Ang Lee was in a particularly good mood because he had easily dealt with the patriarch of the Da Clan. Of course, this was not a great achievement. The patriarch of the Da Clan no longer had much strength. Although Dazhou was more than a hundred miles in radius, in the eyes of the Tang Empire, a hundred miles in radius was just a small place. Compared to the Tang Empire, which had a radius of nearly ten thousand miles, a hundred miles in radius was much smaller.
However, mosquito meat was still meat. Although a hundred miles in radius was not a large territory for the Tang Empire, it was still good to be able to increase it a little. Moreover, this was the only way to connect to Dongnu Province. Only by completely taking it down could it be convenient for future unified management. For the Tang Empire, this was very beneficial.
At this moment, whether it was Dazhou or Dongnu Province in the west, the food shortage was quite serious. For this reason, the imperial court had to quickly prepare food and then transport it here at all costs. When they set off, Ang Lee had already asked people to prepare food. This massive amount of food should have already entered Central Sichuan. After a little preparation, it could be transported to the west. Due to the rugged roads, the efficiency of transportation was very low, and the loss would be great. However, no matter what, they had to go all out to transport it to the west. They could not stop just because the roads were difficult to travel and the loss of food was too great. Many people in Dongnu Province were hungry.
According to the most optimistic estimate, it would take two months for the first batch of food to be transported to Dongnu Province. For this reason, within these two months, the food problem here could only rely on Ang Lee to think of a solution himself.
In Ang Lee's opinion, the disaster in Dongnu Province at this moment was a flood, not a drought. This was much better. If it was a drought, it would be really troublesome. If there was a drought here, it was enough to show that the few rivers here were about to dry up. In this case, not only would there be no food harvest, but drinking water would also become a problem. There would be no living conditions here, and rescue would become extremely difficult. The pressure of transporting food was already very great. If they also needed to transport water, the pressure would be as great as the sky. They would probably have to give up this land and move the people away.
The flood meant that the problem of water supply was solved first. The people would have water to drink. In addition, there would be more resources such as wild grass and trees in the wild. This way, there would definitely be prey in the mountains. There would also be wild fruits on the trees, which could greatly reduce the loss of crops.
However, in Ang Lee's opinion, since the people were hungry, they would definitely go to the mountains to hunt and gather food. As a result, in the wild mountains in Dongnu Province, it would be a problem how much prey there was...... There would definitely not be much prey, and the density, it would be terrifyingly low................
Since it was very difficult to hunt in the wild, wouldn't farming be a good idea?
Ang Lee looked at Chen Long next to him and said, "Dongnu Province has a serious flood. What is the most abundant thing in Dongnu Province now?"
Chen Long glanced at Li An and said seriously, "That goes without saying. Of course, it's water. Floods, floods, the only thing we don't lack is water!"
Ang Lee nodded and said, "That's right. The most abundant thing in Dongnu Province now is water. Other than water, what else is abundant?"
Chen Long frowned and thought for a moment. He shook his head and said, "I don't know. Assistant Minister Li, don't keep me in suspense. Tell me!"
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Look, the weeds on both sides of the road. Aren't they growing very vigorously?"
Chen Long looked at the waist-high weeds and said with a frown, "That's for sure. It rains every two to three days. How can the weeds not grow fast?"
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Yes! It rains every two to three days, so the weeds grow more vigorously. So, Dongnu Province must be in the same situation. "
After saying that, he looked happy.
Chen Long looked at Ang Lee's expression and was a little confused. He thought for a moment and said, "Assistant Minister Li, you mean that Dongnu Province doesn't lack weeds. That's true, but weeds can't be eaten. It's useless!"
Ang Lee smiled and said, "It's useless. Weeds can't be eaten by people. However, there are many animals that like to eat grass. Let the animals eat grass, and then people eat the animals. Won't this solve the problem of food shortage?"
Obviously, Ang Lee had thought of a better way, which was to breed animals. Of course, the food that could be provided by breeding animals was far less than the food that could be provided by planting animals. This was because the weeds eaten by various animals couldn't all be converted into meat. The conversion rate was relatively low. Therefore, the food production ability of nomads was always inferior to that of farmers. This was because farming was always the best way to obtain food. It was the best way to yield per unit of land.
However, at present, there was a flood in Dongnu Province. The food couldn't resist the flood. Some were washed away, and some were drowned. The vitality of weeds was far greater than that of crops. The flood didn't destroy the weeds. The weeds in Dongnu Province must be all over the mountains and plains.
With enough weeds, it was easier to breed animals that ate grass. There was no need to worry about not having enough grass for animals to eat.
However, just like harvesting crops, it also took time to breed animals. It wasn't like breeding animals today and there would be a harvest tomorrow. By the time there was a harvest, the people might have starved to death.
Therefore, animals that grew very slowly had to be eliminated first. For example, animals like cows and sheep loved to eat grass. Unfortunately, their growth was too slow. It was really not suitable for emergency rescue.
Animals with strong reproductive ability and fast growth were the most suitable for emergency rescue. The animals that met these conditions were undoubtedly rabbits. No animal had a faster reproductive ability than rabbits.
This was a land animal. There were also fish in the water. Their reproductive speed was also very fast and their growth speed was not slow. Dongnu Province now had water and grass. It was the most suitable measure to breed rabbits and fish on a large scale.
Just look at a certain large island country in the future to know how strong the rabbit's reproductive ability was. As the rabbits there did not have the threat of natural predators, their reproductive speed was simply heaven-defying. Very quickly, they had reproduced to a shocking number, threatening the local ecological environment. In order to balance the rabbit population, humans had taken all kinds of measures. Hunters hunted non-stop, and they used extremely efficient firearms. Unfortunately, there was still no way to eliminate these large numbers of rabbits. All kinds of methods had been exhausted, but the final results were barely satisfactory. From this, it was enough to see how strong the rabbit's reproductive ability was.
Under normal circumstances, it would only take half a year for a rabbit to become an adult. An adult rabbit could give birth to a litter of baby rabbits in a month, and a litter of baby rabbits could have about ten babies. The speed of reproduction was simply too fast. It was no wonder that the large island countries in the future were unable to eliminate them.
Of course, no matter how strong the rabbit's reproductive ability was, if there were no breeding rabbits, then there was nothing to talk about. They had to have breeding rabbits before they could reproduce. These breeding rabbits should be available in the East Maiden Kingdom. As long as they were not all eaten, then it would be easy.
Not to mention fish. With water and weeds, the problem of fish food would be solved. In addition, there were fungi that had a better emergency effect. The growth of fungi was extremely fast. They could be harvested in a few days. Moreover, fungi were also very suitable for large-scale planting. The effect was very good.
There would be fungi in any area. In Dongnu Province, where the rainy weather was continuous, fungi were the easiest to grow. After growing, the fungi could be harvested very quickly. Thus, they could be used to fill people's stomachs.
The food that could be obtained from these emergency measures was still relatively limited. It couldn't fundamentally solve the food shortage problem that Dongnu Province was facing, but it could at least alleviate it a little. In the current situation of a disaster, it was better to take some measures than to do nothing. The relief food from the imperial court would soon arrive in Dongnu Province. When a large batch of food from the imperial court arrived, the food shortage in Dongnu Province could be completely solved.
Before a large batch of relief food arrived, the only thing that Ang Lee could do was to think of ways to alleviate the food crisis in Dongnu Province. Even if it could only alleviate it a little, it would still be excellent.
After resting for a night, Ang Lee's group continued forward. When they passed by the main city of Dazhou, the head of the Da clan led some people and personally watched as Ang Lee left. He also gave Ang Lee some local specialties. Although it wasn't a lot, it was still a token of his sincerity.
After traveling for another two days, Ang Lee finally arrived at the border of Dongnu Province and entered the Dazhou checkpoint. At the checkpoint, there were only 20 Dazhou militiamen in charge of guarding the checkpoint. Although they were all very valiant, there were only 20 or so people. Their strength was still quite weak. The meaning of their existence was just a symbol. They didn't have any actual defensive ability. The checkpoint was also made of wooden fences.
However, there were many houses here, and all of them were specially prepared for merchants. At this moment, a group of merchants that had stayed here for a few days just happened to leave. Thus, only Li An's group that had just arrived was left here.
"What was that group of merchants doing just now?"
Ang Lee asked softly as he looked at Chen Long, who was asking about the merchants' return.
Chen Long replied, "Assistant Minister Li, these merchants were transporting food from Central Sichuan. They transported a total of 100 carts. They completed the handover a few days ago. They rested for a few days and are going back now. They said that they would be back in a month or so."
Ang Lee nodded in satisfaction. Although these merchants were transporting food for profit, their actions had at least alleviated the food crisis in Dongnu Province to a certain extent. It had a very positive effect on solving the crisis that Dongnu Province was currently facing. At the very least, Ang Lee was very certain of their actions.
Although there were only 20 or so Dazhou militiamen at the Dazhou checkpoint, there was a Dongnu Province military camp not far away. There were 500 Dongnu Province elite soldiers stationed in this camp. Other than the 500 elite soldiers, there were also officials from Dongnu Province who were in charge of purchasing food. They stayed here to purchase the food that was being transported and then quickly transport it back to the country.
Since they had the money, why didn't they go to Central Sichuan to buy food themselves? Why did they wait for the merchants from the Tang dynasty at the border? If they went to Central Sichuan themselves, they could buy as much as they wanted.
This was naturally because there were too many bandits on the road, and the danger was too high. Furthermore, the East Maiden Kingdom couldn't send troops to protect them. According to the rules, their troops couldn't enter the western Jipeng State at will. Once they lacked protection, the food they bought would be easily stolen on the way.
Moreover, they didn't know anything about the road conditions and bandits on the way up the mountain. They were like blind people. Therefore, they simply waited at the border for the merchants who were transporting food and bought it directly from the merchants from the Tang dynasty. This was the safest way. In order to prevent the newly purchased food from being robbed, they sent a large number of troops to the border to protect the trade at the border.
The existence of these 500 elite soldiers not only protected the newly purchased food in Dongnu Province, but also protected the merchants from the Tang dynasty who lived across the border. This allowed the merchants from the Tang dynasty to do business with the imperial court of Dongnu Province with peace of mind. They were not in a hurry to leave after finishing their business. They stayed a few times before leaving.
Of course, in addition to protection, these 500 elite soldiers also played the role of preventing outsiders from entering Dongnu Province from this road. Their country was already chaotic enough. They couldn't let outsiders enter at will. More importantly, they had to prevent spies from sneaking into Dongnu Province, which would bring a greater disaster to the already unstable Dongnu Province.
Because there were 500 elite soldiers stationed here, the scale of the camp at the border of Dongnu Province was even larger. There were a large number of houses inside. In addition to the fixed houses for the soldiers, there were also many warehouse-like houses. These houses were all used to temporarily store food. These houses were much better than the houses where the soldiers lived. After all, even if the houses where the soldiers lived were blown away by the wind, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, if an accident happened to the houses where the food was stored, it would be a big deal. The food in Dongnu Province was now very scarce. They couldn't afford to lose it. At this moment, food was the most important resource in Dongnu Province, so they had to pay enough attention to it.
Ang Lee's thousand men entered Dazhou in a mighty manner. Such a large movement naturally attracted the attention of the soldiers from Dongnu Province on the other side. They had always been very concerned about the movements at Dazhou. After all, as long as there was movement at Dazhou, it meant that more caravans had arrived to sell food. They could then spend money to buy food.
This time, due to the large movement and the large number of people in military uniforms, they were very shocked. The leading official quickly led a few soldiers over to check the situation.
"Who are you people?"
Because they had never seen the Dragon Martial Army before, the official from Dongnu Province was dumbfounded. He didn't know what kind of soldiers they had encountered and what was in these hundreds of carriages.
"We are the Dragon Martial Army of the Tang dynasty. We are under orders to come to Dongnu Province."
One of the captains replied.
"Oh, could it be Assistant Minister Li's team?"
The official from Dongnu Province said excitedly. He had already received news that Ang Lee was coming. However, he didn't expect Ang Lee to suddenly appear in front of them without notifying them in advance. This greatly shocked them.
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