The Legend of the Farm Girl

On the eighth day of the second month in the sixteenth year of Qianyuan, the weather in Liangzhou was still very cold, but Li Muwen was already sweating profusely from anxiety.

In the delivery room that had already been arranged, Yunfang groaned in pain, her hair soaked with sweat. She clutched the quilt tightly, her fingers turning white from the force.

The midwife beside her was busy and anxious, constantly encouraging Yunfang. Yunfang's mother was also by the bed, her eyes full of heartache and anxiety, and she kept wiping the sweat off Yunfang's face.

Fortunately, Yunfang learned how to raise a child in the best way throughout her pregnancy, and also learned the best way to give birth. She gave birth to the baby smoothly at the hour of Si without any danger.

After the baby was born, he cried loudly, and Li Muwen outside the door also breathed a sigh of relief.

The midwife cut the umbilical cord, wrapped the baby up, picked him up, and said in a surprised voice, "Congratulations, ma'am, it's a boy. I estimate he's 15 pounds, healthy, and growing very well!"

Yunfang gestured to hand the child to her.

Seeing that the child was healthy and sound, Yunfang couldn't help but shed tears of joy.

Yun Fang's mother immediately stepped forward and said, "Fang'er, don't cry. Crying is bad for your eyes. The child must be hungry if he keeps crying. Feed him quickly!"

Yunfang had naturally learned how to breastfeed in the system a long time ago. She did not find a wet nurse for her child like other housekeepers did. She thought that the child would be healthier after drinking her colostrum.

It went smoothly. The child drank the milk and fell asleep quickly.

Yunfang's mother also hurried out of the delivery room and said to Li Muwen, "Son-in-law, Yunfang and the baby are both fine. It's a boy. The baby drank the milk and fell asleep. You don't have to worry. Have you thought of a name for the baby? Hurry up and get the household registration done."

Li Muwen was so excited that he didn't know what to say. He looked at Yun Fangniang cautiously and said, "Can I go see them?"

Yun Fang's mother estimated that the midwife and Yun Fang's maid should have cleaned up the house, and said to Li Muwen with a smile: "Go!"

Li Muwen walked in quickly. At this moment, he seemed to have returned to being the young man whose heart and eyes were filled with only Yun Fang.

All the dignity he had accumulated as an official for a year disappeared. At this moment, he was just an ordinary father looking forward to having a child and a husband who loved his wife.

After Li Muwen entered the room, Yunfang asked the maid and the midwife to leave. Li Muwen was relieved when he saw with his own eyes that Yunfang was indeed in good condition.

Seeing the child lying beside Yunfang again, he couldn't help but smile foolishly.

In his eyes, the child was the most perfect child in the world, with every detail of his features being exquisite. He suddenly felt that the names he had given the child before were not worthy of his son.

Yunfang found his dazed look somewhat amusing and said, "Don't be dazed. Have you thought of a name for your son?"

Li Muwen got an idea and said, "Jun Zi Ru Heng, I want to name my son Li Wei Heng, what do you think?"

Yunfang repeated it several times and thought it sounded very nice, so she decided on it immediately.

At this time, Yunfang's mother came over with the food prepared in the kitchen and said to Yunfang, "Fang'er, come and eat quickly! Giving birth to a child must have consumed a lot of energy."

Li Muwen quickly took the plate and said, "Mom, if you have anything to do, just let the servants do it. You have worked hard during this period. Go and have a rest!"

Ever since Yunfeng and Yue Yanmei got married, Yunfang's mother came to Yunfang to accompany her. Yunfang was also very happy that her mother could be with her.

The development of Liangzhou Prefecture City has been very good in the past few months. Last autumn, the yield of wheat soaked in Oxalis juice during the autumn harvest in Liangzhou Prefecture City did increase a bit. Li Muwen also lowered the tax rate as agreed, which made Li Muwen's prestige in Liangzhou Prefecture City unprecedentedly high.

However, the land in Liangzhou was still too barren. Even with the Oxalis, the people could only barely make ends meet after paying some taxes. The meager taxes paid by the people of Liangzhou were also targeted by families in other counties.

Not long after the autumn harvest, the magistrates of the three counties except the one where the garrison was stationed wrote to Li Muwen, saying that their areas of jurisdiction had suffered a disaster and asked Li Muwen to exempt taxes and allocate grain for relief.

The requested relief grain was exactly the same as the tax grain collected by Li Muwen. Li Muwen knew that they must have planted spies in the city, but it was indeed a headache for him because he could not ignore the documents from these three counties.

Li Muben originally wanted to report these tax grains to the emperor to see if they could be kept to build the capital of Liangzhou, or at least build a college so that ordinary people in Liangzhou could receive education!

He wanted to write down all the situations in Liangzhou in the memorial to the emperor, but Yunfang stopped him and said, "Sir, if you write this memorial like that, I'm afraid you won't be able to leave Liangzhou. You will definitely be intercepted by others."

Li Muwen was helpless and angry. After thinking about it, he still couldn't find any good solution.

While Li Muwen and Yunfang were still thinking of a solution, the emperor's edict arrived.

"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims: The soldiers of Liangzhou have fought in battles for years and have made great contributions. All land taxes and grain collected by Liangzhou must be handed over to the soldiers at the border. No mistakes must be made. This is my decree." After the messenger read out the imperial edict, Li Muwen's eyes turned red. He originally thought that only the three major families were eyeing the taxes and grain in his hands, but he didn't expect that there would be border guards as well.

He knew that he really couldn't keep the food in his hands.

Li Muwen took the imperial edict helplessly and could only watch as the soldiers who came with the edict took away the already scarce tax grain.

The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict glanced at the dejected Li Muwen and said, "When the emperor sent me here, he told me to tell you that you have done a good job. He knows about your governance of Liangzhou and is very satisfied with it. You can't keep this batch of grain now. If you give it to the garrison, it will be fine. When you can really take charge of the entire Liangzhou in the future, things like today will not happen. The emperor also said that your wife's caravan is indeed extraordinary and will definitely bring different vitality to Liangzhou. The commercial tax can be controlled by Lord Li."

After Li Muwen said these words to Yunfang, Yunfang was also very surprised. She did not expect that the emperor actually knew what they had done.

The emperor's last words were also to remind Li Muwen and Yun Fang that the emperor's decree only wanted tax grain. If Yun Fang's caravan could boost the business of the entire Liangzhou, then the commercial tax could be controlled by Li Muwen, and then Li Muwen could build Liangzhou according to his own ideas.

After several months of training and exercise, the caravan under Yunfang has acquired very high capabilities. Yunfang has also recruited many people one after another, and recruited 200 people before the New Year. After at least one month of training, Yunfang asked them to set out to the Western Regions to find alfalfa seeds and bring back as many lambs as possible.

On the day Yunfang gave birth, the 200 people had already set out for a month and a half. No one knew whether they could bring back what Yunfang wanted in the spring, or whether they could return safely. However, whether they could bring life to Liangzhou was a crucial step.