In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 921 Never Back Down

As news of the government's upcoming distribution of grain and seeds spread throughout Mingzhou, the entire city was abuzz with excitement. The people shouted "Long live King Yang!" and, while receiving the grain distributed by the government to fill their stomachs, they enthusiastically threw themselves into farming. Their faces, which had been numb before, were now filled with hope for the future!

As batches of grain were delivered to Youzhou and Mingzhou, the livelihoods of the people in these two newly occupied territories gradually began to recover. Although the people were still poor, at least they saw hope for a better life. With hope, they had motivation.

The enthusiastic people happily received the ice wheat seeds from the government and then worked hard to plant them in their allocated fields, hoping that the ice wheat seeds would grow strong and then bring a bumper harvest.

In short, the grain and seeds that Yang Zheng transferred from Qingzhou and Liangzhou alleviated the urgent needs of Youzhou and Mingzhou, making the local people grateful to him and calling him benevolent and long live the Heavenly King Yang.

In addition, Yang Zheng specially exempted You and Ming prefectures from taxes for the first half of the year, which undoubtedly greatly reduced the pressure on the people of the two prefectures and made them more supportive of Yang Zheng's rule.

…………

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Chenjiacun.

Just as the people of Youzhou and Mingzhou were shouting "Long live King Yang!", Chen Dao was sizing up the dozens of Chen family soldiers in front of him, including Fang Yong.

Under Chen Dao's tireless training, the soldiers of the Chen Family Army have made rapid progress, and now all three hundred or so soldiers of the Chen Family Army have entered the middle-grade realm.

People like Fang Yong and Chen Da, who are outstanding individuals, have already reached the fifth rank, making them strong figures even in the vast Nine Provinces.

The reason Chen Dao gathered Fang Yong and dozens of others was because he planned to form an expedition team.

Previously, Chen Dao had mobilized the entire Chenjia Village to search for information about the three advanced medicinal herbs: Wind Spirit Flower, Clear Spirit Wheat, and Spirit Spring Fruit. As time passed, some progress was made in finding these three herbs.

A businessman who was cooperating with Chenjia Village learned about the existence of these three medicinal herbs from a herb gatherer in Liangzhou.

The herb gatherer from Liangzhou had been engaged in herb gathering for generations, and thus, the existence of these three herbs was recorded in the family's herb-collecting book.

After paying a small sum of money, the herb gatherer found a surviving herbal medicine book and gave it to the merchant to read. The merchant found three kinds of herbs in the book and immediately found an artist to make copies of their appearances before handing them over to Chen Dao.

According to the herb gatherer, his ancestors accidentally stumbled upon these three medicinal herbs while deep in the Cangmang Mountains, and now these three medicinal herbs simply do not exist within the territory of Kyushu.

Therefore, even knowing what the three medicinal herbs look like, Chen Dao still needs to go to the Cangmang Mountains to find them himself if he wants to obtain them...

Chen Dao could not possibly venture deep into the Cangmang Mountains on his own. After all, as the head of Chenjia Village, Chen Dao's safety was related to the entire village. Even if he were willing to take the risk, his mother and all the villagers of Chenjia Village would probably not agree.

However, these three medicinal herbs are related to the advancement of the village's exotic beasts, so Chen Dao cannot easily give up.

Therefore, Chen Dao conceived the idea of ​​forming an expedition team to explore and collect medicinal herbs deep in the Cangmang Mountains.

The best people to form an expedition team are undoubtedly the soldiers of the Chen family army. The Cangmang Mountains are full of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, including monsters. Ordinary people would face great dangers even if they only stayed on the outer perimeter. Every year, countless herb gatherers from Liangzhou, Qingzhou, and Yuezhou would die in the Cangmang Mountains, their bodies never to be found.

Only martial artists have some ability to protect themselves, which is why Chen Dao gathered Fang Yong and his group of Chen family soldiers.

"I intend to form an expedition team to collect medicinal herbs deep in the vast mountains. Would you be willing to join the expedition team?"

Chen Dao stopped in front of Fang Yong and asked.

Venturing deep into the Cangmang Mountains is an extremely dangerous undertaking, and Chen Dao certainly couldn't force Fang Yong and the others to join the expedition team; he had to ask for their consent first.

"I do!"

Fang Yong nodded without hesitation. Obeying orders is a soldier's duty, a principle he had learned long ago in Chen's army. As a soldier, he would certainly not disobey Mr. Chen's orders.

Not to mention... Mr. Chen is the person he respects most, without exception.

Mr. Chen, who was given the opportunity to change his fate and was able to feed himself and his family and live a good life, felt the same gratitude he had for his adoptive parents as he did for Chen Dao, making it impossible for him to refuse any request Chen Dao made.

"I'm willing too."

"I do!"

"It is my honor to be able to work for Mr. Chen."

"..."

All the other members of Chen's army also gave affirmative answers.

Without exception, all the soldiers in Chen's army came from peasant backgrounds. In the past, even getting enough to eat was a luxury for them. They were hungry all day long and didn't live like human beings at all.

It was Chen Dao who selected them, brought them into the Chen Family Army, and transformed them from starving peasants into the noble martial artists they are today.

It can be said that Chen Dao was a benefactor in their lives. Therefore, the loyalty of the Chen family army to Chen Dao from top to bottom is beyond doubt. Even if Chen Dao asked them to die right now, they probably wouldn't refuse, let alone join the expedition team.

"The Cangmang Mountain is teeming with poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, and even more so with monsters. It is extremely dangerous, and you could lose your life at any moment. You should think this through carefully."

“Mr. Chen, I’ve thought it through! It’s my honor to serve you, and a little danger is nothing!”

"Me too! I would never back down from serving Mr. Chen, even if it meant death!"

“Mr. Chen, we are not afraid of death! Even if we die, Mr. Chen will take good care of our families, won’t he?”

"That's right! I'm just a worthless life. If it weren't for Mr. Chen, I might have starved to death long ago. My life was given to me by Mr. Chen, so what's wrong with handing it over to him?"

"..."

Looking at the resolute expressions on the faces of Fang Yong and the other soldiers, Chen Dao couldn't help but be moved. These simple, grateful men were hard not to like.

"Since you have already made your decision..."

Chen Dao took a deep breath and said loudly, "Then the expedition team is hereby established. All fifty of you will join the expedition team, with Chen Da serving as the captain, and you will be specifically responsible for going deep into the Cangmang Mountains to find medicinal herbs."

As a former hunter who frequently ventured deep into the Cangmang Mountains to hunt, Chen Da was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate to lead the expedition team. With Chen Da, a hunter familiar with the Cangmang Mountains, leading the team, the chances of Fang Yong and other members of the expedition team surviving would be higher.

"As ordered!"