I started on a deserted island and encountered Ying Zheng, who insisted I was an immortal.

The army's operational efficiency far exceeded Zhang Ying's expectations.

Meng Yi led eight thousand elite troops straight to the "smallest" cellar that Zhang Ying had shown before.

As soon as the cave entrance opened, a scent mingled with the fragrance of earth and the aroma of grain wafted out, causing the Adam's apples to bob in unison among these men from Guanzhong who had been starving for half their lives.

"Be careful! Handle with care!"

Meng Yi's orders echoed at the cave entrance.

The soldiers filed in, forming two lines.

However, when the torchlight illuminated the inside of the cellar, everyone stopped in their tracks.

They expected to see a storage room filled with sweet potatoes and potatoes.

But what lay before them were small mountains made of burlap sacks.

"Your Excellency, what...what's in this bag?" a centurion stammered.

Meng Yi stepped forward and untied the nearest burlap sack.

Splash!

The golden corn kernels cascade out like a golden waterfall.

"This is corn!"

Another sack was opened, revealing plump peanuts.

Another one is dried sweet potato fries.

The potatoes, however, were placed separately at the very back because they were inconvenient to dry and bag, taking up almost half of the cellar space.

This is nowhere near a million catties.

A clerk in charge of counting looked at the mountain of supplies in front of him, his charcoal pencil trembling.

"Your Excellency...this...this potato alone weighs at least a million jin..."

"Adding in all this corn, peanuts, dried sweet potatoes... the total would probably be three million catties!"

Three million catties!

Meng Yi felt his heart skip a beat.

The gentleman said this is the smallest one?

"Quick! Move it!"

He roared the order, his voice distorted.

Just then, a soldier carrying a bag slipped, the bag fell to the ground, and tore open.

Something white flowed all over the ground.

"Salt!"

"It's salt!"

The surrounding soldiers gasped in surprise.

A daring veteran reached out, picked up a bit, and put it in his mouth.

The next second, he froze completely.

"What's wrong, Lao Zhang?" asked his comrade next to him anxiously.

"Salty...pure..." the veteran's voice trembled, "It's whiter and finer than...even the official salt issued to us in the army! Not a trace of bitterness!"

Meng Yi walked over quickly and picked up a little to taste.

That pure and intense saltiness instantly overwhelmed his taste buds.

He looked at the torn sack, then at the pile of similarly sized sacks stacked next to it like a small mountain.

"Is all of this... salt?"

The clerk ran over, trembling; he had just finished counting the number of salt bags.

"Your Excellency...this...there are at least 20,000 catties of salt here."

More than 20,000 jin!

Snowflake salt is even purer than the fine salt refined by the Qin government!

If this were transported back to Xianyang, it would drive all the nobles and officials in Xianyang crazy.

Zhang Ying was summoned by a messenger. Seeing the shocked expressions on everyone's faces, she scratched her head somewhat embarrassedly.

"Oh, this."

"I live alone on the island. I use salt a lot when I cook and marinate meat."

He pointed to the pile of salt.

"It's quite a hassle to dry these things in the sun, and it's not worth it to dry too few at once, so I just dried a lot of them. I didn't expect to accumulate so many."

Everyone: ...

You call this a bit too much sun?

Zhang Ying ignored them and pointed to the area deep inside the cellar covered with tarpaulin.

"There's meat over there. Be careful when you move it, and don't get any oil on yourselves."

The soldiers lifted the tarpaulin.

An intensely rich aroma of meat, mixed with the scents of smoke and spices, exploded forth.

Everyone was stunned by what they saw.

Rows of racks were filled with dried bacon, sausages, and even whole smoked lambs.

In the corner, there was a small mountain of salted fish, each with its gills strung on straw ropes and neatly arranged.

"My goodness!"

One soldier couldn't hold back and sat down on the ground.

"This...this must be so much meat!"

Fish was a rare commodity in the inland state of Qin, let alone pickled salted fish.

"Gulp."

Someone swallowed hard.

"shoot!"

A soldier slapped his thigh hard, making a crisp sound.

"shoot!"

"shoot!"

"shoot!"

As if it were some kind of ritual, hundreds of soldiers in the cellar began to frantically slap their thighs.

They didn't know how to express their overwhelming excitement, so they could only use this most primitive and simple way to vent their ecstasy.

I've never seen so many succulents in my life!

"Your Excellency, just the salted fish alone, roughly estimated, weighs over ten thousand catties..." The clerk's voice was already trembling with sobs.

Zhang Ying looked at the group of soldiers who seemed to have gone mad, and scratched his head again.

"In the past three years, I haven't had any other entertainment activities, I just love fishing by the sea."

"Sometimes when we're lucky, we can catch hundreds of pounds of fish in a day. We can't eat them all, and it's a waste to throw them away, so we pickle them all."

"I've got nothing better to do anyway."

Meng Yi: "..."

He felt that his understanding was being repeatedly trampled on and rubbed into the ground.

Meanwhile, in the back mountain.

Zhang Ying was leading another elite force of over ten thousand men to a mountain wall disguised by vines and shrubs.

"This is it."

Zhang Ying pointed to an inconspicuous boulder at the foot of the mountain wall.

This huge rock, weighing several thousand kilograms, completely blocked a dark cave entrance.

"Black Tortoise Guards, heed my command! Open the gate together!"

At Yin Xu's command, hundreds of the strongest Xuanwu Guards stepped forward.

They mustered all their strength, their muscles bulging and veins popping, and together they pushed the boulder.

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

The boulder remained completely still.

Zhang Ying couldn't stand it any longer, so he dragged out several disguised giant wooden wheels and a bundle of thick ropes from the side.

"Make way, make way, I'll do it."

He quickly secured the rope using the principle of pulley systems.

"Come on, a dozen or so will do, pull them this way."

The Xuanwu Guards did as instructed with some skepticism.

"Boom!"

Amidst everyone's horrified expressions, the massive boulder, weighing a thousand pounds, was slowly moved aside by a dozen or so people.

A bottomless cave appeared before them.

Before everyone could recover from the shock of the pulley system...

"Splash splash splash—"

A torrent of grain suddenly gushed out of the cave entrance!

Golden corn kernels, brown peanuts, round potatoes, and purple-skinned sweet potatoes were mixed together like a flood that had burst its banks, instantly knocking down and submerging the dozen or so Xuanwu Guards standing at the front.

"Help...help me!"

"Pull me up! I'm being buried alive!"

The entrance to the cave was in complete chaos, with chickens and dogs running amok.

Wang Ben stood behind, completely dumbfounded.

He stared wide-eyed at the grain that kept pouring out of the hole.

He casually grabbed a handful of corn kernels and placed them in his palm.

These corn kernels were dry, plump, and showed no signs of mold.

"Sir, how long have these things been here?" he asked with difficulty.

Zhang Ying thought for a moment.

"This batch of corn was harvested the year before last, almost three years ago."

"Don't worry, if handled properly, this thing can last for three or four years."

Wang Ben's hand trembled, and corn kernels spilled all over the ground.

The grain has been stored for nearly three years and is still in perfect condition!

This is no longer a miracle, it's like tearing a hole in the sky!

The news reached the coast.

After listening to Yin Xu's report, Ying Zheng remained silent for a long time.

"Pass on the order."

He finally spoke, his voice eerily calm.

"Leave 5,000 men on the ship to guard it."

"The rest of you, all go ashore and follow Mr. Zhang's orders to move supplies."

Forty-five thousand people!

The entire coastline was completely covered by a black torrent.

Zhang Ying, accompanied by several powerful figures, stood on the hillside, watching the spectacular scene unfold before them.

"This is just one of our strategic reserve points; there are three more, all roughly the same size."

His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

Wang Ben's legs went weak, and he almost lost his balance.

Meng Yi's face was even paler than when he had fainted.

Li Si stood there, looking lost and bewildered, muttering to himself.

"To be granted the title of king...such merit is worthy of being granted the title of king..."

"Tens of millions of kilograms... no, tens of millions of kilograms of grain..."

"Great Qin, why should we worry about not destroying the Xiongnu, or the unrest of the Baiyue..."

The achievements he pursued throughout his life were so easily accomplished by a "recluse" through farming.

The overwhelming sense of absurdity and powerlessness completely crushed the prime minister of the Qin Empire.