Chapter 1930 - Farsighted Plans!

“Mother, look; I got you a rank-one title!”

Excited, Wang Chong offered the rolled-up golden scroll in his hand.

Madam Zhao was startled by Wang Chong’s words, and then her eyes went moist.

She had never hoped for Wang Chong to bring her any glory. All she wanted was for her son to keep himself safe, whether on the political battlefield or the actual battlefield.

Men always aspired to travel far and make their mark, so she had never imagined that her son would be thinking about her while fighting abroad. She felt deeply moved, but she also couldn’t help but sigh.

“Good! Good! My excellent son! Your mother is proud of you!” Madam Zhao said, taking the scroll.

“Hurry; your mother has prepared a delicious feast to celebrate your accomplishments!”

Wiping away her tears, Madam Zhao hastily guided Wang Chong inside.

The cheerful expression on his mother’s face warmed Wang Chong’s heart even more, and he swiftly walked into the estate.

On this night, the entire Wang Family Residence was a place of raucous celebration.

......

Late in the night, all of the realm was still immersed in joy and celebration, but Wang Chong had returned alone to his room.

All was quiet in the Wang Family Residence, everyone in the embrace of sweet sleep. With Arabia defeated in the war of the northwest, the Great Tang no longer had any opponents. Moreover, the King of Foreign Lands and an army of several hundred thousand elites guarded the lands. Truly, they could sleep without worry.

But...

Wang Chong paced in his courtyard, occasionally glancing at the sky with worry in his eyes.

A man without present worries was certain to have farsighted plans. For Wang Chong, there were far too many things seething beneath the surface of prosperity, but there was no one he could talk about them with.

As these thoughts circulated through his mind, Wang Chong entered his study.

What should have been an empty study was actually packed with people. Old Eagle, Zhang Que, Xu Keyi, Young Master Qingyang, Sword Dragon, Xue Qianjun, Guo Ziyi... besides those he had left in Arabia to help hold the area, almost all of Wang Chong’s subordinates were here.

The mood was tense. Everyone had received earlier orders to come at this time.

“Milord!”

All of them bowed when they saw Wang Chong.

“What’s the progress of the task I entrusted you with?”

Wang Chong placed his hands behind his back and solemnly turned to Zhang Que.

“Milord, while on the way back to the capital, I sent a letter to Jiaozhi asking about the progress on the hybrid rice. At present, there can be three to four harvests in a single year, and we’ve accumulated a large quantity of grain. In addition, following Milord’s orders, we’ve expanded the use of hybrid rice to Siam. At present, we have accumulated more than five million dan of rice!” Zhang Que firmly declared, a hint of pride in his voice.

Five million dan of rice was enough to feed 1.2 million denizens of the Great Tang for a year, even if they did absolutely nothing!

His liege, relying solely on his own resources and without placing the cost on the empire, had still managed to reach this goal. This was simply incredible!

One had to realize that the empire took grain as tax revenue each year, but even the granaries around the country only held twelve million dan of grain. His liege had managed to reach almost half this number through his own power. This was a miracle that was impossible for an ordinary person to perform.

And from the experimentation to realization, only two years had passed.

But Wang Chong frowned upon hearing Zhang Que’s report.

Five million dan of grain really was a lot, enough to feed more than one million people for a year, but the Great Tang had far more than one million people!

If everything went according to his memories, after the ice age would be the calamity. The Central Plains no longer had the time to store grain. Once the calamity began, the earth would begin to collapse and become unusable for growing plants.

It’s not enough. There’s far from enough time!

Wang Chong raised his head, his heart heavy.

During his campaigns in that period, his army had been defeated due to a lack of food. Would it be happening again, and would starvation once more reign over the land? The thought of the moans of the starving and the mountains of emaciated dead made Wang Chong’s heart bleed.

Various phenomena had already appeared in the heavens during the Battle of Talas, and that blizzard which had frozen one million soldiers to death was the greatest omen of all.

“What of the Promised Land?” Wang Chong suddenly said.

The Promised Land was on the other side of the ocean, which Wang Chong had ordered his cousin Wang Liang to find. This was a land without a master, a place that Wang Chong had prepared for humanity as a final shelter and land of hope.

If there was no time left in the Central Plains, he could only think of a solution from there.

“Our boats from Sindhu to the Promised Land have yet to stop,” Xu Keyi suddenly said. “The High Priest of Sindhu has offered his full support, and our men on the coast have devoted themselves to building ships. At present, we’ve already sent eight hundred thousand people to the Promised Land. In addition, we’re paying high compensation to any craftsman in the Central Plains who is willing to go. At present, two hundred thousand craftsmen are there.

“However, the Promised Land is across the sea and is too far from the continent, so information travels slowly. We don’t know what the situation there is in the short term, but as it is unoccupied land, there shouldn’t be any major problems.”

Xu Keyi had been responsible for transporting the Sindhi to the Promised Land, so he understood the situation more than Zhang Que.

“I’ll give you additional capital to pick up the pace! Have more clans get involved in building the ships! In addition, take five hundred thousand dan from our grain reserves and ship them to the Promised Land. Tell Zhang Munian that I want the hybrid rice growing in the Promised Land as quickly as possible,” Wang Chong sternly said.

In the Central Plains, one could only get two harvests per year at most. For three to four harvests per year, one could only look to Jiaozhi or the Promised Land. This area received the direct light of the sun, and in another dimension, it would have been located at the ‘equator’. This was probably the only place from which he could obtain the maximum amount of grain in a year.

Moreover, the Promised Land had at least eighty percent of the area of the Central Plains, making it the best place to grow rice.

His only concern was fresh water.

But Wang Chong had questioned Wang Liang and Zhang Munian on this matter. Perhaps because this was a different dimension and one thousand years earlier, the Promised Land’s climate and terrain were very different from what he knew. The fresh water situation was also much better.

“Yes!” Xu Keyi immediately said, lowering his head.

Wang Chong’s eyes flashed as he abruptly declared, “In addition, inform King Fengjiayi of Mengshe Zhao that I accept his request. We can give them the hybrid rice!”

Bang!

Everyone in the study shuddered in shock.

After a few moments of silence, Young Master Qingyang voiced the worries on everyone’s minds.

“This... Your Highness, isn’t this a little too improper? Mengshe Zhao was the enemy of the Great Tang in the war of the southwest, and Your Highness was the one who caused the death of Fengjiayi’s father, Geluofeng. Ever since the hybrid rice became known and started being planted in Siam, Fengjiayi has been after it. We’ve already captured several of his spies.

“It’s hard to say if Mengshe Zhao is a friend or foe. Is it not a little too much to give them the hybrid rice right now? In addition, if the matter isn’t handled properly, we might incur objections from the court.”

Wang Chong had been the primary cause of Fengjiayi’s father’s death, and he had also killed hundreds of thousands of his soldiers. While Mengshe Zhao had remained silent on the matter, everyone knew that Fengjiayi and all of Mengshe Zhao hated Wang Chong down to their bones.

Hybrid rice was something that could change the world and was of utmost importance. Giving it to a potential enemy of the Great Tang was enriching the enemy and seemed far too inappropriate.

“That was then, and this is now!”

Wang Chong smiled and shook his head, his face brimming with confidence.

“Fengjiayi is more than a bit lacking compared to his father. He can have all the ambition in the world, but it’s useless to him if he doesn’t have the strength to realize it. In addition, as long as I live, Mengshe Zhao will be a vassal of the Great Tang and Fengjiayi won’t be able to cause much of a stir. Tell Fengjiayi that I can give him the hybrid rice, but I need eighty percent of the harvest for the first two years!

“In addition, write a letter to Fengjiayi telling him that I know everything that he’s getting up to in secret. Tell him that he needs to act a bit more restrained, or maybe next year, I might be hunting with him on the Buddha Mount of the Cang Mountains!” Wang Chong indifferently said.

(TN: The Cang Mountains are a mountain range overlooking Erhai Lake, and Buddha Mount is one of its peaks.)

Everyone inwardly chuckled at Wang Chong’s words. The matter of ‘hunting’ with Wang Chong had spread long ago through the other countries and become one of their greatest fears. During the border incident, after Wang Chong sent his men to defeat an army of more than eight thousand Western Turks, causing Ishbara Khagan to explode in rage and threaten to gather an army of hundreds of thousands against the Central Plains, Wang Chong had sent him a letter that discussed ‘hunting together with him on Mount Sanmi’, upon which Ishbara Khagan instantly calmed down and dispersed his men.

And now that Wang Chong had led his army to defeat the even more powerful Arabia, nobody in the world dared to go ‘hunting’ with Wang Chong.

“Yes!”

Young Master Qingyang bowed and said no more.

It was true. The Great Tang was at its zenith and the name of the King of Foreign Lands rang in everyone’s ears. There was no country in the world that did not fear his might. While Fengjiayi was no sparrow, he was also nothing compared to Wang Chong, a golden-winged Great Peng that soared above the nine heavens.

“In addition, starting from now, buy as many cattle and sheep as you can from the other empires, including Arabia. Organize experts who can make these into dried meat and jerky as quickly as possible,” Wang Chong said.

Rice alone was far from enough. When it came to meat and preserved fruits, he wanted as much as he could get.