Another bumper harvest

Days without war were regular and peaceful. Every day, Gao Yuan would wake up early to exercise, take a stroll through the military camp, and then visit the chicken farm.

With sufficient pay, the laborers worked hard, and the chicken coops were built in just twenty days.

Gao Yuan sent Gao Fu to the countryside to spread the word about buying insects and rice husks—five wen per jin of insects and two wen per jin of rice husks.

When the commoners heard that the ubiquitous grasshoppers, caterpillars, and even rice husks could be exchanged for money, they all sprang into action.

Especially the children; they stopped playing wildly every day and instead went to catch insects after school to help supplement their family income.

In just half a month, the rice husks in the warehouse piled up like a mountain, and there were several hundred jin of various dried insects. Naturally, money was being spent like water.

The speed of this spending made the women worry. Zhao Xiyao looked at the account books, her dark brows slightly furrowed.

"Consort, can this chicken farm of yours really make money?"

Even Song Yao, who usually trusted him the most, couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"It's only been a little over a month and over a hundred strings of cash have been spent. How long will it take to earn that back!"

Gao Yuan had already calculated the costs, so he wasn't worried about the returns at all.

"Don't worry. I guarantee that in three years at most, the chicken farm will recover both the principal and interest."

He had previously checked the data provided by the system. A White Feather Chicken generally takes three to four months to start laying eggs, and one chicken can produce one to two hundred eggs a year.

Even if the current breeding environment was a bit poor, even with a discount, the annual egg production wouldn't fall below a hundred.

In other words, by the end of the year, his chicks would have multiplied. By next year, the scale of the chicken coops would reach one or two thousand, and by the year after that, a scale of tens of thousands of chickens could start providing a stable supply of eggs and broilers.

Everyone's unconditional trust in Gao Yuan seemed to have become a habit, even bordering on blind following.

Seeing his confident manner, they didn't say anything more.

Soon, as the chicken farm began operations, everyone's concerns were completely dispelled. For no other reason than the chickens grew too fast.

After the initial ten or so days, the chicks that everyone had high hopes for began to gain weight rapidly, reaching one jin in just half a month.

One must know that it takes more than half a year for a native chicken to grow to four or five jin. The difference was too great.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was mid-September. The terraced fields on the hillside rolled with delightful golden waves. Harvest was imminent; it was time to verify Gao Yuan's results.

As the saying goes, food is the people's heaven. At this moment, the focus of all work in Nanzhou was on the autumn harvest; it was the top priority.

The more than 1,200 mu of experimental fields also became the focus of everyone's attention.

No one expected that the "prodigal's" fields would actually mature, and they looked to be growing very well. People were already strolling through them from time to time.

September 20th was an exciting day. The 1,200 soldiers of the First Division took off their armor, changed into coarse cloth clothes, and stood by the field ridges awaiting Gao Yuan's orders.

At the end of the Hour of the Dragon, the group arrived at the foot of the mountain. Seeing the plump ears of rice, the joy on their faces could not be hidden.

Mu Sheng leaned in close to Gao Yuan and whispered a reminder.

"County Duke, the harvest statistics for the commoners' terraced fields over the past few days have come out. The highest yield per mu is over 240 jin. I wonder if you have confidence?"

Gao Yuan didn't look at Mu Sheng. He looked up at the terraced fields, his face full of confidence.

"Let the facts speak for themselves!"

After saying that, Gao Yuan waved his hand. Xia Luqi took out a horn and blew it hard, the sound echoing through the entire area.

Hearing the horn, over a thousand sturdy men rushed into the rice fields to begin the harvest.

First, they dug open the ridges to drain the water. Along with the current, plump fish rushed into the net bags.

The net bags filled with fresh fish quickly caught everyone's attention. Mu Sheng grabbed a carp weighing three or four jin, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hahaha! With these fish as a foundation, it's worth it even if the yield per mu is a bit lower!"

From over a thousand mu of land, they ended up catching over a hundred thousand fish, totaling four to five hundred thousand jin. Now, everyone began to worry about what to do with all these fish.

Gao Yuan leaned close to Zhao Xiyao's ear and said softly.

"I think it would be better to give these fish to the commoners in your name to improve their meals. What do you think?"

Zhao Xiyao looked at Gao Yuan, her beautiful eyes wide with surprise.

"But this is your credit!"

Gao Yuan waved his hand, putting on an indifferent air.

"It's just a meager credit; I don't care for it!"

"This..."

Zhao Xiyao knew that it wasn't that Gao Yuan didn't care; he simply wanted to give her this opportunity to win over the people. Her eyes couldn't help but redden slightly.

Gao Yuan reached out and pinched the girl's fair, soft cheek, smiling dotingly.

"Alright, alright. I said that you and I are one as husband and wife. There's no need to worry about such trifles."

"Mm!"

Zhao Xiyao nodded, turned to the crowd, and gave the order.

"Transport all these fish back. Regardless of age or gender, every citizen can come and receive two fresh fish."

"Understood!"

Soon, news that the Prefectural Yamen was giving away fish for free spread throughout the city. The commoners flocked to the yamen gates, bringing their entire families.

Those who received fish were naturally grinning from ear to ear, while those who hadn't yet were impatient. Fortunately, the City Defense Forces were there to maintain order, otherwise a stampede would have surely occurred.

Although the entire city's population came, less than a hundred thousand fish were given out.

Gao Yuan ordered the rest to be slaughtered and dried into fish jerky to be distributed to the people of Menge and Luang Namtha, as well as supplied to the army.

Of course, that's a story for later. In the paddy fields, after draining the water and catching the fish, the soldiers brandished their sickles and began harvesting the rice.

Soon, several mu of land were harvested. A few soldiers held the rice stalks and repeatedly threshed them against a wooden trapezoidal tool.

Gao Yuan knew this was a traditional threshing method with low efficiency. In his childhood, he had seen those foot-pedal threshing machines in the fields, but unfortunately, he didn't have the blueprints and didn't know how to make one.

No one went back for lunch. They cooked fish soup in large marching clay pots right in the fields, eating their fill with rice until their bellies were round.

After working until the afternoon, nearly half of the terraced fields were harvested, and it was time for the most exciting part: the weighing.

Now everyone crowded together, staring intently at the clerk responsible for the weighing.

Nearby commoners, having finished work in their own fields, also gathered around, ears pricked to hear the results.

After weighing the harvest from one mu, the clerk loudly announced the yield.

"263 jin!"

"261 jin!"

As the exciting numbers were called out one by one, everyone couldn't help but clench their fists in excitement, waving them from time to time.

The final result made many people cheer. For the 130-plus mu already harvested, the average yield per mu was 262 jin, with the highest reaching 273 jin.

This result was a full ten percent higher than the commoners' yields previously recorded. If the hundred-plus fish per mu were also included, the harvest made everyone give Gao Yuan a big thumbs up.

Soon, this news spread throughout Nanzhou, and many people slapped their thighs in regret.

With over twenty jin more per mu and hundreds of jin of fish, how could anyone not be envious of such a result?

As the saying goes, facts speak louder than words. There was no need to spend effort on promotion; all the commoners accepted Gao Yuan's seemingly prodigal Seedling-throwing method and Rice-fish farming.

However, Gao Yuan wasn't particularly happy with this result. As the saying goes, "having captured Long, one looks towards Shu." He was now eagerly looking forward to obtaining high-yield seeds.

Even if he couldn't get the varieties from later generations, the Champa rice, a must-have for any transmigrator, had to be obtained.

"It seems I'll have to send someone to Linyi."