Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

It will take another three days for the large army of ducks to be transported by water from Jiangzhou to Anyang.

Meanwhile, the list of insecticide ingredients that Gu Mingli had drafted overnight had been sent back to the Imperial Hospital in the capital by the Dragon Scale Guard via express courier.

He entrusted Xue Ren with the emergency allocation.

Although the imperial decree for disaster relief had been officially issued in Jizhou, grain merchants hoarded grain for profit.

Grain prices have remained stubbornly high, like a runaway horse.

The most pressing issue right now is that the people of Anyang are about to run out of food.

The disaster relief grain allocated by the Ministry of Revenue was already scarce.

At this point, the only option was to urgently purchase grain from grain merchants in the south and slowly deliver it to the disaster area in batches.

Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst.

Inside the main hall of the mansion, Gu Mingli, Gu Mingyue, and Xiao Ye sat around a tea table.

Their eyes were fixed on the map of the northern border spread out on the table as they discussed a way to break the deadlock.

One of the Dragonscale Guards leading the reconnaissance team stepped forward and pointed to a dot on the map.

"Your Majesty, the so-called potatoes and sweet potatoes are located right here."

"The battlefield between Dayong and the Northern Di, deep within the bandit's den."

Xiao Ye turned to look at Gu Mingli:

"I want to personally see the land where potatoes and sweet potatoes grow."

Gu Mingli nodded without any hesitation.

"Then let's go, I'll accompany you."

"I'm going too!"

Gu Mingyue raised her hand to apply.

Actually, she was incredibly curious.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes, two god-level life-saving foods that can be called "essential for time travelers' infrastructure construction", how could they suddenly appear at the same time in the dangerous border area?

Moreover, judging from what the Dragon Scale Guards said, it still grows wild on a large scale?

Previously, she had complained to her brother privately.

It is generally agreed that this is a system's twisted sense of humor, deliberately throwing the completion rewards into such a dangerous, desolate area to torment players.

But ever since my brother deduced that the founding emperor of the previous Great Qi dynasty was very likely also a "time traveler predecessor", everything seems to make sense.

If the Emperor of Qi was a fellow countryman who traveled through time.

Could these two crops be experimental legacies left by the Great Qi?

After the fall of the Great Qi Dynasty, these crops did not flow into the inland areas of the Great Yong Dynasty.

Instead, it has grown wildly for decades on this desolate border slope that no one cares about.

Then, considering that the Cui family possessed insect repellent from the previous dynasty...

What untold secrets did the Great Qi Dynasty leave behind in this northern border region?

Half an hour later, a team of 100 Dragon Scale Guard light cavalry escorted two carriages out of Jizhou City.

Thirty miles north of the border between Jizhou City and Anyang City lies the battlefield of the Northern Di, a place that strikes fear into the hearts of many.

Gu Mingli sat with Xiao Ye in the carriage. While Xiao Ye closed his eyes to rest, Gu Mingli quietly summoned the holographic map.

Secretly checking the geological details.

Upon closer inspection, he was astonished to discover that the landform and soil composition here bore a striking resemblance to the modern Loess Plateau in Northwest China.

It's practically a natural breeding ground for tuber crops!

After entering the battleground, the further west you go, the more rugged the terrain of the bandit trail becomes.

On both sides are continuous high earthen mounds, and the road in the middle is like a tightly closed gourd mouth, which can be described as a pass that can hold off ten thousand men.

However, after crossing this treacherous area, the vegetation ahead became unusually lush.

Finally, the team reined in in an extremely open mountain valley.

"Your Majesty, it's in this area."

The Dragon Scale Guard dismounted and reported.

Gu Mingli strode forward, squatted down, and swept away the withered yellow weeds covering the ground.

Beneath the grass roots, a section of thick, dark red rootstock is faintly visible.

Without using any tools, he simply dug away the dry, hardened topsoil with his bare hands, digging down to a depth of no more than two inches.

Then a fist-sized sweet potato, still smelling of soil, was dug out!

Gu Mingli casually wiped the sweet potato on his clothes, leaving its purplish-red skin intact.

"Hey! These sweet potatoes are pretty good quality!"

He smiled and waved the sweet potato in his hand at Xiao Ye.

As everyone looked around, the barren slope stretched for miles, and beneath the withered weeds, there were patches and patches of sweet potato vines!

Half a mile further north, in a slightly flatter area, small mounds rise from the soil, where large patches of potatoes are buried.

Gu Mingli and Gu Mingyue exchanged a glance.

The brother and sister both knew what the other was thinking.

I wonder if it was intentional or unintentional on someone's part?

In this natural granary bordering the two countries, a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, these seeds of hope have been sown.

After decades of natural reproduction, it has spread to such a terrifying scale!

Gu Mingli turned to look at Xiao Ye, his gaze intense.

"Your Majesty, this is a top-quality food for sustenance! Just based on the density of this area, we could dig up millions of pounds of sweet potatoes alone!"

"Enough to sustain the disaster victims in Anyang and several surrounding counties through this critical period of scarcity!"

Xiao Ye's eyes lit up, and he made no attempt to hide his joy.

"Can this be eaten as a meal?"

"Yes! We'll take a few back later and make some for His Majesty to try."

The two looked at each other and smiled, both letting out a slow sigh of relief.

Gu Mingli calmed down and continued, "If we directly issue an imperial edict to the disaster victims to dig this land, it will inevitably cause a scramble for it."

"They might even be seized by local gentry and bullies, and only about one in ten would actually end up in the hands of the common people."

Xiao Ye nodded approvingly, then turned his gaze to Gu Mingyue, who seemed lost in thought.

"I'm afraid we'll need our Master Gu to use the methods of Pujitang to devise a foolproof plan for this matter."

That afternoon, Gu Mingyue returned to the mansion and, without even having a sip of water, spread out a brand-new business plan on the large table in the main hall.

"Your Majesty, my suggestion is to immediately establish the 'Pujitang Jizhou Branch' in Anyang."

Xiao Ye was sitting upright in the main seat, flipping through the secret reports from the palace that the Censorate had just sent urgently.

Hearing this, he slightly raised his eyes and parted his thin lips: "Tell me in detail."

Gu Mingyue confidently pointed to the cycle diagram on the plan.

"Using the name of a branch of Pujitang, they are recruiting people extensively in Anyang City for work, with wages paid daily!"

"The job consists of only one thing: digging potatoes and sweet potatoes on the barren slopes of the North."

"Puji Hall buys everything the people dig up, weighed by weight, and pays real money!"

"Now that the disaster victims have cash to survive, we will sell them the limited disaster relief grain in the hands of the Ministry of Revenue through a 'fair price' method."

"This way, firstly, it can prevent people from fraudulently claiming the relief supplies and avoid the rapid depletion of disaster relief grain;"

"Secondly, it will ensure that the people who truly contribute their labor have money to buy grain, so they won't have to sell their land anymore!"

"Once the potatoes and sweet potatoes on the barren slopes have been mostly harvested, if the Ministry of Revenue's large-scale grain shipment hasn't arrived yet, we can directly sell these potatoes and sweet potatoes as staple food, perfectly protecting the people through the famine!"

This is a perfect business loop of "work-for-relief" plus "capital return"!

After hearing his sister's elaborate scheme, Gu Mingli couldn't help but clap his hands.

"Brilliant! It's feasible, absolutely feasible! But there's a critical problem."

He looked up at Gu Mingyue.

"That area is, after all, on the edge of the battlefield. If tens of thousands of refugees flood in there and encounter the Northern Di cavalry, how can their safety be guaranteed?"