Castle of Black Iron

‘Are you kidding me? Steam all the dozens of billions of square meters’ soil in a boiler so as to eliminate the contamination of demonized plants? Who could do that? I’ve not heard that any brick kiln could hold dozens of billions of square meters’ soil in Taixia Country.’

After hearing the magistrate’s words, all the officials at present swore inside; however, nobody dared burst out into laughter or refute him. Because the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was undoubtedly an agricultural expert. Nobody else at present knew agriculture better than him. Liu Yuntao might be like a bookish; however, Commander Cheng couldn’t doubt Liu Yuntao’s authority even though he was a shadow knight.

However, after hearing Liu Yuntao’s words, Commander Cheng’s frown grew deeper.

“You mean, Ninghe Prefecture as the granary of Yanzhou Province would not only suffer from a wheat failure this year but also from a constant failure in the future even if pure seeds are sowed here…”

“The gene contamination and flow caused by demonized plants would not only cause gene change of near-source species; in the worst scenario, the entire ecological environment would change structurally. Take these farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture as an instance, demonized grains not only cause crop failure. As these demonized grains root in soil, they could cause severe impact and a major change to the microbial system in the soil. As a result, the specialties of the soil would be changed…”

Commander Cheng waved his hand to interrupt the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture impatiently as he asked straightforwardly, “Just tell me whether the fertile soil in Ninghe Prefecture could produce any grains in the future?”

The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture gritted once again as he nodded forcefully, “Yes, they will. However, the yield would be reduced. These high-yield farmlands might be low-yield farmlands and couldn’t recover the high yield until dozens of years later…”

“As Ninghe Prefecture is suffering from a summer wheat failure, what’s your countermeasure as the magistrate of Ninghe prefecture?”

“Burn them!”

“Burn them?”

“Yes, as there’s no yield, these ears of wheat are not qualified to be reaped. In case of greater contamination, we’d better burn them all. After that, the ashes could serve as fertilizers. Through careful tillage, as long as the next batch of grain seeds are pure, we will have a harvest more or less!”

“Good, burn them then…”

“However, as the entire Ninghe Prefecture is suffering from summer wheat failure. All the people in Ninghe Prefecture are in a state of anxiety. If we want to recover the fertility of the farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture, we need to invest more into it. This humble man sincerely expects Commander Cheng to exempt this year’s taxes for Ninghe Prefecture. Additionally, please deliver farming loans to farmers in order to make people reassured in case of other concerns. Furthermore, please open the top 6 warehouses of class A cities within Yanzhou Province and deliver pure grain seeds to the farmers. In this way, I promise that all the farmers of Ninghe Prefecture would put their full efforts in farming work sincerely…”

The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture proposed three suggestions.

“Well, I will exempt 3 years taxes for Ninghe Prefecture. 3 years later, the taxes of Ninghe Prefecture will be halved. Additionally, the northeast military region headquarters will allocate 20 million gold coins to Ninghe Prefecture…” Commander Cheng said after hesitating slightly for less than a second. If not on his side, perhaps nobody could discover his hesitation at this moment, “As to the other suggestions, as you wish!”

“Thanks, Commander Cheng!” The magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture bowed deeply towards Commander Cheng as he said generously, “If so, if Ninghe Prefecture’s fertile land still suffered from such a crop failure 3 years later, this humble man would like to commit suicide for that!”

“No need to commit suicide, just do your job at your full efforts!” Commander Cheng said. After that, he threw a glance at the official who had passed out and fallen onto the ridge between fields before waving his hand and sending an order, “Carry him away and cure him. Given his age, he’s not suitable to serve as any local official in Ninghe Prefecture. After he wakes up, let him resign and return home.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s go…” Commander Cheng said as he flew off towards his airboat which was suspending in the sky, followed by some attendants. All the attendants were knight-level officials in the northeast military region headquarters.

“Bon Voyage, Commander Cheng…” All the other officials in Yanzhou Province and Ninghe Prefecture below said as they saw Commander Cheng flying away. As Commander Cheng didn’t kill anyone to have them assume the responsibility for this crop failure, many officials had let out a deep sigh inside. However, it was just a temporary relaxation. Looking at the large-scale crop failure, everybody was in a low mood.

“Now that Commander Cheng has sent the order, let’s do it…” Zhu Tong the Yanzhou provincial governor finally opened his mouth…

Zhu Tong was silent just now because he was also in a low mood.

Zhu Tong had already guessed why Commander Cheng didn’t lose his temper here today. Because Ninghe Prefecture was not the only place that suffered from a large-scale crop failure. Most of the top 100 crops production places in Taixia Country suffered from similar large-scale crop failures. This summer harvest was in an unprecedentedly worse situation. 80% of all the other places across Yanzhou Province suffered from the same crop failure.

Even idiots knew that agricultural production which was concerned about the stability and lifeline of Taixia Country was facing a big problem. It could be confirmed from the prices of the crops in the latest 2 months. The crops’ prices across Taixia Country had increased by two times in April and May. All the major clans had started to stockpile grains. Official grains were put into the market. Additionally, major clans were limited to purchase grains. As a result, the prices of crops were stabilized slightly.

Taixia Country was facing a big problem in agriculture. Of course, this problem was closely related to Han Zhengfang the former finance minister, Heavens Reaching Church and demons. Any smart one could understand the cause and the effect.

However, the storage of official grains was limited. If the farmland across Taixia country couldn’t produce any grains, the official grains in military regions and prefectures couldn’t stand too long.

‘As one of the top 9 ministers in Taixia Country, Han Zhengfang surrendered to demons. How many fatal plots have Han Zhengfang set in Taixia Country over these years?’ Zhu Tong felt chilly inside the moment he thought about this.

——Hope no more problems in the future.

Liu Yuntao the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture was also restless. ‘After the summer harvest, according to farming season and customs, soya beans should be sowed in the most part of farmlands in Ninghe Prefecture in late June. If these soya beans suffered from a failure too…’

Liu Yuntao dared not think about it anymore. ‘If such a situation really cropped up, the farmers in Ninghe Prefecture would reap nothing after one years’ hard work. If so, before demons arrived, Taixia Country would be in a large-scale chaos…’

Liu Yuntao only expected that the soya beans in the top 6 warehouses in class A cities had no problem.

The officials started to leave the ridge. After receiving the order, the soldiers started to burn the ears of wheat in the farmlands.

Only after a few minutes, before the Cheng Honglie’s airboat left Ninghe Prefecture, heavy smoke had risen from the farmlands below within 1,000 miles…

The flames were at most higher than 10 m. However, the smoke was heavy. Looking down from the airboat, they found the farmlands were covered with smog by lots.

Standing in the airboat, Commander Cheng frowned as he watched the rising smoke. When the magistrate of Ninghe Prefecture mentioned about using the stored grains in the top 6 warehouses in Taixia country, Commander Cheng hesitated slightly. Because he was not sure whether the stored crops in the top 6 warehouses of class A cities in the northeast military region were safe or not.

The grains in the top 6 warehouses in class A cities couldn’t be stored forever. When they reached the corresponding time limits, they would be replaced by new grains. Otherwise, those grains would go bad. If Han Zhengfang and demons determined to demonize grains in Taixia Country, now that the grains across Taixia Country were demonized unconsciously, it was hard to say those grains in the top 6 warehouses across Taixia country were safe although the process for entering warehouses was very strict.

‘Demons and Three-eye Association clans had demonized human grains before the Catastrophe. As long as humans ate demonized grains for a long time, they would be infertile, weak, sick and be inflicted by various incurable diseases. This point could be discovered from the epidemic data collected by those hospitals. Taixia Country could make and have made preventions and countermeasures about that; however, each time, demons could use the same trick to have Taixia Country as a whole suffer from crop failure in a specific period, sparing no time for Taixia Country to make any response and early-warning to it. Besides making Taixia Country run out of grains, they also destroyed the fertile land in Taixia Country. What a vicious plan!’

Commander Cheng let out a deep sigh inside.

Although demons had not arrived, Taixia Country had been chaotic. Xuanyuan Hill was missing; the crown prince was acting as regent; the catastrophe of bloody figures across Taixia country had not been pacified; the remnants of Heavens Reaching Church had not been exterminated; Taixia Country’s agriculture faced a big problem. In the past half a year, the prices of grains had been roaring; the housing prices in cities started to skyrocket; major clans across Taixia Country started to build high city walls and expand their private armies in the name of exterminating bloody figures. All this indicated that Taixia Country was going to be in big chaos.

The moment he thought about this, Commander Cheng would be worried…

“Commander, we’ve inspected Gaozhou Province, Mozhou Province, Tongzhou Province, Qiongzhou Province, Yanzhou Provine, Huizhou Province and Chaozhou Province. Where do we go now?” Gao Tianqi the assistant of Cheng Honglie drew Commander Cheng back from his train of thoughts.

“We’ve not been to Youzhou Province yet. Have you received any message about Youzhou Province these days?” Commander Cheng turned around as he asked Gao Tianqi calmly.

“Youzhou Province has started its summer harvest. They’re not severely affected by demonized grains. It’s said that only two prefectures in Youzhou Province suffered from crop failures. Yanghe Prefecture and the other prefectures in Youzhou Province even have greater yields than previous years. As Commander Cheng was busy patrolling across northeast military region these days, you might have not heard that. This humble man heard a shocking news about Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory from one of my friends recently!”

“Is that about Fiery Oil or Zhang Tie’s romantic affairs in the subcontinent?”

Speaking of Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng’s tone turned strange. Gao Tianqi remembered that when he said that Zhang Tie came back to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with a lot of wives and kids from the Sacred Iceland Kingdom in Waii Subcontinent a few days ago, Commander Cheng replied with a cold harrumph in his study as he replied, “Naive!”. Commander Cheng still seemed to be dissatisfied about Zhang Tie as the latter only cared about his own family. However, Commander Cheng couldn’t stop Zhang Tie as Zhang Tie was not an official of Taixia Country anymore.

“Ahem, ahem, it’s neither about Fiery Oil nor Qianji Hermit’s dissolute affairs in the subcontinent!”

Gao Tianqi pretended to cough twice. Although Commander Cheng could call Zhang Tie’s name directly, as a black iron knight, it was improper for Gao Tianqi to call a legendary earth knight who was famous across Eastern Continent and Western Continent like what Commander Cheng called. When Zhang Tie served as the Youzhou provincial justice, Gao Tianqi might be able to call Zhang Tie’s name directly; however, he couldn’t do that now. Only after a few years, the man who had met him a few times and was on the same footing with him before had grown increasingly powerful. Gao Tianqi didn’t even know what he felt at this moment. When he mentioned about Zhang Tie, Gao Tianqi would unconsciously recall the scene that Zhang Tie squatted down on the riverside outside Youzhou City and washed tableware. A powerful black iron knight traveled with his family by touring care and was responsible for washing tableware. Nobody else might believe in it. It was definitely a fairytale. Gao Tianqi had not washed tableware since he was born, whether at home, in the sect or on the side of Cheng Honglie.

“It’s said that Qianji Hermit the master of Iron-Dragon Sect took out a great treasure that he gained from Earth-elements Realm a few days ago. It’s called bloody sacrifice furnace. One could improve his cultivation base and cure his incurable diseases and wounds by sacrificing bloody figures in the bloody sacrifice furnace. Only in a few days, the bloody sacrifice furnace has aroused a shock. Due to the existence of the bloody sacrifice furnace, the prices of bloody figures across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province rose amazingly and are in short. Many major clans across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province have assigned more manpower to hunt for bloody figures alive. Someone even purchase bloody figures at high prices. Being allured by such a high profit, bounty hunters across Youzhou Province and Tongzhou Province are all in action…”

Commander Cheng turned around immediately. Looking at Gao Tianqi, he suddenly asked, “What do you think about Zhang Tie…”

After hearing Cheng Honglie’s question, Gao Tianqi took in a breath before replying calmly, “Commander, you might not know that, this humble man has met Qianji Hermit outside the city before we met Qianji Hermit in Youzhou Province. When this humble met Qianji Hermit, he was squatting down and washing tableware on the riverside beside an army ranch!”

“What? Squat down and wash tableware on the riverside?” Commander Cheng asked with an amazed look as if he felt that Gao Tianqi was joking. A knight would wash tableware? Neither Gao Tianqi nor Commander Cheng had ever done that since they were born.

“Yes, he was. Qianji Hermit was driving a new touring car and traveling in Youzhou Province with his parents, wives and kids. They traveled all the way towards Youzhou City. At that moment, Feng Cangwu and I were trying horses in the military ranch. When we came to the riverside, we saw Qianji Hermit. At that time, we didn’t find that teenager who was washing tableware on the opposite side of us was a powerful black iron knight. Over these years, the scene when I met Qianji Hermit for the first time always appeared in my mind and reminded me that I should treat people and things in ordinary mentality. After these years’ experience, I feel making a great improvement in my mental realm. I feel that Qianji Hermit grasps mysterious earthshaking skills although he looks average. He’s definitely qualified to be Qianji Hermit. I really admire him…” Gao Tianqi said solemnly.

After hearing Gao Tianqi’s comment about Zhang Tie, Commander Cheng’s eyes gleamed as he said, “Go to Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory…”