The cruel little princess

All the generals arrived at the main camp. Seeing His Royal Highness Prince Jin seated at the head, and then glancing at General Shen, seated a little below, they were all puzzled as to what this meant. Scouts hadn't detected any signs of a major Qinglong attack recently, so why was the general so serious?

"Everyone, three of our granaries burned down half a month ago, leaving us with only enough grain to last us a month. Later, I submitted a petition requesting grain, and the eunuch who announced the decree today said that the tax revenue from the Ministry of Revenue had not yet arrived, so Your Majesty..." He bowed toward the capital and continued, "Your Majesty has ordered him to collect and transport the grain within half a month. However, the remaining grain we have is barely enough. Even if the Ministry of Revenue can collect the grain within half a month, it will take ten days to transport it. In those ten days, we will be out of food! I summoned you all here today to ask if you have any good solutions?"

For a moment, the generals looked at each other in bewilderment. What good solution could there be? All they had to do was tighten their belts and live a more frugal life! Three meals a day before, now only two?

But this isn't very realistic! Without enough food, how can we have the energy to train? Not to mention fighting in battle! Alas, what can we do? The barracks fell silent.

"General, how about we go to that Liu Jianye and borrow some food supplies?" Lieutenant General Zhang looked at General Shen.

"...Your suggestion is excellent, but don't bring it up next time. Last time, they single-handedly gathered a hundred carts of food, enough for our army to feed for half a month. Without that, we wouldn't have made it this far! Besides, even if it was a life-saving favor, that food was more than enough to cover it. Now we have to go back on our pride and borrow it... To put it nicely, it's borrowing, to put it bluntly, it's asking for it! This, this, this... I, Shen, don't have the face to borrow..." General Shen repeatedly denied Lieutenant General Zhang's awful idea. "Such an unrighteous act, Shen, would never do!"

Everyone was silent again. Yes, they had already sent food and grass once, so asking for it again would be unreasonable! No one spoke for a long time, and General Shen couldn't think of a better way. "Send 500 people to the mountains to hunt to supplement the food and grass. The three meals a day before will be temporarily changed to two meals a day, one meal in the morning at Si time (around ten o'clock) and one meal in the afternoon at You time (around five o'clock). It was dry rice before, but now it is changed to thicker rice porridge. Tell the brothers who are hunting that the prey cannot be kept for a long time. No matter how much prey is caught that day, all of them will be given as snacks to the soldiers! If you have a better way, feel free to put it forward for everyone's reference!" Finally, His Royal Highness Prince Jin proposed his own countermeasures. Since everyone didn't have any other way, they unanimously decided to follow His Royal Highness Prince Jin's plan first, implement it for three to five days, and see how the brothers react. If it doesn't work, let the brothers go up the mountain to dig wild vegetables. It's almost the end of July now, and even grass roots and tree bark won't starve people to death!

The next day, the eunuch Xiao Xizi, who announced the decree, led his men back to Beijing.

Seeing Chuntao coming back with slumped shoulders and a dejected look, Shen Youyou quickly asked, "Who made our little Chuntao angry? What happened? Why does she look so unhappy?"

Chun Tao pursed her lips and said, "Miss, His Royal Highness Prince Jin has ordered that from today on, three meals a day will be changed to two meals a day! White rice will also be changed to white rice porridge..."

"Why is that?" Shen Youyou didn't think of going to the food supply area for a moment.

"They say there's not enough food..." Chun Tao said helplessly, "The imperial court hasn't allocated military rations yet, so everyone should eat less."

Shen Youyou nodded, indicating that she understood. A while ago, spies from the Qinglong Kingdom came and burned three granaries. Perhaps the military rations allocated by the court had not yet arrived, so there was a gap between the supply and demand. Shen Youyou thought of the gold, silver, and jewelry that the emperor had just bestowed upon her, and went straight to find her father.

She waited for the guard outside the tent to go in and report, then went into her father's tent. "Dad, I heard we're running low on food and fodder?" she said straight to the point.

"My daughter, why don't you send me back to the capital?" Shen Duanfang didn't want his daughter to starve with him. "The Qinglong Kingdom won't be sending any more troops anytime soon, and you've seen how effective the rescue team is. The military doctors you brought in have made great progress, and even many of those young medicine boys can handle their duties independently. The border situation has stabilized, so there's little point in you staying here. Why don't you return to the capital?"

"Dad, I'll go back to the capital and save you the two mouthfuls of food. Will it be enough for your army to eat for a month?" Shen Youyou was a little depressed. She didn't eat much, so why did they have to drive her away? "Dad, didn't the emperor give me a lot of jewelry this time? I'll take them all out, and you can sell them to exchange for food. See if we can hold out for a few more days!"

"Nonsense! This is a gift from the emperor and cannot be bought or sold! My daughter, you can't have such an idea! This is a capital crime! Besides, even if it can be bought or sold, dad can't take your things to sell to supplement military expenses! Dad has to keep them for your dowry! Don't mention this matter again!" Shen Duanfang directly rejected his daughter's proposal.

"How about I ask Liu Jianye to advance some of the dividends, and you can use it for emergency use, Dad." Shen Youyou thought of another idea.

"Let your father think about it. Even if we buy up all the food shops on this side of the border, it won't be enough to sustain the army for two days. Let me think about whether I can borrow some food from other places. If your father really has no other way, I will ask you for money. Go ahead, go back and have a rest first!" Shen Duanfang didn't want his daughter to worry and suffer, so he sent her away.

Shen Youyou was wandering aimlessly through the military camp when she suddenly spotted a lush green patch ahead of her, looking incredibly thriving. She approached and realized it was the same two acres of sweet potatoes she'd previously asked An Er to plant. Counting the days, they'd been planted in late April, and now, in early August, almost a hundred days later, they should be ready to eat. She remembered that sweet potatoes were a very high-yielding crop in modern times, with one acre yielding around 2500-4000 kilograms! Kilograms! Even if there wasn't as much fertilizer available now, and the yields weren't as high as they are today, at least kilograms was still possible, right?

To avoid any misunderstandings, she tried to pull one out first. She found the sweet potato leaf at her feet and, like following a vine to find a melon, she pulled it up with both hands. But she didn't know if the soil was too firm or for some other reason, so she couldn't pull it up. At this time, An Er appeared in front of Shen Youyou, "Miss, what do you want?"

"An Er, when were these sweet potato seedlings planted?" Shen Youyou was worried that she had remembered the wrong date.

"Miss, it's April 21st." An Er thought carefully and replied.

April 21st, now it's August 3rd, a hundred days later, it should be almost time. "An Er, can you pull this one up so I can take a look?!" Her tone was filled with unconcealable excitement.

"Yes!" An Er simply said one word, then came to help. He held the sweet potato leaves in both hands, stood with his feet slightly apart, shoulder-width apart, and took a horse stance. Then, he sank his qi into his dantian and lifted with both hands! A bunch of sweet potatoes of various sizes were pulled out as the sweet potato vines rose!

The largest ones were as big as bowls, and the smallest ones were no bigger than a fist! No wonder she couldn't move them just now. It turned out that there were too many of them, too big, and so heavy, it would be a wonder she could move them!

"Miss, this..." An Er was secretly surprised. The sweet potatoes he had dug up in the mountains to grow seedlings were not this big! He didn't expect them to grow so big now! An Er had never considered that they grew smaller in the mountains because the soil was not that fertile. And after planting them here, although Shen Youyou had stopped paying attention to this matter after giving the order, the grooms in the military camp often brought farm manure here for fertilization. How could they not grow big?! An Er only saw the lush leaves of the sweet potatoes, and he had no idea when they would grow well. Moreover, they were all buried in the ground, so he had no idea how they would grow. So when the prince said there was a food shortage, he didn't think about it at all.

Shen Youyou was very happy when she saw such big sweet potatoes. She asked An Er, "We must have planted two acres of sweet potatoes at that time, right? Do you think that digging out these would be enough for the army to eat for a day?" She felt very happy, and she had solved the problem of food rations for her father for a day!

An Er was a little puzzled. If Miss Ermudi was so happy, what would she do if she knew that the prince had ordered people to reclaim over a hundred acres of land and plant sweet potatoes?!

"My lady, it's not two acres!" An Er spoke truthfully. "At that time, the prince, in order to please my lady, ordered his subordinates to dig up all the sweet potatoes on the mountain and raise them as seedlings. After they returned, they reclaimed the land and planted cuttings. There are a full one hundred acres!"

Shen Youyou: ...How much? My ears seem to have their own minds, only wanting to hear the numbers they want to hear!

Seeing Shen Youyou's expression of disbelief and confusion, An Er replied again, "Our prince ordered his subordinates to dig up all the sweet potatoes from the mountain and plant them as seedlings. There are a full one hundred acres!"

Shen Youyou, "Are you serious?"

An Er, "Absolutely true!"

Shen Youyou, "Okay! That's great! An Er, go find the prince now and ask him to go to my father's tent. I have something to talk to them about!"

"I obey your command!" An Er said solemnly. He also guessed that Shen Youyou was going to discuss something with the prince and her father. He hoped that God would grant his wish and perfectly resolve this military food crisis!