The Scout Returns

Sell the horses....

After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Hu calmly said, "No need to sell horses. We'll go without riding. One tael per person, two thousand taels total. We have enough silver for that."

"Boss, that's two thousand taels for one toll station. There are more ahead. We still need to sell the horses!"

"Damn it!" Jiang Hu pounded the table in frustration.

How could he have forgotten this? How many toll stations did Taoyuan County have?

"Then sell the horses!"

"But we have two thousand horses. They're not easy to sell! It's too conspicuous, and even the black market won't give us a good price."

Jiang Hu covered his eyes and waved helplessly. "Sell them, sell them. When we see the Prince, this amount of money will be nothing. But hurry, they won't wait for us long over there."

Since they couldn't ride horses into the mountains, and taking the main road would be too conspicuous.

Selling the horses now would be economizing while increasing revenue, and raiding directly in the city would be more convenient.

"Tomorrow Little Six will scout again and calculate how much we need to pay. The day after tomorrow, we'll send two hundred men into the city, dressed in commoner clothes but carrying weapons. Be careful."

"When our main force arrives, we'll release signal arrows to notify. Remember to arrange for two people to wait inside the city near the gates in advance."

"So we have to wait another day tomorrow?" someone asked.

Jiang Hu rubbed his temples helplessly. "Now that the Taoyuan County plan has changed, to save time we'll go to the farm outside the city tomorrow. Everyone be careful. The Prince specifically instructed that no one at the farm should be left alive! All the crops must also be burned completely!"

Little Six said, "But... when we scouted the farm, didn't we find one person missing from the list? What about that person who hasn't been found yet?"

Jiang Hu sighed inwardly.

Why did all these strange things happen to him?

He had fought in wars for years but never encountered a situation where they had to pay the enemy before fighting!

Was his luck bad? Would there be problems on the Prince's side...

"Forget about it! If we haven't found him after so long, he might be dead, or maybe the list was wrong. It won't have any impact! Proceed as planned. We don't have time to delay further!"

Two days later, in the Taoyuan County yamen.

Ao Chen sat in the county court, reading a newspaper that had been delivered early in the morning while eating breakfast.

Although it was a newspaper from the capital, it had a significant impact on Taoyuan County.

Especially since Taoyuan County had established a reception center in the capital, and many Taoyuan people doing business there would go to the reception center for information or exchange.

So it was essential to keep track of developments in the capital.

Even setting that aside, the Six Ministries' newspaper contained much valuable information for analysis.

As he read, Ao Chen put down his half-eaten bun and took a sip of tea, pointing at the newspaper and saying to those around him, "Look! Look, yesterday there was a big fire at a farm outside the capital that killed dozens of people. Didn't we have a restaurant fire here yesterday?"

The constables around him, also eating breakfast, nodded quickly when they heard his question.

Ao Chen shook the newspaper and continued, "We must take this seriously. The weather is dry and it's easy for accidents to happen. Those newly arrived citizens haven't been fully trained yet."

"After we finish eating, call everyone together, and I'll assign tasks."

After breakfast, several dozen people from the county office gathered, and Ao Chen stood in the hall, saying loudly, "I called everyone here today because there's a special matter to address. The weather is getting drier, making fires more likely. Remember to remind the citizens about fire prevention. The slogans on the streets should also be changed."

"Boss, what should we change them to?" someone asked.

Ao Chen cleared his throat and organized his thoughts. "Fire safety knowledge for every home, safety accompanies us all."

"Hand in hand build fire safety, heart to heart share a harmonious Taoyuan."

"People's lives come first, fire... and so on. Each of you should come up with two more slogans and submit them to me for review this afternoon."

"Big brother has such literary talent!" A chorus of flattering remarks followed.

Ao Chen's face reddened slightly. He had worked in publicity with Fang Zheng for two years, so he had some cultural foundation!

"Everyone must take this seriously! Don't underestimate fire hazards. When has a year passed without incidents because of this? Look at today's news, a farm fire killed dozens of people, it's absolutely horrifying!"

"That wasn't a fire hazard, it was murder!" A clear voice came from outside the hall.

Everyone quickly looked toward the entrance to see a refined-looking man walking in.

He appeared somewhat tired and was carrying a cloth bag.

Ao Chen was greatly surprised and immediately said, "Everyone disperse now and attend to your duties!"

The crowd understood the importance and scattered at once, leaving only the man and Ao Chen in the hall.

Ao Chen looked at him with a somewhat helpless expression. "Feng Ya, the Master went to the Prince's palace to look for you several times but couldn't find you. Where have you been?"

Originally, Fang Zheng had sent two spies into the Prince's palace. One was exposed, and the other disappeared.

The missing one was Feng Ya, ostensibly a dealer but actually the manager of Taoyuan County's casino. He had been the gambling king of Hengjiang City and was skilled in gambling arts.

Feng Ya didn't answer immediately. First, he threw the cloth bag onto the table in front of Ao Chen and said seriously, "All that is unimportant. Let's discuss the main issue first."

"The farm outside the capital that had the fire was actually King Wu's farm. He had been secretly cultivating various crops there."

"I'd never heard of those things before. Before escaping from there, I brought out the seeds."

With that, Feng Ya untied the cloth bag, which contained smaller bags inside.

First, he took out a round object similar to a sweet potato and said, "This thing, people at the farm called it a 'yangyu.' It yields abundantly and can be a staple food, no worse than sweet potatoes! Quickly have someone take it to the greenhouse for focused cultivation."

Next, he took out other cloth bags, pinching the tiny seeds inside and introducing them one by one. "This is called 'wolf peach.' It's said to be poisonous and inedible. The fruit it bears is red."

"This one is called 'chili pepper,' also poisonous, but not fatally so. I tasted a bit and felt terrible. My tongue hurt badly."

"Finally, this is 'pearl rice.' When grown, it looks like an elongated radish. The yield is average, but it tastes very good."

After the introduction, Feng Ya carefully packed everything back into the cloth bag and pushed it to Ao Chen. "Take these to be planted in the greenhouse and have someone protect them well."

"Although I don't know the significance of those two poisonous things, since King Wu grew them, they must have some use. Perhaps they're medicinal herbs."

Ao Chen took the bag, clutching it tightly. "King Wu... this person is quite mysterious. Where does he get all these strange things?"

Feng Ya shook his head and said, "I don't know, but I don't like this person. Besides yangyu, the farm also had sweet potatoes, and they were cultivated long before Taoyuan County had them! With famine throughout the land, he secretly cultivated such high-yielding crops. What kind of intentions could he be hiding?"