“One million Kilo!”

This is truly an exhilarating amount, especially when there was a locust plague before, almost making people think that there would be a reduction in food production.

Fortunately, the efforts made by carefully guarding and killing locusts for these sixty thousand mu of terraced fields undoubtedly paid off!

As Zhang Niujiao’s voice, full of excitement, resounded, people around him burst into joyous cheers for the abundant harvest.

When Qiao Yan planted this batch of potatoes, she told them that these were reserve grains for Leping County.

Just like the thirty thousand sack of grain she brought at the beginning, if there were no disaster years, they would be the storage of Leping.

However, if there was a drought and famine, they would be life-saving.

First, there was the naturalization of mountain bandits, then the cheap mulberry bark winter clothes, and then the control of locust plagues…

Under the gradually accumulated prestige, Qiao Yan could even return to Leping and be hailed by these county residents through word of mouth.

How could they doubt what she said?

This meant that Leping had completely secured its survival capital for the next year!

Who wouldn’t be excited about this!

Even Qiao Yan—

Although she had already estimated the yield of potatoes when Qin Yu reported the quantity of terraced fields to her,

When the conservative estimate of nine hundred thousand kilo turned into a real one million kilo, she couldn’t help but feel excited along with the voices around her.

This is life-saving food…

She took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit.

However, she couldn’t relax too much at this time, because although one million kilo sounded astonishing, not all of it could be directly consumed.

Some of it would be stored as tuber reserves for planting potatoes next year, stored in the same way as the potatoes brought back from the mountains last autumn, with a layer of sand and a layer of potatoes.

In fact, the potatoes planted this year would be far more suitable as tuber segments for cultivation than those obtained from the mountains last year, as the quality had been improved by various fertilization and care operations, and the survival rate of seedlings next year would also inevitably increase.

“Does the Marquis plan to expand the planting area a bit next year?” Qin Yu couldn’t help but ask when he saw Qiao Yan standing in front of the sand table model that had completely turned into a diagram of Leping’s agriculture, lost in thought for a long time.

“No, no expansion.”

In the face of such astonishing yields, Qiao Yan struggled to restrain her desire to increase the planting of Chinese yams( Potatoes).

“Let’s stick to the original plan. Use the other half of the land we saved for planting Chinese yams(Potatoes) as a place for soybean cultivation this year. You take people to dig up the reserved Chinese yams(Potatoes) and store them separately.”

Greediness leads to waste.

Also, the fields that cannot directly proceed to the next round of planting need to be planted with bean seedlings, which actually require some manpower to manage.

With the manpower in Leping, there is no room for more land to be cultivated.

Moreover, this part of the Chinese yam harvest is entirely based on the premise that the Black Mountain Bandits do not have their own land and operate with nearly ten thousand people as a mobile force.

If all the county residents were to go and plant, it would only backfire.

“Let Chu Yan come see me.” Qiao Yan said as Qin Yu exited.

She had only brought Dian Wei back Leping earlier.

After settling the attendants, Chu Yan rushed back immediately. When he heard Qiao Yan’s order, he came promptly.

To him, there was no talk of being too tired.

He only felt that this was Qiao Yan entrusting him with a heavy responsibility.

After hearing what Qiao Yan said, Chu Yan couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotions.

“I want you to take three hundred thousand kilo of Chinese yams(Potatoes) to the Central Plains. You can decide how many people you need. Along the way, sell them as medicinal herbs to pharmacies and as grains to areas hit by locusts.

Bring back the money and purchase grains in Taiyuan, Shangdang, and other counties in Andingzhou.

I will let Xu Fu accompany you to avoid any miscalculations in the transactions.

You two must help each other and make sure this matter is handled properly.”

Although the yield of Chinese yams(Potatoes) is large, they cannot be stored for years like maize.

Even if the ventilation issues are addressed and the extended winter makes storage more convenient, they can only be stored for a little over half a year at most.

Therefore, Qiao Yan cannot let these Chinese yams rot here.

Distributing them directly to the Black Mountain Bandits as food reserves will take up a part.

Exchanging them directly with the county residents will take up another part.

When there is spare manpower in winter, they can also produce a batch of Chinese yam powder to sell elsewhere in Andingzhou, but this is not enough!

There will still be a considerable surplus.

A suitable way to deal with this is considering that Andingzhou is relatively less affected by locust disasters and there is still surplus grain everywhere, Chinese yams(Potatoes) can be used for exchange with other counties.

However, since it is not urgent, the exchanged grains will inevitably suffer some losses.

It’s better to choose a slightly more troublesome method.

Only where there is an urgent need for grain, Chinese yams have the possibility of completely transforming from medicinal herbs to relief grains.

The profits obtained from this can be higher.

However, going to areas suffering from grain shortages will definitely face dangers.

Dealing with these people also requires a tough attitude.

Therefore, considering the circumstances, Qiao Yan felt that this kind of thing could only be entrusted to Chu Yan to do.

“I have two questions for Marquis Qiao.” Being entrusted with such a big task did not make this flexible-minded leader of the Black Mountain lose his composure.

He immediately spoke up.

“Go ahead.”

“First, Marquis Qiao, by entrusting me with three hundred thousand kilo of Chinese yams(Potatoes), are you not afraid that I will take them away and never return?” Chu Yan asked seriously.

“Since you chose to come to me and offer your services, I don’t think you are that short-sighted. Why should I doubt you?” Qiao Yan replied calmly.

Of course, Chu Yan was not that short-sighted.

If this amount of harvest could be achieved in a completely novice state this year, what about next year?

Moreover, he followed Qiao Yan to Jinyang and witnessed her raising her hand to shoot an arrow to threaten the prefect.

He had a high evaluation of Qiao Yan’s decisiveness, knowing that she was capable of doing great things.

He did not think that leaving with this batch of grain would be a wise decision.

Perhaps it was because he could seek a position under Marquis Qiao in Leping, which involved a rather difficult process of questioning and answering, that he now had a more cherished meaning for his current position.

Qiao Yan was right.

He would not choose to leave at this time.

He continued, “My second question is, if we encounter refugees who are willing to be resettled after passing through areas affected by locusts and famine, how should we deal with them?”

Qiao Yan smiled, “Isn’t this one of the reasons I sent you to these places?”

Of course, under these circumstances, the refugees gathered would not be able to settle in Leping.

Their situation was different from that of the Black Mountain Bandits.

The origins of the Black Mountain Bandits could be traced, and Qiao Yan didn’t mind letting those around her know that she had captured the bandits.

It was precisely because of this information that she received some “start-up funds” from the prefect of Changshan County.

However, Qiao Yan did not publicize the fact that the Chinese yam harvest amounted to a million stones everywhere.

Even when she talked to the familiar and supportive Prefect Guo, she only mentioned a harvest of four to five hundred thousand stones.

Therefore, there was no need to tell everyone about the transportation of surplus grain for money and the recruitment of some refugees back.

So, these people could only exist as hidden population under Marquis Qiao for the time being.

When the time was right, they might become people with legitimate household registrations.

But in a situation where even staying alive seemed a bit luxurious for some people, how could they care about such things?

Qiao Yan’s actions couldn’t really be considered as profiting from the people’s hardship.

She was just seeking more benefits for herself within a reasonable range.

With Qiao Yan’s attitude, Chu Yan knew what he should do.

He immediately prepared to go out and find Xu Fu.

The two of them would discuss how many people they needed to bring.

However, just as he was about to step out, he suddenly heard Qiao Yan say, “You might as well go out and avoid it for a while.”