Chapter 25: War and Natural Disasters

Chapter 25: Warfare and Natural Disaster

Zhao An had long anticipated the reduced grain harvest near Changxi County. In April, just after the rice seedlings were planted, a heavy rainstorm destroyed many paddy fields. This was followed by over a month of continuous drought, causing the seedlings to grow wildly but delaying their heading.

The villagers all said this year’s grain heads were twenty to thirty percent shorter than in previous years. However, since everyone had received extra income and built new houses this year, most people did not show anxiety on their faces.

"Is the drought severe in other places?" Zhao An had been very busy recently and had no time to consider issues like inconvenient transportation or lack of entertainment. Precisely because of these reasons, he was unaware of news from the outside world.

Hu Sheng shook his head and said, "I advised you to stockpile grain partly due to the drought. Judging by this year’s situation, both Jiaozhou and Shuzhou will see reduced grain yields. But the more serious problem is that three days ago, some Miao stockades in western Hunan rebelled. I looked at the battle layout—Xiangyang is heavily guarded and can deploy troops to the battlefield within a day. Those Miao stockades definitely won’t amount to much, but after their defeat, they will flee toward Qianzhou and Shuzhou. By then, the combination of drought and warfare will likely lead to famine."

Zhao An gripped the edge of the table to calm himself and said, "With both warfare and disaster, won’t the court exempt taxes?"

As he spoke, he carefully recalled the descriptions in "City-Toppling Tears," but the book truly only revolved around the love story of the male and female leads. The only mention of a general amnesty seemed to be when the female lead’s child became the crown prince. However, the amnesty only released those not sentenced to death from prison, making it hard to say whether such mercy was doing good or evil.

Realizing this, Zhao An understood that his question was overly naive. He quickly gave Hu Sheng an apologetic look and touched the silver ingot on the table, saying, "I have enough food at home to last until next year. Do you think I can share this news with the villagers of Zhaojia Village? Even if I can stockpile enough grain, without sufficient manpower to protect it, I won’t be able to keep it safe during warfare. It might even attract more trouble."

After months of continuous training, Zhao An’s wood-element supernatural ability had more than doubled since he first arrived in this world. He could now force-ripen up to eight plants a day, which was enough to ensure that he, Qintong, and Uncle Hai would not starve, even if he only used this ability on rice and wheat.

But what was the use of merely filling their stomachs? Since arriving in this world, Zhao An had never faced direct danger like in the era of spiritual energy revival. Yet, life here was still difficult. Besides oppression from imperial power and pressure from the clan, he now had to deal with warfare and natural disasters—it was simply overwhelming.

More importantly, he had lost the sense of control over his own strength. After witnessing the sparring match between Feng Shaoping and Hu Sheng, he realized that their full-powered martial arts could rival the abilities of fourth or fifth-tier physical mutates. His wood-element supernatural ability, however, was still at the initial stage of the first tier.

Fortunately, according to Hu Sheng, martial arts masters of their caliber were extremely rare in this world—no more than a handful. Otherwise, Zhao An would have been so worried about his safety that he would drop all work and do anything to strengthen his power.

But now, Zhao An deeply regretted being lax in his training. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be worried about threats from disorderly soldiers at a time like this.

Since regret was useless now, he quickly thought of a way to defend against external threats: uniting the forces around him, such as the entire Zhaojia Village.

After the money from selling the strawberry seedlings was distributed, fewer people were willing to work at the brick kiln. Some felt they could simply buy bricks and tiles to build houses instead of working so hard.

Excluding the few who withdrew, those who persisted in working at the brick kiln had reached a point of complete compliance to Zhao An’s orders, even though he no longer bought pork for them.

So, on one hand, Zhao An felt that the people's devotion was something he could use, and on the other, he believed that such an issue should be communicated to those who had consistently followed him.

As someone well-versed in using troops, Hu Sheng naturally understood Zhao An’s intention. "If you trust the villagers, go ahead and tell them. But you must ensure the news doesn’t spread. Otherwise, it will cause panic even before the disorderly soldiers arrive."

Zhao An nodded but asked uneasily, "What about the other people in Changxi County?"

Hu Sheng smiled and said, "Isn’t there still Feng Shaoping? He will organize a team to patrol the entire county and ensure its safety. So, you don’t need to worry too much. I just thought that grain prices would surely rise under these circumstances, which is why I came to inform you in advance. You don’t need to be overly concerned about safety."

But how could he not worry? Zhao An had no mind for dinner and wanted to find Liu Huan and Scholar Zhao immediately to discuss purchasing grain and training militia.

However, as soon as he stood up, Hu Sheng grabbed his hand. "Don’t rush. The battle in western Hunan won’t end anytime soon. The defeated soldiers won’t arrive for at least half a month. Have dinner first, get some sleep, and we can discuss everything tomorrow morning."

Uncle Hai brought in a bowl of eggplants stuffed with minced meat. Seeing Hu Sheng holding Zhao An’s hand, he quickly lowered his head and pretended not to notice.

Living under the same roof, even if young Qintong remained unaware of the unusual relationship between Zhao An and Hu Sheng, Uncle Hai, who had eaten more bowls of rice, couldn’t possibly be unaware.

On one hand, the young master had only completed a year of mourning for his mother, with over a year left. The Miss Gu, whom he had been engaged to before, had already married and given birth to a son before they left the capital. On the other hand, the young master had once hinted to him that a person’s blessings were limited. After receiving guidance from the divine, it would be impossible to have descendants, much like monks and Taoist priests.

Uncle Hai didn’t know whether the young master was telling the truth, but as a servant, he could only choose to believe and pray that one day the young master would tire of the blue-eyed man and have a wife and children.

Zhao An knew Uncle Hai was unhappy whenever he saw Hu Sheng, so he didn’t invite him to join the meal. Instead, he said, "Ah Sheng and I won’t eat too much. You and Qintong should keep more dishes for yourselves."

"I understand." Nowadays, Uncle Hai’s interactions with Zhao An were much more relaxed than before. Sometimes he blamed himself for lacking propriety, but other times he felt happy about Zhao An’s concern.

Today, Zhao An had too much on his mind to pay much attention to Uncle Hai’s feelings. He ate dinner without tasting the food, washed up, and was then pushed back to his room by Hu Sheng to sleep.

But Zhao An tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Partly because of the heat, and partly because he was preoccupied. He squirmed like a silkworm over to Hu Sheng, who was gently fanning him, and rested his head on Hu Sheng’s lap. "Are you leaving tonight?"

"Mm," Hu Sheng replied softly, continuing to wave the fan rhythmically, hoping the motion would help Zhao An fall asleep quickly.

Zhao An, however, had no intention of sleeping. Clear-headed and energetic, he asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for a long time: "Do you know what’s really going on with the Miao village rebellion?"

On this matter, Hu Sheng indeed knew, including many little-known details. For example, on the surface, the rebellion was sparked by tax officials demanding more dyes and medicinal herbs from the Miao people. But the real reason was that the court intentionally had the tax officials do this. The officials from the Songhe College faction, who held the position of prime minister, believed the Miao population had grown too large and needed to be reduced.

Although those who deliberately incited the rebellion did not represent the entire court, they were still a force to be reckoned with. They believed the Miao people in western Hunan were already competing with ordinary Dawn Country citizens for resources. Faced with these ethnic minorities, they decided to wield the butcher’s blade without hesitation. The subsequent consequences were also within their calculations. Since the Huns had been suppressed, the idle military officers had nothing to do. Sending them to suppress rebels in the southwestern mountains would keep them away from the court and prevent them from causing trouble—a situation of killing multiple birds with one stone. So, why not?

As for what Hu Sheng wanted to do, after careful consideration, he decided to recruit some of the defeated Miao people for his own use.

After all, he now was a family man and couldn’t drift aimlessly as before. He needed to have a force at his command to feel at ease.

By the time Hu Sheng answered Zhao An’s final question—"The leader of this Miao rebellion is named Ma Dian. He’s fifty-two but still in his prime. It’s said he can chop off a cow’s head with a single strike. Last year, a young girl from the Yao village even insisted on marrying him as his successor wife."—Zhao An had already fallen asleep with his head on Hu Sheng’s lap.