Chapter 58: The Purpose of Liu Bei's Journey

"Lord Xuande, I wonder what the three matters are."

"The first matter is to express our gratitude for the information the proprietor provided us last time, which allowed us to successfully defeat the army of one hundred thousand led by Xiahou Dun."

"Ah? Wasn't the strategy of burning Bowang Slope devised by the strategist?"

Zhang Fei, who was in the midst of tossing a peanut into the air, turned his head to look at Liu Beishuo, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes. He remained completely unaware even when the falling peanut bounced off his face.

"Yide, that is not the case. To be precise, this strategy was first conceived by Mr. Kongming, and I was merely reiterating Mr. Kongming's plan."

"The proprietor need not be so overly modest. It was precisely because of the information you provided us beforehand that we were able to face Xiahou Dun's army of one hundred thousand with absolute confidence and defeat them. In this battle, the proprietor's contribution is immeasurable."

Zhuge Liang added from the side.

Song Yingxing, standing nearby and watching this scene, felt a surge of curiosity.

He could now confirm that these three individuals came from *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, for in the official *Records of the Three Kingdoms*, there was no such figure as Zhuge Liang present at the burning of Bowang Slope.

Of course, what caught his attention was not this, but rather another piece of information.

The proprietor had provided the group from the Eastern Han dynasty with some crucial intelligence. Although the ultimate outcome mirrored that of *The Romance of the Three Kingdoms*—with Liu Bei's side achieving a sweeping victory and Xiahou Dun's side suffering a disastrous defeat—such an operation undoubtedly offered him a profound revelation.

If he, as a man of later generations, could have someone inform him of all the military campaigns that had taken place in the Ming dynasty since the eighth year of Chongzhen, would he not be able to anticipate the enemy's movements and guard against troubles before they arose?

After pondering for just a moment, a trace of bitterness appeared on Song Yingxing's face.

If he were a seasoned military commander like Lu Xiangsheng or Sun Chengzhong, bolstered by the proprietor's intelligence, turning the tide would surely not be a mere dream.

Yet as he was now, he was merely a low-ranking schoolteacher whose words carried no weight; how could he ever speak of saving the Ming dynasty?

"Proprietor, the second matter is regarding crops."

Upon finishing these words, Liu Bei untied four brocade pouches from his waist and gently placed them upon the table.

Though Liu Bei's movements were light, Zhang Bo still heard the "clang" sound produced by the objects inside the pouches colliding with the table.

Could it be...

"Proprietor, here are the golden beans cast according to your request. There are one hundred of them in total, roughly equivalent to two gold cakes. Half of them are my token of gratitude, and the other half are intended to purchase the crops with a yield of a thousand catties per mu."

A single golden bean weighed approximately five grams; one hundred golden beans meant five hundred grams. Judging by current gold prices, those four brocade pouches on the table were worth nearly thirty thousand!

Song Yingxing, who had still been pondering how to save the Ming dynasty in his mind, was instantly hauled back to reality by Liu Bei's brief sentence.

Crops with a yield of a thousand catties per mu!

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

As the author of *The Exploits of the Works of Creation*, Song Yingxing naturally knew that to increase crop yields, factors such as soil, climate, and cultivation methods were all indispensable.

Even if all these were optimized to the utmost, given the current crop yields of the Ming dynasty, northern wheat yielded at most three hundred catties per season, and southern rice was much the same, hovering around three hundred catties as well.

Yet now he had actually heard from the lips of an Eastern Han man that there existed crops yielding a thousand catties per mu. How could he possibly remain calm?

"Proprietor, I wonder what these crops with a yield of a thousand catties per mu are."

"Uncle Song, as far as I know, the Ming dynasty should already have sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes by now. Ah, sweet potatoes are also known as yam, and corn is maize."

These alternative names were things Zhang Bo had seen when searching for thousand-catty-yield food crops, and he had intentionally memorized them. Now, they had come in handy.

Upon hearing Zhang Bo mention yams and maize, a reminiscent look appeared on Song Yingxing's face.

The current Ming dynasty indeed possessed these kinds of crops, but their yields were far from optimistic.

He had never seen yams with his own eyes; the first time he heard of them was in the treatise *Draft on Sweet Potatoes* by the former Junior Cabinet Minister Xu Guangqi, and therefore he was unaware of their actual yield.

As for maize and potatoes, their yields were both low, hovering around two hundred catties, failing even to match the yields of wheat and rice.

Could these possibly be the thousand-catty-yield crops the proprietor spoke of?

After a moment of silence, Song Yingxing voiced his doubts to Zhang Bo.

Zhang Bo was also somewhat surprised, not expecting the yields of potatoes and corn in the Ming dynasty to be so pitifully low.

He immediately took out his phone to investigate the reasons for the low yields.

Zhang Bo soon arrived at a conclusion: because corn and potatoes were exotic crops that had not yet adapted to the climate and soil of the Ming dynasty, this had resulted in poor yields.

Presumably, this followed the same principle as the saying, "Oranges grown in Huainan are oranges, but those grown in Huaibei are bitter trifoliate oranges."

"Proprietor, could it be that corn and yams can now truly yield a thousand catties per mu?"

"That is correct."

Zhang Bo then shared the reasons he had found with Song Yingxing.

Exotic crops? Adapting to climate and soil.

Fascinating.

Song Yingxing's interest was thoroughly piqued.

"Proprietor, I wonder if I might take a few specimens of these crops back with me for research purposes."

For Zhang Bo, who had just acquired a hundred golden beans, this naturally posed no problem at all. It was merely a matter of a few bags of seeds, hardly a significant expense.

"Chang geng, why not accompany us back to the Eastern Han period? We only planted those crops not long ago, which will make them all the more convenient for your research."

Liu Bei extended an olive branch to Song Yingxing.

His reasoning was simple: since Song Yingxing was able to arrive at the eatery, it indicated that he was a renowned figure of the Ming dynasty. Befriending such a person could bring countless benefits without a single drawback.

Traveling to the Eastern Han? Such a feat was even possible?

Song Yingxing looked toward Zhang Bo and received an affirmative nod.

Although Song Yingxing did not harbor any deep fascination with visiting the Three Kingdoms, since the opportunity lay right before him, there was naturally no reason to refuse.

"In that case, Xuande, I shall accompany you to the Eastern Han period for a time."

Seeing Song Yingxing agree, a hint of joy surfaced on Liu Bei's face.

"By the way, Lord Xuande, I wonder what the third matter you mentioned might be."

"The third matter is that I wish to inquire of the proprietor about the current state of weapon development. After a millennium of progress, are weapons sharper and more durable than those in the Eastern Han period? If possible, I would like to ask the proprietor to help forge a few weapons for us."

Weapon development? Forging weapons?

When modern weaponry was mentioned, the first things that came to Zhang Bo's mind were American iaido: beyond seven paces, the gun is fast; within seven paces, the gun is fast and accurate.

Secondly, there was the Dongfeng express—Dongfeng Express, delivering your doom worldwide.

Of course, if he were to explain these to Liu Bei, the man certainly wouldn't understand.

Moreover, judging by Liu Bei's intentions, he was looking to commission traditional cold weapons.

Although most modern cold weapons were primarily intended for display, he also knew that there were still some genuine, functional pieces among them.

As for quality, without a doubt, in the face of modern steel, ancient steel fell far short.