The ninth son of the emperor was demoted at the beginning. I have a famous Chinese general.

This also made the two places unexpectedly prosperous.

Ning Quan's high-profile purchase of grain naturally attracted the attention of many people, including the Daqian court and military governors from all over the country.

They all realized that Ning Quan's previous warning about a severe drought might be true.

Otherwise, why would Ning Quan purchase so much food?

Therefore, they also began to purchase food, including the imperial court, which also actively stockpiled food.

Even among the common people, they began to stockpile food.

Especially the people of Beiting, who were originally skeptical when they received the notice asking them to store more food.

Now that they see ox carts transporting grain coming and going every day, they dare not underestimate it and have followed suit and started hoarding grain.

They also proactively slaughtered the excess cattle and sheep, dried them, and stored them.

In just one month, grain prices skyrocketed across the country and grain merchants began to limit sales.

Fortunately, Ning Quan purchased the food in advance, otherwise he would not only have to spend several times more silver, but it would also be a problem whether he could buy food.

Even so, Ning Quan only purchased 1.5 million shi of grain in the end.

If all this food is supplied, it can only last for half a year at most.

Fortunately, the people have their own grain stores, so the accounts cannot be calculated in this way.

According to Ning Quan's estimation, this food can last him at least two years.

Just spending a huge amount of money on this made Ning Quan feel a little painful.

In order to purchase these grains, Ning Quan almost emptied all his previous family savings.

If he hadn't made a fortune from Li Chenglin, he would be a pauper now.

Fortunately, we finally got the food back, and the mission was completed perfectly.

What followed was two years of hardship to get through the drought.

And use this time to recuperate and build a new city.

And after that, he will set his sights on Anxi.

...........

"Your Highness, the latest intelligence is that Huhanye and Maodun have already decided the outcome. Huhanye has won a great victory, while Maodun has been defeated and fled."

Li Jing reported the information in his hand.

"Oh? Maodun was defeated by Mao Hanxie?" Ning Quan asked in surprise.

The Eastern Xiongnu were much stronger than the Western Xiongnu, but unexpectedly they were defeated.

"Yes, and the defeat was terrible. It is said that they lost 200,000 men."

"If that's the case, I think Huhanye will soon turn his attention to us." Li Jing said worriedly.

"Well, that's for sure."

"But if the enemy comes, we will just fight him with our troops and if the water comes, we will block it with earth. There is nothing to be afraid of." Ning Quan said calmly.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I will do my best."

Li Jing promised.

"Well, I believe in your ability."

"A few days ago, news came that the Arabs and Persians had also reached a ceasefire. Do you think the Arabs will attack us?"

"If that's the case, I'm afraid it will be troublesome."

Ning Quan reminded.

"I have also considered this issue. It is indeed possible."

"If that really happens, we can only fortify our defenses, clear the fields, move all the people to Changhe and Hulan, and then defend the city."

"The Huns are not good at attacking cities, and neither are the Arabs. Even if they were stronger than the Huns, they would still be helpless."

"As long as we hold on for a while, they will retreat." Li Jing bowed.

"Well, as long as you have confidence!" Ning Quan said in a deep voice.

..............

Time flies, and winter is coming in the blink of an eye.

Man Chong and Liu Bowen lived up to everyone's expectations and finally completed the construction of the reservoir before the beginning of winter.

At present, the water of the Gulun River is continuously flowing into the reservoir through the ditches.

Most of the purchased grain has been shipped back, and the remaining part is stored in various places and will be transported in the spring of next year.

The construction of the new city has also been suspended and will have to wait until next year.

During this period, Ning Quan also won two prizes.

He drew 500 kilograms of explosives at one time.

Another time, he won an electric tricycle.

That’s right, it’s a tricycle, the kind you see on the streets in the real world.

Ning Quan was of course happy to get the explosives, as this thing was very useful.

But when he drew a tricycle, Ning Quan was left in a dilemma.

What's the use of this thing?

Loading goods and transporting people?

But since he had drawn it, he couldn't return it, so he had no choice but to keep it.

Just treat it as a fun thing, you can take Wanyue for a ride when you have nothing to do.

……

As time passed, winter finally arrived in Huluan.

It also marks the first heavy snowfall of winter.

Snowflakes as big as goose feathers fell from the sky, instantly dyeing the earth white and covering the entire grassland.

The whole place is covered in silver, and the scenery is stunning.

When it snows heavily, there is basically nothing you can do.

Ning Quan also entered a hibernation life, sitting in front of the brazier all day, either chatting with everyone about all sorts of things, or drinking and eating meat.

Or study life with Wanyue, Dongmei and other girls.

Life is quite pleasant.

It's just that it's been going on for a long time and my body can't take it anymore.

After all, he is a man.

Women don't get tired, but men do.

Ning Quan decisively corrected his mistakes and focused his energy on martial arts and skiing.

Every day, in addition to asking Zhang Fei and others to teach him martial arts, he would take Wanyue and others to ski outside the city.

Occasionally I would go hunting or something.

Another month passed like this, and the weather became even colder.

After three consecutive heavy snowfalls, the temperature dropped to minus 30 or 40 degrees Celsius.

At this time, it is no longer possible to rely on air conditioning for heating, and we can only burn more braziers.

Ning Quan no longer went out hunting or skiing, but he still insisted on practicing martial arts every day.

This month, Ning Quan won a prize again.

But I ended up winning an electric toy car.

That’s right, it’s the kind of electric car that kids ride.

Ning Quan was speechless. If only he had a child, he could use it.

But he has no children now.

I had no choice but to put it in the warehouse and wait until I have a child.

Compared with the coldness in Beiting, although the winters in other parts of the Central Plains are also very cold, it basically has no impact.

The people are doing what they should be doing, those who should be going to the streets are going to the streets, those who should be busy are busy, everything is as usual.

However, as half of winter passed, the smiles on people's faces gradually disappeared.

They found that there had not been a single snowfall since the beginning of winter.

What will happen to the crops in the fields if there is no snow?

The people were suddenly panicked and prayed for snow to fall quickly.

But God seemed to ignore it and not a single snowflake fell until the beginning of spring.

At this time, the people knew that something was wrong.

Officials from all over the country have also realized the seriousness of the problem.

If there is no snow throughout the winter, there will most likely be a severe drought the following year.

This is absolutely a huge deal.

If a severe drought really comes, I don’t know how many people will starve to death and what a big mess it will cause.

For a time, officials from all over the country wrote letters to the court to report the situation.