Going to Beijing to save his father, all the powerful officials in the city are vying to be his fath

Su Qin never told Mai Dong the real purpose of her trip, so she couldn't explain to Mai Dong why she did this.

She just asked Mai Dong: "Who did you learn your kung fu from?"

Mai Dong: "At first, my father taught me some moves. Later, when he saw that I had a talent for martial arts, he found a martial arts master to teach me. He thought that I could support myself as a bodyguard in the future and not have to rely on men."

Su Qin: "Did your martial arts master teach you all the moves he knows?"

Mai Dong shook his head: "When a master teaches an apprentice, he always keeps something in reserve, for fear that the apprentice will starve the master to death."

Su Qin nodded. "It's the same with everything. The initiative must be in our own hands. Although I taught them how to build terraces, farming is not that easy. How can the farming experience that our people have accumulated over thousands of years be easily learned by others?

Even if the terraces are built, they will still encounter various problems in the future, such as pests and diseases, floods and droughts, and the impact of seasonal climate change...

Without decades of experience, they can't farm the land well, so it's impossible for them to completely get rid of us.

Even if their farming technology matures in the future and they no longer need us, we won't be able to grow very strong.

It is a small country with a shortage of material resources. It is not short of food but of other things. War requires a large amount of manpower and material resources. Their terrain is advantageous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so they can protect themselves.

But there are also disadvantages. It is difficult to develop because of complacency. Land is limited, the population cannot be increased, there is no iron and technology, and there are very few weapons.

How can they wage war without men and weapons? They can only passively take the brunt of the attacks. If they actively wage war, they will be annihilated once they leave these mountains."

Those little guys and Koreans have learned from China for thousands of years but have only learned the basics, not even the essence. Their tiny country has nothing. Unless the giant dragon beside them falls ill and gives them the opportunity to rob, they will be killed instantly if they show up.

Maidong seemed to understand, but she didn't ask any more questions. Her father had told her at first that he wanted her to work for the Wuning Marquis' Mansion, and she was quite happy. But in the end, he asked her to protect a girl, and she was very disappointed.

Although she was dedicated to protecting Su Qin, she was not convinced in her heart. She did not learn martial arts hard to be a bodyguard for a rich lady.

But from today on, she began to truly admire Su Qin from the bottom of her heart, not only because she was knowledgeable and smart.

It is also because of her courage and boldness.

At the village chief's place, facing the threat of the archer and the village chief's gaze, even she was scared and broke out in a cold sweat. However, Su Qin not only remained calm but also injured the other party in an instant.

She believed that with this calmness and courage, Su Qin would definitely be better than her if she practiced martial arts.

Su Qin rested for two more days. During this period, Qu Bhudan invited her twice, but she refused both times on the grounds of feeling unwell.

Wagon must have known what happened and didn't dare to come around her and chatter.

When Qu Bhutan invited Su Qin for the third time, she finally went.

This time the village chief's attitude was much better. He asked her to sit down and served her some tea and snacks.

However, Su Qin did not touch it. Instead, she went straight to the point and gave Qu Bhudan the drawings that had been prepared long ago, and then gave him a brief explanation.

Qu Bhudan was very grateful to Su Qin for doing this, because even if he didn't go through him, the village chief could find someone else to translate what Su Qin wrote. But now that the drawings were handed over to him, it would be impossible to bypass him in the future when building the terraces. Even if he went to the chief, the village chief had to take him with him.

Maybe through this incident he could even move up a social class and become a noble.

The village chief took the blueprint and Qu Bhutan to their capital to meet the leader.

Their capital was located in the middle of the only basin surrounded by mountains. The climate there was pleasant, the grass and trees were abundant, and it was the only place where crops could be grown.

Only the chief and his family are qualified to eat the crops grown here.

The village chief met the chief. After looking at the blueprints and listening to the village chief's explanation, the chief asked gloomily, "Are you saying that cultivating these terraces will give us the opportunity to have equal status with us nobles and eat food?"

Seeing that the leader looked very bad, the village chief hurriedly pushed Qu Bhutan out to explain.

Although Qu Bhutan was afraid, he still suppressed his fear and explained: "Chief, that's not what the village master meant. Slaves are always slaves. How can they be equal to you, the noble one?

It's just that land is scarce here, and the land that can be used for farming is extremely scarce. It is not enough for all the nobles to eat, and we have to spend a lot of silver money to buy it every year.

If we cultivate such terraced fields and grow crops, we won't have to buy food from outside. Not only can we save a lot of money, but we can also be self-sufficient and no longer be coerced by other countries.

Moreover, if you let slaves and common people farm the land, they will have income, and you can collect more taxes.

The imperial courts of smaller countries became rich by collecting agricultural taxes from the people.

When we have money, we will no longer rely on tolls. We can let whoever we want to pass through, and we can stop them if we don’t want them to pass.

By that time, won't both countries have to look to us for favor?"

These words were taught to him by Su Qin, because Su Qin knew very well that in a slave society, slave owners cared about their own status, and what they wanted was to demonstrate their status by exploiting and enslaving slaves.

They just need to have food to eat and don’t care whether the people below have food to eat or not.

If everyone has enough food to eat, how can they demonstrate their noble status? So even if there is a way to grow more food, the nobles will not agree.

But if this thing is beneficial to them, they will definitely be willing to do it.

After listening to him, the chief pondered for a moment and asked, "Can the terraced fields you mentioned really grow crops?"

Qu Bhudan didn't know either, but since things had come to this point, he couldn't deny it, so he nodded firmly: "Okay."

The chief said: "Then go back and plant some crops. If your village can really produce crops, I will reward you."

Qu Bhutan hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Chief, the one who teaches us farming has a condition. That is, they teach us farming, but in the future their caravans can come and go freely and are tax-free."

After saying that, he looked at the leader nervously, fearing that he would refuse if he was unhappy.

The leader thought that the person who had the courage to make such a request was really bold, and asked curiously, "What kind of caravan is this?"

The village chief wanted to say that it was a caravan led by a woman, but Qu Bhutan stopped him in time. "This is a caravan organized by Wuning Hou of the neighboring Yu State. Although Wuning Hou doesn't lead any troops now, his status and prestige in the Yu State and the army are very high. He established the caravan just to make more money. It will be beneficial for us to establish a good relationship with him. If the Yu State wants to send troops to us in the future, he can also mediate."

The chief thought about it and nodded in agreement: "Yes, as long as he can teach us how to grow crops, we will not charge taxes for their caravans passing through in the future."

But how much tax can a caravan collect? The leader is much more flexible than the village chief and knows what is beneficial to him.

Qu Bhudan breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally done, so all his efforts were not in vain.

After coming out, the village chief said to Qu Bhutan meaningfully: "You are quite talkative."

Qu Bhutan smiled and said, "I'm a businessman, and I'm practicing my skills with my mouth. I also do this to make our village better and to make you the most prestigious village chief."

The village chief finally felt better when he saw that he was respectful.