could they get married and have children?

“A caravan has just brought a group of women. When Prince Guo and Protector Yang return, they might as well take some with them, so that the soldiers of Kucha and Xizhou can have a home.”

Lin Hao didn't forget them either, and prepared women for them to marry the old soldiers who had become younger.

"No, no!" Guo Xin and Yang Xigu blushed. They were already embarrassed to take food and weapons from Lin Hao, and now they even wanted to take their wives back from there. It was really not a good look.

"What's wrong with that? Our soldiers have fought for our Great Tang for decades, and in their old age they are all alone. How can they bear it!"

"And also~!" Lin Hao then said in a low voice:
“Prince Guo and Protector Yang have now regained their youth and are in the prime of their lives. How can we watch these soldiers not even have a warm bed or someone to offer incense?”

Thinking about Lin Hao's methods of restoring his youth, Guo Xin and Yang Xigu looked at Lin Hao with anticipation.

Their visit to Lin Hao this time was not only due to their amazement at Lin Hao's superb land reclamation methods, but also because of a lingering desire in their hearts.

The two of them are already in their seventies or eighties, and it's uncertain how much longer they can live, but coincidentally, Lin Hao has the means to restore youth.

Every time they saw it with their own eyes, they were deeply shocked. How could the elderly people who came to Luntai with Lin Hao not be able to resist seeing them regain their youth and look as vibrant as ever?

Lin Hao naturally knew what they were thinking, so he directly confronted them and agreed to help them regain their youth.

So Lin Hao led the two to a row of heavily guarded secret rooms deep within the training ground next to the Governor's Mansion.

Upon entering one of the rooms, the flickering firelight illuminated the various expressions on the faces of the Tibetan prisoners. They were now emaciated and barely breathing, as if they had one foot in the grave.

Lin Hao gestured to the guard beside him, and then the guard knocked out a Tibetan prisoner with a single palm strike.

After capturing Luntai City, Lin Hao transferred the lives of a group of prisoners to the white-haired veterans he brought from Kucha, allowing them to regain their youth.

However, the number of prisoners was limited, so Lin Hao adopted a method of multiple extractions, extracting prisoners for six months each time, allowing them to recuperate for two or three months, and then extracting prisoners again for another six months, thus sustainably exhausting the resources.

Lin Hao remained calm as he looked at Guo Xin and Yang Xigu beside him. These two veteran generals, who were renowned throughout the Western Regions, were trying their best to remain composed, but a hint of unease could not be concealed deep in their eyes.

"General Guo, General Yang, please step forward!" Lin Hao's voice was deep and steady.

Guo Xin and Yang Xigu exchanged a glance and stepped forward as instructed. Although they did not know exactly what Lin Hao was going to do, the miracles he had created in Luntai over the past few months had given them an almost blind trust in him. At least they believed that Lin Hao would not harm them.

Lin Hao said no more. He first squatted down, then grasped the wrists of one of the unconscious prisoners with his right hand, and then directly absorbed their life energy.

A moment later, a bizarre scene unfolded: the two prisoners' auras vanished at a visible speed, and their life force was abruptly cut off.

The next moment, Lin Hao suddenly stood up, grabbed Guo Xin's hand with his right hand, and transferred his life energy to her!

Guo Xin felt his body stiffen, and felt a hot yet incredibly comfortable torrent suddenly surge into his body from Lin Hao's palm, instantly rushing through his limbs and bones!
The feeling was like a long-parched riverbed suddenly receiving sweet rain, parched land being soaked by spring rain, and exhausted cells greedily absorbing this sudden vitality.