In the fifth year of Yuanfeng (76 BC), in the middle of the fourth month of the Xia calendar, the sun in Shanshan became hotter and spicyer day by day.

Countless flowers bloomed on the edge of the field, but the feet of the Han army soldiers ruthlessly stepped on them and traveled to and from the fields. Not to mention enjoying the flowers, everyone was so busy that they didn’t even have time to sit down and rest.

More than 50 soldiers who were ordered to farm in Jiannicheng, Shanshan Kingdom were fighting an difficult battle.

From a distance, after the burial of winter snow and the illumination of spring sun, the winter wheat planted before Ren Hong left was ripe. The wheat waves were like golden carpets, spread on the flat and fertile land. A gust of wind blew, and you could even smell the fragrance of wheat in the air.

More than 20 tanned farmer soldiers bent over their hands holding iron sickles and hugged the wheat on their legs. Only the "rustling" sound of cutting the wheat straw was heard. After cutting a bundle, they tied it and threw it on the ridge of the field. Immediately, someone carried a cart and dragged it to the threshing ground. More than ten people were there, surrounding the threshing wooden barrels, waving the wheat bundles to slap the wheat bundles, and the sound of "ping-pong-pong" was heard endlessly.

Song Litian carried his hands behind his back, walked around the threshing people and came behind a short man who was bent down to harvest wheat.

But when he saw this man, his legs were firmly standing in the field, the sickle in his hand cut the millet quickly and was very devoted. If Song Litian hadn't shouted loudly, he wouldn't have raised his head at all.

"Jun Zheng, although you are from the southerner, your wheat harvesting skills are good."

Zheng Ji turned around. His hair was covered with wheat rays, his skin was slightly darker than last year. Sweat flowed down his forehead, leaving mottled salt spots.

Seeing that it was Song Litian, Zheng Ji was about to answer, but was scratched by wheat ears and sneezes suddenly.

Alas, I still suffered from the petite figure.

Zheng Ji felt a little embarrassed and rubbed his nose and said, "I have cut rice in the paddy fields in Kuaiji. It's almost the same, it's almost the same."

Yesterday, Zhao Han'er, Lu Jiushe and others escorted the Wusun prince Liu Wannian. After more than 20 days of trekking, they finally arrived in Shanshan.

The two informed them of the war in the northern Western Regions and conveyed Ren Hong's request:

"The Yumen Han army will arrive in Loulan in May. I hope Shanshan will transport grain and fodder to Loulan City in advance to wait."

Nearly a thousand Han troops in the north were besieged by the Huns and Kucha, and everyone knew the seriousness of the matter. Logically speaking, the military farmer in the Western Regions had to obey the command of the school captain Lai Dan, but Lai Dan was trapped in Luntai and had no news. Before Fu Jiezi, who was in Yumen Pass, could only do it cheaply.

Fortunately, Ren Hong informed Shanshan immediately and asked them to prepare.

Therefore, the military farmer had to finish the harvest of wheat in the fields as soon as possible. But even if they used iron sickles, it was still not fast to cut wheat stubble. This job was very tiring, and his waist was almost broken after one day.

There are still many processes to turn wheat into food. When Zheng Ji sat down to drink water, he asked about the situation at Song Li Tianwuyuan.

"More than ten donkeys sent by King Shanshan are grinding day and night to remove the wheat from shells and then grinding them into flour."

The wheat rice is very unpalatable and not easy to carry. In the distance, smoke was rising, and it was seven or eight naan pits burning fire. Zheng Ji planned to bake all the wheat noodles into the simplest naan as dry food for the Han army.

Song Litian said with gratitude: "Fortunately, before you leave, I asked us to drill more stone mills and build more naan pits, otherwise I wouldn't be able to catch up."

"Yes, Shanshan's military farming has achieved today's results thanks to Renjun laying the foundation. In short, these 500 acres of land can receive about 1,000 stones of wheat that have been unsheathed." Zheng Ji took another sip of water and prepared to return to the field to continue working.

"The post cavalry sent by Quli should arrive at Yumen Pass now. The reinforcements from the Han Dynasty will arrive in Loulan in mid-May. We have one month to prepare."

Song Litian was not worried about this: "Time is not tight, but is one thousand stones of grain enough?"

Don’t expect the Han army to bring a grain of grain from Yumen. It’s too difficult to pass the Bailong pile and turn over the three ridges of sand. Even if Fu Jiezi brings two thousand reinforcements, he still has to rely on the grain support of Shanshan and Loulan.

Song Litian made up for Zheng Ji with his rough fingers: "If you save some food for one thousand stones, two thousand Han soldiers will eat it for half a month."

"If they add their horses and eat them with millet and grass, it will only be enough for ten days."

"This is not the loss of transportation from Shanshan to Loulan. We have to make up at least twice the amount of food to barely enough."

"But there is still a vacancies of one thousand stones, what should I do if Zheng Jun?"

Zheng Ji looked at Jiannicheng in the distance:

"When I visited King Shanshan yesterday, King Shanshan said that he would give the remaining 1,000 stones of grain!"

...

In Jianni City, Wusun Prince Liu Wannian officially represented the Wusun Kingdom and visited Shanshan Prince Wei Tuqi.

The two sides met enthusiastically, entered the city hand in hand, sat in the Han-style car, and headed towards the "Royal Palace".

"You just need to protect the Wusun Prince, take a long way to reach Shanshan. As for Luntai, Quli, and Tiemen, I will leave it to me to solve the difficulties!"

Liu Wannian is just a 13-year-old brat, who is in love with adventure and is vividly telling King Shanshan about their escape in danger in Kucha.

"Jun Ren said this and left with my sister, Light Cavalry, went to Wusun to bring reinforcements and help the Han soldiers escape from the trap."

Unfortunately, Ren Hong's more excessive "One person destroys one country" only told the robes to him to enhance his courage, so Liu Wannian didn't know.

"I am worthy of being Ren Jun!"

But even so, King Shanshan praised Ren Hong's words and actions, feeling that he had indeed read the wrong person, and then sighed secretly.

"I'm so stupid. Renjun is a person who wants to do great things for Tianhan. I actually want to keep him in a small place in Shanshan Kingdom as a prime minister. Alas, I'm really overestimating my abilities."

When Wei Tuqi thought of the scene where Ren Hong and Princess Wusun climbed the Tianshan Mountains and traveled through mountains and rivers, he felt tears in his eyes.

Then Wei Tuqi asked with concern: "Prince of Wannian, can Renjun borrow troops from Wusun?"

Liu Wannian slapped his chest: "Of course, it must be! With the help of my mother, Lord Chu, this matter will be successful. At this moment, my sister and Ren Jun should have brought Wusun cavalry back to the north. We must teach the people of Kucha a good lesson!"

Wei Tuqi let out a sigh: "I feel relieved, Prince Wannian, please!"

On the following road, Liu Wannian also excitedly talked about their group of people's adventures through the desert by walking the Jianmi River.

"We walked along the Jianni River for fifteen days. It was spring and the water was small. Some places were cut off when we were riding mud. We encountered strong wind and sand. We lost our way for a while. Fortunately, with the guidance of Zhao and Lu, we found the river again."

"After reaching Jianmi, Jianmi was the younger brother of the captain Lai Dan. He was anxious when he heard that his brother was trapped in Luntai. However, why did Jianmi have a small country and have a small population and it will take more than half a month to go to Luntai. Jianmi could not do anything except crying to the north."

"In the next ten days, we walked east along the South Road and met Jingjue. Qiemo, all of them said the same thing. Although they were all persuaded by Lai Dan half a year ago and were already under the Han Dynasty, the countries could not help in this battle."

The more he said this, the less beautiful Wei Tuqi's face turned, and he finally punched the carriage hard.

"That's because they don't love big men enough!"

Wei Tuqi said hatefully: "When seeking silk gifts, everyone is respectful to the great man, but once something happens, they are unwilling to help them. The neighbors of Shanshan are not like our country. If you truly respect the great man, you will do whatever you want to help the great man win this battle!"

After scolding him, he noticed Liu Wannian's surprised expression and hurriedly said, "Sorry, Prince Wannian, I have lost my composure. In front of me, my palace is my front!"

When the car turned around and the Shanshan Palace appeared in front of him, the expression of expectation on the face of Wusun Prince Liu Wannian completely disappeared.

What a royal palace? It's just a three-entrance courtyard with a vineyard. It's not much different from what he saw before, and what he saw in the past. Sure enough, the small country is shabby.

Well, at least we can see the characteristics of different countries in the Western Regions, but what is too much is that this yard has been transformed so that the Loulan characteristics are gone. They are all Han-style furniture and furnishings. Even the banquets have been replaced from the vineyard into the small hall, and everyone sits in separate cases.

The food also made Liu Wannian not very satisfied: a hu cake decorated with raisins, a small bowl of millet rice, a small plate of mutton, and a small cup of wine. Is this the "state banquet" of Shanshan?

"Suer small country cannot be compared with Wusun."

Liu Wannian thought to himself, and at the same time, he found that King Shanshan was just sitting there, and there was nothing but water on the table.

"King Shanshan, you are..."

"Oh, Xiao Wang... I have used it, I'm not hungry, I'm not hungry." As he said that, King Shanshan stared at the food on the Liu Wannian desk and swallowed his saliva, and he was weak in speaking.

"Has eaten?"

When Liu Wannian heard this, he was angry. He was the prince of Wusun, and when he was in the north, how could Gumo and other countries not entertain warmly? The banquet and dance music never lacked, but he did not want to be humiliated in Shanshan.

He couldn't bear it anymore, and slapped the table and cursed:

"It turns out that King Shanshan had eaten the food first and then served me with dog food. Is this Shanshan's way of treating guests?"

"Prince Wusun calms down!"

A woman's voice sounded, and a woman with a big belly walked out, but it was Mrs. Guo Gongren, the wife of King Shanshan.

The man from Guogong explained to his husband with tears in his eyes: "The prince doesn't know. Since yesterday, the good man only ate one meal a day, and he no longer ate with his concubine in the evening. He is hungry. In addition to the concubine, the slaves in the entire palace also ate only one meal a day."

"Why..." Liu Wannian was shocked. He had been frugal since he was a child, and had meat every meal. He never knew what hunger felt and could not understand what King Shanshan did.

Could it be that Shanshan is so poor?

"Because only when we have enough food first can we have enough troops! Every time we save a little food, the Han reinforcements will eat more dry food after they arrive in the Western Regions." King Shanshan sat upright, even if he was hungry, he would not look at the food and look ahead.

"I only eat one meal a day now. In addition to that, I also need to save royal expenses, songs and dances of silk and bamboo, and pipa music. All of them are stopped. I don't want to enjoy it, don't show off, don't want to eat with a bell or a tripod."

"The reason for this is to set an example for the nobles in Shanshan in the whole country! I hope that those wealthy families who followed the words of the wise fields and planted the maize and obtained a bumper harvest can lend me the remaining grain from their homes, and then handed it over to Zheng Sima, make it into dry food, and send it to Loulan as food for the Han army."

Wei Tuqi stood up and put away the belt on his abdomen, looking a little like Chu's thin waist.

Although he was so hungry that he was dizzy and his steps were a little sloppy, at this moment, in the eyes of Guo Gongren and Liu Wannian, Wei Tuqi was shining!

"The Shanshan Kingdom must tighten the belt and support the Han Dynasty with all its strength to win this battle!"

"The great man, I will win!"

...
Chapter completed!