Chapter 481: Hopes Failed

Yuan Xi's fleet slowly sailed into the Haixi port.

The reason why he wanted to stay here for a few days was that Chen Deng and Taishi Ci were in charge of Guangling at that time, and the war had not yet started, so there was no rush to go there.

Besides Zhen Yao, whom he wanted to meet, there was another person in Haixi City.

Zang Hong.

Originally, Yuan Xi asked Zang Hong to lead people to Guangling. Later, he thought about it and found that it was not appropriate to let Zang Hong go to Guangling government office.

Strictly speaking, Zang Hong, as the leader of the Suanzao coalition, was of the same generation as Yuan Shao. Chen Deng and Taishi Ci, as Yuan Xi's subordinates, were inevitably restrained when facing Zang Hong, a local tyrant.

It would be fine if Zang Hong was a person who knew when to advance and when to retreat, but he had the precedent of rebellion. If he really lost his mind and did something outrageous, it would be troublesome.

Guangling City was Yuan Xi's most important strategic seat in Xuzhou, so he did not hesitate to place a great general like Taishi Ci here to guard it. Finally, after much deliberation, Yuan Xi sent an urgent letter to Chen Deng, asking him to properly arrange for Zang Hong and his soldiers and civilians.

Chen Deng understood what he meant and immediately sent soldiers to greet and guide Zang Hong and his men to Haixi.

When Yuan Xi heard about it, he was quite satisfied. As Haixi was a port, many of its people went out to sea to do business, and the people there were tough, which was somewhat of a restriction for Zang Hong.

Moreover, accidents often happen in maritime trade and the staff turnover rate is very high. The advantage is that one can make a fortune quickly. The nearly 10,000 people brought by Zang Hong want to make a living and there is a high probability that they will choose this path. This will undoubtedly add new blood to the Haixi maritime trade.

But Yuan Xi was also a little worried. As the defender of Haixi City, could Zhen Yao suppress Zang Hong?

For Yuan Xi, the important port of Haixi could not be lost, so he had to come here in person and have a good talk with Zang Hong.

He led his men down to the dock and found Zhen Yao waiting for them on the shore, unable to suppress the joy on his face.

Zhen Yao has already learned that Zhen Mi has given birth to a son, which is a reassurance to him. After all, many of the great families in the century have established another wife because of their male heirs.

Now that Yuan Xi's power is growing, the gap in status with the Zhen family is getting bigger and bigger. If another lady gives birth to a boy first and Yuan Xi appoints another heir, the Zhen family will actually have no ability to resist.

So after hearing the news that Zhen Mi had given birth to a son, everyone in the Zhen family felt relieved.

Yuan Xi took a few quick steps, held Zhen Yao's hand and said, "Thank you for your hard work, brother."

Zhen Yao was even happier when he heard this title. Just as he was about to speak, he saw a heroic female general following behind Yuan Xi, with two short halberds on her back. He quickly restrained his expression and said, "Greetings, Envoy."

He thought to himself that this must be the legendary only daughter of Marquis Wen. Not only is she the daughter of a great general, her status has become even higher after she was granted the title of lord. Moreover, she is always with Yuan Xi and is obviously extremely favored. My little sister has a strong rival now.

Yuan Xi was in a very good mood because he saw that there were frequent ships coming and going at the Haixi Wharf. It was obvious that Zhen Yao was running the place well. He asked, "Have the overseas merchant ships found any new cargo?"

Zhen Yao quickly took out a few bamboo slips and said, "In the past year, there have been only five ships that have returned from overseas, and the goods they brought are all written on them."

He looked ashamed, "I bought the cotton you mentioned, but there were some problems."

Yuan Xi was full of expectations, and when he heard this, he asked, "What's going on?"

Zhen Yao sighed, "A ship arrived in Tianzhu and got the cotton and seeds that you mentioned."

"But we encountered a storm on the way back, and most of the goods were damaged and almost all were lost."

When Yuan Xi heard this, it was as if a bucket of cold water was poured over his head.

Maritime trade is very risky. It is not easy to obtain cotton from India. Later, we can send ships to trade again along the same trade route, but even if it goes very smoothly, it will take at least one or two years.

Even if you get the seeds, you have to find suitable soil and area for cultivation. These things are suitable for India, but may not be very suitable for the soil in the Central Plains. No one knows what conditions are most suitable. You can only keep trying hybridization and finally select plants that are suitable for the local soil and climate.

This may be a very long process. If you are unlucky, you may get nothing for a long time. After all this, it is still unknown when large-scale planting can be achieved.

Although Yuan Xi was in his prime and could afford to wait for a few years, a dozen years, or even decades, the world could not.

The end of the Han Dynasty marked the beginning of the first of the two major ice ages in Chinese history, which resulted in people having no experience in how to deal with it. As a result, there was a massive population decline.

Studies have shown that the population at the end of the Han Dynasty was reduced by at least 30 million, and among them, less than one-tenth actually died in war.

The remaining nine out of ten people died from plague, hunger and cold.

Not to mention hunger, if cotton can be promoted, it will be extremely effective in protecting against plague and cold.

Among food, clothing, housing and transportation, clothing comes first. In Yuan Xi's view, cotton is one of the key items that helped China survive the ice age!

Now his ambitions had suffered a devastating blow at the very first step. How could he not feel sad?

Zhen Yao saw it and whispered, "The goods that were rescued at that time are still stored in the dock warehouse. Would you like to go and take a look?"

Yuan Xi rekindled a glimmer of hope and said, "Okay, let's go together."

They arrived in front of several large warehouses. Zhen Yao ordered the maritime officer to open the door. Yuan Xi looked inside and saw about a hundred boxes scattered around.

Zhen Yao said: "These are all the damaged goods after the ship was hit by the disaster. I collected them and stored them here."

Under his leadership, everyone found several huge boxes.

As soon as he opened the box, Yuan Xi knew there was no hope.

What was densely packed inside was indeed cotton seeds, but now they were covered with withered buds and leaves.

Zhen Yao sighed, "The merchant who came back said that he had specifically asked the locals how to plant it. He said that the cotton seeds should be exposed to the sun first, then soaked in water before sowing, and finally sown in the early spring when the sun is bright and clear, and a small amount of water should be applied, and it will germinate."

"This merchant ship encountered a storm and huge waves on its way back, and the cabin was flooded, flooding the entire cargo hold."

"The ship drifted for more than half a month before it managed to drain the water out of the warehouse, repaired it, and returned to Haixi."

"But the goods inside were almost all soaked, including these seeds."

Yuan Xi opened a box next to him, and it was filled with cotton bolls, indicating that these were indeed cotton seeds.

But this box of cotton bolls can only be spun into half a piece of cloth at best. What's the use of it?

Yuan Xi looked at these rotten seeds and sighed. After soaking in sea water for such a long time, there was basically no hope.

He said unwillingly: "Find some farmland, soak it in water and plant it there, just treat it as a last resort."

After hearing this, Zhen Yao immediately took the order and went to find someone to make the arrangements.

Yuan Xi actually understood that these seeds were basically useless. Even if there were a few left, what could they do? How many years would it take to grow them on a large scale?

But he was really unwilling to accept the result. He was about to succeed, but an accident happened. Moreover, if cotton had been promoted a year or two later, many more people might have died in the world.

He suppressed his annoyance and checked other goods, and found that some of them were indeed very useful.

For example, spices, woolen shawls, tin blocks, silver jewelry, ivory and other valuable items could make a lot of money if sold to the gentry in the Central Plains, but compared to cotton, these were luxury goods that were icing on the cake and were completely insignificant. They could only be used to cheat the rich out of their money.

He suddenly blinked his eyes, pulled out a tightly sealed iron box from the corner, and said, "What is this?"

Zhen Yao quickly found the key and opened it, saying, "These are the seeds that the Zhen family merchant bought in Siam. They said that after they are planted, they will grow into saplings, and in seven or eight years, they will be able to grow into full-grown trees."

"There is white water in the tree, which can be stored in a bowl after being cut open, and can be used to make utensils after solidification."

"The seeds are difficult to preserve and need to be sown as soon as possible, so the merchant specially found an iron box to seal them."

"Luckily, the seeds did not get wet after the storm, so they should still be usable."

Yuan Xi was stunned. Isn't this just rubber?

He then cursed inwardly, wondering why there were no cotton seeds in the iron box!

Although rubber is good, its use in this era is quite limited. More importantly, China is not suitable for rubber planting at all!

There was an initial conclusion about rubber planting, that is, the area north of 15 degrees north latitude is not suitable for rubber planting, and the area north of 17 degrees north latitude is even called the "rubber planting restricted area". Hainan, the southernmost part of China, is located between 18 degrees north latitude and 20 degrees north latitude.

It was not until two thousand years later, and after years of hard work by the Chinese people, that this forbidden zone was broken through, allowing rubber trees to be planted on a large scale within the Chinese territory. But how could Yuan Xi have the technology to do so now?

He put the box down with a lack of interest, hesitated for a moment, and handed it to Zhen Yao again, "I remember this thing can be planted in February or March. Find a piece of land to try it out. It's okay if it doesn't grow."

Zhen Yao agreed and thought to himself that Yuan Xi looked like he had no confidence. Could it be that he had already seen this thing?

Yuan Xi felt a little uncomfortable, but when he saw Zhen Yao's anxious look, he immediately came to his senses, took Zhen Yao's hand and said, "Brother, you did a good job."

"We should compensate and appease those merchants. After all, it is not easy for them to survive the sea disaster. After all, they work for us."

"Don't let them down."

Zhen Yao quickly accepted the order, and Yuan Xi asked again: "Where is Zang Hong now?"

Zhen Yao replied: "Now I have vacated a house for him to live in."

He lowered his voice and said, "This guy is also strange. He often stays at home. When he goes out, he goes to the beach to look out. I don't know how to deal with him."

Yuan Xi nodded, "Come with me."

Soon, they arrived at a nearby mansion. Zhen Yao went up to the gatekeeper and told him about it. After a while, two women opened the door and welcomed them in, saying, "The host respectfully invites you to come."

Zhen Yao was unhappy to see that Zang Hong did not come out to greet him in person. Yuan Xi, on the other hand, took a look at the two women and judging by their clothes, they should be Zang Hong's concubines.

I just don't know if these two were the concubines who were cooked by Zang Hong and shared as food with the civilians and soldiers in the city when Dongwuyang was besieged and out of food in later generations?