Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 248 The Pit of Fire
While waiting for His Majesty's reply, Jiu Que was not idle. She dispatched grain transport teams to collect eggs throughout the entire border region. Yes, she didn't want the hatched chicks, but rather the fertilized eggs.

It's time to bring the plan of hatching eggs over a heated kang (traditional heated brick bed) to the forefront.

Fortunately, Jiu Que currently has manpower, money, and supplies; whatever she wants to do, General Yu Chi will back her up, making the construction of a large hatchery quite simple. However, Jiu Que didn't initially plan to hatch too many chicks; she needed to conduct an experiment first. Only if it succeeded could she convince Uncle Yu Chi of her abilities.

Looking back now, I feel a little ashamed. Jiu Que prides herself on being a time traveler, and she's never done anything like this before—the ten things a time traveler must do. Oh, the thunderbolt doesn't count; that was something she concocted out of necessity to save someone, and besides, she initially just wanted to use it as fireworks.

As for now, Jiu Que needs to bring out the essential weapon for a time traveler, after all, she is now a woman who has to support an army of 200,000.

There's no need to worry about manpower shortages; the Northern Frontier Army has many support soldiers. Of course, Jiu Que's target isn't these support soldiers who also train daily, but rather the families of these soldiers. These soldiers are stationed on the frontier, and there's a high probability they'll spend the rest of their lives on this land. Those who aren't married are one thing, but those who are married and have children naturally want their families and descendants to live better lives. If Jiu Que can provide a better life for their families, these soldiers will likely have fewer worries.

Therefore, the first group she approached were the families of the Northern Frontier Army. With the titles of General Ying's daughter, the current emperor's favorite minister, the imperial inspector, and the Marquis of Zhen'an, Jiu Que easily attracted her first group of helpers.

The group arrived at the newly built hatchery, finding everything around them quite novel. After all, it was the first time they'd ever heard of building a special house for chicks, especially since the chicks weren't even hatched yet, still inside their eggs. Besides, there was no guarantee these eggs would hatch. This distinguished guest from the capital was acting rather strangely; he instructed them to take the eggs one by one under the cover of darkness and shine them up to the candlelight. Only those eggs with small black dots inside were allowed to be set aside.

"Hey! What exactly does this important person want us to do? Can an egg hatch into a chick just by shining it in the light like this?"

"How would I know, you ask? Perhaps that's the skill of those nobles. I heard that this Lord Ying came from the capital, which is the most prosperous place in our entire Great Jing. Maybe they have some novelties there."

"What you say makes sense... Speaking of which, I've never been to the capital in my life, and I have no idea what that place is like. Is it really like in the plays, where gold is everywhere?"

"I don't think that's very likely. Although the capital is very prosperous, if there were gold everywhere, wouldn't it have been all gone long ago?" While working, everyone couldn't help but whisper among themselves, showing their curiosity about the work at hand. They were all skilled at housework and had naturally raised chickens and ducks, but they had never incubated eggs themselves before. Isn't incubating eggs the hen's job? And what was this young lady going to build? A heated kang (traditional Chinese bed)? They had never even heard of such a thing. Would it even work?
More importantly, this nobleman from the capital had promised them fifty copper coins a month for helping out! He said he was there to help, but in reality, it was just doing odd jobs. Such easy work, earning fifty coins a month—only a fool wouldn't do it. Therefore, the expected resistance didn't materialize at all.

The world is a bustling place, driven by profit. If the money is good enough, no one will turn down such a good employee. Of course, on the other hand, everyone was also curious about whether the "heated kang" method this benefactor mentioned would actually work, and if so, how to raise the chicks to prevent disease. If they could learn even a trick or two, their future wouldn't be so difficult.

Amidst this anticipation, the selected fertilized eggs were carefully placed on the warm kang (heated brick bed). Autumn is approaching, and the winds in the border region are starting to get cool; staying in this cozy incubation room is quite comfortable.

General Yuchi, who came here every day for a stroll, felt the temperature, which was completely different from that of the brazier, and suddenly thought of a good idea.

“Jiu Que, you said this heated kang room is so warm, could we build such heated kangs in all the tents? That way, the brothers won’t feel cold in winter. You don’t know, in the past, every winter when it was bitterly cold, we could only light braziers in the tents, but those things only warmed a small area around us, unless you lay on them. But if you actually lay on them, it would be burning hot. Your heated kang is great, once the flames are lit, the whole room becomes warm.”

General Yuchi blinked his big eyes, overjoyed. Jiu Que, seeing her uncle Yuchi like this, couldn't help but smile. She had already considered this method when she built the incubator. However, building fire pits in the soldiers' tents was no simpler than building an incubator. General Yuchi and the other generals needed to see the practicality of the heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed) before it could be widely adopted. After all, although she had never experienced a winter in Beijing, she had heard from the soldiers about the cruelty of winter's ice and snow, and how many people froze and starved to death every year. The heated kang was probably the simplest and most convenient heating tool.

“Uncle is right, this thing can indeed be widely promoted. But I think, since the uncles and elders in the military camp can use it, why not promote it more widely? It would also allow the people of the North to use such a convenient thing, so that they can have less of the harsh winter and get through the winter safely.”

“You’re absolutely right! You don’t know, what our northern frontier needs most right now is people, and every winter the elderly and children die from the cold. What a pity! You’re such a clever child. But if we build a heated kang (traditional heated bed), firewood will be a necessity. But it’s alright, in previous years everyone has needed firewood to get through the winter, so we should have been prepared for that.”

Jiu Que, however, didn't entirely agree. After all, if everyone had had enough firewood in previous years, they wouldn't have frozen to death. They still needed to find other alternative fuels. If only they could find a coal mine in this area. They decided to put the coal mine search aside for now and focus on promoting the heated kang beds, preparing before winter arrived so they wouldn't be scrambling. Besides the kang beds, they could also make some warm clothing. Cotton was still a rare commodity; otherwise, the cotton-padded clothes she brought wouldn't have been so popular. But besides cotton, what else could ward off the bitter cold?
(End of this chapter)