“Why?”
The Ninth Princess frowned and asked.
“Your Highness, raising seedlings takes time,” Jin Feng said. “And Champa is far too distant from Great Kang. Even if the people I send manage to find Champa rice, even if each person carries one hundred jin of seeds back, if I send one hundred people, we can only bring back ten thousand jin at most. That is not even enough for seed use next year.”
“Oh right, there is also the seedling stage.”
The Ninth Princess was not a farmer, so she had instinctively overlooked this basic fact.
“Sir, is Champa here? It does not look that far,” Qing Mulan said, lowering her head to stare at the map.
“Can a map be the same as reality?” Jin Feng said. “The scale I used is very large. A length about the size of a fingernail represents roughly one hundred li. Use your fingernail and measure how far Champa really is.”
“There is no need to measure. Both Dazhao and Jiaozhi are full of high mountains and dense forests. In many places, deep mountain forests have not seen a single person for years. Fallen leaves rot until they reach waist height. Travelling through such terrain is extremely dangerous. Measuring straight line distance has no reference value at all.”
Jin Feng shot Qing Mulan an annoyed glance. “I plan to send two platoons of escorts to Dazhao. When they will return, and how many will return, is completely uncertain.”
“One fingernail represents one hundred li?”
Qing Mulan really picked up her fingernail to measure.
“This palace can also send some people,” the Ninth Princess added.
“If the sir lacks manpower, I can allocate some people to act as porters,” Qing Xinyao volunteered.
“It seems I still need to find ways to gather more grain,” the Ninth Princess sighed softly.
“If Your Highness and Lord Qing are willing to help, that would be wonderful,” Jin Feng said quickly. “The more people there are, the more seeds can be carried back, and the sooner we can popularise Champa rice.”
Jin Feng added, “I cannot guarantee anything else, but if Your Highness needs water jade pearls, I will give my full support.”
Not only did the Ninth Princess care about the livelihood of the people of Sichuan and Shu, Jin Feng cared just as much.
Although the grain Jin Feng and the nobles obtained was considerable, it was still far from enough to support all the people of Sichuan and Shu until next year’s harvest.
“I will have Xiao Bei and the guild cooperate with Your Highness. If Your Highness lacks funds, just say the word.”
“If needed, Wu Yang will not be polite with the sir.”
Seeing that the discussion of cotton and Champa rice was finished, Qing Mulan interjected. “Sir, where is that grain you mentioned, the one with a yield of more than one thousand jin per mu?”
Otherwise, there would be no need to go to such trouble to bring grain from Jiangnan, and to offend the nobles so thoroughly.
The Ninth Princess knew that Jin Feng’s goals aligned with hers, and she also knew how many water jade pearls Jin Feng possessed, so she smiled and nodded.
“Let me see how far it is,” Qing Mulan said, subconsciously wanting to measure again with her fingernail.
“Here,” Jin Feng said, pointing to the location of South America.
“Your Highness, this is not an island, but two continents. The sage calls them North America and South America,” Jin Feng said. “Any one of them is many times larger than Great Kang as it is today.”
“Do not bother measuring. It is at least tens of thousands of li away,” Jin Feng said. “And the dangers involved are even greater than going to Champa.”
“Yes. The envoys from Jiaozhi come to Great Kang once every one or two years, but I have never heard of such a vast land tens of thousands of li beyond the Eastern Sea,” the Ninth Princess said.
Looking at the world map, the Ninth Princess finally understood why Jin Feng always seemed to belittle imperial authority.
Because he knew a much larger world. Perhaps in his understanding, Great Kang was no different from Dazhao or Jiaozhi.
Great Kang was called the Celestial Empire, yet its territory was not even one quarter of Jin Feng’s homeland in his previous life.
“So the world is actually this big.”
“Wu Yang, do not be fooled by him,” Qing Mulan said. “Sir, be honest. Did you deliberately draw Great Kang so small?”
But Qing Mulan did not truly believe that.
In her view, Great Kang was already extremely large.
“Sister, the sir would not lie about such things,” the Ninth Princess said. “I have seen the geographical maps of the lands around Great Kang in the palace. They are similar to what the sir has drawn. In fact, the territories controlled by the Khitan and Tubo are even larger than ours, and the Dangxiang also hold no small amount of land in the northern deserts.”
“It is not that I drew Great Kang small, but that compared to this world, Great Kang truly is small,” Jin Feng said. “There are always people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens. The world is far beyond your imagination.”
“What the sir says also makes sense,” the Ninth Princess said, the corner of her mouth lifting again.
“Your Highness need not belittle herself,” Jin Feng said with a smile. “Although the Khitan and Dangxiang control vast lands, they are all bitterly cold regions. For more than half the year, people must wear fur coats, and only one crop can be planted each year. They are far inferior to the lands occupied by Great Kang.
Tubo is the same, a harsh and cold land. No matter how large it is, it cannot support many people. That is why they constantly attack Great Kang, because they also want to live in warm and comfortable places.”
The Ninth Princess had always been noble and composed, every glance and smile deliberate.
But ever since she and Jin Feng became close, everything had changed.
“Ah…”
Seeing this, Qing Mulan covered her forehead in speechless frustration.
The Ninth Princess’s gaze was drawn to the vast blank space between the Eurasian continent and the South American continent.
“Yes. As long as one crosses this sea, one can reach South America and bring back potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, chillies, and more.”
She would often change her expression because of a single look from Jin Feng, and would smile again because of a single sentence from him.
“Sir, is this the Pacific Ocean you mentioned?” the Ninth Princess asked.
“I am not sure. When I left the Eastern Sea, the dock had not yet been completed,” Jin Feng said. “But I recently sent several letters urging them to speed up construction, and also sent a great deal of supplies. Hong Taoping comes from a shipbuilding family, so it should not take too long.”
A gleam flashed in Jin Feng’s eyes. “When that time comes, the lives of the people of Great Kang will be much better.”
“Then how long will it take for the sir to build ships capable of long voyages?” the Ninth Princess asked.
Jin Feng showed the same look of anticipation.
With Great Kang’s situation in chaos, Jin Feng was also worried that something might happen to him.
“Then this palace looks forward to the day when the sir sets sail and returns, forever resolving the famine of Great Kang.”
“I also look forward to that day.”
In the end, Jin Feng even drew the sea routes on the map, and gave both the map and the globe to the Ninth Princess.
“Sir, what are you planning to do?” she asked.
That afternoon, he specifically went to see the Ninth Princess again, explaining Africa, Oceania, and Antarctica, as well as the three other oceans besides the Pacific.
Jin Feng explained in great detail, and the Ninth Princess listened with extreme seriousness.
“What are you thinking about?”
Jin Feng pulled the Ninth Princess into his arms. “This is my betrothal gift. Once you accept my betrothal gift, you are mine.”
The Ninth Princess took the globe and frowned slightly.
Jin Feng’s behaviour today made her feel as if he were settling his affairs for the future.
As if, should something happen to him, Guan Xiaorou and Tang Xiaobei would not be left without support.
Everything he had told the Ninth Princess today, he had also told Guan Xiaorou and Tang Xiaobei.
In fact, he had drawn more than one world map. Tang Xiaobei had one, and in the storehouse on the back mountain of Xihe Bay, there were several volumes he had compiled himself.
Now, with the addition of a strong willed and deep thinking Ninth Princess, he had even less to worry about.
