Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 62, Two Points of Gain

In mid-June, the rice will be ripe.

The weather was already quite hot, so the war in Hailing slowed down a lot.

After all, it was just acting, and Wang Ziteng was not really preparing to attack the city.

In the garden, Xue Baoqin happily held a green parrot with a red beak.

"Sister Lin, look, what I caught!"

Xue Baoqin grabbed the parrot and ran to Daiyu.

The parrot cackled twice, imitating a human voice and said, "Brother, why don't you go to the Xue sisters' place? Why do you always come to my place..."

Daiyu blushed, and hurriedly snatched the parrot and let it go.

"You little girl, wait and see how I deal with you!"

Baoqin smiled and begged for mercy: "Good sister, please forgive me..."

A little further away, Baochai leaned in Fang Yong's arms, her eyes slightly red.

However, when Baochai and Baoqin were sent to Fang Yong, Feng Tai deliberately kept their families so that he could use their families to control them when they became favored in the future.

However, Feng Tai was defeated too quickly, and this backup plan did not have time to come into play before he was defeated by Duke Shanguo.

In the chaos, Xue Ke, Xue Pan, Aunt Xue and others were unfortunately separated.

Later, after Wang Ziteng took charge of the army, he was lucky to find Xue Ke, but failed to find Xue Pan and Aunt Xue.

In the chaos of the army, I am afraid that it is more dangerous than good...

Baochai looked depressed, and said with a wry smile: "It is useless to boast of your cleverness, but it is self-satisfaction to act according to one's will."

Fang Yong heard this and played with Baochai's white and tender wrist and said:

"Knowing this, why don't you live a simpler life like Baoqin?"

Baochai smiled bitterly and shook her head.

“It is easy to know, but difficult to do.”

Fang Yong smiled and said:
"This is simple. Chai'er, wait for me tonight, and I will make you forget all your worries!"

Baochai blushed when she heard this and gave Fang Yong a resentful look.

This guy would torture himself. I don't know where he got so much energy from. Every time he tired himself out, he would collapse on the bed without any strength left...

Miss Lin was so thin, I don't know how she got up at night...

At this time, Qiao Yan ran over and patted Fang Yong on the shoulder.

"Brother, Mr. Wu is here for something urgent."

Back to the topic.

Fang Yong meets Wu Yuan.

At this time, Wu Yuan was a little anxious, with an indescribable strange expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Yuan Hao?"

Fang Yong asked.

Wu Yuan stepped forward, took Fang Yong's hand, took Fang Yong to a secluded corner, and asked:
"General, can you tell me the truth? Are you blessed by heaven?"

Heavenly favor?

Fang Yong was a little confused.

"What is heaven's favor? Why do you ask this?"

Wu Yuandao:
"People who are favored by heaven have existed since ancient times. Emperor Gaozu was born with a face like a dragon, Zhang Jiao was given the Taiping Book, Emperor Guangwu defeated Wang Mang in Kunyang, and Emperor Mingzu's mother dreamed of giving him an elixir when he was born. These are all favors from heaven!"

Fang Yong couldn't help but sneer when he heard this, and said:

"Yuanhao, oh Yuanhao, you are well-versed in history, how can you believe this? Except for the incident of Emperor Guangwu which may be a coincidence, these are all fabricated words by emperors of all dynasties. How can you believe them so easily?"

Wu Yuan said seriously:

"I didn't believe it before, but now that I'm blessed by God, I have no choice but to believe it."

Fang Yong asked doubtfully.

"Yuan Hao, what kind of blessing did you encounter that moved you so much?" Wu Yuan said excitedly:

"This is the general's blessing from heaven! This year is not a good year, but all the fields under the general's name, no matter how fertile they are, have yielded double the harvest. The neighboring fields and the general's fields are only a foot apart, but the difference in their yields is like the difference between heaven and earth. The people all say that the general is a real dragon who has descended to the world, obeying the will of heaven and blessing all living beings, so this strange phenomenon has occurred!
Fang Yong was shocked.

This happened!

To be honest, his subordinates had reported to him before that the rice seedlings were growing well this year. However, Fang Yong was more focused on the war at the time and did not pay much attention to it. He simply thought that it was because the fields were well taken care of. He did not expect that it was actually...

Fang Yong couldn't help but look at the system panel.

[Talent: Farming (Mastery)]

【Progress: 31/1000】

【Effect: You get what you sow. 】

If this is true, he might have to take time out to farm in the future.

Not long after, Fang Yong went to inspect the fields in person, and the result was just as Wu Yuan said, all the fields under Fang Yong's name had a double harvest, and the rice grew almost as well as modern hybrid rice.

In contrast, the neighboring Guo family paddy field is only one foot away from Fang Yong's field, but the rice in it is the same short and small as in previous years, with no change at all.

The seeds are the same, the water is the same, and even the land is only one foot different. The only difference is the owner of the land.

Only the land under Fang Yong's name can get double the harvest.

The appearance of such an obvious phenomenon affected even intellectuals like Wu Yuan, not to mention the common people who were not well educated.

Everyone says that General Fang is the true dragon emperor, blessing all living beings. As long as the land is put under Fang Yong's name, you can get a double harvest!

Fang Yong did not stop this rumor, but instead ordered Wu Yuan to secretly fan the flames.

Fang Yong admitted that spreading superstition is not good.

But this is not superstition, this is serious!
After the news spread, many people were skeptical, but when they actually went to the fields, the strange sight made them unable to believe it.

This seems to be true!

Soon, some wealthy households took the initiative to find Fang Yong and expressed their desire to register their own fields under Fang Yong's name.

Fang Yongdao: You can put your name on the list, but a 40% tax will be charged.

Forty percent tax may seem like a lot, but with the double harvest, those big farmers can still get a lot of benefits.

At the same time, Fang Yong stipulated that if someone in the family joined his team, each person could be exempted from one point of tax, up to a maximum of 10%.

By this calculation, if there are ten people in the family who rely on Fang Yong, there will only be 30% tax, and the remaining 70% can still make a net profit of 40% after doubling.

After careful calculation, those big investors were all tempted.

Of course, since it was the first time, the big investors were still very cautious and did not make their full bet. They only registered 20% to 30% of the land under Fang Yong’s name.

They will just have to wait for the late rice harvest in a few months and then see the results to decide whether to make a full bet.

On the other side, Wang Ziteng attacked Hailing but failed to take it, so he secretly called over the brave battalion he had formed earlier.

Wang Ziteng said that the Huaiyin bandits had a good harvest and sufficient food and grass, so a strong attack would not be successful for the time being.

According to reliable secret reports, the Huaiyin bandits now have a large amount of food and fodder stored in Zhouzhuang behind Hailing City. This place is located in the heart of the bandit army and is not well defended, so they are preparing to send a brave battalion to launch a surprise attack and burn the enemy's food and fodder.

Anyone who participates in this action will be rewarded with ten taels of silver.

After success, each person will be rewarded with another 40 taels!
Ten taels plus forty taels equals fifty taels!
This is an incomparable fortune for these big soldiers.

Besides, these people have long been accustomed to launching surprise attacks and looting in Fangyong’s territory, so they were not afraid at all after receiving the order this time, and everyone was extremely excited!
Soon, the Brave Battalion prepared to set off under Wang Ziteng's order.

Each of them rode a horse, wore no armor, and carried only two days' worth of dry food. Their only weapons were sabers and bows and arrows soaked in kerosene; they had no heavy weapons.

The reason for doing this is to travel light, raid the enemy's food supplies as quickly as possible, and then return.

The entire operation was kept highly confidential. We set out secretly at night, took a detour, and could not reveal it to anyone.

The soldiers of the Brave Battalion had no doubts about this order.

Because Wang Ziteng's order was very reasonable.

The Huaiyin bandits have few horses, and because of their speed advantage, they will not be easily injured even if they travel light. Wearing heavy armor will affect their speed, causing the mission to fail.

The secret departure is easier to understand.

As long as they set out quietly and rode quickly all the way, there would be no possibility of failure unless the Huaiyin bandits used a large number of archers to ambush in advance!
(End of this chapter)