I have been farming since I crossed over.

Lu Liu threw the minion in his hand to the ground, squatted down, and pulled off the black cloth on his face, revealing a young and frightened face.

"Tell me, who sent you? Why are you following us?" Lu Liu stared at him with a sharp gaze and asked sternly.

The little henchman was so frightened that he trembled all over, his eyes dodging, and he stammered, "Master...Master, we are also following orders. I really don't know why."

Zheng Huaimin walked forward and stepped on the minion's leg with a little force. The minion screamed in pain.

"Don't...don't step on me. I'm telling you, isn't that enough? It's the prefect of Xiting Prefecture. He's told us to keep an eye on a convoy from Xinyun Prefecture that's delivering food and fodder. If there's any movement, report it to him immediately."

Lu Liu and Zheng Huaimin looked at each other, their eyes full of confusion and surprise.

The prefect of Xiting Prefecture, they had never met this prefect before, so why were they targeted by him?

Lu Liu pressed on, "Why is the prefect following us? What does he want to know?"

The little henchman said with a sad face, "I really don't know. The prefect just said that there was something fishy about this grain delivery team, and that what they were doing might be detrimental to him. He asked us to keep a close eye on them and find out who was behind it."

Zheng Huaimin snorted coldly: "It seems that our whereabouts have been exposed, and the people involved are not simple."

He squatted down, grabbed the little guy's collar with both hands, and lifted him up: "How many of you are there in total? Do you have any other strongholds?"

The henchman quickly replied, "There are ten of us in total, divided into two groups to follow the food delivery team. There is an abandoned house at the east end of the town, which is where we will meet."

Lu Liu stood up and clapped his hands. "Huaimin, it seems we have to go meet the prefect. First, tie this guy up and hide him in the utility room in this alley. Once we have figured out the whole story, we can decide what to do with him."

Zheng Huaimin nodded in agreement, and the two of them quickly tied up the little guy, dragged him into the utility room, and then walked towards the abandoned house at the east end of the town.

Along the way, Lu Liu and Zheng Huaimin were very careful to prevent any other ambushes.

Soon, they arrived in front of the abandoned house.

The door of the house was closed and there was silence all around.

Lu Liu walked around the house and found that the back door was ajar. He winked at Zheng Huaimin, and the two of them sneaked in through the back door.

The house was overgrown with weeds and filled with a smell of decay.

As they entered the yard, they heard whispers coming from inside the house.

Lu Liu and Zheng Huaimin crouched down and slowly approached the house, looking inside through the gaps in the window.

I saw several dark figures talking in the house. One of them seemed to be the leader and said anxiously, "It's been so long, and the little monkey hasn't come back yet. Could something have happened?"

Another shadow said, "How about we go out and look for him? If we fail to complete the mission, we won't be able to explain ourselves to the prefect."

Lu Liu and Zheng Huaimin no longer hesitated, kicked the door open and rushed in.

The several dark shadows in the room were frightened by this sudden change. Before they could react, Lu Liu and Zheng Huaimin rushed in front of them.

After a fierce fight, all the dark shadows in the house were subdued.

Lu Liu learned from a minion that the prefect of Xiting Prefecture was named Zhao Derong. He was greedy and cunning, and he often extorted money from the people.

They followed Zheng Huaimin and his group because Zhao Derong discovered that they would send a batch of grain through Xiting Prefecture every once in a while, and the quantity was considerable.

Xiting Prefecture is currently at war and food supplies are in short supply. If we can intercept them, we can definitely make a lot of money.

One of the retainers of Zhao Zhifu suggested that it would be best to find a source of food, so that it would be a long-term cash cow.

Prefect Zhao sent people to investigate and found that the person came from Xinyun Prefecture. Because he and Prefect Zhang of Xinyun Prefecture were at odds, he did not dare to investigate openly and sent people to follow him.

As a result, this group of people had no fixed place in Xinyun Mansion, so they had no choice but to design such a trap in order to find out the mastermind behind this incident.

After Lu Liu and Zheng Huaimin understood the whole story, they decided not to alert the enemy. They hid these minions in the utility room and then left the abandoned house.

The two returned to the inn and discussed their next plan.

"It seems that Zhao Derong is not a simple person. We have to find a way to get to the bottom of his crimes." Lu Liu said with a frown.

Zheng Huaimin nodded and said, "That's right, but we have to be careful. Since he can send people to follow us, he must have some precautions."

The two discussed until late at night and finally came up with a thorough plan.

They decided to first collect evidence of Zhao Derong's crimes, and then report him to the higher authorities to bring him down in one fell swoop.

What they don’t know is that all this is just the beginning, and bigger conspiracies and challenges are still waiting for them.

……

There has been a recent farming incident in Xinyun Mansion that has caused a lot of heated discussion among the people.

It turned out that the prefect, Mr. Zhang, had heard that many farms under his jurisdiction were able to grow rice by transplanting and had a good harvest, so he had an idea in his mind.

This new planting technology has already been used in Qingshui County under his jurisdiction. A good harvest was harvested a few days ago, and the second crop has also been planted.

This type of planting not only results in high yields, but also increases the number of plantings per year. This is like a pie in the sky for farmers, and they must take it.

Mr. Zhang paced in the government office, thinking about how to connect with the rice planting in Qingshui County.

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head and he thought of Tang Jiahang.

Isn’t Tang Jiahang the county magistrate of Qingshui County? He has already led the people under his jurisdiction to plant crops once, so he should be quite experienced.

Lord Zhang quickly sent someone to invite Tang Jiahang.

Two days later, Tang Jiahang arrived at the government office.

Master Zhang, beaming, personally came out to greet Tang Jiahang. He took Tang Jiahang's hand and said, "Nephew Tang, your uncle has invited you here today because he has something important to discuss with you."

Tang Jiahang returned the greeting with a bow and said with a smile, "Master Zhang, you are so polite. What can I do for you?"

Mr. Zhang then told everyone in detail about his plan to learn how to transplant rice from Qingshui County.

After hearing this, Tang Jiahang frowned slightly and said, "I can teach you this method, but I need to go back and ask the person who came up with this planting technique for her opinion. Or I can introduce you to someone else and you can discuss it with her in person. I'm afraid the other things will be a bit tricky."

Lord Zhang said hurriedly, "Nephew Tang, you have many friends, and you are the only one who can help me with this matter. If you can accomplish this, the people of Xinyun Prefecture will all be grateful to you."

Tang Jiahang was moved by Master Zhang's earnest words and said, "Since you say so, I will try my best."

A few days later, Tang Jiahang finished his work and finally brought Lord Zhang to Yang Mingxi's residence.

Seeing that it was Tang Jiahang who came to visit, Yang Mingxi was quite polite and invited him into the house to sit down.

Tang Jiahang didn't beat around the bush and explained his intention.

After hearing this, Yang Mingxi pondered for a moment and said, "This transplanting method seems simple, but it is actually complicated. It requires an understanding of the weather, the location, and the rice seeds.

As the prefect, Mr. Zhang is so busy with official duties that it's rare for him to have the heart to pay attention to farming. However, I can't provide you with rice seeds at the moment, so you need to find a way on your own."

Master Zhang looked at Yang Mingxi and said, "That's great. Let's learn this technique first, and then we'll prepare the rice seeds ourselves."