Chapter 247

In winter, food could still be found in the mountains. When Xu Ran lived in Xu Village, he often ran up the mountains in his leisure time in winter. Occasionally, he would find some edible wild vegetables. Gradually, he knew more and more types of them.

No matter how barren Yanzhou was, some edible things still could be found on the mountain.

Xu Ran told everyone his thoughts in detail. King Yan and the beggars didn’t know much about these, so more or less they hold suspicious attitude towards Xu Ran’s words.

Xu Ran said, “Now that the situation is already like this, let’s just go to scour thoroughly. Besides the loss of physical strength, maybe we can really find something, right?”

King Yan thought about it carefully, then nodded. “You’re right. We really don’t have much to lose. So be it! After we returned, I will send some soldiers, together with a few farmers who often went up the mountain, to go and scour around. Some wild animals might be caught in winter.”

Xu Ran did not have any objections and just waited for King Yan’s arrangement.

As soon as King Yan finished speaking, the beggar next to him said, “Your Highness, let us go with them! If we have learned to know those wild vegetables, we can go up the mountain ourselves in the future.”

These beggars had been begging in Yanzhou since they were young, so they really weren’t familiar with wild vegetables.

When the beggar mentioned it, everyone else nodded in agreement.

King Yan agreed when he saw their eagerness. Self-reliance was better than living dependent on the whims of others.

After talking about this, King Yan learned some other things from the group of beggars. When Yan Chuan brought people to bury the three dead bodies, he turned to go back to the residence.

But halfway, King Yan suddenly changed his mind and took Xu Ran to the camp.

There were many tents in the camp. King Yan pointed to the tents and said, “There live the 50,000 soldiers guarding the Yanzhou. Be it winter or summer, they can only live in the tents. You know what the weather of Yanzhou is like. Summer is fine, but the days in the winter, you can imagine how hard their lives will be. What’s more, the Barbarians like to sneak attack in the winter. I have planned to build them houses, but to build the houses to accommodate 50,000 soldiers, it will cost huge regardless of manpower or material resources and financial ones, which are what Yanzhou is short of.”

King Yan was full of sorrow and regrets when he said this.

Xu Ran couldn’t help but wonder how Yanzhou was at first?

The current Yanzhou seemed to be very good, but there were still so many problems. What should the dilapidated Yanzhou be like? What did the people here live on?

Xu Ran thought about the small land coverage of Yanzhou mentioned by Lu Qi.

He thought that King Yan might not think Yanzhou was small, instead he wanted to find a more suitable place for the people to live.

If you have no hand you can’t make a fist. Even if King Yan was capable, with pressure from the Emperor above and the burden of the people and the land below, he couldn’t do anything.

While Xu Ran was deep in thought, King Yan had walked to the other side.

After walking for a while, finding that Xu Ran didn’t follow him, he called him.

Xu Ran came back to his senses and quickly followed.

This time, the place King Yan took him to dazzled him.

The place that came into view was a vast grassland, like an oasis in the endless snow peaks.

However, in the winter, there weren’t many green grasses on the grassland, and all that could be seen were dried up grass. However, Xu Ran knew that in the next year, in spring, a whole patch of green grass would emerge in this place, which could graze countless cows, sheep and horses.

King Yan stood straight, pointing at the grassland in front of him, as if it was his world.

Xu Ran heard him say, “In the coming year, not only will this place be full of green grasses, but it will also be filled with cows and sheep. When next winter comes, I don’t have to worry that my people will starve to death or freeze to death.”

King Yan turned back and looked at Xu Ran with a serious expression. He asked him, “Tell me, will this place be as good as I said in the coming year?”

Xu Ran was infected by King Yan’s tone and nodded without thinking, “Of course, in the next year, it will become the biggest farm in Yanzhou, and this is the first step for Yanzhou to become rich.”

When Xu Ran finished, King Yan also calmed down and said: “In the past, this place was about to turn into a desert. I accidentally found it. At that time, I came with Yan Hao. He pulled a grass on his way here, grabbing in his hand, and finally dropped it in this place. At that time, I was riding on a horse and felt something had dropped off. Hence, I looked back and saw the grass, about which I didn’t put in mind. But the next spring, as I came to the military camp to drill troops, I got a little upset and wanted to walk around. Then I saw that the grass, standing in the midst of barren land, which was the position where Yan Hao had dropped the it.

King Yan smiled and continued, “At that time, I was still wondering why a grass survived and there was nothing else growing here. I didn’t know why, but I pulled out a few more plants and placed them next to that one. Later, I often came to see these plants. I didn’t do anything. After a while, the plants survived by themselves. At that time, an idea sprouted in my mind. I kept sending people to dig up the wild grasses and put them down here, until the grasses had covered the whole land. Now it was the third year, the grasses have taken root here. Next year, I plan to bring here big groups of cows and sheep.”

King Yan’s words ignited his lofty ideals and high aspirations. He glowed with confidence.

Xu Ran didn’t answer. He just looked up at the distant sky and at the grassland under his feet.

He thought that King Yan was indeed smart and patient.

It took him three years to create a patch of grassland. How many people was capable of such a thing?

What King Yan needed was nothing but time. Sooner or later, Yanzhou would be filled with the prosperous scenery they saw, in every corner.

At the blueprint of building a prosperous city together, Xu Ran’s heart was full of pride, so the two discussed in the grassland with the wind stroking against them.

Xu Ran told King Yan about his thoughts in raising cows and sheep, and at the same time, he brought up the idea of reclaiming wild lands.

Xu Ran said, “Your Highness, there are many wastelands in Yanzhou. The soldiers have to rely on the land of Yanzhou to support them. Why not let some soldiers go to reclaim wasteland? Kung fu should be practiced every day and work should be done as well. They will definitely be happy to work for themselves. It doesn’t take too many people. About a thousand per day will be enough. It won’t take long for them to exploit wide stretches of fields. As to the choice of crops, I will select them, making sure that soldiers won’t be starved any more.”

“Select? What can you select from? With climate like Yanzhou, what else can you plant besides wheat, radish, and cabbage? “King Yan asked in confusion.

Xu Ran smiled at him, “I have a good idea. Your Highness, just wait and see! We should go back now! It is almost noon.”

King Yan glanced at him and said, “You must be hungry.”

Xu Ran didn’t feel embarrassed at all. He said, “It’s already noon. How can I not be hungry?”

King Yan felt that he had gone too far. They had walked quite a long way the whole morning, plus they only ate a bowl of sliced noodles in the morning, so it was high time to go back to eat.

Yan Chuan did not go with them since coming out of the Beggar Temple. There were only Xu Ran and King Yan on the way.

They had grown familiar with each other with the chatting went on. Generally speaking, they both had a good opinion of each other,  and it would be better to collaborate.

Although Xu Ran was willing to keep low key, he would never refuse the opportunity to show off. By the way, he could teach his kids during the process.

The two returned to the palace and found that everyone was waiting for them to eat. The dishes on the table had been warmed once.

After sitting down, Xu Ran apologized, “I didn’t pay attention to the time when I went out. I’ve made you wait for a long time. I’m really sorry.”

Xiao Qingyun said, “I don’t blame you for this. Prince always goes out like this and comes back quite late. The food will be warmed again and again every time. This is all his fault. However I expect you to come back on time in the future.”

After blaming King Yan, he did not forget to remind Xu Ran. The husband of King Yan was quite tactful.

In any case, he wouldn’t have offended Xu Ran. As for King Yan, he was his husband. Plus, the people on the table were his own people, so King Yan naturally wouldn’t say anything, since Xiao Qingyun was merely stating the truth.

After lunch, Xu Ran went to accompany his kids and husband, while King Yan still had things to deal with. Sending some people to break ice and collect fish as he had talked about with Xu Ran in Beggar Temple, sending some other people to go up the mountain to scour the wild vegetables, though these were all trivial matters, he had to arrange people to do them.

Plus the other things that he had to deal with, he was fully occupied from afternoon to evening. The things that Liu Tong had wanted to talk to King Yan were suspended too.

After dinner, Liu Tong thought that the earlier it was said, the less awkwardness there would be in the future, so he asked Xu Ran to tell King Yan, who was naturally very happy about Liu Tong looking for him and immediately agreed.

The place where the conversation took place was still in the study, and only Liu Tong and King Yan were in it, with Xu Ran and Yan Chuan waiting outside.

The two spoke in the room for a long time. Xu Ran had felt his hands and feet being frozen and numb, then he saw Liu Tong coming out of the study.

The rims of his eyes were red, but there was a smile on the corner of his mouth. Obviously, he looked happy, so Xu Ran did not ask.

However, at night, he packed Baozi up and sent him to sleep with Tangtang and Guoguo, while he tormented and entangled with Liu Tong for a long time.

Liu Tong might be affected by his emotions. Not only did he not resist, he was very cooperative and even took the initiative.

This was quite fun. Xu Ran thought that he could try a few more times in the future. After all, men of thirties are like a tiger!

Maybe he could have another child.

It was all his wishful thinking, but it was not up to him whether to give birth to another kid.

Xu Ran told Liu Tong his thoughts, which made Liu Tong flush. This night was especially beautiful.