The Emperor is Above

Chapter 103: I became a sergeant and was knighted again?
Behind Qing Yi's courtyard, there is still a solitary hill, sparse woods and grassland.

Four locust trees are scattered between the courtyard and the sparse woods. They are not very conspicuous against the backdrop of the huge trees on the hill.

In the woods covered by tall trees, there grow some seemingly ordinary weeds. Under the golden sunlight, spots of light flicker from time to time between the leaves, indicating their extraordinary nature.

This piece of wild grass is the Star Spirit Grass that Old Man Shi mentioned. It is also the place with the most spiritual energy in Guqiu. It was deliberately preserved when Guqiu was built. In the future, it will be the place where Qing Yi cultivates spiritual medicines.

The process of growing elixirs is extremely complicated and no mistakes can be made in the slightest detail, so Qing Yi can only do it himself.

He took out a crystal stone the size of a soybean from his pocket. This was seized from the totem warrior of the Blood Wolf Tribe. It was smaller than the five crystal stones rewarded by the king.

Although it was a captured trophy, Qing Yi still couldn't help but feel a little distressed: "It's such a waste to plant spiritual herbs and herbs. I actually have to grind the crystal stones into powder and use them as fertilizer for the growth of spiritual plants."

Relying on brute force, he crushed the crystal into powder, then dug some soil from the place where the Star Grass grew most luxuriantly and carefully stirred the crystal powder evenly.

After preparing the seedbed for growing seedlings, he took out the lowest-level ninth-grade spiritual herb seeds, spread them evenly on the bed, and then sprinkled a thin layer of fine soil.

“Phew—it’s done!”

Looking at the tiny seedling bed in front of him, which was only three feet long and wide, Qing Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief as if he had done something remarkable.

At this time, I heard laughter coming from the side: "Master, you want to cultivate spiritual herbs here, right? This method won't work. The germination rate is too low."

Turning around, it was Jiang Ji. She came over with a smile and said, "After all, we don't have spiritual soil here. The spiritual grass may not survive with just crystal stone powder as fertilizer. We also need to use water containing spiritual energy to water it every day to keep it moist."

"Aunt, you know so much about cultivating spiritual herbs and medicines? Are you really a pharmacist?"

Qing Yi couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised. When he was in the capital before, he had suspected that Jiang Ji knew about pharmacism. Now it seemed that she did have quite some insights.

Jiang Ji shook her head and smiled, "I'm really not a pharmacist, I just had many illnesses since childhood, and it was only thanks to the pharmacists my family invited to treat me that I was able to save my life.

During those twenty years or so, I went to various herb gardens almost every day, and learned a lot from what I heard and saw, but unfortunately I couldn't practice and ultimately couldn't become a herbalist."

"So that's how it is. What a pity!" Qing Yi couldn't help but sigh. With Jiang Ji's intelligence and good memory, even if she only had the most basic qualifications for cultivation, her achievements today would not be easy.

However, Jiang Ji did not look depressed. She smiled and said, "Although I am not a pharmacist, I can help the master to take care of and cultivate these spiritual herbs, so I can be considered a useful person."

Jiang Ji, who had remained silent all along, took the initiative to reveal her abilities, which showed her recognition of Qing Yi.

Qing Yi felt a lot more relaxed now that Jiang Ji had taken over the task of cultivating spiritual herbs. When he was studying the pharmacist's classics and encountered some questions, he could ask Jiang Ji and understand them quickly.

Within a few days, the spiritual grass seedling bed was full of tender yellow grass sprouts, and Jiang Ji found four girls from the villagers to help.

While teaching the girls, Jiang Ji smiled and said to Yi, "Girls are more careful when doing things. I can have Miaomiao, Yaya, Huahua and Cuicui help me. My Lord, you should go to the front. The guys have been making a fuss these days."

Qing Yi was just thinking he could breathe a sigh of relief after solving the problem of cultivating spiritual herbs, but when Jiang Ji brought up the matter again he couldn't help but start to get a headache.

As soon as he reached the gate of his own courtyard, he heard Gongsun Wu, the Dongmen brothers, and Chai Yong trying their best to persuade them, but the villagers were still arguing noisily:
"As a village head with a title of lower class, he can only have 200 people under his jurisdiction. He cannot be partial to only the Xizi, Huaimu, Mengzi and other families."

"If we don't decide on Xizi, Huaimu, Mengzi and other families, then why should we first select the twenty people who went to the capital last time? Our other families also have militias to contribute."

"I have been following Mu Qing for 20 years. I don't expect to become a retainer. It's not too much to be an ordinary citizen."

At the beginning, only some women and young men were arguing, but now even old men like Bai Lao and Hei Weng couldn't help but join in. Everyone wanted to become Qing Yi's first batch of subjects, which made him, the lord, feel a headache.

"Master master!"

When Qing Yi was hesitating whether to go out, Daniu pushed open the gate and ran in with an excited look on his face, "There are a few more Flying Eagle Guards outside the village, and one of them is the short captain of the Flying Eagle Battalion." Since staying in the camp of the Left Division of the Capital for a few days, Daniu has broadened his horizons. Not only did he know the level divisions of the Capital Guard, the Third Division, and the City Guard, but he also got to know a lot of people.

When Qing Yi heard that the Flying Eagle Guards had arrived, he was immediately delighted. But when he learned that it was the Flying Eagle Battalion Captain Xu Zhengjia who had come in person, he couldn't help but feel surprised.

"Haha, I haven't congratulated little brother Qing Yi on his new home yet!" Seeing Qing Yi walking out of the village from afar, the captain of the Flying Eagle Battalion, Xu Zhengjia, came up to greet him with a smile.

"In just one month, you have not only reclaimed 7,000 acres of farmland, but also built a new house. The speed is really fast."

"Everyone is naturally working hard for the new home. I see that you look very well, brother. Everything must be going well for you recently. I had a quick farewell to Sima Yan last time. I wonder who will win the Guodu rugby tournament?" Qing Yi also greeted Xu Zhengjia with a smile.

"Do I even need to ask? The rugby championship was won by Che Zhongxing, a subordinate of Zuo Shi Ran You. The Suwei Army won third place. As for the runner-up, it's naturally our Flying Eagle Battalion!"

Xu Zhengjia had a smug look on his face, feeling very pleased with his team's runner-up position. One might have thought that he and the Flying Eagle Battalion had won the championship.

The two of them came to the living room, talking and laughing. Several Eagle Guards left one person behind to guard the ferocious bird, while the other two followed behind carrying a wooden box.

After they sat down, Qing Yi asked with a smile, "Brother, did you come here specifically to give me the falcon eggs?"

Xu Zhengjia sat up straight, bowed his hands with an apologetic look on his face, and said, "The last time you were given the fief of Guqiu, it was because several senior and junior ministers rebelled together, and the king agreed reluctantly, and we are even less able to speak for you.

I'm very sorry, but I can only give you a few eggs from my mount. I hope they'll be of some help to you after they hatch."

"It's expensive, too expensive!"

Several Eagle Guards were seen opening a wooden box. Inside the box, which was three feet long and two feet wide, were four eggs covered in mysterious patterns.

Qing Yi thanked him again solemnly, "Brother, your mount is a fifth-grade fierce bird. I am really unworthy of giving me four such precious eggs."

Unexpectedly, Xu Zhengjia smiled and waved his hand, saying, "If my brother is so polite again, I will be angry. In fact, sending you these falcon eggs is just a coincidence. The king promoted you to the rank of sergeant, and I came here specially to deliver the enfeoffment documents to you."

"Ah, I was promoted to sergeant and knighted again?" Qing Yi was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped. It was only more than a month since he was promoted to corporal.

Xu Zhengjia couldn't help laughing again and said, "Surprised, right? The reason you were promoted to corporal last time was because of your military merit in capturing and killing the Blood Wolf Tribe. The reason you are promoted to sergeant now is because of your great contribution to spring plowing. The king is rewarding you with this, and none of you ministers have any objection."

It turns out that the spring ploughing in the capital area has completely ended, and the spring ploughing sets made by Qing Yi and Tu Shigu have made a great contribution.

Although it was not fully promoted in Xing State due to various reasons, with the efforts of thousands of craftsmen in the Shaofu, the agricultural tools produced were still able to meet the needs of the capital area.

Lord Xing personally toured the capital to supervise the spring plowing that year and found that the farming efficiency had indeed greatly improved. The sown area in the entire capital was more than five times that of previous years.

According to the estimation of the Grand Minister of Agriculture who was accompanying him, the grain production in the capital area this year would be six or even seven times that of previous years, which made Lord Xing very excited.

With such powerful spring farming tools, we no longer have to worry about food shortages this year or in the future, and we no longer have to humbly ask other vassal states to buy food.

What made Xing Hou even more excited was that all the senior ministers, junior ministers and junior ministers also requested Xing Hou to distribute some of the spring farming tools to them, and he made concessions on many issues for this purpose.

Qing Yi didn't care about the transactions between Lord Xing and the other ministers; they had nothing to do with him.

What made him happy at this moment was that he no longer had to worry about the disputes among the villagers, because the sergeant's fiefdom was two miles in area and he had 400 people under his command, while there were only more than 300 villagers in total.

Patting his thigh, Qing Yi said happily: "It's settled now!"

(End of this chapter)