In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 631 The Cowherd's Dream

"Then I'll continue reading the letter."

Yang Erlang continued reading the rest of the letter. Tang Qing did not mention Chenjia Village again, but instead revealed the chicken and duck trade he had agreed upon with Zhang He.

"Ten thousand chickens and ducks a month?"

After reading the entire letter, Yang Erlang's eyes widened. He looked at Yang Zheng and said, "General, Mr. Tang said he has reached a deal with a merchant from Qingzhou. The merchant is willing to provide our Yang Family Army with 1 chickens and ducks every month!"

"what?!"

A look of delight flashed across Yang Zheng's face as he eagerly took the letter and began to read it carefully.

Soon, Yang Zheng burst into laughter: "Haha! Great! Excellent! Mr. Tang is truly a man of great talent, always able to solve my problems!"

It's no wonder Yang Zheng was so happy; these 10,000 chickens and ducks were a godsend for Yang's army.

As mentioned before, Yang Zheng has always wanted to improve the combat power of the Yang Family Army and build it into an invincible force.

To make an army have good combat effectiveness, high-intensity and high-frequency training is essential. However, most of the soldiers in the Yang family army came from poor backgrounds and often didn't have enough to eat. Their physical fitness was quite poor, so how could they withstand high-intensity training?

Under these circumstances, Yang Zheng naturally wanted to find a way to improve the soldiers' physical condition. The simplest and most direct way was to use medicinal herbs to strengthen the soldiers' physique.

But this is obviously unrealistic. The Yang family army has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Even the Xia Kingdom, which controls the entire country and has gathered all the wealth in the world, cannot use expensive herbs to train hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Let alone Yang Zheng, who only occupies the barren Liangzhou.

After ruling out the option of herbs, the only way Yang Zheng could think of to improve the soldiers' physical fitness was to improve the army's food.

To build a strong body, meat is absolutely essential. Yang Zheng believed that as long as the soldiers could eat meat, their physical fitness would definitely improve and they would be able to withstand more intense training.

Unfortunately... this path is also blocked for Yang Zheng.

Liangzhou was short of food, and even more so of meat. It was already extremely difficult to supply food for hundreds of thousands of troops, let alone meat.

Under these circumstances, Yang Zheng naturally had no way to improve the combat effectiveness of the Yang Family Army.

However, just when you think you've reached a dead end, a new path opens up before you.

Just when Yang Zheng was about to give up, Tang Qing's letter brought him good news: a merchant from Qingzhou could provide the Yang family army with 10,000 chickens and ducks every month!

Although 10,000 chickens and ducks may not seem like much, for Yang Zheng it was a timely help.

Even if each of the 10,000 chickens and ducks produces only 3 jin of meat, that's still 30,000 jin of meat.

This 30,000 jin of meat may not be enough to feed all the soldiers of the Yang Family Army, but it can certainly supply a small portion of them. In this way, these soldiers can be the first to undergo high-intensity training and become the elite of the Yang Family Army!

"This is great news, Commander!"

Yang Erlang said with a beaming smile, "With 10,000 chickens and ducks every month, we can improve the army's food and give our brothers more strength."

"Not bad!"

Yang Zheng said with a smile, "Not only that, with this batch of chickens and ducks, we can also save a lot of grain, which can be used to help the people!"

Meat is also a type of grain.

As we all know, a person's appetite is limited. After eating meat, the consumption of grain will decrease. As a result, the consumption of grain by the Yang family army will also decrease accordingly, and Yang Zheng can take out more grain to relieve the people.

"but……"

Yang Erlang seemed to have thought of something and frowned, saying, "General, meat is expensive these days. Do we have the money to buy so much meat?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Zheng immediately laughed: "Erlang, you didn't read the letter carefully enough! In the letter, Mr. Tang said that the chickens and ducks sold by the merchants from Qingzhou not only have a unique appearance, but are also quite affordable. A yellow-feathered chicken weighing six to seven catties sells for only 240 wen, and a white-feathered duck weighing about eight to ten catties sells for only 300 wen."

"So cheap?"

Yang Erlang's eyes widened in disbelief. He knew that in Liangzhou today, a gray-feathered chicken weighing four to five catties with more bones than meat would sell for more than 500 coins, while a yellow-feathered chicken weighing seven catties would only sell for less than half the price of a yellow-feathered chicken...

Could that merchant from Qingzhou be selling fake chickens?

Yang Erlang couldn't help but think this.

"General, don't those merchants from Qingzhou need to make a profit? How come they're selling so cheaply?"

"I do not know either."

In fact, Yang Zheng also had some doubts about such a low price.

However, after thinking about the description of Chenjia Village in the letter, his doubts were somewhat answered.

"I estimate that the price of chickens and ducks in Chenjia Village must be very cheap, otherwise the merchant would not have made a loss."

Yang Zheng recalled Tang Qing's description of Chenjia Village in the letter, which included the fact that everyone could eat meat.

The fact that everyone can eat meat means that meat prices in Chenjia Village must be very cheap. Otherwise, if meat prices in Chenjia Village were the same as in Liangzhou, even ordinary landlords would probably find it difficult to bring themselves to buy meat.

"But……"

Yang Erlang was still very puzzled and said, "Even if Chenjia Village is powerful, its livestock still need to be fed with grain, right? With grain prices so high these days, where does Chenjia Village get the grain to feed so many chickens and ducks?"

"I don't know! Perhaps Chenjia Village has a unique breeding method."

Yang Zheng shook his head. He wasn't from Chenjia Village, so naturally he didn't know anything about the village.

However... Tang Qingxin's description of Chenjia Village aroused Yang Zheng's strong curiosity about Chenjia Village.

"In any case, this is a good thing for us."

Yang Zheng laughed and said, "As long as that merchant can really provide 1 chickens and ducks every month, the Yang family army's combat strength will definitely be able to reach a new level."

"Not bad!"

Not long after, Yang Erlang left.

Yang Zheng returned to his study and wrote back to Tang Qing, urging him to make sure the transaction with Zhang He, a merchant from Qingzhou, was completed. He also said that he would personally go to Yongliang County the next time Zhang He arrived to verify the authenticity of the matter.

"Chenjia Village..."

After finishing the letter and handing it to the messenger to send it to Tang Qing as soon as possible, Yang Zheng leaned back in his chair, his gaze distant.

Yang Zheng's attention to Qingzhou has never diminished, but he never expected that there would be such a magical village as Chenjia Village in Taiping County, which is right next to Liangzhou.

Everyone in the village is well-fed and clothed, everyone can support themselves, and everyone can live a decent life on that land...

This is exactly the kind of life that Yang Zheng, the former cowherd, dreamed of, and it's also the kind of life that Yang Zheng, the current King of Liangzhou, has always wanted the people of Liangzhou to live.