Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 850 - 708

Chapter 850: 708

Dasiming learned two hours later about the massive wind disaster that had erupted in the Nanyang area.

Originally healing in the Qin Prince’s mansion in Xi’an City, her expression became blank upon hearing this news, "Was the typhoon that severe? Why would there be such a vast wind disaster at this time?"

"It’s said to be the biggest in the history of Nanyang."

The seventh lord of Zimei Palace, Wenshifei, said with a bitter smile, "It’s claimed that Heavenly Master Zhang Shenye is responsible, as a retaliation of Jin against Jiaozhi. However, such a vast wind disaster can only be created by someone of the Extreme Heavenly Level, so it surely isn’t man-made.

Zhang Shenye must have seized the opportunity to push its momentum. Moreover, according to this Disciple’s guess, this storm is very likely related to the cold wave moving south from the north."

"A cold wave?"

Dasiming couldn’t help but frown, this time’s ’Glacial Coming’ was indeed a once-in-a-millennium event.

No historical records ever mentioned it, so Dasiming had never considered that such a severe typhoon would erupt in Nanyang.

However, Dasiming accepted the judgment of the Zimei Palace Master after reflecting deeply for a moment.

Anyone somewhat versed in the ’laws of wind’ knew that the formation of wind is related to the meeting of hot and cold air and changes in air pressure.

"Since Jiaozhi is asking for help, we should try to divert some manpower. You will personally lead the team this time——"

But before Dasiming could finish speaking, she saw a look of difficulty on Wenshifei’s face and couldn’t help frowning, "What, I can’t deploy even ten people of heavenly level from Jinque Palace?"

Wenshifei shook his head, "The demon king, County Prince Fenyang, obviously anticipated this, and the recent military campaigns in several directions of Shaanxi have intensified. Several regent ministers of Jin, Daxueshi Wang Wen, Shaofu Yu Jie, Ministry of Personnel Servant Shang Hong, are all pressing forward to Tongguan.

The County Prince himself and Jiang Yunqi are in Nanjing at the moment. Clearly, they are coordinating with the Yizhou Altar, and it might even be a trap to lure our Heaven Palace into a decisive battle in Yizhou."

Dasiming then frowned and asked, "So, Wenshifei, what do you suggest?"

"Ignore it for now!" Zimei Palace Master Wenshifei said calmly, "Master, in two days it will be Li Xuan’s wedding day. We need not spoil our grand strategy for the sake of maintaining face"

"How can we not intervene?" Dasiming replied coldly, "Even if we do not go to Yizhou to destroy the altar, sending a few heavenly levels to help them reduce the damage of the wind disaster is still worthwhile."

The reality was that the forces Jinque Palace could rely on throughout Jin were already very limited.

Dasiming highly valued Jiaozhi State, which possessed armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands and fertile lands.

It was not only the support for the ’Luchuan Tu Division’ Si Renfa, but also an indispensable source of food for Shaanxi for the coming decades.

The Jiaozhi army could also contain the military strength of hundreds of thousands under the General Commander of Guangxi.

Dasiming even hoped to provoke the ambition of Li Yuanlong, encouraging him to march north and seize Guangdong and Guangxi.

Jinque Palace naturally would not defy ’Heavenly Pacing’, but only planned to use him as a piece to distract Jin’s military power.

Until Prince Yi Yu Jianshen entered the Capital City to let ’history’ get back on track, Dasiming did not wish for Jiaozhi’s power to be weakened.

Wenshifei shook his head, "It’s useless, such a great wind disaster confirms our divine levels would be of no help. And from this Disciple’s judgment, I fear it won’t ease Jiaozhi people’s resentments."

Under Dasiming’s puzzled look, Wenshifei sighed softly, "The issue is food. We’ve almost depleted Jiaozhi’s granaries, and this year it is destined to have failed harvests."

Dasiming’s body shook, her face turning cold as iron for a moment, "Is it that serious? If indeed necessary, we might let Shi Tianze return some of the food."

"Most of that grain has already gone into the ’Luchuan Tu Division’ granaries, the rest has entered Shaanxi’s military storehouses. How could it possibly be returned?"

Wenshifei’s tone carried a hint of helplessness, "If it were during the spring or summer, then perhaps, but it’s winter now. In this Disciple’s view, if Li Yuanlong mismanages this, the Li Dynasty might face ruin. Thus, this Disciple thinks, we might as well wait a bit."

He knew that in places like Jiaozhi and Qiongzhou, winter temperatures were similar to the Central Plains during the Spring and Autumn Periods. So even in winter, Jiaozhi produced a lot of fruits.

The local people did not need to worry about food; they could find food everywhere, all year round.

But this situation was different, the recent storm not only would devastate the fruit trees, but the temperature in Jiaozhi was sure to drop significantly.

Dasiming then fell into deep thought, understanding Wenshifei’s intention.

Facing a crisis, Li Yuanlong would sooner or later have to ask Jinque Palace for help.

The saying goes, save the needy but not the poor—rather than intervening and being resented for it, better to wait and let the people of Jiaozhi realize they should not offend or underestimate Jinque Palace.

Reflecting on this, Dasiming decisively said, "Very well, let’s follow your suggestion for now."

Then she raised her eyes toward the direction of Beijing, her expression cold yet tinged with exhaustion.

"I truly did not expect that even the heavenly pacing in Jiaozhi would change, that demon is stubborn to this extent."

Zimei Palace Master Wenshifei also felt the same, recognizing the challenges faced by Jinque Palace as unprecedentedly severe and perilous.

This even made him feel as if he was battling against the entire world.

On the contrary, that Demon King defying ’Heavenly Pacing’—it seems now that heaven and earth were fighting together!

But then Zimei Palace Master Wenshifei quickly rallied his spirit, "Master, do not worry, the day after tomorrow is Li Xuan’s big wedding day. Also, this Disciple knows that a failed harvest in the Jin areas of Jiangnan is certain. By early spring next year, everywhere in Jin will be short of grain. The great trend of the world will change because of this."

Dasiming nodded slightly, thinking that she would not let this demon have his way.

※※※※

In Nanjing City, after Jiang Yunqi’s somber departure, Jiang Hanyun was mortified to the extreme. She wished she could transform into an ostrich and bury herself in the ground.

She then desperately wanted to run away, but Li Xuan knew her temperament like the back of his hand, and with just one sentence, he stopped Jiang Hanyun in her tracks.

"My lady, you wouldn’t happen to be scared, would you? Are you afraid of the marriage, or afraid of me? Have you decided to break your promise and run away from the marriage?"

Jiang Hanyun immediately grew angry, thinking to herself that she was not afraid at all and had never thought of eloping.

She afraid of Li Xuan? What a joke.

Nevertheless, Jiang Hanyun still drove Li Xuan out of the Jiang residence, claiming she had already decided to return to the capital the next day, and Li Xuan’s trip to Nanjing was superfluous.

Li Xuan knew this little fox had fallen into his trap, so he no longer pressed her.

He was pleased inwardly, but his face still wore a skeptical look as he repeatedly looked back as he left the Jiang residence.

Following that, Li Xuan did not return to the capital immediately but went straight to the Li family estate outside the city.

Before leaving the capital, he had told Yu Hongshang that he was going to inspect the workshops and estates in Nanjing, and he couldn’t just talk the talk.

Li Xuan indeed wanted to see the situation for himself.

By this time, the Earl Chengyi’s estate had already harvested a season of potatoes, and the second season of potatoes was being planted.

However, not many potatoes had been stored in the Li family’s storage.

This was because the harvest of the season had been bought at high prices by the nobles of south Zhili.

These families were already quite curious about the potatoes from Earl Chengyi’s family and intended to try planting them themselves. This year’s crop failures further increased their enthusiasm.

Potato seeds are difficult to cultivate; the best planting method is to cut the potatoes into pieces and throw them into the soil.

Hence, this year, the Earl’s estate and the imperial manor made nearly two million taels just from this crop.

They also started planting sweet potatoes on the fields of the Earl Chengyi’s estate. They still cut them into pieces and buried them in the soil.

By now, the temperature in south Zhili had already dropped significantly.

However, Lv Qiluo explained that the batch of sweet potatoes she had cultivated could also be planted in winter, though they would take longer to grow, requiring two hundred days to reach harvest.

The final yield would be much lower than in the spring and autumn, estimated between thirty to forty stones.

Even if it only yielded thirty stones, it would greatly increase the grain production next year.

After inspecting the fields of Earl Chengyi’s estate, Li Xuan visited the nearby farmers’ fields.

He was relieved to find that many of the previously barren lands had been reclaimed.

In Li Xuan’s own world, at the end of the Ming dynasty, there were only seven hundred million Mu of farmland due to natural disasters. A lot of land was left fallow; but by the mid-Qing dynasty, the amount of land expanded to one thousand nine hundred million Mu.

It was also the Little Ice Age, and the weather hadn’t improved much, nor had the yield per Mu increased.

This was all because new crops made many barren lands valuable for development.

Next, Li Xuan inspected several workshops located on the outer Qinhuai River. Though the factory buildings and machinery were all in place, only a small part was operational.

Su Zhaojun, the manager appointed earlier, had started recruiting and training female workers two months ago.

However, progress had been slow in the past two months because the local customs in Nanjing were conservative, and people generally did not want their women to appear in public.

It wasn’t until October, when the harvests failed and food prices rose, that some women wanted to earn money to supplement their household income, and these workshops finally reached full staffing.

Li Xuan then raced overnight to a place three hundred li away, which he had named ’Ma’anshan,’ to see the ironworks there.

In correspondence with another world’s Ma’anshan, Leng Yurou found a vast open-pit iron ore here, whose reserves were shockingly large.

The Shenqi Union’s several ironwork factories and workshops were built relying on this iron mine.

Leng Yurou obviously made more effort here, and Li Xuan discovered that these workshops had already achieved sixty percent of the production capacity Leng Yurou initially designed.

However, most of the steel produced here was still for civilian use.

Li Xuan did not trust the Jinque Palace and forcefully ordered the Shenqi Union to concentrate all the craftsmen and equipment for making "Rune Flintlock Rifled Guns" in the Tianjin area for close monitoring.

Thus, what was being made here were iron shovels, iron plows, axes, iron saws, hammers, iron nails, and so on.

With the construction of these small blast furnaces, the price of iron to the civilian population would greatly decrease, and iron tools like plows would also increase grain production.

After Li Xuan had looked over these various situations, it was already the next day’s dawn.

Next, Li Xuan hurriedly went to the Liudao Division’s Zhuque Hall, where he met Qiu Qianqiu.