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

Chapter 730 See Yang Shuai

"no!"

Zheng Qing shook his head without hesitation. The reason why Taicang County is thriving and the people are living better and better is that, from the prefect Zheng Qing to the county magistrate Xu Zhiwen, they are all good officials who care about the people.

It was under the governance of these officials that the people of Taicang County were able to have enough to eat and avoid widespread starvation.

If officials appointed by Yang Zheng were to govern Taicang County, it would be fine if they were good officials, but if they were corrupt or incompetent, the current good situation in Taicang County would be ruined in a few months.

Therefore, whether for the sake of the people of Taicang County or for his own sake, Zheng Qing had to fight for Taicang County's autonomy from Yang Zheng.

As for those who could only remain in Taicang County after obtaining autonomy and could not be promoted to gain more power... Whether it was Zheng Qing or Xu Zhiwen and other county magistrates, they had been languishing in Taicang County for many years, and their desire to pursue power had long faded. Whether they were promoted or not was not as important to them as they had imagined.

"Okay! I agree!"

Seeing Zheng Qing's resolute attitude, Yang Zheng hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. He had never been a person with a strong desire for control. He was willing to exchange the autonomy of Taicang County for grain seeds that would feed the people of Liangzhou and provisions for the Yang family army to send out troops.

"Prefect Zheng, please tell me if you have any other requests. I will grant them if I can."

Having already granted autonomy to Taicang County, Yang Zheng didn't mind agreeing to a few more conditions. For him now, the most important thing was to reach a cooperation agreement with Chenjia Village and Taicang County to obtain the scarce resources of Liangzhou.

"One last request!"

Zheng Qing looked directly into Yang Zheng's eyes and said, word by word, "I hope that King Yang can treat the people of Taicang County and even Qingzhou equally, and treat the people of Qingzhou as well as the people of Liangzhou!"

Yang Zheng glanced at Zheng Qing in surprise, seemingly not expecting Zheng Qing to make such a request. He then said, "Prefect Zheng, rest assured, I will treat all the people under my rule as my own children, and I will never exploit the people like Xia Ting did!"

As he said this, Yang Zheng met Zheng Qing's gaze with a calm expression.

Yang Zheng was once one of the working class and knew the hardships of the people. Therefore, after he came to a high position, he never mistreated the people in the slightest.

I wouldn't have done that before, and I definitely won't do it again!

"In that case, I wish us a pleasant cooperation!"

Zheng Qing stood up from his chair and bowed deeply to Yang Zheng: "Your humble servant Zheng Qing greets Commander Yang!"

At the same time, Xu Zhiwen, Li Qingyun, Cui Rong, and Zhang Jun also stood up and bowed to Yang Zheng: "Your humble servants pay their respects to Commander Yang!"

"Good good!"

Looking at the five people bowing to him as if they were his subordinates, Yang Zheng was in high spirits, feeling as if all the talents in the world were now under his control.

Because of his status as a "rebel," Yang Zheng had always lacked capable civil officials to govern. Now, with Zheng Qing and the other five, Yang Zheng had even more civil officials who could provide him with governance strategies!

"Please rise, everyone!"

Yang Zheng helped Zheng Qing and the others up one by one, and said loudly, "Please rest assured, everyone. After I destroy the Xia Court and unify the Nine Provinces, I will do my best to ensure that the people of the Nine Provinces can live a good life!"

If Yang Zheng wasn't very confident about unifying the Nine Provinces before, he is now full of confidence!

This is not only because he gained the territory of Taicang County for nothing, but also because... he can obtain all kinds of magical resources from Chenjia Village!

After exchanging pleasantries with Zheng Qing and the others, Yang Zheng turned to Chen Dao, who hadn't said much, and asked with a smile, "Mr. Chen, now that our cooperation is complete, when can you deliver the winter wheat seeds to me?"

Throughout, Yang Zheng's primary concern was the ice wheat seedlings from Chenjia Village, as these were key to solving the grain shortage in Liangzhou.

"Right now, Cheng-ge'er!"

Chen Dao summoned Chen Cheng and asked him to fetch a cloth bag. As he handed the bag to Yang Zheng, he said, "These are the ice wheat seeds that Chenjia Village currently has. There aren't many. If you're in a hurry, Yang Shuai, you can take these seeds back and cultivate them."

Yang Zheng took the cloth bag containing the frozen wheat seeds and suddenly realized a problem!

His previous focus had been on the yield of ice wheat, but now that he had obtained the ice wheat seeds, he suddenly realized...

Although this ice wheat has an extremely high yield, Chen Dao had previously told him that ice wheat prefers cold weather and not heat, which means...

Ice wheat can only be grown in winter, and even if he brings ice wheat back to Liangzhou now, it will be difficult to cultivate it in a short period of time.

Of course, winters in Liangzhou are long enough that even though it's almost September, the remaining cold weather is enough for the ice wheat to grow another crop.

The problem is that there's only one bag of wheat seeds. This bag of seeds is barely enough to plant two acres of land, let alone the entire Liangzhou region.

In other words, if he wants to plant ice wheat on all the land in Liangzhou, it will take at least one to two years until the ice wheat blooms everywhere and there are enough ice wheat seeds...

Yang Zheng clearly couldn't afford to wait that long.

So he looked at Chen Dao and said hesitantly, "Young friend, isn't the quantity of these seeds a bit too small?"

"That's definitely too little."

Chen Dao nodded without hesitation, "But King Yang doesn't need to worry! By the end of the year, when the ice wheat planted in Taicang County matures, there will be enough grain seeds."

At present, at least one-fifth of the arable land in Taicang County is planted with ice wheat, and the crops are growing very well. Once all the ice wheat in Taicang County is ripe, the problem of grain seeds will naturally be solved.

As for the bag of frozen wheat seeds in Yang Zheng's hand, it was just something Chen Dao specially brought out to put Yang Zheng's mind at ease.

"I see!"

Yang Zheng was immediately relieved, but he soon frowned again.

Spring will arrive soon after the end of the year, and it is clear that ice wheat cannot be planted in winter. This means that even if Yang Zheng obtains enough ice wheat seeds by then, he will not be able to plant it in Liangzhou...

"Mr. Chen, I wonder if Chenjia Village has any grain seeds that can be planted in spring and summer?"

When Yang Zheng asked that question, he felt somewhat embarrassed, realizing that he had been a little greedy.

To be fair, seeing the amazing ice wheat in Chenjia Village was already a pleasant surprise for him. With ice wheat, land that was unusable in winter could not only grow crops, but the yield was also five times that of before...

It's already a huge surprise to have ice wheat, which can improve land utilization and has extremely high yield. How can I be so greedy as to want more?

Even the magical Chenjia Village probably couldn't come up with another seed similar to ice wheat, right?

Yang Zheng thought to himself, already mentally prepared for Chen Dao to give a negative answer.