Chapter 68

Looks like he really got involved now.

"I don't know where you live, sir, but once I have money, I'll definitely thank you for saving my life."

Penn refused politely. "No need to thank me. It was just a small favor."

Still, he gave the man a pouch of money. "Here are five taels of silver. It should be enough for you to live on for two or three months."

After that, he left with his assistant.

As they walked out, the assistant made a funny face at the man.

Back at the shop, Penn got busy again with customers. The egg yolk lotus paste mooncakes were extremely popular. These mooncakes had a golden, shiny crust. At first, only low-level officials and scholars tried them, while the rich and noble families looked down on them.

But later, some curious young sons and daughters from wealthy families gave them a try—and were surprised to find the taste was far better than what their own chefs made.

Even when they asked their chefs to copy the mooncakes, the taste never came out the same.

If Sophia had seen this, she would have laughed out loud. There was no way they could copy it. Not only were the modern ingredients specially developed and improved over generations, but the process also involved modern techniques and special touches.

After many failed attempts, no one in Wu Kingdom could make the same mooncakes.

So, Penn's shop became even more popular.

However, since the number of mooncakes was limited, he sold them in fixed amounts each day, and the price also went up.

Meanwhile, his business was booming.

Sophia had finally delivered the seeds for General Yves. By now, the land they had cleared had already reached over a thousand acres.

"These are high-quality seeds from the divine being," General Yves explained to his officers. "Compared to what we have now, these either produce more, resist pests, or taste better. Most importantly, some of them can survive drought!"

He continued, "It only rained a little recently, and we haven't had more rain since. So I've ordered the drought-resistant seeds to be sorted first. Chen County will get 2,000 jin of drought-tolerant rice seeds, 2,000 jin of millet, and 10,000 sweet potato sprouts."

Originally, Sophia had already sent lots of sweet potatoes and potatoes. Normally, they could grow sprouts from those, but since the land was dry and sprouting takes time, she sent ready-to-plant sweet potato sprouts this time.

Not just Chen County—General Yves also sent one-fifth of the seeds to the Chu region. The rest were sent to the capital of Zhao Kingdom.

In Chen County, it was perfect timing. General Ulric and others had already cleared some wild land. The soil was still moist from deep plowing. General Yves gave orders to the local officials:

Any family willing to move near the newly cleared land could get three acres each. The government would provide the seeds, and there would be no taxes for three years.

Once the news spread, people in the city started talking about it.

Many were unsure at first.

Most of the people who signed up lived close to the new land.

General Yves paid close attention to this matter. Every two or three days, he gathered the local officials to report the progress.

"Winter is coming soon. Although Chen County doesn't get much snow, once it's winter, farming will be hard. We need to speed things up. Do any of you have ideas?"

The officials looked at each other. Finally, one stepped forward.

"Commander, the people are worried. The drought has lasted for months, and they're running out of options. After thinking it over, 213 families have now registered. I've allowed them to farm during the day and go home at night. It's a bit far, but they're willing to give it a try."

People who are willing to suffer through this kind of hardship, knowing they might work for months and end up with nothing, are usually from families who are so poor they can't even feed themselves.

General Yves nodded. Since the states of Wu and Zhao hadn't noticed them yet, they had to move quickly to build up strength.

"You all make the arrangements. I'll try to send more resources to the newly reclaimed land."

After the officials of Chen County left, General Yves gave orders for the local agriculture officer to send five drilling machines. They needed to find the right spots in the wasteland to dig wells.

At first, General Yves didn't trust the local officials, so his trusted men managed the drilling machines. But as more work piled up, the job was handed over from Assistant Hanra to the officer in charge of water projects in Chen County.

The reason for digging wells was that it would be too tiring for city people to walk many miles every day to farm the land.

While they worked on clearing the wasteland, they also tried to make the area suitable for people to live. If successful, people would naturally move in.

Throughout history, people only moved when they had no other choice. Nobody wants to leave their hometown unless they're forced to.

"Commander, there's something else. This time, we plan to clear 3,000 acres, and it should be done within this month. With the books you provided, plus help from excavators and dump trucks, now is a great time to dig canals and build dams to store water. This land is right next to Mount An. If we take control of the area, we can direct water from Mount An through Chen County, then through Chu territory, and all the way to Daqing."

Daqing used to be the land of the old Zhao kingdom.

"Also, after going through this big drought, I believe every region should build reservoirs. That way, during floods, we can control water levels, and during droughts, we'll have stored water."

General Yves was interested but took a moment to think. Then he said, "It's possible. But we can't rush. We need to take it step by step."

Building water systems helps future generations, but it also uses up a lot of money and labor.

If they really wanted to build, he might need to ask Sophia for more machines.

The agriculture officer didn't say anything more after seeing General Yves had the same idea.

To attract more people to move to the newly cleared land, they used the trees they had cut down to build a dozen wooden houses.

That way, farmers who lived far away could stay nearby and not waste time going back and forth.

Once things were stable, if those farmers wanted to, they could buy both the house and the land from the government.

On Sophia's side, she had already spent over one million yuan sending seeds to General Yves. After receiving his letter saying it wasn't enough, she ordered more drought-resistant seeds—corn, millet, rice, and others. Each kilogram cost about ten yuan. She bought twenty thousand kilograms of each.

In total, she bought two hundred thousand kilograms and paid two million yuan.

She paid without hesitation.

She placed the order with the same supplier. This time, the seller stayed calm and only confirmed the delivery address.