The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 449 Should we plant it?
Bali Yuanshan's eyes were red, but he couldn't back down. He could only shout, "Don't be afraid, charge! Charge forward!"

"Bang bang bang!"

The sound of muskets rang out, followed by a small black ball with a lit fuse flying towards them. It landed with a loud "boom," and the explosion sent shrapnel flying in all directions.

A large number of Khitan soldiers fell instantly.

This strange new weapon startled the Khitan soldiers again, and their charge was repelled once more.

Bali Yuanshan felt as if all his strength had been drained away...

Finished!

Completely finished!

If we couldn't get through this wave, we'll never be able to get through again.

He can guess what the other person is going to do without even using his brain.

Sure enough, the enemy cannons immediately began to adjust their angles and quickly locked onto the Khitan trebuchets. Boom boom boom, after several loud explosions, a trebuchet was reduced to splinters, and the soldiers operating it were blasted away and fled in all directions.

Then came the second one, the third one...

No matter how many catapults you have, they're not enough to keep up with the enemy's cannon fire.

They're not even in the same league.

Bali Yuanshan closed his eyes in pain and waved his hand, ordering, "Retreat for now!"

He withdrew from the camp at Shili and resumed the construction of catapults, but he knew that building more catapults would probably be of little use. The Great Wall at Zhendongguan would not be able to be recaptured for a long time to come, and Jinzhou and Shizikou would have to be handed over to the Northern Song Dynasty.

His only worry now was the Khitan people of Jinzhou. What would become of them? Would the Song army massacre the entire city? Would they wipe them all out?
Tongbai Mountain was once the site of military camps for the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, each occupying a peak and facing each other from afar.

For some reason, the Northern Song Dynasty attached great importance to this small camp, even having Lady Gong Er and Yue Wenxuan personally oversee it, which showed the Southern Song Dynasty a great deal of respect.

On the Southern Song side, Yue Fei's son, Yue Yun, was in charge, which seemed to give the Northern Song some respect, but not much.

It's not fair to say that Yue Fei didn't value the Northern Song Dynasty. Rather, Yue Fei had too many things to manage at that time. The six prefectures of Jingzhou and Xiangyang had just been conquered, and he needed a lot of manpower and resources to appease the people, suppress bandits and highwaymen, and guard against a counterattack from the puppet state of Qi in the north.

Under these circumstances, the fact that he sent Yue Yun already shows that he valued the Northern Song Dynasty highly.

At this moment, Yue Yun was sitting on the edge of the cliff in the Tongbai Mountain camp, thinking about what his father had told him: "The six prefectures of Jingzhou and Xiangyang are unstable, and we may be attacked by the Jin and the puppet Qi at any time. Under such circumstances, we should not fight with the puppet Song. Fortunately, the seventeenth prince of the puppet Song is also reasonable and took the initiative to negotiate peace with our Southern Song. You are stationed in Tongbai Mountain, and you must not provoke the puppet Song to start a war."

Thinking of this, Yue Yun couldn't help but look down at the glass in his hand. The glass was filled with purple grape juice, and a few large ice cubes were floating on top of it...

This is a gift that Young Master Yue from the opposite mountain sent not long ago!
Given this situation, my father told me not to provoke trouble or start a war? He's overthinking it!
"Young General, something strange is happening on the opposite hill again."

A soldier from Yue Family Army ran in and shouted at Yue Yun, "It looks like they're going to farm on the hillside."

Yue Yun: "Huh? It's already July, what can they possibly plant?"

The soldiers said, "I don't understand it either. They even invited me to go and see, but I didn't dare, so I came back to ask the young general for instructions." Yue Yun said, "If they dare to invite us, then we dare to go and see! Let's go!"

Yue Yun downed the grape juice in his glass in one gulp, feeling incredibly refreshed. He strode out, and his men immediately prepared to help him put on his armor. Yue Yun waved his hand and said, "No need to put on armor. The pseudo-Song won't attack us."

He walked out of the camp wearing only a cool short-sleeved shirt, but his guards dared not be so negligent and were still fully armed to protect him.

The group swaggered over to the foot of the opposite hillside.

The Northern Song army's camp was at the top of the mountain. If they walked down to the foot of the mountain and logs and rocks came crashing down from the top, they would be finished. But Yue Yun was not afraid at all. He could sense that the other side had no will to fight.

Sure enough, no one attacked him. Instead, Yue Wenxuan poked his head out from the mountaintop and said with a smile, "General Yue, you have time to come and visit?"

Yue Yun: "I heard you've been clearing land and farming on the hillside?"

He had a strange expression on his face, as if to say: What kind of weather is this? What kind of place is this? You people actually farm?
Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "Anyway, we're just idling around. It would be such a waste not to cultivate such good land on the hillside."

Yue Yun: "This is the battlefield between our two armies."

Yue Wenxuan: "We're not at war, and..." He blinked and smiled, "We won't fight, will we?"

Yue Yun: "..."

Okay, that's true.

He had a new question: "The land in Tongbai Mountain can hardly be called fertile; in fact, it's rather barren. The soil layer is thin, and there are many stones underneath. What can you grow on this kind of land? Besides, it's July now, and in this weather, there aren't many crops that can be grown, are there?"

Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "Corn! We're going to plant corn. In Henan, corn can be planted in July and harvested before winter. Moreover, corn can be planted in barren mountainous areas. All we need to do is ensure a water supply. There happens to be a stream on this mountain that we can use for irrigation."

Yue Yun: "Huh? Corn? What's that?"

Yue Wenxuan: "Last time we treated the general's men to a meal, and there was corn in that meal, you know, the yellow kind, with crystal-clear, jade-like kernels, cooked together with rice, remember?"

Yue Yun suddenly remembered that he had been treated to a meal by the Northern Song Dynasty last time, and he was deeply impressed by the strange grain mixed in with the food. It turned out to be called corn, and it could be planted in July and even on barren mountain land. It was truly an eye-opener.

On the hillside, many soldiers from the Northern Song Dynasty were busy at work. They really didn't care about the land. They would take any piece of land that a proper farmer would not even look at, such as a small triangular plot, a small patch of soil in a pile of rocks, or a sloping hillside. They would even plant seeds on such land.

Yue Yun glanced back at the hill where he was stationed. There was a stream on his hill, which could guarantee irrigation water. Then he looked back at Yue Wenxuan's hill and suddenly felt a little envious.

Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "General Yue is interested too? Great! I'll send you some seeds and send an agricultural officer to your side to teach your soldiers how to plant corn. Plant it quickly, and you can harvest a batch before winter arrives. It'll be good to give the soldiers an extra meal."

Yue Yun couldn't refuse this proposal, since the Yue Family Army originally intended to cultivate land.

To alleviate logistical pressures, Yue Fei's army implemented a "military agricultural settlement system" in their garrisons, organizing soldiers to cultivate wasteland and grow grain, thus achieving partial self-sufficiency. For example, when Yue Fei's army was stationed in Ezhou (present-day Wuhan, Hubei), he carried out large-scale military agricultural settlement, "collecting over 180,000 shi of rent rice annually," which eased the pressure on food supplies.

Yue Wenxuan's proposal was entirely in line with the rules of the Yue Family Army.

Yue Yun quickly replied, "Then thank you very much, Young Master Yue."

(End of this chapter)