The cannon fodder just wants to survive until the end

The situation in Jingguo is not very good now. Floods and droughts hit Jingguo at the same time. Emperor Shengyuan became more and more incompetent, favoring villains and alienating wise ministers. The entire Jingguo is crumbling and cannot withstand any major storms.

When the people in Ming Huaixi's caravan returned to Jingguo and saw how miserable Jingguo was, most of them chose to live in the livable Zhao State. The ordinary people only cared about a stable environment. For them, being able to have enough food and clothing was a good place.

This time, the caravan returned to Zhao State and brought Ming Huaixi the news of Jingguo. "Is the situation in Jingguo so serious now?"

"Did the old marquis give any instructions?"

"Master, the old marquis only said that you should be at ease, and he will act when the opportunity arises."

"You have just returned and have families to settle. Go to the account office and take out five taels of silver each as your settlement fee. Don't go out for now. Take a good rest first."

Ming Huaixi gave benefits to the families of the caravans who were willing to come to Zhao State. It still takes some time for people from another country to integrate into Zhao State. Ming Huaixi considered himself to be a good boss and would not treat his subordinates unfairly.

After sending the caravan away, Ming Huaixi thought about it again and again in his room alone. Finally, he stood up and ordered, "Caiyun, prepare paper and pen for me. I need to write a letter home."

"Yes, Princess." Caiyun usually called Ming Huaixi Princess when the two were alone together. Maybe in her heart, the princess was the master and would always be a princess. In her heart, the princess was just an external title.

Ming Huaixi was still somewhat worried about the old Marquis of Xinyang, so he decided to ask about the situation. Ming Huaixi also wanted to know how the Ji family was doing and whether they could get any convenience in this matter.

Zhao had naturally received the news of the turmoil in Jingguo, but now that there were foreign races causing unrest on Zhao's border, Zhao paid less attention to Jingguo. At present, it only knew that there was some turmoil, but the specific extent was not yet known.

Xinyang Marquis Mansion

"My Lord, it's the princess who sent the letter."

The old Marquis of Xinyang was not worried when he received Ming Huaixi's letter. When he saw Ming Huaixi's concern for the Marquis of Xinyang's Mansion, his heart softened for a moment.

His granddaughter has grown up and is no longer the little girl behind her mother. The old Marquis of Xinyang feels very guilty towards Ming Huaixi. He has made great military achievements in his life, but he could not protect his daughter or give his granddaughter freedom. He is worthy of the people of Jingguo but not his family.

The old general seemed to be buried in darkness at this moment, and negative emotions surrounded him tightly.

After a long while, the old Marquis of Xinyang came out of his thoughts. Ming Huaixi said in her heart that the general of the Lingnan Army had been rescued by her mother and had promised several things. If the old Marquis of Xinyang needed it, Ming Huaixi was willing to deliver the token.

The old Marquis of Xinyang knew that his daughter had saved the current commander of the Lingnan Army, and he also knew that he was a grateful person, otherwise he would not have secretly nominated him as the next commander of the Lingnan Army.

At that time, the old Marquis of Xinyang just thought that whoever was in charge of the Lingnan Army would no longer be the Marquis of Xinyang Mansion, and that the commander was the best choice. He did not expect that the commander had also promised his daughter something.

The old Marquis of Xinyang pondered for a while, took out a pen and paper, and told Ming Huaixi about Jingguo's current situation one by one. He also told Ming Huaixi that he was considering cooperating with the Ji family, but he refused the token that Ming Huaixi mentioned.

The token has not arrived yet, and it is still unknown whether the Ji family can be of great use, so there is no rush for this matter.

Zhao Guo

Ever since Yang Xiuyuan took the Ministry of Industry's drawings home to work and was seen by Ming Huaixi who gave him some pointers, the development of the new agricultural tools has been rapid. From time to time, Yang Xiuyuan would get inspiration from Ming Huaixi and improve the agricultural tools to make them more useful and more suitable for the State of Zhao.

Now it is early spring, and new agricultural tools are being promoted and tried out. The new tools are more handy than the old ones. For the same amount of land, using new tools can increase efficiency by two or three times, which is a big improvement for the State of Zhao.

Ming Huaixi was informed by the people on the farm that the crops planted last time were now about to sprout.

Ming Huaixi was very surprised. He didn't expect that there were frost-resistant crops in ancient times. So he immediately asked someone to prepare a carriage and couldn't wait to go to the farm.

In fact, most of the crop seeds were frozen to death and did not germinate. Only a few crops survived the cold winter in Zhao State. However, this was enough to surprise Ming Huaixi. These crops could be saved for seeds. As long as they were harvested this time, half of them would likely carry antifreeze genes.

If these crop seeds are cultivated and improved, the chances of germinating will not be just a little bit, but more than half of them will germinate.

"Take good care of these crops. When they are ripe, I will come to see them myself."

Ming Huaixi ordered the people on the farm to take good care of the crops and asked them to report to her when the crops were ripe.

The people in Zhuangzi actually didn't quite understand why Ming Huaixi insisted on sowing seeds before winter came. To them, the old farmers of Zhao State, this was a bit of a waste of food. When they saw that some seeds were still alive, they were also very surprised.

This seemed impossible to them, but now it has become a reality. They will take good care of these crops without Ming Huaixi's instructions. This is a miracle in their hearts.

Now that he had seeds that could survive the winter, Ming Huaixi had accomplished half of what he wanted to do. The border of Zhao State would soon be stable again, and it was time to send the caravan to the outside world again.

The environment in some places in foreign lands is even worse than that in Zhao State, but some people still survive there. They cannot rely on hunting or looting to survive every day. They have other things to fill their stomachs. Those things can grow in foreign lands, so they may not be unable to grow in Zhao State.

This is the more important reason why Ming Huaixi formed a caravan. As a princess married to a foreign country, the dowry she got was enough for her to spend for several lifetimes, so she didn't need to worry about money.

The last caravan also brought some things from foreign lands, and Ming Huaixi has now ordered them to plant them in one place for a trial.

Those were edible things that the people in the caravan exchanged with outsiders according to Ming Huaixi's instructions. The people in the caravan felt that some of the clods of earth tasted bad, which was a world of difference compared to what the people of Jingguo and Zhao ate.

Although they didn't know what Ming Huaixi wanted those things for, they still brought back some as instructed.

Ming Huaixi also looked at what they brought back. It seemed like early potatoes, with a yellowish earth color. Ming Huaixi specially asked someone to roast one, and it tasted like potato.

It’s just not as delicious as what Ming Huaixi eats in his own world. Actually, come to think of it, Ming Huaixi’s world is a modern society, and potatoes have long been improved. The taste and yield are incomparable to those in ancient times.

Ming Huaixi had the remaining ones bred according to the planting methods in the agricultural books he had read before.