Chapter 209

Chapter 209

The arrest went smoothly. The tunnel hadn't been fully dug, and Jiang Daoming, caught off guard by how quickly his treachery was exposed, was utterly unprepared.

A few individuals resisted stubbornly but were swiftly knocked unconscious and taken away. These elite soldiers were not only formidable in battle but also exceptionally skilled fighters in every respect.

Jiang Daoming was brought to the prefectural yamen and made to kneel before the assembled officials. Instead of fear, a faint smile played on his lips as he said, "Long time no see, my esteemed colleagues."

Prefect Feng rose in a fury, exclaiming, "You Turkic villain! How dare you masquerade as a Han Chinese!"

"Hahahaha!" Jiang Daoming threw his head back and roared with laughter. "You are too foolish to blame anyone but yourselves!"

"You—!"

Xu Mao restrained him, saying, "I, this old man, served with you for three years. In our daily interactions, you never seemed a man utterly devoid of conscience. Was there some unspoken hardship behind this?"

Jiang Daoming sneered, "Unspoken hardship? There is none. We merely serve different masters. You serve the Emperor of the Wu Dynasty, and I pledge allegiance to our Khan and the Eternal Sky. There is nothing more to it."

"Alas…" Xu Mao turned away with a sigh.

Prefect Feng slammed the table, roaring, "Why keep this traitor alive? Execute him at once!"

"Kill me? You may. But don't blame me if my uncle brings his army to attack your borders."

Prefect Feng froze, remembering the man's unique status. Killing him might indeed provide the Turks with a pretext to invade the frontier. He turned to Li Mu, asking, "What does the Marquis suggest we do?"

Li Mu tapped the table lightly with his fingers. After a long pause, he spoke, "I am more curious as to how you managed to impersonate a Han Chinese and even became a Deputy Prefect of this province."

Jiang Daoming saw no reason to conceal the truth, knowing a thorough investigation would reveal it anyway. So, he confessed.

"Several years ago, my subordinates and I infiltrated the border, intending to visit the capital. By chance, along the way, we encountered a man who bore a striking resemblance to me—about sixty to seventy percent. Upon conversing, I learned his name was Jiang Daoming, an official en route to take up a post in Shan Prefecture. I killed him and assumed his identity."

His words were simple, yet every listener was horrified by his ruthlessness. The real Deputy Prefect Jiang had died on his journey to office years ago!

Jiang Daoming—or more accurately, Ashduoli—gazed fearlessly at Li Mu, his face full of defiance, as if challenging him, "You dare not kill me."

Li Mu, of course, could not execute him outright. The matter was too grave and required the Emperor's decree. However, while the death penalty might be averted, a severe punishment was inevitable.

With a wave of his hand, he commanded, "Take these spies away and interrogate them under torture. See what else they have concealed."

"Bah! You cowards of the Wu Dynasty! Kill me! Kill me!" The man attempted to bite off his tongue to commit suicide, but a quick-witted officer nearby dislocated his jaw and dragged him away.

With this matter concluded, Li Mu entrusted the remaining cleanup to Chen Qingyan, trusting no one but his cousin.

Unable to remain away from the border for long, he led his troops away the very next day.

Chen Qingyan then began to address the affairs at the mine. Since "Deputy Prefect Jiang" had operated in Shan Prefecture for an extended period, particularly at the mine where almost all personnel were his appointees, and some were Turkic, a complete purge was necessary to prevent future complications.

After over a month of investigation, seventeen more Turkic agents were apprehended, and a hidden ledger was discovered. It detailed years of privately stockpiled refined iron and ironware secretly transported to the Turkic lands, totaling over ten thousand *dan*.

Chen Qingyan personally drafted a memorial, detailing the entire incident, and sent it to the capital in mid-June.

The Emperor was enraged upon reading it. Xu Mao was dismissed from his post as Prefect for dereliction of duty, and Feng Zhien was implicated, resulting in a six-month deduction from his salary. Chen Qingyan, for his meritorious service in the investigation and with Li Mu's strong recommendation, was exceptionally promoted to the new Deputy Prefect of Shan Prefecture, granted full authority to manage the situation.

From this case onward, whenever the imperial court dispatched officials to assume posts in other regions, ten soldiers were assigned to accompany them, to prevent similar incidents of ambush and impersonation.

*

Soon, it was July, and Wang Ying's second book was completed and printed.

Wang Ying personally funded the printing of five hundred copies. He had no intention of selling them but planned to disseminate them widely, encouraging scholars in various counties to learn from the book and then teach the local populace.

The second volume primarily covered breeding science, cultivation techniques, soil nutrition, and pest control. The first half focused on theory, while the second emphasized practical application. The book was replete with practical knowledge, meticulously detailing scientific crop breeding methods, plant cultivation techniques, composting, and the prevention of various pests and diseases.

In the past, Wang Ying would have found it difficult to promote such a book, as agricultural texts, unlike others, appealed to a narrower audience.

However, times had changed. After Xu Mao's dismissal, Chen Qingyan was promoted to Deputy Prefect of Shan Prefecture. Until the arrival of the next Prefect, all matters in Shan Prefecture fell under his purview, granting him complete authority.

Promoting the book became significantly easier—it was merely a word from him, and county magistrates eagerly began to study it.

Wang Ying watched the experimental field's experience points surge so rapidly it was almost alarming. Previously, it increased by a few hundred points daily, but after Chen Qingyan ordered county magistrates to study the book, the daily gain soared to tens of thousands.

Before long, the experimental field leveled up.

[Experimental Field 03]

Level 8.

New Function 1: Maximum capacity increased to ten people. (Note: Entry requires permission from the field owner. Exceeding ten people will trigger spatial compression.)

This new function meant Wang Ying could now bring people other than his family into the experimental field! However, the note reminded him of the first time he brought a cricket inside—it was instantly flattened into a two-dimensional plane, likely due to spatial compression.

Still, this new feature was genuinely useful. Combined with the teleportation function, it meant that in case of war, he could instantly transport his family back to Jizhou.

New Function 2: The experimental field’s area expanded to ten *mu*.

Finally, an increase in area—this was a tangible benefit!

Earlier, when Wang Ying ran a vegetable shop, he struggled due to the experimental field’s small size. Although he grew plenty of vegetables, they couldn’t meet the high demand.

In Shan Prefecture, he faced the same problem and had no choice but to adopt a daily purchase limit, unable to maximize his earnings. Now, with the field’s area doubled, he could significantly increase yields whether growing vegetables or grain.

This update added two new functions, both highly practical. The remaining improvements were functional enhancements.

For example, the experimental field’s time acceleration could now reach up to twenty times. Wheat that normally took 120 days to mature could now be ready in just six days at maximum acceleration.

Of course, the cost was staggering—using the acceleration once consumed nearly ten thousand experience points.

Wang Ying glanced at the experience required for the next level-up. A long string of zeros dazzled him—conservatively estimated, it would take tens of millions of experience points. Who knew when he’d ever reach that level?

Returning to the topic, the second agricultural book continued the naming convention of the first, titled "Qi Farming Techniques II."

The book contained thirty chapters across 180 pages, complete with illustrations drawn by Wang Ying himself, making it exceptionally detailed.

When the book first arrived, county magistrates initially studied it merely to comply with orders.

Magistrate Tan, a former provincial scholar, had been demoted to serve as the magistrate of Dafeng County in Shan Prefecture years earlier due to offending someone.

Dafeng County sounded prosperous but was the exact opposite. Although it had ample land, the soil was barren, and the local population—a mix of Han and Qiang people—largely did not engage in farming. The county’s annual harvests ranked at the bottom of the prefecture, and its administrative performance was consistently poor.

The local people still practiced the most primitive slash-and-burn agriculture. Each spring, they cut down trees and dried vegetation, burned them to soften the land, and used the ash as fertilizer.

After sowing, they relied entirely on nature’s whims—no fertilizing, weeding, or pest control. In a good year, one *mu* of land might yield one *dan* of wheat; in a disaster year, nothing at all.

Harsh lands breed unruly people. The local people were notoriously difficult to govern, with many turning to banditry—farming in the villages during planting season and robbing travelers on mountain roads during off-seasons.

In recent years, stricter imperial oversight had reduced robbery somewhat, but tax collection remained a headache. If the people had no food for themselves, how could they pay taxes in grain?

Magistrate Tan idly flipped through the agricultural book and soon realized it was far more valuable than he’d initially thought.

The pest control methods seemed highly practical, and the composting and fertilizing techniques appeared tailor-made for Dafeng County!

He immediately spent half a month studying the text carefully, not only learning it himself but also organizing the county's student scholars to study together. After learning, they went to various villages to explain the techniques to the locals.

At first, the common people were uninterested in listening; even free lessons couldn’t attract them.

Later, Magistrate Tan came up with an idea. He dipped into his own pockets to hire an opera troupe to perform in several towns across the county, slipping in farming methods between opera acts before continuing the performance.

The villagers had little entertainment, so free opera performances were a big draw. Everyone spontaneously brought their stools to listen to the opera, and in this way, they unconsciously picked up all the content from the book.

By the following spring, the common people began farming using the methods they had been taught—composting, fertilizing, watering, and pest control. Unexpectedly, that year brought a bumper harvest!

For the first time, Dafeng County collected all its tax grain, and Magistrate Tan’s performance review shot up from last place to above average!

The transformation of Dafeng County was evident to other counties. Any magistrate worth their salt followed the example, and everywhere, people began racing to study this farming manual.

Even illiterate farmers in the villages learned about *Qi Farming Techniques*, and Jiaxuan Lay Buddhist's name echoed throughout Shanzhou.

*

In the blink of an eye, two years passed.

Under Chen Qingyan’s governance, Shanzhou gradually developed. Although its agriculture still lagged behind the Central Plains, it was steadily improving overall.

During this time, Wang Ying also developed a hardy cold-resistant spring wheat suited to the local climate. Since late spring cold spells were common here, ordinary wheat often failed, but this cold-resistant variety could withstand freezing rain and cold waves.

The new wheat seeds sold very well in the shops. By now, Wang Ying had opened branch stores in various counties, selling not only seeds but also fertilizers and pesticides.

Of course, there were no chemical pesticides like those in his previous life—only basic mineral-based preparations. Though less effective, they were far better than having no solution at all.

Over these years, he earned a considerable amount of money. Combined with what he had saved earlier in the capital, his experimental fields now held over ten thousand taels of silver, and he'd stored up more than twenty thousand pounds of grain. Life was simple and steady.

However, this peaceful life was soon disrupted. One ordinary afternoon, Chen Qingyan came rushing over in a panic.

"A Ying, something terrible has happened!"

Wang Ying, who was reading a book, looked up and asked, "What’s the matter? Why are you so flustered?"

"The border conflict has flared up again. Get Yuanbao and head back to Jizhou right away!"