Chapter 267: You ‘re So Foolish
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Moreover, they only taught for half a day and were provided meals. Where else can they find such an opportunity?
This way, Fengyun and Yunfeng can focus on their studies and martial arts. Feng’er was assigned to the backyard to work on farming, allowing the young lovers to meet daily.
Old Master Wang was pleased. He had already nurtured Yuan Jiaqi into a Tribute Scholar and now had Fengyun and Yunfeng as Recommended Scholars. Plus, there was Chuan’er, an Elementary Scholar. He felt proud.
For a while, the Qiao family was making waves in Wei City.
It wasn’t something they wanted to do, but they had no choice. The family was full of successful individuals.
The noble families had their eyes on the Qiao family, looking for ways to form alliances. They believed the Qiao family had good fengshui and that Yuan Jiaqi, only in his thirties, had already become a fifth-rank county governor. They expected his sons to follow in his footsteps.
Just then, news came from the west and south, with reports of an invasion by foreign enemies amassing an army of 200,000 troops, ready to invade from the borders.
This alarmed the Fengyun brothers. They went to find Qiao Mai.
“Mother, we’ve been training in martial arts diligently. We wish to showcase our skills on the battlefield. Please grant us your blessing.”
Qiao Mai looked at her two adopted sons. “I’ve taught you martial arts for two reasons: to keep you strong and healthy and to serve your country. If there’s a place for heroes to use their skills, I won’t stop you. Go and enlist in the county office.’
“Yes, Mother.”
The two brothers packed their belongings, taking the medicines and amulets Qiao Mai had prepared for them, and registered at the county office in County
Yi.
Very few people voluntarily enlisted in the military, taking County Governor Zhu by surprise.
Two Recommended Scholars scholars want to join the army? How could they allow this to happen?
He quickly sent someone to consult with Qiao Mai. Seeing that the Qiao family agreed, County Governor Zhu felt perplexed.
Recommended Scholars joining the army was unprecedented. What should he
He then urgently consulted Wang Zongsheng, who also found it unbelievable.
With one more imperial examination, they could become imperial officials. These two children had a bright future. Why did they want to enlist in the military?
He decided to let County Governor Zhu register the two of them first, arrange their accommodation, and then visit the Qiao family.
“Madam Qiao, about the matter of the children enlisting…”
“I’ve agreed. They have martial skills and wish to serve the country on the battlefield. How can a mother like me stop them?”
“But the battlefield is dangerous.”
“They’ve learned martial arts from me for nearly ten years. If they can’t protect themselves on the battlefield, how can they achieve success? Rest assured. I know what I’m doing.”
“Alright then. Once the time comes, I’ll have them sent to the border.”
“Okay.”
When Miss Mu knew that Fengyun enlisted, she couldn’t hold back her tears. She chased after him to the county office. With her status, nobody dared to stop her.
With teary eyes, she looked at Yunfeng. “Why are you so foolish? Why join the army?”
“We’re not suited for scholarly pursuits despite our recent success in the examination. We’ve tried our best, but if we wait for the imperial examination, we don’t know when that will happen. If the country is in trouble and we can help, it’s our duty. Besides, your family is a family of warriors. I hope that when I marry you in the future, I can do so as one.”
“My family doesn’t look down on you.”
“Your father is a good man, but I want to earn some honor for you.”
He didn’t mention the Duchess. Although she lay in bed, she still looked down upon her future son-in-law.
The more she acted this way, the more determined Feng’er became to prove himself and bring honor to Miss Mu. When the time came to formalize their engagement, she wouldn’t be subject to ridicule from the people in the capital.
“You’re foolish!”
“As a man, this is what I should do. Yunfeng and I have always wanted to be in the military. Seeing your father leading soldiers in battle, we were quite envious. We hope to be like your father one day. Fortunately, Mother has also taught us military strategy, so it’s the right thing to do.”
“I’ll wait for you to return in victory.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of ourselves. You won’t be waiting in vain.”
“Okay.”
Yun’er stood aside, puckering his lips as he watched his older brother and sister-in-law display affection. It made him feel envious.
By the end of May, the two brothers had gone to the border, and Qiao Mai often found herself gazing at the moon alone at night.
After she had seen off the two brothers, rumors began to spread in Tianshui Town. They said Qiao Mai was not their true mother and didn’t genuinely care for the brothers. As soon as there was a war, she sent the two boys away as if she wanted them to go and die.
When Qiao Mai heard these rumors, she didn’t get angry. Most likely, they were started by Feng’er and Yun’er’s previous family.
They didn’t benefit from her, and this time, they had been punished. They probably had some anger they wanted to express, and she understood that.
They were anxious. Oh well!
Regardless of what they said, Lucky Garden remained peaceful. On the other hand, Yuan Jiaqi was extremely busy.
He had opened a safflower oil workshop, a shampoo workshop, and a lacquer workshop. He had three workshops. Since they were related to oils, he made sure none of his workers smoked.
Each workshop had a manager and employed twenty people. There were hundreds of workers collecting pine resin.
In addition to that, he had to take care of the wheat. It had been sown in March, and now, it was June, with the harvest almost ready.
The people in County She was eagerly waiting. If this new type of wheat were successful, they wouldn’t have to worry about their food supply.
This month, Yuan Jiaqi sent all his officials to protect the wheat.
He was more concerned about the wheat than the workshops.
Apart from handling legal cases, he spent most of his time at the workshops or walking around the wheat fields.
As he gazed at the heavy wheat spikes, he couldn’t help but smile.
He believed that the yield per acre couldn’t be low.
It wasn’t just him; many people watched from a distance as it was the hope of County She residents.
For this reason, he hadn’t returned home for two months. Qiao Mai didn’t visit. If there were any trouble, he would have come home to find her. Therefore, she wasn’t worried about the situation on that end.
At the end of June, the experimental fields were finally ready for harvesting. Yuan Jiaqi personally supervised the process while officials oversaw the harvest.
They first harvested an acre of land, threshed the grain on the spot, and weighed it. Although the wheat wasn’t dry, the difference was minimal. Yuan Jiaqi supervised the weighing and then reported the yield to the surrounding villagers.
“The new wheat variety yields 965 catties per acre.”
“Wow, that’s incredibly high!”
Yuan Jiaqi was worried the first weighing might not be accurate, so he had them harvest another acre, which yielded similar results.
The villagers cheered. “Mr. Yuan, can we also start planting this new wheat variety?”
“Of course. From now on, in County She, we can plant two seasons of crops each year. One season is in the spring, and another in July. The new wheat variety matures in three and a half months. With this, we won’t need to plant winter wheat anymore, and our food supply will be sufficient.”
“That’s great!”
“To achieve high wheat yields, you need to learn soil management. It’s not just about applying fertilizer. I’ll have a book sent to each village. You must study it. Once you learn it, not only will the wheat be pest-resistant, but it will also yield more.”
The villagers knelt in excitement. “Thank you, Mr. Yuan. Thank you! You’re a good and honest official.”
“Well, if you want to plant the new wheat variety, you can bring your household registration. In a few days, I’ll have the county office issue a notice.
Each household can get twenty catties. Don’t come after the deadline.”
“Okay!”
The people were overjoyed, wiping away their tears as they left. Yuan Jiaqi had the fifty acres of experimental fields harvested.
He then had the land cultivated for ten days and planted another batch of wheat seeds.
The remaining harvest was stored as seeds in the court. These weren’t public property; they were his personal assets. He wrote a detailed report on this harvest and had it quickly sent to Wang Zongsheng.
After Wang Zongsheng reviewed it, he sent a messenger to deliver the news to the imperial capital at lightning speed..
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